look at the stars (riley)

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The sun had only just set, but Phoebe had already made her way to the astronomy tower. While she didn't have any homework to do in that class at the moment, she loved to just look at the sky and admire the stars. It might sound odd, but she always felt more connected to her mother when she was gazing at the night sky. The silence made it easier for her to remember her mother and the times they had spent together, although she usually ended up thinking about how much she hated Muggles at some point too. And then she would start to ponder how strange it was that love could cause hate or something important like that. Of course, Phoebe never let on any of this to her friends. If they knew half of the things about her she never let on, her reputation would be shattered, and she definitely could not have that.

Only a few minutes after she had situated herself in the tower, resting her chin in her hands as she leaned on the balcony railing and stared -- literally -- into space, someone else had entered the tower and caught her attention. She recognized him as Riley Fudge, a Ravenclaw boy who was a year ahead of her. While she very much would have liked to tell him to get out of her tower, she instead put on her classic smile that she had perfected after all the years. "Hey, Riley," she greeted cheerfully. "What brings you up here?"

@riley

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Riley found himself sitting alone in the library late into the night. He wasn’t working on school work, he was reading a book about nonverbal communication that he found buried in the back of a section of muggle books. His parents would probably be furious if they caught him reading a muggle book, but he found that not many wizards wrote about this sort of thing. Not many wizards cared about the inner workings of the human body and the complexity of the brain. Riley had found it fascinating since he was a child.

Riley Fudge packed his bag back up, including the book and headed from the libaray towards the towers, but he walked right past the Ravenclaw common room on the way, instead, he turned and headed for the astronomy tower, as late as it was, he found himself desprite for some fresh air and drawn to the tower with the best view of the night sky that Hogwarts had to offer. He climbed the stairs and entered through the door. He was a little surprised to find that he wasn’t alone, another Ravenclaw a year younger than him was already soaking in the view. “Barnett.” he greeted her with a nod. “I just came searing from some fresh air.” he insisted, walking over to the railing of the tower and looked up, taking a deep breath in. He knew he had walked in on someone who had expected to be alone, but those were the most interesting interactions, there was obviously something on her mind.

@phoebe

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Riley greeted her with her last name, which she found a little rude, but she tried not to show it. "Fudge," she joked with a smile that did not reach her eyes as he walked over to the balcony. She was annoyed that he didn't leave when he saw someone else already in the tower, but she couldn't exactly claim the astronomy tower for herself. "Are you really related to that old Minister of Magic, Cornelius?" she asked. Her voice was casual enough, but she looked away from him and back up to the sky when she spoke. What she really wanted to know was if he had any family connections to Ministry employees. If so, she would have to make a mental note to self to stay on his good side.

@riley

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Greeting people by their sir name wasn't always a sign of disrespect, to Riley, it just signalized that he didn't know her well enough to want to use her first name in casual conversation, getting on a first name basis with someone showed a great amount of interest in the person and that a personal relationship/friendship was forming. He knew Phoebe, that was true, but they had rarely spoken more than was necessary to coexist in the common spaces. She said his last name also, after having said his first name previously, slightly overcompensating and trying to match him, that was obvious and he gave a silent smirk at the sound of his name coming through her lips for the second time. She asked if he was really related to the old Minister and he nodded, "Yeah, that would be my great-grandfather." he told her with a nod. "Why?" he asked glancing at her through the corner of his eye. "Impressed?" He teased. If Riley had anything going for him, it was his impeccable breeding. He was all pure-blood and the product of generations of arranged marriages, a situation in which he may one day find himself.

@phoebe

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Great-grandfather, huh? Phoebe would keep that in mind. "Just curious," she responded when he had inquired to the reason why she had asked, although that wasn't really the truth. She crossed her arms that were resting on the balcony edge without noticing it and didn't bother to keep eye contact. When he suggested that Phoebe was impressed at his heritage, she laughed. "You wish," she said. While she believed in the blood purist movement, she actually didn't care much when it came to blood purity as long as you weren't Muggleborn. That was Phoebe for you, though, with beliefs always contradicting each other. She decided not to push the topic any further, at least not at the moment, so as not to raise any suspicion from Riley.

"You take Astronomy, right?" she asked, changing the topic but looking up at the stars again to make sure the conversation shift seemed natural. "I heard one of the professors say you're a great student, because you like to learn so much. I don't really know why they would expect anything different from a Ravenclaw, though." She kept her tone casual to hide the fact that she had made the entire professor situation up. She was trying to be on good terms with Riley, and she had learned that flattery was an easy way to get someone to like you.

@riley

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Riley didn't mind anyone asking about his family line, it was impressive. And if his parents had their way, it would remain impressive with an arranged marriage to someone whom the family deemed worthy and of an equally impressive blood line. Riley came from money, old money, and it needed to stay in the family, that was important. He had been told and lectured about this for as long as he could remember, if he was going to fall in love he at least needed to do it with the right girl otherwise they would decide for him. They might just decide for him anyway.

She asked if he took the subject and then went on to say that a professor called him a good student, he gave a scoff. "Yeah, I'm a fine student. As good as anyone who has pure blood parents looking over their shoulder is." he admitted with a shrug. "I may like to learn, but honestly, not a lot of these subjects interest me." he was good at magic, sure, but his interests lied outside of magical academics. Astronomy however was helpful to his interests since the position of the moon, planets and starts meant so much. He knew that she made the conversation up, he could tell in the tone of her voice, but he didn't hold it against her, sometimes it was easier to tell a little lie to lead to something bigger. "You're a Ravenclaw so should I then expect the same from you?" he asked.

@phoebe

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Phoebe didn't understand his scoff. Did he not believe her? She felt her face and hands become uncomfortably warm in an embarrassed way, the way they always did when she felt like someone could tell she was lying. To be fair, she had been a little obvious, but she could think of a few gullible students at Hogwarts who would have believed her story. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She was being overdramatic. It wasn't like she had just walked up and confessed her darkest secret or something.

She tried to look like she wasn't internally freaking out as he explained why he was an alright student. "What kind of things do interest you, then?" she asked him when he said he didn't find many of the school subjects at Hogwarts interesting. When he said he expected that she liked to learn because she was a Ravenclaw, she shrugged. "I guess so. I only do well when I bother to care," she admitted, although that wasn't much of a secret. "I like to think about the way things are connected in the world more than how many times you should stir a potion." She was being honest with him, for once, but only because she thought that would be the best way to make a friend of him.

@riley

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She asked him what kinds of things did interest him and he nodded, it was a fair questions, it seemed he was answering it a lot lately. "People. I study people. Why they do what they do, how they interact, what they really mean and thing despite what they say." he explained. "I've been teaching myself how to read people since I was 8." he added. To a fair few individuals, this scared them or lead them to think that Riley was creepy and not to be trusted, however, he felt like anyone who couldn't trust someone who was able to see their true selves wasn't someone that should be trusted anyway. If they wanted to hide something so badly he didn't want to be around them. He hated people who put on those fake personalities, at least when they weren't wiling to budge.

She explained that she was more interested in how her studies would effect the world than their exact purposes in magic and he couldn't blame her. It seemed like a very justified way to live and a great way to approach her studies. "That's admirable." he nodded.

@phoebe

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What people really mean despite what they say. The idea made Phoebe nervous to say the least. Her predicament might seem simple to other people; if she was so afraid of someone who knew that she was lying, she should just be honest. But it wasn't that simple for her. She didn't know how to act any other way than she did, and half the time she was lying to herself just as much as anyone else. She suddenly wanted to run out of the astronomy tower and never talk to Riley again, but she knew that would look suspicious. "Really? That's so interesting," she smiled at him, hiding her nerves particularly well in her opinion. She wanted to wipe the sweat off of her hands on her jeans, but she wasn't that stupid. When he said her opinion on school work was admirable, she nodded a little. "Thanks," she said, wondering what he already knew about her just from their last few minutes of conversation.

@riley

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Riley had figured out long ago that when people said that they thought his abilities were interesting, they often meant strange, weird, sometimes even creepy. And he didn't really blame them, if he hadn't been himself he might have though the same way. But people fascinated him. And even if he did find out that someone was lying or being fake, he rarely called them out unless they did something despicable. If they were being a bully or being unnecessarily mean, then he found it in his best interest to make them see that he was able to see through them. Otherwise, he knew best to let sleeping dragons lie. "It is pretty interesting." he nodded in agreement, knowing that it weirded her out. "So you asked me, but you never said yourself: what brings you up here on this lovely evening?" he asked. 

@phoebe

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Riley agreed his ability was pretty interesting, but Phoebe didn't understand his comment. Was that supposed to be a threat? He asked her what brought her up to the astronomy tower and she shrugged, still feeling full of anxiety. The real reason she came was because she missed her mother, but she would never tell Riley that. It wasn't any of his business and she doubted she could make herself say it out loud even if she wanted to. "Because the sky is pretty, I guess," she said, sure that her lie sounded quite obvious to him. She was debating in her head whether or not to come up with an excuse to leave, but couldn't manage to force any words out of her mouth.

@riley

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The sky was pretty. He nodded along with what she said. He knew she was lying, there was quite obviously something else she wasn't saying, but if that was how she wanted to portray herself, so be it. He did like to expose those who put on appearances, however, he liked to do so if they were using their facade as a way to bully or intimidate others or himself. She wasn't. She was already a different person than the person whom he approached a few minutes ago when he ascended the stairs to the astronomy tower. She had dropped a lot of the facade already and he was sure that she might relax a little bit more before either of them left. He could see that she wanted to leave, and he certainly wouldn't stop her; however, there was obviously a part of her that wanted to stay and that was why she was still here with her hands on the railing. "The sky is very pretty, I assume that's what made people interested in it and made them curious about the planets and stars." he nodded. "Humans are very curious creatures, aren't they? Not just curious, but also, just as perplexing and pretty as the sky. Vast and open, full of abnormalities and shifts..." he added to his comment, not hinting at anything in particular, but perhaps making her think.

@phoebe

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Phoebe took a deep breath, her eyes closed as she inhaled the cool night air. Just act like a normal person, not that difficult. She paused, not replying for a moment after Riley explained how people were just as complicated as the stars. She half thought that he was still trying to threaten her, even though anyone else could probably tell that he wasn't. However, she could tell he was trying to start a conversation and she decided it was best to play along if she wanted any chance to redeem herself. "I agree," she said finally. "People are so much more complicated than they look..." Like her. "Somehow they can think one thing one minute and something completely different the next." She felt that way a lot. "And then the people they hate become their biggest influences." She was just talking about herself at this point.

She shook her head, almost unnoticeably. Had she just admitted all of her flaws to someone she hardly knew? Then again, he probably knew all of that about her already, if he was really as talented at reading people as he made it sound like he was. "I'm sure you know all about that, though?" she asked, turning to look at him. "From your observations of society and everything." Perhaps, if she could get a few secrets out of him, this conversation would actually turn out be useful in the end.

@riley

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She agreed with him and went on to add a little more about the complications that went along with human life. He made several parallels, and knew from his studies that when people talked in hypotheticals, there was often at least some truth behind it. "Sometimes." he nodded his head in agreement. His parents were like that to him, not that he hated them, of course, but, he didn't want to be them and he hated their train of thought. However, they were indeed, like she had said, his biggest influences. He noticed her head twitch a bit, but that could mean a vast many things. She went on to assume that he had already noticed that with his previous observations. He shrugged. "No one is ever as black and white as they seem. It's much easier to look at the world in shades of grey." he suggested. "There's both sides in everyone, and everyone can choose which they want to show, which mask to put on."

@phoebe

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Riley claimed that it was easier to look at the world in shades of gray and Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know if it's easier, necessarily. It seems easier to me to just say someone is 'bad' or someone is 'good,'" she replied. Perhaps that was part of what her inner conflict grew from: her tendency to believe in extremes. "But maybe the easiest thing isn't always the right thing."

When Riley said that everyone could choose what side of themselves they wanted to show, Phoebe's interest had been caught. Was he referring to someone specific? "What do you mean?" she asked curiously, even though she knew perfectly well what he meant. She guessed Riley had much more information to offer.

@riley