[Corridors] I Am One of Them

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash sat in the middle of the corridor, leaning against the wall with his guitar on his lap, and a Muggle newspaper that Aphrodite delivered to him everyday. He sighed as he looked down at the cover story, a sixteen year old girl had been beaten to death by her father.

Ash shuddered as he thought of the many times he had come close to the exact same thing happening to him. Ash shed a tear for the girl, and picked up his guitar, the story had inspired a song. One he hoped would touch people and make them realize that they weren't the only ones that were suffering, and that there were others that had it much worse. Ash tuned his guitar, then played around till he found the right melody and words...

I get in the car
Another tragic disaster
But I'm safe where I am
Yet another is captured
The traffic is stopped
People just stare
Another alert does the kid have a prayer?
Life is not fair

It's hard to look outside my door
With all the news reports and more
Yet I will do my part and stay on alert
For all the kids out there who are getting hurt
It could have happened to me
Can you make me believe
This could have a happy end
'Cause I am one of them

I try to grow up
But I am chased by my fears
It could happen to me
And I worry in tears
Reports of the girl
Makin' me scared
Led off to die and why was I spared?
Life is not fair!

It's hard to look outside my door
With all the news reports and more
Yet I will do my part and stay on alert
For all the kids out there who are getting hurt
It could have happened to me
Can you make me believe
This could have a happy end
'cause I am one of them

I am one of them
Am one of them
I am one of them
Am one of them
I am one of them
Am one of them
I wish I could bring back all of them

Ash smiled softly, not realizing that someone was listening...

[Carolanne Roberts]

Carolanne was wandering the corridors. It had been pretty bad outside so she settled with taking laps around the castle to ease her boredom. She was in a fairly good mood and even walked with a slight skip in her step. Nothing could really ruin her day, or at least her mood had that impression. She had received a package from Vera and Daniel earlier that morning containing not only more money but train tickets for a ride home for the holidays. Lane hadn't decided whether or not she was going home but she knew her mom would like to see her.

Laney was walking past a side corridor when the sound of music caught her ears. "Ash?" she muttered. She hadn't seen the boy in a few weeks and decided she should give him his half of the package seeing as all the money nor both tickets were hers.

Changing her course, she walked down the corridor only to hear the voice of her brother sing out. Figures, she thought with a smile. Standing a few feet away from her brother, she listened to his song. It was sad yet a lot of his songs were. He finished so Laney took her chance and approached him, "Hun, you need some prozac or something," she said jokingly. Prozac was a muggle drug used to treat depression but Ash was far from depressed these days since the newly announced engagement that she had heard gossip about. She wondered why he hadn't told her yet.

"Mum sent tickets and money," she said handing him the before said items enclosed in an envelope. "What was with the song? It was nice, but seemed a bit depressing."

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash looked up to see his sister, "Hey sis, haven't seen you around lately." He blushed slightly rubbing the back of his neck, "Um Cris hasn't told you anything has he?" he asked, wondering if his baby sister knew of the engagement. He smiled sadly, "Thanks." He sighed and pushed the newspaper towards her, "Here, read this. I think that'll explain it."

[Carolanne Roberts]

Laney took a seat next to Ash and sighed. "Nope, can't say he has. I haven't seen him in a while so if there's something going on, you're the one that gets to tell me," she said nudging him. She felt a little out of the loop when others knew more about her brother than she did herself. But, she wasn't upset. She hadn't seen him in a while so she figured it was a logical reason to be uninformed.

Laney grabbed the paper and read the front cover. How parents could treat their children so badly was beyond her, then again she was never on the end of Daniel's fist; that was Ash. "Sad," she said softly. She didn't like reading or hearing about abuse stories so she set the paper back down. Decided to change the subject, she put on a smile once more and nudged Ash, "so... anything I need to know?"

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash nodded as Laney ready the paper. "Yeah it is." He sighed, "Nothing?" He held his left hand out in front of him so that Laney could see the ring, "Maybe this will explain something..."

[Carolanne Roberts]

So once again, the gossip was true. Ashton and Cristian were in fact engaged. Laney grinned as she stared down at the ring. "Beautiful!" she exclaimed. She grabbed for Ash's hand and examined it closer, "It matches your eyes," she said with a sweet smile. "Congrats," Laney said excitedly as she pulled Ash into a hug.

She had only one worry. Weren't they going into this a little too fast? She loved Ash to pieces but wished that him and Cris would take it slow instead of jumping into an engagement so fast. But, Ash was happy so Laney was happy. It was her general rule. "When did this happen?"

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash beamed, "Thanks." He looked at his sister, "A few days ago." he replied with a smile.

[Carolanne Roberts]

Laney noted how happy Ash seemed to be and wouldn't bother with the 'don't you think you're rushing it' speech until later. Oh hell, who was she kidding. It wasn't something she could just ignore. "Look, Ash. I'm really happy for you and all but you and Cris have only been together for a couple of months and I don't think this is, well, I don't know. Right, I guess is what I'm trying to say." Laney sighed and stared at the wall opposite her, "I know you're happy and that you really like Cris but what's an engagement going to do for you guys? Nothing. It's not going to make you guys love each other more or make things seem right."

Carolanne felt a little lost now. She was trying to get a point across but it wasn't coming out in a way that made sense. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think you guys may be rushing into things. This is uncharted territory you guys have gotten yourself into. You don't know Cris that well and he doesn't know you that well. And what are you gonna tell Vera and Daniel?" Laney didn't know where she was going with this all, but she just wanted to make sure that Ash wasn't setting himself up for more heartache.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash sighed, he knew Laney was right. But how could he explain to her how he felt? Ash looked down at the stone floor, tracing patterns with his finger while he tried to think of what to say. Finally he looked up, he looked at Laney ins silence for awhile, then finally spoke "Je sais Laney, mais... Je n'ai jamais senti cette voie de quelqu'un, pas même la Maxi. Il juste ... cela a l'impression d'être la chose juste à faire." Ash sighed in slight frustration, running a hand through his hair.

Ash leaned back against the wall, tilting his head back and closing his eyes; he took a deep breath and opened them. "Il est dur d'expliquer ..." He rolled his eyes, "Et quant à Vera et à Daniel ? Ce qui vous fait penser je vais leur dire ? Je suis juridiquement un adulte que vous connaissez, je ne dois leur dire rien." Ash replied with a smirk.

He smiled,"Je n'ai pas dit oui à Cris parce que j'ai cru qu'il me ferait l'aimer plus, j'ai dit oui parce que je déjà l'aime. Il ressemble presque, je le regarde juste et je sais que nous pouvons le faire. Regardez tout le truc que nous avons déjà été par ensemble. Et, je sais qu'il va être un défi, mais chaque défi nous rendra seulement et notre rapport plus forts." Ash smirked slightly, "En plus du bébé sis, je vous ai vraiment pour en remercier. Enfin, vous êtes celui qui a créé tout le drame qui nous a faits arriver ensemble."

Ash gave Laney a playful, teasing smile,"Si je savais quel un bon embrasseur il était, je l'aurais volé de vous longtemps avant cela!" Ash yawned slightly, leaning his head against Laney's shoulder. Something she hated, which of course was exactly why he was doing it! Ash had to admit, he loved annoying his sister! "Ainsi comment sont des choses avec la Maxi ?"

[theodoreharding]

Being the newbie in the school, Theo wanted to relive old memories and take a walk around the castle. All those secrets that had gone without being found for all these years. Hogwarts. What a place.

Taking a right down a corridor that he couldn't recall from his memory bank, he frowned when he could hear someone talking what sounded like French. Walking down with heavy footsteps, he turned to corner to see two Ravenclaw's happily chatting away, and the boy was the source of the french gobbledy gook.

"Oh, twist my heart because you're so controversial. We're in Britain Emo, not France, so speak damn English will ya?" he frowned, while crossing his arms and giving a dominant stance. Everything Theo said always dripped with sarcasm, but that was him all over.

After staring at the 'claws for a moment, he sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Well? Don't you have classes to go to? Or are you happy just wasting away down here?" he questioned. Theo. What a sarcastic jerk.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash looked up at the professor with narrowed eyes, restraining himself from making a retort. Well, almost anyway, "The reason, I'm speaking French, professor, is because I am French. It's called being bilingual?" He rolled his eyes slightly, "Besides, last time I checked, I could speak any language I please. English isn't the only language you know." He smirked, "And yes, I do have a class. Potions in fact, but seeing as I plan on opening up a store after I graduate, I figured, what do I need Potions for? I doubt it'll help me sell clothes. Besides, ditching is healthy you know. Helps clear your mind."

((blegh. suckage major!))

[theodoreharding]

Theo just stared at the boy for a moment, and his pure cheek of answering back.
"Listen kid, I fail to see why your in ravenclaw at the minute, because quite frankly, if you were fit to be a ravenclaw you would know when to keep your mouth shut. I may not be one of your teachers, but I can still take points away. Being an old Gryffindor, I'd have no problem doing so either, So I suggest you shut up now before I do something you will regret" he scowled at him.

Cheeky little bugger. Is this what Hogwarts has come to nowadays? Little brats thinking they can talk to teachers how the please? I dred to think how he talks to his parents, Theo thought to himself.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash smirked, "Go ahead, take them. Our house is losing anway." He narrowed his eyes, "And if you think threatening me, is going to scare me, think again. I've been through worse. Much worse."

Ash stood so that he was nearly eye level with the teacher. He gave a slight smirk, "Oh, and by the way, just for lack of something to say, don't you have classes to be teaching? Or do you prefer roaming the corridors, sneaking up on unsuspecting students and yelling at them just for speaking a different language?"

Ash rolled his eyes, "Because you know, I wouldn't be doing that. Hogwarts is a school of diversity you know." He sneered slightly, "Or have you forgotten what diversity means?"

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

Dan was heading back from the Astronomy tower after stealing a few moments with Professor Owen when he was convinced he could hear shouting. Now this was not an uncommon thing to come across in Hogwarts after all in December when the weather is cold and hundreds of moody teenagers are trapped in the same building as each other you do get a few fights breaking out, but Dan could have sworn he knew the sound of this boys voice, he defiantly knew the voice of the person he was shouting at.

Rounding the corner of the corridor Dan looked upon Ashton and Theodore shooting each other heated glares and the thing that surprised him the most was the Ravenclaw was giving the Professor a lot of lip. A frown spread across Dan’s features and he slowly walked over towards the group of people and shook his head at the end of Ashton’s little speech about diversity.

“Mr Laurent I am sure an educated man such as Coach Harding will know what the word diversity means but at this little display of yours I can not help but wonder if you know the meaning of respect?”

It was not a patronising tone in Dan’s voice; instead it was slightly mocking, but Dan knew that if Ashton dared try to snap back at him then he would have to put the boy in place…after all he had a reputation with Ravenclaw’s.

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

Ash narrowed his eyes slightly, crossing his arms in defiance. "I do know what respect means Professor." he replied, "But I see no reason to respect someone who thinks they can just walk up and tell me to stop speaking my language. I was speaking French, because I am French. It's none of his business what language I speak. But apparently he thinks it is."

Ash frowned, "In fact his exact words were... 'Oh, twist my heart because you're so controversial. We're in Britain Emo, not France, so speak damn English will ya?'" Ash glared slightly, "What does it matter to him whether I speak French or English?"

Ash sighed, "I'm not trying to be disrespectful Professor, but he can't just walk around telling students what languages they can and can't speak. If my sister and I want to speak French to eachother, don't we have that right?"