-open- TELL ME A SECRET

[Ace Longbottom]

I'VE GOT YOUR HAND IN MINE
FOR ONE VERY GOOD REASON

In the dream, I was running across the grounds in the dead of the night. I wore a pair of dark denim jean shorts, a white tank top, black suspenders, and black vans tennis shoes. My hair was curly. Well, my hair was damp and the curls were now dying. I was soaking wet, drenched from head to toe. My makeup was smudged and everything about my outer appearance screamed trouble. And then there was my expression. I could see it clear as day from the perspective of my amazing dreamer’s eyes. I wore a look of completely wicked grinning. Yes, there was something so devilish, so mischievous, about me. I could have been off robbing banks all night! I knew that wasn’t the case though. No, this dream wasn’t about bank robbery, it had a different sort of air to it, a different type of significance.

In the dream, I leaned down for a moment to catch my breath, stopping in the middle of one of the many lawns about the grounds of the school. My hands were on my knees and I came to the realization I was covered in mud. I wiped my hands on my shirt and the comparison between mucky brown and white was shockingly beautiful to me. My grin didn’t fade for a moment. The rain was still showering down on me and I had the free spirit to roam in that rain for the rest of these dark hours. I knew it had to be past midnight. The tiny black wrist watch on my left arm read 3:24 AM. Where was my destination? I was running again, my arms flailing around me, as if I were excited. I was going somewhere thrilling! This was a night I wouldn’t forget. There was so much buildup that I could feel the adrenaline rush. Why couldn’t I move faster!

And then, Alice woke up.

Her head was pounding. She felt around to switch on the lamp at her bedside table but remembered that she’d surely wake her room mates and they’d be pissed, as usual. Ace grabbed for her wand instead. She cast lumos silently so as not to disturb the others. This gesture was rare, it must have been some off chemical balance thrown into her life from her dream’s adrenaline rush. She felt like she could easily still be running in the rain.

She glanced down at her clothes. She’d forgotten to change out of her jeans from the night before. Ace grinned. What had she been doing the night before? She glanced down at her wrist watch absently and realized it was exactly 3:24 AM, just like in the dream. She shook her head slightly and a wicked little grin met her lips. ”Well, if that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.” She murmured to herself softly. This was obviously her night.

So, in true Alice Anabelle Longbottom fashion, Ace rose from her bed and strolled toward the trunk at the end of her bed. She pulled out a rather awkwardly shaped, but smaller record player and a few records wrapped in brown paper. Her wand hung, rather lopsidedly in her hand. She slipped her feet into a pair of black vans and started toward the door. She only turned back to grab the gray hoodie sweatshirt off the bottom of her bed. She was on one of her usual missions. No night was meant to be lost to boring ways. All nights should have some element to them that was worth remembering. At least, that’s how Ace felt. So, she was turning this dull Sunday night in October into something that she’d actually enjoy.

She had wandered the dark dungeons of Hogwarts since her very first year at school. It was no shocker that Ace could practically get through them blind-folded. She even knew a few little secret passages so she’d end up in the back of an empty classroom instead of in the entrance hall where a teacher might decide to patrol at this un-Godly hour. Not that Ace was intimidated by her teachers. Her own father was a teacher and Alice couldn’t help but laugh at that. He’d so often given her that look of slight embarrassment when she’d get into trouble. Then, her troublesome tasks became more extravagant and that look turned into an impressed sort of laugh. Alice could never quite be judged by others because she was far too unpredictable.

Before she could start counting sheep out of boredom, she’d come to a stop outside one of her favorite locations in the castle. Yes, the gloriously spacious and ever beautiful Astronomy Tower. If Ace had a lover currently, she’d drag him here under romantic pretenses. She, at this time, did not have such a person so, she had other purposes here. She had greater, more meaningful ideas. This was a place for late night solo imaginings. This was a sanctuary waiting to be made into something more amazing than describable. Ace was up to the job.

She strode into the middle of the large, circular room. It was open to the outside where they did their astronomy studies. Instead of a starlit sky, there were thunder clouds blocking the view. Very appropriate in Alice's opinion. She didn’t want a cloudless night, that held no fun. She wanted the rain from her dream. She wanted life and reality. She hated this little game of fiction everyone else seemed to have going. They were all such teenagers, such children! They fooled themselves into ridiculous romances and they tangled themselves in stupid dramas. She hated the way some people spoke, as if they were too guarded and didn’t want to come off as any certain type of person without a heaping pile of foreshadowed evidence. Ace could read them all too easily. Or, she got that fake version of everyone. She need nights like these to learn their stories, how their minds and hearts ticked. She wanted a long look into their souls. They could be male, female! They could be old, young! Hell, they could be part werewolf and she wouldn’t mind at this point. Ace wanted something interesting to learn about someone. She was so sick of all the same faces in the same halls and the same classes. She missed home where foreign witches and wizards would travel and stay. She missed the sounds of their accents, the things they ordered to eat and drink. She particularly missed their enthusiasm. There was this look that travelers wore that said they really wanted to be there. This was their choice. This was the one location in the whole world that the wind decided to blow them to. That sense of knowing, of understanding, captivated Ace on a level she completely adored feeling.

But, there were no foreign faces here. So, she had to make her own bits of amazing come to life. She had to pray some new student would stroll into her life. She had to hope beyond hope that someone or something would assist her in making this particular night worth it. That’s what all this was about, making her night worth it.

A distant rumble shook in the distance after a striking bit of light. A storm had arrived and Ace was practically in love with it. The rain went from a soft patter to a pounding borderline hale storm. That same wicked grin that was host to her dream made a special appearance on her expression. This was it. Ace set her record player down on the floor and flicked through the albums until she found her favorite Frank Sinatra record. She put it on and listened as the music started to float around the room. Accompanied by the pounding rain, the booming thunder, the blinding lightening, and the sound of her breath getting caught in her throat, this was enough for her. This was enough to write over all other thoughts and leave her caught up in the moment.

And then, in true Longbottom fashion, Ace began to dance. She danced the way she saw her mother and father dance about their house to this same music so many times before but with an invisible partner. She danced around the room with this type of stature that said she was timeless. She could be anyone in the world she wanted to be, but she was Ace Longbottom and if anyone strolled into her life at this fair moment, this would be the perfect impression to have of her. She was stunningly out of the ordinary and creatively out of place. This was the last thing anyone in the school should have been doing at 3:30 in the morning and the fact that it was Alice doing it only made it better.

She closed her eyes, her grin turning goofy. She danced on her tip toes, as if her invisible partner were just a little taller than her and she remember being five years old and her father dancing with her too. She remembered standing on his shoes and going round and round. She remembered her brother Frankie laughing so hard and she giggled and giggled and giggled. A giggle escaped at the mere memory. Her memories were so vivid, so clear. Behind her eyelids, she could read her past like a novel. Or, she could watch it like a film. She was so perfectly caught up in it all. ”Tell me your secrets fair night of chaos. For I am all ears.” Ace whispered through all her precious sound. She’d taken a turn too wide and was standing beside the rail that looked off the tower. Rain slashed against her face. She kept her eyes closed and held on, breathing it in. This was hers. No one could take this from Alice Anabelle Longbottom.

WORD COUNT! 1,643
OUTFIT! follow me, i'mma link
MUSIC! follow me too, i'mma a cooler link
TAG! anyone who's bored and wants to post=D
NOTES! i enjoyed writing it=)

[Penny Matthews]

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Staring at the ceiling for 3 hours was really boring. Like, mind numbingly boring. Penny had spent that Sunday morning out bright and early on the quidditch pitch, though her wrist was still aching from the previous practise so on James' actually rather forceful orders, (He still hadn't dropped the fact that it was completely down to her own blase' attitude to her own safety that had resulted in her hurting herself in the first place.) she begrudgingly had to take it easy, mostly watching the other players instead of actually getting actively involved in the practise...

Then after practise, Penny ate lunch with her team mates before spending the afternoon with James. They hadn't really gotten up to much, they just generally strolled around the grounds, Penny animatedly chattering on about what had happened suring the quidditch practise and how they were for sure going to kick Gryffindor's arses this year, while James kept with the nodding and punctuated her sentences with amused laughter over her enthusiastic attitude over the sport that he was sure he would never understand...

Once Penny had ran out of things to say, they both settled down by the lake, where they sat for most of the afternoon, intermittednt bouts of snogging, talking about nothing, almost drifting off to sleep in the sunshine, the usual sickeningly loved up afternoon from anyone elses perspective...

But then the weather seemed to turn and it became colder rather quickly. So they both left the grounds and retreated inside, into the warmth of the castle, which actually wasn't that warm unless you were inside one of the four common rooms, which presented a problem for the young couple since they both belonged to different houses. Penny had often wondered about sneeking into Gryffindor tower, whether it would be easy, what would happen if she was caught, when she would be busted as soon as she stepped inside, yaknow, those sorts of important things.

In the end they parted ways, after a lengthly snogging session outside the Ravenclaw tower, which brought them some abuse from innocent Ravenclaws leaving and entering the tower, not having wished to witness anyone kissing anyone else especially not that James Potter...

Yes it was safe to say, that Penelope Matthews was head over heals and it was sickeningly obvious to all those that knew her. So why couldn't she sleep? She tried laying on both sides, her back, her front, the other end of her bed. Nothing was working. Grabbing her watch from the side table, she squinted through the darkness, 3:29... Great.

Maybe a short stroll would solve her insomnia problem. So carefully and silently she slid out of bed and pulled on some skinnies and a couple of layered long and short sleeved shirts before slipping on her converse and grabbing her wand on the way out of the dorms. Sneeking out and about was generally pretty easy, as long as you didn't run into a big mouthed ghost you were usually fine. Luckily for Penny, the coast seemed to be clear for her as she made her way through the darkness around the empty corridors, her lit wand guiding the way...

Suddenly she could hear the soft and distant sound of music, floating down the hall to her ears. Some muggle music she suspected, since she didn't recognise it at once. Never the less curiosity had began to stir and Penny found herself following the soft music to the astronomy tower steps. This presented something of a problem for the Ravenclaw. Penny was something of a closet claustrophobe, The enclosed spiralling stairs of the astronomy tower were narrower and the roof was lower than in Ravenclaw tower, and she avoided the stairway as often as she possibly could. Especially when there was about thirty students trying to leave and thirty trying to go up all at the same time. There had been more than one occassion when Penny had ended up having a panic attack after getting squashed against the wall with students all around her... Embarrassing"

So there was her dilemma. Leave the stairs and not find out who was up there, or go up and risk freaking out, at night, alone, when she wasnt supposed to be out of the dorms... Sighing some as the options ran through her mind, she knew she was going to have to suck it up and go up there. There was no way she was leaving without finding out who was playing the strange music... So she gingerly took step by step, and once the exit at the bottom disappeared, she looked at where she had to go and suddenly made a dash for it. Eventually spilling out onto the astronomy tower room, breathing a little heavily from a combination of fear and physical exersion...

Glancing around the room, her eyes soon fell upon a farmiliar figured, dancing away to her own beat, like usual. Alice Longbottom. "Oi! what you doing up here?" she said over the music with a giggle to signal her arrival as she lazily walks over toward her friend, slumping onto a chair in the room to catch her breath back...

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Words: 903
Tag: Ace!
Comments: Hope that alright lolz

[Ace Longbottom]

For Alice, life had always been a party. Life had always been hers for the taking. She made every second count and when she slipped up and was doing something boring, it was by force and she was planning something exceptionally amazing to make up for it. Now was another example of Ace's usual ways of life. So, when Penelope Matthews, long time friend of Ace, strolled in on Alice's raindrop embrace, Ace's heart was already a few beats ahead of them both.

She swung around in an abrupt motion to face Penny. Her face wore an expression of pure shock. Then, that wicked grin rose out of the shock in a slow manner, as if drawn out just to make it more meaningful. "What am I doing up here? Darling, I'm giving this night something to live for. And now you are too." Ace said it like this were some golden opportunity. She made this sound like every other student in school was wishing to be part of this right now. They wanted to be thrown into this perfectly random and obviously beautiful scenario. Ace was glad she could share it with Penny. Even though she'd known Penny for years now, she enjoyed laughing with her. There was something sort of introverted about Penelope that Alice found absolutely adorable. She'd always been fond of the Ravenclaw and their friendship was made for moments like these.

Without further adieu, Ace strode forward until she was right in front of Penny. She took her friend's hands in her own, her expression still wicked as the devil himself! She leaned forward and kissed her friend on both cheeks as if she were French, which Ace obviously wasn't but loved to mock. "Tonight, we dance. Tonight, we dance in the rain and laugh because there's no one here to care or say we can't." Ace could be written off as mad or exceptionally passionate about life itself. Her tone carried that air of higher knowledge. It was as if God had told Ace this in confidence and now she was just passing it on to Penny because she was such a great friend.

She still held Pen's hands in her own. Now, she tugged at her friend slightly, toward the music as if tempting her to dance with her. The wickedness in her grin transformed into a smile of trust and laughter. There was something so sincere about her face. Ace was secretly begging Penny to share a moment of amazing with her. She was begging her friend to just laugh and be content and silly and childish because she needed that. She didn't need it because she, Alice Longbottom, really was silly and childish, but because she knew this would all be over soon. She wondered if they realized it too. She wondered how many of her fellow students realized that, in a year or two, they'd all be gone from school and out facing the world. That she, Alice, would probably join the war. Did they realize that after this last year of laughter and pranks and scandals and drama, Ace would probably die on a battlefield somewhere for a cause she hardly believed in because it would be the type of thing she'd be expected to do.

Alice believed she had a future elsewhere but knew she wouldn't end up pursuing it. So, she needed nights like these. She needed her free-spirited, wild nature to be shared with people like Penny. She needed them to remember her this way too. A day would come when this would not be the person they'd see any longer. A day would come when Ace Longbottom would be Alice Anabelle Longbottom, the Longbottom girl that passed away young under a curtain of shame. She needed to be remembered for this night in this room with this music by this person. That was what things added up to in her head.

She was on her tip toes, hands still in Pen's. Her eyes were closed and her chin was up. She was still grinning like the world was her's for the taking and there was an almost visible glow about her. That was the type of magic Ace loved to employ, the kind that no one knew was working. This was the kind of magic that came with knowing you were alive and breathing and every part of you was aware. This was something Alice couldn't really describe to anyone else.