NEWS

[Aceline Carrow]

Monday mornings were never good for Aceline. Ever since she was little, even before she began schooling, Monday mornings were always the bane of her existence. Something about the start of a new week always made the blonde want to sleep in an extra ten minutes, which turned into fifteen minutes, which turned into twenty five minutes, and so on. It isn't that she was lazy, she just always exhausts herself on the weekends and there is nothing like a nice warm slumber on a Sunday night when you are tired. Waking up from that dreamy bliss? Definitely not on Ace's favorite list of things to do. But regardless, it was a new week, and she had to get up. The evening before had consisted of her cleaning up an extremely messy hotel room at Le Grand Hôtel de Luxe: La Paris. It only made sense that Aceline was on cleaning staff there since she was such a neat freak herself, but there were certain messes that even she had troubles cleaning up. The room she was assigned to clean had apparently been a "party room" for the weekend, and needless to say, it was a disaster. Even some of her best cleaning spells were unable to get some of the unknown filth off the ceiling, causing her to have to climb up a ladder and scrub the night away.

Now if you know Aceline at all, you'll know that she does not do well with heights. Throw in a nearly impenetrable mess, and Ace was in for a very stressful evening. It took her nearly the entire evening to clean up the room because she was so cautious up on the ladder, afraid that she would fall and break her neck and no one would find her until morning. Sure, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but Aceline has always been one to enjoy living in a life of melodrama. Once she had finished, she returned to her dorm room at Beauxbatons, collapsing into her pillows at two forty-five in the morning, and almost instantly ventured into dream land. It had been a pleasant dream, one filled with shopping for new dress robes for some random Pureblooded ball. When she heard her dorm mates moving about in the morning to head down t breakfast, Ace resorted to her childhood attitude of asking for just a little bit more time to sleep, and well, we all know how that turns out. Before she knew it, she had nearly five minutes for breakfast before she would be late to her first class of the morning. As soon as she looked at her watch, she regretted taking those extra few minutes for beauty rest and quickly started to dress.

Quickly leaping out of bed, she hurried to her trunk and pulled out an outfit for the day to throw over her robes. It was a small white blouse and a black pencil skirt, something that looked like a secretary's outfit. Simple, yet chic, two words that seemed to dominate Ace's wardrobe lately. Things weren't getting any better as far as the financial front was headed, and even with her working part time on the weekends, the Carrow family was struggling to keep up with the rent of their tiny apartment flat in Paris. Ace couldn't help but let out a sigh of disappointment as she grabbed the same pair of dull earrings off of her dresser and put them in her ears, wishing she could wear something a little more...spunky. She dabbed on some foundation and put a little blush on her cheeks, wanting to make sure that she was at least a little presentable for her classes. Knowing that attempting to fix her hair would be a lost cause, she ran her hands through it a few times to try and flatten it in the back before grabbing her robes with her wand tucked neatly in the pocket and heading out of the dorm and down to the Dining Hall.

Glancing down at her watch, she gritted her teeth as she realized she would be late to her first class unless she grabbed a quick slice of toast and headed straight there. Weaving her way through the students already finished with breakfast and heading to class, she bumped into a few people occasionally, receiving a few glares and mumbled words directed at her. She was used to it, however; when you go from being one of the richest families to the poorest, people talk. The past six years at Beauxbatons Finishing School had been very different, never one year being similar to the next. It had only been two years since her family lost everything, yet to Aceline, it felt like a life time. A life time of solitude, seeing as many of the students here at Beauxbatons decided that without money, she was worthless and they couldn't care less about her. Finally making her way over to her usual morning table, she noticed that the people who she usually had breakfast had already left, no doubt heading to class. With another small sigh, she grabs a piece of toast and a small butter knife, quickly slapping on some butter before tossing the knife back down on the table and turning around to head out of the Dining Hall.

Only then did she realize the grave mistake that she had made this morning in her hurried rush. While she had managed to grab her robes and her wand, she had forgotten her school bag with nearly everything she needed in it for her classes that day. "Damn it!" She cursed under her breath, angry with herself for being so stupid in her morning rush to forget something as important as her school bag of all things. Taking a bite out of the piece of toast, she quickly rushes back towards the entrance to the Dining Hall, planning on rushing up to her dorm room to grab her back and hopefully be no more than five minutes late to her first class. That would have all been well and dandy, however Aceline was soon intercepted by an unfortunate collision of human and breakfast. In her rush, she blindly ran directly into another person trying to exist the Dining Hall, resulting in their breakfast being dumped all the way down Aceline's front as the petite blonde fell to the floor. "Are you KIDDING ME?!" She yelled, taking a few minutes to recover her balance after the fall to the ground.

Feeling her wand poking into her side, she pulled it out of her pocket and slammed it down on the ground in frustration. With her free hand, she tried to wipe the other student's breakfast off of the front of her robes before it seeped itself through and onto her blouse, but she knew it was a pointless battle and soon gave up. One hand was covered with butter and crumpled up toast while the other hand was caked in the other person's breakfast. Very annoyed, Aceline looked up at the person who decided to play bumper cars (and win) with her this morning, shooting daggers from her eyes. "Well? Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help me up?!" She demanded, her voice full of the anger and frustration that she sixteen year old felt that morning. Now knowing that she would be at least fifteen minutes late to her first class, only one thing was certain: Monday mornings were never good for Aceline.

[Lennox Rookwood]

There was a delicate gray light against the polished floorboards that told him it was morning, and his body twisted around in the satin sheets.

Now there was something he had gotten used to, though he'd never admit it. The sheets at Beauxbatons were of the finest quality, and were quite different from Hogwarts. Not that it had been bad at all, but there had been a rugged warmth to everything. Here, everything seemed more luxurious. Even with Paris in ruins, the school still had a few traditions of grandeur that it liked to maintain. Len had to admit that he'd gotten used to the soft fabric on his bare skin. It was either the fabric or the thread count; it didn't really matter, but he knew he liked it, and had no desire to venture from his bed. But there was nothing to stop the musings of life that were pulling him back into existence. Stretching his arms high above his head, Len blinked away the last bits of sleep and took in his familiar surroundings. It was a large, spacious room, with more pale, pastel colors than he had ever encountered before. Of course, the rooms were the “manliest” in the castle. There weren't too many elaborate drapes, and all pink had been banned.

The drab color of the world outside helped to mute things out. Len swung his feet over the side of the bed, and twinged at the cold floor. Hopping on his feet as he went, he got to his trunk and was quick to satisfy his desire to cover his bare chest. The collared shirt came first, and then the dark blue sweater. It was always sweaters for Len; he loved them, and they reminded him of home. After that, it didn't much matter. There were slacks and socks, and shoes that he tied using his wand just because he could. He took one look at the rain pooling around the windowsill, slung his side bag over his shoulder, and headed for the stairs.

Plenty of people were milling about, and Len guessed he had slept in later than he had been planning. It didn't worry him that much; he was in his final year, and most of his classes were later in the day. He would have time to sit and enjoy a hot breakfast before heading to his mid-morning classes. That was another thing about France that always delighted him: the pastries were amazing. And now that he had finally mastered the confusing corridors of the castle, it wouldn't be long until Len could partake of it all. It had been a different story of course, when he had first transferred when Beauxbatons when they first began to admit males. The decision, truthfully, had been hard. He loved Hogwarts; his family had attended for centuries. But his heritage was French, and he had grown up in France. Not to mention, Beauxbatons as known for producing elite members of society, and Len had lofty goals for himself. It had been a strategic move for his future.

Len had to smile quietly to himself as he nodded to a few friends who were heading in the opposite direction. They were all female. Being one of very few males at the famously female school had other benefits as well. He was a gentlemen, of course, but sometimes the attention helped his ego. Or it was totally annoying. Today, it felt good, and Len had to ruffle up his hair a bit as he walked into the Dining Hall. Everything smelled wonderfully, and he had settled down on one of the benches with a good helping of sweet things, sausage, and porridge. He felt odd being alone, but he didn't dwell on it for too long. He'd see some of his other male friends soon enough.

And then he saw one of them heading out of the room. How did he miss them? Thinking he could convince them to stay a little longer if he promised to pay for the next bottle of Firewhiskey from Entropine, Len stood up, holding his bowl of porridge in one hand as he hurried after them. He had almost made it to the entrance, and was about to call out when a tidal wave of shock and blonde hit him. There was no stopping it, and Len's body stiffened as a small body hit his with force. The bowl slipped from his hand and his porridge fell all over the girl's robes.

She yelled. She glared. And Len stood still, staring. He didn't really get why; he figured it had something to do with being tired, but his brain didn't really want to react. He leaned down and picked up the bowl, casually placing it on the table. It was only when she was angrily asking for help that Len realized just what had happened, and what he was supposed to do.

“Right, sorry,” he said. With one quick motion he took her waist in her hands and picked her up. She was light, and Len studied her demolished toast. Maybe she was one of those types that didn't eat as much as she should. Len studied her a bit more closely. She looked quite healthy, and he had a nagging suspicion that he knew her. Maybe if the porridge hadn't spilled everywhere all over her blouse, he'd have a clearer head. Yes, he knew her name. Or at least he thought he did.

She looked so mad, though Len noted that she looked more cute than anything. Like a little kitten trying to a tiger. Still, he felt guilty, and gave a grimace before smiling, hoping to get on her good side.

“I need to pay more attention,” he said. “I didn't even seen you.”