Love,
like a river,
will cut a new path
whenever it meets
an obstacle.


The blonde on the chocolate frog card had neither expected to be put down this suddenly, nor liked it. She made a loud, tutting noise and even pouted and batted her eyelashes for effect [not that Rylon saw that], but it was a mark of the seriousness of the situation that one Rylon Mahogany did not pick her up again.

“You have what?” Rylon looked and sounded huuuuge-eyed in that you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me manner that comes off as half-desperate, half-comic, and his mouth hung open in a most un-Rylon-like style. In fact, had this been the middle of a cartoon, his jaw might have fallen to the ground with a giant clang, and stayed there until the end of the next century.

“FallenforArielBonanza,” John mumbled, eyelashes lowered like some demure, bashful virgin's [in a most un-John-like style, but that goes without saying.] If the rich-and-mighty Mr. River Sr. could have seen his son right then, he'd have changed his name and moved to China.

"Say that again." Rylon sounded dead serious.

"FallenforArielBonanza."

The silence stretched between them, like a sheet of ice so fragile that a single whisper might break it into thousands of tiny pieces, stretched and stretched and stretched as John looked at Rylon [not in the eye, though. John didn't have the guts for that] and Rylon staaaared back, attempting to discover a hint - any hint - that this was all a great, big joke, like that one time John had claimed that Eva Mora's boyfriend didn't punch well. But no hint came and, at long last, Rylon could not hold it in any longer.

“Ha! HA! HA!”

The knot at the base of John's throat tightened visibly as Rylon's lips twitched, twitched again, and then the Ravenclaw burst into peals of laughter that grew louder and louder and louder -- and then Rylon was holding his stomach as he doubled over in laughter, his shoulders shaking as he didn't try to restrain himself, and John was watching him, his expression awfully pitiable [not that it affected Rylon one bit], like a big-eyed cat that is offered milk and then not given any.

“Hahaha! HAHAHAHA! You - have - got - to - be - joking - River, you have got to. Be. Joking.”

John gathered the remains of his I-am-a-hunk style and turned up his nose at his friend. This did nothing to stop Rylon's laughter, however, so he said, teeth gritted and a little furiously, "I don't see why I should be joking. Have you even seen that girl? That hair of hers? It's like it's... like it's... like it's on fire." He stopped abruptly, realizing that not only did this sound corny, it also sounded like the last thing that could be a compliment. He tried again. "I mean, it's all -"

“Get a grip,” Rylon said coolly. He picked up a handkerchief, and tossed it at John. “For wiping drool, you know.”

“I am not drooling!” John flared. Because – let’s give the guy a break - he really was not. Plus, that would be the end of his up-till-now brilliant image, the rich-and-handsome type of image [poor John had not yet realized that that image had become as useless as the P on his last Runes assignment, the moment he had set eyes on Ariel]. “I just wish that girl could imagine boys as people - always skipping about, prodding them - making me carry her luggage - never acting li -” his rant turned into a mass of dark, unhappy mutters, causing Rylon to griiiin.

Grin quite happily, in fact.

[With friends like these, who needs enemies?]

“Well -" Rylon sounded highly amused. "You’ve picked the wrong girl, this time, mate." He sprang to his feet and gave John a pat on the back - a pat that left John gasping for breath and glaring and scowling, though it did bring an end to his dark, unhappy mutters. “This is Ariel Bonanza you’re talking about. She doesn’t even know she’s pretty, why would she know she isn't supposed to poke boys in the eye for fun, all the time? I say you pack your bags and move into the lake. I'm sure you'll find a pretty female Grindylow some day that'll make you forget this unattainable love.” He looked at John, all grins in a 'See? I just solved your problem for you!' manner.

Causing John to SCOWL.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Rylon peeeered into his friend's face.

John pushed him aside, and stuck his head out of the half-open window. The train had picked up speed nearly five minutes ago, and little shrubs and tall grasses now dominated the scenery. He caught the glimpse of a giant tower - perhaps of a church - in the far, far distance, followed by that of a tiny house that looked like it belonged to the seven dwarfs. Snow-white and the seven dwarfs, remember?

“So, Johnoldman." Rylon had not given up yet. He still sounded highly amused, and that irked John faaar more than how his friend could not give it a rest. “Going to tell her, now?” He smirked as he said this, the smirk of someone fully aware that acting on the statement he has just uttered borders on the impossible. John couldn't tell Ariel, not unless his desire-of-a-lifetime happened to be getting hit on the head by a huuuge beater's bat.

"I -" John scowwwwled at Rylon. “I am not an old man - and for the record, no." He looked away, again. “She would just give me that crazy stare of hers, if I did. Maybe poke me in the eye and skip off. I –”

“Yes?” Rylon's smirk had yet to leave.

John looked up, finally meeting Rylon's eye. “I’m going to make Ariel Bonanza fall in love with me, if it’s the last thing I do,” he said calmly.

Rylon raised an eyebrow and then, as John continued to hold his gaze, realized that a smirk no longer played around his mouth. John sounded calm, perfectly calm and that, more than anything else, made Rylon's forehead crease, even if slightly. He had seen John River stubbornly determined before, and no good had ever come of it.

It stood to reason that none should come, now.



Reference:

[] "Love, like a river -" Crystal Middlemas.

Great chappie Maxie!

For someone who is a girl... You have captured the joking and playing around of us guys very well! I can see me and my friends talking like this, really!

Loooved this bit! Rylon's such a good friend, eh?!

Thaaank you! <33

Aww. Maybe that's because I used to hang out a lot with guys? /was pretty much a tomboy. =D

Glad to know that and yeah, he sure is.

Hello Maxie. Ah the ups and downs of youth and new love. How can anything so wonderful be so painful to attain? I guess if one realizes how hard it was to get, then it makes one appreciate and work harder to keep it. Poor poor John.
You write so wonderfully Maxie. And what makes it even better is that Rylon and John remind me of how I picture Sirius and James being when James fell for Lilly. Is that wrong of me? If it makes you feel bad, then I'll not say anything like it again. But, I don't see how it could be wrong to get compared equally to JK Rowling. She is one of my all time favorite writers, and you are right up there with her.
Great post Maxie. I'll be watching for your next.

Haha Great Post Maxie!

I am beyond jealous of your writing ability! I love this!!

PAMS!

loved it!!

That so sounds like any rich father!

Oh my gosh!!! that made me laugh so hard!!

I agree

Stuff like this, with John and Rylon's relationship as a whole, makes me laugh and feel all warm and fuzzy at the same time. I can't wait to see if John will stay true to his promise of making Ariel love him.

Knowing you, something shifteh this way comes. -pounces-

Thank you and no, that's not wrong at all. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy and REALLY honoured. I don't think I'm anywhere near as good as J. K, and there are so many authors on SS that are better than me, but it's always good to know that someone enjoys my work. Thanks. <3

Iloveyou. <3

Thank you, sweetie. <3

GORGEOUS! 'Tis YOU! *points and hugs* <33

Thankies. *clingstothyhead*

YAY! Glad to know you likey. ^___^



Aww. Aren't you the most awesome. <33

*falls over* RAWR. =DD <33

YAY new post and so soon too! Loved it, as always. Favorite line:



and uh I so don't trust Mr. John River. Tututut.

I only post as fast as y'all comment.

YAY for RoRawr likeyiiing it. <33

John: *EYES*

I like his laugh. xD

More, more, more! <3

A friend is one to whom
one may pour out all the contents
of one's heart,
chaff and grain together,
knowing that the gentlest of hands
will take and sift it,
keep what is worth keeping
and with a breath of kindness
blow the rest a w a y.


Later that day, three girls sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express that shut the rest of the globe outside, and locked an air of cozy privacy inside.

The dark-haired Philippine, head and neck and most of her shoulders hidden, as per custom, behind a laaaarge magazine titled Runes and Dead Languages, vol. VXI, peeked out at one point, and smiled at Ariel [curled round a basket containing a small kitten, a kitten fast asleep and [thankfully] unaware of how interestedly and HAPPILY Ariel was staaaaring at it] and Ruby [re-painting her nails and looking at her reflection in a small hand mirror].

“It's nearly time," she said, putting down the paper. It made some familiar, crinkly noises as Philippine folded it neatly [Ruby hated how neatly Philippine folded papers; it just didn't seem natural, not to her] and caused both of her friends to look up. [The kitten in the basket chose this moment to open it eyes, and never realized that Ariel had been staaaaring at it all happily, all the time it had been asleep. Good for the little thing, even though Ariel didn't mean any harm, just found the kitty squishy and huggable]. "The train is going to stop any minute, now. Better change.”

Ruby's bottle of nail-polish clattered dramatically to the floor, causing the kitten to jump right out of its basket and land in Ariel's lap [Ariel SQUEE'ed and hugged it]. "Goodness, you're right." She sounded mortified, as she scrambled to her feet, and scrambled to pick up her nail-polish, and scrambled to find her flask of Madame Genelia's Luscious Curls Hair Potion. "I can’t believe – how could I have lost track of time - have to look perfect – haven't painted my toenails yet - must curl my hair – Merlin, so much to do –”

“Fashion freak and fashion emergency,” Ariel commented happily, as she put the kitten back in its basket, patted the top of its head [the kitten blinked uncertainly] and, quite unceremoniously, picked up something that looked like a pile of ironed rags. This pile of looked-like-ironed-rags happened to be one of her old set of school robes. Cameron Bonanza had tried her best to discard it [she had even sneaked into Ariel's room for this purpose under the pretense of looking for a missing sock, once] but the robes had survived, and the oblivious Ariel continued to enjoy their coziness.

It took them fifteen minutes [give or take a few, of course] to slip out of their dresses, and into their school robes - Ruby persuaded Ariel that her faded robes were a hazard to society in general, and should not be so much as touched, let alone worn - and, as the train neared Hogsmeade station, the sole source of commotion in the girls' compartment happened to be Ruby, fervently applying copious amounts of the curling potion on her hair, and attempting to set it into loose curls - being boyfriend-less at the moment after having broken up with her millionth one over the summer, she felt the need to sparkle. [Not that she had ever not felt that need.] There might, after all, be someone good-looking enough at the start-of-term feast.

Besides, that new transfer was hot. John River, wasn't that his name?

“Does my hair look okay?” Ruby held up her hand-mirror as she patted her hair, and began to apply blush-on [Ariel thought it must be a refined type of lipstick, her knowledge of fashion being a little less than zero. The one reason she sometimes ended up sporting fashionable hats and bags and other things? Those kinds of things sliiightly annoyed her mother, and Ariel had always made a business of doing things that did so. She'd always thought her mother looked simply adorable, fussing over her heckofadaughter.]

“It looks gorgeous,” Philippine's response sounded learned-by-heart. “I sometimes -"

“I say," Ariel suddenly cut through, giving Philippine an oh-so-happy, 'aren't-you-glad-I-saved-you-from-having-to-tell-Ruby-how-awesome-she-is?' look. "I saaaay, WHO is Ruby dressing up for? Didn't she and Greg break up over the summer?" Since Ruby pointedly ignored this statement, Ariel proceeded to snatch her make-up kit.

Ruby turned round and glared. “I broke up with Darren, and not Greg, over the summer,” she said, holding her head just a little too high as she grabbed her makeup kit from one end and puuuuulleddd. Ariel pulled at it from the opposite direction, and the magical makeup kit made a face and shriiieeked, causing both to let go at once and craaash --- lipsticks and whatnot all over the floor. Ruby had no time to be angry though, because a question had just occurred to Philippine.

“Wait - if Darren's the one you ditched, who in Merlin's cheese is Greg?” Philippine sounded genuinely perplexed. “To think I was so sure you were dating someone called Greg!”

Ruby, face until now frozen in mid-scowl, coloured splendidly. “I was,” she said. “For, err, a week before I began dating Darren.” Then, in a valiant attempt to ignore Ariel's smirk, and how Philippine's jaw had clanged open, she said, “You're going to help me pick up all of those thing, both of you, since it's not my fault that they're on -”

All three of them jumped as the train screeched to an unexpected, jarring halt. Something crashed to the floor in the compartment next to them, and Philippine made a dive for Ruby, pushing her out of the way just in time to avoid the trunk that slipped from the top berth, and crashed to the floor, landing at the exact spot Ruby had occupied only moments ago.



Reference:

[] "A friend is one to whom -" 'Tis an Araaabian proverb. Yo! =D

EEEEP.

*catches up*

Beautiful updates, MAXERS!! And I like this Philippine character of yours.

:tackle:

I WANT MOAAAR.

Aww. *snugs the prettybug*

Thaaank you. I'm sure she likeys you, too. <33

-falls over-
O=

I love how you add these Rylon and the blond moments in the story. They're fun.

Parts that made me lol a loooooot:

Quote:

In fact, had this been the middle of a cartoon, his jaw might have fallen to the ground with a giant clang, and stayed there until the end of the next century.

Quote:

“FallenforArielBonanza,” John mumbled, eyelashes lowered like some demure, bashful virgin's [in a most un-John-like style, but that goes without saying.] If the rich-and-mighty Mr. River Sr. could have seen his son right then, he'd have changed his name and moved to China.

Quote:

That hair of hers? It's like it's... like it's... like it's on fire.

Quote:

“Get a grip,” Rylon said coolly. He picked up a handkerchief, and tossed it at John. “For wiping drool, you know.”

Quote:

[With friends like these, who needs enemies?]

Quote:

I say you pack your bags and move into the lake. I'm sure you'll find a pretty female Grindylow some day that'll make you forget this unattainable love.

Quote:

It stood to reason that none should come, now.

Noooooz!

Great post Maxoo!!

~~Jay~~

Thanks/ glad to know you likey.

Thank youuu, cuzma'am. *hugs thy head*

still learning English my tush!!

Love it!!!!!! PAMS!!

But I aaaaam!

Thaank you. Shall do, m'Gorgeous. <33

I love these cliques of girls and guys. They're too funny.

Merlin's cheese. XD I need to use that phrase now.

Ruby is such a typical girl. Glitter, sparkles, and overly concerned with boys. I like Ariel better: not as materialistic or concerned with what others think of her ragged clothes.

More? *O* <3

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gossssssh! Just caught up!
Love the story Maxie! Post more soon.

Aww. *snuggle*

Merlin's cheese, it's the Melelell!

I never knew how to describe Ariel, but after Connie said she's like Luna, I think so too. &&weallloveLuna, right?

Soooon. <33

Hehe, thaaank you.

Shall do.

Lovely job Maxie! I love Ariel, and her permanent happiness

Thaaank you, Gabyy. <33

Maxxxxiiiieee!!!!

I Love these with a passion!!!

Your so talented!

And Ariel totally reminds me of a future charrie I though up awhile back.