a brief moment of solitude [OPEN]

The sun was just fresh over the mountains when Sean woke. Maybe it was the fact that he was used to living off such little sleep during party season when he would drink late and still be capable of making classes the next day, but nowadays Sean could never seem to lie in. In fact, he saw the normal person's eight hours as excessive, something his dormitory mates could never understand. And quite often, especially on mornings like this, found annoying as Sean not so quietly shuffled around the room just after the crack of dawn.

Ignoring the muffled swears and groans, Sean quickly dressed and made his way outside, jogging swiftly through the echoing castle corridors. Well if I'm awake I might as well do something productive, was the motivating thought pushing Sean on. With his last year approaching and the work load starting to get seriously heavy others would probably make use of the early mornings Sean had by opening the books and making a start on the pile of homework that was slowly getting higher and higher. But not Sean.

Contrary to the popular Hufflepuff trait, Sean was not hard-working. At least not concerning school work. Instead he put all of his effects in to Quidditch and staying fit which was now why he found himself going for a run along one of the many stretches of shore along the Black Lake, comforted by coolness of early spring morning. It was in these moments that Sean didn't mind being alone. Usually driven mad by the idea, he hated being alone and always wanted someone around the entertain him. But with his mind set of the run Sean didn't seem to mind being alone.

He was just on the last stretch of his run before heading back up to the castle when he paused at the edge of the lake. He had been out for a couple of hours now enjoying the run and the occasional break to sit by the lake. Even from this distance he could tell the castle was starting to wake and he could even make out a few wandering souls in the grounds. Turning back to the lake, Sean stopped to catch his breath.

Moms going to kill me, Rose thought as she leaned against a beach tree by the black lake. She had books stacked three feet high beside her and a stack of parchment just a little shorter than that. Being a sixth year meant a lot of studying had to be done to protect your seventh year stress level. Not that Rose minded studying, because she didn’t. The reason she was stressing about her mother was that Rose had finally admitted to her Head of House that she wanted to go forth as a journalistic news reporter. She had acted vaguely interested in it during career advice in her fifth year, but just yesterday she had made it her official career choice. The hard part was, her mother hated a certain woman, Rita Skeeter, for as long as Rose could remember and would probably not be amused in Roses choice of an occupation.

She sighed, not much she could do to help the situation. This is what she wanted to do and Hermione would have to deal with it. Rose leaned against the tree and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds around her. She heard someones footsteps running past her and opened her eyes, but the person had already gone. She closed her eyes again. For a small moment she felt herself begin to panic. Spending most of her childhood wandering off alone, Rose didn’t take well to loneliness for too long at a time. But, this time she had gotten up early and come down by herself. She had been sitting for over an hour studying and they need for company was starting to kick in.

She opened her eyes and looked around; the running person must be nearby. Without fail, there he was. Sitting on the edge of the lake staring into the water, about thirty feet from Rose. She groaned, of course it would be Sean. Her mind flashbacked to a particular moment on this lake several years before, when one of his friends had pushed her in. Sean wasn’t a prefect then, but he still was able to stop too much trouble if someone was in danger. Even though the water wasn’t that deep where they were, Sean had dived in after her and pulled her out. She snapped out of the memory and cleared her throat, “Hey there stranger!” She called out.

Sean was only stood for a moment catching his breath when someone called out for his attention. Startled, for he had not noticed anyone nearby when he was scanning around him just mere minutes earlier, Sean glanced around quickly in the direction the voice came from and it wasn’t long before his eyes snapped on to the particularly pretty redhead sitting under a tree on the shoreline just a little further down the beach from him. The startled expression he had at an unknown voice calling out to him quickly changed to one holding his normal charm and crooked smile.

“Why hello, Miss,” Sean drawled, slowly making his way down the sandy shore with his regular confident stride, “Fancy seeing you see.” It was a surprise to see another soul out this early though he was genuinely happy that this soul was a Miss Rose Constance Weasley. They weren’t the closest of people but they got on well. He liked her. Not that that, a voice inside his head quickly whispered, you can’t like her like that. Though he didn’t know why, Sean agreed with his little internal voice. It was much easier and more fun to have Rose around to light-heartedly tease and playfully flirt with her, knowing at how awkwardly cute she becomes sometimes.

Approaching her, Rose’s stacks of books and parchments came in to view and Sean couldn’t help but break his smiling mask to raise his eyebrows. Not being one of hard academic studying himself, Sean couldn’t understand how others did as much work as they did. How did their brains simply not turn in to mush? That was what it felt like was happening to him whenever he opened an old dusty textbook. Especially when it involved History of Magic. He could have jumped for joy when he was allowed to drop it in sixth year. But it didn’t even seem to faze Rose.

“Wow, there are a lot of books,” Sean remarked with an almost wary glance at the stack, “Do we really have that much work? I probably should get around to doing some eventually.” Sean grinned, picking up the top book from the pile and flicking through it. “I don’t even recognise this book…” Sean mumbled, almost to himself as a sense of worry came over. But with a flick of his hand he slammed the book close, shutting away his doubt and replacing it with a smile as he bent down to carefully place the book back on to Rose’s pile. “You’re not just an incredibly beautiful face, are you?”

Should I stand up? Rose though, unsure for a moment if he had heard her. The moment was short though for he soon turned around, found his way to her and smiled. She clicked her tongue and shook her head slightly. Curse that smile, curse it. She was glad though, it was better than being greeted with a frown. Once or twice Rose knew Sean had frowned at her, though she was never sure why. Maybe he was just confused, or confusing. They were both very common traits in a boy.

Her question as to whether to stand up was answered as she started making his way over to her, she decided that meant she was going to stay put where she was. He could do all the work. She let a small chuckle escape her lips, hoping he didn’t hear. ”You’re not the only one who finds mornings a good time to be alone,” She started straightening up so as to not looked hunched over and weird. Rose knew she was pretty, and took pride in protecting her family name by showing it. ”Sorry for breaking your thought process by the way.” she smiled. Her smile was that of sweetness mixed with a mischievous energy.

Rose reached up and pulled some of her hair back behind her ear, unaware that it made her ears look a little bigger than she probably would have liked. Her smile disapparated for a moment when his vanished. She frowned almost mockingly for a moment, ”I’m sorry, let me introduce you. These are books, they are used for studying.” She stated with a smirk starting to creep upon her pink lips. Then he did it, what Sean always does. Reels a girl in by commenting on her interests and acting like he cares, and then calls her names like ‘beautiful’ or ‘adorable’ or occasionally ‘stunning’. Rose smiled lightly, but it was non-committal. ”Well, well. Aren’t you the charmer. And no, no I’m not just a pretty face. Thank you for asking.” She laughed lightly, ”The difference between me and other pretty girls, is that I want my pretty face to get somewhere.”

[/justify]

Making his way over to her, Sean couldn’t help but notice Rose’s face light up in a smile, one that appeared natural and sincere. Sean couldn’t help but feel a sense of smugness and joy at making this young beauty smile just at his presence. Although quite popular with the fairer sex so that he received adoring smiles and waves sometimes it worked against Sean, and it wasn’t uncommon for Sean to be greeted with scowls and narrowed eyes from some females. He was glad that Rose seemed legitimately happy to see him. He hoped he wouldn’t give her reason to change that. He enjoyed having the fun redhead around to tease every now and then.

Nodding, Sean agreed with Rose, “Yes, indeed. It is always good to get out early. It leaves time later in the day for other... activities.” It wasn’t the most suggestive thing which had passed Sean’s lips but there was a mischievous glint in his eyes that hinted at a hidden meaning behind his words. He faltered for a fraction of a second at her next statement but then he waved off her apology with a short laugh and a wave of his hand, “Well I would like to say that I was out here contemplating the mysteries of life, but I’m afraid all you did was disturb me catching my breath after going for a run. How else do you think I look this good?” It was true that Sean took pride in his appearance, especially at his athletic build. It wasn’t only Quidditch that he loved. Rugby had been a true love since childhood and he would just simply be disappointed in himself if he let himself get out of shape so he couldn’t play it when he returned home during summer.

Another bark of laughter passed his lips when Rose started to mock him. So this girl could keep up with his banter and return it with ease. He would have to play with this one and find her buttons. He did love a playful tease every now and then. “Bo-oks,” Sean spoke slowly, pronouncing the word carefully as he looked down at the pile in mock puzzlement, “Sounds vaguely familiar, but studying? Nah, never heard of that.” He joked but he knew he didn’t do enough. In the previous years he had managed to get by doing the bare minimum to get an acceptable grade. Now in sixth year Sean was doing the same amount of work but the work itself had been kicked up a notch, so much so that Sean was slowly falling behind. But Sean did not let this small worry mark his features. Instead he matched Rose’s smirk. “I have been told I have devilishly charming. And handsome. Wait, does this mean that this pretty face of mine won’t cut it for me?” Suddenly a thought occurred for him and for once a serious expression crossed his face as he asked, “I’m not disturbing your studying am I? I can leave,” not being able to resist he then added, “Though I know it will be hard for you to manage without me.”

Rose tried not to scoff aloud at him but with a large fail. His nearly suggestive comment didn’t go by unnoticed. She, never even having kissed a boy, didn’t know anything about the things that people did later in the day. Later in the day was still study time for Rose, and or time to analyze the general school population and create reports and their behavior. Although she didn’t enjoy analyzing from the outside, Rose had grown tired of not even being invited to the parties-even if she wouldn’t attend. James had tried to drag her a few times in their fourth year but to no avail. She just had no interested in the crowd, even if potentially cute boys would be there. Why would she want a drunken idiot anyway?

“Well, I am glad that you make that time for your precious ‘activites’.” She said with a small snap in her voice. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much, Sean and his... harem. Or whatever you may call it. “Well... I can’t argue with the benefits of staying in shape.” She stated, determined not to throw him a bone on the ‘good looking’ comment.

Her defenses broke down for but a moment when he laughed aloud at her jokes. She wasn’t expecting him to find them that funny. Was she funny? If she was Rose had no idea and was pleased at the fact that he humored her by playing along. Sadly, she knew some people who actually were that thick-headed. “That’s alright, studying is for... a different type of person.” She started, shifting her eyes to the pile of books, “One without anything better to do...” She added quietly, drifting off for a moment.

She was snapped back by him saying that he could leave if she needed. She brought her gaze back into his eyes before he cracked his joke about her needing him. “You can stay if you’d like, and get some studying done for once. Granted, no point in you studying with thoselooks, right my dear? Heaven forbid you having to make money doing something other than sports. What a ridiculous notion.” She added. She noticed his expression was actually more serious than his voice entailed. She frowned, “But really... are you going to make it through the year, Sean?” Genuine concern colored her tone as she spoke. She didn’t want her friend to fail, no one would want that.