(RC.Room) Enjoying the Lights

[pixle]

Pixle sat on the floor in the middle of the common room, right in front of the fireplace. She tossed her wand in the air and caught it again before aiming the point at the flickering flames and saying, "Bright light burning, colors turning."
There was a fizzling sound and the flames died. She pouted, "Was I supposed to say it in latin or something?" she muttered to herself as she looked in the book to her right. She scanned the page and made a face, "You'd think that for a spell that simple you wouldn't have to say it in latin... Wait, here we go," she then leaned towards the embers still glowing faintly in the fireplace, and blew on them gently... FWOOSH!
The fire kicked up again, though instead of the mellow orange and red flames flickering, the fire now blazed in all the colors of the rainbow, casting unusual lights and shadows across the room.
"That's better," she said proudly as she leaned back to enjoy the show.

[Russell Parkhurst]

Russell had walked down the stairs from the boy’s dorm just in time to see a girl sitting by the fire make it burst into flame. It was a very impressive display. Russell walked towards where she was sitting and clapped. "Bravo," he said, "beautiful! Just beautiful!" He rounded the seating and stared into the fire as it crackled and roared.

He sat down in a single seat and leaned on his knees. "Nicely done," he added, "did you learn that today?" The girl was a lot smaller the he was, but then again who wasn't because Rus stood over six feet tall. When he saw her face, his burnt with embarrassment. It was the girl from the Quidditch Pitch. His hand went automatically to his scarred cheek but he soon dropped it and pretended like he hadn't noticed.

[pixle]

Pixle had already drifted off into one of her pretend worlds when somewhere in the distant forefront of her mind she heard someone talking in the common room. She thought the voice must've been conversing with someone else since she wasn't often noticed, but when the voice came closer she realized that it was, indeed, speaking to her.

She turned and faced the person, vaguley catching the last bit of his question as she pulled herself out of her mental fantasy land, "Oh, um, yes. Yes, just this afternoon in fact..." her voice drifted off slightly as she finally realized who the boy was. She'd seen him at the Quidditch pitch and... what was it again?
As his hand jerkily covered his face, and then was forced back down she remembered, his face had been slashed open.

She pursed her lips, trying to think of something to say other than 'How are you feeling' because obviously he was still feeling a bit self-concious about it. "Come on, Pix, surely you can think of something to say that will break this awkward silence!" She ran through all the small-talk tips her parents had given her before putting her on the train to Hogwarts, "I, um... don't think I caught your name before," she said finally. "I'm Pixle," she held out her hand.

[Russell Parkhurst]

Russell shrugged. He knew it was now unavoidable and he had to talk about it so he replied, "as well as can be expected." It was vague and noncommittal, just as Andie knew him to be. He chuckled and shook his head at the thought.

But the girl didn't stop there, thank Merlin! he thought. She said her name was Pixle. Pixle? the thought then just had to say it allowed. "Pixle?" he repeated, "what a strange name. I'm Russell," he said, shaking her hand gladly. "Call me Rus if you want."

[pixle]

She nodded slowly at his answer. Although the scars on his face were healing, it seemed like there were some deeper scars he was trying to get over. She decided the best route would be not to push that subject any farther though. It really wasn't any of her business.

"It's nice to meet you Rus. Well... I guess we actually 'met' before, but... anyways," she shrugged and looked up at the ceiling before responding to the comment about her name.
"Hehe, yeah. My Dad is a muggle computer whiz. When he and my mom adopted me, he made the joke that I was 'as pretty as a pixel'," she giggled, "I'm just glad they at least spelled it differently."

It was obvious that Rus was older than her, but even as a Ravenclaw she couldn't determine exactly, "What year are you in?" she asked to satiate her curiousity.

[Russell Parkhurst]

Russell laughed when he heard where her name came from. "I've heard about pixels before," he said, explaining his laughter, "and I think it's a great name." He smiled at Pixle. "I'm seventh year," he was a little older then most seventh years so he was used to answering that question, "you're second year, right?" He cocked on brow and clasped his hands together.

[pixle]

She smiled, "Thanks! I certainly like my name. It definatly stands out in a crowd," she remembered her first year at Hogwarts when everyone complained about how their names were 'normal'. She had never had that problem, and was quite glad for it! Normal, was not a word she ever hoped to be associated with.

"Seventh year... wow, you're close to graduating!" she said, pointing out the complete obvious, but there wasn't much else to say to that end. She nodded her head when he mentioned what year she was in, "Quite right!" She was surprised at how spot on he was, "Are you psychic or something? 'Cause if you are I've got some questions about a pop quiz in Potions..."

[Russell Parkhurst]

Russell pulled a face like he had just smelled a stink bomb. "Graduation ..." he groaned, "don't remind me." He shook his head but laughed enthusiastically when she mentioned being psychic. "No, no, no," he said, waving a hand from side to side, "not at all. I can barley read the time let alone the future." He laughed and added, "I've just always been good at guessing people's years. One of those useless skills." He laughed again.

[pixle]

"Aww, I was really hoping you could tell me what grade I got..." she snapped her fingers, pretending that she was extremly disappointed in Russell's inability to tell the future. "Oh, well. I've done pretty well in the class thus far, I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best," she chuckled.

"Bah, useless skill nothing. I bet it's a great trick at parties. Go around the room betting people sickles if you can guess what year they're in... definatly one of the better get-rich-quick schemes," she said thoughtfully.

[Russell Parkhurst]

Russell laughed as she made joke after joke. First about his inability to tell the future then about get-rich-quick schemes. He was laughing very hard. "That sounds like something my brothers would do," he commented arbitrarily. "They're always trying to get money and girls." Rus chuckled and rolled his eyes at his naughty brothers.

"But that was a very impressive spell you cast," he said, pointing at the fire, "very strong. Have you got any more where that came from?" Sometimes he missed the simplicity from when he was younger. Now it was all stress stress stress about the hardest spells, potions, complicated textbooks and generally mean work load. When he was in his second year it was so much simpler. Of course then he didn't think so but with a little hindsight it definitely was simple.

[pixle]

"Wow!" she managed to say before busting out laughing. It wasn't so much the comment itself that was funny as the way in which it was delivered. "Haha, your brothers sound like an interesting sort. Who are they?" she asked with an inquisitive tilt of her head.

Pix looked towards the fireplace and nodded her head a bit, "Oh, there are kids better than me." She blushed slightly, "Heh, I mostly ignore the lesson plans in class and use the books to find more interesting spells to mess around with." She beamed when he asked if there were any others, "There's one that I've been working on lately. She turned back to the fire and pulled out her wand, "Alright, how does it go again?" she murmured to herself, "Ok... Burnt by flame, the fire consumes. The wings from within let new life bloom..."

The fire in the hearth crackled and popped, sending off bright, multi-colored sparks that floated into the air. After a moment the sparks began pulling together in a circular formation, changing and growing into tiny, sparkling butterflies, still holding the aurora fire light in their wings. She stared up as the creatures began fluttering around the room at will, "Aren't they pretty?"

[Russell Parkhurst]

It was nice to hear the girl laugh, it seemed to Rus that he always was pleased when people laughed. There was something pleasant about it and it made him smile and in this case, laugh along. But his laugh disappeared in a sigh as he sat back in his chair. "My brothers ...?" he said, questioningly, "the two naughtiest little ... third years I've ever met. Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst, I'm sure they've teased you at some point or another?" He leaned forward now, concerned that his brothers actually had.

She performed another spell. It took a bit of time to get going but once it did, Russell sighed and watched as the butterflies flapped around. "Beautiful," he said, "just beautiful." He looked at Pixle, smiling, and added, "and you learned that from looking ahead?"

[pixle]

She put a finger to her chin and thought for a moment, "Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst... Oh! Yes, I've heard of them. They've never bothered me personally, but they flushed one of my friends bookbags down Moaning Myrtle's toilet once. She was being a jerk that day and entirely deserved it in my own opinion," Pixle snickered at the memory.

"Eh, not so much looking ahead in the book as looking around in the book. All the professors want to talk about are irritating latin spells that burn your eyebrows off if you don't pronounce them just so. So I look in the books for something in English that, although a little bit harder to perform, are a whole lot easier to get the hang of while still keeping all your hair in place," she wiggled her eyebrows to prove her point.

[Russell Parkhurst]

Russell laughed. "I've never heard anyone say that their friend deserved what they got from my brothers," he chuckled. He rarely met anyone who hadn't been tortured by his brothers either but there was a first for everything. He laughed and added, "though I'm sure Derryl would fancy you. You're really nice and your smart. Ry's a sucker for that." He smiled at the bright young Ravenclaw and gave her a wink.

He nodded thoughtfully as Pixle explained. "That does sound like a very good way to work," he said. He had never been that dedicated to his work when he was in his second year but then again he had never felt he needed to be. Rus was always smug about how smart he was but didn't feel he needed to share that piece of information with this smart girl.

[pixle]

Pixle chuckled, "She did a family tree project and traced her ancestors all the way back to Merlin. Then she started being rude about the fact I'm adopted, and what I was about to do to her for it was far worse than your brothers giving her reading list a swirly, so I think it worked out just fine," she nodded. "Not like I was going to do anything really bad... Of course not. But I figured having to fish 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' out of the schools sewer was punishment enough."

She shrugged, "I don't know... most boys my age are a bit frightened of me... and rightly so, I must admit. I tend to be a bit spazztic and spacey, but I quite enjoy myself so I'm not too worried." She was quite proud that one of the older students admired her work method, " Well thank you. It certainly seems to be working for me... well, my classroom assesment might show differently, but at least I'm having fun."