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

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

Ash nodded in agreement. It was true that hardly anyone actually had a reason to hate eachother - you would have thought that after everything that had happened in the past, they would have gotten over all of that, but no. Evven Ash had to admit that sometimes she had been prejudice against Gryffindors, but eventually she had changed, and she had come to not like or dislike anyone. She never talked to a lot of people to begin with though, and when people disliked her, they usually had a good reason.

She was not usually the friendliest of people.

"I'll go with you." She answered, looking to the side slightly towards the male. She was stubborn, and didn't really care what people thought of her. She never had. So what if they pointed, stared and made comments about her - if they went too far she would retaliate, yes, but she almost doubted that they would make such comments that would warrant her to get defensive. Either way, she wanted to get her own food - there were certain things that she liked, and wanted.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane didn't much care about what other people said either, but he could be temperamental, and had already proven himself protective over Ash. So while he could ignore things said about himself, he doubted he'd be very happy with any snarky comments about the female at his side. He was sure people would talk however, for he was a Gryffindor, and she a Slytherin, and they were walking hand in hand. Ash alone would cause talk, what with her appearance, but with the two combined, well, he decided to pretty much ignore everyone.

"Okay. Do you want to just get food from my table? Or can you see well enough to get some own from yours?" He could get a plate and put what Ash requested upon it from the Gryffindor table, but if she could see well enough and wanted to, she could get her own food from the Slytherin table.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

That was true - they were bound to cause quite a stir. If they didn't think that they were dating or something ridiculous than that, then even being believed to be best friends or something would cause the two houses quite a commotion. They would likely think of each other as traitors, but Ash could care less. She didn't like a single person in Slytherin, and she never spoke to any Gryffindors, well, except Zane now, but that had only been because she had been bored the previous day, and he had warranted her interest.

"I can get some from the Slytherin table." She pointeed out with a nod. If the Slytherins gave her trouble, she felt like she could defend herself better, plus it would probably made things easier on Zane if his house mates didn't start askig him too many questions, or naming him things. She would rather get things from her own table anyway, because she was stubborn and didn't really like getting help.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

"Alright." As they approached the doors of the Great Hall, Zane released Ash's hand. They'd already passed a few people in the halls, who had given them odd looks and second glances, but compared to the buzzing in the Great Hall, a couple of people were nothing, "I'll meet you back out here." He said as they came around the corner, and entered the giant room. He smiled slightly, before parting for the Gryffindor table.

He made his way to an open space, and grabbed a plate. He ignored the few looks he could feel as he piled food onto his plate, understanding people were probably wondering why he was collecting food and leaving instead of just sitting down and eating. He placed a couple of sandwiches on his plate, along with some fruit, chips, and a couple of chocolate cake desserts. He really loved the food at Hogwarts. There was always a ton of everything, and it was all good.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

Ash nodded again and made her way to the opposite side of the great hall towards the Slytherin table. She could already feel the eyes on her, the whispers and the rumours of what might have happened to her. She was using her nose to find her way to the food, and was quite lucky to not have walked into anyone - though her eyes were slowly but surely healing and as the moments pass she could see more and more, and yet it was still rather fuzzy and uncomfortable, and a little painful, though not as much as before.

She found a space and could suddenly feel herself being shoved away by a male who was sitting down and glaring at her. She forced her way back, a low growl escaping her throat and grabbed a plate before she mirrored Zane in the piling up of food. However she only grabbed the meat stuff - anything that consisted of meats, she put on her plate. Being a werewolf made her a little bloodthirsty, at all times. She ate cakes to, and some fruit, but she much preferred the meat.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane proceeded out of the Great Hall, and around off to the side. He leaned back against the wall, picking up one of the sandwiches and taking a bite as he waited for Ash. He hadn't even bothered to check what kind it was, but he could taste the turkey as he ate it, along with a variety of other things. It had tomato on it, which he didn't like, and so set it back down on the plate, and picked the red vegetable, or fruit, whichever it really was, off, and laid it on his plate, before picking the sandwich back up and taking another bite.

As he waited for Ash, he fell into thought about the female. He felt really bad for her, considering who her father was and how the man treated her. He wished he could help her more than telling her he'd try and protect her from him. He wasn't even sure if he could do that, but like he said, he would certainly try. He only hoped she made things easier for him, and kept her own promise about staying away from him.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

Ash got shoved again and though the male beside her didn't speak, as she looked towards him, she could see the hatred in his eyes, and really didn't understand it. She didn't remember ever harming him in the past, so just what was his problem anyway? She didn't understand it and neither did she want to. She simply continued to place food upon her place, doing her best to not just start shoving the male back, and hopefully send him face first into the ground. That would be funny, and he would deserve it.

As the male was about to shove her yet again, the girl noticed a sour and rather frightened look on his face. She looked beside her and saw Brutus hissing at the male, which had made the boy cower. She grinned and made her way away from the table, popping a scotch egg into her mouth as she went, until she made her way out of the great hall and over to where Zane was, Brutus following behind her quite closely as if further attempting to protect her. The girl smiled at the thought and leant against the wall beside Zane. "See? That wasn't so bad."

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane raised an eyebrow at the smile on Ash's face. Although it was possible that could gone without trouble, there was no way it was a pleasant experience. The male noticed the snake a moment later, a smirk of his own crossing his face, "He bit someone, didn't he?" He was just joking of course, teasing both her and the python. Really though, he didn't see why else the girl would be in good spirits suddenly. Brutus had to have done something.

He was glad the snake had found them, for it saved a trip back out to the shack. The male pushed off the wall, setting what was left of the first sandwich back on the plate, "Anyways, where do you want to go?" He'd rather not remain right there, leaning back against the wall for lunch, and he doubted Ash would as well. Not to mention he wasn't against the idea of her getting some rest, so he would prefer to sit down.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

"Aww he woul never do that, would you Brutus?" Ash grinned, asking the snake. The snake did a sort of almost grin back - or as much of one as a snake could manage. The female smiled and shook her head. "Some guy was bothering me, so he just slithered up. That was all." And gave the boy a rather evil look, but what was the harm in that? Nothing really, especially since the said boy had been a prat, shoving her around like he had been and giving her such evils. He deserved to be scared.

She shugged and took a step forward, heading away from the hall a little more. "How about the lake?" It was peaceful there. She'd much rather go to the Forbidden Forest, but it was out of bounds and she didn't feel like getting in any sort of trouble. Plus the lake was good and it was relaxing to sit there and try to catch glimpses of the giant squid. She'd seen it once, but no more than that, and she hoped to.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane smirked, "No, never." He chuckled quietly, clearly being sarcastic. He smiled as Ash cleared up what had really happened, and rolled his eyes, "Ahuh, right. I'm sure that's all he did." He hadn't hissed, or looked menacing, or anything of the sort. He'd just slithered up all innocent like as if he were nothing more than a little puppy dog running up to Ash, and not a huge python slithering its way up to her.

He followed her as she began to walk, and nodded as she suggested the lake, "Works for me." He responded. There were several trees around the lake that could provide shade, for it had been rather warm that morning, and now, it was quite simply, hot. He liked sitting by the lake as well, and it was one of the other places he frequented. It was peaceful, and even if there were a lot of people there, it was still quiet and relaxing, because those people were there to take a break too.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

Ash had a feeling that Zane knew exactly what the snake had done - Brutus wasn't exactly the subtle type after all. He was very protective, and he had an anger problem, which was quite funnny considering he was a snake, and therefore what on earth could he get angry about? His runaway dinner, perhaps? Either way, yes the python had hissed and looked menacing. The slithering alone scared a lot of people, she already knew that, but she didn't care. The girl simply smiled at the boy's words.

She smiled slightly, still feeling a little tired and pained from what had happened, but putting up a good front. She put another scotch egg in her mouth and chewed it, quite happily, as she walked towards the grounds. She never did too well in the heat, and burned easily, but that didn't stop her sitting by the lake. She usually found shelter under the trees anyway, and always found that she enjoyd being out in the sun, even if she didn't like the heat. "I think we are making progress you know; Brutus isn't hissing at you."

Sure enough, the giant python was simply slithering behind them.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane grinned, and glanced over his shoulder toward the ground at the giant snake. He chuckled quietly, clearly amused by Ash's comment, "No, he's not." He turned back to Ash, an eyebrow raised, "So I assume you're a Parselmouth, right?" He doubted that she wasn't. She was in Slytherin, and had a huge snake for a pet. Nonetheless, he just felt like being sure. He liked to know facts, rather than assume things.

As they stepped out into the sun, he was glad he'd left his jacket at home. He felt the sun hit his skin, and it felt nice, but it was a bit too warm, which was why as they started toward the lake in the near distance, he already angled toward a large willow tree which he could already tell from where they were provided a lot of shade. He sat under the tree often, which was another reason he knew it would do to keep them cool.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

Ash smiled, quite proud of the snake for behaving himself for once. Not a lot of people liked Brutus, and with good reason to. He often hissed at them, slithering right past them, and overall just acted creepy all of the time, and it upset people. She wasn't even supposed to have a snake as a pet, but she'd sneaked him to Hogwarts and no-one had ever done anything to stop her. Plus most of the time the snake stayed away from the teachers and hid, and simply frightened the students instead.

She nodded slightly. "Yeah ... Sometimes it's a bit of a bother because people assume I'm related to Voldemort and Calderact because of it. Truth his my father was taught it by Voldemort and once it was instilled into him, it passed down to me." She shrugged slightly as she didn't really understand how it worked. It was odd to say the least, but she'd never questioned. "It's good though ... Me and Brutus have some very deep conversations." She almost grinned as she spoke.

[Zane Alexander Harlow]

Zane honestly thought Brutus was kinda cool. It had been his fault that the snake had been unkind with him back at Hogsmeade. He had been being rude to Ash afterall, and he understood now that the reptile was just protective over her. He didn't blame her. She had a lot she needed to be protected from. Not that she couldn't handle herself, because he was quite sure that she could. Really it was just a matter of whether she wanted to or not. He doubted she wanted to hurt her father, though he didn't seem to share the same thoughts.

"Really? Interesting." He smirked, "Deep conversations, eh? Like about the meaning of life and such?" He grinned, glancing down at the snake once again, before refocusing his attention on the tree they were now nearing. As they reached it, he ducked under the low hanging branches, and approached the trunk. He lowered himself to the ground, and leaned his back against it, immediately picking up his sandwich and taking another bite.

[Ashley-Raine Wolfe]

"You'd be surprised." The female pointed out with a grin. She really did like talking with Brutus. The snake had so much to say, and so much to talk about, it was actually pretty amazing to tell the truth. It was also funny, seeing as how the snake felt the same way about her. He obviously was used to speaking with other snakes, so speaking to a human girl was weird to him, even. However they both adored eachother's company, and she particularly loved him to pieces. She didn't know what she would do without him.

She ducked under the tree and sat against the trunk next to Zane, Brutus close behind her. "You know, he's the reason I'm still here. Well, him and Sparky." She didn't know why she was telling Zane that, but she felt the need to, just to show how important Brutus and the house elf were to her. They were her life, and she loved them both. Smiling, she held a piece of turkey out for the python who took it in his mouth and swallowed.