A Confrontation ((Cue Christabelle))

Amelia, uncomfortably warm from her run, kept her head down as she maneuvered the moving staircases of Hogwarts which would bring her to Ravenclaw tower. She passed very few students along the way, and the few that she did made no indication that they wished to speak with her.

The run had been a way of working out her frustration, though it had helped significantly less than she had hoped. Upon making her exit from the study room earlier, Amelia had immediately returned to the dormitory to put on her running clothes and shoes. Her brief introduction to Selwyn, the Slytherin champion, would have been frustrating in and over itself, but the boy had also informed her that his interruption to her studies had not been solely his idea.

She had taken the run in hopes of cooling off before confronting Chirstabelle, but it had worked only to an extent. Alone with her thoughts, Amelia had run possible scenarios over and over in her head while she ran her usual circuit of the grounds, coming to no conclusions and getting no more out of the run than what she usually did: good exercise and time alone.

Reaching the door to the Ravenclaw common room, Amelia answered the question to gain access. Taking a deep breath to remind herself that she was going to diplomatic about the whole thing, Amelia ascended the stairs and paused only momentarily before knocking briskly on the door she knew to belong to Christabelle.

((Cue Christabelle, obviously))

Christabelle for once had been in her dorm and was studying herself. Working her self up in preparing for the tournament that the first task was quickly approaching. She had finished her homework not too long before this and had just put her school work aside. She smiled with herself knowing she was sure to get a good grade on it as she heard the knock on the door.

She got up off of her bed and made her way over to the door to see who was knocking. Her mind was curious as to who it was since people really didn't bother her much in the dorms. She was wearing a pair of deep blue silk pajama bottoms and a white camisole top which just showed off her slightly tanned skin but not too much.

She opened the door to see Amelia and was curious as to why she was knocking on her door, "Yes?" she asked looking at her curiously opening the door a bit more for her to enter. She and Amelia hadn't talked since the night in the common room, no matter how much Christy had been trying to catch hold of her, she herself had just been too busy.

Amelia lowered the hand she had used to knock on the door, grasping the wrist of her opposite arm as she listened for movement from within the room. She could hear what sounded like someone getting off a bed, followed by the padding of footsteps toward the door. When the door swung open, Amelia took a small step away from it, not sure what to expect.

She should have known, however, that it would be Christabelle. Amelia was half hoping that it would have been one of the other girls who shared the four-poster, giving her a perfect excuse to avoid this confrontation, but the blond girl stood before her in all her glory. Even though she looked as though she were doing nothing in particular, the girl looked splendid, as always. Amelia wished now that she had bothered to shower and change before coming up here, but the endorphins from the run were likely to keep her temper in check and allow her to have a civilized conversation with the girl who had, according to Selwyn, encouraged other champions to use her as a crash-test dummy.

“May I come in?” Amelia asked, determined to remain polite even though she did feel slighted. She wanted to get Christabelle’s side of the situation before jumping to any conclusions; this was one of the more positive aspects of being a rational individual. Although her rationality and strict logic made her a difficult person to befriend, they did prevent her from making rash judgments or jumping to conclusions.

Christabelle moved out of the way of the door and motion for her to come in to the dorm. "Yeah, sure." she said not sure what she had wanted to talk about but was sure it was something important since Amelia wasn't exactly one to speak that much to anyone from what she had seen. She waited until after Amelia had entered the room before she shut the door.

She walked over to her bed and started cleaning up the bed, "Sorry I was just doing some studying." she said apologizing for the mess that was on her bed when Amelia had entered. She motioned for her to sit down on the bed and smiled, "So whats up?" she asked looking at her curiously.

Amelia nodded her head in Chirstabelle’s direction as a way of thanking for allowing her entry into her room. This was actually the first time Amelia had seen any dormitory aside from her own and it made her feel as though she were invading someone else’s personal haven. The room was decorated with Christabelle’s personal items, her family’s wealth showing in the finery of her things and the sheer amount of clothes which filled her closet, which stood open along the wall.

Once Amelia was in the room and the door closed behind her, she knew she would not be able to back out of having this conversation. She had never done very well starting a confrontation – she was really only a “respond” person, meaning she never started a fight, but often finished it. She stood awkwardly in the center of the room while Christabelle breezed past her, picking up the things from her bed and stacking them haphazardly on one side of the four poster. She patted the bed next to her, indicating for Amelia to sit down, but Amelia was not feeling comfortable enough with the situation to take Chirstabelle’s offer of a place to sit. The muscles in her legs seemed to have tensed and she worried that if she relaxed into a sitting position she might lose her resolve to say what she needed to. She shook her head and put up a hand in an ‘I’m fine here’ gesture, staying standing where she was.

“Um…” Amelia began, clearing her throat. Her usual eloquence seemed to have deserted her in this time of need, and Amelia decided against throwing herself right into the thick of an argument. Instead, she decided to ease herself in, in the hopes that when it came time to actually ask Christabelle the question that was weighing on her mind she might have worked up enough courage to keep from stuttering and stumbling through it.

“How have tournament preparations been?” she asked awkwardly, knowing this question would seem to Christabelle to have come out of the blue.

It’s not as though she expects you to be a good conversationalist, her subconscious reminded her.

"Um.." she said taken aback by the question, "Fine I guess." she continued to say, "Why do you ask?" she asked looking at her curiously. She wondered why she had brought it up. She really wasn't trying to think to much of it just figuring Amelia was trying to start off with small talk. She had picked up that something had indeed been wrong with Amelia, "Are you alright?" she asked looking at her curiously.

"You don't seem like you're all that great yourself." she continued to say as she leaned against a wall.

The fact that Amelia’s question had been out of place was evident, and Christabelle didn’t miss it either. The girl’s expression and response where about what Amelia expected considering it was likely she knew that Amelia’s sole purpose in coming up here had not been to chat about the upcoming first task. The two had never really had that much in common, from what Amelia could see, and she doubted Christabelle felt all that differently about it.

When Christabelle’s face changed from confusion to worry, Amelia finger combed her hair from her forehead to where the elastic band was that held up her ponytail. This was one of many nervous habits, dead giveaways for anyone who spent enough time around Amelia, which basically only qualified her immediate family and her pet owl. The other Ravenclaw girl voiced her concern as well, and Amelia knew she was seeing through the façade.

Here goes nothing… Amelia thought, taking a deep breath before meeting Christabelle’s gaze, speaking firmly but making very sure to keep the edge off her voice. If she started off with a direct accusation this conversation would quickly escalate, something Amelia didn’t want in the least.

“I’m actually not alright,” the redhead said honestly, her hand on the back of her neck. Another nervous twitch. “I came up here to ask you a question, which I hope you will answer honestly.”

Not giving Christabelle time to decide whether or not she would accept the question Amelia had in mind, Amelia barreled forward, knowing if she stopped now the loss of momentum may stop her from asking altogether.

“Have you been directing some of the other champions to use me as target practice?” She asked, realizing belatedly that this would seem a vague question if Christabelle had not been doing so.

“I had a recent encounter with one of the other champions,” Amelia added, by way of explanation, “And, according to his description, one of the other champions had told him I would be ‘good practice’ for the tournament.”

Christabelle was quick to pick up on Amelia's body language. She had always been a people watcher so it was no surprise to her. "Well I have no reason to lie to you." she responded as she waited to hear what she had to ask.

It didn't come to a surprise that she would bring up something else about the tournament. Although the only two champions other than herself that she had seen lately was her adopted sister Abbey and Aden in classes...Well that was all she had seen of Aden that people needed to know anyway.

"Other than Abbey and Aden I haven't." she replied to Amelia's question. "And I only see Aden in classes." She sat there and thought for a moment. "Selwyn?" she asked looking at her. "Thats the only champion left but I don't see him...In fact I don't even like him. He can be very unnerving at the best of times."

Amelia kept a careful eye on Christabelle as she answered, watching for signs of lying. Most people in this world thought of themselves as good liars; Amelia knew better. Everyone had a tell, a tick that gave them away. Whether it was a hand in the hair, the shuffling of feet, looking to the left or to the right – everyone lies, and it shows. Despite her careful watch of the Ravenclaw champion, though, Amelia detected no visible sign of her having lied.

Bet you wish now that you had practiced legilimancy as well as occlumens her mind taunted, though Amelia paid it little mind. She had never needed legilimancy to know what someone else was thinking – usually, it was written all over their face like a novel open before her. You just needed to know how to read the book.

“So... you haven’t been telling the other champions to practice on me?” Amelia asked, knowing that Christabelle had spoken the truth, but still a bit shocked that her intuition could have been so wrong. Selwyn must have been smarter and more distracting than she had pegged him to be; his story was clearly fabricated, but he had managed to pass it by her typically unfailing lie-detector test.

I guess not being around my parents has put me out of practice… Amelia thought, referring mentally to the amount of lying her parents did, to each other, to her, and especially to the rest of the world. Being honest didn’t always coincide with keeping up appearances.

“I can’t believe he tricked me,” Amelia said cryptically, relaxing for the first time since she entered the room. She still did not feel at home in the blond girl’s room, but at least she wasn’t resisting the urge to curse her drinking water. Amelia knew it was unreasonable, but her temper had a tendency to rear its ugly head more often than was called for.

"No...I haven't." she said sounding a little bit upset that someone would suggest such a thing. "Thats a really low thing to do Amelia. I would never dare put myself to that level of pathetic." she said tucking a stray curl behind her ear. "I wouldn't put anything past Selwyn though." she warned Amelia.

She felt bad that he had managed to trick her like that, "He thinks he's smarter than everyone else. I'm planning useing it as an advantage of mine in the tournament actually. I know my little sister I wouldn't put her up to that sort of trickery either...And Aden, he's old enough and smart enough to fend for himself." she continued to say. "I do wonder why Selwyn would say I put him up to something like that when he and I rarely speak and when we do it tends to be snide comments."