Bouncing Back (open)

[miranda]

It paid to have a good reputation. Miranda Salvatore realized as she got out of trouble for the second time that day. Some bratty Slytherin in her year decided to make her look like she had copied the other girl’s homework, but in truth, the other girl was the one who copied her work, word by word. And, she did it without Miranda’s consent. So, when the professor took them both to his office to talk to chastise them and finally get to the bottom of everything, Miranda knew it would be her word against the other girl’s. Truth was, Miranda was slightly anxious for she was not sure who the teacher would believe. Despite her clean record, Miranda knew that there was a possibility that the teacher would believe the Slytherin girl since the other girl was popular and a total suck up to all teachers and Miranda was just an invisible girl who never does anything but sit on one of the chairs in class and blend into the scene. As they walked to the teacher’s office, she felt her eyes started to tear up, she did not want something she did not even do mar her clean record permanently.

Miranda shook her head in disbelief and decided to stop thinking about it all, about everything that had happened just about twenty minutes ago. The important thing was that she got out of trouble and that her record remained clean. But, her stubborn mind kept replaying the claim of the Slytherin student. Apparently, the other girl knew that one of them was going down that afternoon and the other girl wished that it would be Miranda or if it was going to be the Slytherin girl, the Slytherin wished to ensure that Miranda was going to go down with her. This fact, shattered Miranda’s ideals and she could not quite grasp the idea in her mind. What kind of person wanted to bring down other people? Then she sighed, knowing that, once again she was committing the very mistake she had been committing ever since… a long time ago. She was, once again, trying to look for herself in other people and in turn expecting them to act and think like the way she always did.

Miranda took a deep breath and exhaled as she stood in front of her full body mirror and regarded herself for the last time. She could not help but be relieved that no classes followed the class where she got into trouble as she ensured that her powder and her strawberry lip gloss were alright and that her ginger hair was not out-of-control messy, before spraying some of her marshmallow perfume on herself and getting out of the Hufflepuff Dormitory in her yellow blouse with puffy sleeves, black corduroy shorts, and her favorite high cut brown boots. It was late Friday afternoon and by the time she reached the ground floor, she was not surprise to find that it was almost deserted. Most of the students were probably in their dormitories or sneaking off to Hogsmeade. For a moment, she watched people go in and out of the Great Hall and then, through her peripheral, she caught sight of the door that led to the staff room and she found herself standing rooted on the spot, staring at it absently.

[christian]

It was a clear Friday afternoon and Christian Rosier just came back from his daily walk outside the grounds. His white shirt was filled with sweat for he broke into a run during the last few meters. During the duration of his long walk, he was trying to clear his mind, because for the past few days, he was being bothered by a lot of things. Actually, there were only two things that actually bothered him to the core, one of which was about his girlfriend, Vasilisa, who seemed to be hiding something from him and he did not really know what it could be. It was something that never happened before and he knew that whatever it could be, it was indeed something very grave. As patient as he was, he knew that she will reveal these to him in her own time and he decided to wait for it. However, the second thing was something very strange indeed. It concerned a girl that he met previously in the library before. He was enchanted by her personality and he wondered when he would be able to see her again. It was quite disconcerting that she referred to herself as the invisible girl, he thought.

He then smelled himself and realized that the smell of the hot sun mixed with his sweat permeated his whole body. By then, he knew he had no choice but to go back to his room and change into clean clothes and so he walked briskly to the corridors leading to the Slytherin dormitory. In minutes, he found himself back inside his room, changing into a light blue dress shirt and putting some cologne that smelled really manly to him. After which he then remembered that he had to go to the staff room to hand over his missed homework so he dashed to his desk, retrieved the two rolls of parchment containing his homework and went out of the common room. His feet literally took him back to where he was before. He was only a few more meters away from the door to the staff room when he caught sight of the person he longed to see. He then walked over to her gently and whispered, "You seem like you were watching someone there." He then grinned and went over to her other side. "It's been a long time Miranda. How have you been?" he then asked her.

[miranda]

As Miranda stood rooted on the spot that was almost equidistant from the castle walls that enclosed the ground floor, she paid no mind to all the students who passed by. As always, they did not notice her. But, this time, it was mutual. Miranda was too preoccupied reliving what had to be the most terrifying moment of her invisible existence to notice anyone. And, she would have, not doubt, remained on the spot if someone did not show up and whispered something in her ear. Too out of focused and too absent minded, she did not hear them approach so when they spoke softly, she nearly jumped. Luckily, she was able to regain her composure quickly.

When she turned to face them, her nostrils caught a whiff of some manly perfume mixed with her marshmallow one as the boy moved to her right side. “Oh hello Christian. I’ve been well, thank you. And, you?” She greeted pleasantly, a smile automatically on her lips. She gestured awkwardly toward the door that separated the staff from the school before saying, “I… I just remembered something.” Then upon hearing her own words, she found herself remembering a certain conversation that she should not have heard in the first place. But, what she heard bothered her. After talking to Christian in the library, she started to actually see him in class. At least enough to notice that he always sat near Vasilisa Dolohov, who happened to be one of the two people she overheard. From what she heard, she deduced two things. One, no one was supposed to hear anything and two, Vasilisa was in for a world of trouble. Not knowing what to say to him or if she was going to even breathe a word to him, she just smirked and eyed the papers in his hands. “What’s that? Late homework?” She asked casually with a little hint of curiosity in her tone.

[christian]

Christian held the two parchments of homework on his hand nervously as he watched Miranda. He could not understand why he always felt nervous around her. He seemed so attuned to her movements that he lost concentration and he was so sure that his senses failed him on that exact moment. He was brought sharply back into reality when she asked him if the parchments contain missed homework. "Uh, yes. Two days of missed homework in fact," he replied, trying to sound casual as possible. He then turned away to hide his embarrassment over what happened.

Deep inside, he could not understand why he was feeling that way. It seemed that it was similar to what he had felt for Vasilisa when he first talked with her. Vasilisa...the sound of her name echoed in his mind and made his heart ache. Why did she have to hide it from me? he thought bitterly. His girlfriend is not exactly the type who would keep secrets from him; however, her involvement with Magnus Tarus is what actually bothers him a lot. And the fact that the guy was a Legilimens is not exactly helping either. He decided to distract himself from thinking by absentmindedly playing with the parchments on his hand. "So, what exactly did you remember?" he asked her, trying to start a conversation with her. Strangely, he really enjoyed talking with her and as an afterthought, he hoped she feels the same way too.