Lost and found (Lien)

Alaynas face was still bruised up from the fight with Lily. She had gotten her nose fixed, thankfully healer Ashton could work miracles. She touched the top of her nose softly and sighed. She had a text book open in front of her to at least pretend to be reading so no one would fuck with her. She wasn't in the mood for anyone's company or drama today.

@Lien Chang

Although he wasn't in the Great Hall when it happened, Lien had heard about the fight between Alayna and Lily. Some people had even tried to tease him about it, asking if he enjoyed the idea of two girls fighting over him. It didn't matter if he protested and said they weren't fighting over him - these sorts of people just wanted to get a rise. So, to ignore them, he'd gone to the library.

At least he could pretend he couldn't hear people there.

He was just about to walk out from a row of shelves when he saw Alayna. He quickly backtracked, and hid there. There was no way he wanted to see or talk to her right now.

@Alayna Nott

Alayna felt someone watching her. She hated that feeling lately. She turned and looked towards the rows of books with a frown. No one? That was weird. She turned her head again and just slumped deeper into the chair. She didn't understand how her life had gotten so fucked up. Well, that wasn't true.

@Lien Chang

He backed up and kept hidden, settling on a table down the row of bookcases. If he could just stay here until she left, then he wouldn't have to interact with her at all.

@Alayna Nott

Alayna looked at the book in front of her and closed it. She had to keep up appearances. She picked up the book and got up to return it and get another one. As she walked down the aisle, she froze. Lien. She looked at him, unsure of what to say or do. So she decided on a simple smile and walking past him. She could do this. She could definitely do this without breaking down. She walked to the shelf she needed and returned the book and picked out a new one. She took a deep breath before walking past him again, still silent and returning to her seat.

@Lien Chang

All he had to do was just become too engrossed in studying again not to care. He did that by lowering his head and keeping his eyes down: reading the words loudly inside of his head until the flow of reading became natural again.

Then he smelt a familiar scent wafting beside him, and instinctively looked up. Alayna smiled slightly at him. He looked at her nose and her injury, and gave her a pointed eyebrow raise.

Shaking his head, he returned his attention to the books again. Lien thought that whatever injury Alayna got from Lily was provoked. Alayna had this way of making people angry.

@Alayna Nott

Alayna noticed the eyebrow raise and gave him a shrug. It was what she deserved after everything she did. As she sat at her seat, her leg began to shake. Her thoughts started running and she abruptly got up and walked back over to his table. She placed her hands on the edges of the table and leaned forward, "This is really what we're doing now? Ignoring each other like we don't mean shit?"

@Lien Chang

He was just making some notes when the entire table suddenly jolted and his quill went along with it.  Now his parchment had a snake-like line crossing through half of his handwriting. He looked up at Alayna irritably.

"Keep your voice down," he snapped in a harsh whisper. "I'm not ignoring you, I'm trying to study. You should try it for once."

He was getting a right eyeful from this angle, and was trying not to look down from her eyes.

@Alayna Nott

Alayna saw that she had messed up his paper and she felt a little bad. She knew how he got about his studies. She pulled out her wand and did a quick cleaning spell to clean up the mess but keep his work in place, "Apologies." She said in a quiet voice, since he had told her to keep it down. She scoffed when he suggested she try studying, "Lien Chang, you and I both know my grades are excellent." She said leaning forward a bit more, "Can you take a quick break and we talk for a moment?"

@Lien Chang

"Do I have a choice?" he snarled, irritated.

He diverted his eyes away and went down to his parchment again. The way she was leaning over the table irritated him. Was she really trying to get his attention that way? Argh.

"What do you want?" he snapped impatiently.

@Alayna Nott

Alayna noticed the irritation so she simply smiled and took a seat, "Look at you still knowing me so well." She said with a slight hint of sarcasm. She bit her cheek to control her own temper when he snapped at her, "Lien. I haven't been rude once this entire encounter. I haven't raised my voice. I haven't yelled at you. Can you do the same courtesy please? What I'm doing doesn't come easily to me and the attitude won't help."

@Lien Chang

He decided to just stay quiet and wait for whatever she needed to say, to be said. He didn't believe that he owed her any courtesy, but saying that would just lead to more bickering.

@Alayna Nott

Alayna nodded, "I'm sorry. For all this shit. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I wasn't. Atticus says I was just jealous. Which kind of adds up...." She bit her lip softly and looked up at him, "I was jealous. I knew James had some stupid crush on you and I felt... I don't know. Threatened?" She didn't know what she felt anymore besides upset. "I plan on finding James and apologizing to him too."

@Lien Chang

Lien sighed.

"Great. Okay - fine."

He realised that he didn't want to talk to her after all. This had all happened so recently and he'd barely had time to process it. There were whispers everywhere, circulating rumours, accusations, humiliation: it would take more than her stupid apology to fix it. Lien stood up, gathering his belongings.

"You do whatever you want. Just give me space, okay?"

He left the library quickly, not giving her a chance to protest or say anything more. This was all just too fucking much.

@Alayna Nott

Alayna was confused when he suddenly got up, "Lien, I miss you." But it was too late. He was gone. She frowned and rested her head on the table. This would be a good spot to just wallow for a while.

The incident was happening from a short way away, and Ptolemy had tuned into it as he pretended to study. A gleeful smirk spread across his face as he listened in, then Lien got up and left the library altogether. He was unsure as to why Alayna was bothering to apologise, but he decided to go and find out.

Turning the corner, he saw her head resting, face-down, onto the table. Ptolemy put his hand on her shoulder, gently, and leaned right to her ear:

"Whatever is the matter, Alayna?"

@Alayna Nott

Alayna instinctually reached back and slapped whoever was behind her across the face. When she saw it was Ptolemy, she was about to apologize but stopped, "You know you really deserve that. You didn't just ruin James life. You ruined mine. Lien dumped me." She said flopping back into the chair with a pout.

@Ptolemy Rowle

When she slapped him around the face, he simply turned his head and touched his cheek as though it was a home from home. That wasn't the first time he'd been slapped by a girl for something.

"But Alayna..." he began airily, sounding particularly smug, "You asked me to do something, and I did it for you. I gave you exactly what you desired. Surely you realised there would be consequences, such as Potter's feelings getting hurt."

What did she suddenly care about Potter's feelings anyway?

"I'm sorry that you broke up. Perhaps it's for the best, though."

A small smirk tugged the corner of his mouth.

@Alayna Nott

"I don't care about Potter. I care it how it affected my life!" She said, in an angry whisper. They were still in the library. But he was right. He had done exactly as she had asked him too. So could she really be mad at him? Seeing the smirk on his lips made her angry, "How is me being single, depressed and lonely a good thing, Ptolemy Rowle? It's not good for my image. Dumped by a Ravenclaw because elf a guy none the less."

@Lien Chang

"Oh you won't be single for long, you pretty thing."

He slid into the seat next to her, leant his palm on his cheek, and smiled.

"If it really is your image you are worried about, Lien Chang wasn't particularly good for it anyway. He is a a complete and utter nerd, his family are completely broke and he's a half-blood to boot. Getting rid of him was definitely a good thing."

@Alayna Nott

"Everyone hates me for outting James. Well, everyone besides you. And my brother is sort of coming around." She said with a slight frown. She hated this. She went from being the most desired girl in school to public enemy number one. "He made me seem more approachable. Less of a bitch. I was less of a bitch with him." She narrowed her eyes as he started trashing Lien, "Tread carefully. But if we want to talk about image, did Perdita enjoy the dance?" She raised an eyebrow, telling him that she along with everyone else saw him with Carina. But of course it wasn't as himself, "Are you planning on telling her?"

 @Ptolemy Rowle

"Then you will have to do something to try and improve your image. I'm sure we can think of something."

Ptolemy liked the fact that Potter was miserable because of it, and he was glad Lien Chang was out of the picture. He wasn't right for her. He seemed to be the only one who had had the time of his life that night: getting off with Carina as a woman, and besmirching Potter's reputation.

"Oh, so you saw us, did you?"

He smirked.

"Perhaps I will... I don't know yet. It's a strange thing, but perhaps Perdita will be less of a secret very soon."

@"Alayna Nttt"

Alayna sighed and leaned on his shoulder, "Yeah like what?" She had no idea what could possibly help her at this point. But then again, Ptolemy was known for delivering on his word. So she would give him the benefit of the doubt. She laughed, "Everyone saw you. It's all over the bathroom wall that Carina is a lesbian now." She shook her head, "I mean, hey, if that's what you want to do go for it. Just tell Rina first. Otherwise she will be upset."

@Ptolemy Rowle

"Why would she get upset?" he asked, wanting to get that out of the way first before they addressed the subject of her public image. "It would probably be a nice surprise for her, knowing that there's two lovers rolled into one." He smirked at her.

@Alayna Nott

"Because you didn't tell her. I know, Rina. She's gonna feel like this is all some giant joke or prank to hurt her if she finds out your Perdita through the Hogwarts gossip mill." It was obvious. Carina didn't like games like that. She was more sensitive than the rest of their group. "Just tell her. Soon. I mean it, Rowle."

@Ptolemy Rowle