In Any Other World {z,n,l}

[Zoey Abercrombie]

It had been a day to end all days. Firstly, Zoey had woken up to a morning of grey clouds and heavy rain, putting her in a foul mood considering she had Care of Magical Creatures first. She had headed down to the Great Hall to grab a few slices of toast, when she met Noah on the stairs. She stopped and smiled but in return Noah just continued up the stairs whistling a tune to himself. She sat in the Great Hall alone, as seemed to be the norm nowadays. Nobody seemed to want to talk to her anymore, Noah had left her, James had Lilah and Logan was too interested in Olivia to notice. She poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice, sipping it slowly as she caught sight of a group of gossiping girls look in her direction and then turn away quickly giggling loudly.

Why can't everyone just leave me alone? Ok so the most popular girl in school has fallen from grace seeing as though her nearly boy-friend has sided with a Malfoy of all people and James is now pretending I no longer exist. Sometimes I wonder if the world would be better off without me. I just can't do it anymore. I hate it. I hate being alone, ignored, hated. People don't understand me, they just believe the vicious rumours that circulate round the school, that I'm a heartless bitch. Well I'm not and the only people who used to stick up for me are now denying that I even exist. Maybe I can go and provoke Kianthra or Charlotte, that would get it over with quickly. Not Nikita though, she plays with her food too much. Mind you that would be a very public death. I'd prefer something where no one actually noticed, yes that would be best. I just can't do it anymore. I want to stop living a lie and kidding myself that I belong here. I obviously don't. Even the geekiest little first year has a best friend. I have no one. No one will even notice that I'm gone.

The girl had risen to her feet and had begun walking out of the Hall into the grounds. No one stopped to wave to her or smile, they all continued with their own business, as if she was invisible. Even her best friends denyed that she had just walked past them. Zoey had reached the side of the lake, and that's where she was sitting now. Zoey sighed as she looked at the ripples on the lake that had been caused by the drops of rain bouncing on its surface. She looked into the dark depths, peering over the edge. Dare I do it? I can't think of any other way, I don't want it any other way. I want all the pain to end, all the loss, all the jealousy, everything. I want nothingness. She looked around quickly, checking no one was watching before dropping her bag which contained her wand, and jumping into the lake.

She swam as far down as she could, waiting for the few moments which would indicate she was running out of air. The blackness came quickly, a dark blur on the edge of her vision. Black.

[Zane Lestrange]

Zane was sitting in the Great Hall, staring at a bowl of cereal which was sitting on the table in front of him. For once, he was alone. It seemed as though the others had not yet surfaced. James is either, not awake yet, or he's writing that essay for Duros. The one I've actually done. He'll be so disappointed that he won't get to bellow at me across the room. No doubt he'll find something esle to yell at me about, my hair colour, lack of organisation of ingredients, untidy work space, he'll think of something. But seriously, he needs to get a life, if the only thing he enjoys is telling me that I'm the worst potions student he has ever had the misfortune to teach. Rosie might be in the library. Ted will be in the common room somewhere sulking and Lily...well Lily could be anywhere. I haven't seen her yet though. He stared at the flakes of cereal, the different little star shapes which looked oddly deformed due to the amount of time they had spent floating in milk. He pushed the spoon around the bowl, fully aware of the fact that he wasn't going to eat any more of the oddly-shaped star cereal. He stood up and quietly walked out of the room.

Heading out into the grounds, he took a deep breath in, taking in all the fresh air which seemed exceedingly fresh due to the fact that there had been a thunder storm that very morning. He walked down to the Lake, not actually aware of where his feet were taking him. He paused by the Lakeside, to see a girl dive into the murky waters. Wow that's brave. No, let's rephrase that, crazy. The water must be cold, it's December foregoodness sake. Why would you want to go swimming in December anyway? She's left her wand and bag on the side, what on earth is she doing? Oh well best mind my own business... He bagan to walk away before pausing to look back over his shoulder, wait! She's not resurfaced yet, what if something has happened? Oh well there's only one way to find out, he ran back to where he had been standing a few minutes previously. He quickly took off his hoodie and his trainers before diving into the Lake.

It was cold, freezing in fact. Zane swam quickly trying to avoid any ounce of gold a he searched for the missing girl. There! Down behind that rock! He swam downwards quickly, checking to see if the girl was conscious. He took hold of her arm and began swimming to the surface as his last remaining guls of oxygen rapidly ran out. He broke the surface of the water, taking a deep breath as the plentiful Oxygen filled his lungs.

[Zoey Abercrombie]

The silence was bliss. Nothing to worry about. Just peace. No boys at all. No Noah Dale pretending as though she didn't exist. No Zane Lestrange turning her down for a pathetic fourth year boyfriend stealer. No James Potter acting as though she was invisible. Her thoughts weren't with her family, she hadn't even thought about them. They won't notice anyway...I always stay at school over the holidays. She drifted further down in the water, finally coming to rest behind a large rock. There the last bit of air had gone. She felt her lungs screaming for air, but she refused to give in to their request, happy in the knowledge that she would die a peaceful and inconspicuous death. Or perhaps not. She felt a sharp tugging on her arm, she tried to ignore it hoping that death would embrace her soon. And then she was moving, until she broke the surface of the water and her lungs took a deep breath full of air. What's happened? She opened her eyes to see one of the boys she had just been thinking about pulling her over to the side of the lake. The boy climbed out and offered her a hand, muttering something about it being a close call. A close call?!? I didn't want to be save you stupid boy. Why else would I have dived into the Lake and not resurfaced? I wanted to die. Why do you have to spite me in everything I do? She accepted the offered hand and he pulled her up out of the water. A mean smile crept across her face as she pretended to search for something. "My bracelet! I've lost it!" she said without a word of thanks to the irritatingly handsome boy who had just saved her life.

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[Zane Lestrange]

"That was close, we nearly lost you there," he said swimming to the side of the Lake. After helping the girl out of the water, he paused, trying to catch his breath and understand what the girl was saying, something about a bracelet. He straightened up giving the girl, who he recognised as Zoey Abercrombie, a look which read you can't be serious. "Maybe it's in your pocket," he suggested, watching as the girl frantically checked for the bracelet which had "been in the family for years". Oh well, looks like I'm going swimming again... He sighed and then dived back into the icy waters of the Lake. He swam deeper and deeper searching for the gold bracelet. It was difficult to see due to the murky colour of the water. He swam through forests of weeds, finally spotting the bracelet on a small rock. Zane took the bracelet in his hand, thankful that it hadn't taken long to find, seeing as though he was running out of breath. He turned and headed for the surface. Well he attempted to. Just as he pushed off from the rock, something grabbed onto his leg.

[Zoey Abercrombie]

"It's not in my pocket and it's been in the family for years. I can't believe I've lost it forever," Zoey said quietly, shedding a tear and looking into Zane's eyes. Going, going and he's gone She smiled as he dived into the water, content with the knowledge that her beloved bracelet would soon be returned to her. She sat down on the grass and waited for the handsome boy to emerge with her bracelet in his hand. The seconds ticked by, still no sign. Where is he? Surely it doesn't take this long to retrieve a bracelet. She stood up and walked to the edge waiting for the reappearance of the boy.

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[Zane Lestrange]

Zane looked down, trying to see what had grabbed his leg. It was a sort of green thing, that was slimy and had very large eyes. No sooner had he spotted it, another one appeared and another and another. He reached for his pocket, before remembering that the wand was in his hoodie pocket. He opened his mouth to shout out and it filled with water. He thought of Nikita, hoping that she would be ok and that she wouldn't feel the effects of him swallowing water. He eyes began to close, the light of the surface seeming to fade away until it was the size of a muggle postage stamp, as the grindelows dragged him down.

[Nikita Snape]

A pair of pale, haunted eyes looked up at the sky, which had dark clouds scattered in several random places. It had been rather dull day today, considering the light storm that had taken place those hours before. No, Nikita didn't mind this type of weather, she actually loved it to death. She hated the warm weather, and especially when the sun was shining down, brightly.

Pulling her long black hair up in a tight pony tail, Nikita began to walk towards the Black Lake. She brushed a hand across her forehead absentmindedly, but then suddenly fell to her knees, aghast. Her lungs seemed to close under her chest, and she automatically knew what was up. Her thoughts whirled, and her breathing was caught in low gasps as she fought to breathe, which frankly, was extremely hard to fight for.

Before she could even clear out her own thoughts, she began to think words, which she knew Zane would receive through his own mind. She loved the fact that they could 'talk' to each other through their minds if they needed to help save each other's lives. 'ZANE! Where are you?!' But just as she asked it, she saw the flash of Zane writhing around under the dark depth of the Black Lake. She noticed the grindelows first, and she forced herself to kick towards it, as if she was under the surface of the water instead of Zane.

Nikita gasped, a happy surprised gasp, and her face lifted up in a smile as she watched Zane's foot kick one grindelow in the face, knocking him back several feet. Quickly, Nikita withdrew her wand from her pocket, thinking the spell as quickly, and confidently as she could. 'Flipendo!' Just as soon as she thought it, a grindelow flew back wards, and she used the spell for each one of the grindelows. As soon as they all released Zane's body, she jumped up, aware of her her lungs aching for air.

Running towards the Black Lake, Nikita dived into the depth of the Lake. She swam down, the edges of her vision turning black, with unconsciousness. But her hand found Zane's arm, and she pulled his body up slowly, but as quickly as she could manage. Just like that, Nikita's head surfaced as she gasped, taking in a deep breath of the wonderful H2O. She felt as if she could just sleep forever as she began to swim towards the land.

[Zane Lestrange]

So quiet. So still. Even those green slimy things have gone. Just floating here, drifting peacefully. There's the surface. But it's too far away. I can't reach that. Too much effort. Not enough energy. Even thinking about it tires me out. That's a big fish. It has a human face. Weird. And so the last breath of air ran out, Zane's eyes closed, ready to accept the darkness that had now taken over his vision. Unaware of everything. Unaware of Nikita's rescue attempt. His body followed Nikita's up to the surface. But unlike the Slytherin, he did not take a huge gulp of air. He lay atop the water, seemingly lifeless, the only movement being caused my the ripples running through his hair. He had come close to death before. But it seemed as though his luck had finally run out.

[Nikita Snape]

Pulling Zane's body along with hers, his unconscious body seemed lifeless. Although, Nikita knew for a fact that he wasn't dead. Mostly because, she, herself, wasn't dead, and he couldn't die without her dying along side of him. So, Nikita heaved Zane's body onto the cold ground, and she shook uncontrollably. She didn't check for a pulse, she just went right to heaving on his chest. Nothing came up though, no water... nothing of the sort. Instead of continuing, she bent down, prepared to do mouth to mouth resipitation.

Feeling Zane's dead lips upon hers, she began to breathe into him. This continued on for quite a while, until she began to feel Zane's chest rumble underneath her body. She pulled away, watching as he bent over, 'puking' up water. Nikita layed back down, her head aching from everything she had encountered earlier that day. Finally, she took notice of Zoey Abercrombie. "Uhm... may I ask what you're doing here, Abercrombie?"

[Lily Potter]

Such a long night. A night spent in the Hospital Wing from puking her guts up the previous day. Blah, a sick, long night! It had ended though, and the sun had come up just as Madame Pomfrey had promised. She had returned to the Gryffindor Common Room to run to her room and change. Her sickly clothes smelled of puke and other foul smells. No doubt that she needed a change of clothes. She had bathed rather quickly before slipping the soft, comfortable clothes on her body. She pulled her wet hair up into a ponytail and headed to the Great Hall.

Lily entered the warm room with a smile planted on her lips. It would be a great down. It had rained, meaning that the day would mostly be spent indoors snuggled up with Zane by the fire. Sighing, she grabbed a piece of toast. She had glimpsed Zane, or she thought it was Zane, exiting the building. She wondered what he was up too since it was murky out of doors. Taking a small nibble of toast, she stood again, this time exiting the warmth for a cold adventure.

Walking down the slippery grass, Lily made sure she watched her footing at all times, every now and again, stealing glances at the lake of Forest. She noticed a drenched girl standing by the waters edge. "Strange..." she whispered, picking up the pace as she saw a familiar figure burst through the surface. Why is Nikita in the water? Who is that wi- It can't be Zane. On no! she thought, her toast falling from her hand as she began to sprint toward the two who had just left the water. She watched as Nikita bent over Zane's lifeless body, breathing for him. Normally, it would have pissed Lily off, to see someone helping her boyfriend out in that way, but she was saving him.

Lily arrived at his side just as the water had finished pouring from his mouth. She looked at him with worry as she stroked his wet hair. "Zaney... Are you ok? You look awful. Why were you in the water in the first place?" she whispered, kissing his cheek softly as she spoke. She looked back at Nikita, sending her a grateful smile as she heard her words. "Zoey...? Oh hell." she whispered again, looking back at Zane. "I'm just glad your ok. Your such a good person." she whispered, kissing him again. "Thank you so much Nikita. I don't know how to repay you." she said, looking at Nikita again.

[Zane Lestrange]

He took a deep breath, his lungs filling with air. His eyes remained closed, as he felt the lake water trying to escape. He sat up quickly, just in time as he puked up the excess water. He began coughing, his body trying to get the water off his lungs as quickly as possible. He heard Lily speak softly and kiss him softly on the cheek. He kept his eyes closed, choosing not to speak but to instead just hold out his hand, in answer to Lily's question. In his hand was Zoey's gold bracelet.

[Zoey Abercrombie]

She smiled as the Snape girl reappeared with Zane in tow. Although, he didn't seem to be breathing. A minor side effect she hadn't foreseen in her plan. Of course the Snape girl and Zane didn't need to know that. She turned as Nikita asked her a question, "I might ask you exactly the same question. And why are you so concerned? I thought you didn't care?" She walked slowly over to Zane and took the bracelet from his hand, sliding it back onto her wrist where it belonged. Her eyes caught those of Lily Potter and she frowned. In response to Lily's question, she simply waved the bracelet at her.

[Nikita Snape]

Grunting, mainly to herself, Niki sat back up, her hair dripping down her back. She turned to see Lily running up, and sighed deeply. She had a feeling this night wouldn't be over as quickly as she had hoped. A shock ran through Nikita as she listened to Lily speak to her. Her eyes grew wide, and she smiled, one that actually reached her eyes... surprisingly. "Uhm... your welcome." That was all she could think to say. She didn't know how to respond to something like that. She'd never made anyone happy outside of the DE. Not even her own mother.

Struggling to get her thoughts in order, Nikita turned her attention towards Zoey. She flung her body in standing position, and she took a step towards Zoey, thinking about jerking that stupid bracelet off of her wrist and chunking it into the Black Lake once more. She was furious. Mostly because the girl had almost killed Zane's life, her own included in that process. The other few reasons were because she was a simple, low life bitch, whom Nikita hated. Hated with most of her guts.

Nikita rolled her eyes furiously at Zoey, her anger seeping through her eyes, which had turned cold and obviously annoyed by the blond girl standing in front of her. "You though I didn't care? I like to be the one committing the murder or crime, thank-you very much. I don't like to stand and watch someone else do it. Oh and plus... if Zane died they would blame his death on the DE, and would go crazy, probably starting the war between the two of us, which I'm sure Charlotte and the rest of the DE are not ready to be involved in."

[Lily Potter]

Lily sighed as she saw the bracelet move from Zane's hand to Zoey's wrist. Didn't he know that doing nice things for everyone wasn't always a good idea? Oh well, she'd just have to deal with the fact Zane was a nice guy and was only helping Zoey out. As soon as his hand was empty, Lily slipped her fingers through his, looking up at Zoey. Zoey, what a bitch. Sure, almost having her boyfriend killed by retrieving her ugly bracelet wasn't helping the hatred between the two, they never had liked one another.

Actually, none of the girls really enjoyed the others company, but Lily had joined forces with Nikita when Zoey was around. Hey, two one one is way better than one on one. She watched intently as Nikita stood and walked over to Zoey, snatching the gold band from her wrist and chunking it into the lake. Lily had to clamp her lips together and duck her head to hold the massive laugh in. When she did look up again, Nikita was in Zoey's face, telling her why she did care, only Lily knew she was lying. "Uh, I'm sticking to the whole "Zoey is a major bitch" theory." she said, smirking at the two, knowing perfectly well that they heard her. She sighed again, looking down at Zane, he eyes still closed. "Sorry, it had to be said sometime...."

[Zane Lestrange]

Zane's eyes flickered open as the world came into focus, spinning slightly, but not too badly. He looked around and his eyes caught those of Lily first. He smiled, no longer coughing up water. "Lily when did you get here? And erm, who do I owe thanks too?" he said quietly, so only Lily would have been able to hear. Hmm it's cold. I'm shivering, maybe getting that bracelet wasn't such a good idea... Accio Hoodie. His favourite red hoodie flew towards him and landed in his lap. He quickly put it on, shovering water over Lily as he ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry..."