r o s e s (bella/open)

[gooddontalwayswin]

Bella shrugged slightly; she wouldn't go inside unless James wanted to as well. "It's fine until it starts pouring," Bella replied. She adjusted her cloak slightly and then continued walking, even beginning to enjoy the slight sprinkling of rain they had at the moment. Bella knew it would soon be raining harder, but at the moment is was rather nice, enjoyable even.

[mrpotter]

James only nodded, not finding it necessary to say anything at the moment. He allowed his mind to go blissfully blank once more, to just enjoy the feeling of the currently gentle rain against his skin- even if it made for wet, heavy robes. James never minded, in fact he even sometimes looked forward to the time that he spent outdoors in unfavourable weather. Suddenly feeling the need for conversation, he decided to speak up. "Ready for the match against Hufflepuff?" asked James, reverting to his usual go-to topic of Quidditch.

[gooddontalwayswin]

A smile came across Bella's face at the mention of Quidditch. It was one of the few topics around Hogwarts that wasn't completely depressing. And also the only thing Bella ever looked forward to. "Definitely," she replied to James' comment. "I think it'll be a good match. As far as the chasers go, I think we're pretty evenly matched." Bella thought overall that the teams were very evenly matched; the Hufflepuff captains had put together a good team that year, as had the Slytherin captains. Bella just hoped that it was James who caught the snitch instead of Julie Johnson; that would be sure to secure the victory.

[mrpotter]

James smiled a bit, although it might have come across as more of a smirk to less observant people. That was the closest he had gotten to a smile in months. "We've got our work cut out for us, though," said James, "Hufflepuff has the best team they've had in a long time." James knew that Hufflepuff was infamous for not having much glory, he had been fairly surprised by their team that year.

[gooddontalwayswin]

"Yes, for sure," Bella replied with a nod. Hufflepuff was typically known for being the misfit house, with all the extras just put there when they didn't fit in with the other three. But Bella had been quite impressed with their Quidditch team this year, they had performed very well in their first match and Bella expected no less out of the second one. "Hopefully we'll play well, though," she commented. "If that happens, at least it will be a good match."

[mrpotter]

James smiled a bit, it was more like the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, but the intention behind it was the same. He figured that they would at least do well, their chasers were great, he had a feeling it would be a high-scoring match. It was the Hufflepuff seeker he was most concerned about- Johnson was tiny, but that made her faster. "There's no doubt it'll be a good match, it just won't be an easy victory," said James.

[gooddontalwayswin]

"Definitely not," Bella replied with a nod. She was most interested in seeing how the two seekers matched up. The Hufflepuff seeker had been very impressive so far, as had James. Bella had a feeling the match would depend upon who caught the snitch first. The chasers were evenly matched, so she figured the score would be near tied when a seeker caught the snitch. Bella hoped it would be James, then they would secure the victory.

[mrpotter]

James only nodded, but felt that he had nothing left to contribute. Personally, he was grateful for Quidditch, especially that they had made it into the finals that year- it gave the captain an excuse to schedule extra practices. James found that the more active he kept the more likely he was to have better sleep, although he had not been bothered by nightmares in a long time.

[gooddontalwayswin]

Bella fell silent again, looking around at the flowers as the rain started to fall a bit more steadily. She didn't mind it at the moment, seeing as she wasn't soaked just yet. "I can't believe this term is almost over," she commented, looking up at the sky for a moment before glancing back at James. It seemed like this year in particular had flown by quickly. In the moments, it felt like an eternity, but looking back, Bella could scarcely believe that nine months ago they had just been starting their fourth years at Hogwarts.

[mrpotter]

"Yeah," James agreed, frowning a bit in thought. It seemed that as they got older, time seemed to pass more quickly. He could vividly remember when he was a child that when something was a week away it seemed like forever- but now each Sunday James reflected on how quickly the week had passed. Time was fickle, the harder they tried to cling, the faster it slid between their fingers. "Before we know it we'll be taking those exams," said James, referring of course to the dreaded OWL exams.

[gooddontalwayswin]

Bella mentally shuddered at the mere mention of OWL exams. She had been dreading them ever since the first time Isaac had brought them up. They sounded like nothing less than a torturous way to decide a person's future. Personally Bella thought they were a bit stupid, but she would study hard for them nonetheless. "Yes, just next year," Bella said with a slight groan. "I'm certainly not looking forward to that."

[mrpotter]

"But at least they'll be done and over with," said James, frowning a bit to himself. He had heard that NEWTs were pretty bad too, but probably nowhere near the stress of the OWL. James was just concerned he'd end up being one of the students that didn't score high enough in any subject to continue it. That was a frightening thought, but James figured he shouldn't worry so much.

[gooddontalwayswin]

"I suppose," Bella said with a sigh. Talking about OWLs freaked her out a bit- she had always been a bit concerned that she would fail exams. "But we still have a whole year to worry about them, which is never fun," she added, frowning a bit. She had heard that fifth year was brutal. As if the stress of pending exams wasn't enough, the teachers also piled on loads of homework. Bella was absolutely dreading next year.

[mrpotter]

James shrugged, he supposed that the stress of fifth year was going to be better than the previous summer, or even the rest of this entire term. It had been a rough year for James, but he wasn't sure how it was going to get better. But he knew that the darkest part of the night was just before the dawn- things were most likely going to get worse before they got better. "We'll just have to get through it, I guess," said James.

[gooddontalwayswin]

Bella nodded, shrugging slightly at this. "I guess it can't really be too bad," she said, making a slight face. While she was not looking forward to OWLs, she doubted it could get much worse than running with the Death Eaters, petrified that Isabelle was going to make her kill someone. That was one of Bella's greatest fears. She wanted out of the whole Death Eater deal, but there was no backing away from Isabelle, not at this point.