Making Friends

[Helena Ravenclaw]

Helena straightened up her bunk, tugging on the quilted goose-feather blanket so that it sat evenly across her bed palette. Around the Slytherin dormitory, other living areas were strewn and haphazard, but Helena had always taken pride in her own cleanliness. She saw it as a symbol, however subtle, of her superior breeding and social status. There were times at the Hogwarts institution when she felt distinctly out of place, as though she were a dove among common crows, but the mere memory of returning to the cage her mother had trapped her in for so many years made Helena realize that a life of freedom, however monotonous, was worth every second spent alongside her plainer counterparts. Was it strange that the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw preferred the Slytherin dormitory to her mother's isolated tower? Perhaps. But anyone who knew their relationship would not object to Helena's evasive behavior.

Combing her fingers through long, magnolia blonde tresses, Helena brushed her hands down her finely cut beryl frock, making sure that it too lay perfect, just like her bedding did. The color of her attire brought out the galacial blue of her eyes, and they glinted as she carefully bent over, retrieving her blackwoood wand from beneath her pillow. As a girl, Helena had not been given her own wand until she was six, a difficulty in the Ravenclaw household, but since then she had come to see her wand as her closest, most impartial friend.

Deeming her living area acceptable, Helena strode gracefully out of the dormitory and into the dimly lit dungeons, following the grayish sunlight that pooled at the bottom of the stairs. She ascended to the ground floor, keeping a brisk and economical pace as she did so, and with her head held high, she almost missed the towering figure of Godric Gryffindor blocking the entrance to the Great Hall. Intending on passing him over, a twinge of irritation filled her when he gruffly called out her name, and she exhaled coolly as she paused, tilting her head in his direction.

"Helena! Come here, will you? I have a new charge I'd like you to meet."

Helena had no desire to be the welcoming commitee for every new student that Godric dragged into the castle, but because she was his subordinate, she icily swept over, wrinkling her nose in repulsion.

"What is that? A servant boy?"

Chuckling, Godric Gryffindor wagged his finger playfully in her direction, shaking his head back and forth. "Helena, be kind. Shadin has not had the benefit of being raised in a beautiful estate like you have."

"Clearly," she drawled, raising her eyebrows haughtily. "Is this what you wanted to show me? As fascinating as your newest...disciple is, I was on my way to the garden. Do you require anything else from me?"

"I want you to show Shadin around, acquiant him with the castle. He needs help settling in before his studies actually commence. Give him a job, or something to occupy himself with. You can take him to the Gryffindor dormitory if you'd like."

Far from wanting to assist the begrimed ne'er-do-well, Helena longed to place as much distance between herself and Godric's newest charge as humanly possible. Feeling strong-armed into doing a job that Godric had no intention of assisting her in, Helena tried her hardest to squirm her way out of it by the only means she knew how: verbal manipulation.

"Surely someone of your own house would be better suited to perform these duties? I am not familiar with the Gryffindor common room."

"Don't be modest, Helena, you know this castle like the back of your hand! Now run along, and see to it that young Shadin gets a bath while you're at it!"

Strutting off with a booming laugh, Godric Gryffindor left Helena standing alone with the filthy young man, leaving behind an awkward silence in his wake. Helena seemed to become even chillier than before, stiffening visibly, and her disgust for Shadin oozed from every pore.

"Can you even speak," Helena demanded coldly, eyeing him with disdain, "or are you dumb?"

[Shadin Khal]

The gravel crunched under the hooves of the horse as Shadin and Gryffindor approached the newly built castle. Hogwarts, Gryffindor had called it. Shadin had a little trouble concealing how he felt about the name, however that was unimportant. Gryffindor had also called it something else, Shadin's new home. Shadin had never really had a 'home.' His entire childhood, life really, had been spent wandering from town to town in search of someone, anyone who would pay Elayne for some menial task.

Since meeting Gryffindor, everything had changed. The man was an enigma to Shadin. He was a wizard, but not like any wizard that Shadin had ever heard of and traveling with him had been the experience of a lifetime. Elayne had never had much coin, and what she did manage to procure she guarded jealously. She had a gift for making every bit of copper last to it's fullest extent. Gryffindor on the hand treated money as though it was meaningless. Whenever he felt the slightest whim to buy something, he did so without a second thought. Shadin tried to keep track of the money Gryffindor had spent, but quickly was unable to count it any further. The man hardly passed by a tavern without stopping in and buying the entire establishment at least one round of whatever drink they had on hand and frequently more than that. He never passed out money directly to muggles, but also never haggled with them about even the cheapest of goods. He even bought Shadin a sword that he had been eying at a smithy, chuckling past Shadin's objections.

Shadin rested his hand on the still unfamiliar pommel looking up in wonder as they passed through a massive stone arch in the keep proper. He felt as though he was at the center of some terrible joke, that soon the rug was about to be pulled from under his feet and he would be a laughing stock to these people, but frankly he didn't care. His belly was full and he had spent the past week of nights sleeping on an actual bed. They could laugh all they wanted, he would still feel like he had gotten the better bargain.

Godric reigned his roan steed to a halt and dismounted. Shadin didn't know what was to happen next, but followed suit. A boy several years younger than Shadin ran forward and with a quick bow took the reigns to Gryffindors horse. Gryffindor greeted him with the same bright grin that the greeted everyone with, as though everyone in the world was his friend.

"Charles!" exclaimed the man through his mane of red hair, "I swear you get bigger everyday. At this rate you'll be taller than I inside of a week."

The boy blushed a little smiling but said nothing in return, in stead quickly tried to take the reigns to Shadin's horse as well, but was met with resistance. Shadin knew he had no right to the horse, but having ridden and to care for him over the journey had grown rather fond of the sleek black animal, and was reluctant go give him up.

Gryffindor chuckled good naturedly again.

"Don't worry Shadin. I promise you this, do well in your studies and will be able to ride him whenever you like."

[/i] Gryffindor turned back to Charles "Take Shadin's horse to the stables but don't let anyone ride him without my permission.[/i]"

The boy bowed quickly to Gryffindor, but the man had already turned away, and Shadin, a little ashamedly, relinquished the reigns and hurried to catch up.

"Come Shadin, I'll show you your new home.[/i]"

Home, there was that word again. Gazing at the stone structures being erected around him Shadin could hardly believe that this could be his home. He followed Gryffindor through the doors of the castle into the main hall. The castle itself may have been a simple stone structure, but Shadin could feel the magic that permeated this place. It was almost as though each stone were vibrating with the power contained within. The sensation itself was foreign and more than a little disturbing, he could feel it in his chest, almost making it hard to breathe.

"Look there Shadin,[/i]" Gryffindor said pointing up at the high vaulted ceiling, "I think I'm going to bewitch it look like the sky outside. What would you think of that?[/i]"

Shadin didn't have any reply for the question, but Gryffindor hardly pressed for one. Shadin was still staring at the ceiling when the older man's attentions had been diverted and he called to a woman hurriedly crossing the hall. Shadin slowly lowered his gaze to as she approached.

He could hardly help but openly stare at her as she stood talking to Gryffindor. She was young, if Shadin had any guess almost the same age as he was, a rarity in this place, so far he had only seen either people much older or younger than himself. She was also one of the most strikingly beautiful individuals he had ever seen. Dressed perfectly in blue, he clothes looked as though they had been enchanted to hang perfectly straight without so much as a wrinkle. The second the thought hit him Shadin realized that this might actually be the case.

He had been paying no attention to what Gryffindor was saying when hearing his name brought him back to the conversation.

"...Shadin has not had the benefit of being raised in a beautiful estate like you have.[/i]"

"Clearly," she made no attempt to hide her contempt for Shadin and only the barest attempts to hide her feelings for Gryffindor. "Is this what you wanted to show me? As fascinating as your newest...disciple is, I was on my way to the garden. Do you require anything else from me?"

She was pretty but also quite rude. Gryffindor either didn't notice or simply didn't care, chuckling away her condescension as though it were a joke. Shadin didn't think it was.

"I want you to show Shadin around, acquiant him with the castle. He needs help settling in before his studies actually commence. Give him a job, or something to occupy himself with. You can take him to the Gryffindor dormitory if you'd like."

She raised protests, but Gryffindor waved them away with an easy smile and a few more instructions and walked away with a final laugh. Shadin realized that this was the real joke, though on him or this Helena, he couldn't say.

As soon as Gryffindor turned away from them Helena stiffened making her disgust for Shadin even more apparent. Her expression gave the impression that she was being forced to clean up something particularly slimy and foul smelling.

"Can you even speak,or are you dumb?"

Shadin said nothing at first. Perhaps she would seem pretty again if he simply imagined that she had never spoken a word. Shadin tried but was forced to accept that her words had forever tainted her.

"I am perfectly capable speech," Shadin said quietly matching her disdain drop for drop, "I am also more than able to take care of myself. If you will but tell me where to go I will attend to myself and you can go off to your plants."

It would be better that way. Shadin preferred being alone to begin with and rather wander around lost for days than keep her company any longer than he had to.

[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[Helena Ravenclaw]

"Take care of yourself?" Helena sneered, curling her upper lip into the barest of snarls. "I can see by your appearance how capable you are of taking care of yourself. You will follow me and do exactly what I say, or I will personally ensure that you are removed from these castle grounds by nightfall. Do you understand me? I will not be blamed for your inability to understand the concept of hygeine."

Lifting her chin, Helena turned on her heel and strode off haughtily back the way she had come, blonde hair swishing behind her. Inside, she nursed the loss of her hours of alone time in the garden, thinking wistfully of the earthy greens and browns that she would be foregoing in exchange for this unruly youth. As much as Helena hated performing unimportant, menial tasks, she hated even more performing them at the expense of something she actually wanted to do. Without trying, this boy had already managed to rub her the wrong way, and Shadin was in for a particularly nasty dose of Helena's reknown temper.

"You will be housed in the Gryffindor common room, located on the second floor of the castle." Helena's voice was clipped, and she sounded even more condescending than usual. "You are not welcome in any of the other common rooms unless your prescence is specifically requested."

Stopping abruptly, Helena turned around and glared at Shadin, raising her eyebrow in open scrutiny.

"I don't know where Gryffindor found you, but let me make one thing very clear."

Flaring her nostrils irately, Helena straightened her posture to its fullest extent and glowered at him, not bothering to hide her resentment.

"This establishment was created in order to educate and house the wizarding class of society. You are clearly not a member of that class. Whether you are capable of performing magic is immaterial, regardless of what your hero Godric Gryffindor seems to believe. Would you like to know what I think?"

Stepping as close as she dared to the filthy mass of rags and ineptitude in front of her, Helena narrowed her icy blue eyes and jabbed one long, snowy finger into his broad chest.

"You are nothing but a low-born muggle barbarian who somehow managed to swindle his way into the only all-wizarding institution Europe has to offer. If you think for even one moment that everyone here won't see right through you, you're horribly mistaken. Mudbloods don't belong here."

[Shadin Khal]

"Take care of yourself? I can see by your appearance how capable you are of taking care of yourself. You will follow me and do exactly what I say, or I will personally ensure that you are removed from these castle grounds by nightfall. Do you understand me? I will not be blamed for your inability to understand the concept of hygeine."

Shadin could hardly believe his ears. He was used to being shown little respect, never this blatantly though. Most people treated Elayne like dirt and their lack of regard was usually carried to him as well. That, however, was before they found out Shadin had magic. While his abnormality didn't make anyone like him, they were generally much more guarded in their conduct after wards. This woman knew he had magic, yet still treated him like vermin. Shadin knew she had magic, and was in all likely hood much more skilled than he, yet he was still taken aback by her sheer rudeness.

She turned away from him and marched away from him. Shadin could hardly keep from staring openly at her as she led him through the throng of busy people. The image of Charles and the horses came to mind. Despite her egregious, and borderline insane, behavior he had still never seen another creature like her. Each time he had to remind himself of what she had said, but still found his mind wandering.

Shadin followed her step by step only barely hearing what she said. She suddenly whipped around and Shadin hoped she hadn't caught him staring. Shadin waited for the rebuke but it didn't come.

"Would you like to know what I think?" She whispered at him venomously.

Each word left Shadin trying to remember what he had seen in her only a moment before. Helena didn't want a response, she fully intended to tell him whether he wanted her to or not. Shadin just waited and attempted to return her glare with equal malice.

"You are nothing but a low-born muggle barbarian who somehow managed to swindle his way into the only all-wizarding institution Europe has to offer. If you think for even one moment that everyone here won't see right through you, you're horribly mistaken. Mudbloods don't belong here."

Shadin's grasp on his powers was always tenuous. Even at the best of time he was as like as not to have an accident. He couldn't understand why but she was intentionally antagonizing him. Shadin felt like a fire was burning in his chest. The oppressive feeling of the magic around him was gone, he felt like an inner force was pushing it back. Shadin always attempted to sever his connection to the magic, but now he embraced it, letting both his anger and his gift surge through his blood.

Shadin could feel it seeping out, affecting the world around him. He couldn't tell if it was anger or magic that made everything around him shimmer like a hot day. Shadin hoped the fire in his chest would burn the offending finger she had placed upon his person.

Shadin grabbed the front of her dress holding her in place. Shadin's words were deadly quiet but her face was now only inches away from his.

"You listen to me you shrew. Were it not for the regard in which I hold Gryffindor I would cut you down without a second thought. I follow you only because it was his instruction." Shadin released her with the slightest push forcing her away. "Lead on that I may be done with you."

Each moment in her presence was further torture, and Shadin had enough to contemplate already without her interference in his life. Shadin looked at the front of her garment where his hands had been only moments ago, noting with some shame the newly formed dark spots on the blue surface. Shadin had no idea that his hands had been that dirty, or that anyone could be that impossibly clean.

[/size]

[Helena Ravenclaw]

With shock, Helena felt her finger begin to burn, and she sucked in a cool breath of air as she tried to step back, unsure if she was imagining the heat or actually experiencing it. Moments later, the boy grabbed a fistful of her dress and yanked her close, so that she was standing almost nose to nose with him. The heat was not in her head. He was actually sending off claustrophobic waves of roiling warmth, and Helena struggled to step back.

"You listen to me you shrew. Were it not for the regard in which I hold Gryffindor I would cut you down without a second thought.”

“How dare you threaten me,” she hissed back, twisting her face in revulsion. “I demand that you release me!”

Obligingly, Shadin thrust her backwards, and Helena stumbled before she could catch her balance. No one ever touched her. All of Helena's life she had striven to remain a solitary being, independent from society and companionship, but this boy crossed all boundaries without thought, daring to besmirch her clothing, her skin. How far in did he actually reach when his fiery hand yanked her out of her comfort zone, searing the air she hastily inhaled? Shadin had succeeded in shaking her sturdy sense of isolated reality, and she would make him pay dearly for violating her. Already she could feel his filth, his anger, crawling over her skin like a raw red infection, stemming upwards from the bite of his touch. Nobody touched Helena Ravenclaw. Nobody.

Breathing heavily as primal fury rippled through her, Helena flung her glossy hair out of her face and straightened up, unsheathing her wand as she did so. This was a moment she would make Shadin remember, a moment in which he would learn the difference between real spells and simple parlor tricks. Trained from youth to perform highly unusual curses, Helena's mind alighted upon one that would reverse the rising temperature in the room, frosting her target and everything he touched. It was time to extinguish the demonfire within Shadin Khal, and Helena knew that despite the repercussions, putting him back in his place was the only way to prove, once and for all, that Shadin did not belong on Hogwarts grounds.

“Glacies Ictus,” she spat, and her entire physique seemed to sharpen as she narrowed her blue eyes, raising her wand high above her. The world seemed to pause, and Helena gazed at Shadin for one fleeting moment, watching his dark eyes glow with prideful resistance and something like hate. Then she ripped her wand across the air with a violent swipe, and a streak of fire cut through the atmosphere straight towards Shadin, jetting forwards in a smear of poisonous blue. The air between them tightened as the temperature dropped several degrees, and Helena's breath billowed out in a cloud of freezing smoke, settling over Shadin like a puff of arctic chill.

It had been a long time since Helena had used that curse, but as the room darkened and the windows crusted over with ice, she reflected upon the fact that on this occasion, she had not only managed to hit her intended target. The entire room had been transformed, and she herself, so cold and aloof, felt the effects of the freezing curse. Perhaps she needed to refine her spellwork. It was almost unbearable how cold the room had become, and her pale lips turned blue as she brought herself back under control. Emotions, especially strong ones, always impacted her ability to perform. They overwhelmed her sense of judgement and caused every spell she cast to be larger than intended.

[Shadin Khal]

The woman produced a short stick from somewhere on her person. A week ago Shadin would have merely been confused by the gesture, but he had seen Godric do the same many times before, and how he understood the threat that the wand posed. Shadin did not carry one, not that he would know how to use it anyway. He rushed forward clumsily trying to yank the blade from the scabbard, but her magic was faster.

She uttered some form of incantation but Shadin had no idea what it meant. A wave of cold crashed over Shadin, knocking him to the ground. Shadin felt like all the blood had receded from his finger and toes. His breath caught in his chest. Shadin's blood was pounding in his ears and rage coursed through his veins. The muscles in his neck were clenched so tightly they shook, making the world shiver around him. Shadin pounded his fist on the floor in rage and flames burst to life around him.

He slowly lifted himself from the floor, limbs shaking. He wanted to scream and shout and curse at her, but his jaw was too tightly clenched for him to speak. He rushed forward carrying the crackling circle with him, but slammed into an invisible barrier. Confused and infuriated by the imperceptible stumbling block, he threw himself against it time after time, willing it to break, to cave under his force, but it would not budge.

"That will be quite enough I think." A cool feminine voice rang through the hall.

A tall dark hared woman came sidling over to Shadin, looking completely unconcerned with his display. She stepped into the fire without a second thought, the flames parting before her.

She looked around at the circle of fire for a moment as though studying it, and then looked back to Shadin.

"I'm going to ask you to stop now," gesturing around to the fire.

Shadin looked around for a moment, realizing how this must seem to anyone else. He probably looked like nothing more than an impudent child to them. It happened to him that he was not special here, he was no different than anybody else, other than his extreme ignorance. He would have to be more careful.

He took a few deep breaths, slowed his heart and tried to calm himself. He knew what caused the fire, and luckily he had an idea how to stop it, at least before it spread beyond his control.

The woman looked around at his progress, eying it with a quizzical gaze, occasionally mumbling something too quiet for Shadin to hear.

"That's much better I think." She said when the magical blaze was gone. "You must be Shadin, Godric mentioned you to me but a moment ago.

[/i]"

She didn't bother to make eye contact with Shadin as she spoke, rather, kept looking over him as though measuring him. At one point she lifted his arm, measuring the distance between his collarbone and elbow, before moving on to inspect the shape of his ears. All of this thoroughly confused the young man in front of her.

"Well, now that that business is taken care of, I will give you a warning. We do not tolerate that kind of behavior at this school. We are here to learn, not to fight. I understand that you are to be under Godric's care and that he likes his charges to have a certain...spirit to them,[/i]" she spoke the word as though it left a particular foul taste in her mouth. "however I must insist that you never do this again.[/i]"

Shadin wanted to object, to protest that it was Helena who started the fight, but at the moment was too confused by her bizarre measurements, as she currently seemed to be inspecting the inside of his left foot, to give voice to the contention.

She dropped his foot allowing it to hit the ground with a resounding "thud" and turned her attentions to the alabaster blonde standing a short distance away.

"Helena I must ask you to be more dutiful in performing the tasks given to you. If Godric, or any other of the Four, gives you a duty you must accomplish it to the best of your ability. No matter how distasteful it may be. Now if you two are done with this nonsense, carry on to what you were supposed to be doing.[/i]"

Shadin stood in dead silence, not entirely certain what had just happened. Everything about this woman confused him so much he hardly cared that she had called him 'distasteful.' Mostly he was glad her measurements had stopped where they had.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[Helena Ravenclaw]

Shadin rushed at her with fire in his fists and unrelenting hatred in his eyes, and Helena’s breath caught as her stomach lurched. She knew in that instant that he wanted to kill her, and terror coursed through her before she realized that something was blocking him from advancing any closer, something invisible that Shadin could not force his way through. Watching with wide eyes as the boy railed uselessly against the insurmountable barrier, Helena remembered the struggles of her childhood. Frustration known intimately by her was streaming from Shadin’s eyes, and a single drop of empathy touched her heart. Though he sought to harm her, Helena knew better than anyone what it felt like to battle helplessly against a force that could not be overcome.

“That will be quite enough, I think.”

Helena looked behind her even though she recognized the voice, and Rowena Ravenclaw drifted past as though she didn’t see Helena at all. Irritated, Helena glared as Rowena strode through the flames unflinchingly, and she watched with narrowed eyes when the head of Ravenclaw spoke to Shadin. Hearing nothing besides the roar of flames and a strange buzzing noise that the barrier emitted, it wasn’t until Shadin’s fire went out that the invisible blockade disappeared and Helena felt her ears clear.

“…we do not tolerate this kind of behavior at this school. We are here to learn, not to fight. I understand that you are to be under Godric's care and that he likes his charges to have a certain...spirit to them. However, I must insist that you never do this again.”

Feeling her adrenaline decrease bit by bit as the seconds elapsed, Helena dismissed her moment of sympathy for Shadin as an irrational thing and allowed a sense of smug satisfaction to fill her while he was chastised. Such an uncouth display of wandless magic deserved punishment, and she was pleased that Shadin had been rightfully put in his place.

“Helena, I must ask you to be more dutiful in performing the tasks given to you. If Godric or any other of the Four gives you a duty, you must accomplish it to the best of your ability. No matter how distasteful it may be. Now, if you two are done with this nonsense, carry on with what you were supposed to be doing.”

Mouth falling open, Helena’s eyebrows rose in irritation and shock. How could her mother stand there and admonish Helena alongside this ruffian, as though they were equals? As though they were mere children? Expression darkening, Helena’s blue eyes flashed and she shot Shadin a look of utter disgust.

“Follow me.”

Striding towards the Gryffindor common room with inordinate haste, Helena thrust back the tapestry that served as a door and marched inside, ignoring two young boys who hopped to their feet the moment they realized a lady was in their midst.

“This is the Gryffindor dormitory. You will sleep on whichever bunk is allotted to you. The bathing chamber in there, to the left. You will use the bathing chamber at least once a week for the duration of your stay here. If you do not, I will report you to your head of house.”

As she spoke, Helena gestured to the various areas she spoke of without making eye contact with Shadin. It was clear that Helena wanted the tour to be over as soon as possible so that she could extricate herself from an environment in which she obviously did not belong. Gryffindor bunks were unmade and messy, with straw poking out of mattresses and red and gold banners hanging unevenly on the walls. Books were stacked into teetering towers, untended candlesticks had melted onto the table, and multicolored cats wended their way around the room, meowing as they peered at the blue-clad invader.

"This is the male section of the dormitory. The females live next door. Do not try to break in, because there is a spell that keeps boys out and you will be discovered immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

[Shadin Khal]

"Follow me." decreed the porcelain blonde as she stalked away from him.

Shadin started to follow but hesitated, he wasn't sure if the shield was still in front of him. He extended a tentative hand to where he thought the mysterious barrier would be, but found nothing. Feeling if possible even more foolish, he shuffled forward after Helena. Shadin was too busy feeling shame over his juvenile tantrum to notice the castle around him. He kept his eyes as low as possible just barely keeping the hem Helena's dress in sight.

The woman rushed through the castle rounding seemingly endless corners without even the slightest pause. A few people passed by, and some even called out to Helena, but she didn't seem to aknowledge them on any level. Each step she seemed to speed up a little, rushing to the end of their association. Shadin was likewise ready to be done with the Helena.

"...I must insist that you never do this again."

The words rang in his ears over and over again like perverse bells. Maybe she didn't know what it meant when she said it, but Shadin did. No matter what his time was limited. He could only be here as long as he did not lose control again. The idea was laughable, he might as well turn and walk back out the gate he so recently rode through. Shadin understood the truth, it was only a matter of time until he lost it again. Maybe he would leave tonight. Wait until the others went to sleep hide his shame and disappear into the darkness. He would not be missed.

Helena thrust aside a tapestry revealing a moderate stone chamber lined with straw pallets. Shadin surveyed the room casting a baleful eye upon the series of children in the room. As just a rough guess he was at least 5 years older than any boy in the room, and more than that with most. They all stood with backs straight and looks of surprise on their faces from the moment Helena entered. One even had his leggings around his ankles having not had the time to do them up.

Each eye was focused on Helena's pale face. Though Shadin saw eyes flicking to meet his own. Clearly he was a point of curiosity, though it was no mystery. Shadin was clearly an enigma to the boys, who wondered why a man almost grown was being thrust into their midst. Shadin wasn't sure why Helena had stopped here, but he did not have a good feeling. He was not going to take care of this motley group of children.

"This is the Gryffindor dormitory. You will sleep on whichever bunk is allotted to you. The bathing chamber in there, to the left. You will use the bathing chamber at least once a week for the duration of your stay here. If you do not, I will report you to your head of house." Helena's crystal voice broke the confused silence.

Shadin whipped his head around to face the blonde. Surely she hadn't said what he heard.

"Staying h-here?" Shadin looked back to the boys who had relaxed realizing that they were not focus of this incursion into their messy domain. While they were most likely admirable individuals, they were none the less children.

"Surely not." He pulled Helena aside, "are there not somewhat...older students, I mean, where do you you sleep?"
As soon as the words passed his lips he wished to take them back.

"I don't mean that I would be... Just that you don't...well I that is..." Shadin stumbled over the words trying to get some explanation out that could possibly explain this horrific slip.

[/size][/blockquote]

[Helena Ravenclaw]

Glaring as Shadin pulled her to the side, Helena yanked herself out of his grasp and crossed her arms, doing her best to ignore the flush of anger that crawled up her chest to the nape of her neck. This was not the first time he'd touched her today, but she was going to make sure that it was the last. No one besides her mother and the Baron Adonis Black had ever violated Helena's space before, and Helena felt trepidation whenever making skin-to-skin contact. Even her mentor, Salazar Slytherin, knew better than to approach her. Helena hated being touched.

"It is improper and unacceptable to treat a lady like a rag doll. Do not touch me again. You are filthy and uncouth."

"Are there not somewhat...older students? I mean, where do you sleep?"

Helena's eyebrows rose in shock, and her blush deepened as she tightened her lips. Was he suggesting...had he actually just propositioned her?

"I don't mean that I would be...just you don't...well, I...that is..."

"How dare you?" she hissed, lowering her voice so that the Gryffindor boys couldn't hear. "Do you have any sense of decorum at all?" Turning her back to the rest of the common room, Helena struggled to maintain a sense of dignity even though she was flushing with embarrassment. "Do not complain about the quarters you have been so graciously assigned. If it were up to me, you'd be sleeping in the stables with the horses and pigs where you belong. As I said, men are not allowed in the female dormitories. If you can't control your libido long enough to act like a civilized human being, then you will not be treated like one."

Helena didn't add that the thought of lying with him disgusted her. She didn't have to. A woman of her bearing and birth could never love a degenerate like Shadin Khal.

[Helena Ravenclaw]

~Fin~