``another m o r n i n g |Zelphar/open|

[violethorses]

It was a little early for Azzurra, who was naturally a bit of an early-bird. It was a Saturday, so usually she would get up around eight, but today she had awoken at six-thirty and had not been able to get back to sleep. By seven, she was down in the Great Hall.

She ran a hand through her curly tresses and then sat at the Hufflepuff table, more out of habit than anything else. If one of her friends had been there, she would've sat with them, no matter their House, but there were only a couple of other people up and Azzurra didn't know them.

Azzurra ate slowly, just a little bit of eggs and toast. She was drinking a bit of juice when she heard the sounds of another early-bird coming down the stairs. Azzurra took a bite out of the middle of her toast before turning to look and see who was there. Smiling slightly, she waved at...

[squiggle]

Zelphar was feeling a bit overwhelmed recently, what with Emily's suicide and Safira being pregnant with a teacher's baby. True to his word, he had not told a soul, not even Blaize, though it was gnawing at him constantly. He smiled when he saw Azzurra, and slid into the seat across the table from her, regardless of the fact that it was the Hufflepuff table. "If it isn't the mighty witch of Az," said Zelphar, smiling a bit as he piled food onto his plate, "Hating being a fifth year yet?"

[violethorses]

Azzurra laughed a bit at the old joke, though her voice seemed a bit forced. Hopefully it was too early for Zelphar to notice. Azzurra knew that it was too early for her to try to act like nothing was wrong. "Not too much, actually," Azzurra replied. The homework was livable, though there was certainly much more than last year. "How's sixth year?" she asked.

[squiggle]

"A lot more intensive, but I've got a few more break periods to get homework done in." said Zelphar with a shrug. He started shoveling food down, he was really hungry. Sleeping all night was a long time to go without eating for him, and while Zelphar didn't like getting up early, his stomach usually woke him. There was a bit of a pause as he swallowed what was in his mouth before continuing. "We need to hang out more, I feel like I never see you anymore," Zelphar added.

[violethorses]

Azzurra nodded quickly, she definitely felt as though she hadn't seen Zelphar in a long time. She swallowed a bite of eggs before replying. "We should hang out more in the group commons or something," she commented. Last year she felt like she had seen Zelphar a lot more than she had this year, perhaps it was because he was now taking NEWT classes, while Azzurra was still preparing for OWLs.

[squiggle]

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy, though," said Zelphar, and it was the truth. As he had only dropped one class, he was one of the few sixth years with an almost full schedule, most of his peers had dropped several. But alchemy was a tricky thing, he needed training in many subjects, and was starting to regret having not elected to take arithmancy, it would be useful. But on the same hand so were divination and ancient runes. Zelphar was also working more hours at Zonko's, and that on top of Quidditch...

[violethorses]

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Azzurra replied. She had a full schedule and was finding it difficult to keep up with being both Quidditch captain and a prefect. Hopefully things would get easier with time, but Azzurra felt like right now she was slacking off a bit at work just because she was so tired. Time with friends usually cheered her up, though.

[squiggle]

Zelphar supposed he could easily quit his job at Zonko's, as he no longer had to worry about getting an apartment at eighteen, because he had the apprenticeship with the alchemist after graduation, and he would be providing a place for him to stay. Plus his mother had already told him that he didn't have to move out until he was good and ready. She was a kind woman, he felt they were bonding well, but Zelphar could really only look on her as a friend or a sister, she just didn't feel like his mother. Having no idea what to say, Zelphar returned to eating.

[violethorses]

Azzurra took another bite of her eggs, chewing slowly, before starting up more conversation. "How was moving in with your mom?" she asked this time. They had never really had the chance to talk about it before, but Azzurra had been curious as to how her best friend had been getting along in a foreign country with a mother he was meeting for the first time.

[squiggle]

"Not too bad, I suppose," said Zelphar, "she's a nice person, though it's hard to think of her as my mother." Living in the heart of Dublin had also been a change over the quite town of Swansea, not just because he had gone from Wales to Ireland, but from a small town to a bustling city. Zelphar couldn't help but feel out-of-place, he could only hope that the awkwardness would go away over time.

[violethorses]

Azzurra nodded. She couldn't really imagine what it must be like for Zelphar to think his parents had abandoned him for so long and to suddenly have his mom come back for him. It had to be weird. "Yeah, you're just now getting to know her," Azzurra commented. Azzurra thought it would be rather odd to just meet her mother as a sixteen year-old.

[squiggle]

"It's sort of strange, it's like the word "mum" doesn't want to come out of my mouth around her, you know?" said Zelphar, pushing his food around on his plate, his appetite suddenly almost nonexistent. "Maybe because she's so young, and unmarried," Zelphar then returned to his food in spite of no longer being terribly hungry. He knew that if he didn't stuff his face now he would be starving during his second class of the day.

[violethorses]

Azzurra nodded, swallowing the bite of toast that she had just taken. She wasn't too terribly hungry, but she didn't want people to think she wasn't eating, so Azzurra would eat a little bit more. "It has to be weird," she said, agreeing with her friend. She smiled slightly at the sight of Zelphar eating at an alarming pace; he was always so hungry.

[squiggle]

Zelphar, having no idea what to say, allowed the silence to wash over them as he cleaned his plate. He then looked back at Azzurra, he could tell just by a glance that not everything was right in her world, but she seemed to be holding herself together. At least better than Emily had. Zelphar's throat tightened at the mere thought of his deceased friend. "She would love to meet you, perhaps we could arrange a visit sometime during the winter holiday, unless your family is planning a trip." said Zelphar.

[violethorses]

Azzurra swallowed her juice before nodding in reply. "I doubt we're going anywhere for the holidays," she replied. "I just can't go anywhere on Christmas Eve or Christmas." Usually Azzurra's parents didn't have a problem with her visiting friends during the holidays, except for those two days, not that she did so often. Azzurra knew that her sisters would probably be a bit jealous if she went to Dublin, though.