Knock Please. --open--

[Dorcas Meadows]

Cass walked along the fifth floor corridor, her fingertips dragged along the stone walls and a book was held under her other arm. The hall was empty and her footsteps echoed down and away from her small figure. She moved her hand away from the wall for a moment to brush back a strand of blonde hair. Her fingers soon returned to the wall.

Not much was going through her mind. She was just kind of numb, a good kind of numb. Cass had a crooked smile on her face, a small one, just kind of there. She felt as if she was moving at one mile per hour- though it wasn't exactly bad. Her blonde curls were in a messy ponytail with alot of loose strands.

Her eyes were directed to the floor ans she moved. Her breaths came out in slow streams. Mostly, Cass was happy, she loved school, good grades, some good friends; a small sigh escaped her lips. She turned a corner, shifting her stride a bit and glanced up just in time to run into somebody.

"Oomf." She exclaimed, dropping her book and falling on her butt. She blinked a few times to register just what happened.

[Andromeda Black]

Andi was headed to the common room after her classes, feeling a little bit tired. Potions had been hell, with standing on her feet, stirring the stupid thing in asinine clockwise and counterclockwise circles while Slughorn discussed the details of the latest Slug-Club meeting with his favorites. It wasn't so much that she wasn't a member that bugged Andi, she knew that she wasn't extrodinary; it was that she hated listening to him. Luckily, she had some free time between that and her next class, and, instead of going to the library like a good Ravenclaw girl, she decided to go to sleep. So much for the responsible prefect.

As she trenched up the stairs, she heard a thud while she was passing the fifth floor. There was no one around, and so Andi decided to check and make sure no one was hurt. With her luck, it would be a Slytherin who was out to get her. Wait, weren't they all out to get her? Perhaps that was a little bit redundant. However, she she approached, she saw that that it was not a Slytherin at all, but a Gryffindor, a fellow prefect, Dorcas Meadows. Andi smiled. They were two years apart, but that didn't mean that she didn't like the girl. She held her hand out and leaned down, her hair flowing over her shoulder. "Need some help?"

[Dorcas Meadows]

Cass looked up and saw a familiar face. She wasn't sure where she saw the face before-- prefect maybe? The girl did look familiar, but Dorcas wasn't very good with names. Gosh, she wished she was. Cass smiled, and took the girl's hand gently, "Thank you." she said, apologetically, "I have a problem standing." she added, jokingly. It was true-- well not the standing part, moreso the fact that nearly everywhere she was she fell.

Cass pulled herself up to her feet, and took her hand from the girls. She realized from the girls' robes that she was a Ravenclaw. She wondered if she should introduce herself now, but the girl probably wasn't as clueless as herself, "I'm Cass, by the way." she said, smiling brightly. What was it about introductions that made them so awkward. Was it because maybe they didn't want to hear this information? or was it that you didn't introduce yourself the right way. Dorcas rolled her eyes at her thoughts and stuffed her hands in her pockets.

[Andromeda Black]

Andi laughed, something she had not done in awhile, as she helped the girl up. There was something about this girl that put her at ease. She smiled and said, "No problem." She thought about what the other girl said, about not being able to stand. Her mother had made her practice her posture with three books balanced on her head. It was painful, but the upshot was that Andi had no problem with balance. The rest of life, though, was a different story.

As she helped the girl up, she saw the girl's eyes look over her robe. She wondered in the back of her mind if Dorcas could tell- she didn't feel like she was showing, but that might just be wishful thinking. Dorcas- Cass- was probably more concerned about her name, though, so Andi offered it. "I'm Andi. Andi- Black." She bit her lip. Most people outside of Ravenclaw tower flinched when she said her last name, though she had also gotten pity stares, from people in the know about what had happened last year. She was anxious, and curious, as to what catergory Cass would fall in.

[Dorcas Meadows]

Cass laughed along with the girl, it was nice to be able to share a laugh with someone. Even if it were somebody that you didn't know. Laughing was - in a way- a strong bond, a bond that was there if only for a few moments. She smiled at the girl, a true smile, one of those bright ones that could light up a room. Cass liked the way that the felt at ease, a lighter conversation.

"Andi," Cass, repeated, "I like that name." she commented, smiling, "What's it short for? Andrea?" She wondered what that meant, Cass thought back to her name studies and pursed her lips. Andrea, feminine of Andrew... "Courageous." She muttered aloud, "Andrea means courageous." cass looked down, "Sorry, I'm really into name meanings." Cass always enjoyed seeing how well a name fit a person. How some names were-- terribly wrong, and others fitting completely.

[Andromeda Black]

Andi blinked in suprise. Cass liked her name? She definitely didn't. It was too old fashioned and it branded her as a Black. And the meaning? It wasn't anything as valiant as "courageous". "It's short for Andromeda." She said bluntly. "She was chained to a rock because of her mother's bragging, and had to be saved by this guy." Andi had never liked the story, which is why she went by the shortened form of her name. She sighed and pulled back her hair. The only good thing about Andromeda's story was that she got to marry the hero, rather than some guy her parents had picked. That had been a chief fear of Andi's for years. "But thanks for the complement, I guess." It was nice, even though it wasn't true.

She looked at the other girl. "Dorcas... what's that mean?" It didn't sound like any name or language that Andi knew. However, that wasn't saying much; her parents didn't really stress any language besides Parseltongue, as that might have proved a distant relationship to Salazar Slytherin, one of the few families that the Blacks could not yet claim.