A Reunion of Actors

Ellederflower Smith had not been on Hogwarts soil all of two minutes, before she dumped her bags in her dorm and had headed out inot the forest, destination unknown. It had been a good while since she had seen the old familar building and it's inhabitant, and of course, she knew she had to look around. But a moment to herself wasn't much to ask, was it? A little alone time. Elle almost laughed, she had had so much 'alone time' during the two week break that her body was craving for human interraction. Oh, sure, her parents had been there for Christmas Eve- they got in at 11:30pm, not much of a christmas eve- and they were there on Christmas day - They left at 7pm to go to a dinner party, dragging Elle along behind them, playing happy families. And they had also been there boxing day - from 9am till 2pm, they had to work, apparently. It wasn't like her parents didn't care...It was just- They had to occupy their time somehow when she was at Hogwarts for most of the year and a bit of the next, and obviously, their social lives seemed to have run into their family time. Elle often wondered if they ever had a moment to themselves anymore.

But in her heart of hearts, she knew why she needed alone time. A couple months back, a new student had started. They had become instant friends, and admitedly, Elle noticed that her old friends seemed to shy away from the new student, to back off and let the two have space. Elle didn't understand at first, she thought...Well, truthfully, she didn't know what they thought. She only had eyes and ears for the new student. It had been a long time since they had had a new person, and honestly, this new student intrigued her to no avail. Regreatably, her old friend, Cameron had been one of the one's to shy away from her new friendship choice. And whenever she said old friend, she meant old friend. More like Best friend really, although she wansn't so sure anymore.

It had been a long, long time since they had spoken. And, instead of shying away from her new friendship, Cameron had seemed to make like scissors and cut at the ends. Specifically her ends. He remained friends with all of the others. At first she was hurt, then annoyed and finnally down right mad. Although her anger seemed to have simmered out over the Christmas Holidays, settling as a warm annoyance. If she was truthful to herself, she'd know that she felt guilty about the whole situation. Yes, she missed her best friend, but it shouldn't matter that much. He should have just assimulated, just as she had. He should have-

She stopped her thoughts, at this rate she'd be turning around and heading right to his dorm to knock on his door. And no one would want that. She sighed as she came to a clearing, not knowing where she was she peered out onto the black earth. Wait, is earth supposed to be black? I'm sure it isn't...And there it was. A ripple. A single ripple on the black earth. She wasn't at the world's end, or a herbology experiment gone wrong, she had finnally arrived at the Black Lake. She couldn't remember when she had been there last, it had really been that long. This is why she needed some alone time. That new friend she had made, yeah, turned out to be a little bit demanding and clingy if they didn't get their way. Elle needed space to breathe. To think. To feel like herself again.

And so she found herself, dusting off a stump of an long forgotten oak, sitting down, staring out into the choppy waters of the Black Lake, lost in her thoughts.

It was chilly outside, but he didn’t really notice. Cameron Mallow had missed the school grounds too much to be bothered by silly concerns of the weather: he was back, and he was sure as hell going to enjoy the outside before wandering off to bed. He didn’t exactly want to talk to any of his friends, no, he was in a strange sort of lonely mood at the moment, and as he wandered across the green-tinted grass he considered his social situation.

This year, their last, was supposed to be the best, but as of yet it wasn’t shaping up to be. Sure, it was fun enough just to be a seventh year, to terrify the firsties just by walking down the hall… but something was missing, and he had a pretty good idea of what it was. From the start of the year, he’d been growing more and more distant from his best friend, his closest friend: Elderflower Smith. At first, it had most certainly been her fault, and he continued to believe that. She abandoned a crowd she’d been running with since the age of eleven for a single new student, and a horribly annoying one at that. Yes, that had made Cam pretty angry, and that was where he had started to make his own mistakes.

He probably shouldn’t have gone out of his way to avoid her, but he had. He didn’t want to talk to El, not this El. Now, after a semester of chaos and two weeks of time to himself, time at home with no one but his sister (and his parents, technically, but who were we kidding? They hardly noticed their children these days, and their children hardly noticed them.), he was ready to apologize. Almost.

Cam was a particularly stubborn person, and he always had been. Unfortunately, he was also rather dramatic, and the two didn’t combine gracefully. The general effect of such attributes was a reluctance to give up on anything, least of all matters such as this.

He looked around, realizing he was nearing the black lake, and was able to make out the outline of a small person, sitting on a stump near the water’s edge. Could it be? Well, speak of the devil and the devil he, or in this case, she, doth appear. He made his way, stumbling slightly, down to where she sat on the stump, hovering a few feet back for a moment. She was deep in her own mind, and he couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking about. “Hey.” he said, sitting down beside her on the large stump. She was startled, and irritated, and he didn’t care. Cam’s tone was bitter, full of unseen rage he didn’t realize still existed. He was angry at her, but he didn’t know it. Whatever the case, though, they needed to talk.