All I Need Is An Awakening [Open]

[Alek Vladescu]

Alek stared disinterestedly at the broom stick that was held in his hands, he had been encouraged to play Quidditch. It was a wizarding sport that was widely participated in but he couldn’t quite understand what the point was to play such a trivial game when there were so many other things to partake in that could be useful for the future. He scoffed and he laughed when he ever saw the games between the houses and the broomstick, one of the newer models, had been sent to him for his birthday had always been sitting underneath his bed in the dormitories, better suited to sweeping the place up rather then flying.

He was a natural in everything, or at least he tried to pull it off as he was and some of his other year mates had taunted him saying that he was afraid of what? What was there a Vladescu should be afraid of? Besides the treachery and death of course, heights were hardly a thing to be scared of and he was determined to prove such. To himself first, to others later because he was definitely not sure whether or not he could ride this stupid broom and he was not about to make a fool of himself in front of others. That was just not respectful and his dignity would be out the window. There wasn’t much he could do standing on the ground any ways, he sighed, staring at the broom once again, almost tempted to just turn around and head back to the dormitories to sleep in.

It was early in the morning; he had chosen the moment precisely because he knew that with it being Saturday, there would be no classes for him or any other students to be rushing too. It also meant that the majority of the students would be sleeping. End of the year tests were coming close and most students of Hogwarts were spending time studying instead of sleeping – or in other cases, partying rather then studying. He would have been among the people partying, enjoying his freedom while he had any left – if he had any at all, to begin with but alas, he wanted to be top of his class. He would not fail and studying was the only way to make sure of that. But freedom was always taunting him, so elusive; he knew that once the term ended he would be heading back to his home in Belgium, where the Vladescu clan would be watching him closely and so would his enemies.

Another sigh slipped past his lips, as if he were irritated before he held the broom out in front of him and swung his leg over one side, mounting it. How hard could this possibly be, considering that other people made it look so easy, he had read books on this already. It would be easy, a simple little thing he would master before shoving it in other people’s faces. His hands gripped the wooden part of the room assuredly, everything he did was always backed by his supreme confidence that he would do well and with just the slightest thought, he began flying, a bored expression on his face once again. He was just sitting there floating and he knew that while this might prove that he was not afraid of heights, they would find other taunts to meet him with. He was not impressed with the way they treated him or such fragile insults they conjured up to make themselves feel better. He was beneath all of that, he shouldn’t have worried at all.

But confidence has the habit of getting knocked askew sometimes.

A horrible little habit of his, to doubt everything he had done, to doubt everything he would do. It was a rare, momentary slip into the young boy he had been before the mind he held now demanded that he was a ridiculous fool and he was pulled back into the future. A neutral expression was on his face as he gently steered the flying device around the Quidditch stadium but slowly, a smile was forming as he flew around longer, enjoying the feel of the air messing his hair up a bit. Enjoying just being up here, being so far above people, it was like all his problems disappeared and truly, all thoughts of his friends, enemies and family – they just all disappeared like they never existed.

Alek Vladescu was amused for once.

But he should have known better then let his guard down.

[Cassandra Barboza]

Cassandra Barboza: Hogwart's resident backstabbing, two-faced, lying bitch. Sweet on the outside, yes, but sour on the inside. Oh so sour. She had a good childhood - her parents spoiled her and as a result, she expected the same sort of treatment here at Hogwarts. She realized that she needed to manipulate others to get her way, but only a few white lies were needed for people to do things at her beck and call. Blackmail was actually fun, once she realized to separate her feelings of slight guilt from the actual deed. Eventually, she became so desensitized from what she was doing to others that she became the bitch she was now known for. She enjoyed her reputation as queen over everyone in her year and below, but wasn't tactless enough to try to take over the older years... At least, not until she could get enough dirt on them so that they too would bow down to her.

But when things didn't go her way, Cassandra got very mad very quickly. If her eyes could change colors, they would change to dark red, and her hair would flare behind her. She didn't take rejection of any kind well, and usually when she was mad, she got even. What this meant was that when people wanted to see if they could upstage her (though few were so stupid as to try such a thing), she usually would come out on top. She was a Barboza, and her family had always taught her "Don't get mad, get even." So technically, she was only doing what her mom would have wanted her to do - get even.

Cass was particularly furious this afternoon because her current minion, an innocent third year Ravenclaw girl, had decided to be snarky and not do the homework she had promised to do for Cass. This included all essays for History of Magic, Charms, and Transfiguration - classes that Cass could easily pass if she gave a crap. But she was a Slytherin and this girl was a Ravenclaw. Weren't Ravenclaws bookworms anyways? She probably enjoyed doing Cass's coursework. But, for the moment, she obviously didn't, giving the excuse that her own grades were suffering because she had spent all her time doing the assignments Cass had given her to do. Cass, unfazed by her sudden courage, decided to get even now. She knew where the Ravenclaw Dormitories were - a Tower that wasn't too far from the Quidditch Pitch. If she focused her energy, she could hit a bludger in this girl's dorm room.

Cass grabbed her useless broomstick (it was only useless since Quidditch at Hogwarts was currently nonexistant) and her beater bat from the Slytherin locker room. As she walked out to the field, she noticed another person already flying but paid no attention to him. She released the bludger from the case and kicked off the ground, following it with her beater's bat raised. Her hair flew behind her, which was the only upside to quidditch: the wind pushed her hair back and she could have windswept hair all the time. As she neared the bludger, she swung her bat back and connected with the ball, letting out a loud CRACK upon contact. The ball did not hit the target, but Cassandra was sufficiently less ticked off. Now that she was able to contain herself, she decided to make a practice out of the occasion. To be considerate, she flew over to the other figure in the air and decided to play nice for once. "I'm going to practice hitting bludgers here. I hope you don't mind because if you do, that's too bad."

[Alek Vladescu]

Crack!

Immediately, Alek’s head snapped around to check where the source of the noise was coming from and whether or not he was in danger. His left hand was gripping tightly to the broom as his right snuck into the inside of his robe, groping for his wand that he kept tuck inside there. His hand was holding onto the broom so tightly that his hand was becoming slightly white. He had let his guard down, a fatal mistake, he knew he should have never ventured up here – would have thought that he was safe for a little while. But one must never assume anything, that’s when mistakes were made because people generally assumed that the enemy was stupid, that they were ahead of whoever their opponent was. His flickering eyes finally settled on somebody else, where the noise had apparently came from. She held a bat in her hand, one that was used for hitting one of those ridiculous balls in the Quidditch game. Apparently she had been practicing or something, still he wasn’t quite happy that he had acted like that.

He should have responded more calmly, he should have realized just what was happening and shrugged it off without giving it a single thought. Clearly, there were several things he should have done but hadn’t and there was nothing to do now because unfortunately, he could not turn back time. Otherwise he would have changed a lot of things by now but time turners weren’t just lying around the place for any Hogwarts student to take and run off with. Albeit, he would have to admit that it probably would have been fun if he had his hands on one – or any magical artefact for that matter. Objects with powers that the students of Hogwarts could only dream since whom in their right mind would trust children with such things? Well, in a way, they weren’t children as they went through the years here – they became adolescent teens, adults when they were in their last year even.

But that was beside the point; no one would have him such a thing, even as much as he wanted it. Like right now, for this kind of situation, with this kind of blunder. He couldn’t believe he had been so frightened or some little crack, in fact, he was internally mocking himself now, chiding, like a scolding parent except that he was scolding himself and that he would never see his parents again. If only he could say he would never see an authority figure again, that would have been nice. No, nice wouldn’t have been able to describe the ecstatic feeling that would have been building within him and that nobody would ever see. It would have been brilliant, “awesome”, as the Americans would have said.

"I'm going to practice hitting bludgers here. I hope you don't mind because if you do, that's too bad."

It felt like time had slowed down for him to process what was going on, at least, his perception of time had slown down that he was somewhat jolted when he realized the girl had flown over here and was telling him something. He was slow on his feet - or not on his feet in this case but his mind was running back up to speed so that the thought was processed quickly, as if mere moments before he hadn't been somewhat - more then somewhat - terrified of the loud noise her bat had made on contact with the bludger ball. Apparently she had no concern as to whether or not he liked it better when she wasn’t here and hitting things loudly.

“Whatever.” He replied back, head turning back to concentrate on his own thing, which wasn’t a lot considering this was among one of the first times he had ever hopped on a broom. It’s why he was currently making sure that while he was flying and even though his back was sort of turned towards her, he could see what she was doing out of the edges of his vision. Besides, who knew just what she planned to do with those dangerous balls besides practice.

[Cassandra Barboza]

Cass hadn't even looked at the guy that she was so close to hitting. It wasn't important, it wasn't necessary, and she wasn't here to make friends. In fact, she probably wasn't ever going to make a true friend at Hogwarts, especially since she hated trying to make an effort at being someone she wasn't. Then again, this was a complete contradiction of her actions: she always pretended she was nicer than she really was. She never tried to actually see if a person was nice or not, she just wanted to see if she could use them for their a) money, b) power, c) social status, or d) secrets. If anyone had known any better, they might have seen that Cass wasn't the type of person they should ever be around. At least this guy had enough wits to him not to annoy Cass.

She flew up higher as she saw the bludger round a corner and come towards her. Her eyes narrowed and she clenched her jaw as it neared. She imagined that the bludger was that stupid Ravenclaw's head as she reared back her arm to swing again. As the bat collided, she noticed the bludger heading straight towards the guy she had just scared off. Her eyes widened: sure Cass was malicious, hateful, spiteful, and a downright bitch, but she wasn't the type of girl to openly expect physical harm upon others, especially people that she didn't even have any malice towards. Now I have to take care of this mess. She opened her mouth slightly before full out yelling, "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

She should have just told him to get off the field. She had a reputation for being mean so what he thought of her wouldn't affect her feelings. At least she wouldn't have had to worry about him being a liability. What if the bludger hit him now? He would definitely be mincemeat. He would at least be knocked off of his broom, and at this height, any type of fall would be deadly. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Cass thought of a few other words that were not family friendly and bit her lip. She decided to fly under where he was flying, just in case he decided to be an idiot and not move out of the way. The bludger was moving awfully fast, so she would have to fly on her stupid outdated broom all the way to where he was sitting. This would take a lot of speed, something her broom wasn't equipped for.

As she flew, she brought her limbs closer to the broomstick to reduce wind resistance. Her eyes were stuck in a glare as she tried to keep them from tearing from the flying particles of God knows what. She felt a piece of hair stick to her teeth and she snarled slightly. It was another thing to distract her from the stupid problem at hand. Her long flowing hair was only an obstacle at this point and she furiously felt that it needed to be chopped off, right that moment. She was about to pull out her wand when she realized that her wand alone could help her with the problem at hand. "Protego!" she cried, creating a shield around the boy above. Duh. The bludger bounced off the shield and ricocheted back to the Ravenclaw Tower where it hit the wall with a loud bang.

She looked up at him with a discontent visage. "You could have made this easier for me by moving, you know." She looked away and found a tie for her hair. As she put it up, the long straight hair flowed from the ponytail. "I'm Cassandra."

[Alek Vladescu]

”MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!”

Alek could see it coming towards him.

The disdainful bludger ball that she had hit earlier, the one that had frightened him, was this time coming towards him and being an actual threat instead of a noise that might signal one. In fact, it was coming so fast that his body had seized up and he wasn’t quite sure what to do. All thoughts of using magic or getting out of the way, as the other girl, had so delightfully suggested in a loud yelling voice, disappeared from his mind. It was empty and it was like he was a sitting duck as it got closer and closer, he should react – some rational part of mind demanded that he shift his broom so that he was out of danger’s way. Some rational part of his mind demanded that his hand dive into his pocket to pull out of his wand and stop the bludger.

Some rational part of his mind wasn’t here today.

Contact would hurt, not to mention the fall to the ground because there would be no way that he would manage to keep his grips on his broom after such a blow. He would be unconscious or in too much pain to even care whether or not he kept a hold on the wooden object. It all could be prevented, just move, his mind yelled at him, screamed at him to move but his body was just not reacting. He was freezing up in the moment, his mind flashing through several scenarios. All of which could have been prevented if his body would listen to the commands, the good orders, that were being sent through his system. Move, damn it. Move. It was then, somehow, he came out of the comical daze he was in. He came out of it, but it would have been too late for him to do anything at this point anyways and in the end, his saviour was the girl who had aimed the stupid ball at him to begin with.

He tilted his head to the side slightly, watching as the bludger deflect off the shield the other student had yelled the incantation too. It ended up hitting the Ravenclaw Tower, making a horrible noise along with it and he had no doubt that bits of the tower would be falling down to the ground from such an attack and he would feel sorry for anyone, if there was anyone, walking underneath there.

”You could have made this easier for me by moving, you know.” [...] “I’m Cassandra.”

Alek watched her tie her hair up, now that the danger was over he could actually take a second to breath and respond to the girl that had introduced herself, Cassandra was her name apparently. “Now where would the fun have been in that if I moved?” His voice was inquisitive and a little smile played on his lips. He had assumed, albeit even though assumptions were bad, that she wouldn’t have cared if she hit him with the bludger considering the way she had acted minutes prior to the situation. He had assumed that because of his inability to conjure up a coherent thought in such an act, he would be lying in the hospital for several weeks on end. If he survived, his last thought would have been of his disgusting Uncle, knowing that he had somehow fallen into his trap – whether it was actually his or not, it didn’t matter.

“Making you fly over here in a rush to save me was so much entertaining and I must clap for you,” and he did mockingly clap for her, “it was an amusing performance. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cassandra, I’m Alek.”

[Cassandra Barboza]

“Now where would the fun have been in that if I moved?”

Cass could already see that he was going to be a problem.

She had never had a truly witty banter with anyone before, mostly because the other would concede defeat quickly. But this boy was different - he was actually smart. For once. She glowered at him for a moment before thinking about what to say back, and for once she was so surprised by his comeback that she wasn't able to think of a retort. She looked up at him and cocked an eyebrow before turning away again. The nerve of him, to even try to sass Cass. As she let out a sigh, she knew he would have to be dealt with in a battle of the wits. The smarter of the two would come out on top, until their next duel. And Cass wasn't going to lose.

“Making you fly over here in a rush to save me was so much entertaining and I must clap for you,” and he did mockingly clap for her, “it was an amusing performance. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cassandra, I’m Alek.”

Ha. Ha. Oh, did he have a sense of humor. At least Cass knew that the two of them would never actually become friends - she wasn't friends with a joker of any sort. She hadn't even taken a proper look at his face because looking at it for too long would make her even more furious than she already was. That little tango with danger was enough for her, and she did not want to be some nice person just because she had almost knocked this guy off his broom. He hadn't even moved! What kind of idiot didn't move when a bludger was coming towards them at the speed of light? Clearly, he needed to have his head examined.

Using air quotes, Cass retorted with a sickeningly sweet tone. "'So much entertaining' is your lack of grammar. You do speak English, right?" Cass smirked at him and flew up so that she was finally at his level. She was going to come out on top during this verbal spar, and to do that, she had to at least be at Alek's level. "Well, Alek, the pleasure is all yours." In a completely out of character move, Cass asked a question that she knew only a lame-ass Hufflepuff would ask. "What brings you out to the Pitch?" She paused, before adding the Cassandra tang to the end of her question. "Did daddy say you were a bad boy and put you on a timeout?" She made a baby face at him before realizing how utterly stupid she sounded.

[Alek Vladescu]

Alek glowered, caught off guard that she had some retort that was directed at his pattern of speech. He believed that being superior meant that one was not only just superior through lineage but that of intelligence and vocabulary. The previous moment he had been quite content but now he was not a “happy camper” as the Americans would say. The North Americans, the people that lived on that continent, had many odd terms that they often used that had to make him scoff. He had spent a summer there before and had been quite relieved when he was allowed back home. He doubted he would have been able to survive any longer there with their treacherous terms and vulgarity, just the thought of them made him shudder. He was glad that he was born in Belgium, in fact, he was just glad he was born around these parts rather then over there.

“You’ve got a sharp tongue.” He stated flatly, obviously stating the obvious. Amusement flashing in his eyes for a moment as she flew up to his level and rambled off about the pleasure being all his. He had tried to be charming to the girl that he now owned a dept to, once that he would find a way to somehow relieve himself of. He was sly, he was ambitious but he was also honourable and a gentlemen at some points. Honourable enough to acknowledge the fact that he would be on the floor right now, unconscious or howling in pain if it weren’t for her quick thinking and saving him. He knew that. He had tried to be charming but apparently, she wasn’t all in the mood to act nice.

“Daddy’s a bit too tied up right now.” He replied back, his voice bored but sarcasm was slowly seeping into it. It was true, father, as he preferred to use the more formal term rather then the informal one, was tied up with something another. It was not just that Alek, nor any other member of the clan, knew just what his father was up too – if he was alive to be up too anything. At any rate, he doubted his father would ship him off to the Quidditch Pitch of all places for a time out. He didn’t know the meaning of such a juvenile word. While he was not technically an adult yet, he preferred to think of himself as one because he was born and bred to be a leader after all. He was most definitely spoiled, time outs were not something he knew of – no, physical punishment, that was something he could understand. Time outs just seemed too...kiddish and it had been deemed long ago that he was not that.

“Besides,” He finally started talking again, his eyes flickering to stare at something other then Cassandra, “why in the world would he take interest in whatever ‘trouble’ I got up to here at Hogwarts. Troubles I would get up too, he would approve of.” At least he hoped his father would have.

[Cassandra Barboza]

Cass smirked, knowing that the only thing Alek could do was retort back to her with a remark that was no where near as witty as anything she had to say. She was clearly superior when it came to her word choice (or rather, her witty comebacks) and time would only tell if she was superior in other aspects. She couldn't underestimate him, however. He could have come up with something completely genius (but if it were genius, Cass would never admit to it). She never willingly admitted that someone had one-upped her. She would deny it at all costs. To her, losing was a sign of weakness. Weakness to her meant that she could be broken and taken advantage of. She would be the equivalent of a Hufflepuff that she normally took advantage of.

"You've got a sharp tongue."

Cass rolled her eyes. "Thank you for that bit of information, Captain Obvious." Ok, so she was sarcastic. There was nothing new there! She had always been sarcastic, though sometimes she really did mean a lot of the things she said. She wasn't concerned that he had taken her comments seriously, that was just the way she was and she wasn't about to retract any statement because someone was mildly offended. And she had him at her disposal - he was not indebted to her. She did save his life though she had put him in that position as well. At least she knew that he recognized that he was in debt to her. He had even tried to charm her, though it failed miserably. Cass tended to look through that stuff.


“Daddy’s a bit too tied up right now.”

She knew how that felt.

Her parents had always been there for her, sure, but she had never really created any sort of relationship with them. Her mother had often tried to understand what magic was like, but Cass never had the time nor patience to try to explain that she could do magic because she had magic blood in her. After a while, her mother never talked to her about magic because the topic just created a further rift between them. Her parents were rich as well, but it was only in muggle money. She knew that at Hogwarts, real social status depended on blood status and pureblood gold. Pureblood families had so much old money in their families and that resulted in them becoming infinitely rich. She had begun to have a minor obsession with finding out who her real parents were, just so she could brag if she actually did have pureblood parentage.

“Besides,” He finally started talking again, his eyes flickering to stare at something other then Cassandra, “why in the world would he take interest in whatever ‘trouble’ I got up to here at Hogwarts. Troubles I would get up too, he would approve of.” At least he hoped his father would have.

"So you seek the approval of your father? How... fitting." She wasn't exactly sure how to respond to him, especially since he seemed visibly bothered by this. "Are you getting mushy over this? Honestly, all I did was save your life and you act like it's a confessional?" Cass darted her eyes back to the ground which was at least twenty feet away.

[Alek Vladescu]

"Thank you for that bit of information, Captain Obvious."

A smile crossed his face briefly, albeit the situation he was in wasn't the most of comfortable of ones, he was enjoying it. She was no different from the people that he was expected, basically forced to hang out with because these were his peers, these would be the people that he would form alliances, grudges and do several other things in the future with whether it be as enemies or friends. Every little word, every little thing from school could impress a relationship in the future. It's the one thing he kept in mind when he struggled to not take people out with a punch or something as disgraceful as that. In fact, thinking on it now, he could hardly imagine himself doing something as such “down and dirty” as that, he was verbal rather then physical most days.

He would fight, and he could fight, if he had too but it was unusual to see such a thing happening. He supplied people with information about him and his life and how he was like but it was the rare surface of everything about him. Sure, certain peers – Slytherin students – would no certain information into his family, would know him. It was simply because a lot of kids were trained to recognize the pureblood family names and to befriend the children of said family. They were all part of some bigger plan, he supposed, that none of them really understood but partook in it anyways. But nobody would ever know him. He simply would not allow that, friends could turn into enemies and vice versa. Too much information and it can easily be used against you, not something he was interested in seeing happen to him.

"So you seek the approval of your father? How... fitting." She wasn't exactly sure how to respond to him, especially since he seemed visibly bothered by this. "Are you getting mushy over this? Honestly, all I did was save your life and you act like it's a confessional?" Cass darted her eyes back to the ground which was at least twenty feet away.

"Hardly. Approval, why bother?" He felt like flopping backwards, imagining a bed underneath him rather then a broom and the fact that he was several feet up in the air and that letting his strict posture fall backwards would mean he would slip and fall. That was not an experience he was planning on letting himself enjoy. “I have high standards for myself; I don’t need some approval from a parent that is dead for all I care.”

He could only help but care a little bit though. Emotions were familiarly bottled up; emotions were something that clouded the mind, made judgements a little bit off. Dangerous decision were formed then and while he could be reckless at times, he was always calculating his position in it all, made sure he had an escape from it all because it would not be his most..favourite dream to let his Uncle take over. Evidently she was noticing how he was reacting to the mention of his father, apparently as tightly reigned as he held his emotions, they still seeped out. Unacceptable.

“A confessional? I don’t even know what I would say in a confessional, I’m not exactly into this whole religion thing.” Now, he was about to prance off into a rant about God not existing but he didn’t, restraining himself from speaking anymore, a neutral expression on his face. Cold and formal.

[Cassandra Barboza]

"Hardly. Approval, why bother?" [...] “I have high standards for myself; I don’t need some approval from a parent that is dead for all I care.”

Cass nodded to his frank and honest response. It was surely not something she had expected out of him, but then what could she expect out of someone she barely knew. She never understood why people seemed to have so much hatred towards their parents, but then again she never had any bad experiences with her parents. They had always seemed more than willing to give her what she wanted, which was one reason why she was a little more spoiled than she liked coming off as. If his father really was dead, that was a shame. But if he had abandoned his child and left him to grow up without a father figure, then that was a decent reason to hate his parent.

"Right. Well, I suppose there isn't much you can do about that then..."

She felt awkward.

Like she wasn't supposed to be there anymore. Like she needed to leave. Their exchange of words was turning into an actual conversation, something that Cass rarely had. She was not sure what she was supposed to say or do in situations like this, and to be honest, she didn't even want to be at the Quidditch Pitch anymore. She had gotten out her anger and had nearly killed someone in the process. Sure, it was a fun way to practice anger management, but it was turning old. Quickly. She had nothing left to say to him because all of her witty comebacks came out as stale. Surely it would be fun, but why waste effort on someone that didn't even balk.

“A confessional? I don’t even know what I would say in a confessional, I’m not exactly into this whole religion thing.”

"I don't do the God thing either. It's a little weird, especially since magic goes against everything that religion is about." She looked back down at the ground and noticed the wind picking up. Her robe started flapping behind her and heard the familiar sound of a bludger coming back towards the pair of them. She flicked out her wand and made sure that the spell on the bludger was "deactivated", and it fell lifelessly to the ground. "I should probably go now. I have to get my Charms essay from a Gryffindor."