``w h a t a --{b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l} DAY

[billie]

<sub>A cold, brisk wind whisked its way across the flat Hogwarts Grounds, catching all that were walking to Hogsmeade in the back, chilling the necks of a multitude, and making everyone turn up the collars of their coats. Dull, stormy grey colored the sky with puffy, angry clouds, and spoke of a coming rain, which everyone doubted would wait until the Hogsmeade Visit was over. But there was worse things than the impending threat of rain.

Billium knew this as she made her way across the frozen grass of the Grounds, the trademark bounce in her step as her sneaker-doned feet lightly trotted towards the string of little shops and houses on the frosty horizon, framed against the dark bank of clouds that was fast approaching. Rain was hardly a problem for a girl like her, who hardly cared about her appearance enough to even run a comb through her hair every morning. In fact, thunderstorms were something she rather enjoyed.

Though the Hufflepuff girl's thin torso was covered in a thick, dark green sweatshirt, she still felt the chill of the icy breeze, making her shiver just a bit as she danced a sort of crazy, partnerless foxtrot into Hogsmeade, until her feet tangled themselves together and she stumbled. Never the less, she picked up her insanely peculiar dance all the way towards the Three Broomsticks, where she entered, her hazel eyes lighting up behind those thick-framed vintage glasses when she heard the tinkling sound of the bell overhead. She grabbed a Butterbeer from the counter, taking a sloppy sip before looking around to see if she knew anyone.</sub>

[averybently]

Avery walked into the Three Broomsticks. Once he entered, he felt the warmth, fill around his body. It felt so good, compared to outside. It had been such a pretty day, before, they were getting ready for their Hogsmeade trip. Then the storm rolled in. Avery looked around the warm area, in search of Corliss. He hadn't seen her at all today, but he knew she was coming on the Hogsmeade trip. Avery's eyes scanned over, a red head, that was also searching around the room. He had to do a takeback, remembering her. He walked over, to her trying to remember who she was. He stood next to her, not looking at her, but asked for a Butterbeer. He sipped a little bit of it, and then turned to look at the odd girl, standing next to him.
Avery looked her over, his mind still trying to remember who she was. She wasn't a very pretty girl, he noted to himself. Then it struck him. "Billie?" Avery asked the girl absent mindly. He shook his head, remembering the end of last year. "Wow, umm... I totally forgot about you. You want to sit down? Catch up?" Avery asked her already, walking to an empty table. He slid into the seat, not positive the girl was following. He drank his Butterbeer, and waited for her to sit.

[Corliss Malfoy]

Slowly, a small framed girl made her way towards Hogsmeaded. Her black ear-muffs covering her little ears from the bone chilling wind. A shudder went down her spine, making her pull the emerald green jacket closer. You couldn't hear the thud her feet made through the howl of the wind. She pushed though the cold, wishing she had been smart, like her friends, and stayed back at Hogwarts.
Corliss Malfoy wasn't one for cold weather. Much less, rain. She never did pass up the chance to hang out with her Avery. When she heard he was going, she totally left her friends warnings about the weather behind. Now, with the weather being so horrible, the Slytherin girl wished she had listened. She sighed, not knowing where to look for her lost boy. She looked ahead of her, seeing the little Potter girl made her laugh. She laughed harder as she sprinted away.
Corliss saw the Three Broomsticks. That was the normal hang out place. Of course, she only went in there when she was with friends. Really, who would think Corliss Raven Malfoy would be there alone? She didn't really care. She went in, looking around. Seeing no one of interest, she found a seat and sat down, scanning the room for trouble. Then she saw it. Avery sat down with..... No, it couldn't be.
Corliss stood, looking at the girl. 'His ex?!?' she thought outraged. She stepped out into the open, hoping he would see her. When that that failed, she quickly thought up another. She left her table, Butterbeer in hand, and moved closer to the two sitting down. She looked at the Hufflepuff girl. Oh how she hated non-Slytherins.

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[billie]

<sub>Now that was embarrassing. Billium could handle people not exactly liking her, in fact, if people hated her, she hardly cared. They usually despised her strange oddities to the core, and wouldn't even talk to her. Or they just simply thought her too strange to hang out with excessively. But to have someone say that they'd forgotten about her. That was rather peculiar. She was, after all, an extraordinarily difficult girl to forget.

A tad bit startled when someone started to talk to her, the flusterment didn't last long. Soon enough, the strange Hufflepuff girl was pulling her ex-boyfriend into a quick hug, before nodding quickly and following the light-headed boy to a table in the corner. She set her tankard down lightly before sliding into the booth across from the Slytherin boy, pulling her knees up and taking a rather long sip of the amber colored liquid in front of her, sparkling hazel eyes taking in every inch of the boy who sat on the other side of the booth from her.

He looked different than she remembered him. Tanner, that was for sure, as well as taller than he'd been. But, perhaps it was simply that she'd shrunk, which was difficult to doubt, seeing as she was so eccentric that it wasn't exactly outlandish to assume that she could have declined in size. Already, her height was hovering hardly above five feet, shorter than most of the other fifth years, who all seemed to be hitting their growth spurts. Finally, while tapping a tune out on her mug with her neon-yellow-painted nails, she spoke to him. "So, how's life treating my favorite Slytherin?"</sub>

[averybently]

Avery stared at Billie, while he sipped his drink, softly. Nothing had really changed with her. She was just the same old Billie. He wished that she would fix herself up. Well, at least once in a while. Maybe she would have more friends, if she did. Possibly, Avery wouldn't even be embarrassed about the one time he had dated her. Avery put his glass back down on the table, and then looked around the room once more. No one that Avery really cared about was there, so he turned back to Billie. He decided that he should respond to her, "Well, really good actually. I don't think I've been happier, with who I'm dating. Life's treated me really well, this year. How about you?" Avery asked Billie with a questioning look on his face. Life had treated him very well, this year. He had gotten Corliss, and if that's all he got this year, then he would be perfectly happy with it. He loved her. Well, more like he was in love with her. Avery was absolutely in love with Corlisss, there was no question about it. Avery tossed his thoughts to the side, and returned his attention back to Billie.

[billie]

<sub>Examining her chipped neon nails, she listened intently to the boy sitting across from her before reaching up to brush a piece of ginger-tinged hair out of her eyes, which had fallen out of the messy ponytail she'd put up earlier that morning. So he'd fallen in love? The Hufflepuff girl had never quite been in love. The closest she'd ever gotten was with the boy sitting across from her, but even then, it'd been a flighty thing, gone before she'd had a chance to grasp it and examine it like she would a wild beast that she found in the Forbidden Forest.

Perhaps she simply wasn't the type of person that fell in love. Yes, that must be it. Billium'd never been one to be sensitive to such complicated, perplexing things as love. Blunt, easily see-able things were always more of her thing, and she could hardly understand anything unless she could touch it with her outstretched finger. Maybe this was the reason for her love of Care of Magical Creatures, and her dislike for any of the other subjects she was forced to take, where she couldn't understand the spells, jinxes, and hexes because they weren't concrete things, but more of imaginable ideas that one could conjure at will. Unicorns and dragons were definitely not things one could conjure up on a whim.

Red-tinged eyebrows raised unconsciously as he mentioned his newfound love which had led Billie on her little bout of thoughts. The mug was lifted to the peculiar girl's lips and she sucked down a rather large quantity of the sweet beer-like substance. Grinning her lop-sided, wide grin at the boy, she answered him. "That's simply SPECTACULAR." The last word was spoken in the loudest, most pleased conversational voice that one could manage without actually shouting. Billie was something of an expert at it. "No wonder you look so good." She'd rather not show curiousity in his new love interest, as it would seem rather nosy, but since when did Billium Serene Nox care what other people thought of her? "So, who's this new girl?"</sub>

[Corliss Malfoy]

Corliss watched the two talk, intently. She glared at the Billie girl. It wasn't that Corliss hated the girl. It was just that, well, Corliss doesn't like competition. The Slytherin pushed a stray hair from her face, a rather often occurrence. She sighed, not wanting to cause a scene, but also not wanting Avery to be talk to this Hufflepuff. Butterbeer in hand, the girl stood from her table. Quickly, the table was stolen by three first years. Before going on, Corliss turned to give the three Ravenclaws an evil look. One of them yelled in terror. She laughed softly before returning her attention to the other table.
Corliss walked, slowly, to her boyfriends table. Waiting for him to notice her before she got to the table. Seeing as that was never going to happen, she sped up, hearing Billie ask her last question. 'So, who's this new girl.' At that, Corliss walked up, resting her hand on Avery's shoulder. She smiled, pondering whether or not to kiss him on the cheek. 'I'd say that is to much, Miss.' she thought.

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[averybently]

Avery looked up, as he felt something on his shoulder. He smiled once he saw, Corliss' beautiful face. "Hey babe." Avery said to her softly. He turned back to Billie, and said, "This is my girlfriend. Corliss Raven Malfoy." Avery said Corliss' name with pride. She was his, and only his. He would never trade her for any one else. Avery looked back up at Corliss, and asked her softly, "You wanna sit down?" Avery had a feeling that Corliss already knew who Billie was so he didn't find the need to introduce them.
Avery remembered the frown that had covered Billie's smile, as Corliss had walked up. He could tell she wasn't a very happy camper, about it either. Avery sipped his Butterbeer once more.

[billie]

<sub>Bright hazel eyes searched the face of the girl who'd just approached her and the boy's table. The Hufflepuff girl could remember the Malfoy girl's face, she'd definitely seen her before, but she couldn't remember where, unless it was in the corridors. That girl had a strange look to her, a tinge of evil tainted the pretty features of her face, and there was a sort of dark light in her green-blue eyes. There was one thing that Billium was sure about at that moment; that was the fact that she didn't like this Corliss character one bit, as she was the perfect example of the stereo-typical Slytherin.

Hufflepuffs had never been known to date Slytherins. But then again, Avery wasn't the typical Slytherin, and Billium wasn't the typical Hufflepuff. He was nicer than the rest of his House, and she more untamed than those of hers. In fact, when the two of them first started to date, they'd been the laughing stock of the school, simply because they were such an odd pairing. But, Billie was used to being stared and pointed at by now, as she had learned how it felt and choose to ignore it. Perhaps it was better now that he was dating one of his own kind. But still, Billie had cause to worry that he'd loose that edge of nicety that he'd had.

The crazy, lopsided grin again spread its way across the spunky girl's face, forcing her eyes to crinkle a the corners, something they'd been doing a lot lately. If she wasn't careful, the happy girl was going to attain crow's feet before she even hit sixteen. Her hand waved, practically a blur, at the girl who'd just entered the two old friends' conversation. "Any friend of Avery's is a friend of mine," she told Corliss in a sing-song voice, and it sounded as though it was something she'd said many a time in her life.</sub>

[Corliss Malfoy]

Corliss looked down at Avery. "Ok." she muttered. She wasn't one to say 'baby' or 'babe'. On the other hand, Avery was. It made her smile, knowing that he loved her that much. She sat down next to him, all the while, watching the girl in front of her. As Avery introduced her, she gave Billie a tight nod. 'Why, exactly am I here?' she asked herself. She watched as the Hufflepuff girl looked her over. Corliss sighed, she knew who she was, everyone knew Corliss Malfoy. She laughed at he thought.
The Slytherin wasn't paying attention when she heard the trill of a voice. She jumped lightly, looking into the hazel eyes of the girl in front of her. She forced a smile on her face. "Nice, to meet you too." she lie perfectly, no hint of it in her voice. She leaned her body against Avery, laying her head on his shoulder. She smiled a totally fake smile at the girl. She averted her gaze from Billie to the Butterbeer.

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[billie]

<sub>Over years of being disliked, poked fun at, and thrown casually to the side after a swift sweep of the eyes to take in the monstrosity of her peculiar nature, Billium had learned to be able to tell when people simply didn't like her. Painfully fake smiles were the most common evidence of a paper-thin persona that would lead the Hufflepuff girl to conlcude that the bearer of all these monumentally easy to see traits, if they had the choice, simply wouldn't be talking to her at all.

On the other hand, it wasn't as though it bothered her in the least. In fact, being able to see through the masks that people put up was one of Billium's most revered talents, and she used it to make sure that she wasn't friends with anyone that she shouldn't be friends with. All her closest friends, which was a pitifully small number to say the least, had passed the test, and Billie was sure that they treated her as they treated other people, with the most genuine and real personality that one could ever manage. Because who on this Earth can say that they are turly and perfectly honest with everyone? Not many. But the queer Hufflepuff girl was one of that miniscule number.

Taking a gigantic swig from her tankard of Butterbeer, Billie licked the mustache of amber liquid that'd taken over her upper lip before starting to talk to the girl across from her. "You don't like me even on teensy bit, do you?" The look of surprise that crossed over the pretty features of the Slytherin forced a short bark of laughter out of Billie's chest. Still chuckling her trademark chuckle, she continued, "Really, it's fine. It's not as though me caring about it will change a thing. So I'll not care and see where it gets me." If the Slytherin girl was smart enough, she would already know that people like Billium didn't give a shit whether people liked her or not. And if the girl wasn't intelligent, then she'd figure out that fact pretty soon.</sub>

[averybently]

Avery cleared his throat, as he listened to the two girls talk. They weren't saying much, and it was becoming really awkward. He looked around the room, searching for any of his friends. Failing to find any, Avery turned his attention back to Corliss, and Billie. He pressed his Butterbeer up to his lips, and sipped on it softly. The warm feeling entered into his mouth, and his body was immediately warm. That's what Avery loved about the Three Broom Sticks. Their Butterbeer was absolutely amazing, there was no doubt. He always came in here for his warmth, and it never dissapointed him. He parted his lips from the Butterbeer, and sat his mug, back onto the table. Avery turned his head slightly, towards, Corliss, looking at her beauty. The thing he loved about looking at her, was the part where it made him think, that she was his. No one else's. Just his, Corliss was his, and he wasn't planning to share her with just any guy. He loved her with all of his heart, and he was planning to for the rest of his life.

[Corliss Malfoy]

Corliss watched as Billie looked her over. She had never liked the freaky Hufflepuff girl. She knew that she would see straight through her mask. She wanted Billie to know she didn't like her, without just blurting it out. She waited as she was finished being scanned. She laughed at Billie's comment. "Oh your so smart." she said, overly sweet. She knew Avery would be mad, but she didn't care. Billie would not be getting to close to her Avery.
Corliss glanced sideways at Avery as he looked at her. She looked at the Butterbeer sitting in front of her. 'So amazing. Nothing better than this. Well, save Firewhiskey.' she thought. She took a few more sips of the liquid as she waited for a response from on of the two sitting near her.

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