Off Duty [OPEN]

Gryphon slowly ascended the Grand Staircase, taking each step very deliberately and carefully, perhaps a bit over-dramatically if anyone was around to see him - though he doubted anyone was. And he did so with good reason; he was just reaching the end of his Prefect patrol shift for the night, and had every intention of heading straight for the Slytherin Common Room as soon as he was done. Thus, he didn't want to go any farther away from the dungeons than he had to, so he was wasting the last few minutes of his shift taking the stairs as slowly as humanly possible considering they were going in a counter-productive direction from where he wanted to be going.

Generally, Gryphon had made a decent Prefect - he tended to have the respect of his fellow students at least in some ways, and he was a strong and confident leader. However, he certainly had never been cut out for Head Boy material or anything of the like, and still had quite a laundry list of character flaws that probably made at least a few students wonder why he had been selected for the position over anyone else. Not that Gryphon cared about or even noticed such doubts. He hadn't even wanted the position when it had been offered to him, and had only taken it because his parents had forced it upon him whether he liked it or not - but now that he was in his seventh year, he generally liked it. At the very least, everyone knew who he was, and that was something he cherished. Did he abuse his power? Maybe sometimes. But yet again, he didn't really care or notice most of the time.

Laziness was also something that he had been reprimanded for in the past on multiple occasions, but tonight no one was around to see him wasting his time even as he glanced every few moments at the clock above the stairs, watching the minute hand move painfully slowly. And the, finally, just as he reached the top of the Grand Staircase itself, freedom! His shift was over. The rest of the night belonged to him...but then, it was already quite late, past midnight. Everyone was likely to be asleep anyway. The young man frowned - this was one part of being a Prefect he hated most because he never knew what he was missing out on.

Gryphon remembered his plans then to rush straight back to the Common Room but that suddenly seemed a lot less appealing if no one was likely to still be awake and around anyway. He let out an exasperated, irritated sigh then that echoed through the big empty room, and then dropped to the floor on the top step. He sat cross-legged there, head propped up on his elbows resting on his legs as he stared at nothing in particular in front of him. Now that he was here, he couldn't really be bothered to head back down to the dungeons yet, even if he was breaking the very curfew he had been assigned to enforce until about two minutes ago.

"All dressed up with nowhere to go..." Gryphon muttered to himself, not entirely sarcastically, and he buried his face in the palms of his hands. Another wasted night.

Where are you Angel, Angela thought bitterly. Slowly the girl paced back and forth across the hall she had been waiting in for nearly an hour. Anger was not an emotion Angela enjoyed feeling, but when it came to her twin sister Angelique, anger was all Angela could feel anymore it seemed. Somehow, Angela had been tricked into leaving the comfort of her dorms by her sister and told to wait in the very spot she now occupied until Angel came to get her. The only problem was that Angel had informed Angela that she would meet her there at eleven, not a minute later and yet there she stood. Angela clenched her fists tightly as she continued to pace. The only reason she was still there was because she loved her sister and felt that she could show up at any second; of course Angela knew better, but still she waited. The hallways was chilly even though she wore jeans and a long sleeved white hoodie.

Finally, with one last irritated check of her watch, Angela stopped pacing and stomped her foot loudly which caused her to jump. Quickly she ducked behind the nearest statue in case someone came looking for the sound. After several tense minutes, Angela decided that no one was coming to find her after all. She was sure that the castle made all kinds of noises what with the various ghosts and things going bump all day and night, one sound like that was sure to go unnoticed; or so she hoped. As she stepped cautiously back into the open, she checked both ends of the hall, but still no one came. With a heavy sigh she stopped and allowed her gaze fall to the floor. Instead of anger, she felt humiliated and used. How had she allowed herself to be tricked into breaking the rules yet again? Unfortunately, Angelique just happened to be her weakness. How weird was that? Most girls had boys or shopping or chocolate as their weakness, but no, she had to have her stupid twin sister as hers.

Unable to take standing in the hallway any longer, Angela scowled down the hall and started off towards the Ravencalw tower, but then she stopped. Did she really want to go back to the dorm? No, the truth was that she certainly did not want to go there; she was much too annoyed for sleep and would therefore be awake for quite some time which was something she was not looking forward to. So then what was she going to do? It was well past midnight now and no one was going to be awake apart from the prefects who were no doubt making their rounds to make sure no rules were being broken and naturally, she couldn’t very well run into any of them without fear of being turned in. As she stood there she began to chew on her bottom lip. If anyone came on her standing there, she would no doubt look out of place. She had to think of something and quick.

Only a few feet away stood the Grand Staircase which would take her anywhere which gave her an idea. Maybe Angel is already outside,

[/i] she thought, her hopes raising in spite of herself. With a small smile she started down the stairs, most of her caution gone. With each step her shoes made a small smacking sound which echoed off the walls, but with the Prefects where were patrolling, she hoped they would think it was one of their own because who else would be stupid enough to make that much noise at night. Just when she thought she was in the clear, Angela stopped suddenly; only a few steps below her sat a Prefect. She knew he was a Prefect because yet again who else would be stupid enough to be out in the open like he was. Now she’d done it, she was about to get in trouble, but he hadn’t noticed her yet. Her mind raced as she tried to find a way out of this. When she decided to just back up slowly to the next landing she started to move backwards up the staircase, until she noticed how the boy was sitting. He looked sad which melted her need to flee. In fact instead of backing up she actually altered her path and started towards the boy.

What are you doing, stupid?[/i] Every fiber of her being screamed at her to turn around and run, but how could she when he looked so sad. He is a prefect. You’re about to get in trouble.[/i] No matter how hard she argued, her legs seemed to be working against her. Finally she stopped on the step just behind the boy looked down at him. He was a Slytherin, no big deal, houses didn’t bother her, but she suddenly felt her shyness come over her and nearly break her resolve again, but again her legs seemed to have a mind of their own. She was sure he’d heard her walking towards him, but now she wished she could clear her throat or something to announce she was there. Biting her lip she moved down the steps until she was standing in front of him, now on the cold stone floor. Cautiously she knelt down in front of the boy, smacking her knee hard on the floor. Pain shot up her leg, but she tried to ignore it, not wanting to show pain in front of the boy in case he lived up to his house reputation. With a shaking hand, she reached awkwardly towards him until she touched his shoulder to get his attention. Please don’t bite my head off,[/i] she thought biting her lip as she readied herself to make a break for it if he turned out to be a jerk.

In after thought, she dug in her pants pocket for the small notebook she always carried and her wand. Quickly she preformed the spell which transfered her thought into writing and pointed it at a blank page within the book where the words appeared:

Are you okay?

Note: Just reminding, Angela is mute. [/blockquote]

Gryphon had at some point become unaware of the passage of time as he sat on the staircase basically just moping in self-pity, and he had mentally completely checked out of the situation and was too far lost in his thoughts to even be aware that someone was coming down the stairs behind him. Had he been paying more attention, perhaps he would have heard the tell-tale echoes of footsteps, or had that feeling one gets when one is no longer alone, or at least noticed when she passed him up to move in front of him. However, as it was, he was too deep within himself to notice any of this - until suddenly a light touch on his shoulder brought him quickly back to reality.

Gryphon visibly jumped, eyes wide as he reeled back in surprise and fear for a moment before he noticed that what stood before him was not a professor nor a ghost nor an axe murderer, but rather a pretty blonde girl with an innocent expression. Before he could stop it, his features flushed in embarrassment - not only had he been caught completely off guard, which was unlike him, but he had over reacted, and all in front of an attractive girl. Just great. This night just kept getting better and better. He almost wished it had been an axe murderer. At least he wouldn't have to deal with this feeling for very long.

But as it was, the situation needed addressed, and quickly. Gryphon forced himself to make a quick recovery, hoping that maybe she wouldn't have noticed half of what had happened right in front of her somehow. He took a deep breath, willing his features to return to normal as he composed himself, making a show of straightening his shirt and tie to buy himself a moment's time before he would have to look at her again. She hadn't said anything yet so he wasn't entirely sure what was really going on - if she was here to call him out on his actions, well, he could just call her out on being out past curfew. Wait, she was out past curfew, wasn't she? Somewhere in the back of his mind, Gryphon knew as a Prefect he should care and deduct house points and send her back to her appropriate dormitory, off-duty or not, but that wasn't likely to happen. He wasn't about to do extra work when he didn't need to, and besides - maybe if he didn't react like that, she wouldn't tell anyone what she had seen.

"Need something?" Gryphon then said a bit gruffly, pride still suffering greatly. He finally looked up at her again then, and that was when he noticed she was holding out a piece of paper to him. Eyebrows knitting together, Gryphon leaned forward to read the writing scrolled across it in confusion, then looked up at the girl again - and then he remembered. Right. This girl, he hadn't ever spoken to her before and he didn't even know her name, but she couldn't talk. He had heard about that from someone before, source not really mattering, but this had to be her. He then looked down at the note again and actually read the words - and only felt more confused.

This girl was a stranger - why was she concerned about him? And yet he couldn't help but let himself feel a bit touched. Most people wouldn't have really cared. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine," he then replied, brushing his dark, mussed hair out of where it had fallen into his eyes haphazardly. He looked at her again through his fingers, able to inspect her a bit more without her hopefully noticing he was doing it - yeah, definitely pretty. While he was more than willing to talk to anyone, attractive people were always a favourite. "You did catch me a bit off guard though, so do you think that could maybe be our little secret?" Time to turn the charm on and maybe she would overlook the state she had found him in. He wasn't entire sure how to even talk to her, but he was willing to try to figure it out...

Maybe the night wouldn't be totally wasted after all.

Angela jumped because the boy jumped, she knew she should have found some way to announce her appearance; startling him was the last thing she wanted to do. Quickly she covered her mouth with her free hand as warmth flooded her face. Good going Angela. What made it even worse was how wide his eyes got which made her feel even worse, but then he started blushing which actually made her smile. Apparently she wasn’t the only one embarrassed about the situation. Behind her hand she allowed her smile to spread, it wasn’t one of mocking, but rather one of her own embarrassment. She wasn’t sure how much hotter her face could get, but she knew she was blushing as well and that she had to be bright red. What a way to introduce yourself to someone.

Even though she’d scared the wits out of the poor boy, he seemed to recover from it quickly which made her smile again, but this time she dropped her hands. Then something caught her attention, was he avoiding looking at her? Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, she shifted herself from her knees to the balls of her feet so she wasn’t as close to him. His tone as he spoke was less than friendly at first which gave her the feeling that maybe she had made a mistake. What if he was just like the rest of the people in his house and what if he decided to be a jerk and turn her in? All of this seemed to be more trouble than it was worth. You can’t just leave now, you aren’t rude like that.

[/i] She sighed and pursed her lips together just watching him, trying to make out his character.

How could she have been so stupid? Walking up to someone like this was diffidently not who she was. If she hadn’t have been smart, the sorting hat would have put her in Hufflepuff like her twin sister just because she was shy. On the same point, Angelique was loud and slightly annoying so based on that she probably would have been placed in Gryffindor or maybe even Slytherin if she hadn’t been an overly loyal friend, sister and companion. Even Angela couldn’t argue the fact that she belonged with the Loyal Hufflepuffs. Now, that she had gotten the boys attention and he was finally looking at her she had to look away. Her eyes found the floor and started meticulously memorizing the lines on the stones at her feet. While she avoided the boy’s gaze she missed out on his confusion while he read her note, by this point she was really starting to wonder why she had stopped at all.

As he spoke again, Angela felt the need to look back up at him. His mood had changed. He looked more relaxed and less likely to bit her head off. Without realizing she was doing it, her pursed lips moved from side to side as she watched him watching her. When he finally addressed the message she had written she felt herself relaxing ever so slightly even though she felt uneasy. With a light smile nodded as she pointed her wand back at the same page where more text appeared just below the first message:

Of course. And I’m sorry I startled you. As you can see I couldn’t announce myself when I arrived.

It was times like this that made Angela feel even more self-conscious. The time when she had to tell everyone she met that she couldn’t talk. Some of them didn’t know what to say or how to act. Most of the time pity washed across their faces and she knew that their relationship would be over before it started. With past history, Angela didn’t expect anything to come from this chance encounter. She had merely happened upon someone who looked up set and even someone as shy as she was couldn’t let that go. With a heavy sigh she continued the spell and allowed her thoughts to continue on:

My name is Angeal du Coudray. I’m in Ravenclaw.

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Angela looked over the words to make sure they seemed good enough to show to the boy. Feeling satisfied enough, she turned the page towards him, but then looked away. It made her feel awkward to have someone read her thoughts in front of her. The worst part about what she did was the fact that she had to make people read. Here it was after midnight and the only way she could communicate with this boy was by making him read. Angela closed her eyes and shook her head, she knew she would look strange to him because she kept looking away so with a sigh she slowly shifted her gaze back to his face. It was then that she finally looked at him, really looked at him. Wow,[/i] her eyes scanned his face quickly as she took in his features. He was actually really cute. She felt a smile play at the corners of her mouth, but she tried to surpress it. That was all she needed, for him to think she was laughing at him when she couldn’t tell him otherwise. Most people, once upset, never stuck around long enough to read anything from her if she upset them. Please, don’t hate me without a reason.[/i] She wanted the boy to stay for a little longer, she didn’t have many friends and he seemed interesting; she wasn’t sure what she expected, but she wanted to see where this meeting would lead.
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Gryphon was actually somewhat grateful that this girl was blushing herself - it made his own reaction a bit more bearable, even if he didn't understand what she had to be embarrassed about. After all, she hadn't been scared and shown some sort of vulnerability to a total stranger as a first impression. No, she had been the one with the power, even if it had only been for a few seconds, and that's what bothered Gryphon more than anything else - a loss of power in the situation. But it was over now and apparently she felt bad or whatever so he told himself he needed to let it go even as his bruised ego clung to it desperately.

Besides, she was then apologizing on her next note, and she made a good point - she clearly couldn't have said something to get his attention, and since he hadn't reacted to her footsteps, her only other option if she wanted to talk to him was to touch him. He supposed that made it a bit more acceptable - wasn't her fault after all. He still wasn't entirely sure exactly why she had stopped at all, considering she was sneaking around after curfew, but maybe she didn't know he was a Prefect. Could she generally have just been that concerned about him? Maybe. Not a lot of people were like that but he supposed probably a few did exist. He shrugged at her message, smiling weakly. "It's okay, don't worry about it - I should have been paying more attention anyway," he then said coolly. Normally he would never have admitted to being the one at fault at all; it was always someone else's fault when it came to him. But she was different, and her case was different. So maybe this once, it was okay to say that...

The girl was then introducing herself - Angela du Coudray, Ravenclaw. Yeah, he had thought she was a Ravenclaw, seems that he was right, as usual. "Angela du Coudray," he then read aloud with a curious hint, completely mispronouncing her last name into something not even remotely close to what he was supposed to be and not even noticing he had done so. "That's....definitely not British, right?" He gave her a slightly confused look, hoping that he was guessing correctly. He didn't want to sound stupid after already embarrassing himself less than five minutes ago, but he was fairly certain that wasn't a British last name at all. Since moving to England right before coming to Hogwarts, Gryphon hadn't made much of an effort to learn much about any of the other countries around his new home, having not really seen a point in it. But he knew that some students, like himself, were not British even while the majority were - and since Angela wasn't speaking, he couldn't tell if she had an accent at all.

"Right, now, where are my own manners?" Gryphon then asked no one in particular, rubbing the back of his neck a bit sheepishly as he grinned at her. Just because she wasn't talking didn't mean that he couldn't talk after all, and he felt a really strong urge to just talk more - maybe for the both of them or something. This was a social situation unlike any he had ever been in before so he was making up the rules as he went. "My name's Gryphon Kisaragi - you may have heard of me. I'm in Slytherin, Seventh Year." He could have added 'Prefect' to the end of that title, but he never did. If she hadn't noticed the badge on his robes by now he wasn't going to bring it up - he was off duty after all, and she was pretty. He wasn't about to send her back to her Common Room with no dessert, figuratively speaking.

Gryphon's curiosity was insatiable, and he couldn't ignore the fact that they were communicating half through him talking and half through her writing notes with some sort of spell much longer. And never having much tact or much of a filter, he didn't even consider that maybe it wasn't polite to ask her about it - and since he wanted to know, he assumed he might as well just ask. "So you can't talk? That's kind of strange," he began, his tone very casual as he leaned forward closer to her, elbows resting on his knees. "I've never heard of that in the magical world before - healers couldn't do anything? How long have you been like that? Doesn't it get frustrating? That spell seems convenient though - what is it?" Her not being able to cut him off with words effectively gave him the chance to just keep talking until she found a way to stop him if she wanted him to stop.

Angela let out a sigh, which to everyone else just seemed like a puff of air. She was glad that Gryphon brushed off being startled; it had certainly not been her intentions. She smiled lightly as he continued to read her note, but at the same time she shifted uneasily; this was always the hardest part. Wait, what?

[/i] Though she had been looking away, Angela turned her attention back to Gryphon as he pronounced her name. An amused smile spread across her face. She hoped he didn’t think she was laughing at him, she could actually do that and you’d know what she was doing, but that wasn’t what was happening here. Eventually I’ll get him to say it right.[/i] She decided, but shrugged it off for now as he continued. As he noted that he name wasn’t British, she giggled which is to say her shoulders and chest moved without sound. Still smiling she shook her head and pursed her lips together the way she always did as she pointed her wand at the page again:

No, it’s French. My family is from France so naturally if I could talk I would have a French accent.

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Angela continued to smile as she cracked a joke at her own expense, you had to do that sometimes right? He’s kind of cute,[/i] she decided. It wasn’t easy to make her feel at ease, but suddenly she did. Even after learning what house she was in, Gryphon seemed to accept her and so far he didn’t seem like he was going to turn her in for being out past curfew. As he introduced himself Angela couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at him. He seemed rather full of himself which bothered her a little, but she decided to shrug it off; he was being nice to her so far. What confused her is why he hadn’t pointed out that he was also a Prefect? Anyone else would have, expecially anyone from Slytherin house. Wondering why he hadn’t told her, she thought about asking him, but decided not to. Either he’s waiting to pull it out if this turns out bad, or he didn’t mention it for my benefit; either way, I’ll be nice and not bring it up. I’m not ready to leave yet.[/i]

Just starting to enjoy herself, Angela allowed herself to shift from kneeling to a sitting position, crossing her legs and looking up at Gryphon sweetly. Then came the awkward part. Angela knew it would get brought up at some point, but apparently Gryphon had no tact because he just spit it out. Her smile slowly faded as he continued to rable on about her disability. Uneasily she shifted her weight and looked down at the stone floor again. It was only natural for someone to have questions about her, I mean even she would have questions if she saw this happening to someone else, but it never made the situation any easier. With a sigh she turned the page in her notebook and pointed her wand at the page:

I know it is strange. My parents took me to every healer possible, but no, obviously they couldn’t fix me.

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The way she worded her response made it sound like she was broken and in fact she thought she was. Granted she had gotten used to it over the years, it seemed no one ever would. Angela closed her eyes for a second and sighed again before she allowed her spell to continue:

I was born this way. The spell makes it easier to communicate, but yes it gets frustrating. In order to communicate with anyone they either have to know sign language or I have to make them read, like you are now. Apparently my disability is rare.

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Like most times, Angela started feeling embarrassed. To her it seemed she was a taking a long time to get her answer out which made her feel terrible. When her emotions went extreme in one way or another her Metamorph ability always surfaced. As she sat there, feeling more and more embarrassed, she didn’t notice that her hair started to turn red and not the natural color either:

When my parents found out there was no way to fix me, they went to the Ministry where they found a really old spell that transfers thought into writing. It’s been my lifeline in a way. It’s actually a combination of two spells: Adepto, which is the spell to acquire my thoughts. And then Scribo, is what allows me to project them onto almost any surface.

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As Angela finished her spell, she pursed her lips together tightly and looked over the page. Even though she was projecting her own thoughts sometimes even they were wrong. Satisfied as best she could be she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them, while holding the notebook in front of her so Gryphon could read it. Knowing this time would take longer, Angela lowered her head until it was resting on her knees, it was then that she noticed her hair as it fell around her shoulders. Really, you have to do this now? He probably already thinks I’m a freak.[/i] With a sigh she shook her head knowing the next thing she would have to address was her Metamorph ability and how she failed at that as well. If he doesn’t think you’re a loser by now then he will eventually. This night will end soon.[/i]

Angela felt miserable. When she first met Gryphon, until now, she had thought that maybe the night would turn out fine after all, but now she felt differently. First Angel decided to ditch her, which was unusual and now here she was telling someone for the billionth time that she was mute which was awkward enough, but on top of that her emotions were out of whack so of course that meant that she had no control of her ability. Naturally her evening was turning into a disaster. I should have just gone to bed when Angel didn’t show.[/i] She hugged her knees tighter, trying to fight the urge to burst into tears. As it was she felt them stinging her eyes, but she wasn’t about to cry in front of someone she just met. What a mess.[/i] Angela thought bitterly as she glanced up at Gryphon before burring her face again.[/blockquote]

Ah, French, that was it. That probably would have been Gryphon's guess if he had tried, maybe. He wasn't very good at all of these different European cultures, it was all very complicated and they all had strange names and it was enough of a struggle to get through British ones most of the time. For a moment he wondered curiously if her spell translated into English for her or something as well - like, maybe she thought in French, and then it came out in English, but he knew that was probably a bit ridiculous. After all, she could understand him clearly, so she obviously spoke English - no cheating there. Oh well. Might have been useful to him otherwise, he could have been a lot lazier writing papers at the very least. "Well, I'll try to just read everything you write with a French accent to make up for it, okay?" he then teased her lightly with a smile, showing that he meant no harm in what he said. Not that he could ever try to figure out specifically what a French accent was like anyway to do what he said, but she didn't need to know that.

Angela didn't respond to all of Gryphon's questions about her condition very quickly - she seemed quite concerned with reading over what she was writing for him very carefully, which confused the boy a bit. After all, you didn't get that much of a chance to filter yourself when you were speaking - you just spoke and words came out and that was it. No second guessing. But here she was proofreading what she was trying to tell him....maybe it was just because the subject was complicated or...something. He didn't really know, but he waited a bit impatiently for her response. He didn't mean to be unkind to her, but his natural restlessness was getting the better of him, and he hated few things more than silence. If he wasn't talking or reading one of her responses, he didn't know how to occupy himself effectively.

Finally, she showed him the parchment, and he leaned forward to carefully read her words. So they had taken her to healers; he had assumed as much, though it was incredibly strange that they still hadn't been able to help her at all. He had never heard of a condition that someone somewhere hadn't been able to fix, but then, he had never met someone who wasn't able to talk, either. It must have been something pretty rare. She also was nice enough to tell him about the spell, which he did find a bit intriguing - she was lucky that it had existed and someone had found it for her, or she probably wouldn't have been able to ever communicate with anyone that didn't speak sign language, which would have been quite inconvenient. Gryphon couldn't even imagine not being able to talk - he talked all the time, after all, and nothing or no one ever stopped him. Not having the ability to was just....horrible. He frowned unconsciously at the thought more than at her words, and found that her plight actually irritated him a lot. No one deserved this, let alone a pretty blonde girl in the magical world. It wasn't right.

....make that red-headed girl. When Gryphon glanced back up at Angela he saw that her hair colour had changed dramatically, and not to a natural shade of red, but to a very bright one. For a moment his eyes widened in confusion - had he completely made up that she was blonde? Was he really that tired? But he knew that there was no way that he could have been that wrong, he tended to remember attractive features and faces extremely well, and she had definitely been a blonde. And now she definitely wasn't any longer.

It seemed like Angela suddenly noticed the change too because she met his eyes only for a brief moment before she buried her face in her knees, but in that moment Gryphon had seen the telltale sign of tears - oh no. Why was she crying? He never knew how to handle crying girls and usually just left them to their own affairs, but that was only after he had been the one to make them cry for one reason or another (which seemed to happen more often than he cared to admit...) but in this case he hadn't done anything the could remember doing at least! Time to stop this before he lost control of the situation completely, because although this was not how he had imagined spending his evening, he didn't want to leave some girl crying on the steps alone, either.

"Angela," he then began, reaching out a hand and placing it on her arm firmly, "Hey. It's okay. So you can't talk - yeah, that's annoying and stuff, but at least you have a spell to help you and I hope everyone isn't a complete wanker about it. If they are it's their own fault, not yours." He wasn't sure exactly what to say, but he hoped that he was being consoling or whatever it was she needed so that she would feel better. Obviously there was more to this situation than what Gryphon knew, but he hoped he could help - making girls smile always pleased him greatly after all. "And besides, I like redheads even better than blondes!" he then added cheerfully, turning his charm up a little bit and hoping she appreciated it. He still wasn't totally sure what had happened with her hair but the magical world was full of strange things, and not a whole lot surprised him any more.

Even though she felt terrible, Angela managed a giggle (again, that is to say her shoulders moved without sound), at least Gryphon was being kind. It was she who was being all weird. With a sigh she looked up after drying the tears on her hoody sleeve. She gave Gryphon a sweet smile even though she was embarrassed. Out of the corner of her eyes she could still see the red of her hair even as he mentioned it and she pursed her lips tightly. At least he didn’t get weirded out by it. With a heavy, calming sigh she closed her eyes and concentrated on being calm. In her mind she went to her happy place, a trick that Angelique had thought her years ago when she had a particularly bad fit of uncontrollable changing. Angela saw herself laughing, audibly laughing, with her family as she and her sister went back and forth changing their appearances at will; that is what she would see in the Mirror of Erised.

Slowly, Angela felt a cold sensation, as if water were dripping down her long hair, which meant that her hair was changing. With another soft smile she opened her eyes and saw that only the tips remained red, but even they were seeping away. When at last all hints of red were gone, she managed to look at Gryphon again. He had been patient, and Angela had no idea how restless he really was. Finally, feeling slightly better, Angele took out the notebook again and pointed her wand at the page:

Sorry. Sometimes it’s hard meeting new people because I have to make them read. The spell is amazing.

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To that she shrugged, even though Gryphon wouldn’t know why until he read her message:

You know, if you wanted to know what I would sound like, you could always talk to my sister Angelique. We’re identical twins… And I mean Identical.

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Angela smiled, but again she knew Gryphon wouldn’t understand why until he read the message. All though I doubt they would get along. I wouldn’t really wish Angelique on anyone. Angela laughed inwardly, because she knew just how bad Angela was; then a thought occurred to her that hadn’t before.

You might actually know my sister, or you might have had a run in with her anyway. She’s really loud and is always sneaking out.

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Angela bit her lip and wondered if she should add what she was thinking, He already knows I’m out past cerfew, what could it hurt?:

I was actually supposed to meet her, that’s why I’m here, but she never showed. Anyway, she’s a Metamorphmagus, like me, but we call her Moody. I’m sure you’ve seen someone walking around with multicolored highlights?

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Most people had. Angelique wasn’t afraid to let her feelings show and she never filtered her thoughts. Angela had to admit that Gryphon was starting to remind her of Angelique which she wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Oh well, if nothing else I can try to hook them up. Inside she died laughing at the thought of anyone being able to tolerate her sister; it was even hard for her to do. With an amused smile she added:

Enough about my muffed up life. What about you Gryphon? I want to hear about you.

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Angela hated attention and Gryphon was being nice to her so far. Most people asked a million questions about her and she never got a chance to ask them anything so they ended up staying away from her after the first meeting. She wasn’t going to let that happen. Even if she had to force them to talk about themselves, she was going to get something out of them. Finally she turned the notebook towards Gryphon and sighed as she waited. I wish there was an easier way. She thought miserably. It was funny because she had never really thought that before, but with Gryphon she could tell the waiting was hard for him. It’s a good thing he doesn’t have to wait for me to write out anything. Thoughts are much easier to project.[/blockquote]

Before long, Angela's hair began to slowly fade back into the blonde it had been when Gryphon had first met her, and he watched with some level of intrigue. He had never seen anyone do that sort of thing that he could remember, so he found it a very curious skill indeed. "How do you do that?" he then asked her with a confused expression as he scratched his head, eyes narrowed. "Is that some sort of spell or something too?" He vaguely remembered that there were abilities or spells or potions or some combination of those things that allowed one to change one's appearance or something like that but he couldn't remember exactly. Gryphon wasn't great for retaining information on practical things like that, especially when they weren't things that directly affected him - and he had no desire to change his appearance. Why would he? He was quite pleased with himself on a daily basis, after all.

Gryphon found himself waiting again as Angela composed her next note to him, and he couldn't help but feel impatient. He knew that it wasn't her fault, and that it was the only way she could effectively communicate with him, and he did want to talk to her - but sitting still was just so difficult! Thus he found his gaze wandering around the area they were in, taking in the portraits as they moved about in their frames, the woodworking on the staircase, and of course, Angela herself. She definitely was pretty, and she had a nice figure too, made more prominent by her casual outfit rather than typical school robes that hid basically everyone behind many layers of fabric. He also began to unconsciously twitch a bit restlessly, though he wasn't aware of the action. He had just never had to wait any length of time to have a conversation before, and for someone like him with the attention span of a puppy, it was more difficult than he cared to admit.

Finally she showed him her next note and he leaned forward again to read it. "You don't have to apologize for writing notes, you know," he said with a frown as he read the first line, actually feeling a small twinge of guilt for his earlier impatience - a rare feeling for Gryphon, to ever feel guilty about anything. "You can't help it. If people don't like it, that's their own fault. Don't apologize for stuff you can't change anyway." He glanced up at her with a somewhat stern look in his dark eyes, but it quickly faded away and back into his usual expression as he read farther into the note.

"A sister...." he mused aloud as he absently rubbed the back of his neck in thought, his eyebrows crunching together in thought as he considered the name. Angelique....and an identical twin. Gryphon glanced back up at Angela's face again, wondering if he really had met her sister before. It was probably likely - he had recognized her when he saw her, but maybe he had also just been seeing Angelique as well and hadn't realized they were two separate people, different hairstyles or not. Girls changed their hair all the time, after all. He wouldn't put it past himself to have not really noticed that there were two of them....

"If she sneaks around a lot then yeah I've probably met her before," Gryphon then said with a shrug, pretty certain that he had run into one or the other or even both of them at least at some point. "You should ask her about me sometime; maybe she'd remember me a bit better." He didn't always remember everyone that he met, filling his life with so many different people, but he expected that everyone remembered him. He never considered that was a bit of a double standard.

And then he read the word Metamorphmagus and paused, trying to remember what that meant. "Uh....meta...meta....meta-whatever you wrote," Gryphon said, meeting her gaze once more with what felt like his 800th confused expression of the night. "Could you uh, maybe remind me what that means again? I uh, I don't always pay a lot of attention in class you see...." He trailed off a bit with a small chuckle. Angela was a Ravenclaw and she probably statistically speaking did not have a lot of respect for someone that didn't care that much about academics and quite frankly wasn't that great at them, and he didn't like when people didn't respect him, even if it was just for something small. But all the same, he did want to know what she was talking about.

As Gryphon read the last bit of Angela's note, he grinned. She had asked him about his absolute favourite subject - himself. "Well, it all started when I was born...." he began, and then laughed, offering a charming smile. "Just kidding. I don't really have anything that exciting. I was born in Tokyo, though, but my parents always wanted me to go to Hogwarts, so when I was 10 we moved to England. I'm a Pureblood, you see, so they knew if we lived here, I'd get my acceptance letter in due time, and I did indeed. I guess moving was kind of rough and having to make new friends and all that wasn't great, but it wasn't so bad and I like it here now. Been here ever since, just...doing my thing, I guess." He shrugged then, not entirely sure what she wanted to know, but he was smiling all the same. "I don't have a cool, romantic French accent though," he then added, smile turning to grin.

Angela smiled at his question, naturally she was eager keep talking to him so she took her notebook back and turned the page. Though this was all common to her, she still enjoyed helping people get to know her better:

I’m a Metamorphmagus.

Though it was obvious he was trying to hide it, Angela saw the telltale signs of being impatient. She saw his eyes wandering all around which only made it worse. Without meaning to, she pouted her lips and looked down at her knees again. Maybe I should just leave, she thought, but then Gryphon was speaking again.

Angela smiled. Though she knew how anxious he had been, he was being kind still. Maybe she wouldn’t have to leave after all. With a relaxed sigh, she looked up at Gryphon again. He was being really kind to her which was something she wasn’t used to. Another thing that she wasn’t used to was how long they’d been talking. No one stuck around as long as Gryphon had which made her believe it was only a matter of time before he decided he’d had enough. It was then that she saw the tern look on his face. What’s that about? But it faded away almost instantly. She knew he was right, she couldn’t make herself feel worse because everyone else didn’t care enough to give her a chance, but sometimes that was easier said than done.

I know. Just makes me feel like a pariah when I don’t have many friends.

Angela shrugged, maybe if she wasn’t so shy she would have more. Then He addressed her sister. As he thought, Angela looked at him and smiled, biting her lip. He’s cute when he thinks, she mused as he rubbed his neck and scrunched his eyes. She giggled to herself and absentmindedly looked around her. It felt weird just sitting at the bottom of the stairs, in the open where anyone could walk by and see them. The thought of getting caught sent chills down her spine and made her want to find a new place to talk, but not knowing how much longer they were going to be eachothers company kept her rooted to the spot. Angela giggled when Gryphon mentioned asking Angelique about him.

She probably wouldn’t remember you specifically, she hardly ever does. The most she says is that a prefect busted her again.

Angela frowned and shook her head.

She bugs me sometimes. I don’t care if she is my sister. She’s bitch.

Angela loved her sister, but she was still angry with Angelique for ditching her earlier. There would be words come morning. Angela frowned and wrinkled her nose, but forced the uncomfortable expression away as he fumbled over her ability. It was funny to hear him try and say the name of her ability. Though it probably looked weird, she laughed wholeheartedly. Her eyes glistened with amusement as she turned her attention back to the notebook.

Being a Metamorphmagus means I can change my appearance. It’s something I was born with, but I’m not very good. I can’t change at will like Angelique or rather anyone else can. My ability only presents itself when my emotions are at their extremes.

Maybe I shouldn’t have admitted that. She thought, but brushed it off. When her hair had changed she had been feeling embarrassed and now she wondered if Gryphon would ask her about it. If he does, oh well, it isn’t like I’ve never been asked before. She sighed and looked at him again. It was funny to hear him admit that he couldn’t remember about her ability from classes, but she didn’t mind. Nor was she about to tease or make fun of him for it. Teasing wasn’t really in her nature when it came to someone else, now she would tease at her own expense as Gryphon would soon find out.

Being from Ravenclaw, studying came somewhat easy to her, but she didn’t expect it to be the same for everyone. Her sister was an acceptation, but she wasn’t about to fault Gryphon for letting a bit of information slip his mind. What were the odds that he was actually going to use the memory of what he learned about Metamorphagi? Until Angela came along, he was probably never going to have to recall it again, well apart from maybe a short exam essay or something like that. I just ruin everything, she teased with a smile. Her smile grew as he talked about himself and then ended with a jab at her heratige which only made her grin wider.

Neither do I.

She teased, see told you she’d get to that.

Do you wish you could go back? To Tokyo I mean. What are your future plans? What do you like most about Hogwarts? What do you like about being a Prefect?

She knew she was asking a lot of questions, but since she’d written them out Gryphon could address them at will. Angela was just glad to have someone to talk to that she wanted to get to know what she could about him while she still had his company. Though she knew this meeting wouldn’t go very far, she wanted to keep it going as long as she could, it was nice to have someone to talk to. I just hope he doesn’t get offended or scared off by all my questions. She frowned slightly. Maybe I should explain why I’m asking so many.

Sorry, being mute, I don’t get many conversations with interesting people.

Nailed it! Flattery was always a good thing and with Gyrphon it seemed to be a great thing. Maybe this will turn into a long night.

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Note;; Not that happy with this post, sorry >.< My muse only half wanted to wake up

Gryphon saw Angela frowning and frowned himself - was she upset talking to him? He thought he was being quite charming and nice but she didn't seem very happy. Maybe she was just tired or something, but then, she was the one out of bed this late at night. Maybe she was one of those people that didn't like Slytherins or something. It certainly couldn't be him himself, could it? It always managed to get under Gryphon's skin when he thought someone didn't like him for whatever reason because he could never think of a good reason for them not to. And then he would just get frustrated. He forced himself to just think that Angela was tired because it was the least offensive solution to the problem, and tried to move on.

But then she said that she had few friends and Gryphon's smile only deepened. While he typically only cared about himself, he still didn't like seeing other people that were alone. He did approach everyone out of his own constant need for socialization, but he specifically approached people that were by themselves in an attempt to give them the socialization he always thought they needed as well whether they knew it or not. The thought of anyone not having very many friends was one that he didn't like, and at least thus far, Angela had seemed non-offensive enough. If it was about her inability to physically talk...well, that just made him a bit angry. "I don't see why you wouldn't have very many friends," Gryphon then said pointedly, his expression clearly pouting on her behalf, "You're a nice girl and you're very pretty. So you can't talk - big deal. It's not like you can't communicate at all and you're clearly not stupid. People should just...appreciate you more." Gryphon trailed off then, not knowing exactly how to voice what he was trying to say, but hoped that Angela would understand his vicarious frustration...somehow.

When Gryphon's eyes scanned over Angela's words about her sister probably not remembering him as more than just some Prefect, his eyes widened into a look of shock - and it was genuine, not feigned. "You really think she'd be able to forget me if we met?" he then asked Angela, clearly fretting a bit over the thought before he shook his head. "I'm sure that if I've met her I'd have made more of an impression than that though, so she probably would. You should ask her; ask her about me, even if she doesn't remember my name I'm sure she'll remember my face. Though admittedly...." he trailed off for a moment before he grinned despite his fear that someone possibly might not care enough to remember who he was, and when he spoke again he did a rather theatrical whisper, "I don't really bust a lot of people if we're being honest. I got busted enough times myself so I let a lot of things just kind of...go." And with that, he winked rather knowingly at her; after all, that was exactly what was happening at the moment...

Gryphon did laugh at Angela's description of her sister, back to smiling again like he had been before. "Well, maybe it would be best if she didn't remember me then," he then teased, shaking his head until his hair fell into his eyes. He quickly pushed it back from his face with a slightly annoyed glance at it, like it had greatly offended him somehow by being so forward, but the moment was over as quickly as it had begun once he had regained control.

The Slytherin boy read Angela's description of her ability with narrowed eyes as he struggled to keep his mind focused on what he was reading - even though he was curious, and he had asked, it was difficult to pay attention to anything that his brain deemed as 'academic' and thus he really had to concentrate. But then he vaguely, very vaguely, remembered learning about something like this in some class at...some point in his academic career. He nodded then in understanding. "That's pretty cool, actually, being able to change how you look; maybe someday you'll be able to control it better and then you'd be able to do like, crazy stuff with your appearance if you wanted!" His nodding became more vigorous as Gryphon's imagination clearly began to run with the idea of changing one's appearance at will, even though he didn't have a desire to change his own; it was still a whimsical thing to imagine.

And then finally Angela was smiling and that only made Gryphon smile more - especially because her smile had only grown when he talked about himself. Anyone that wanted to hear about him pleased him greatly and his ego only grew. He laughed at her response about her own lack of a French accent, his eyes glinting rather playfully now that she was finally teasing him back a bit. "Well, it's probably good that you don't; I can't understand a lot of the accents people have here well, but I can read just fine. Usually." Another wink, another grin. He was certainly on a roll for after midnight.

A thoughtful look crossed the Prefect's face when she asked him what he wanted to do with his future - in truth, he hadn't thought about it much, living in the moment didn't leave a lot of room for considering what he would do after school. But he knew it was something he should probably start thinking about; when they graduated, he would have to make some big decisions whether he liked it or not. The thought actually made him feel a bit sick, but he quickly pushed the feeling away and focused on answering Angela's questions instead - she had asked him a lot of things about himself, and himself was still his favourite subject, after all. "Don't apologize for talking to me, Angela," Gryphon decided to first address her final statement, "I can't help that I'm interesting though, so it's fine if you're curious." He paused to smile, and the smile was genuine, reaching even his eyes, before he answered more thoughtfully, "Sometimes I guess I wish I could go back, yeah," Gryphon finally replied as he cocked his head to the side a bit, realizing that his words were true. "I do like London a lot, but it's not the same as Tokyo. I don't know though; I haven't been there since I was ten, so it might be very different than I remember." He shrugged. "I guess I'll have to go back and find out. Maybe after graduation - will depend on if there is anything to keep me here." Non-committal, as always.

"When it comes to Hogwarts - well, it's certainly not the classes I like the most," Gryphon laughed a bit dryly; that was something she could probably already have gathered without him having to tell her. "I guess I like being away from my parents the most - far away. Even though my mother likes to send me Howlers a lot, but I've gotten better at ignoring them over the years. And I do like all the food." He smiled then, realizing he was actually a bit hungry - hopefully he still had some sweets from Hogsmeade somewhere in his dorm room, or at the very least, one of the other boys did that he could easily find. He made a mental note to check on that as soon as he got back.

One more question - but it was the one that Gryphon actually wasn't extremely keen on answering. He hoped that didn't show in his eyes though as they glazed over a bit in thought. He did like being a Prefect; he liked the power it gave him, over other people. Over what they did. It gave him a level of control he wouldn't have otherwise - but he couldn't hardly say that to Angela. "Being a Prefect gets me a lot of....respect," he finally settled with with a curt nod, before bouncing her questions right back at her and hopefully avoiding any questions about his last response. "What about you? Are you going back to France when you're done here? Maybe try to get away from your sister?"

Angela knew she was weird, or that people thought that she was weird. Because she couldn’t express herself vocally she tended to make a lot of facial expressions. Her sister had always told her she was cute, but Angela was never sure if it was a genuine comment or a condescending one. Angela had learned long ago to take everything Angelique said with a grain of salt. It wasn’t that Angelique said stuff to be mean, she was just brutally honest and a lot of the time her opinion didn’t match what other people thought. Being sisters with someone like Angelique was hard, but being her twin was even harder. Angela knew she needed to try and turn this around, Gryphon was being super nice to her and he she was still being all shy and socially awkward. With a shy she smiled, randomly, but it was the sweetest one she could manage. It was late and if she wanted to keep his attention she was going to have to keep him interested.

Though it was apparent that he didn’t really like reading, Angela was glad he was taking the time. She knew she needed more friends, and the way things were going she felt Gryphon might be one. Though she found him to be rather adorable, and she figured he would hate that description, she told herself that a relationship was the last thing that she needed, who would want to be with her anyway? As Angela watched him react to her statement about not having a lot of friends, she was surprised. Was he smiling? This deeply confused her, was he making fun of her? Looking at him she tilted her head to the side and scrunched up her face as she often did when she tried to figure something out. The way he pouted made her want to smile. It made him even more adorable and she just wanted to open up a little more because he was being so sweet. As she listened to him defend her Angela was stunned. Her mouth fell open in surprise. Her head still tilted to the side, her eyes bugged and her mouth opened probably made her look like a frog or something. Had he really just been said that? It took her several seconds of surprise before she was able to smile, actually smile, her most winning thing. Hastily she turned the page of her notebook and pointed her wand at the page. Now it was her turn to be anxious. This was one message she had to rush because she wanted Gryphon to read it.

Wow, I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me! Thank you. That right there made this night worthwhile. Believe me, at first I felt the same way that you did, but I eventually got over it because again I thought the same way as you. I think I’m awesome.

As she used her spell her smile grew. She actually felt giddy. It was hard to sit still so she ended up just bouncing up and down a little and shaking her head. She bit her lip and smiled again. Angela hadn’t been that happy in a long time.

Not in a conceded way, I just feel I have a lot to offer someone. Again thank you.

Not really caring what the words looked like as long as the meaning got across she didn’t even look over the words. Quickly, still smiling she showed the page to Gryphon and looked at him still smiling. Angela was suddenly glad that she had met Gryphon. It was hard for her to talk to anyone, but Gryphon was making it really easy. And then he moved on to talking about Angelique. The feeling she got made her want to frown, but she refused to show how talking about her sister was affecting her. It was actually comical to watch how upset he got when he thought that Angelique wouldn’t remember him. It made her want to giggle, but she refused to make him think she was teasing him. As he continued going on about it she lost her control and actually laughed. She threw her head back and laughed, without sound naturally, but she felt her stomach contort with the effort. When she recovered it was in time to hear him say he didn’t bust a lot of people and wink at her. Taking the page back she pointed her wand at it, a smile still on her face.

Don’t worry I’ll ask her. You don’t have to worry about it. I guess it’s a good thing you don’t bust a lot of people otherwise I’d be in a lot of trouble. I don’t do this that often, but I’m glad I did.

Again without reading over her words, she showed him the page and blushed, but refused to look away. So what if it said she was glad that she was breaking the rules, she was glad she had company and she was glad it was Gryphon. Then he was talking about how her ability was pretty cool. It was funny to see him get excited about her own ability. It was cute to see him nod more and more enthusiastically as he apparently thought about the idea of being able to change ones appearance. She giggled and pointed her wand at the page again.

Yeah, Angelique uses her ability for pranks a lot actually. A few years ago she actually pretended to be me in front of some people and actually had them believing I could talk. They came up to me a few days later and tried to start up an obviously hilarious conversation that apparently happened while Angelique was pretending to be me. When they realized it was actually me the didn’t know what to say and just walked away.

Angela shrugged and laughed. The night was turning out to be rather fun. She showed Gryphon the latest passage and hoped he would laugh as much as she was. It was entertaining to her now, but at the time it hadn’t been. Actually, she had gotten really mad at her sister when she figured out what had happened, but it turned out to be funny. She smiled as she thought about it and then Gryphon was talking about himself. Apparently he had no problem doing that, but Angela liked it. She wanted to know what she could about anyone, she figured if she got to know them maybe they would take the time to get to know her. Gryphon was interesting to her and she enjoyed talking to him and hearing about him. He was top notch in her book. Then he was asking about her and what she would do… What would she do? It took a long time of her thinking, but she finally had a answer.

Actually, I don’t think I would go back to France. It doesn’t feel like home to me. Angelique might. She always talked about teaching at Beauxbatons, but I doubt they would have her. It would be hard to be away from her, but I’d manage I guess. She’s the only one who knows my language and having her around makes me feel safe. I’m sure it would be hard at first, but I would figure it out.

Not sure what else to say, Angela turned the paper back to Gryphon and waited; no smile on her face this time.

Note:: Not sure I'm happy with this one, my Angela muse took forever!