Emerald and Amber [closed]

[bushidodreaming]

Night drew its cloak over the castle, blanketing the grounds in darkness, with only the twinkle of the stars and sliver of crescent moon for light.  The corridors were quiet and empty, the portraits even dozing off in their frames, and nothing but the occasional footfall of a prefect on duty or scurrying house-elf.  Well, Elspeth Fairchild considered herself an exception to the rules.  She crawled through winding passageways and tunnels back from her nightly escapades in Hogsmeade. While the rest of the castle slumbered peacefully in their four posts, Elspeth dueled in underground matches, spilling bloodshed on the floors of seedy bars and flinging hexes with all manner of warlocks.  She kept her face covered by a green velvet hood, and earned the nickname 'Willow,' for her wand was fashioned out of willow wood, and she could be as merciless as the Whomping Willow when you were a victim in her grasp.


None of the other students knew about her dueling expertise, or secret identity.  To the rest of the castle, she was merely Elspeth.  The Slytherin loner, who preferred the company of her scrawny black rat Lancelot perched on her shoulder, and her dusty grimoires.  With her striking green eyes, high cheekbones, silky black hair falling to her waist, and pale petite frame, she was lovelier than a black rose, but no one had been able to sustain her thorns yet.


Hoping to head to the cool dungeons without incident, Elspeth crept quietly along the corridors after crawling out the statue of the Humpback Witch.  Her heart still raced from the adrenaline of dueling strangers in the dark.  She didn't care what Quidditch players or drunkards said, there was no greater high than firing spells out of her wand.  She couldn't believe she had two more years of schooling to undergo before she could run away from dreary old England and her miserable family, and become a professional duelist.


Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something, a flash of shadow.  She instinctively withdrew her wand from her cloak pocket, and whirled around, facing the person sneaking up on her. "You know, you shouldn't follow girls in the dark," she said, in a smooth soft whisper. "You might get hurt."

 

[Shiremaiden]

He knew he wasn't supposed to be out at this hour but it was a matter of life and death. Not for a student mind you but, for his flowers Henry had cared for them since his first year at Hogwarts. They were his very first friends here, and he'd gone and lost track of time and forgot to water them today. Most would survive, but there were one or two that wouldn't last till the morning without water.  It wasn't normal for the tall blonde to break rules, but this was a desperate time which called for desperate measures. Being a Hufflepuff he was good with herbs and plants which he'd always enjoyed, his parents just thought that he had a green thumb. They hadn't expected their son to be a wizard and neither had he. 


Henry was known for spending lots of time tending to his plants, but he also did his very best to be kind to everyone he met and thankfully most Hufflepuffs were the same. Friendly, loyal, and true what more could he ask of his friends that weren't in a pot? The boy was usually quite or busy reading a Herbology book, but tonight he had to be a man of action to save his few friends who wouldn't last the the night. It was odd being up so late all the paintings sleeping, and hardly anyone around, his nerves though were on fire for fear of being caught and failing in his mission.


Thus far he'd done a decent job of avoiding anyone that was until he noticed small hooded figure ahead of him. He tried to hide but it was too late there he was staring at a the end of a wand. "S-sorry." He stammered as softly as he could. "I wasn't trying to follow you I was just heading to the greenhouse you see." He explained holding his hands up in defeat waiting to be taking back to his room and receivea punishment though nothing would be worse than knowing he'd let his plants die. He licked his lips nervously and he blue eyes tried to see just who was under the hood but they couldn't. "I uh, I just need to water my plants then I'll go back to my room and forget I ever saw you." He offered sheepishly still keeping his hands up.

 

[bushidodreaming]

Elspeth kept her wand steadily pointed at the Hufflepuff lad.  She recognized him, the quietly kind boy in class with the green thumb, and a penchant for plants beyond even the typical badger.  She didn't shake off her velvet hood, preferring to keep her identity hidden.  Her eyes flickered like green flames as she met his gaze.  They were so clear and blue, his eyes reminded her of crystal balls.


"The greenhouse, you say?"  That piqued Elspeth's curiosity.  She needed to re-stock some herbs and plants to brew the Veritaserum potion she was working on.  She intended to slip it in her mother's drink by winter holiday, so she could finally get the truth to secrets haunting the Fairchild family for years. 


She lowered her wand, but kept her fingers tightly curled around the willow wood.


"Hmm. Take me with you, and I won't rat you out to the prefects. I've been meaning to get some supplies from the greenhouse, but... plants don't like me for some reason."  Elspeth shifted on her feet, even with her face masked and a wand in her hand, it was a tad embarrassing to admit that mandrakes wailed in her mere presence, and she couldn't walk by a Venus Fly Trap without it attempting to swallow her head.

 

[Shiremaiden]

It seemed as though the figure shrouded in the shadows wasn't about to let him off the hook. It was a bit worrisome the way it seemed as though the shorter figure appeared to be gazing into his very soul, and knew that he'd ultimately give up and that he wasn't very brave. Henry could have sworn that the other's eyes were green like emeralds but he only caught sight of them for a instant before they were in the shadow of the hood. He nearly jumped out of his skin, when the person spoke again.Henry was fairly confident it was a girl and he'd heard her voice before but he couldn't place it just yet. 


"Yes, that's right." He answered shifting his weight from foot to foot. Henry was still nervous, but thankfully the wand wasn't pointed directly at him now.


At the request he nearly fell over, "Y-you want to come with me?" He stammered nervously,  not sure how to feel about this. But when told that plants didn't like her? He smiled slightly, "Oh, well that's alright they like me just fine, so if you'd rather wait outside I'd be happy to get you what you needed." He offered just out of habit of trying to be helpful and nice. That and he'd never had a problem with plants even the Venus Fly Traps, he chalked that up to fact that they were actually something he wasn't afraid of and he as embarrassing as it was talked with them.


Henry licked his lips, "Well, then shall we go?" He asked tentatively. He didn't want to just stand around, it made it easier for the prefects to find them and then both their nights would be ruined.