OOC: Horrible at titles, sorry. :)

IC:

April tended to spend many nights on the Astronomy Towers cold stone floors, but she hadn't been up in awhile. Her feet traced the familiar route from the bottom of the staircase all the way to the highest points. She looked out over the grounds, dark and eerie, and then sat down against the wall.

It was very dark, so April had brought candles. She lit them, and watched as the flickering light cast creepy shadows over the stone. She despised candles, but the light was needed tonight, since the moon was cast over by clouds. She pushed them a ways away from her, so she wouldn't knock them over, and leaned contedly against the wall.

Out of her pocket she brought out a letter. It was from home; from Tyler, her best friend. She read it over for the millionth time, smiling at the last words on the page.

"I'm missing you April. Come home quickly. Love you, Tyler."

April got the shivers, just as she heard someone approaching up the stairs.

Shane climbed the stairs at a normal pace, in no hurry. He had dozed off in his last class of the day (History of Magic of course) and now several hours later found it impossible to sleep. Wand lit he approached the top of the astronomy tower, where he had spent many sleepless nights before. Opening the door he was surprised to see the soft orange glow of candles. He hadn't expected anyone else to be up here and now was standing a few paces from a girl his age.

"Nox.." he muttered, plunging the room back into darkness save for the candlelight. "Sorry, didn't think anyone else would be up here. Am I intruding..?" he asks, slightly annoyed. He had just conquered that staircase, it'd be a pain to have had climbed it for nothing.

April heard a boy's voice mutter a curse,and the glow from his wand fell dark. She could hera his footsteps, and then his shadow in the candlelight. April hoped he wouldn't knock over the candles.

"Sorry, didn't think anyone else would be up here. Am I intruding..?" he asked, sounding a little annoyed. April hastily shuffled the note, folding it quickly, and put it back in her pocket, careful not to crinkle the edges or anything.

"Oh, no problem at all. I usually don't meet anyone else up here, so I kno what you mean by not thinking anyone would be here... You're not intruding. Want to sit with me?" she asked, pushing away a circle of candles so he would have a wall to lean against. She hoped he wasn't angry with her for taking what apparently was a spot he normally came to.

Shane studied the girl, recognizing her from around school but not able to put a name to her face. The darkness didn't really help either. He watched her stuff a piece of parchment into her pocket, but made no mention of it. If she wanted to talk about it or for him to see it, she wouldn't have hidden it away. Invited to stay, he smiles, nodding as he moved over towards the girl and took a seat next to her, apparently coordinated enough to avoid knocking over any of her candles.

"Sorry if I sounded upset, I just thought I climbed those stairs for nothing," he says, extending his left hand. "My name's Shane." He realizes a second too late that he had offered his fake arm for a handshake, no doubt it was unnaturally cool to the touch. It would simply look strange to switch hands at this point, so he decides to suck it up and deal with the questions he knew were coming.

"No reason to go all the way back down," she said in a friendly manner, hoping he wasn't too upset anyways. He introduced himself as Shane, and as hard as she thought, she couldn't remember meeting him anywhere before. Oh well,she was used to meeting new people.

She took his hand, and noticed it felt strange. it was cool, but not in the way that you would expect, like after holding a glass of cold water, or being outdoors too long. No, just colder than normal. She looked at it for a moment, and realized it wasn't real. she was taken aback for a moment, but calmly released his hand.

"I'm April." She stalled for time, but knew she must ask. "Not to be rude... but what's with you.. hand? Or is it your arm?"

She was hoping he wouldn't take offense to her questions, she was just naturally curious. It wasn't everyday that you saw someone with an arm attached to thier body that wasn't fully... real.

Shane nods, but says nothing as she takes his hand. The surprise on her face is evident, but he shows no outward signs of being uncomfortable. The temperature of his arm was the one of the few things he could never fix, as all the warming charms he had ever come acrossed had failed. Withdrawing his hand, he placed it on top of his knee.

"Nice to meet you April," he says, finally able to put a full name together. April Teagan from Slytherin. He found it a little strange how nice she was, most of the Slytherins he knew would've hucked a candle at him and screamed for his immediate withdrawl.

"The whole arm, from the shoulder down. Call it a birthday present." It was somewhat true, as he had lost his arm on that special day last summer. The story behind it though was not something he'd share with a lot of people, much less a complete stranger. Without further ado he makes an attempt to change the subject. "So what brings you up here this late April?"

April accepted Shane's explanation for his hand, not wanting to be too rude or nosy. She watched as he placed his hand upon his knee, and she didn't ask any more questions about it. She wouldn't want to explain it to a complete stranger either, so she refused to put him on the spot. She was curious, but perhaps at another time, she would find out.

"So what brings you up here this late April?" he asked, no doubt attempting to change the subject. April accepted this topic changed and settled into a more comfortable position, trying not to disturb the candles.

"I'm not much of a sleeper lately. Too worked up from quidditch and studying, I suppose. The common room was too hot for my liking, so I came up here for a breath of cool, fresh air." She puased in her explanation, making sure she didn't talk to much. She tended to do so, often times.

"What about you? Sleeping in the wee hours not really your calling?"

Shane considered himself lucky that he met one of the few Slytherin who not only didn't mind talking to him, but knew when to leave something well enough alone. He was already having trouble sleeping, getting ticked off thinking about his arm would only ensure that he would be pulling an all-nighter.

He listened to her talk, pulling up the hood to his robes while maintaining eye contact. It was a bit chilly in the tower. "Truth be told I kinda nodded off in History of Magic earlier," he replies, shrugging. "Been staring at the ceiling for a few hours so I figured I'd come up here, burn some time. First time in a long time I've ran into someone else."

"Quidditch huh..how's that been going for you guys lately?" He didn't expect an honest answer, nor did he really care too much. His career as a Chaser was short lived, making the team last year but not even attending tryouts this year due to his injury.

April nodded. "I rarely run into anyone else up here either. Just a few times. Sometimes, I meet people up here on purpose, since it's hard to be disturbed."

She had to say, she considered shane to be nice and pretty laid back. she had never met anyone with a serious injury such as his, but it didn't change her opinion of him in any way.

"Quidditch huh..how's that been going for you guys lately?" he asked, though he seemed uninterested. April could see how he may be bitter, perhaps not being able to play himself. She truly felt bad, since Quidditch was such a great expierence.

"Well, we haven't got much of a team right now. Just a few players. But, I've been practicing alone. I play Seeker, so it's possible to practice alone, of course." She puased, not sure if she should pursue this topic. She attempted anyways.

"Did you play before your accident?" she said, trying to sound offhand. She didn't want to offend the boy, or ask for more details than truly needed.

Shane nods, picking up a candle and holding it in his hands. "It's a good place to get away from it all," he agrees, running the thumb of his left hand back and forth through the flame. It left no mark of course, in fact the only time he had ever managed to damage his arm was being hit by a sectumsempra from Flame Harshing.

He glanced to her, narrowing his eyes as he thought for a moment. "Yeah yeah, I seen you down by the pitch the other day. You're pretty quick April," he says, a genuine compliment. He nodded, looking back to the candle in his hands. "I played chaser last year, it was good while it lasted," he sighs, placing the candle back down on the ground with his left hand. The candle flopped over due to his lack of coordination with that hand.

Shane picked it back up and relit off another candle before setting it down. "Don't have the necessary motor skills with my left hand anymore..I can still handle a quaffle with the best of 'em, but with my steering hand gone.." he trails off, not feeling the need to state the obvious.

"Chaser is a fun position. But I can see how your arm would work against you..." she said trailing off. "It's not the end of the world though. It must take a lot of courage to be able to go on like that, so I truly admire you."

She paused. "And thanks for the compliment about seeking. I try my hardest," she said sincerely.

"So, now that you don't play quidditch, what do you enjoy to do around Hogwarts? Study?" she said, laughing.