Smile for Me [raiden]

[.LILY LUNA POTTER !]

It was getting dark earlier every day. Winter chugged along at an agonizing pace, the days growing shorter and the nights longer, the shadows stretching and yawning across the lawns of castle with nothing to stop them. The stars were dazzling this time of year, though, if that was any consolation. Lily loved the snow and the wind and sparkle of the white months, but it had been snowing for nearly a week straight now (or so it felt like), and the frost Lily usually rejoiced in was up to her knees now, and wet and heavy and uncomfortable. It soaked through her woolen stockings the moment she stepped her booted feet into it, freezing her legs and making her toes go numb. The wind whipped at her skirt and made her jacket tails dance out behind her, her hair fly about her neck and shoulders and it caught in her mouth and made her laugh. The air was bitingly cold and razor sharp, visibility icily clear and beautiful. Lily was perplexed: the evening was gorgeous and she thought she'd never seen the grounds look more lovely; but then it was also shockingly cold and all the gloves in the world couldn't keep her thin fingers from freezing.

But she plunged into the snow with a stomp and giggle anyway, kicking up the white fluff and forging a path southwards to the Black Lake. She realized part-way down that she could have melted or parted the snow instead with her wand, and, feeling a bit like an idiot, she rolled her eyes at herself and did so. Walking to the lake was a lot easier now and vastly more enjoyable, as Lily was beginning to feel her toes again. She looked up ahead of her and saw the lake buried under snow and thick ice and she smiled. Perfect! Now it wasn't for nothing that she schlepped her heavy ice skates all this way. They thumped against her back when she tossed them over her shoulder, the blades covered up (at least she had a little common sense) and the laces tied together at the top in a makeshift handle.

She wasn't any good at skating, actually, but that wasn't the point. The point was to be outside doing something, on her own, especially now that she had so much on her mind. Her homework was finished for the evening so she didn't need to worry about that (or get flak from Al or Manny about it when she got back to the common room), she had eaten dinner early and she wasn't tired, so now was as good a time as any to go off and think. Or skate. More skating than thinking, actually.

Lily had reached the lake and thus pocketed her wand and tossed her skates on the ground. Hands on her hips she surveyed the scene: the darkening sky made her feel insignificant, but she didn't want to bother with malarkey of that sort. Lily forced a smile and bent to exchange her winter boots for her skates, uncovering the blades and trying to keep her balance. After ending up on her bottom for the second time, she gave it up as a bad job and sat to tie her laces.

The lights glittered in the castle behind her as Lily tried to stand and push the thoughts of the fight with parents out of her head. She really didn't want to think about the fight as often as she did, but it was weighing heavily on her mind, and she wasn't used to it. Lily couldn't remember ever having a serious fight with her parents, or really anyone for that matter. It was a new feeling, and it wasn't pleasant in the least. So, instead, she skated.

Actually, she stood in front of the ice-covered lake and considered skating. She isn't very good at it, remember?

[.RAIDEN BRYAN NOTT !]

The change in colour of leaves from bright-green to auburn-orange signified the change of season from summer to autumn and autumn happened to be Raiden’s favourite time of year. Yet as he trudged through the snow covered lawn of the Hogwarts Ground he was well aware that the autumn days were far behind him now. In fact he was sure that those days were hidden somewhere under the mass of snow that had gathered on the lawn from nearly a full week of constant snowfall. It would have annoyed him that he was messing up his newly acquired school attire as well as his spit [not his on] polished Italian made shoes, but as things went Raiden had charmed it to be impervious to the snow and the wetness that accompanied it.

He was on his way to go and practice his wits with the Whomping Willow. Yes, many preferred to stay well clear of the infamous tree, however Raiden had come to realise, upon accident , that the tree came in useful as a good sparring companion. It was a dangerous game he played, practicing his duelling skills on an unrelenting tree with a mind of its own and a primal need for self preservation. It also meant that he needed to learn really quickly how to start healing his own wounds that he constantly received after an encounter with the tree or come up with some outlandish, yet believable lie as to how he might have come across the wounds the tree left him with for the matron of the Hospital Wing.

It was easier to make his way to a tree and duel against in an attempt to keep himself from harm without being noticed, since not many students made there way out of the castle when the weather was as at its most biting, which it happened to be and a simple concealment charm meant that he went unnoticed from the wondering eye of any student or professor of the school. Trudging along, in the aftermath of melting the snow before him away, with only the thoughts of how he planned to face his ancient foe he almost didn’t notice the strange sight in front of the Blake Lake. It seemed someone was standing before the ice-covered lake staring at it. It was a rather strange sight. A petite figure simply stood and looked upon the expanse of lake with fiery red hair blowing in the biting wind.

Now normally Raiden would have simply ignored such a sight and continued on his merry way, there was just something familiar about the figure. Raiden stopped trudging through the squelch left behind from melting away the snow on his way toward the tree. He contemplated the idea of making his way over to the person before the lake instead of his original plan. Why? He didn’t even know who the person was, just a familiar haze lingered in his mind, there was no clear vision of the person and that meant that he knew the person that didn’t think them relevant in remembering, or he had had an encounter with said person and preferred not to remember it. Either way it meant that the person was just not worth messing up his plan which was for his own benefit.

With a gaze toward the Whomping Willow and then back to the person before the lake he made up his mind. It wasn’t long before he was close to his destination and within earshot. Clearing his throat so as to ensure when he decided to speak nothing got caught in his throat. With a sweep of his hand through his well maintained hair he decided to see find out who this person was that had managed to change Raiden Nott’s plan. He looked around him just before he spoke and spotted a pair of boots on the ground nearby what was unmistakeably a girl, and a pair of ice-skates on said girl’s feet. “Planning on making your way on to the ice?” His voice was soft, elegant and charming not a hint of any of the maliciousness that existed within him.

[.LILY LUNA POTTER !]

"Yes, I think so," Lily responded instantly, hand curled to mouth as she stood before the frozen lake. She acted as if she had been expecting someone to swoop in out of nowhere just then, ask her that question and perhaps fall away into glitter or something. She was entirely too preoccupied and inside her own head, that having a conversation with a bodiless voice seemed quite fitting.

But Lily turned looked over her shoulder when her mind reminded her that things of that nature didn't normally happen, and prompted her to inspect it. She jumped a little at the sight of an older student, a boy with dark hair and eyes. Lily immediately smiled though, realizing the bodiless voice was indeed equipped with a body. "Hello," she said simply, and turned back 'round to face the lake again.

The wind still gusted every few minutes but overall it was much more tolerable. The sun was practically racing down the sky in its hurry to go to bed and the moon had long since made its appearance on the scene. It dazzled the snow and made it shine, throwing the light back up so it really wasn't that dark out after all. Except for their two paths down to the lake, the grounds had been untouched, pure and flawlessly unbroken. Lily sighed a little at how pretty everything was.

Maybe that was her problem: she wasn't a brilliant multi-tasker. Only moments before she had been brooding about her uncharacteristic reaction to her parents, and after that she shifted gears entirely and debated how best to go about ice skating on a snow-blanketed lake. And now she had a third thought to keep her occupied: who this new boy was and what he was doing here. Apparently only able to concentrate on one thing at a time, Lily chose to talk to the boy. Company was pleasant after all, and Lily always did love a kindly chat.

"So who're you?" She asked, still facing the lake and curling her fingers toward her mouth out of habit. She toyed with her wand with her free hand, vaguely thinking of how to clear the snow from the lake and realizing she hadn't mastered the vanishing charm yet. Quite a conundrum. "I'm Lily," she continued, "and it's very nice to meet you." Lily stuck her hand out behind her for him to shake, but that proved to be a terribly bad idea. She accidentally caught her hand on his jacket sleeve and that threw her off balance, sending her flailing to the ground. Her skates flew out from under her and she landed squarely on her butt in the snow, mildly shocked and hair awry.

Oh, and she'd taken that boy down with her. Oops.

"Oh!" She managed, sitting up and fretting over him. "Oh gosh! I'm so sorry!" Lily grinned as she took his hand to help him sit up, trying valiantly not to giggle. But she was failing miserably at it, her cheeks instead split in a wide smile. She scrambled to get to her feet but a painful throb in her ankle made her gasp. Lily sucked air and grimaced, her giggles abruptly cut off. "Sorry," she repeated, throwing an apologetic look over her shoulder at him, then unlaced the top of her skate to rub her ankle.

Well, it was a memorable start, anyway, and at least now Lily had someone to talk to. Of course, her ankle hurt and the boy she'd plowed over was probably about ready to give her a good shout and return to the castle, but it had been a pleasant... couple of seconds.

[.RAIDEN BRYAN NOTT !]

The reply came instantaneously. Almost as if the petite red haired had expected someone to come up behind her and ask that very same question. Raiden immediately looked back toward the castle. Perhaps he was intruding on someone’s moment. Perhaps he was stealing someone else’s position. Perhaps someone else was meant to be in the very spot that he now stood staring upon the red head and starting this conversation with her. Doing so didn’t seam very well mannered. However as he gazed back toward the castle, the lights beginning to appear, an effort to fight of the darkness, the fear, Raiden saw no one making their way down to the lake. There was no movement. There were no bodies outside the castle apart from the two that now stood but a few feet apart.

Turning around but mere seconds before the girl turned around to face him, startled slightly, at least so she seemed, as she jumped slightly, by his presence. So she hadn’t expected someone to be there, though there was no guarantee. There was still the possibility that she had merely expected to see a face she recognised. Yet none of that was important as Raiden finally came to place the girl whom had dragged him away from his plan for the day. Lily Potter. Interesting that he would be lured away from improving upon himself by a Potter. Though it could hardly be considered her fault. It was his. He had not been able to place her and curiosity got the better of him. What was that old muggle adage, ‘curiosity killed the cat’? Well he was certainly no cat and with her petite-ness and first impression, Raiden couldn’t see how little Miss Potter could be a threat.

Raiden watched her attention move back toward the lake after greeting him and tilted his head in interest. Not wanting to be ill-mannered he returned the greeting. “Hello.” However he found himself intrigued by the little red head. Younger sister to James Potter and Albus Potter, and not because of who she was but because of her oddity, her naivety. She must have been brought up in a place filled with love and cared for and doted over to merely ignore the possibility of a threat that he might impose on her. Or perhaps he was the odd one. Always on guard, always believing he had to be ready to fight, to survive. They were in school grounds. Who would harm a student on school grounds except of course the obvious small prank or simple banter between to opposing houses.

When she spoke again her attention was still fixed on the lake before them. His head moved back to its original position. She didn’t know who he was. Interesting. It seemed big brother Albus had not warned her against him. A devilish smirk appeared on his handsome face. Strange, that a brother who claimed to care so much for family and friends would not warn his baby sister against the big bad wolf. He watched from behind as her hand remained constantly around her mouth area. Then she introduced herself, something that was hardly required, yet rather well mannered of her and tried sticking her hand out for him to take. He was about to do just that, as well as introduce himself when Miss Potter entangled herself around his sleeve, loosing her balance and pulling them both down to the ground.

Almost immediately she started fretting over him, a grin plastered on her face, and Raiden found himself unable to remain as livid as he was when he had realised the inevitable would occur. The more she fussed the more the cloud white snow engulfed them and Lily remained giggling the entire time. It was evident that she was still a child. As she made to stand, and untangle herself from the mess she had created Raiden listened as silence fell. He looked up to see the young Potter grimacing just before apologizing and pulling off her skate to rub at what clearly had to be a sprained ankle.

Eyeing her Raiden considered his options. He could easily scold her for what was clearly her mistake, or manipulate this situation for his benefit some how. Raiden considered everything for a moment. Pro’s and con’s being weighed in his proverbial scale. Getting to his feet Raiden dusted off some of the snow that had made its way onto his clothing and pulled out his wand, making his way over to Lily.

Bending so that he could get a proper look at her ankle he looked at her and smiled, as honestly as was possible for a manipulator such as himself. Then he pointed his wand at her ankle and started muttering a healing spell over and over. It being only a sprain meant he could handle it and she hardly needed to make her way over to the Hospital Wing. When he finished he pocketed his wand and stood, holding out his hand both for an introduction and offering to help her up. “I’m Raiden,” he smirked, “and might I say you have and interesting way of introducing yourself Lily.”

He waited both for her response and to see if she would take his hand.