' ' Just a BoY ; ; Just an ORDiNARY boy [ Shaant ]

[Anastasia Masters]

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[Shaant Craigen]

Shaant sighed quietly while making his way through the busy streets of Hogsmeade. He was in his casual jeans though in a black jacket with blue stripes going down the arms. The brown hair parted to the side like usual barley hanging over his left eye. He hadn’t seen Aiden at all, most likely wandering around with his other Hufflepuff friends. Shaant moved slowly kicking the snow to the side. He paused when he heard someone talking, he looked up to see if anyone was directing their speech towards him when he didn’t notice anyone, Shaant froze.

Quickly, Shaant’s eyes glanced around the busy Alleys. He sighed quietly shoving aside a few people to make it to a small opening in between stores. Hazed eyes watched to make sure no one pin pointed the spot he was in as a gazing spot. Quickly he knelt down in the cold snow clutching his head softly. “I didn’t do it on purpose! Well of course you didn’t, foolish boy” Shaant finally pulled himself out of the trace gasping softly. Blue eyes, had stared from the taller man in his foreseeing. It wasn’t safe for him to see things in the open, doing away with it was his best bet even if it hurt for a while. He pushed the bangs away from his face as he noticed one person starring at him, he smiled and the person continued walking. Shaant quickly pulled himself to his feet, then looking down to his knees which were soaked. He shrugged once before walking back onto the streets.

Shaant gritted his teeth together once to rid himself of the small headache coming on looking down to his arm and pulling the sleeve over the Inner eye tattoo. He shoved his hands into his pockets lazily remembering what he had barley seen. What had he done, and why had he done it if it wasn’t on purpose then who was it that wasn’t believe him? Shaant shook his head slowly before kicking another clump of snow before looking up to see a student among the crowd of hustle and bustle adults. He recognized her right away, they were on speaking terms but he wasn’t exactly part of her inner circle of friends. He made his way a few steps ahead of a few others to catch up to her. Stunning in her own way, Stace had made herself quite visible among the crowd not only by being a student and so much younger but with beauty only few comprehended.

Shaant cleared his voice, knowing he would sound and look rather pathetic after the small scenario back at the out cut of stores. He sighed quietly before struggling to find the courage to talk to her. Finally without trying to hard he spoke. “Hey Stace” Shaant replied, sounding especially relaxed for exactly how he felt. He moved his head to the side so the hair fell along the side of his face so he could see her. A huge group of Gryffindors passed in a rather large pack of girls chatting about. Shaant shook his head once looking back to her. “ So, I thought girl’s only traveled in packs, then again this Ravenclaw has been proven wrong before”

[Anastasia Masters]

[/i] Shaant's words cut through her train of thought. Blinking twice before turning her head to look at him, Staci could feel a light blush creep into her cheeks. She hadn't even noticed Shaant move from where she'd first seen him, let alone notice that he'd come up beside her. Looking up at him, Staci smiled and spoke softly “Hi Shaant” Moving down along the bench away from Shaant, Anastasia patted the part of bench next to her where she'd been sitting just moments before. Without a word she offered him a seat. The relief of having someone to talk to washed over Staci before she could say anything else to Shaant.

Anastasia too had noticed the large group of Gryffindor girls make their way through the crowded street-way. A light smile dancing on her face, she replied to Shaant with a soft, musical laugh “Some girls do, I tend not to” A slight breeze whipped Staci's soft curls across her face. Running her fingers through her hair in a vain attempt to keep her waves in check, Staci spoke again “I mean, it's nice to come here with friends. But tonight, I'm not sure” Shrugging her shoulder, Staci tried to grasp the right words to discribe why she'd ventured to hogsmeade by herself “I guess I just wanted to see who I'd run into”

After a moment of silence, Stace moved her gaze to Shaant's eyes. Trying to hold his eyes for a moment “Umm, I don't mean to seem forward or anything but...” Trailing off, she tried to word her question in a way that wouldn't seem too much like she was prying at his life. After all, it wasn't like she and Shaant were best friends or anything “Is something bothering you? You seem kind of... upset.” Releasing Shaant's eyes, Staci looked down at her shoes and the snow and felt a blush creep up into her cheeks again.

'Poor guy, I've seen him for two seconds and I'm already interrogating him.'[/ul][/size]

[Shaant Craigen]

Relief was far from the word that Shaant wished to use as Stace welcomed him by moving over to make room for himself. He nodded to her before flashing a small smile. He sat down, crossing one foot or the other turning to look at her. He stifled a laugh as she said she chose not to run in packs. “it’s far easier to approach when there isn’t a whole pack” Shaant commented softly, it was true. It was so much harder for anyone to make themselves known to the other if followed by a million gabbing friends. Shaant nodded as Stace continued to explain her new stance on the “pack” statement.
He smiled softly turning back to look at her, who she’d run into. He cocked his head to the side and arched an eyebrow to emphasize the teasing gesture in his voice. “ Are you satisfied with who you ran into?” Shaant was surprised on how easy it was in fact to talk to Stace as if they had been holding random conversations like this forever. He shifted in his seat and ran a hand along the back of his neck, attempting to ease the headache from the previous moments. Silence fell and just as Shaant was to bring up something about the man struggling to find change in his pocket, Stace had spoken. He turned to meet her gaze. For a split second, he felt uncomfortable.

Could she know? How though, no one knew besides Aiden. Shaant cleared his throat with a strong raspy sound. She had asked a question not even some of his closest friends had asked. Shaant moved his arm towards the bench, to use the wood panel to pull down the sleeve on his arm, to cover the ‘inner eye’ tattoo. He shifted once more, noticing Stace’s blush though he was now sure he wasn’t the only one feeling uncomfortable. Shaant turned his head back towards the older man digging in his robes before letting out a long sigh.


“You don’t sound foreword, so don’t worry.” Shaant wanted to ease this tension that was building in the conversation, he didn’t want her thinking he thought of her strangely for asking. He was the one after all that couldn’t remember what he had been doing about 5 minutes before. With another rub of the back of his head, the eyes turned back towards Stace, he tossed around a few things to say. He then finally let a small sigh escape from the closed lips. “ Well, yes actually. It’s nothing to worry about though” Shaant assured Stace, hoping to not drag on this part of the conversation. Though he himself, A Ravenclaw liked details he just hoped Stace would just not care, she could be like the others girls in school, mere flower pots, or she could be different.

[Anastasia Masters]

[/b][/color] Oddly enough, there wasn't an edge of sarcasm in Staci's words. Actually, she hardly ever used sarcasm in her voice. She got too much of that from Troy.

As Shaant ran his hand along the base of his neck, a sudden urge to do something for Shaant came over Stace. Just the look of.... not agony, but something close to it, in Shaants's eyes made compassion flow through her. She wanted to give him a hug, or something just to make him feel better. Obviously, she couldn't act on that impulse. But the feeling was still there, none the less. Stretching out her fingers, Stace spoke lightly "Yeah, I am. You make pretty good company Shaant." Throwing a light grin Shaant's way, Staci continued on to glance around.

The nightlife in Hogsmeade was interesting to her. For a girl who had lived in the muggle world only as a child, she didn't realize that the hustle and bustle only slightly resembled that of a large city at night. At heart, Anastasia was a country girl. The throngs of people were just the slightest bit intimidating to her. Sure, she could make her way through a big crowd without too much trouble. Honestly though, she was much rather go to a cabin by the lake, or somewhere else. Not nessicarly to be by herself, but just to not be surrounded by hundreds of people all looking for a bargain.

There was something about the way that Shaant tried to shrug off Staci's question that made her realize that, dispite his words, there was defenitly something going on that he didn't exactly want to share with her. Though her curiosity was beginning to peak, not something that happened super often with Staci, she knew better than to push it. Within her family, with siblings who had such different personalities, you tended to get beat on when you asked too many questions. Staci knew better than to ask when something was bugging one of her brothers, they usually got super defensive. Not that she was expecting Shaant to go all 'older brother' on her. But still, she knew that he may not appreciate her prying. "Oh, okay." Staci shrugged her shoulders, though she was still hesitant to let the subject go. Not really wanting to let thing, whatever it was, go, Anastasia decided to say the most un-prodding thing she could. "But, ummm... if you wanted to talk or something...." She trailed off, still trying to seem as open as possible "I've been told I'm a pretty good listener." A sudden gust of wind ruffled Stace's hair again and sent a light shiver down her spine. Maybe she should have grabbed a scarf after all.[/ul][/size]