TERM 6 - Winter Frost - The Lake - Wade, Shah, Jen, Darcy, Hunter

Knowing how beautiful the lake was during winter, Wade decided to head that way as he chose to skip his potions class. It certainly wasn't the best idea but he needed to get out of the dungeons. He put his Quidditch sweater on, threw his backpack under his bed, and walked out of the Castle. Humming lightly as he walked, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd see Shah. They have been together since their third year, might have been second, but lately they rarely spoke to each other as their classes and interests were different. He kept walking, humming, until his feet stepped on freshly fallen snow, making him smile to himself. Wade liked the snow, frost and everything that required freezing to exist.

With a small smile on his lips, he looked far into the lake, seeing it already with a thin frozen top. He would have liked to have someone with him, even a friend, to share this scene with. Shah would have been a great companion. Oh, Shah. He had to break up with her, but how could he when the girl was amazing in every way. She was smart, funny, beautiful, strong, independent. And Wade was probably the biggest asshole there would ever be. He was about to go on a mission with his father, a mission that would end up with him proving he could be one of the Dark Ones. With the dark mark stamped on his right forearm, he dared to pull up his sleeve and stare at it for a second. "Yeah," he breathed, "I'm ready for this."

Soon forgetting about the mark, he crossed his arms and stared off at the lake, deep in thought. It was when he heard snow shuffling that he turned around quickly, as if he had done something terribly wrong, to see who it was.

---

Darcy had no intentions of staying inside the comfy and warm Gryffindor tower, and she seemed to not be the only one. She saw a girl with red hair vanish out of the common room when she entered it. Snow was one of Darcy's favorite things. There was something so pure with it, so clean and nice. And cold. She wasn't overly fond of the cold, but she hated it when it got too warm. And right now, it was pretty warm. She had grabbed with her her winter boots and a warm and comfy jacket, and left the common room.

Skipping down the stairs, she once again saw the redhead leave the castle just as Darcy reached the top of the last staircase into the Entrance hall. She walked slower down the stairs and put on the jacket as she exited through the huge oak doors. She smiled as the delicious winter cold hit her and she took the step into the snow. People had been walking there, so there wasn't much of the snow that was deep enough to go over her shoes. She grinned and made her way for the lake.

She felt awfully social today, and figured she might as well maybe try to find that redhead? It would be really nice to befriend a new Gryffindor. And she hadn't seen a redhead in the common room for a while. It might be that girl who was a few years older than Darcy, but age had never really been a stopper to her. So when her eyes landed on the redhead, she grinned and made her way towards her. She was standing with another boy, yet again older than Darcy.

Darcy frowned. Was it rude to interrupt? Maybe they wanted to be on their own? Darcy then rolled her eyes. Well, sod that! If they wanted to be alone, then who on earth would choose the lake? She grinned and walked over.

"Hello," she said sweetly, hoping they wouldn't glare and usher her away.

And he was hugged. Almost instantly, Wade recognized the perfume; it was Shah. He could have backed away and pretended it was only his personality, but he couldn't. Just a few moments ago he was wishing for her to come so that he could end this once and for all. And here she was. "Hey...Shah." He said as he hugged her back, only briefly. Just before he could say anything else, he noticed a newcomer walking up to them. Rolling his eyes, annoyed, Wade turned to face the other way when she reached them.

And she was speaking to them in a friendly way. The kind that made Wade's stomach hurl and turn itself inside out. Turning to her, he flashed her a wicked smirk, his usual one. "Hey." Clearly, she must be smart enough to realize that she wasn't welcome.

Hunter wasn't so good at magic. He hadn't thought that it was such a bad thing, really... that is, until the snowball fight. Apparently, snowball fights at Hogwarts were not like snowball fights at home. No, when one engages in a Hogwarts snowball fight there are many more things that must be considered. Like the possibility that the opponent may have a bubble over their head, or the fact that someone can freeze a snowball with their wand and wail it at your head at any second.

It was for this reason that Hunter was by the lake on that particular day. If he needed magic just to do well in a snowball fight, he figured that he better practice. What was that spell that they used to freeze the snowballs? Oh yeah... "Glacius," Hunter said, pointing his wand at the snowball he had formed in his hand. He hadn't really expected the spell to work, so he wasn't surprised when it failed. But he was going to get it! Maybe...

He hadn't really noticed when an older boy crossed the grounds and went to stand by the lake. He hadn't even noticed when an older girl went to stand with him. They weren't important, and Hunter still hadn't managed to freeze a single snowball. But how could he fail to notice the most beautiful girl ever crossing the grounds and approaching the two by the lake.

What the hell is wrong with me? That girl had to have put some magic spell on herself of something... or maybe it was a love potion? He'd heard about them, but Darcy had no real motivation for doing such a thing. He forced his eyes back down to his snowball and tried to freeze it once more, but he couldn't help looking up at the blonde girl again. The distraction caused him to mis-aim his spell. It hit his arm instead of the snowball, and he winced as his arm burned in pain as a cold feeling spread across it. Oh sure, I can't freeze a snowball, but I hit my arm and it works, he thought sourly. He continued his practice, but couldn't help paying attention to the small gathering as he did so.

Jennifer had just been going for another walk in the snow. It was a beautiful, if freezing cold, day and she just wanted to go for a walk. This time, she wasn't getting involved in any epic snowball fight or anything, just walking and thinking.

It hadn't taken her long to get out into the grounds, to the lake to be more precise. She smirked when she saw the few people around each other. Interesting. For a second, she just stood there, squinting her eyes at them. It was Wade, that Gryffindor girl in her year - what was her name? Shay or something? - and a younger girl, whoever it was. But even more interesting, there was Hunter, eavesdropping.

Since he was there, Jen decided to go and talk to him. He seemed to be in a good position to stare, anyway. And if he got annoying, she could point out to Wade that he was stalking him. Hunter seemed to be casting spells at his arm. That wasn't very clever. "Hi," she smirked. "What the hell are you doing?"

So, not only had Hunter hit himself in the arm with his own spell, but that Slytherin girl, Jen, had turned up just in time to see it happen. Great. She made her way straight to him, to his disappointment, and addressed him in a not-so-polite manner. Hunter looked up at her, still rubbing his arm to dispel some of the numbness from it, and contemplated how to answer her.

He wanted to think of something witty to say, but he was too distracted by Darcy to piece together a smart comment. "I'm trying to do that spell you and Kynan did to the snowballs the other day," he admitted without really meaning to. He wasn't paying as much attention to Jen as he should have been - who knew if she was going to try to do something mean to him - and he hoped that the older girl didn't bother to follow his gaze to the gorgeous blonde girl by the lake. Like he needed her to have something to hold over his head.

"Why do you care?" he added, glancing up at her with a hard look. He was secretly angry at himself for not having a good insult to throw her way, but he supposed just being rude, even if his words weren't clever, would do just as well. "Come to make rocks bounce off the back of my head or something?" Oops. Maybe he shouldn't have said that - with his luck, she'd take it as a suggestion and actually do it. Oh well, too late now. He tried the spell again. It hit the snowball, but it didn't feel any heavier in his hand. With a sigh he threw the snowball at the ground, watching it break apart, and formed a new one.

Okay, he did not look welcoming. Darcy grit her teeth and felt anger overwhelm her, before it vanished in an instant. She wasn't really angry at him. More at herself. Why did she always wind up in the bad conversations? Why did people seem to not like her at all?! She sighed and tried to continue being friendly, but it was probably very easy to see that she wasn't feeling at all confident in herself.

"Hey, I'm Darcy," she said kindly, despite how unfriendly the smirk on the face of that guy was. She hoped the Gryffindor wasn't as bad.

Raising an eyebrow, Wade wondered if the girl had gotten the hint. Apparently not. He extended his arm towards her, "I'm Wade Malfoy. You've probably heard of me. I throw killer parties, date the most beautiful girl, and can sing incredibly well." He was going to brag about everything he could if it would keep unwanted people away. For a second, he thought she looked familiar, and then it hit him that this was the girl who was talking to Ryland at the Halloween party last term before he hit Wade. "I hear you're friends with my cousin?" Wade smirked again, surely a girl like her, a veela, would only befriend someone to get a taste of their life.

Darcy raised an eyebrow at his introduction of himself. She had heard that most Malfoys bragged themselves to the sky. She just thought that Lucy and Ryland were the normal ones. She'd been wrong. But she took his hand, decided on coping with his attitude for as long as she could bear. She was set on annoying him more than he could brag. "Nice to meet you," she said with a firm grip before withdrawing her hand.

She was a tad surprised at the question though, and then remembered when Ryland hit him. She then realized what a prick this person had to be to make Ryland hit him. With or without the temper of a wolf. She felt her temper rise again at that thought, but it diminished into nothingness soon enough. "Both your cousins, actually. They are quite charming," she said calmly, refraining from adding 'in difference to you'. It was subtext. He'd probably see through it.

"It's a family thing. Though Ryland wasn't born into it, he sure acts like one." he said matter-of-factly. Everyone knew that the adopted Malfoy was the awkward one in the family, but if Wade had a chance to put up a better word for him, he'd take it. "He's...as loyal as a dog." Wade chuckled, smiling at his own bad joke, "Though be careful, he'll tear anyone up if he wants to." Just in time, he pulled up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing all the way up to his elbow. He pointed to a small scar on the side of his elbow, "See this? Got into a fight with him once. This tiny little scar is only one of the many he left on me."

Oh, spell practicing. "It's not that hard," Jen smirked. She picked up a handful of snow. "Glacius." Then she casually chucked the frozen snow towards Hunter's stomach. Not throwing it in the same way as the other day, more like playing catch. With someone who didn't know they were playing catch. Maybe he'd catch it? She didn't care. But she didn't want this to turn into another full-on snowball fight.

She noticed Hunter was staring at the blonde girl talking to Wade and his girlfriend. "Who's that? Why are you staring at her? And what would Aoife think if she knew you were cheating on her?" She knew what Aoife thought about teenagers and romance, and therefore wouldn't have a boyfriend, but she was just doing it to wind the Gryffindor boy up. More fun.

"Oh, I don't care in the slightest," Jennifer shrugged. "I get bored." Psychopaths got bored. So she just went for a walk. Hunter was there to irritate. End of story. "Rocks? Nice idea. Not now, but another time maybe. Right now I'm just being amused watching you stare at that girl."

Hunter looked up as Jen said the spell wasn't hard and proceeded to freeze a chunk of snow to prove her point. She tossed it his way, but it didn't look like she was trying to hit him with it. More like she was throwing it to him, so he caught it and held it up, inspecting it. It was perfect, of course. "Not hard for you," he corrected, chucking the ice away.

So far, Jen wasn't doing anything particularly upsetting, so Hunter picked up another snowball to try again, content to ignore her. But, of course, the Slytherin wouldn't leave it at that. Great - she'd caught him staring at Darcy. She asked him a succession of questions, and he figured it would be harmless to answer them, so he did. If he didn't answer them, she'd just come up with something herself, and that would be worse. "Her name's Darcy," Hunter said, feeling a bit of heat rise to his face. And why was he staring at her? That was an excellent question. He didn't even like girls. So what was with Darcy? "I don't really - "

Hunter was about to inform her that he had no clue why he was staring, but her third question stopped him. "Why do people always think that?" he asked incredulously, more to himself than to Jen. Then, looking back at Jen, he said, "Aoife's my friend," he said irritably, wishing people would stop thinking otherwise. Jen mentioned something about being more interested in him staring at Darcy than bouncing rocks off his head. "I'm not staring at her," he said defiantly, forcing his eyes to keep away from the blonde girl so that his statement would have a little more truth.

At the sound of Shah's voice again, Wade turned to her. Completely unaware that his right sleeve had pulled up on the way of his bragging about Ryland's strenght, Wade stared at his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend with wide eyes. "What's what?" he asked, clearly confused until he followed Shah's gaze and realized that the end of his right sleeve had come down just enough for the redhead to see the beginning of a skull.

"I got a tattoo over the summer." Wade pushed his sleeve down before placing his hand on Shah's shoulder, pushing her away from the small crowd consisting only of one more person. "Actually, can we talk? Alone?" he shot a glare at the younger girl, Darcy.

"We have to break up." Wade said almost instantly. No sugar-coating, just the truth. "Honestly, we're going nowhere. And don't get me wrong, you're beautiful, but you're not what I need." If someone would have told him, a few years back, that he would be standing here wearing an ugly green sweater with the dark mark on his arm while breaking up with Shah, he would have laughed. Wade had never thought of doing this, breaking up with his first everything. This crazy red head had been his first for everything he could remember, and he'd discovered many things in her company, mostly lust. But when it came down to it, he had to do this. He'd dragged the relationship long enough to his father that it was pointless to keep trying. "Shah, we've changed. You've changed, and I don't even talk to you anymore. I've changed, and I don't think you'd like me any more now than you did before. So that's it. We're free. Out of each other's lives."

Darcy frowned at Wade at his comment about Ryland. That guy had nothing to say about Ryland! Ryland was a good guy, and Wade was simply a point that angered Ryland, quite obviously. She couldn't stand this guy. It was settled. A guy who was this unfriendly to people... Well, their goddamn problem. It wouldn't hurt anyone but themselves.

However, the Gryffindor seemed kind. Darcy managed to give her a small smile and introduce herself as Darcy Wilde, just as the girl inquired what Wade had on his arm. Darcy quickly looked down at the left arm and didn't see anything except the scar. But then he pushed down the sleeve on his right arm and Darcy inwardly rolled her eyes. She should start trying to be more perceptive.

When Wade gave her the glare, she grit her teeth in annoyance and let them walk a bit further away. She looked around and saw Hunter and Jennifer standing nearby. She stayed where she stood and heard Wade say that he was breaking up with Shah. Darcy instantly shuffled her feet: this was a conversation she wanted no part in whatsoever. So she walked over to Hunter and Jennifer.

"Hey," she said softly, her eyes shifting from them to Wade and Shah. Mostly Shah. Wade could go wherever, but Shah was a fellow Gryffindor. And she had been slightly nice. So screw Wade, but Darcy paid attention to Shah and her reaction.

Why couldn't people believe his decisions were his alone? "My father?" Wade asked loudly, not quite a yell. "Why not Lucy? Or Ryland!" He continued, anger building up inside him but trying to control it. It was hard enough to bear a name he didn't want, a name that labeled him before people got to know him. "I got myself marked, sure, but it was my decision. No one had anything to do with it. Do you want to know how it happened?" He walked closer to Shah, keeping his breathing as normal as he could. "I walked up to one of them, James, and I offered myself as a new recruit. Do you want to know why?" He came even closer, to the point where he could whisper his words for Shah only. "Because I want what they have."

Backing away, he smiled at her. "And you wouldn't want to date me now, would you?" His voice was different, older, but it was clearly Wade's. "Because, I accept, I have changed. But I've changed for the better. No one is ever going to call me weak, or curse me and humiliate me like Wayne did!" He yelled, the firstt time he'd ever raised his voice at Shah.

"What do they have?" Wade repeated her question. "Let me think," he put his hand on his chin, as if actually thinking about it. "They have power, respect, everyone leaves them alone...Oh, and not to mention that they have really good lifestyles." he said,a sarcastic smile on his face. That is, until Shah spoke again. "Okay," he said as he put his arms down in defeat. "Date me, then. If you think you can stay with me, look at me every day and feel disappointed, then be my girlfriend."

Wade huffed, "Everyone thought I was weak! Do I need to remind you that he cursed me? He looked at me, the eleven year old boy I was, and cursed me. You have no idea what it's like to be under the Cruciatus, Shah! Everything about you is perfect! You're perfect! What am I? Ask anyone, and they'll say they hate me. They'll say 'Oh, Wade Malfoy? The Muggleborn discriminator?' They hate me, Shah." he sighed, having said too much already than he should have.

As if it wasn't bad enough that Jen had noticed his focus on Darcy, naturally Darcy had to come walking toward them in the next moment. Of course he noticed her leave the pair at the lake and wander over because he'd been staring at her. Great. Hunter focused very intently on the new snowball that he was creating as the girl walked toward them. It was easier if he just didn't look at her at all.

Darcy said hi, but her attention seemed to be on the couple that were still standing by the lake. "Oh... Hi Darcy!" he said, maybe a little too brightly. But he felt as though he could pull it off since he was a first year and was supposed to say things happily. I definitely wasn't just staring at you. Maybe, just maybe, now that Darcy had joined them, Jen would leave. That would be nice, but Hunter was pretty sure that he shouldn't count on it.

Hunter tried once more to freeze his snowball. Darcy was distracted and he didn't want to talk to Jen, so he figured he would just keep at what he'd gone there to do in the first place. And that was practice spells. He didn't look up until he heard the older boy by the lake raise his voice. The two seemed to be arguing. He'd never met either of them before, so it didn't really make much of a difference to him. But he stared at them curiously anyway, because he could. They fought for a bit it looked like, until finally the girl raised her wand at the boy. A few moments later, she lowered it and turned to walk away from him.

Maybe whatever they were fighting about was important, but Hunter couldn't help but hear Aoife's voice in his head as he watched them. Stupid, lovesick teenagers. Hunter never really paid much attention to teenagers, but maybe his friend was right about them after all.

Darcy threw a kind smile in Hunter's direction, but her attention was immediately drawn towards the couple when she heard raised voices. Darcy wondered what was going on, and hoped this wouldn't result in a fight. She looked back at Hunter and Jennifer, trying to ignore whatever it was that was happening behind her. It wasn't easy, but she tried. She looked at the snowball in Hunter's hands and titled her head a bit to the side.

"What are you doing?" she asked, curious. She shot another glance at the couple and frowned. Shah had drawn her wand. Darcy felt worry wash over her and wondered what the girl might do to Wade, hoping she wouldn't do anything, and was relieved when Shah lowered her wand again. She watched as Shah turned around and walked in the direction of the castle. Darcy almost felt like walking after Shah, not wanting the girl to be on her own, but she didn't dare. There were too many outcomes to that strategy. Amongst others a trip to the infirmary.

Darcy looked back at Hunter and Jennifer, not wanting Wade to know she had been watching. "Ehm... That was intense," she said lowly, softly, knowing that both of them would know what she was talking about.