Time Isn't Healing. on Aladren Commons

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

April 06, 2012 10:15 PM

Time Isn't Healing. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

It was cool in his dorm room. One day after arriving and he already had homework to do. The work was comforting, something he was familiar with in this unfamiliar place. He was intelligent and confident in his academics. Throwing himself into schoolwork and not into social circles had proved to be safe, and Josh liked to be safe and stay safe. That was his plan for the rest of his career as a student, anyway. If his plans to be a potions researcher worked out as well, then he wouldn't have to talk to anyone voluntarily ever again. Merlin, what a lonely life.

The room was empty, his homework already finished. There was much too little of it for the first day of class. The classes looked promising, much more challenging than they had been back in New Zealand. It was a start. Josh sat on his bed, his suitcase now fully unpacked and stored underneath his bed. His leather wallet-sized photo album was in his pocket. There were too many people in the common room to go down there and look at it, and he couldn't very well hide in the loo and hope no one caught him. If only he could be assured that no one would come into the fourth-year dormitory. He put a book beside him just in case he decided to look at the album. His fingers stroked the worn leather as he stared at the closed door, waiting for one of his roommates to come in.

After several minutes, he leant back against the backboard of his bed and took out the album. In it were old photographs. The first was a picture of his mother. She was beautiful, had been very young when she was killed. She had grey-blue eyes, wavy light brown hair, and pale skin. She looked kind, though her eyes looked dangerous. She was smiling, and the smile seemed to light up her whole face. He only had the top part of the photograph with her head. The other half had been ripped off, lost somewhere. This photograph had hardly been savaged, and Josh could no longer remember where he'd got a hold of it. He only knew that her name had once been "Lydia Princeton," an American girl with no relation to the European Princetons.

The next was of his father with cold grey eyes, the typical dark brown hair of the McLachlans, and a stubble. His father was thin, as was his mother, and had a strong jaw and a pointy chin. The photo was in black and white, and he was staring off to the side, serious and inscrutable. Josh had inherited most of his dark expressions from this man. He looked back at the photograph of his mother, wondering how they had ever fallen in love, she being American and looking sweet, he being Scottish and cruel. Of course, he didn't know anything about either of them except that they were a very strong, magical pair. Josh had also inherited their powerful magical powers. He raised his wand and felt it in his hands, forgetting the photo album for a moment. It was sturdy, 13" red oak and phoenix feather. His uncle had once told him that having a phoenix feather as his core meant that he was special in some way. He knew better now. All that he had been a part of was destruction and death. Though he excelled in magic and in school, he couldn't be any more special than the next.

The next photo was of the muggle-born girl he had loved back at his old school. Still loved. She had dark brown hair, dark eyes, olive skin, and a heart-shaped face. She was athletic, dark hair cut to her shoulders, outgoing; a constant in his life till now. Now, he couldn't see her, speak to her, tell her that he, a mere fourteen-year-old boy, loved her. It was for her safety and for his sanity more than anything. Because of his uncle's mistreatment of her younger sister, knowing that Josh was in love with the older girl, Josh couldn't ever look at his family the same way again. He would loath going home every summer holiday. By choice, he would be staying at school for most of the holidays. He didn't want to see another McLachlan family sprout and instill the same horrible principles of their ancestors.

The door opened and in a flash Josh had slipped the photo album into his pocket and had picked up the potions book and flipped to a random page. His eyes had yet to find a line to latch onto when his roommate entered.

19 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan Time Isn't Healing. 184 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan 1 5

Preston Stratford

April 08, 2012 7:25 PM

Be patient? by Preston Stratford

School had started again and Preston liked the feeling that learning left inside of him. Trying to sound like a normal fourteen-year old boy he had tried to suppress the excitement that soared through his body every time he thought about the fact that he had was now in the intermediate group. He was no longer a mere beginner, but a more knowledgeable intermediate. It felt nice to be able to study things that were more challenging to his intellect. The redhead had always known he was smart. Since he was little his tutors had always been surprised with how quickly and easily he grasped the concepts taught to him. Preston had learned theoretical magic since he was about 6, because his Great-Grandfather demanded that his relatives had to be educated since an early age. It gave them advantage over the rest of their generational peers, and Preston had always liked it.

His athletic side had been poked by Daniel when he was a mere first-year, and he had been surprised to see that he actually enjoyed Quidditch, especially winning. He knew he wasn’t the very best out there, but he worked hard on his skills to be that person. He could honestly say that little by little he was coming to be a well-rounded individual. He could converse about almost everything with people that doubled his age. The redhead eventually got bored with most of it; he was more than certain that he was more intelligent that 95% of the people he saw on a regular basis. He knew. Preston Stratford was intellectually better than his peers.

After a rather grueling beating practice at MARS sports room, Preston was ready to take a shower and start on the little homework he had left. Thankfully the fourth-year was very organized, and he had time to do everything, which resulted in a very stress-free life. He even had time for recreational research at the library.

Another thing that had Preston with excited was the fact that he would now have the same classes as Sara. The fact that the girl he liked was a year older didn’t bother him at all, and his brother had high-hived after he learned that small detail. He honestly didn’t see the fuzz over it.

He opened the door to the room he now shared with four other people and saw The Transfer in his bed reading a potions book. “Hi,” he greeted out of politeness as he dumped his duffel bag on top of his bed. His green-eyes scanned the room, and he realized they were alone, “Are you done with the potions homework?” he asked just make conversation and be seen as the polite boy he was.

0 Preston Stratford Be patient? 0 Preston Stratford 0 5

Josh McLachlan

April 10, 2012 10:59 PM

Tried that. by Josh McLachlan

Josh's eyes lifted briefly before falling back to the page. "Yes," he replied. "I'm looking over the potion for the next lesson." Josh usually enjoyed working ahead, reading whatever academic thing he could in order to get better at his work. If he could shine nowhere else, he would shine in his studies. He flipped a page and his eyes scanned the potion. It was more difficult than what they were working on now, but the ingredients were an interesting combination. He was slowly learning what each ingredient did, and though it was difficult to memorize it all sometimes, he did so for his own sanity. Logic and being meticulous and keeping himself busy was what kept him cool and composed.

The silence in the room was deafening. Though Josh usually didn't mind it, having grown used to silence, he felt the need to say something. After all, he didn't want his roommates to hate him here. He had to keep up a cool acquaintance with them so they wouldn't bother him in the long run either to tease him or befriend him. It was a tricky balance Josh had yet to perfect.

He looked up from his book again and his grey eyes rested on Stratford. "How has it been being back?" He supposed it was a valid question. He still didn't know much about Sonora so it would be nice to get some information about it even if the question was only the underlining. He didn't enjoy asking for help, causing him to be very self-sufficient and independent, but it made things harder for him. He had come to accept life with all of its challenges and obstacles. It was just one challenge to overcome at a time.

If Stratford wanted to continue a conversation, that would be fine. Josh would allow that and put his book away if he had to. He had seen the Quidditch sign up sheet and wondered if his roommates were athletic as well. That would be another topic to bring up if Preston didn't address it directly.

0 Josh McLachlan Tried that. 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Preston

April 15, 2012 2:59 PM

Keep trying by Preston

The Transfer was less friendly than Arthur and that was saying a lot. Arthur Carey had a weird way to go about socializing, and Preston had gotten used to his quirks. It had taken him three long years to get used to him, but he could now say that they had some kind of relationship based on competition. Out of his roommates, Arthur was the only one that Preston saw as direct competition to him. Yes, Arnold had the Assistant Captain badge and would eventually be their Captain, but Preston had coveted that one due to vanity. The important ones were the Prefect and Head Boy badge, and he would get both. Russell was just a direct threat to the redhead.

He nodded in response to Josh’s answer to his question. It seemed that he wasn’t very keen on casual conversation, and Preston was happy about it. He wasn’t very interested in befriending the guy that had come to disrupt his balanced life. It wasn’t much to ask, really. Not to mention that Josh reading ahead bothered him a little bit, especially because he now had less time to study due to Quidditch. The redhead didn’t want the new guy out-shining him in classes. He would need to step it up a notch.

As far as he was concerned, the conversation was already finished. There wasn’t anything else he wanted to tell Josh, or that he was genuinely interested in. Preston was complicated and change was something that bothered him a tad bit, especially when it came to destroy a well-established thing. He knew he couldn’t do anything about it but accept the fact, but it was becoming quite irksome to see the new face on a daily basis.

The Aladren began taking out the clothes that were inside his duffel bag when The Transfer asked him a question. He briefly looked up at him and continued doing his task, “It has been okay. Classes are proving to be more of a challenge and the Aladren Quidditch team should start to meet in a few days.” He threw the dirty clothes into the laundry basket and began searching for the items he would wear after he showered.

“How are you finding Sonora?” It was an obvious follow-up question to the one that Josh had done. Deep inside he was a little curious about the new person, but he didn’t want to admit it and begin asking questions. The only thing he knew was that there was a new competitor on his quest for Sonora domination.

0 Preston Keep trying 0 Preston 0 5

Arnold Carey

April 17, 2012 5:44 PM

I'm good at that by Arnold Carey

There had been some homework assigned in the classes of the first day, typically enough, but it faded from Arnold’s mind as soon as the final bell rang to dismiss him from those classes for the evening. If it was the usual, then he and Arthur would do it at their table in the library on Saturday, and if it was something due earlier, Arthur would bug him about it soon, but either way, he knew he didn’t have to do any of that homework right now. His human calendar had offered no objection when Arnold announced his plans for the first part of the evening, just stated his own intentions before hurrying off toward them.

That, in its own way, was a little worrisome to Arnold, because Arthur seldom hurried. He usually wandered, often a little vaguely. He maintained the appearance of being properly tough in front of others, usually, but really, Arthur had never had a lot of energy, and he tended not to put on the act so much in front of Arnold. Normally, he would have mumbled and wandered, not stated and hurried. It was atypical, and with Arthur, who knew what that could mean? A few good days were one thing, but this had been going on for a month, and it had seemed to get worse since they came to school. He had to be up to something.

Thoughts about his brother, though, had mostly receded as soon as Arnold reached the Quidditch Pitch. The gardens around his home and his grandparents’ houses had been good for obstacle flying, controlling turns and so forth, but there was something about the grand emptiness of the Pitch when he was on it by himself that appealed to Arnold immensely. He couldn’t get in the really good practice that having something to avoid offered, that he would have to use MARS for when the rest of the team was off doing something else, but he could enjoy himself. It was the first night back; he still had plenty of time for intense practice before they got to their first game for the year. He could enjoy himself just once.

By the end, he’d gotten out a Snitch and started letting it run around for a minute before he set off to catch it, but he’d decided to be reasonable after he fell off completely without any help from a Beater while trying a tricky catch close to the ground and just clean up and then go in. He was feeling pretty good about the new year as he walked into his dorm and then stopped suddenly at the sight of Preston talking to Joshua McLachlan, the new student in their room this year.

Why he did that, he didn’t know, since they had as much of a right as he did to be there. He guessed he’d gotten too used to having his own rooms at home, maybe just being surprised if Anthony had dropped by for a visit while he was outside but otherwise mostly having those to himself. Or maybe it was just taking a second to rewind and really remember that there had been a new person last night, and Arthur had told him about him, and oh, yeah, he’d been around today, too. He knew he hadn’t forgotten that, but the evidence, so to speak, had still been a surprise to him.

He decided to just brush it off and keep going. “Hey,” he said casually instead, tossing the bag he had in one hand carelessly at the foot of his bed and then carefully putting up his broom. You did not just toss a broom. Especially not a brand new one your grandfather had just gotten you as a reward for being made Assistant Captain, and you knew he and your parents had rather sharply argued about it when you weren’t around and you were still getting used to it even aside from all that. His broom was as much of an important tool for him at Sonora as his wand was in some ways, and while he was a little scatterbrained when it came to a lot of his possessions, trusting to his luck and his twin to keep track of enough of them for him to continue to function usually and his parents to send replacements when that didn’t work, he took very good care of those two things. “I just got back from the Quidditch Pitch,” he informed them, looking at Joshua’s book and Preston’s stuff. “You guys doing homework already?”

Arnold lacked, for the most part, the cutthroat spirit he’d noticed in his house, but he couldn’t help but like the idea that he’d beaten everyone else to Quidditch practice this year. Preston was looking rough, though, making him remember that MARS was there at times other than those when he wanted to Seek around the dummies, so maybe they would have to call that a tie. Either way, though, it was a conversation starter, and maybe they’d even tell him something about the homework in conversation that might save him time and thought and confusion and occasions of consulting Arthur like an atlas later, when the time came when, to avoid a mad scramble in which he would almost certainly make a stupid but vital mistake, he had to at least rush through a first answer draft.

0 Arnold Carey I'm good at that 181 Arnold Carey 0 5

Josh McLachlan

April 20, 2012 5:10 PM

At healing? by Josh McLachlan

It wasn't in his interest to have a heart-to-heart with his roommate, but Josh decided that getting to know him wouldn't hurt. He wondered briefly again, as Stratford spoke, if all of his roommates were on the Quidditch team. He wouldn't be surprised; it was a popular sport, after all. A "manly" sport, if you will. Violent. Something that Josh avoided not only because he wasn't athletic, but because he'd rather not be in the limelight along with the other players. He didn't like team sports anyway. He was more of an individual, a loner, and he didn't mind it in the least. It kept him out of trouble for the most part.

"Sonora is fine," he answered, closing his textbook and laying it on his lap. "Larger than my other school, but I'm finding my way around all right. The classes are more challenging too which is a relief." Someone came into the room then, saving him from saying anything else, and Josh recognized him as the other Carey, Arnold. Though he looked similar to his twin brother, he most certainly had his own features that made it easier to tell them apart. He watched Carey put his things away, not bothering to offer a greeting back. It was obvious that this Carey was a Quidditch player if the way he handled his broom was anything to go by.

Josh looked over at his book and made eye contact with Carey. "Finished, actually. There's far too little of it for the first day of school, in my opinion." Of course, he knew the others would have differing opinions. It being the "studious" house, he didn't think his response would come off as completely mental. "How was your practice? What positions do you two play, anyway?" Quidditch had never interested Josh, but he knew all about it and could most definitely carry an intelligent conversation about it. He was more indifferent to it than anything and seeing how passionate some people got about it amused him. It made him wonder if his parents had ever liked Quidditch, but he tossed the thought aside. No use dwelling on the past at this present moment.

Josh was afraid of getting too personal with people. It was a subconscious fear and he didn't consciously decide not to be friends with his peers. It was difficult for him to open up to people in general, but after the fiasco at the New Zealand Academy of Magic, he didn't want to risk it again. It was a rough world out there and a rough world ate up pansies. He certainly knew that much from experience and from everything his McLachlan background had taught him.

0 Josh McLachlan At healing? 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5