``starlit night *open* «

[[ Andromeda Black ]]

It was the middle of the night. Though the moon was not present, the stars were there and lit up the whole night. They were tiny pinpricks of light in the distance, comforting, smiling down on the sleeping earth. Everything, whatever color, was golden. The stars shone through the window into the Ravenclaw 5th-Year Girls Dormitories.

In the Ravenclaw 5th-Year Girls Dormitories, Andi woke up. She sat up straight. Slowly, she got accustomed to the dim light. She looked outside the window to see a shadow coming out of the Forbidden Forest. Her mouth shaped itself into a perfect o. She threw on a cloak and fled downstairs. The shadow had been heading toward the Whomping Willow. Not thinking, she ran toward the Whomping Willow.

The minute she set foot near Whomping Willow ground, the Whomping Willow swept her up onto one of its wild branches. It threw her from branch to branch. Why did I do this? Andromeda thought. Without aiming, she took a wild leap. Her foot landed on the root of the next tree. She staggered and fell on her cheek. When she sat up again, her cheek was bleeding. Darn. Andromeda ripped off a bit of her dress and pressed it to her cheek. The wind whipped her and she walked over and sat in the neat grass. She looked up at the stars.

They smiled down on her, twinkled, scolded. She grinned. They were like mothers. Not HER mother. Her mother favored Miss Cissy and Miss Bella, she had to call them. No, they were like normal mothers. She lay down and looked up at them until her eyes hurt from all the light, but she still wasn't sleepy. Only five minutes had gone by. She rolled over. And as she did, she heard a twig crack.

Andi froze. Stupid her, she hadn't brought her wand out. She watch the figure slowly advance toward her, and she was glad to see that it was human, but she prayed that it wasn't a teacher. What would her alibi be, lying sprawled on the lawn at midnight with a bleeding cheek and a ripped nightgown?

[max]

Max crept along the outside of the school grounds, he shivered happily - even though he knew if he was caught he was toast. It was addicting to be out at night so late, with the stars shining and the moon glittering...

Max's attention snapped to the present, he had heard a scream. A girls scream? He picked up his pace, making for the Whomping Willow. He was almost there, just a few more steps...

[[ Andromeda Black ]]

Andi looked up to see Max Avery. She knew Max Avery. he was a Slytherin, and she detested Slytherins. However, she didn't like just throwing insults at him, so she stood up. "Um...hello...it's very bright tonight, isn't it?" she asked, casually. She hoped he didn't ask what she had been up to. Behind her, she clasped her hands. She knew that what she had done was foolish, and that she shouldn't have done it, and also that she could have gotten much worse injuries.

Not waiting for Max to answer, she turned and scrambled up a small tree. She sat in it. "Come up here! It's comfortable, and you can feel the wind." she called to Max.