Welcome to The Mischief Within!

[Valeska Nagorski]

It had only been a few weeks since Valeska and Julien had broken up, once again. They were constantly back and forth, one minute happy and the next fighting. Of course they would break up when the fights got really bad and then they would usually get back together. In all honesty, she was getting sick of it. She cared about him, more than she'd ever cared about any other guy but things just never worked out. They were both one in the same, really. They both enjoyed having power and control, which is what caused the majority of their fights. She wouldn't let him control her and that pissed him off and vice versa with her. She'd tried before for the sake of their relationship to let him have his way, but she could never do it for long. It just wasn't in her nature.

But this time was different. Usually they would get back together a week or so later, but this time it had been a few weeks. She missed him, but maybe it was for the best. All the fighting wasn't good for them or anybody else around them. Still, as much as she told herself she was over him and that it was for the best, every time she saw him walk by all she wanted to do was kiss him. Of course she restrained herself from doing so, she was brought up to control such urges. Besides, guys make the first move, not the girl. Maybe he didn't even care about her anymore, which hurt her though she would never admit it.

All these thoughts were running though her head as she sat in the Slytherin common room, just staring blankly into the fire. It was the weekend and the entire school was at Hogsmeade, which she decided to skip out on that day. She wasn't in the mood to hang around anyone else and if she did, she would probably end up hexing every innocent person that walked by. Not that she didn't do that normally, but today would have been worse.

At least she had the place to herself, or so she thought. At first, she didn't notice the sound of footsteps that came down the stairs from the boys dorm. She didn't even hear them until she felt someone looking at her. Turning her head sharply she was about to say something rather nasty, but one look at the person's face and she stopped.

"Julien." She spoke, her tone indifferent. She wasn't about to let him see that she still cared about him.

[Julien Renard]

i've got more wit a better kiss a hotter touch ,
a better fuck, than any boy you'll ever meet, sweetie you had me.

---

Julien Renard took a long drag on the cigarette balanced between his fingers, dark eyes fixed staunchly upon the boys’ dormitory’s window, which revealed nothing but the darkness of the black lake from outside. Exhaling a thin stream of smoke, he tapped ash obliviously onto the worn carpet, which bore all the signs of regular abuse in such manner. Vaguely, the Slytherin considered turning the lights on, but did not move. How strange it was that, right now, he was not with Valeska Nagorski. Their fights were regular, routine, because neither of the two could accept the blame for anything, nor allow the other to tell them what to do. That was what he loved – and hated – about his ex-girlfriend. They had never separated for long; a week, usually, and they would be together again. It did not make sense that now, after weeks, they were still both single.

He had arrived back at the castle from Hogsmeade not long previously, having spent the afternoon with Ariadne Addison. Addison. She, as well as Valeska, plagued his thoughts now. He had known the girl almost as long as Valeska, but had never been nearly as close … and now he had spent the whole day in Hogsmeade with the girl. Julien took another drag, turning away from the window.

It had not been the perfect day out, he reflected, thinking of Madam Puddifoots. It had been tolerable, borderline enjoyable … and he found himself wondering what it would’ve been like if he had taken Valeska, instead. He missed having her around, sometimes.

Stamping out the cigarette, quite oblivious to the damage he was inflicting upon the carpet, he started towards the stairs. He would not, under any circumstances, give Nagorski any reason to believe he still had any trace of regret over the break up; it was about time the girl showed some weakness. She could be infuriatingly stubborn, Valeska.

Renard emerged from the bottom of the stairs, running a hand wearily through his hair, so that it became tousled, sweeping attractively across his forehead. His eyes fell, almost immediately, upon the graceful form sat in front of the fire, her attention obviously fixed upon the flickering flames. He was aware, horribly, that he was staring at the Slytherin. There was no denying she was beautiful, and he hated her for it, amongst the many other things that he hated and – most unfortunately – loved about the girl.

“Julien.”

She had spoken with a cold, blank indifference, her face turned in his direction. There was a small pause.

Julien Renard’s eyes roamed over the pale face, the frown upon his handsome features twitching into a characteristically arrogant smirk.

“Valeska,” he said coolly, inclining his head nonchalantly, also careful not to betray any trace of feeling, but caring to allow in the faint traces of amusement he hoped – and expected – would irk her. His hands were tucked carelessly into the pocket of his jeans, the black jacket discarded, revealing the tight-fitting dark blue T-Shirt he had donned for the day. “How are you, love?”

Pleasure flickered through the dark blue eyes as they slid over the girl’s features expectantly. There was no reason to be formal, after all … and he felt fairly confident he should be allowed to converse with the girl, even if they were not tangled together in a broom closet which, incidentally, was a wonderful ice breaker. [/list]

[Valeska Nagorski]

The room took on a sudden chill, with a tense atmosphere to go along with it. In the past few weeks since their break up, Val and Julien rarely saw each other despite being in the same house and classes. It was like they were intentionally avoiding each other, neither of them wanting to risk falling into the same rut again. That had been their problem before, too. It would always be the last time they broke up, they would swear they were through for good, but when they saw each other again they were back together an hour later-after finding their way into a broom closet or two first. Val was just thankful that there were none of those around at moment or one look into his eyes and she'd cave.

His eyes...

That was, to her, his best physical feature. Sure, he had a great body and the kind of hair you could run your fingers through all day-but nothing, nothing beat his eyes. From a far distance, they looked dark, almost black. Even from a shorter distance they still looked dark and stormy. At times she would have sworn there really and truly was an actual storm building in them, especially when they were fighting. She knew though, that his eyes were in reality a very dark blue, unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was those very eyes that drew her in in the first place.

As he spoke her name, she noted just how cool and icy the word has come out. She couldn't help but be bothered by it, but she didn't let him see it. "What's with the smirk?" she demanded, also noting the somewhat amused look upon his features. She hated when he did that. "Shouldn't you be in Hogsmeade or something? I mean, someone as wonderful as yourself shouldn't be alone in a common room-or have you lost your touch?" When she spoke the word wonderful, her voice dripped with sarcasm. His ego was already big enough, she didn't need to inflate it further.

"And I'm doing fine by the way, thanks for asking." Truth be told, she wasn't sure how she was doing. At times she felt just fine, but then at times like these she felt awful. It was weird, not having been with him for this long. But being the kind of person she was, Val decided to give her ex a glimpse of what he was missing-no harm in that, right? Make him miss what he could no longer have.

"I was actually just about to go grab a book from over there" she informed him, pointing towards a table with books strewn across the top. Still in her pjs, Val stood up slowly. Her top, was a light blue camisole that just covered her bottom, keeping the blue lace bottoms (that were more like underwear) that went with them covered. Walking to the side of the couch to where Julien could see, she yawned and stretched, bringing her arms above her head. This action caused her camisole to move up just high enough for her lace bottoms to show. Julien would likely know exactly what she was doing, but she also knew just how good she looked in the pjs. Even if he didn't admit it out loud, she was sure he would be wishing he could have her at the moment.

After her display, she continued on to the books picking one a random. She really didn't care what she grabbed as she hadn't really wanted one in the first place.

[Julien Renard]

How suddenly the atmosphere changed. It was a curious sensation, to be in the same room as his ex girlfriend – alone – but as though they were separated by solid, impenetrable ice. This was not how it should have been. She should be falling for him, right now, because it was how it always went. She couldn’t resist him. She didn’t resist him. What had changed?

"What's with the smirk?"

His eyes fixed upon the girl, he did not cease the action she criticized. The smirk still set upon the handsome face, the young man lights another cigarette.

"Shouldn't you be in Hogsmeade or something? I mean, someone as wonderful as yourself shouldn't be alone in a common room-or have you lost your touch?"

“Mm…” taking a long drag from the cigarette, he paused before providing the girl with an answer aimed to spite, for her tone was not pleasant, but filled with a scathing sarcasm he enjoyed immensely. He exhaled, the dark blue eyes flashing with cold amusement. “Perhaps the question would be better off directed at you, love. I spent the better part of the day there, you know, with the most charming Ravenclaw—”

Exaggeration of the century; of the many things he might use to describe Ariadne Addison, ‘charming’ would most likely not be there. Attractive, indeed. Quite as fiery as dear Nagorski, but the idea was not to tell her that, truly, she had plagued his thoughts for quite a while now. The conversation had moved on without him noticing, for his thoughts had drifted else where – annoyingly, to Valeska.

"I was actually just about to go grab a book from over there"

He couldn’t tell whether she was in lingerie or nightwear – frankly, he didn’t care from the angle he was in – as she rose to her feet, the light blue camisole scantily covering her body. She was in perfect view as she stretched – deliberately, he arrogantly suspected – and he caught sight of small, lace bottoms that left little to the imagination.

He did not bother to pretend he hadn’t seen … stupid thing to do, really, as if he cared if she saw him watching her.

He exhaled, smoke drifting from his lips.

“Not bad, Val, dear.”

[Valeska Nagorski]

She could feel him watching her, which was precisely what she wanted. Though she wasn't looking at him to make sure, she just knew. Julien was too predictable when it came to women, especially gorgeous women in night wear flaunting their shit right in front of him. That had been another problem when they had been dating-his eyes were continually wandering to other women and Val did not appreciate that. She had been his girlfriend, not all those other whores. At times his actions had made her feel inadequate, why hadn't she been able to keep his attention? She was easily the hottest girl in the school, so what had caused his roving eye? That thought plagued her always, though again, she never showed it on the outside. On the outside, she acted like she could care less.

Val grabbed the nearest book to her ignoring Julien's comment for a minute, Though she had no intention of even glancing at the title, she did notice that the book was black and leather-bound. Book in hand, she finally had a chance to let his earlier words sink in. A Ravenclaw? He actually spent the day at Hogsmeade with a Ravenclaw? She was pissed, but instead of letting him feel the wrath that was boiling inside her she merely shrugged. "Oh? and who, may I ask, is the unlucky girl?"

The thought of Julien with another girl was causing a monster that was more than likely green, to swell up inside her. How dare he move on before her? That wasn't supposed to happen, she was supposed to find someone else first-it was the rules for god's sake! Then he would get jealous and come crawling back to her, of course. But it seemed that it wasn't going to happen this time around.

"If you won't tell me who she is," Val continued, not really giving him a chance to tell her-"I just may have to find out on my own" she went on, making it sound like a threat. Julien was probably assuming that she wanted to find the girl and hex her, which she did, but that wasn't what she was going to make him think in a moment. "And warn her that you're really not all that special. Been there, done that." She said it was such a cool and uncaring tone, she almost believed it herself. This had to be a major blow to his ego, or so she hoped. Being the arrogant git he was, he'd probably been expecting her to fall for him again by now, beg him to take her back. As if!

[Julien Renard]

The Slytherin’s eyes did indeed wander, typically, across the girl’s ample curves. Such trivial obstructions such as girlfriends did not phase the boy … he knew a beautiful girl when he saw one; there was no reason to become a priest just because he was taken. They were the best justifications Julien could come up with when his mind wandered, once more, to Valeska. It’d been a messy affair, and he didn’t much like the idea that the problems they had encountered in their relationship were at all his fault.

He watched the girl, lazily vigilant for any sign of fury, as she picked up a darkly coloured book. “Oh?” the girl was uttering, her tone flippant, a careless shrug accompanying her words. “And who, may I ask, is the unlucky girl?”

He took a drag. How very rude of her. The boy’s lips quirked, delicately, into that of a faint grin. She did not sound jealous – of course she didn’t. She was excellent at being infuriatingly nonchalant about most matters. He thought, perhaps, that the little snipe had been a small act of her jealousy at the idea, but it was annoyingly hard to be sure around Valeska. She was, most unfortunately, gifted at concealing these things.

She did not, it seemed, have any intention of waiting for an answer to her question. “If you won’t tell me who she is,” she had ploughed on without pausing to consent an answer, “I may just have to find out on my own.”

The grin shifted into a downright smirk. He detected the traces of a threat lining the words in a not-so-subtle fashion, and he could only assume, at that point, she was indeed jealous. She clearly sought a fight with the girl – regardless of who she was – and it was extremely satisfying to know.

“And warn her that you're really not all that special. Been there, done that.”

He was forced, at that point, to revise his assumption. Her voice was cold, unkindly apathetic. She genuinely did not seem to care in the slightest. He didn’t like that, much. Annoyance flickered momentarily through cold blue eyes.

“Right. You’ve definitely been there before – multiple times, actually,” he said coolly, in a carefully controlled tone. “Yet you return each time, sweetheart.”

The smirk widened. Stubborn bitch, there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d admit to liking him, whether it was true or not, but nevertheless … he enjoyed getting under her skin.


(( ARG! so sorry for teh latenessssss. </333 ))