before i'm dead; open

[caelum maxwell rynan]

--Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep--

Caelum stared at the canopy held high above his bed, his expression blank except for the small frown tugging at the corner of his mouth. How did he get here? This was the second night in a row he’d found himself unable to recall the night before. He couldn’t remember returning to his dorm or tumbling into his bed.. Yet here he was.

The crease between his eyebrows deepened, as it always did when he fell into heavy thought. Minutes passed before he decided to shrug away the why’s and how’s. This wasn’t the first time he’d woken to find that he couldn’t remember his actions the night before and most definitely wouldn’t be his last. So what did it matter? Reaching over, Caelum tugged at the curtain around his bed, drawing it back slightly. He regretted it immediately, when the bright rays of the sun hit his eyes and a sharp, unforgiving pain sliced it’s way across his head. The pain pressed on behind his left eye in particular, irritating his ear in the process.

Oh, how he hated hangovers.

Lifting an arm to shield his eyes from the light, the Slytherin blinked away the white spots that danced in his vision and glanced around the beds. His room-mates were still fast asleep and a glance at his watch told him that it was still early. 5:42 am to be exact. For a second, Caelum considered going back to sleep. But between his aching head and his roommates monstrous snoring, he knew he wouldn’t be able to.

‘Fucking brilliant.’

Rubbing a hand over his face, he began to shuffle from his bed, kicking his sheets away as he went. The air in the room was cold without his quilt and it caused the hairs on his arms to raise. Ignoring the cold and the shiver that tickled it’s way up his spine when his bare feet touched icy concrete, Caelum moved to the end of his bed and noiselessly opened his trunk. He dressed right there, switching his boxers for fresh ones. Since it was a Sunday morning and school robes weren’t a necessary he dressed himself in a pair of grey muggle sweat pants and a thin white cotton v-neck shirt that clung to his lean build. He didn’t particularly care what he was wearing, just as long as he was dressed. Last of all he pulled on a pair of thick white socks and pushed up the sleeves of his shirt to the crease of his elbow.
Fully dressed yet still horribly hung over, Caelum made his way from his room. He left the cold Dungeons that housed his common room and made his way up to the higher levels of the castle.

The tall corridors were quiet, but Caelum didn’t mind. Quiet was what he wanted right now. If he heard anything louder than a pin drop he’d snap. He was sure of it. He needed to get this hangover sorted. But of course he wouldn’t. Not yet at least. The pain would be punishment for allowing himself to slip so far. Yet again. This was the second morning in a row that he’d woken with little memory of his activities the night before. Caelum knew that his behaviour was getting beyond ridiculous but he wasn’t quite sure how to stop. In fact he didn’t know if he wanted to stop anymore. Was there any point? What did he have to stop for? Who did he have to stop for? No one. The idea of carrying on down the path of self-destruction was heavily tempting. It always was.
Except he shouldn’t. He couldn’t. Because his mother would never forgive herself and his little sister would never forgive him. The corners of his mouth twisted down into a frown and his head throbbed twice as hard. Thinking was not helping his aching head at all.

‘Fuck it.’

He couldn’t be arsed with the hangover. What was he, forcing himself to live through the pain, some sort of masochist? No. Pocketing his hands, he made a sharp turn, heading down a different corridor.
___

The Hospital Wing was empty but for one sleeping student he vaguely recognised as a fifth year Gryffindor by the name of ‘Gimmly.’ Grunting unintelligently to himself, Caelum crossed over to an empty bed in the corner of the room and sat down on it’s edge. He dropped his head into his hands, rested his elbows down on his knees and closed his eyes. The nurse would turn up sooner or later.

[KARISSA NATALIA MANCUSO]

Getting plastered was always fun. Pulling an all nighter was even more fun. Mix the two together? Extreme fun with extreme consequences in the very near future, but not now. That's normally how it was for Karissa Mancuso. She didn't care about future consequences, she only cared about the here and the now. And here and now, she had just gotten plastered and pulled an all nighter with her dormmates. Of course, Karissa was the ditsy drunk, so she had fallen a time or two, resulting in a probable sprain of her wrist. Nothing the nurse couldn't fix in the morning, so Karissa didn't bother taking herself to the Hospital Wing at all that night.

Karissa's drinking rampage started at about nine o'clock that night. They had all kinds of alcohol that everyone had somehow or another acquired. Firewhiskey, scotch, even vodka (which, mind you, wasn't as tasty as it sounded). And now, laying scattered throughout the fifth year girl's dorm room was empty bottles. Empty bottles that the girls needed to get rid of before the Slytherin Head did a surprise dorm inspection. But none of that mattered to Karissa. All that mattered to her was sleep. She had a small headache, one that would probably get worse as the day progressed, but a headache nonetheless. It was now four in the morning, and the Karissa's other dormmates were all laying on their beds, either passed out or close to it. Amateurs. Karissa knew how to handle her alcohol, and she knew the spells to take away headaches and bad breath that were associated with alcohol consumption. If only she could rest her eyes for just a moment..

The next thing Karissa knew, she was in a deep, dreamless slumber. The only thing that woke her up was the sunlight that was peeking through the window next to her bed, along with her ears ringing with the other girl's voices. "Karissa, wake up!" one girl shouted, and the others moaned, probably due to whatever headaches they had. "Cover the damn window, it's making my head hurt more!" Karissa shook her head and sat up, shielding her eyes from the sunlight as she reached up to the window and pulled the curtains over it, letting darkness fall back over the room. Almost simultaneously with the covering over the window, all of the other girls went back to sleep. Karissa couldn't go back to sleep, though. The pain was too much. At first, she thought it was her headache, and so she said a quick spell and the headache became one of minor proportions, still there but barely. Even after doing this, however, there was still pain. It took Karissa a few moments to realize that it was her wrist.

When she fell last night, she must have fallen hard. It didn't feel like just a sprain anymore; it felt like it was broken. The Slytherin Chaser couldn't have a broken wrist, especially not with the first practice approaching so quickly. Wasn't there a spell to fix broken bones? Well, if there was, Karissa didn't know it. Oh, and that potion to mend bones was just dreadful. Karissa had to drink that on more than one occasion during her years at Hogwarts, and the stuff wasn't good tasting at all. Begrudgingly, Karissa got up out of her bed and threw on a pair of black sweatpants along with a green shirt. It was only five thirty in the morning, who would be down in the Hospital Wing that Karissa needed to impress? Chances were, nobody.

Karissa cradled her arm as she made her way down the steps to her dorm. She checked quickly to make sure that nobody was in the common room and darted out of the portrait.

As she made her way up the stairs, she examined her wrist. She had fallen the first time on her way up the stairs to her dorm after they had left the common room when the younger students were complaining of the noise. That was at about midnight. Karissa had not-so-politely told them to fuck off, but followed her dormmates up the stairs any way. She tripped up the stairs and caught herself with her right hand, holding the bottle of firewhiskey up in the air so it wouldn't hit the ground and break. The second time she had fallen, she fell off of her bed almost directly after she had fallen the first time, landing on her right hand yet again. After that, she knew it was hurt, but it didn't feel as if it was broken. Karissa shook her head. That's what alcohol does to you, she thought. Lucky for her, Karissa wasn't the type of person to lose her memory when she got hammered. If she did, then she would have probably had a bunch of pregnancies without knowing who the father was by now.

Karissa pushed open the door to the Hospital Wing with her back,still cradling her arm against her chest. It seemed that she was wrong when she had said that there was nobody that she would need to impress in the Hospital Wing. There was two males in beds; one, she didn't recognize, nor did she care to recognize him, and the other was a Slytherin by the name of Rynan. Karissa's parents knew his parents, but she didn't particularly know the boy. His name was something that started with a C. Or maybe it was a K.. No, it was definitely a C. She wasn't going to trouble herself with remembering his name, because chances are it wouldn't come to her. Karissa sat in one of the chairs across from the bed he was sitting in and stared at him for a couple of seconds, trying to firgure out what was wrong with him, before sitting back against the back of the chair and crossing her legs. "Rynan, right?" she said, delicately resting her wrist on the armrest of the chair

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[caelum maxwell rynan]

Caelum didn’t think a minute had passed since he’d closed his eyes to rest his weary mind. A voice, quiet and unfamiliar met his ears and processed in his mind, slow and disjointed. It took him a second to realise that he wasn’t dreaming, someone had actually spoken. It took him half a minute more to realise that the person who had spoken had asked him a question and would no doubt want a reply. For a moment he considered feigning sleep to forgo talking to whoever it was who had joined him. After all It was entirely possible that he could have fallen asleep in the position he was currently sat in.

Although he wasn't in a talking mood. At all. Caelum still decided to acknowledge the other person. Fluttering open his eyes, he winced against the bright sunlight and once again used his arm to shield the it from his face. The dull ache that pressed at his skull raged on and his stomach began to churn unhappily. Groaning mentally, Caelum shifted further down the bed so that the beam of sunlight that was shining through a crack in the curtains no longer touched him. Satisfied, Caelum looked at the person sat across from him. It took him a minute but he eventually he recognized the girl. Her name was Karissa Mancuso. He knew this because she was in his house and well known as probably one of the most popular girls in her year. That and Caelum never did forget a face, he'd always been pretty good at remembering names and faces.

"Yeah, Rynan. Karissa right?" He wasn't entirely sure why he was conversing with Karissa because he'd never spoken with her before. At least not that he could remember. She really wasn't the kind of person he'd choose to speak with. He figured it was because he needed something or someone to focus on in order to distract himself from the horrible churning in his stomach and the waves of dizziness that kept rearing their ugly head.

Ugh. He felt like utter shit. Where the hell was the Matron? Caelum wondered if she was asleep, it was very early after all. Still shouldn't she be here in case of emergencies or something? But he supposed if there was an emergency they'd just wake her. Brilliant. Breathing out a slow and deliberate sigh, Caelum returned his attention to his new focal point, Karissa. "What are you doing here?" He eyed her over again, his gaze mildly curious. She didn’t appear hurt. Maybe she too had a hangover? It did look like she was holding her wrist funny, but maybe that was Caelums imagination.

[KARISSA NATALIA MANCUSO]

He had to be kidding, right? Most people didn't have to ask her name. They didn't even question who she was. Karissa Mancuso had to be one of the most known (and hated, by the way) girls in Slytherin, save for Hogwarts too. Honestly, the only reason that Karissa asked who the guy in front of her was, was so that he might tell her his first name. Hell, she wouldn't mind getting on a first name basis with him. She knew his last name thanks to her father. Their parents worked at the Ministry together. Well, Rynan's father was a tad higher up in the Ministry, seeing as he was the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Tomato, Tomahto. Either way, they both worked at the Ministry, and Karissa's father had informed her of all of the students in Slytherin whose parents worked with him, and Rynan was one of the first, because he was so high up in the Ministry.

When Karissa got out of school, she planned on getting the position of Senior Undersecretary. She knew plenty of ways to get the current Senior Undersecretary, whether it be whatshisname Rynan or somebody else, out of the position. The way she saw it, she would have the position with in a couple of months of working at the Ministry. The very thought made her smile. She would be working above both of her parents, which would be a huge joy for her. Imagine her, Karissa Mancuso, with more power in the Ministry than her own parents, especially her own idiot of a mother. Not that she hated her mother, no. Her mother's rules just pissed Karissa off.

However, Karissa wasn't so sure that the boy actually meant to ask her name. He seemed hesitant to pick his head up. He had looked a little confused when he did look at her, so maybe he had been hit with a confundus charm or something. Nobody could ever not know who Karissa was. Yes, that was it. He was hit with a confundus charm.

But Karissa herself had been all too familiar with that unpleasant look on Rynan's face and the distance in his eyes. He must have been doing the same thing as Karissa last night. Then the boy asked what she was doing here, and she had half the mind to say 'Mind your own damn business, Caelum', but--

That was his name. Caelum. A tiny smirk made it's way to Karissa's features at her own realization. Her father had mentioned his name once or twice while he was telling her about his father. To finish her previous thought, Karissa couldn't say that, because her father told her to be nice to the kid. Not just for her father's sake, but for her own sake. Her father said that Rynan Senior was some kind of relentless fucker who was a dickhead death eater. There were some other words thrown in there, but Karissa wouldn't waste her precious thoughts on the profanity that came out of her father's mouth. "Huh? Oh, my wrist. I fell a couple of times last night and sprained it or something. I honestly don't know how bad it is." She leaned back in her seat and looked out the window at the sun rising before she looked back at Caelum. She then realized that it made her sound..impolite to not ask what his problem was. "What'd you do?" she asked, most likely already knowing what was wrong with him.

NOTES :: sorry it took uber long D:
OUTFIT :: , this
WORDS :: fiveEIGHTfive
TAGGED :: Caelum!

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[caelum maxwell rynan]

Caelum's eyes fell to Karissa's wrist for a brief moment when she explained the reason why she was in here, before flicking to stare down at his knees. A wry smirk pulled at his lips when she asked what he'd done to land himself in the hospital wing. "I drank myself stupid." he explained, looking up from his knees, he added "Again." he slipped from the bed so that he was stood. When the room began to spin and his stomach lurched, he gripped the beds frame for support and closed his eyes, taking deep and heavy breaths.

He must have been mixing drinks last night. Caelum knew his body and it’s reactions to alcohol well enough to know whether he’d been mixing drinks or not. He always felt a million times worse when he mixed drinks. Of course mixing them was never a good idea. Neither was drinking until you passed out. But Caelum didn’t care.

Once he’d regained his balance he brushed passed Alycia and began to make his way down the long row of beds to where the Matrons cabinets, full of Quick fix up potions, stood. Caelum didn’t have a clue which potion he’d need or if there were ingredients he needed to make his own from scratch. Which was surprising considering the amount of times he’d ended up here pestering the Matron for a quick fix. He’d seen her mix something up for him a countless number of times. Although sometimes the cow purposely let him suffer. Apparently it served him right that he had such horrible hangovers. ‘No teenager should drink so much! I ought to report you!’

The cabinet was locked causing Caelum to curse under his breath. Typical. With a frown, Caelum turned to look at Karissa "You don't have your wand, do you?" He hadn't bothered to pick his up from his bedside, his mind having been too preoccupied with feeling like it might explode out of his skull.