>> A Sea of Thoughts << - Open -

[BELLA H. JARRELL]

Clouds hung heavy overhead as her hard footsteps echoed through the evening. The atmosphere was muggy and the humidity was high. The haze hung in the air, even though the sun had set. It was so thick that you could probably cut it with a knife and take bite out of it. The heat outside had calmed to a cool seventy degrees; however there was no breeze blowing and the surroundings had become stagnant. The heat was nothing to her, it was the humidity was the worst, it made everything chokingly unbearable, and you almost couldn’t breathe. Wearing only a simple white shirt and a simple pair of jeans, she continued to walk down the street.

Her thoughts swam inside her head, as she reflected on her life, her dictations, her beliefs, and her schedules. Bella ran her hands through her hair and sat down on the deserted bench, which ran along the sidewalk of the city. The sun was setting in the distance and a cool breeze began to blow by her, her hair, swaying a little in the breeze, it felt nice. It was calming, as little as that helped; it was at least some form of comfort to her. Leaning her head back, to further the relaxation, she let her eyes relax as she traced the night sky, and drew lines between the stars, plotting out the constellations. An avid astronomer, she loved the night, it was a perfect fit for the loneliness that she had come to know.

Wanting her younger days back, but then knowing that they weren’t possible, she was glad she still had the memories. The fun days, Bella called them. They were the best times of her life, she never frowned, she never cried, she was never stressed as she is now. Being the minister’s assistant wasn’t as easy as it looked. She had a lot of downtime, but when she was working, it was god awful; it was hard work, under pressure constantly. She was under so much that it would cause a muggle to have a stroke or heart attack. Breathing in natures air and scents, she tried to relax, what little she could.

[VYACHESLAV C. CONSTANTINE]

For once he was calm, because he wasn't working. Between teaching two classes at Hogwarts and tackling the problems of keeping the Order in the know about occurences that they are trying to absolve, where was the me-time? It was his only comfort. He felt a new grade of comfort knowing that in the evening the fewest amount of people were out. There were good figures that showed that the time of which he was walking would be a slow night.

That's what he needed, a slow night. A break from being called "Sur" all day. He took a cautiously slow movement in taking a seat on a pre-occupied bench. A woman was sat on the left, he was sure to give her enough space while at the same time making room for him to read 'Chinese runes of the Zhending of Zhou'. Throughout his career he read around the subjects he taught, for leisure more than education, it never ceased to interest him.

His legs were slouched apart as he shifted comfortably to concentrate on his book. Every now and then he glanced at the legs of the woman next to him to check she was still there, he didn't want to be obviously abrupt by looking at her face. He loved any moment he could appreciate the small things like the joy of reading.

[BELLA H. JARRELL]

Bella had noticed the stranger from a distance, but as he made his way towards her, her smile faded and she looked off the other direction, as to ignore the male figure approaching. She hadn’t had much luck with males in the past, except Logan, her boss, he was kind to her. Other than that, she had always had her heart broken, or was used and thrown away like a piece of paper that was simply wadded up and placed in a recycling bin, waiting on the next user to wad her up and throw her out the same way. The man sat down beside her and opened a book, Strange, She thought quietly to herself.

Bella admitted that she had her flaws, but who didn’t, all their bodies seemingly same, all their ways completely different. She ran hot and cold, she could kill you by looking at you and then on the other hand she could get you into bed with her before you blinked. She wasn’t cheap or easy. Bella was what you could call unique, and set in her ways. She wasn’t going to change for anyone, anything, and especially any man. She was herself and that was the way it was, and was going to be for however long she graced the earth.

Bella noticed the man’s gaze drifting to her, and then he would revert back to his book. As she glanced over at his face, after noticing his looks towards her, she remembered him from somewhere, his face, it was very distinct. He had piercing blue eyes, and blonde hair, a very common combo. However, he had a very strong looking jawbone, and she remembered that certain feature from their meeting. She tried to place his name, but it wasn’t happening. Though, she did remember everything from their encounter. She had to deliver papers from Logan to him, because he was a professor at Hogwarts, she didn’t remember the subject, but that didn’t matter to her or the paperwork.

Bella drifted off into thought again, as she sighed letting herself relax.

[VYACHESLAV C. CONSTANTINE]

Vyacheslav noticed that the woman had no interest on interaction, which was genuinely fine with him. Some women were built like that. Liked their own company. At times he was the same. It was for this reason he read a few more pages of his book without giving the woman a second thought. Except to consider how lovely her hair looked in the wind. He'd always been a quiet reader, he remembered that while the boys were on the Playstation playing their NCAA games back in 98 Vyacheslav was building up his courage to teach the subjects he loved. He loved his job, more people should. Then again he made the best of any situation, no matter what changes occured in his life. He had a lifetime of accomplishments behind his shoulders that helped though, head of the order of the pheonix, head of gryffindor, a teacher of Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. He had a lot to be proud of. Everything to which he assigned turned to honey, he liked it that way. He governed his life anything but sweepingly.

His wand began to glow, his patronus emerged from the wand in it's full, crocodile form. It gave a menacing snort and laid next to his feet. It almost looked as if it were smiling at him. He had a close protective relationship with it, often tending to appear like a Guardian Angel. It also seemed to be in a very dominating mood against the bench leg, attempting to bite through it with it's shadow snout. It was the only company he had these days, no more days of flowers and heart-shaped boxes. The days of lying to his parents about what he did at the weekend were over, his weekends were now focused not on wedding rings and nights out but he was helping the world by helping the Order. He still lived with his parents when it wasn't the school year, but only because his family felt safer these days in doing that. His father would always read books like operation homecoming which naturally made him nervous of muggle war, wizarding war was a third backlog hurt that made it worse.

He felt like an idiot for not letting go at least a smile to the woman beside him to show he had a friendly nature. In truth being out at all was a great escape. He gave a half-smile, a temporary utility that he thought nothing of.