Pulling The Trigger All W R O N G [Open]

[Scarlett Archer]

Although it wasn't the most pleasent day in the history of Hogwarts, Scarlett found today a perfect opportunity to be taking a stroll down the cobblestone streets of Hogsmeade. Not as many people were on the excursion today, due to the somewhat irritating gusts of winds that plagued them. But Scarlett was quite used to this type of weather, and was glad not to have to fight the crowds to get a simple butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks, which would have been packed to the brim with people under normal circumstances. Still, despite the wind there were a few rare rays of sunshine that shone through the clouds and that was enough for her. A slight, chilly breeze whipped the robes around her knees and she was forced to draw the black material of her everyday around herself to stay warm. She pouted slightly as the red and gold emblem was forced into her line of vision.

Her expression was slightly disdainful for a second; oftentimes, she really disliked the people in her house. They were all such goody-two-shoes braggarts in her opinion, which is why she associated with them as little as possible. Plus, there was the fact that she blamed them for her parents' disappointment in her. A soft sigh escaped her pale pink lips at this thought, as she pushed open the door to the famous sweet shop. Scar made a beeline for the aisle that held the chocolate; everyone knew that Honeydukes made the best chocolate in this area. However a person standing in her path caused her to frown slightly in frustration. "Excuse me," she said politely. Scarlett wasn't the nicest of girls at times but her parents had always taught her to keep her manners and be polite. "May I please get past?"

[Bellatrix Black]

Bella could hear the titter of someone speaking, but she was almost too wrapped up in her own thoughts to realise they were speaking to her. Once she understood that she was being addressed, she looked up in surprise to find that someone standing behind her, clearly eager to get by. It was that blonde Gryffindor, who was in her year... what was her name again? Bella struggled to remember, but simply couldn't. She admitted to herself that it was her own fault that she had never bothered to get to know the Gryffindors, but why would she want to get to know them? The only one of them she cared about was Sirius, and even that was a stretch to say she cared.

"May I please get past?"

Bella moved slightly. "Sorry," she muttered, hoping that she didn't offend the Gryffindor with her usual recalcitrant manner. "My apologies." Of course, this managed to come out rather sarcastically, as most things she said did. She blushed slightly, realising that she sounded like a complete bitch. She moved even further. In her hurry to accommodate the rushing Gryffindor, she bumped over a stack of candy, and she struggled to right the overflowing box.

"Oh damn," she murmured to herself. Clearly, today was going to be a bad day, despite being surrounded by candy.

[Scarlett Archer]

Scarlett rolled her eyes as her 'obstacle' seemed not to hear her. As she opened her mouth to say excuse me again, the girl turned around and Scarlett's eyes fell upon Bellatrix Black. Scarlett remembered her name of course, as her parents had educated her about all of the more 'honourable' pureblood families. Black, among others, was on the list. This meant that Scarlett would have to be respectful to Bellatrix, and there was also the fact that Scarlett somewhat envied her for being in the noble house of Salazar Slytherin, along with her brother Adrian.

However her lip twitched at the somewhat sarcastic remark, threatening to turn into a sneer. Fortunately she held it, remembering the influence her fellow 6th year held, and the fact that she was a Slytherin. As Bellatrix blushed it seemed that she was at least somewhat ashamed of her manner, which was good enough for redemption in her opinion. But as the Slytherin 6th year knocked over a stack of sweets, the blonde Gryffindor had to stifle a laugh.

Scarlett simply stepped over a the pile with a small, friendly smirk; she had no intention of making fun of Bella. "Don't worry about it; easily fixed." she said nonchalantly, rummaging through her robe pocket to find her wand. "Ah, here we are," she muttered to herself as she finally found it, after sifting through several small containers of different coloured lip gloss. "Now, what was the incantation we learned in charms..." murmered Scar as she rememebred the fact that she hadn't been paying attention that day. From the spot on the floor where she was examining the floorboards in her effort to think, her gaze jerked upward quite suddenly. "Do you remember what it was? We learned a spell to charm objects like that, I remember. We can get them to soar back onto the shelves in a matter of seconds if I could only just remember..." Scarlett hoped the shopkeeper was nowhere near, because if any of the merchadise was broken she certainly didn't want to work to pay them back.

[Bellatrix Black]

"Erm," Bella muttered, trying frantically to remember the incantation. But nothing would come to the forefront of her mind... Clearly she had been dozing in class that day. She had seen her friends perform that handy spell for her, but she had never bothered to learn it herself. "I don't remember!"

She leaned over and began to sweep the sweets up, talking to the girl as she did.
"I'm sorry about this, really I am." She looked up at the girl again, and studied her facial features closely. She seemed so familiar -- suddenly an idea hit her abruptly over the head.

"Are you Adrian's sister?" she asked cautiously, pulling a face forward in her memory. A beautiful boy in her House, Adrian Archer, had a sister, if she recalled correctly. But she had been sorted into a house other than Slytherin, and had been therefore cast out of most Slytherin society. But any sister of Adrian's had to be somewhat decent, perhaps she had been placed in Gryffindor as some sort of spy. Admittedly some Gryffindor qualities were quite admirable: bravery was something that Bellatrix herself hightly prized.

In fact, the Sorting hat had considered putting her in Gryffindor due to her bravery and fortitude, but it had decided that her more craven qualities such as cunning and malice would suit her well in Slytherin.

She looked at the girl's face closely, seeing traces of the boy in her nose and eyes.

[Scarlett Archer]

Scarlett continued to frown slightly as she tried to remember the spell. She leaned back to look around the corner, where the shopkeeper was somewhat nearby. But at the moment he was busy tending to other customers, meaning that they would have some time to think before he came alogn and discovered the mess. If Sydney was here, she reflected, she would be having a freak out. If only I had Tiana's memory... Tiana was incapable of thinking under pressure, that much Scar knew from the few circumstances that required her to act. Sydney was a natural-born actress it seemed, however, but her memory for spells wasn't as good as their Ravenclaw cousin Tia. "Well, I've seen some of the servants doing it this way-" said Scarlett, concentrating on what she wanted and giving her wand a flick. A couple of pieces stacked themselves up, but this would certainly take a bit longer than if she knew the incantation. Still, she would have rather died than do things the muggle way. "That's simple enough I suppose... if we work together we can get this mess fixed up in no time." she said rather nonchalantly, giving her wand a flick. Scarlett waved away Bella's apology, as she too was prone to the occasional clumsy moment, however rare they were.

Scarlett continued to flick away, each time a couple more would stack themselves again. However when Bella asked her a question, she looked up, distracted, with a slight smile. "Yes, that's me. Adrian was more fortunate in the sorting than I was," she replied simply, continuing on with the wandwork. Scarlett had always been rather close to her brother, although they didn't speak as much at school. Still, 'Adri' as she liked to call him for simple annoyance purposes, was quite protective of his sister. "I had always wanted to be a Slytherin, but the house found me not quite cunning enough. So instead I'm stuck in the house of the lion." Her nose crinkled slightly at this. Scarlett had a genuine dislike for her muggle-loving Gryffindor peers, simply because of her pureblood upbringing.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly..." she moved her wand from her right, dominant hand to her left so she could extend her hand to Bellatrix. "I'm Scarlett Archer. I know who you are course... after all, what self-respecting pureblood wouldn't know about the noble house of Black?" Of course, that thought was rather ridiculous, unless some purebloods had been living under a rock. Although the Archers were a wealthy family, they were not well-known in Britain. Italy, France, Australia and New Zealand seemed to be their preference for habitation. Although many of her family members had moved to England and Ireland in recent years, the majority chose to remain in their birth countries. So overall, they were a fairly widespread family. Hence the reason that she knew very few of her own cousins and second cousins personally.

[Bellatrix Black]

Sorry this is late, I'm a consummate late poster, and I have loads loads loads of homework. Please forgive darling!

Bella was glad that Scarlett provided her name, she surely wouldn't have remembered it had not the girl been kind enough to supply it. Of course she knew the Archer family; her knowledge of their lineage was exstensive, but then again, so was her familiarity with all the pureblood families. Bella made it her mission to memorise every family tree and know of the whereabouts of most of the family; it seemed that Miss Scarlett had escaped her notice. She carefully filed the girl's face away in her brain, near Adrian's, and noted to herself that Miss Scarlett was a clear pureblood enthusiast through and through. Of course, this immediatly endeared her to Bella, as well as her polite and genial manner. Bella would keep contacts with this one, after all, it was always helpful to have friends among the enemies.

"Thank you Scarlett," she said, knowing she sounded a bit formal. But in the world of pureblood wizards, formality was everything, and thanks should be conveyed with the utmost deference and respect, for the pure ranks were growing smaller, and allies are everything.

Bella shook the girl's hand, making sure to make her grip tight and strong. Scarlett was probably already aware that Bella had a very dominanting personality, and Bella wanted to know exactly how forceful Scarlett was in return. After all, she liked to surround herself with girls of similar tempermeants. She continued to pick up the candy, and returned to the topic of sorting, hoping that it was not too sore of one.

"Don't be too upset about being in Gryffindor," she remarked casually. "They may be muggle-lovers, but they all have some redeeming qualities." She immediately thought of her cousin, Sirius, who she harboured a deep love of, but would never admit it to anyone because he had been cast from the family. "Like their bravery," she continued. "And their loyalty." She looked at Scarlett out of the corner of her eye. "These are aspects that I appreciate."

[Scarlett Archer]

((Lol, it's okay. I have heaps of homework to do as well, I just procrastinate more ))

Scarlett was unsurprised with the formality; after all, she too was brought up to speak like that when in important company. Any company in fact, unless you were well aqcuainted with the particular person. Only sometimes she forgot and slipped back into informality for short periods of time, which tended to annoy her aunt Sandrine at times. But luckily no word of her occasional incompetence had ever seemed to reach her parents; aunt Sandy liked to focus on the positive, it seemed, as they always gave her rewards for her grace and poise when they visited.

Once again she found herself unsurprised by the firm handshake. Her aunty had taught her this as part of her little 'how to introduce yourself properly' scheme, which had been practically hammered into her head since she was in diapers. Keep it firm if they indicate they will do so as well, and try to match them if you can, but never go to far. Handshaking is so much more than it seems, it's a measure of power and resilience, Sandrine had said, whatever that meant.

As Bellatrix returned to the job at hand, so did Scarlett. They were making good progress now, the majority was stacked neatly on the shelves and she had barely even lifted a finger. "On the whole I suppose it isn't too bad, the values that Gryffindor holds... I just dislike the attitudes of my peers. They're all so self-righteous, convinced they can never do wrong... naive. But bravery of course is our strong point, one that I'm proud to hold steadfast to. But of course, most of us are raised that way, I've found... my aunty always taught me that cowardice should be punishable by death... hence the reason I never back down from a challenge. I'm sure you've encountered similar things with your family, have you not?"

[Bellatrix Black]

"I'm sure you've encountered similar things with your family, have you not?"

Quite a bit of an understatement. Bella was used to the 'do or die' unsaid motto of the Black family -- no Black dealt in anything other than extremes. Actually, the entire family was a tad obsessive. Although Bella didn't like to admit it, their penchant for extremity had rubbed off on her. She had adopted this creed without much fuss, after all, her parents had no room for quibbling.

"Oh yes," she said a bit carelessly. "You know -- the regular pureblood family." Of course, this was a bit of a broad statement, but it appropriated what she meant to say. She assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that Scarlett was well familiar with the traditional pureblood families, and knew exactly how dogmatic they were.

"So," she said, continuing, a bit of a headache coming on. "You having a good year so far?"

Short -- but I'm sorry, I really am!

[Scarlett Archer]

Scarlett nodded at the words 'regular pureblood family'. She assumed that due to their prestige throughout the wizarding world, Bellatrix would probably be under a lot of pressure to honour the family and conform to her values. As the Archers were not as prominent, well-knwon members of society, there was less pressure on Scar to do this. It was quite difficult to pressure her into anything anyway, due to her stubborn nature; she was either rewarded, did it out of rebellion, or simply made up her own mind about the issue. Although her family was somewhat evenly matched, Scarlett stood with the Death Eaters. She didn't care whether the others were on a different side of the schism.

"Oh yes, my year has been fine. For once I'm keeping up in the academic area... see, I have a tendency of procrastionation, and I'm not ashamed to say that overall I'm not a very intelligent person. What about yourself, things as slow for you as they are for me?"

((Blech, mine was terrible so I wouldn't worry.))

[Bellatrix Black]

Bellatrix shrugged slightly. "Ah yes, same old same old. I like classes, but only potions and defence. The other classes rather bore me -- although I can say that I have had an increased interest in transfiguration. "

She looked at Scarlett with some interest, keeping her expression placid and devoid of emotion. "So, how do you deal with being in Gryffindor, while your brother is in Slytherin? Do you talk to him much? I'm sure it must be hard to have such a close sibling in another house."

Of course it was hard, and she knew that well. After all, her own Andie was in Gryffindor. But Bella liked to pretend that Andie didn't exist. To many this would seem callous, but it was a fact of life. Bellatrix Black was simply too high profile to acknowledge her sister's presence. Scarlett was lucky that she was out of the public eye. Her actions were not scrutinised by every pureblood in the world, nor were her every footsteps tracked. What a blessing it must have been to be anonymous.

((Don't worry, mine is crap as well!))

[Scarlett Archer]

Scarlett nodded in agreement. "I like defence as well, but I'm better at offensive spells like hexes, jinxes and the like... potions is probably my second favourite. I like it and all, but I'm probably only sitting on average or just above." she replied with a slight cringe at the mention of transfiguration. "I can't stand transfiguration, though - it's my worst subject out of all of them. I would be surprised if I continued scraping passes throughout the year like I have so far..."

Scarlett shrugged nonchalantly at the questions. She was quite accustomed to people asking her things like this, and hence had gotten better at answering them. "Oh yes, it's a bit difficult, since we're rather close... I talk to him every so often; usually if someone makes a remark about my house he defends me, which had the tendency to shut them up fairly quickly... Things were more difficult when I first started, but now we've grown accustomed to the fact. Neither of us really notice the separation any more."

Scarlett had grown to be close with a few of Adrian's friends, once they became willing to look past the Gryffindor emblem... in general, she found no difficulty in approaching them or any other Slytherin as a matter of fact, as quite a few of them knew her as Adrian's little sister, or knew of her at the very least. Of course, Scar gathered that Bellatrix knew what the separation was like, to a certain extent... but from what she had observed, the two oldest Black sisters didn't seem as close as she was to her brother.

[Bellatrix Black]

Bellatrix envied Scarlett's close relationship with Adrian -- after all, her relationship with Andie consisted of stolen conversations and the occasional lack of judgement that was associated with deep inebriation. But Scarlett had clearly not entrenched herself in the Gryffindor qualities that made them detestable, muggle loving. Andie had done that so whole-heartedly that Bella had had no choice but to cut her loose. She hadn't wanted to, but such things were necessary when in a high-profile family. After all, no one could accuse the Black family of a lapse in morals -- no one. Once again, Bella envied Scarlett's relative anonymity. Such a blessing.

"Well, it was nice to meet you," she said, smiling. She was about to hold out her hand to end the conversation, but she realised that she really did like this girl, and wanted to spend some more time with her. "I realise you're probably in the middle of something, but do you want to go get a cuppa or something?"

Sorry, this was getting no where fast. So perhaps we can direct the conversation elsewhere physically. Eh?

[Scarlett Archer]

"Yes, it was lovely to meet you too," Scarlett replied politely. Admittedly, she was somewhat surprised that Bellatrix would be willing to talk to a Gryffindor, since the Black family were renowned for being proud purebloods, and predominantly Slytherins. But that was just another lesson that not all books were to be judged by their cover, something that Scarlett had learned long ago. "How does the Three Broomsticks sound?" she suggested, upon Bellatrix's question. After all, it wasn't every day that she got to hang out with a respectable pureblood and Slytherin like Bella.

((Lol, I know what you mean. That's cool with me. Sorry my reply was rather short, by the way.))