If I Could be Anyone Else;; [[closed to Zane]]

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane smirked, "I'm sure I would be." He did wonder what exactly they talked about, but didn't inquire further into it. He finished off the rest of the turkey sandwich, and started to eat the various kinds of fruits, which consisted of strawberries, grapes, and orange slices without the skin. He balanced the plate on his knees, which he had pulled up, and held the edge with one hand while he used the other to eat.

He raised an eyebrow, glancing at Ash as she spoke, "What do you mean?" He asked, hoping she didn't mean what his mind had first jumped to. Ash had a lot of reasons to take her own life. He had a lot of reasons, and he'd considered it, and she had even more than him. He ate another orange slice as he awaited her answer, eyes lingering on her.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

The female sighed, averting her gaze and shrugging lightly. Brutus slithered up and draped his body around her neck, hovering his face next to hers and simply resting there. He was comforting her almost, in a way, because he knew that what she was about to talk about would be very painful for her, and rather upsetting. He'd begged her in the past to just keep living, or else it meant that her father had won, and none of them wanted that. To keeping living, was to win. He had to remind her that all the time.

"Just that, sometimes, I felt like there was no reason to keep going." She said quietly, knowing that he answer was quite obvious. He had to know what she meant by that - there was no other thing that it could be. She'd even tried to take her life a few times, but Sparky had always been there for her, and he happened to be skilled in healing magicks. Plus she always had Brutus to talk her through things. But even now there were times when she just though of packing it all in.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane had rather been hoping that Ash wouldn't say something along those lines, but she did, and he sighed a moment later after she finished speaking. He couldn't blame her, really. If he were in her shoes, he'd have wondered the same thing a few times as well. Was it really worth it all? Even as an outsider, he wondered it. If it was worth her going through all that. But it had to end sometime, and so he believed that yes, it was worth it.

"I know what you mean." He said, and he did. If he hadn't had the need to protect his sister, there were several times when they were being bounced around from foster home to foster home that he wished he could just end it all. His thoughts strayed to the scar on his arm, and to the couple they'd lived with for near a year. That had been the hardest of all the homes. But he would never do such a thing, and leave Alice on her own, "But it is worth it, and there's always a reason." He smirked at her slightly, "Even if yours are a snake and a House Elf."

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

When Zane said those words, Ash gave him a rather confused look, and she wondered if he'd felt the same as her atleast one point in his life. She knew next to nothing about him, and though he knew some about her life, there was so much more to tell. He was the first person that she'd ever clicked with, and even now, after knowing him for so little time, she wanted to keep him close. He'd made her feel normal, and not like an outsider. He'd not been prejudiced because she was a werewolf either.

She nodded. "They are the only two things in my life which are eternal. The only things that never tried to hurt me ... It's funny, but yeah, they are worth it." And with that she smiled, and Brutus licked her cheek quite happily. "This is a little off topic, but I'm actually a year older than you. I don't feel it though." She had had to repeat a year because of the fact that when she'd gone blind in her right eye, it had been caused by dark magic, and had damaged her quite badly.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane didn't expand on what he'd said when Ash's expression turned quizzical, and merely pretended not to interpret it as confusion, or that he hadn't noticed. The male quirked an eyebrow as Brutus licked her cheek, and he snorted quietly, "I think he's just tricking you into feeling comfortable around him. I bet he's going to eat you someday soon." He wasn't being serious of course, just playing off the fact that she'd just gotten licked by a snake.

He raised his other eyebrow to match the first when she said she was a year older, "Did you start late?" He inquired, "Or repeat a year?" Those were the only two options that he could think of. He was 18, but had only recently turned that age. He picked up his other sandwich, and took a bite, setting it down and eating a potato chip before he'd finished the bite of sandwich. Some people found it odd, but he personally liked flat out Potato Chip Sandwiches.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

The female simply smiled and shook her head. No way. Brutus was way too soft to eat her. She knew Zane was only joking though, and she found it slightly amusing to, but besides that, it was just strange. Brutus was a large snake, and yet he only ate small food. He liked mice, though really he could be eating kittens, and things of that size. He also happened to like most human and wizard food and coul happily live off of all of that, that was certain. He had a fondness for chocolate bars, oddly enough.

"Well I had to repeat a year. I was blinded by dark magic and I spent a lot of time in St Mungos, dealing with the pain, because they couldn't figure out why it was still hurting after a month. So I left Hogwarts for that time." She shrugged. That had been another one of her punishments, ofcourse, though it had also been a part of her training. The training that she was made to do for being a death eater.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane would have to say that if he saw a snake eating chocolate bars, he wouldn't stop laughing for sometime. He'd also find it funny to hear that Brutus was a softie, and not the big bad snake he made himself out to be. He rather liked the reptile, really. He was cool, to say the least, and he took care of Ash, which was nice. The male's eyes lingered on the animal for a moment longer, before switching back to Ash as she spoke.

He frowned slightly, "Sorry to hear that." He responded. He couldn't imagine what being blind was like, "But hey, you get to stay in school for an extra year! What could be more fun than that?" He smirked, obviously just trying to lighten up the topic. He didn't know if Ash liked school. He kind of did, and didn't at the same time. Some aspects, even the learning part, he enjoyed most of the time. Other parts, like some of the student's and their attitudes, he didn't.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

As it happened, Brutus was starting to like Zane to, as demonstrated when the python slid off from Ash and slithered over to the male, draping himself over one of the male's legs slightly and tilting his head up at him. His head swayed side from side as he took in evvery detail of Zane's face, and once satisfied, he eyed the male's food, obviously wanting some, but not going so low as to steal it. He would have - if Ash wasn't apparently friends with the guy, which the snake found to be odd to begin with.

The female smiled at the snake and chuckled quietly before refocusing her attention on the male. "Well I can think of better things to do than go to school. Don't get me wrong, I like it here, but sometimes it's just a little too much, you know?" Too many people, too much trouble, never a peaceful moment ... The list went on and Ash could always think of more to add to the list. She did love it though, just not as much as she would have liked to.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane quirked an eyebrow, watching Brutus curiously as the snake approached him. He was somewhat weary of what the reptile was up to, but he did nothing but stare at him for a few moments, before turning his attention to his food, "I don't know Brutus, I think Ash looks more appetizing, don't you?" He smirked, but offered the snake one of the chocolate cakes he'd piled onto his plate. He made more than enough.

The male nodded, "Yeah, I get what you mean." He responded. There were a lot of aspects of school he could do without as well. Quite a long list, really. The main part was that he was away from Alice for really long period's of time, and all he got were those stupid updates from his step-parents in the form of a letter. They couldn't even bother to come and tell them themselves!

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

The snake gave Zane a rather incredulous look, half expecting the male to outright deny him any of his food. To Brutus, this was a way of bonding with the male, though it was a rather strange way to do such a thing. He didn't care though, really. However when he was offered the cake, his opened his mouth wide and took it carefully, swallowing the thing whole. No chewingg involved, or sinking his fangs in, because the thing was never alive to begin with, and thus what was the point? He didn't need to kill it.

Ash chuckled again, though this time it was a proper one, and close to being a laugh. She as glad that Zane and Brutus were now apparently getting along. It was nice to know that she wouldn't have to at some point step in between them and stop any fighting. Males tended to fight a lot. "You ever been horse riding?" She asked, seemingly out of the blue, though it was still on topic at the same time. "When I'm not at Hogwarts, I go riding a lot. We own a couple of horses - I think I fell in love with them the moment I saw one in one of the muggle farmers fields."

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane smirked as Brutus ate the cake, and shook his head lightly, finding it the oddest thing. A snake eating cake. The smirk only widened at the way that sounded in his head. He picked up his sandwich, and took another bite, eating a couple of potato chips at the same time once more. He set the sandwich back down, and slid potato chips under the bread, saving himself some time and trouble by just adding them to the sandwich.

"Once." He responded once he'd finished chewing, "But only because my sister was too afraid to go by herself." He took another bite of the sandwich. Alice absolutely loved and adored horses. She'd begged their parents for one constantly, until she'd finally gotten signed up for lessons. He'd had to go along with her for the first one, because she'd been too frightened to do so on her own.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

Brutus was a very odd snake, anyway. First off all he treated Ash like a younger sister, secondly he ate chocolate and hated hunting for his own food, and thirdly, well he was just all around odd. He acted tough most of the time, evven when on the inside he was really just a big softie and cared a lot about what was happening in the world. He stuck his tongue out like a lizard for a few moments, and then settled down upon the male's leg, simply resting there - he actually found it to be quite comfortable.

Ash grinned slightly at the male, ignoring Brutus for now. "You are missing out. You should come visit my place sometime and have a go ... Well, when it's safer, that is." Unless he wanted to meet her father, though she doubted that very much. Her father was pretty much there all the time nowadays, since it was where he was hiding from the ministry. They could never find their manor because it was hidden by all kinds of spells and charms.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane glanced down at the snake, smirking slightly, before turning his attention back to Ash. He raised an eyebrow, his expression suggesting he thought she was crazy, "If for some reason you do need to go back there, then yes, I'll go with you, and if we happen to have the time, you can watch me fall off a horse." He would rather Ash not return to her manor, as he'd asked her to promise not to do, but if she had to go back, he wanted to go with her.

He took a bite of one of the chocolate cakes, just holding it by the end verses actually using a fork. He licked the chocolate icing off his fingers, before placing the plate down in front of Brutus, "You can have the rest." He informed the snake. It still had half a sandwich, the rest of the cake, some chips, and a few pieces of fruit left upon it.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

Ash didn't want to go back to begin with, but in the summer she would have to, because there was nowhere else for her to go. The rest of her family was just like her father, and she had no friends to stay with. Infact she had no choice but to go there, no matter how much she would hate seeing her father. However, though she pllaned to not go back, it was almost impossible to not see her father. Sometimes he showed up in the Forbidden Forest and summoned her with threats to hurt people if she didn't go.

Or he turned up in Hogsmeade and did the same.

She sighed quietly as she turned her attention to Brutus, and smiled as the snake leant up, flickered his tongue across Zane's cheek and then went to the food, swallowing some of it down whole and not really caring what it was, or unhealthy the cakes were for him. The Slytherin girl looked back towards the male. "You can ride Dipsy - he's fat, lazy and really nice. It's impossible to fall of him, and if you do, I will have to laugh. A lot." She pointed out with a slight smirk.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane blinked in slight surprise when the snake licked him, and shook his head lightly, "Great, now he's going to eat me too." He was starting to think that Brutus was part dog; following Ash everywhere, protecting her, licking people, eating things he shouldn't... Yup, sounded like a dog. He smirked as he watched the snake eat what was left of his lunch, and lifted his gaze back up to Ash as she spoke.

He grinned, "Watch me." He replied in response to her statement that it was impossible to fall off of the horse. He was quite sure he could do it. He wasn't very good with animals, other than his own pet owl Galleon. He pretty much gave the bird his freedom though, and it was more like he just occasionally carried Zane's letters, and brought him his mail, but was really a wild animal.