As The Crow Flies ((OPEN))

[ALIAH ISABELLA EVANS]

If this is what we've got
then what we've got is gold


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Dah da da daaaah. The humming accompanied the dark, slender figure as she wound her way up the stairs of the tower, her footsteps ringing softly around the spiral staircase. In her ears, the headphones of the music player her cousin had bought for her, her 'ipod', which was now playing a seletion of random songs chosen by her dear cousin directly into her ears, and no one else could hear. Just as well, she'd gotten some raised eyebrows from some Slytherin students when she'd pulled out the device from her pocket to change a song passing their common room.

At that point, her hands were jammed snugly into the pocket of the oversized hoodie she'd nicked from her brother. Some county quidditch team's logo was stitched onto the front breast, and SEEKER written in big letters on the back. It was a deep red in colour, which had gotten her into an awkward situation with a Gryffindor 4th year who, in the dark light by the corner of the Divination tower, had mistaken her for his girlfriend and had all but pounced on her from behind some pillar. Nearly scared her witless. But it was nice and warm, as her toasty fingers, settled neatly around the ipod, suggested. Her hair was out, covering the headphones, and she was wearing her black suede boots over thick, brightly coloured knit socks which barely showed over the top of the boots, over a pair of worn indigo skinny jeans, which were quite tight, but her cousin assured her that they'd loosen up after she washed them. The boots, which were of a different sole than her school shoes, made an altogether softer noise than she was used to, and on passing a student on the stairs who hadn't heard her coming over the thunderous slap slap slap of his own shoes had jumped about three feet in the air, much to Lee's amusement.

She was on her way up to the owlery get send off a few letters to various family members. They, also stored in the pocket of the hoodie, made a soft rustling noise as she moved up the stairs at a leisurely pace. She was quite high now, she could see, from the view out of the tiny windows dotted about the tower's staircase. Pausing to let her breath fog up the small glass panel, she rubbed the lead-panelled window with a sleeve-covered fist and looked out into the snow-covered grounds. Snow was falling softly, as it had been from the morning, so there was still a reasonable amount of grounds to be seen. She could see the forests, the quidditch pitch, and even a wing of the castle. All were blanketed in a soft white, softening harsh edges on the gothic architecture, It was so quiet and peaceful, or would have been if she hadn't been listening to the music, which was now some soft, indie type thing where a happy sounding fellow was talking about how nice the day had been and the weather was beautiful. Not that the weather now isnt beautiful, she mused. She'd always thought the snow was lovely, even the biting sting on the cheeks and the redness of ears that always led to headaches later on that came from spending too long outside without proper warm clothing. But she was no stranger to harsh coldness, being Irish and living in England. She quite liked the cold, all things considered.

Resuming her climb, from the soft 'whoooo-whoooo' that came from above her, she was nearly there. Sure enough, after a few more turns, the staircase widened and suddenly a harsh, cold wind pushed her hair back and snuck down through the neckline of her jumper. Blinking as a big of snow was blown into her face, she took in the large, arch shaped opening in the opposite wall, while small alcoves set into the wall held owls of all types. Small, scruffy, dark owls with insane looking eyes perched next to large, regal, divinely groomed owls that gleamed a soft white like the snow, and as soon as she put her booted foot down on the sawdust of the floor, what was probably a hundred owls all swiveled their heads in her direction and looked at her with large, blinking eyes. She took the earphones out of her ears and started forward to find her brothers' owls, the sneaky buggers had waylaid her in the Ravenclaw common room on her way up and made her take their letters up with her.

Her eyes sought out Thaniel's owl, and when she couldnt see the big, mottled grey bird, she called its name softly and a rustle of wings and soft beats alerted her to its arrival at one of the perches. Taking the letter from her elder brother out of the pocket, she affixed it gently to the leg of the bird, stepped back, and allowed it to take off. Holding the small pile of letters in her pocket, she now scanned the room for Alec's bird - a small, scruffy, mess of a bird aptly names Squish. She saw him dozing on a perch in the far corner of the room, and moved over, all eyes following her movements. If she'd moved closer to one owl or another, she'd have seen herself reflected in their luminous, golden eyes. Another guest of wind ripped through the tower, ruffling the feathers of the owls, causing them to whoooo dispassionately and ruffle their feathers, and Lee, who had up till a minute ago been just on the verge of overheating, grateful for the thick fabric of her jumper.

Stopping by Squish's perch, she looked at it and he cracked one eye open and fixed her with a beady stare before she whistled sharply to wake him up, holding up the letter in her hand to clarify for him, as she knew the silly creature was inclined to bite. Not that a flimsy piece of paper would stop sharp talons and a beak, but better safe than sorry, she mused. The tiny owl allowed her to affix Alec's letters, one with the address neatly printed, on strong white paper (a thank you letter to their paternal grandparents in Ireland for his birthday present, a new broomstick and a pair of socks), and another scrawled on much less expensive cardstock in an almost unreadable handwriting. She wondered who it was for, and reading the address, didnt recognise it so shrugged and tied it on. Undoubtedly the puny bird would deliver each letter to the other address, so she'd doubtless find out who it was in the end. Having sent Squish on his way with some extravagant hand gestures and no small amount of huffs and puffs, she turned to find an otherwise unoccupied owl with which to send her own correspondances.

You must really have your own owl, Her father's sister had told her. Something about it being an embaressment having to borrow another students owl when her family had the means with which to give her her own. But Leah rarely sent letters, so she didnt see the point in keeping some poor bird up here in the harsh cold for no reason. Besides, animals didnt particularly like her, Alec's cat for instance, nasty thing. Always ready for a bite or a scratch. So it was with a little trepidation she approached a soundly sleeping bird, of medium size, with browny-grey plumage and what she thought was a pleasant face. Ahem-ing softly, and watching its huge amber eyes glint back at her in the reflection of the softly floating luminous orbs (because really, Filch was far too lazy to come up here to light candles every day, and the wind would just blow them out) and she pulled a small, brown-paper wrapped parcel out of her pocket. It was a birthday present for her cousin, a small golden locket that glowed pretty colours when commanded (a magic word? Lee had scoffed at that in the shop, but her cousin would appreciate the novelty of it, and it was a pretty locket, with bronzey filigree and all that). Kneeling to the owl's level, ignoring the poke of her wand, stuffed into her boot. She affixed the parcel to the owl's leg, and with a quick glance around, lifted it onto her arm and carried it to the opening, where it opened its large wings and was away in one powerful wingbeat.

The snow had gotten heavier, she reflected. She's been able to see Squish for a lot longer than she saw the other owl, who quickly became hidden from view by the falling snow. Turning on her heel, she took one last look at the view over her shoulder before she began to move slowly back towards the staircase, lest any of her fellow students see her pinching their owls.

[VINCENT JACOB DORÉE]

Vincent was sitting on the giant couch in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, staring at two letters that were sitting on the table in front of him. The only pet he'd ever had or ever really wanted to have was a yellow lab, which he did. A yellow lab named Christopher. And of course, dogs weren't even allowed at Hogwarts, so he had to leave his little buddy at home. He didn't have an owl for obvious reasons and this definitely posed a problem for him because he sent a lot of letters to his mom and his brother.

He heaved a great sigh and continued staring at the letters. "Well...I guess I'll have to do this eventually...may as well do it now," he said, heaving himself off the couch and grabbing the letters before he headed for the door. He waved to a few of his buddies that were sitting across the room, playing Wizard's Chess. Vincent had never really gotten into that game, unfortunately. He winced as a knight destroyed one of the pawns and one of the pieces flew up and hit one of the boys in the eye.

Vincent really hated the Hogwarts uniforms, so he always dressed casually whenever he could, such as today. He was wearing jeans that were obviously very worn with a white T-shirt and a brown jacket. On his head, he was wearing a deep blue cap and on his feet were tennis shoes. It was quite obvious that he chose comfort over fashion.

After a few minutes of walking and waving here and there to people that he knew, Vincent finally arrived at the owlery. He looked around him, as if he were on some secret mission, before entering, which took him a few minutes to do. He prayed that no one else was in the room because he did not know how he was going to explain what was about to happen.

Vincent carefully pushed the door open and shut it behind him and it didn't even take a second before there was an explosion of hoots and screeches coming from the owls. "Damn, owls," he said, under his breath. As if they knew what he was saying, several of them flew up and dove at him.

Vincent did a double-take when he realized that he wasn't the only one in the owlery. "Oh...hi," he said, his face getting increasingly redder. He flinched and called out in pain when an owl took him by surprise by scratching him on the face. His hand quickly shot up to his face. "Ah...crazy animals, huh?" he asked, awkwardly.

[ALIAH ISABELLA EVANS]

The first indication that anything was wrong was the sudden explosion of activity in the tower. Feathers, wings, talons, beaks, she ducked and hunched in a little ball for a second while the madness died down. Standing up close to the wall, she looked out of the wall opening in case something had spooked the owls, it wasn't unusual for a Thestral to be flying up here in the dead of winter during the holidays. Peering out, and seeing nothing, however, she frowned and glared at the closest owl, a little black thing with disproportionally large eyes.

Satisfied it was wilting under the intensity of her gaze, she slipped one hand pack into her pocket and one went to her boot to double check her wand was still present. Satisfied it was still wedged between her sock and her boot, she straightened and moved to cross the width of the tower floor once again, her boots leaving imprints in the sawdust of the floor. Feathers were still floating about, and she'd just rechd up to grab one that had settled in her hair when she nearly ran straight into another student.

'Oh my god, i'm so sorry!' she stumbled, surprise in her words. She hadn't particularly expected anyone to be up here. It was still a few moer days before the early ones got back from holidays, so it was pretty quiet around the castle. Frowning, she looked up at him, her face having been level with his chin so she hadnt actually gotten the chance to acknowledge who it was. She took in his red face, but the first thing she immediately noticed was-
'Why are you wearing a hat indoors on a day like this?' she asked, tilting her head to the side, before realising what she'd said and she put a hand to her mouth, lowering her eyes. Then she noticed his shoes, his feet must be freezing!

Whilst her gaze was thus occupied, she didnt hear or see the owl and only looked up at the boy's cry of pain. Her head jerked up, blue eyes wide, and her hand had immediately snatched her wand from inside her boot and she was holding it loosely one one hand, its tip pointing down to the floor as she assessed the situation. She'd always been good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, but there was nothing particularly evil about a flock of cranky owls so she didnt straighten up into a duel-ready stance, merely looked at the boy with an expression of pity, and at the owl with an expression of distaste.

'Some people really need to tame their pets. she muttered, thinking especially of Alec and Squish. 'Um, are you alright?' she added as almost an afterthought, seeing the red lines across the boy's cheek. Frowning, she lifted her wand, before remembering it was probably polite to ask someone's permission before pointing a wand at their face. And she didn't what house he was in, or how he'd take it, so she settled for just standing there for a moment and watching the small beads of blood well up under his fingers. Frowning again, she pointed to a stone bench that sat against one wall, opposite the archway. Another blast of wind filtered through the room, plucking away her words, so she swallowed and tried again.

'Do you, uh, want to sit down for a minute or something? That',' she pointed to her hand, their tips stained red, 'Probably needs fixing...' she said, offering him a quick smile. Judging from the way the owls had acted, he probably didnt own one, which meant that the boy wasnt about to berate her for pinching the big owl she'd just sent on its way.

At least thats a consolation, she thought as she looked at the nasty scratch. The snow was falling even more heavily now, and as she looked out of the archway she could see that more and more of the grounds looked like they'd fallen asleep, everything was quite and still under a thick white blanket beneath the dark, cloudy sky.

[VINCENT JACOB DORÉE]

Vincent barely shifted at all when the girl ran into him,just because he was so tall. "Oh...that's ok," he said, grinning slightly and shrugging. So far, so good. He leaned back slightly at her sudden outburst about his hat. "Um...I always wear hats," he said, laughing, slightly confused at why him wearing a hat was so strange, whether it was indoors or not. Vincent lowered his head slightly when he saw the girl's hand quickly move up to her mouth. "Is...everything ok?" he asked, laughing a bit, again.

"Oh, it's not their fault," said Vincent, mumbling under his breath.This is why he disliked being around animals besides dogs. He really wished that Araziel hadn't talked him into taking Care of Magical Creatures with him. Luckily the professor knew his condition, though. It was obvious that a large group of owls weren't usually this aggressive, so he almost expected the girl to be getting suspicious, but thankfully, she was just accepting the situation. "Eh...yeah, for the most part," he said, pulling his hand away to find that it was almost covered in blood. Vincent was a complete wimp when it came to pain, which was certainly not good with the condition he had.

Vincent sighed as he eyed the stone bench, glanced at the nearest owls who seemed to be glaring at him and looked back at the stone bench. "Yeah, probably a good idea," he said, shrugging as he carefully and slowly walked over to the bench, so as not to make the owls more agitated than they already were. He knew that he wasn't losing too much blood, so he wasn't in danger of passing out, but he just wanted to be careful.

He rest down on the stone bench and felt the cold material through his jeans. He felt blood dripping down his face so he reached into his bag and pulled out a white cloth to hold up to his face. "Oh...I"m sure it'll be fine," he said, shrugging and glancing away from her for a moment,"Oh, I'm Vincent, by the way,"

[ALIAH ISABELLA EVANS]

The boy was grinning, why, she couldn't tell. He'd just been attacked by owls, was bleeding all over the place, and Lee had probably just insulted him. Who wore hats in the middle of winter, indoors, when there as a total lack of sunlight or warmth? Mind, Lee wasn't particularly inclined to grin back, she rubbed her nose where she'd bounced off his chest, but she forgave it as technically she'd walked into him. She looked back up, and lowered her hand, he was asking her if she was ok? One of the owls must have cuffed his head with a wing, or something.

'Um, everything's fine?' she said, watching him as he gave the owls a look. She wasn't sure what to think, serial owl molester or just damned unlucky with animals? She had to admit she only really had the problem with cats. Or, to be more specific, her brother's tiny tabby with attitude and Mrs Norris. And Squish. But everyone had problems with Squish, so he didnt count. But still, she also kept an eye on the owls in case they decided to attack her for talking to the boy. She turned back to look at him, raising an eyebrow.

'Well we hardly asked to be attacked. They could be a little more civil, you know...' she said, mouth twitching up at the corner. She heard his mumbed assurances and watched as he ulled his hand away from his face, his fingers covered in blood. From what Aliah could see, it looked like just a flesh wound of not particularly deep cuts that were just in a fleshy area, which explained the blood. He looked alittle pale, she thought, and wondered if he was squeamish. By the way he looked relieved at her offer of the bench, she thought so. Which made her strangely grateful of, when she was younger, her brothers bringing in bits of dead things and the like to frighten her. It didnt usually work. Keeping her eye on an owl that look particularly malicious, she moved to follow the tall stranger over to the bench.

The wind had dropped for the moment, probably good for further attempts at conversation. And her ears had been getting sore, an indication she'd probably have a horrible headache later. No doubt she'd have to duck down to the kitchens and if Araziel wasnt there with some wonder food, she;d have to impose on the house elves and pinch something or make something herself. Not that that bothered her, the kitchens were always warm and deserted. But a voice bought her back to the present, and after sitting on the bench she turned to notice what the boy was doing.

'Don't be stupid, this is Hogwarts,' she said, grabbing the wrist attached to the hand with the cloth and moving it out of the way, careful not to get any of the blood on her hands. Gripping her wand, she flashed him a reassuring smile before lifting the tip to a few centimetres away from his face and whispering, 'Episkey' before she flicked her wrist sharply, a small frown of concentration flitting across her features before she watched the edges of the cuts knit themselves back together, the wet blood welling up vanishing. Satisfied the cuts were fixed, she now moved her wand a tiny bit closer and moved it back and forth softly, as if she were using a cloth. 'Tergeo, she directed the wand, and the blood on his face soon vanished too. Satisfied with her handiwork, she put her wand hand back down and grinned at him.

'All fixed. I'm Aliah, from Ravenclaw. Call me Lee.' she smiled, offering her hand to shake before she remember that one of his hands had the cloth and the other was covered in blood. She blinked, and smirked, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, her feet resting on the edge of the bench. Looking out at the view, then the owls, and then back at the boy, Vincent, she grinned wider.

'Now, Vincent, are you going to tell me why these owls attacked you and left you looking like you've been mauled by a pack of dogs?

[VINCENT JACOB DORÉE]

"Sorry," said Vincent, shrugging,"You were just acting a little odd, I guess." His eyes widened when he realized what he said...it could be interpreted as an insult. "Wait, I uh...sorry. That sounded kind of rude," he said, his blushing visible from under the bill of his cap.

Vincent narrowed his eyes slightly, not sure if the girl was being sarcastic or not. Most animals (especially owls, in his opinion) did not know the concept of manners or politeness, unless they were specially taught. "Uh..yeah. I guess they were being pretty rude," said Vincent, just going along with what the girl was thinking.

He felt much better after he was resting on the bench. It was stone and cold, but he felt better being lower to the ground. It was so terrible when he hurt himself because he was usually a big baby about it. He hated anything that had to do with doctors or medicine or healing spells. They just...annoyed him. And of course, he hated being forced to drink the nasty potions that Madam Pomfrey always forced down his throat...

"What? No!" said Vincent, putting his hands in front of him after the girl had pulled away the cloth that was he was holding to his face. He was too late, however, and the spell hit his face healing it. A frown hit his face as soon as he realized what had happened. "Thanks," he said, only half meaning it. Sure, it was nice of her to want to heal his face, but...he would have rather that she hadn't.

"Nice to meet you," he said, nodding towards her, not wanting to touch her with his bloody hand. Whenever Vincent met someone new, he was always tempted to either shake their hand or tip his hat towards them. What could he say? His mother raised him to have manners.

"I...don't know what you're talking about. Owls are just insane. Everyone knows that," he said, with a nervous laugh. Oh, Vincent and his flimsy lies. He, of course, panicked when Lee asked him to explain, but what could he say? Just come out and tell a random girl that he was a werewolf?