I prefer to be alone} Open

Angela sighed, having decided that she didn't want to spend her time in the Slytherin common room. There were so many people there, and none that she knew well enough to interact with. Some of those girls could be quite scary, too. So, she had snuck into her room, grabbed a book as well as a small flask of firewhiskey, and bolted. She didn't bother changing, her dress was rather comfortable after all. It hadn't been like that annoying evening gown she had worn on Christmas.

Slowly, Angela made her way to the second floor. She hid in the shadows, making sure not to get noticed by Filch or his scary cat. She would go to one of her favorite spots, the abandoned Girl's Lavatory. No one used it, really, so there no one was ever there. It gave her some peace of mind, gave her somewhere to breath... and read.

When Ange entered the bathroom, she was very glad to notice that it was exactly how she thought it would be... empty. She decided to settle along one of the walls by the large sink. She slid down until she was sitting on the floor and put the flask next to her - she may not be at the party, but there was no excuse for her not to have any alcohol. Ange opened her book, a novel written by some obscure witch that no one had ever heard of. Those were the kinds of books she liked.

Angela settled into her position, her short red hair falling around her as she leaned forward to read the black letters on the yellowing pages. Her knees were pulled so that her book rested against them and she lost herself in the novel.

How long had it been since she'd made the abandoned bathroom her haunt? Greta could hardly recall more than two times that she'd spent more than a few months within the girl's lavatory, which always seemed to be frequented by students when school was in session. After hours of contemplation over what room in the very large castle that she'd make her residence next, the ghost girl decided that she would visit the girl's bathroom. She knew that the students had just returned, and were in the process of having a New Year's Ball, and figured that it was still too soon for anyone to consider this room for a place to spend time.

However, as she floated between the stalls, going from one to another by passing through the thin walls that separated the toilets, she could heard distant footsteps coming this way. Had she not known any better, she'd have sworn her heart had started beating again and was racing in her ribcage, when she realized her assumption had been-- and excuse the pun-- dead wrong. With a start, she backed away, hiding herself within the shadows as the door to the bathroom was opened. In her panic, she couldn't think properly and remind herself that she could simply fly through the wall behind her and move on to another room, one that was more likely to not be disturbed. A person was within the same room as her, and it made her nervous.

A few minutes passed, in which the human had taken to settling against the wall across from the sinks, and Greta could feel her control slipping away. If something-- anything-- didn't happen soon, Greta was sure she'd wind up making objects fly off the walls, and possibly harm the person in the process. Her gaze had been averted, but as she begun to worry over the person's well-being, she became curious. What did the person look like? It had been nearly two years since her last conversation, and as horrible as she felt when admitting it, all of the faces of the past people she's spoken to were beginning to blur together, to the point where she could hardly remember who she had spoken to, and wouldn't be able to recognize them if she ran into them, again.

With that guilt suddenly refreshing itself in the very front of her mind, she peeked around the stall out of impulse, to have her eyes settle on a girl with a book. And then her eyes went wide, and she found herself flying up to her at an impossible speed, wanting to get a good look at her. But as soon as she did that, she regretted it, because she let out a small gasp as a small little relic resembling a trophy fell from the wall and crashed to the ground.

"S-Secret!" she yelped in surprise, then backed away by a good ten feet and hovering mid-air, looking alarmed and downright terrified as the trophy clattered and flew across the room, barely missing the girl's head as it flew right past her face and landed in one of the old porcelain sinks. That had definitely been a bad idea, but it was too late to fly away. She'd been noticed.

(( Hiya! I hope you don't mind me bringing Greta in. <3 Oh and, if you're confused as to why Angela's appearance caused Greta to have a small episode, it's because I always thought that Wendy and Alice looked very similar, so Greta's sort of seeing herself in Angela. I hope that makes sense. ^^ ))

Angela turned the page, her eyes never leaving the pages. She reached down and grabbed her flask, opening it to take a long sip. The burning liquid felt good running down her throat. The smallest trace of a smile was present on her face as she blindly put it back down on the floor. Her eyes glued to the aging pages.

Ange had an uneasy feeling and, finally, took her eyes off of the page to glance around the bathroom. She pursed her lips, seeing nothing that would make her feel as such, and returned herself back to her book. She reached up to tuck her hair behind her left ear when there was a sudden rush of cold air.

Angela's book went flying as she jumped from the sound of another's voice right next to her. Secret? but she barely had time to think about the word when a trophy barely missed her head and landed in one of the sinks. Angela's let out a yell, trying to get hide herself closer into the wall, as if she'd be able to disappear. "W-what?" Her voice cracked as she looked wildly around the room.

That was when she had seen her. It was a girl, a young girl perhaps around her age, but she was rather see through. Angela's heart stopped for a moment. She was staring at one of the Hogwarts ghosts... but why had the girl seemed so frightened and why exactly had she yelled secret?

"U-uhm," her voice seemed hoarse now and she had trouble finding it. "I-I'm sorry?" She questioned. She wasn't exactly sure what else to say. What did one say in this situation? She just stared, huddling against the wall with her book a good ways int front of her, lying half open on the floor.

[I don't mind at all. ^^ Ooh, I can definitely see that; they do look quite a like. :3]

Greta's eyes darted from the girl to the trophy that had nearly taken off her head-- or her nose at the very least. She was silent, brushing a blonde lock from her face that had gone astray due to her crazed flight-pattern, noticing that the trophy had chipped the ancient porcelain sink. Why had she allowed her curiosity to get the best of her, yet again? You'd think she would have learned her lesson, or been able to take her own advice that she had often told the younger students...

Suddenly the girl began to speak. With a tiny start, the ghost whipped her head back towards the girl she'd scared half to death, her own eyes still wide and scared, and she found herself backing away by another foot. She took in a breath, and it caught in her throat as she felt the effects of the spell weighing down on her, still, impairing her ability of speech, as it often did during her episodes. Her lips parted slightly, but she couldn't make much more than a slight choking sound when she tried to say anything. She'd have to find a way to calm down if she were to apologize and explain herself.

"Secret," she whispered, shaking her head after the girl shocked her with an apology. What did she have to be sorry for? She wasn't the one who caused things to fly off the wall a minute ago. She leaned forward, as if to fly towards her, but found herself hesitating, not moving much. Her eyes slid from the girl's, and fell upon the book she'd been reading before the incident. With a slight look of guilt, Greta flew the few feet of distance to the book, reaching down and picking it up with no problem.

Is this yours? she wanted to ask, but again, the words were stuck in her throat. She held the book by one side and gently shook the dirt from it, before dusting it off lightly with her hand. Then she paused, staring at the words on the currently open page. Before she knew it, she was sitting on the floor across from the girl-- whose name she still hadn't asked-- and was reading the book, finding that it was calming her a bit. It was an almost physical effect, as if with every word she read, her throat was less and less constricted, and her mental state was less shaky.

"S... S-Se... Sorry," she finally managed to get out, lifting her gaze to the girl's after a few minutes. She turned the book around and extended it to the girl, giving her a shy, apologetic expression. "Good book."

Angela watched the ghost girl closely and carefully. She wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do next, and that frightened her a tad bit. She pulled her knees close to her and hugged them, as if that would keep her safe from the somewhat crazy ghost who nearly decapitated her with a trophy.

Angela just watched as the girl made a somewhat choking noise, and Angela wondered if she could talk at all. Most ghosts could, couldn't they? Not that Angela met a lot of ghosts in her lifetime... she tried to avoid most of ghosts here at Hogwarts. It wasn't that she was afraid of them, just wary. Plus, they were still people (albeit dead people) and Ange often went out of her way to avoid people. Like she had tonight... in the bathroom... where she thought she'd be alone.

"Secret." There, she had said that again. What did it mean? Why did she say secret? What was a secret? Had she done something to set the girl off? She hoped not, that wouldn't sit well with her. She'd just feel guilty. Angela stayed silent as the girl reached down and to pick up her book; however, she ended up sitting across from Angela, reading it. Ange pursed her lips a bit, wondering what to do. This wasn't exactly a situation she had ever planned out in her head or anything.

That's when the girl said sorry. Angela bit her lip and nodded. "It's one of my favorites," Angela mumbled a bit, unsure of how to feel around the girl. "U-uhm..." she trailed off, relaxing her position a little bit. It didn't seem like she meant to cause her any harm... she had apologized anyway. "What's your name?" She asked softly.

(( I completely forgot about this. Dx Sorry! ))

The corner of Greta's lips curled up slightly as the girl stated that it was one of her favorites. She felt a little better, because she liked books like that, too. The ghost paused, noticing the girl had relaxed, but hadn't taken the book back, yet. Her arms retracted a bit, her hands holding the book carefully, almost as if it were a fragile child. This wasn't the direction she had figured her evening would go, but... she found it quite comforting, in a way. "Name...?" she repeated with a tilt of her head, giving a slight look of confusion. Not many people asked for her name, anymore. How unusual. But, she supposed, not unheard of. So she adjusted her position a bit, sitting straighter. "Greta," she finally answered, giving her a small, shy smile. "Yours?"

(( Sorry that it's so short. ;^; ))

[it's no problem~]

Angela blinked, merely observing the ghost before her. Greta? What an interesting name. She wondered, to herself, how long she had been a ghost here at Hogwarts. Angela was sure that she hadn't seen her much before... but she could be like her and hide from people. She could only imagine that there were many ghosts lurking in the corners of the school who would just rather stay unnoticed. There were students like that as well.

Angela was brought out of her thoughts when the young ghost asked her for her own name. Ange blinked for a moment. "A-Angela... I'm Angela," she said softly. Angela seemed to relax a little more, her breathing more steady. She wasn't frightened of Greta, though she'd admit when she had initially flown out at her, terrified was the word that came to mind.

Greta's eyes softened a bit at the new knowledge of the girl, of Angela. For a moment, the image faded, replaced by a rather gruesome one that she refused to even mentally acknowledge. Then it went away, and she was seeing the present, again. Good. She didn't want to be consumed with flashbacks like she usually was... not when she was getting to know this girl. Her face remained unchanged in that long moment, she refused to let her smile fade, lest she scare the girl off, again. Strange... she actually felt comfortable. The fear wasn't trying to pull her away from this Angela girl. Maybe that was a sign of a future friendship.

Realizing it had been silent for an amount of time that bordered on the awkward type, she leaned forward and held the book out to her, once more. "Can I borrow... when you're finished?" she asked in a nearly-complete sentence, setting the book as gently as possible into her hands.

Angela blinked slightly, taking the book that Greta had gently placed back into her hands. Her small fingers curled around it as she brought it close to her body slightly. She bit her lip for a moment. Greta wanted to borrow her book? Well, she didn't see much of a reason as to why not. Her lips parted slightly before she finally spoke. "U-uhm... sure..." she nodded slightly.

Angela couldn't help but notice Greta's lack of words. She hardly spoke in full sentences, only partially getting close to them. She wondered, silently to herself, why that was. She had met a few ghosts who could talk her ears off no matter how many times she told them to go away. Greta... she didn't seem like she wasn't trying to not speak much, just that she couldn't. It was a curious matter, but Angela decided to keep it to herself for the time being. No need to break out such a personal question at this point in time - or ever really. Who knew how often she'd see this ghost; this was her first time, afterall, seeing her in the five years that Angela had attended Hogwarts.

Greta's smile widened slightly. She was glad that Angela was going to trust her with that book, it meant she hadn't made as bad of an impression on her as she had initially thought. "Thank you," she softly said, brushing a bit of her bangs from her forehead as she scooted a bit closer to her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about this girl that made her feel... protective. And she'd never felt that way towards anyone, except for Ed. She furrowed her brows and looked out the window for a moment, then looked back to Angela.

"Nearby," she began, before pausing to attempt to word it correcrly. "I'll be... nearby, if you look," she stated, and by that, she meant that she'd be within reasonable distance if Angela ever needed to find her. She rose and turned towards the door, intending to leave so that the girl could go back to reading her book in peace.