you and me */ jaslene

[joshua andrew dalton]

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now i'm climbing the walls
BUT YOU DON'T NOTICE AT ALL THAT I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND.

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his parents had gone absolutely off the wall. how could they think that he'd agree to marry some strange woman who he probably had never met? how could they think that he'd sit back and let them dictate the rest of his life like that? they'd already forced him to live and learn within the castle walls. which wasn't too bad considering the amount of women that he'd now gotten to meet and flirt with. but now they were trying to take his freedom of choice when it came to his future partner from him? not a chance. he would never let them control that whilst he stood by and watched. and beth too, she was going to be going through the very same thing. how could they do this to them!? they were people, and had their own right to decide their own futures. but apparently, joshua dalton's parents didn't agree with this. what about evelyn, would she be going through the same thing? would the three of them be trapped within marriages to strangers? would they be forced to live with someone that they didn't know well, or didn't love? would they be forced to spend their future with them? to have children? not him. oh no. he was nowhere ready for all of this.

these thoughts had been going through his head since the day that he'd received a letter from his father detailing his plans. the one thing that they'd failed to give joshua was a name. apparently that would be coming today, should their 'negotiations' go as planned, according to the letter. well, today or tomorrow. that was when he was supposedly finding out the name of his future bride. well that wouldn't be happening. joshua wasn't going to marry anyone that he didn't love or chose to marry for himself. that was his choice and he'd never let anyone take that away from him. he was firm with that decision and would tell his parents exactly where they could go if they asked what he thought about it. andrew had been through this with priscilla, and maybe yes, it had ended well for them, but that didn't mean that every arranged marriage would end in love and a tribe of children. not for him, oh no. he would refuse. he would protest. he'd live on the streets if he had to. he only had a year of hogwarts left anyway and he could stay in the castle on most holidays and then get a job and an apartment as soon as he left. take control of his own life. yes, how many other people had done that? why wouldn't he manage? it was the perfect plan.

what wasn't a part of his plan for today was going to his quiet spot to think, and finding someone else there. someone else in the form of the eldest malfoy daughter. joshua knew of her, of course, she was a friend of his friend, chris, and also a slytherin seventh year. they shared a year and a house, but hadn't much else in common, or at least he didn't think so. but yet, that was exactly what he'd found when his feet had carried him toward the tree besides the black lake. it was november, and the cold of the water was evident in the dark color of it. the cold was also invading him through his jacket, and he shuddered a little and took his eyes away from the blackness and onto jaslene malfoy. "and what are you doing out here on this terribly bleak morning?"

[/color] joshua posed the question. the morning wasn't the nicest, the sun wasn't really out, and the clouds were blanketing the sky, but there was no rain, it could have been worse. "and may i take a seat?"[/color] he asked his second question, just wanting to slump beneath the tree and throw himself a pity party. he didn't want convorsation or anyone to witness this, he just wanted to be alone. apparently that wasn't going to happen.[/div]

OPEN THREAD. WEARING THIS. 676 WORDS. ONE THING BY 1DIRECTION.

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[jaslene guinevere malfoy]

It wasn't a widely broadcast fact, but Jaslene took some comfort in swimming in the lake, although she'd never admit it to random crowds of people, mostly since it probably wasn't a great idea to be wandering around in an area filled with various water creatures. Still, she'd never been entirely focused on following each school rule or recommendation, especially on occasions like these, with her mother still noticeably absent. Whilst she had always enjoyed swimming, it had been recently that it started to act as a soothing element, one that supposedly stopped her from angrily snapping at everything that might happen to provide a perceived obstacle to her. She'd been sat on the side of the lake, staring into its depths for a while, almost drifting out of consciousness entirely, unaware of the people passing her by. Her eyes did not move, still directed at that point at the opposite side of the body of water, not wanting to turn her head away from that particular spot. The morning was a cold one, she'd known it, it looked as such, Novemeber was a month notary for its cold and sharp weather, but the chilled breeze barely hit her, still staring into the distance. Although she appeared relaxed and highly concentrated upon a specific thing, the truth was so far away away from this fake appearance, she wasn't even sure how she felt at this moment.

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a person announcing his presence, a person that she'd barely shared more than a few words with. Her eyes did not move from the distant ripple of the lake, shrugging, as though this was more than enough to demonstrate her thoughts of him being here. Rolling her eyes, although perhaps not to the extent that he would notice, she sighed inwardly at his apparent determination to interrupt her peaceful state of mind. "What does it look like I'm doing?" she replied, still not turning to regard him fully, her sarcastic tone evidently aimed at pushing him away. Her attention turned to her arms, however, as she noted a few drops of water roll down her body, water from the lake that she'd failed to dry, getting distracted by everything and yet nothing at all. Pushing a strand of her soaked hair away from her face, she was suddenly aware of another thing spoiling her normally perfect appearance, the few tears forming in her eyes. She'd never wanted to cry in public, even though people expected it and even encouraged her to express her feelings and thoughts about being left with only one parental figure. She didn't want to cry in front of another person, because it made her feel ridiculous for not holding those emotions inside, thankfully it only appeared to be a very small number of tears visible.

That was, of course, from her perspective, glancing at her reflection in the lake. Slowly, she reached beneath her, pulling the towel she'd been sitting on and wrapping it around her shoulders, moving her hair in one swift movement, to make sure it wasn't still drowning her. He spoke again, she realised, making her turn her head to consider him for the first time since he'd spoke. "Are you still here?" Her tone was no longer sarcastic, more irritable that another student would wonder into what she considered to be her private area and be witness to her less intelligent and stubborn moods, although her stubbornness was not entirely diminished. "What's wrong with the bed in your dormitory, or a chair somewhere else?" Realising that she was not looking her best, she pulled the towel closer to her body, brushing the tears harshly away from her face, as she waited for another brilliant comment that she would not be altogether happy to hear from his mouth. Probably something along the lines that she was currently thinking- that she was not going to move, regardless of whether someone wanted her to. Clearly, a more direct approach might be better in this situation, a Slytherin boy was almost bound to be as stubborn as her, in giving up such a good seat. "Did you want something? Or are you going to stare at me all day instead, in an effort to annoy me?"

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[joshua andrew dalton]

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now i'm climbing the walls
BUT YOU DON'T NOTICE AT ALL THAT I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND.

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joshua allowered his eyes to sweep over jaslene malfoy, and take in the fact that there was water on her skin. as far as he'd known, it hadn't rained today, so how come she was wet? of course the logical thing when being sat by a lake would be that she'd gone swimming, but logical thoughts weren't the first that crossed joshua's mind. he tended himself to go through the least logical and work his way backward. besides, it didn't seem at all logical to him that someone would want to go swimming in the black lake at all, let alone in the middle of november when the waters were so dark and uninviting that he was nearly shivering just looking at them. this wasn't to say that he wouldn't jump right in if someone dared him to, but he wouldn't do it out of choice. but hey, girls were weird sometimes, they didn't think logically like, apparently, joshua did. and so, the thing that popped into his mind about how jas was so wet, was that they were all tears. don't ask why he thought tears would end up on her arms, as unless she was shaking her heard weirdly and crying at the same time to make them end up there, there was no logical reason for her tears to end up on her arms and not on her face. there was joshua's logic in action. but the fact remained, she was crying. crying. jaslene malfoy was crying right in front of him, and he was probably just gaping at her. he'd never heard of her crying before. what was he supposed to do?

"have an issue? need a tissue?"

[/color] josh said the first thing that came to his mind. which wasn't usually the best thing to say and yet, it sometimes worked, to just blurt out what he was thinking. he was hoping she'd laugh, because girls crying made him feel bad, and awkward at the same time. was he supposed to comfort her? no, she'd probably sooner bite his arms off than let him hug her. jaslene malfoy didn't exactly strike josh as a huggy person. especially not when the other person who was hugging her was josh. he somehow didn't think that she'd like that. but then she probably wouldn't like his response to her crying either. ok, so years away from other people who weren't his family meant that he'd not exactly been the best at dealing with girls. he'd liked to think he was getting better, but now he was led to believe that this assumption was wrong, and if possible, he'd only gotten worse. the only girls he'd dealt with in the past really were his sisters and cousin, evelyn. how was he supposed to know what the best thing to do was when he came upon a girl who wasn't family and who didn't particularly like him who was crying? this was so confusing! he sighed and took a seat next to her. "you're clearly upset."[/color] he stated, wanting to hit himself after realising. way to state the obvious, joshua![/color] he scolded himself, heaving another sigh. maybe he wasn't having the worst day ever, compared to jaslene. at least he hadn't cried yet.

"sitting somewhere else would involve me leaving a crying woman all alone when maybe she needed someone to talk to. and that wouldn't be very gentlemanly, and i've been raised to be a gentleman and treat women right"[/color] he explained. that was true, his mother had always taught him to treat women right. was that so that whoever they had him marry would be sure to be treated right? how long had they planned this, since birth? he still couldn't get over the fact that he, technically, was engaged. and he had to read about it from a letter to his parents. and better yet, he'd find out his fiance's name the very same way. "look, i know i'm not the best at saying what you need to hear in situations like this, but that's ok. maybe you just need someone to listen. and i've been listening to my sisters whine about their problems for years, so, tell me what's wrong."[/color] joshua said, trying to make her laugh again with that last added comment and a small smile. he was the comedian, he was always the one trying to diffuse tension and he used humor as his weapon, so to speak, to do his job.[/div]

OPEN THREAD. WEARING THIS. 676 WORDS. ONE THING BY 1DIRECTION.

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[jaslene guinevere malfoy]

What was with his sudden fascination with her? It didn't make much sense, but then she wasn't closely considering the reasons or possibilities as to why he might be taking this interest, only fixing him with a small glare for continuing to gaze in her direction. Did he purposedly intend to annoy her, by continuing to do the one thing she wasn't entirely comfortable with, given her appearance and consequent mood? She couldn't completely rule it out, he was a Slytherin and Slytherins, despite many positive traits, were not altogether known for being sympathetic and genuine without a good reason for doing so. She realised she didn't look great, hating herself inside for allowing herself to look terrible on the one day that she happened to run into him. Chris had repeatedly told her that he was a decent guy, but she wasn't comforted by such an opinion when she barely knew the boy from any of the other new people at Hogwarts. Still, it annoyed her that not only did he see her looking far from her best, but he'd witnessed a visible sign of weakness - he'd seen her cry. Admittedly, she'd made a big deal of brushing tears aside, to appear as nonchalant as she was feeling, but it somehow hadn't convinced him. Damn, was he a private investigator or something?

"Of course I have issues," she replied, rather incredously at his question, not entirely sure of what he was aiming towards with this random intermittance of conversation. "I expect you have some too, everyone has issues. I wasn't crying over them, but it doesn't matter. I don't expect you to understand." Had he ever had reason to cry, she wondered? Past the age of childhood years where all children cried in an attempt to win attention or win an argument with their parents, but how could a boy of his status ever have felt the same sadness that had dawned upon her? It didn't seem likely at all. Against all reason, she found her eyes drawn to him, however, sensing that, despite her previous impressions of him (which weren't as positive as he might have liked or thought) he did seem genuine in his desire to help her. Help her with what thought, she wondered, scoffing at the thought. Was he going to personally set out and find her mother and bring her back? She doubted it, the same way that she also doubted that someone was going to persuade her father that a marriage was not the best thing for a daughter of seventeen to endure. She'd be very much surprised if he was interested in her troubles to the extent that he approached her father and insisted that she needed to be left to work things out for herself.

Raising an eyebrow at his statement of her evident feelings, she found herself hiding her face in her towel. Perhaps this gave the impression that she was now so disturbed by his lack of socially appropriate lines of conversation that she was seeking comfort in the towel to soothe her annoyance, but this was not true. In fact, she was hiding the smallest of smiles at his ridiculous outburst of expression, as though amused by his total inability to provide any sort of reassurance or solution to her problem. Raising her head, she relaxed her face the smallest amount, prepared to at least tolerate him until she could no longer, perhaps because the thought of being completely alone wasn't a happy or pleasant one in the slightest. Perhaps, company was better than a few more hours on her own, even somewhat irritating company. "You don't need to stay here," she replied, unable to ask for his help, believing that she was more than capable of looking after her own interests just as he was probably doing before he'd stumbled across her, losing memory of what had previously been bothering him. "I'm sure you have your own issues and problems to take care of. I'll manage, or, if not, I'll swim for a bit more. That tends to make me forget." This time, she couldn't hide the small smile at his words, although she quickly turned away, her gaze away from his figure.

[joshua andrew dalton]

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now i'm climbing the walls
BUT YOU DON'T NOTICE AT ALL THAT I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND.

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josh caught the glare from jaslene and wondered if it would be best to back off slowly with his hands raised in a surrendering position. he was only so interested because she was upset. seeing a girl upset was horrible, and he felt he had to do something to stop them from being upset. maybe it was something to do with his sisters, and his hatred for anything making them upset. he'd always been protective of bethany and isabella, and without a doubt, that would never change. he was generally a bit more protective of women if he felt that they were upset or in a situation that they didn't want to be. for instance, if he'd seen some guy bothering jaslene, he'd have probably stepped in, completely disregarding the way he felt toward her, to make sure that she was alright, and that the guy left her alone, if that was the way that she'd wanted it. his mother had always told him to watch out for his sisters, but she didn't really have to tell him. if a guy came near to izzy, he'd be there like a shot, whether he was in the room or caught wind of it some other way. god forbid the day when she got a boyfriend, josh would be putting him through ten thousand questions before he even let the boy say isabella's name. and it would be similar for beth, though he wouldn't interfear so directly as beth could take care of herself, and he knew it, but he'd want to be sure, so he'd have to investigate without her knowing.

he was more interested than usual in what had upset jaslene though because she was friends with chris weasley, and chris weasley was his best friend, so he felt even more like he wanted to be there for her and see what was upsetting her, and try and make it go away. it was what chris would've wanted him to do too, he was sure. but more than that, it was what he, himself, wanted to do. "then what was upsetting you?"

[/color] he asked, confused. if she wasn't crying over her issues, then what was she crying over? was she crying for no reason? did girls do this often? he'd never come across beth or izzy doing that. that was weird. no, she had to have some sort of reason. and then it hit him. he'd not taken much notice before, as it didn't effect him so much, but hermione malfoy had been kidnapped. hermione happened to be jaslene's mother. i get it. oh wow. stupid josh for not making that connection earlier. great, how was he supposed to help with that? it wasn't as if the location of her mother would casually pop into his head and he could pop over there, wherever 'there' was, and pick her up and bring her back, was it? he wished he could, it would be horrible if his mother went missing. ok, so he didn't exactly get on brilliantly with his mother nowadays, but she was still his mother, still his family, regardless of whether she was the mastermind behind his wedding or not.

oh no, she was hiding from him now. was what he was saying that bad? he took a seat next to her and sighed. "well anyway, if you want my ear, it's right here"[/color] he said, with a shrug. he knew he didn't need to point, she was smart enough to locate his ears. "i want to stay here. and my problems can't be taken care of, until i know exactly what i'm dealing with. so, i'll sit here and wait for my problems to find me, if that's ok with you? and try and help you deal with yours as best i can"[/color] he said, picking some grass from the ground and twisting it around his finger absent-mindedly. "so other than the obvious reason, is there any other problem i can help sort out? because i unfortunately don't have a treasure map with x marking your mom's location or i'd be off there to get her back for you"[/color] he said, trying to lighten the mood. he didn't know if it worked, but he hoped it would work, he really didn't want her lashing out at him, something told him that her nails would hurt.[/div]

OPEN THREAD. WEARING THIS. 676 WORDS. ONE THING BY 1DIRECTION.

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[jaslene guinevere malfoy]

Already Jaslene was starting to perceive this situation as more difficult to avoid than she'd imagined, although truthfully she hadn't really imagined that he'd go out of his way to either find out if she was okay or to taunt her further. She was also skeptical considering that he'd spent far too much time alongside Chris, taking a hit to his stubbornness that had increased it tenfold. If he was going to be this stubborn and she was just as stubborn, if not more so, was it even possible for either of them to win this battle of interests? It wasn't that she was completely against him interferring, as she saw his interruption, but rather that she couldn't see why he would pretend to be interested in her apparent "issues." What concern was it to him if she was indeed upset or hurting visibly? Thus, she was entirely s of his motives for approaching her and trying to help her, whatever solutions he was playing over in his head, she wasn't entirely trusting of strangers. In addition to that she was currently in her overly-defensive mode, due to the severity of her emotions at that moment, making her perhaps even more standoffish than usual, regardless of whether she knew him well or not. So, the real question was how much he could stand up to her, in terms of his own stubborn nature compared to that of hers, a contest that strangely distracted her for a few seconds from the reason for why she'd found herself in such a sorry state.

She couldn't fully explain why she hadn't just walked away even when she knew herself to be too stubborn to just let someone else win but she doubted this was the exact reason. It was more something to do with him changing her feelings temporarily from that of a very painful mood to one of curiosity but annoyance also. Dare she say that she found his company different to that of other people she already knew of? It seemed very weird to be thinking this, having just met him a few days earlier and regretting that meeting only hours later for being in the same circumstances far too soon afterwards. "Are you sure you have nowhere else to be?" she demanded suddenly, wanting him to describe why he was still intent on sitting there and asking question after question. More quietly, she couldn't stop herself from adding, "Somewhere preferably more than ten miles away." It wasn't a case that she really hated this boy more than anyone else or that she was being intentionally rude as possible to the unsuspecting individual, 98% of her attitude was a direct consequence of the pain she could feel still running throughout her body. Of course, it would have been a lie to say that part of her behaviour wasn't her, indeed, she was partially taking a small sense of satisfaction of putting her companion under a small bout of pressure.

Relenting only the smallest bit, she saw an opportunity to end his lack of comfort and her own frustration and anger. "If I give you the basic explanation of my "issues", as you like to name them, will that be enough to make you stop talking for a few moments?" She paused for a few moments, as though hardly daring to believe that he might agree to this impasse, even if it was only a half-win for each side, but one that could only soothe the situation as opposed to make it worse. She sighed, breathing out slowly, the silence suddenly becoming heavy and more uncomfortable for her than before. Why was she so concerned with what his reactions to her attitude were? Ugh, her emotions had caused her head to be all over the place. "I'm aware of your ability to listen," she commented just a slight less dry than the previous time, not wanting to encourage him to take up a career of giving advice to troubled individuals. "How do you know about my mother?" Her voice rose up an octave, as though alarmed by the publicity of her parent's disappearance, evidently more important than she realised if other people were aware. And suddenly most of his wary reactions were obvious to her, he was treating her differently because of it. "Just because my mother is missing doesn't warrant you to treat me as though I'm a broken animal, I do not want pity from other people who pretend to understand."

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[joshua andrew dalton]

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now i'm climbing the walls
BUT YOU DON'T NOTICE AT ALL THAT I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND.

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josh never pretended to understand women, but this one in particular was complete head work. he couldn't understand her at all, not even a tinsy tiny bit. women were head cases. they never made sense, or at least very rarely did, and often blew hot and then cold. the exceptions to this, were his sisters of course, and his cousins, because he wasn't about to admit that they were anything less than perfect. they were dalton's and all dalton's were perfect, no matter what. at least in the eyes of the public. and they had to remain that way or their parents would certainly be unimpressed. their impression to other witches and wizards was crucial, and even though none of them really wanted to be here they had to play a long a bit and not throw any tantrums. setting the bed on fire for example, would not be cool. well, it would be cool, but not in the eyes of his parents who would probably berate him or worse for showing them up. yes, it had gotten worse before. but he didn't like thinking about that. it was a pure blood family after all, what could anyone expect? joshua had been brought up in a family who took a more traditional view of punishment with it's members. or at least, some of it's members. josh could only hope that isabella hadn't experienced that from their parents, although she hadn't really done anything to recieve punishment, so she was probably safe.

josh was a little offended at her comment. was his company so bad that he'd only been there a few minutes and she already wanted him miles away? josh had never thought he was such a repulsive person! ok, so he wasn't that offended, he expected nothing less from such a stubborn girl. "well the principle did ask to see me, but i don't like him very much, so if he asks, i don't know where his office is"

[/color] josh joked. mr styx had done no such thing, but had he, josh would have probably avoided it as long as he could anyway. he didn't know how to feel about mr styx, but he certainly wasn't going to rush into trusting him. josh was weary about revealing too much to their 'friendly' principle. he just didn't feel that he was to be trusted. there was something about him... anyway, the blonde in front of him was probably being so scornful because of her current condition, and not his current location. it wasn't like she'd feel any better if he really was miles away. although what he wouldn't give to be a few hundred miles away in somewhere sunny. jamaica sounded nice. if only. he had to remind himself that him being gone wouldn't solve any of their problems and so his stubborn self might as well stay right where he was and try and make her feel a bit better at very least. he was willing to bet that being in jamaica would make her feel a lot better. who couldn't be happy in somewhere that infectious? and infectious as in mood, not disease.

josh made a face, like he was carefully thinking over this proposition. "sure"[/color] he said simply, with a shrug. he could shut up if he wanted to, and if it meant he got the gossip on jaslene and what was making her tick, more the better. it'd be better to hear about her life than contemplate his own at the moment. marriage. fuck. he knew he'd said something wrong by the tone of his voice. "my parents are dalton's, obviously, they know what's going on in the magical world, they have friends everywhere. if something goes on, they know about it."[/color] he said with a shrug. "sorry if that annoys you"[/color] he said, sighing. "is that your issue? seems like there might be something else on your mind as well"[/color] josh suggested, wondering what else she'd been thinking about. he was willing to bet that it was very different from what he'd been thinking about. marriage. ugh, it was a lifetime commitment and there was very little chance of him getting out of this. he just hoped that she was pretty to look at and tolerable to talk to. though the chances of him being allocated a wife who met those two simple specifications was highly unlikely. she was probably the most ugly and intolerable person on the planet. "ok, ok, no pity i swear. you can pity me if you want, guess who's being thrown into an arranged marriage at seventeen?"[/color] he offered, trying to calm her down a bit. he was most self sacrificing.[/div]

OPEN THREAD. WEARING THIS. 676 WORDS. ONE THING BY 1DIRECTION.

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[jaslene guinevere malfoy]

Given that she wasn't an unintelligent girl, perhaps quite the opposite, if you had the knowledge of her potential sorting during the first year ceremony, she wasn't falling under the delusion that this was going her way. Her plan, whatever that was - she wasn't even sure of it herself, wasn't working. Either that or she was dealing with someone who was considerably more stubborn in personality than he might appear, a thought that wasn't overly comforting due to it meaning that he wasn't giving up as easily as she would have liked. She was mixed-up in her head now, unable to work out exactly whether she wanted someone to blame, to yell at, even if the problems she was experiencing were nothing to do with him and he wasn't the right person to be attributing blame to. But part of her was still crying inside, although she'd temporarily managed to stop herself imitating this on the outward appearance also, wiping away another glistening tear in determination not to show this boy her inner feelings. But, if she wanted him to leave, which seemed the best of the options logically, she needed to update or change her strategy. But this appeared, again, to be impossible, considering that the obvious alternative was to be nice which would only encourage his presence - Jaslene hated being beaten by someone in stubbornness.

In total honesty, if the situation demanded it, she would have been forced to admit that it was not his individual presence that made her angry or emotional, it was the fact that someone else had seen her at her weakest point. Apart from her family and the exception of Chris, she'd never let anyone witness such a pathetic expression from herself before and to make it worse, she'd evidently been crying although she'd backed it up with some stupid excuse. She turned her face to meet his eyes again, unable to speak for a few moments, as though convincing herself that she would not break down in such a visible way again or let him treat her as though she needed looking after. "I'd be entirely happy to give you directions, I'll draw you a map if you wish." Yet another sharp comment, but one that she still wasn't sure as to whether it was supposed to intrigue him to fight back or to give into her ridiculous snappy behaviour and walk away. She might have been hoping for both in that utterly confused state. Finally, she seemed to be unable to hold back what she wanted to add for those last few moments and spoke once more, avoiding his direct gaze, "I don't think anyone likes him much." Of course, her reasons for severely disliking the new member of staff were far more personal than the boy's probably were.

She pulled the towel further around her, as though this item was providing her with both the comfort and warmth that she needed in this horrible hour, as she considered her offer being accepted by the intruder. Was that an appropriate name for him? "You're going to stop talking?" she repeated, a small smirk crawling onto her face in amusement, as though stating through her body language that it was an impossible task for him. Jas, still evidently amused by this statement as though he'd told a joke, leaned in towards him, whispering so that he could only just hear. "No offence, Dalton, but I don't think you'll manage it." She rolled her eyes, before realising the proximity of their bodies and pulling away towards the spot she'd sat in before, as though nothing had happened and she hadn't been tempted to tease him in such a way. Having now recomposed herself suitably, she glanced at a small rock beside her feet, his words hitting her suddenly, as though alarmed by what she heard. Immediately she found herself looking at his face again, although already wishing she had the ability to keep better self-control during her emotional periods, frowning for a second. "What?" she asked, even though she was certain she had heard exactly what he had reported to her. She waited, impatiently, although she knew that at this moment she would never be able to give him chance to answer first.

Still frowning as evidently in confusion, she spoke once more. "You're getting married?" she repeated, although there was now no doubt in her mind that she had heard exactly what she imagined herself to have done. "Why?" she demanded instantly, hardly giving any time to interrupt her strange line of thought, as she found herself considering horrible coincidences that were far from the things that she should have been giving time to considering, things that were almost certainly twenty times more important than some stubborn Slytherin boy getting married.

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[joshua andrew dalton]

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now i'm climbing the walls
BUT YOU DON'T NOTICE AT ALL THAT I'M GOING OUT OF MY MIND.

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To be completely honest, Joshua Dalton had absolutely no idea where this whole thing was going. But hey, it had to be going somewhere, and Josh was willing to stick it out until the end of the ride, and find out where it all ended up. In this case, the ride was the convorsation, and he had a partner on this ride. In the spirit of being completely honest, his companion for this little journey wasn't too bad, although he wasn't sure that he could actually say that out loud. His pride would withstand anything, even if all hell broke lose he would still put his pride above everything. Well, almost anything, his family came first of course, but once he knew that they were OK, he'd be as prideful as he wanted to. He was stubborn too, some things never changed, and that was one of the things about him that never did. That was another reason why he'd chosen to stay, pure stubborn-ness. He'd battled to stay here, even though he had no idea why. Maybe it was because she was so determined for him to get lost, that he was so determined to stay. That sounded about right actually. The very reason he was here, was because she wanted him gone so badly, he kind of wanted to know why. They'd never really chatted before tonight and he didn't actually think that this was going to badly. Was it bad that they were getting on so well? (well meaning that they hadn't yet encountered awkward silence, and that was always a good sign.) It was kind of weird, actually, like he didn't have to try to get on with her, it was happening even if he didn't want it to. Although for some reason, he did want it to.

His mind was so twisted. But she was acting weird too. He'd just found out that he was being forced to marry someone that he didn't love. Heck, Josh wasn't sure whether love existed, or after all he'd been through with his parents being forced into being married, whether or not love was something that he would get to feel. How can you feel something that you've never seen in action? All he'd seen of love was what had been in movies. He'd never met anyone who could really claim to be in love, and to be fair that was probably because most pure blooded families cared for breeding purposes over love, and so how were they supposed to give love a chance? Josh could understand his parents ideas of getting him married, but it didn't quite match up with the ideas that he'd had about how he'd spend his life. He hadn't thought much about it, but he'd never envisioned spending it next to someone that he couldn't love. Someone that didn't love him. He didn't know how he was supposed to survive with someone who didn't make him happy. He wasn't a prize horse and if he had any children, they wouldn't be with someone that his parents chose. Like he'd give them the satisfaction of having the perfectly bred grandchild. Ha! They were dreaming if they thought he was going to sit there and take this without trying to fight it. "You, wait, you know how to use a pen? And how to draw acurate directions? Well, this is a surprise, I never knew that your education was this advanced. Well done you!"

[/color] Joshua said sarcastically, unable to stop himself from smiling. "Hm. Unsurprising, he's got this weird... I don't know, can't explain it. Anyway, moving on"[/color] Joshua said, thinking about the uneasy feeling he got around Mr Styx.

"are you cold?"[/color] Joshua asked, already shrugging off his jacket. He didn't know why, but it was a habit. If any of his sisters needed it, he would always offer them his jacket. He'd rather he be cold than them. Maybe it was 'cause she was a girl, and it would be wrong to leave a girl shuddering when he was snug and warm. Even if it was a girl that he supposedly didn't like very much. "Oh yeah..."{/b] He stated, sounding unsure. "Please, I can shut up if I want to. Ok, so it might just happen that I don't really want to right now.."[/color] he stated, frowning. He could be quiet if he wanted. He was often quiet when he was asleep, for instance. And then his words hit her, and it was actually visible on her face. She obviously couldn't understand it either. Yeah, she, it didn't make sense to anyone! He sighed as she repeated it, thanking her silently and sarcastically for the reminder. "Yeah, well it seems to be that way"[/color] he answered, running his hands through his hair. He raised his eyebrows at her when she asked why. It was a valid question, but at his age he doubted that she thought it was for love. Especially seeing as he hadn't been mooning over anyone to her.
"well I thought it'd be an interesting life experience."[/color] He commented sarcastically. "My parents arranged it. Hell, I don't even know who my wife to be is yet, although I heard a rumour I was supposed to find out today, so if you see my owl, let me know so that I can run away screaming"{/b] he explained. He wished he could run away from it.[/div]

OPEN THREAD. WEARING THIS. 904 WORDS. ONE THING BY 1DIRECTION.

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