Warming Up -- 31 October 2008 (DONE)

Ashley walked into the castle, and the immediate heat felt so very refreshing. She took off her woolly scarf and long cloak as she and Riley entered the Great Hall. She led him to the Gryffindor table, where she sat down, almost collapsing on the bench. The food before them looked tantalizing; she wanted some of everything -- like normal during the Halloween feast. She began filling her plate...

Riley took off his cloak, scarf, and gloves. He sat next to Ashley and started filling his plate. After a few minutes, he started getting a bit warm. He rolled up his long-sleeves a bit to cool off. A long, red, jagged line could be seen on his forearm.

Ashley watched Riley reveal his muscular arms. A bright red line -- a scar -- was visible; it looked jagged. "Ouch," she empathized. "That had to hurt."

Riley shrugged. "It looks worse than it felt ... though it did hurt, just not physically as much as mentally."

"Quite a philosopher, eh?" she asked with a grin. "I know what you mean, though. Mental pain creates far more anguish than any physical damage that may be done..."

Riley nodded. "Finally someone understands," he said. He then took another bite and chewed.

"Trust me," Ash said, "I understand more than you'd think about mental pain. I've lived through too much to not understand it."

She brought a forkful of meat to her mouth and chewed.

"So your life is officially screwed up as well?" he asked with a smile. He thought he knew the answer after the story of her father, but could never be sure.

"Officially," Ash confirmed. "So, what's the story behind that scar?"

Riley swallowed the food that he had been chewing. "Well ... this happened ... about a few months ago with my grandparents, who are just as bad as my parents, actually. Instead of taking it like I used to, I fought back. I ended up getting hurt worse than what I would have. And heaven forbid I got medical attention for it, either, for they would have to explain what happened."

"Well, I'd imagine that they'd have used Dark magic," Ashley added, "and Dark magic is difficult -- if not impossible -- to erase."

"Exactly," Riley said. "And this was bloody hard to stop the blood from gushing out of my arm ... but I'm not getting into that because I don't want to lose my appetite."

Ashley smiled warmly, understanding why Riley'd want to put as much of his past as possible behind him. "Well, I hope that everything works out for you in the end," she said. "As long as you don't let it get to you, I'm sure you'll do pretty well in this life." What was it with her? This was the least she's talked in ages... Riley was rubbing off onher... or maybe she just didn't talk as much because she was slightly nervous around him...

Riley smiled back, which was a rare thing for him to do. The only problem was, was that he was letting some of the things his family said get to him, and it wasn't good. But there were things he just let roll of his back and he hardly ever listened to what they said anymore, but when he did listen ... He turned back to his food and took another bite. He swallowed and looked at Ashley, thinking. "You're rather quiet tonight..."

Ashley shrugged. "Well... I'm not sure why that is," she replied, smiling slightly.

"It doesn't bother me any," Riley replied, smiling slightly.

"Of course it wouldn't, Mr. Silent," ashley replied, chuckling.

"But I wasn't Mr. Silent for the past... twenty minutes or so..." RIley countered lightly.

"That's true," Ashley replied. Then teh dessert disappeared and everyone started to head up to their dorms. "WEll... I guess that's our cue to leave."

"Well... that means you're going to party with your friends and I'm heading back tot he Tower," Riley said. "Bye."

"You're not coming?" Ash asked, disappointed.

Riley raised his eyebrows. "You rreally think I would?" he asked skeptically. "I'm going up to the Tower. Have fun."

"OK, then," Ash said. "I will. Good night," she added with a smile.

"Night," he replied, also with a smile. He went up to the Gryffindor Tower.