I'd Have Never Been Aware

[bella]

{{Present; Andy/Sera; 6th Year (So the Trio's 7th, I believe, if they'd attended it)}}

Andy Kirke was most certainly not cutting Potions for the third time this month, and he had no idea why someone would think that.

Except for the fact that, y'know, he totally was.

The sixteen year old boy slipped down a side passage, making his way up the stairs from just outside the Potions classroom. He'd yet to figure out why he'd even bothered signing up for NEWT level Potions, aside from the fact that he wanted to be an Auror. It was even more unbearable now that Snape had proclaimed himself Headmaster. The new teacher was horrible, and there was no way he'd pass the class anyway, especially because the teacher knew his potential career of choice. The school was going to hell in a handbag, or whatever that saying of his grandmother's was.

Andy took a few more turns, and emerged in his favorite refuge. This old abandoned corrider wasn't used for anything at all anymore, as far as Andy could tell. From the few doors he'd taken the time to peek into, there had once been a couple classes, a bathroom, and a broom closet in this hall. However, Andy couldn't even seem to find another entrance into the place other than the hidden passage behind an old tapestry of some troll war that he'd taken to get here.

He didn't know of many people who knew that this corridor even existed, it was that long unused. If not for the house-elves, the whole place would probably be covered in dust. Andy preferred coming here, as it was always quiet and empty. Plus, the dimly lit atmosphere was a good thing in his eyes. In the library he'd be stalked constantly by Madam Pince, asking why he wasn't in class, the Common Room was always too loud, and it was too cold to venture out onto the grounds this time of year.

So, Andy setled down, leaning against the wall with a sigh. Yes, he would be bored...but at least he wasn't in Potions.

[Tessie]

Sera never skipped classes. It just wasn't in her nature. It wasn't so much the principle of it that had prevented her ever missing one before - more the fear of getting caught. Yet, this year, so many more important things were taking place in the wizarding world (not to mention in Hogwarts itself) that Sera found a lot of her old rules going out the window.

A lot of people may find the idea of skiving just to read a book ridiculous, but if so they had obviously never read Pride and Prejudice, Sera's all time favourite book. She'd already spent a pleasurable free period immersed in the pages that Jane Austen had written so many years ago and when the bell rang, Sera found herself so emotionally involved in the novel that she knew it would be impossible for her to concentrate on anything else until it was finished.

Worried that staying in the library so long may seem suspicious, she decided instead to return to one of her favourite hiding spots - the abandoned corridor. It had been several months since Sera had last visited the place she liked to think of as her own private sanctuary, mostly because the punishments for getting caught in these kinds of out of bounds areas had recently become so severe, yet today she was wiling to risk it.

Using her cloak as a blanket from the dust, Sera settled herself in one corner, near enough a window to provide light but tucked away so that should anyone come round the corner they were unlikely to see her. She had already read another ten pages when she heard footsteps making their way down the corridor; Sera pushed herself back against the wall, heart pounding. She'd never gotten in trouble like this before, she'd never broken the rules. How could it be fair that the first time she ever tried to be adventurous like this she got caught when her brother had done it hundreds of times with no consequences?

The sound of someone sighing caught her attention and, peering round with large, dark eyes, she spotted Andy Kirke leaning against the wall. "Holy Merlin, Andy!" she giggled, unable to disguise her relief. "You scared the living hell out of me!"