The Fireplace

"Bye...Draco....." she sighs. "Blast it! I was SO CLOSE!" she picked up her bag and with a huff ran up to her room.

Severus wanders in, finally clean and fully dressed. He felt rather anxious as his collar didn't quite hide some of the marks on his neck, but there was nothing he could do about it. He sat down by the fireplace to study, pulling out his textbooks and a fresh piece of parchment.

-is bored waiting for someone new to meet-

[SEVVY........... Tam would come hang out with you but I don't think we have anything to talk about]

[I know. I won't be here much longer, is all, and I wanted to meet some of the new Slytherins. Oh monkeys, they're not on.]

Meridith woke up as she heard someone opening and closing books. "Eh? Who's here?" She said as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "You're Savris or suppim, roght?" She said with a yawn in the middle. Bigglesworth continued to snore on her lap. " 'M Meridith..."

[Who is Bigglesworth?]

Severus looked up, trying to see who was speaking to him. ""Yes. I'm Severus. Seventh year. And you are...?" he asked, looking bored and apathetic as he twirled the quill in his hand about.

[Bigglesworth is her cat]

((Thank you Tam))

"Meridith's the name...." She said as she looked at Severus. "Meridith, Fifth year....." She said with a stretch. Biggleworth looked at them them walked over to Severus and just sat and stared at him. "So, what'cha working on?"

Severus smiled at the kitty. He liked kitties. They were cute and cuddly. Very not like bolars. Bolars were scary, evil creatures. He shuddered remembering the time Dee stuck one down his pants and it tried to eat his bits. "ITSAKITTY!" he said, scratching it behind the ears. "Transfiguration. McGoogles makes her NEWT classes even worse than the others," he remarked, groaning at the workload he had been avoiding. He'd had too many things on his mind lately.

[Severus likes kitties, oh yes he does. Kitties eat bolar babies.]

Meridith jumped when he screamed about the cat. Bigglesworth purred at the extra attention. "Oh, well, that IS worth the annoyance! I can see why....so...what do you want to do after you graduate here? I'm either becoming a teacher here, OR working for the ministry....but I'm leaning more towards the teacher......" Meridith said as she flicked a wad of old paper into the fire and watched it poof up.

Severus scowled when she mentioned working for the ministry. "You really want to work for the ministry? Be another little puppet? No thanks, I'll pass. I have plans for my future, that don't involve being on the government's leash," he muttered, watching the fire turn the parchment into ash and petting the happy kitty.

Severus Snape wrote:[Severus likes kitties, oh yes he does. Kitties eat bolar babies.]

[I just laughed and fell into my friend.... then I had to explain the bolar thing... now she's laughing too... and is totally weirded out... lol]

"My parents work at the ministry, so they want to try to get me there. I'd rather work here, so many young, impressionable minds to help." She flicked another piece of paper in and watches an ember fly into the air. "It's funny, we're like this fire....never really dying for a long time.....but the muggles are like the embers, only here for a short while...." She gazed into the fire for a moment before shaking her head. "I'm sorry...you must think I'm as crazy as a dog on roller blades...."

((I'll be back, gotta do something....))

"I've heard crazier things, believe me," he chuckled. Yes, indeed. Froggie King has interesting minions, oh yes he does... he thought to himself, grinning like a loon remembering his drunken times with Pansy. Oh, shit, Pansy. His smile quickly turned into a panic. Shit. Shit. Did anyone find out about last night? Oh, hell, oh bloody hell. I'm a dead man, a dead man! He suddenly remembered he was supposed to be having a conversation, and turned back to Meredith. "The muggles are not our concern. We have better things to do with our time than bother ourselves with them. Even our time is limited, and there is much to be done in a lifetime- there are people to be influenced, and power to be gained," he replied, speaking more to himself than Meredith.

[Sevvy I hope you know I'm HIGHLY enjoying your internal Pansy panic attacks.]

[I think Meredith died. Leaving here. PM me if anyone wants to meet Sev, I'll go find you.]

Severus snapped his books shut and threw them into his bag, leaving the room again without so much as a word to the girl, though he did pet the kitty bye-bye.

[LUSCIOUS MOUTHFUL WHERE ARE YOU I SEE YOU ONLINE, I MUST MEET YOUUU!]

Meridith waved goodbye even though he was already gone. "Well, Bigglesworth...it's you and me now...." She said as she watched the fire again. Sighing Meridith pulled out her herbology paper and started to write.

Bigglesworth waited a few minutes until Meridith got absorbed into her work. Silently he sneaked away, eager to explore. 'Now, to only find that black-haired boy.....' The cat thought as it wandered the halls.

Meridith sighed and closed her book, she was done for today. She looked around and saw that Mr. Bigglesworth had wandered off. "Now where are you...meh. Let him be, he'll come back on his own." Meridith packed up her stuff and headed to bed.

Narcissa flopped on to the couch, somewhat moodily, and stared at the ceiling. A few first-years looked at her strangely and she had half a mind to give them a piece of her mind. However, that would require too much moving and she was not up for that. She sat up to look at the fire with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands and let her mind wander.

Meridith sat nearly IN the fireplace and had Bigglesworth on her stomach. "So....classes.....they are such a BITCH!" Meridith said with a laugh. A few of the first years gasped at her language, but Meridith flipped them off and looked at Narcissa. "Which are the wo-mmph!" Meridith said as she got a mouthful of paw. Removing it she looked at Mr. Bigglesworth. "That's plain rude after what I went through for you..." 'Do you think I care?' The cat said with a extremely blank stare.

Narcissa's face lightened a bit at Meridith's appearance. "I agree completely. Worst class?" she frowned a bit and looked at her wand. "Transfigurations. I just--hate the way McGonagall looks at me, you know? Always like I'm about to cause trouble."

Autumn sat right next to the fire and pulled out a book. It was moments like this that she lived for. Everything seemed right with the world as the fire warmed her face and the book took her on a journey through fantasy.