Time to Think (OPEN)

Ryland had been spending some time alone, neither with Lucy nor with Wade, trying to figure out where he was headed. It was obvious that Lucy would stay in school and become the auror she's always wanted to be. And Wade would most definitely take the opposite path. But what about him? What about his dreams? Did he even have any?

"I definitely shouldn't have been sorted into Gryffindor." he sighed. "I'm not active nor adventurous. Only when I'm angry, but that doesn't count. And I'm talking to myself!" He was tired of always being a safe ground for Lucy and a bag of secrets for Wade. It was time he took a stand and became his own person, but that was still a mystery.

Ryland had been reading a lot about Divination and really hoped they'd find a new professor for the subject soon. The only classes he liked were that one and Care of Magical Creatures. Mostly because they weren't required and they made him think. His thoughts wandered off into many different things, not settling on one topic for more than five seconds, until faint footsteps disturbed his train of thought.

Ryland heard the footsteps grow closer and louder. With the many students that passed the bridge he decided to ignore it until they left to do whatever it was they were there for in the first place. However, he heard a girl's voice mutter something in a language he definitely understood.

Turning to face her, he recognized her as Ella Fontayne's younger sister. Since when did the Fontayne sisters speak French? He wondered as he looked at her with a confused look. Ellie. That was her name. "Are you okay?" He asked her, a hint of worry in his voice.

Elita was shocked as the boy spoke to her. Of course she wasn't okay. She's had the cruciatus curse used on her twice in one night and her sister ran away to live with the women who had hurt her. Slowly, with tears in her eyes, she shook her head looking up at the older boy. "I don't think so." she said in a half British, half-French accent, her cerulean eyes meeting his.

She hadn't known the boy very well and felt bad that she had just walked up to him and interrupted his alone time. "Sorry for bothering you." her consonants were crisp and she spoke with a slight waver to her voice as if she were to cry any moment.

"You're not bothering me." He gave the girl a kind smile. Though he obviously didn't know her very well, he could tell when someone was having a bad day. He glanced around them for a second, making sure the rest of the students were on their way to their classes before turning to her. "Sorry about Ella." He whispered, knowing well that her older sister had left them, thanks to Lucy's friendship with Professor Vega.

Elita shook her head trying to clear it. He would know wouldn't he? Lucy and Wade were both close to Professor Vega as well. She missed her mom and getting to be a normal family more than ever, because face it, at school, it's impossible to have a mother/daughter relationship with her. Even more so, she missed her sister and felt like a part of her was missing. "Why would she do it?" she spoke softly more as a thought than a question directed to anyone. Of course no one knew the answer, but she could wonder. As she thought deeper and deeper, tears began to resurface.

"Maybe for the same reason Wade left..." Ryland replied, knowing well that it was a mysysytery to both of them. Ryland would never know Wade's real reasoning, and Elita would never know why Ella made her decision. Seeing the tears appearing on Elita's face, he beagn to panic internally. "No, no. Don't cry, Elita." He moved closer to her, trying to make her feel less alone in any way he could. "It always turns out all right, as cliché as it sounds..."

"Ryland...I'm a Seer. I've seen how it turns out and it is anything but alright." Elita shuddered as she thought about her visions. She's seen both ends of how this is going to play out. In the end, either her sister will kill her, or she will kill her sister.

She had no clue how to tell him this though. She didn't even want people knowing she was a Seer. She was afraid of the things she saw. She was afraid of being a Seer. At the same time, she pondered on what Ryland had said about Wade leaving, she never even knew he left.

Seer. There was that word again. Surely Ryland must know what it was by now, but he still didn't like the sound of the word much. "Um." He began to speak, but found that he had nothing. Instead, he decided to change the subject. "So how's your mom?" he asked in a somewhat silly tone. This was him trying to get over the fact that he didn't know what to say, and therefore said the first thing that came to mind. "I mean, with the whole 'Ella left' thing..."

Elita hopped up on the side of the bridge to sit as Ryland inquired about her mother. "Honestly, we haven't really spoken. I got upset and yelled out that Ella betrayed me for the women who used the Cruciatus curse on me twice and I thought she knew with the way I was always so fearful and quiet and alone after but she didn't...anyways, she got upset that I never told her and we just haven't spoken." Elita shrugged as if it was no big deal, however, her heart ached for her mother.

She thought she knew and it hurt her to know that she didn't. However, being told she was just like Ella stung even more even if she knew she was turning into another Ella. Elita looked to Ryland hoping to be able to read his emotions and his motions but it was hard. Usually she could tell what other people were thinking or what they were about to say, anyone except him. It interested her.

Ryland looked at Elita as she spoke, paying close attention to her words. "Someone cursed you?" he asked, curious to know more about it, but scared that he hadn't been the only one. "I thought...wait. Was this here at Hogwarts?" His experience with the Imperius curse that Halloween night with Aylee came back to his mind. His first theory was that someone from school had cursed him, though he had no idea why. It was definitely a possibility, a very scary one, but also the most reasonable. "And as for your mom, I think you should talk to her. She seemed very upset in class."

He was too into his own thoughts about his Imperius-Theory that he hadn't noticed Little Ella staring at him. The resemblance between the two sisters was undeniable. However, Ryland could tell that it was their personality that set them apart. For a second, he wondered how a woman like Professor Vega could put up with having a death eater daughter. Suddenly, he looked up only to see Elita looking at him, as if trying to figure something out, he asked with a confused toned, "What?"

Elita noticed Ryland looked curious, scared possibly, but curious as she told him of the attack. "Yes, I was drug out of bed around midnight. Aylee found me and was attacked as well, but only once." He seemed almost confused that something that bad happened at Hogwarts.

After she finished talking, he continued on about her mom. "I don't know. She, well honestly, she scares me sometimes. Other ties I feel so helpless and like such a bad daughter. I'm afraid she doesn't like me sometimes or that I disappoint her."Elita finished with a frown. She noticed that Ryland seemed to have dazed off into space. "Ryland?" Elita asked softly. Noticing him snap back, she asked, "Did you her me?"

Ryland's eyes flashed back to Elita. "Aylee was cursed too?" How come they hadn't spoken of that after the incident in the hallway? Figuring she really just didn't want to tell him, Ryland sighed. That girl was going to kill him one day; she was too...stubborn. She was to perfect. At some point, Ryland was bound to give up on her. "Um. I wanna tell you something." he added, wondering if he was making the right decision in telling this little Slytherin about what had happened last term.

"Yeah, I'm listening." he replied with a smile.

Elita nodded sadly, she figured Aylee would've told Ryland but maybe she was wrong. She felt bad for mentioning it as it was personal, but oddly, she trusted Ryland. She remembered that night as if it were a dream that occurred just last night. It was daily torture for her and a daily reminder of how much danger all her friends were in because of her. That's why she never goes anywhere or talks to anyone.

Elita looked back at Ryland as he made a brief statement. "What is it?" she asked, looking up to him with her bright cerulean eyes. She was curious for her age and often ended up hurt or terrified because of the things she figured out with her curiousness. Her current brain wave was, why couldn't she read Ryland lie everyone else? What was so different about him?

As he mentioned that he was listening, she smiled.