[Courtyard] sounding heartbeats (invite only)

[Prudence Russo]

Many people always assumed that twins were overly attached to each other. Almost as if once they were five feet apart from each other, they would suddenly die of loneliness. This stereotype quite annoyed Prue, since she almost preferred to be away from Addy. The whole, someone else with the same face as you deal was starting to become more and more creepy to her. And when their names got mixed up -- oh, it just boiled her blood. Go through all the effort of dying your hair, dressing differently, trying to separate yourself as an individual and someone has the gall to call her Adelaine! With an uncharacteristic amount of fuming, Prue quickly stomped away from the scene without a word.

"Please~! Won't someone tell me that there is a difference between us!" Was her exasperated remark once she was far enough away and it caused a nearby Ravenclaw to raise his brows at her. "Oh, shut up, Bray! No one was even talking to you, you loon."

"Woah there. You could be a little more... um.. nice, Prue? And shouldn't you be heading towards the common room, not away from it, at this time of day?"

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes before giving him a glare that forced him to give out a stuttered remark before limping his prefect butt away. The first door with yellow sunlight streaming through it was the one that Prue took, and it lead into the courtyard. The air was nippy, but she wasn't all together bothered to be in a nearly sleeveless outfit. Perhaps her hot-head was currently keeping her warm.

Prue sat down on the cold cemented bench with a sigh, but not too long after she heard the sound of a splash. Not an uncommon sound considering this was a courtyard with a fountain in it, but it wasn't the usual sort of rhythmic splash. Rather, it was the sort of splash that sounded like someone was in the fountain. Curious about who was insane enough to do that, she pulled herself off the bench and started circling the fountain until she saw a small head of black hair and darted back out of sight. 'There's some..thing.. in there!' Was her first, obvious thought. She was more worried about getting caught by them, but as she peeked around the statue once more, that suddenly became the least of her wowrries.

Whoever it was, was the size of a four-year-old with a head of long-dark hair. From her shock, she couldn't help but squeak out a little surprised 'what!' and she took quite a few steps back as the head turned towards her with it's cold, lifeless eyes. This had suddenly become a bit too creepy for her tastes and she really wished to run. But her legs were rooted in the spot, with her wide-eyes staring directly at the little boy. Her heart was thudding so loudly she was sure that it could be heard at the headmaster's office.

What the hell is going on?!

{ Think, the grudge. Only a little less creepy? }

[Bryn Kennedy]

What a strange week. What a strange year come to think about it. Nobody were themselves lately, which in a way was a good thing, it let them explore different areas of their personality that they probably wouldn’t do naturally. Take Bryn for example, he would never have imagined he had this kind of personality within him. He used to think it only existed in Brooke. People were strange creations, limited creatures with a very short lifespan. People never went out of their way to push their boundaries, well Bryn didn’t. As far as he used to be aware boundaries were good and he used to say that Brooke needed a few extra boundaries to keep her in check. Now he seemed to think she had too many and was rather uptight. Was he like that?

The day was wearing on now, the mid day sun was beginning to fall as the sky changed from cloudy blue to cloudy orange. His robes were skirting along the floor as he made pointless suggestions to passing first years and made up rules which didn’t exist. Of course they believed him which made him laugh, just how gullible were these people really? As he got outside, he crossed over to the lawns, his prefect badge glistening in the last of the days sunlight. Bryn hardly cared he abused his prefect role. Something his mother had sent him a good few howlers about. The more recent being on how he wasn’t looking after Brooke and Ali like he used to. He was their brother, not their flaming keeper. If Ali wanted to get herself caught up in something that was none of her business, or Brooke, why should it matter to him? They used to be known for being close, now they seemed to be drifting apart. ”Stuff happens.” He mumbled to himself.

”’Scuze me, do you know where I could find Headmaster Hubbles?” A young first year asked him in passing, Bryn looked down at the boy and frowned. ”How should I know? Try his office or ask your head of house. I’m a prefect not a walking map.” He said, a little harsher than what was actually necessary. The first year gave a swift nod and hurried away as though Bryn was the last person he wanted to be around. He continued walking, looking at the Forest as he went. Werewolves would be in there tonight, it was the second night of the moon phase. Though he wasn’t cruel enough to actually send someone in there, despite what a joke it would be. Speaking of, Bryn hadn’t actually played any decent tricks in a good long while. Maybe he would talk to Brooke about that.

Leaving the lawns he took a different route, one which lead him into the courtyard. There were a couple of people leaving but none of them held his attention. There was someone, staring fixatedly at the fountain as though it was the single most interesting thing in the world. It was just a fountain for crying out loud what was so special about it? Upon further examination he realised, as he walked a little around to see the girls face, that it was Prue Russo. The other pair of twins in Gryffindor house. He gave a smile when he saw her looking down into the fountain though had no reason to look at it himself, he was simply bemused by the look on her face. ”Never seen a fountain before Prue?” He asked in a joking like manner, making his way slowly over to stand by her, not taking his eyes off her face.

”Seriously, whats so special about the foun--” His sentence was cut short as he looked into the water, exactly where her eyes were looking. There was a little boy, who, upon the sight of Bryn crept down further into the water so only his eyes, forehead and hair was showing. His eyes were as black as night, and he was as pale as an albino. This wasn’t normal and he felt a strong desire and urge to get as far from the creepy child as was possible. Slowly, he took hold of Prue’s arm and began to pull her backwards a little, as he did, the boy began to rise out of the water again. His black eyes looking at them both with a mixture of anger and hatred. Once his mouth was out of the water he let out a blood curdling scream and proceeded to crawl out of the fountain in the most horrifying way possible. His body was jerking and his bones creaking. ”Run!” He yelled to Prue, grasping her arm tighter and pulling her out of the courtyard.

[Prudence Russo]

This was certainly a time where she wished that she'd never seen a fountain in her lifetime. In fact, right now she wished she was 9-years-old and still having to live in the Russo household rather than being forced to stay in this damned, crazy place where bad things always seemed to happen to her. Why were all the scary creatures following her around?! Her muscles were still tensed and frozen, not letting her fight or flight instinct work to get her the hell away from her. Instead she just stood staring at the small boy, as he sat up and cocked his head to the side at her, like a puppy. But not the kind of puppy that anyone would want.

Her feet finally allowed her to scoot herself back a bit, a motion which was mimicked by the boy as he scooted closer. Oh god. Maybe I can click my heels twice and end up Kansas. She thought fearfully before a voice echoed in her head. Was it the creepy child's! No, it couldn't have been. Her eyes hadn't left him yet, and she was sure that the voice was familiar. Prue forced her eyes away from him, only to see someone coming up towrads her side. A familiar person, Bryn Kennedy, who would soon wish that he never came into the courtyard, too. In any normal situation, Prue would have smiled and made a comment back about what a spectacular fountain it was, but now her expression didn't change in the slightest.

Instead her eyes moved quickly back to the fountain after she saw motion, and the thing had retreated back for a moment. She thought his expression was sort of frightened, and were he a bit more human, it may have forced Prue to sympathize with him. The boys expression soon turned more frightening and aimed directly at Bryn. Looks like someone pissed him off, great.

Being nearly jerked off her feet seemed to be just what she needed to pull herself together, and her footsteps clumsily followed his as she was half-dragged out of the courtyard. "You don't have to tell me twice." She finally croaked out, regaining her voice. Prue dared to look behind her and saw that they were indeed being followed. But there was something off about the way the boy ran, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Suddenly pulling Bryn the other direction, she figured that the best way to lose the little stalker would be to take the most roundabout path possible. If they were lost themselves, then surely, the little boy would be too. Stopping near a little alcove, Prue bent with her hands resting on her knees for a moment. "Bryn..." She said breathlessly before turning her face up towards him.

"That boy.. his feet didn't touch the ground..." Prue tried to use the most composed voice she could, but it was still shaky. This bizarre situation was going to have her locked in her dorm for a least a day.

[Bryn Kennedy]

Bryn hadn’t had much trouble with the castle. He kept hearing stories about people and Merlin only knew what. The common room seemed to be the safest place right now, but for how long? Bryn had been hearing of portraits coming alive and attacking people, there were portraits in the common room. After hearing this little rumour Bryn had almost taken them down. Almost but not quite. They seemed to be docile for the time being, but the moment one of them begins to act weird, they would all come right down, no questions asked.

The Castle seemed an unfriendly place at the moment. Once deemed as the safest place in England was now probably the most dangerous place. Standing in the Courtyard, Bryn was unaware he was soon to be entangled on a rather nasty adventure. As he looked at Prue, she looked back at him, fear was in her eyes no doubt about that and Bryn couldn’t help but smile a bit. However, as she looked away, he followed her gaze and to his horror he saw what could only be described as something which belonged in a horror movie. He very nearly asked him what horror movie he had crawled out from, but suddenly decided against the idea. Pissing off a little boy, a creepy little boy at that seemed to be a very bad idea.

He saw it too. A flash of anger and hatred. He hadn’t said anything directly to the boy to offend him, maybe just Bryn’s presence here annoyed the lad, maybe he was going to abduct Prue? Go all Grudge-fied on her and Bryn had spoilt his little plan. Well, Bryn wasn’t going to stick around to find out, and neither was he going to let Prue stick around, so grabbing her wrist he moved her backwards, watching the boy move closer to the fountain ledge.

When he realised the boy had no intention of letting him go, the only option seemed to be to run. Bryn didn’t want to have to curse the little boy after all he was only a child. ”Well I’m glad to hear it.” Bryn didn’t look behind himself again after he saw the thing creep out of the fountain, completely dry too which was weird in itself. Instead, Bryn concentrated on not letting go of Prue and running. He wasn’t one for leaving people behind, especially a Gryffindor.

As Bryn turned to go left, Prue pulled him in the other direction and he lost his balance for a short while, almost falling headlong onto the floor. Somehow, he managed to keep himself upright and running, deciding it best to do as he was told. It wouldn’t do to piss off a creepy kid and a normal lass all in one day. Even Bryn had his limits. The two of them stopped in a little alcove, Bryn put his arm on the wall after Prue let go of him, trying to catch his breath. ”What?” He asked, his voice just as breathless as hers. ”Man, I need to exercise more. I’m totally unfit!” He tried to joke, though this was neither the time or the place.

”You’re kidding right?” His voice was slightly disbelieving, ”How could his feet not touch the ground? He’s not a ghost, he’s as solid as we are.” Though something about the boy didn’t exactly seem human. ”Sure, he could do with a bit of a tan an’ all… shh!” Bryn heard something, like a croaky sound, a rather high pitched, but quiet croaky sound. Bryn’s eyes widened as the boy came into view, though seemed not to see them in their hiding place. Prue was right. It’s feet wasn’t touching the floor, ”What the hell?” It turned at the sound of his voice, his eyes alert and annoyed. Bryn pulled his wand out assuming if it was solid, it could be hit, it would at least give them another chance to run. ”Stupefy!” Was the first thing to come into his mind, and like he expected, the force of the spell knocked the boy backwards and Bryn grabbed Prue again, ”Might I suggest another little jog!? Keep those muscles working!” And without giving her chance to answer, he began to pull her away from the boy once more.