so damn hot

[STERLING ELIJAH SLOPER]

As usual, Sterling was skipping class. Transfiguration just wasn’t his cup of tea. Oddly enough, the class was working with tea cups that afternoon, not that Sterling had any idea what sort of spell could turn a teacup a different color or into another object or maybe even an animal. He left that sort of stuff to the brainiest of Hogwarts. With all this free time and not much to do, Sterling often busied himself practicing the one thing he’d ever dedicated himself to, his favorite subject. There was only one class that Sterling never skipped, and he often blamed this on the fact that Professor Weasley was a total fox, but in reality, he really enjoyed it and was especially taken with the subject. Defense Against the Dark Arts was a secret passion of his, one that, stereotypically, didn’t fit well with Slytherins. But Sterling wasn’t a typical Slytherin.

The dueling arena was always empty during the school day, only really in use after school for open practice hours and twice a week when Anthony Shacklebolt came to instruct the students. Sterling, not really liking the hubbub surrounding the club, didn’t attend, but often came around and lurked, watching other students practice their skills, picking up tips here and there. Not many people took him seriously, and it was easy for him to turn anything into a joke when people were around. Things he took seriously he kept private, and his affinity for dueling was one of them. True, it was tough to really get good at dueling when you didn’t have a human partner, but the dummies in the arena were charmed to simulate in such ways. “Rictusempra!” he yelled, whipping his wand in the direction of one dummy, hitting it squarely between where its eyes would have been, turning on the spot and immediately yelled “Stupefy!” hitting a second dummy in the chest.

Smiling, satisfied with his drill, he took a seat on one of the edges of the area. There was stadium-like seating on either side of the elongated arena, and multiple obstacles and other barricades were sporadically placed around the wide, elliptical dueling space. He was content to sit in silence for a moment, a very un-Sterling-like thing to do. But everyone had their quiet place, didn’t they?

TAGS: Cassandra Longbottom
WORDS: 383
OUTFIT: CLICK!
NOTES: This plottttttt.

[CASSANDRA JOAN LONGBOTTOM]

Xander's influence on Cassie had been much greater than anyone probably realised. Right now she was suppose to be at potions, but the homework required for took more time than it seemed possible. She was given a night or two and every thing that had the information on it was missing from the library because all her classmates had beat her there. So now, she had an unfinished essay which would be finished as soon as she found a place to write something out. The Dueling Area was never in use during school hours, that would be the best place. The worst part about skipping was if the potions professor thought to ask her father if she was ill and when he responded with an "I don't think so" that would lead to a long lecture she did not want to hear. Hell, she would probably break down crying from the guilt of skipping.

Maybe she could find someone to teach her to be a better actress. Then she could pretend to be sick and when her father came to talk to her he would feel bad and understand her completely. Of course, then she would feel bad about lying and burst down in tears after that. Hell, she needed to learn how to not feel so guilty. It was too bad she could not find Xander yet, maybe he was in a class he cared about. That was fine, she could just hide by herself and hope she did not get caught. She finally arrived at the closed doors of the dueling area, she opened one of the great, wooden doors just enough for her tiny body to slip in. Cassie turned around and leaned against the door as it closed, success so far.

She opened her eyes and saw a boy already in the room. "Oh, um, you don't mind if I sta-hang in here do you?" she had been about to say stay, but her mouth seemed to disagree and thought that "hang" fit much better. She adjusted her backpack and made her way to the seats he was at. She set her bag next to her and pulled out her unfinished homework. "Kinda have important stuff to do," she waved the parchment in the air while her free hand searched her bag for a quill and ink. Confidence, Cassie thought, gain some confidence.

tag: sterling sloper
outfit: here
words: 397
notes: looooooove

[STERLING ELIJAH SLOPER]

He’s been repeating the drill over and over again, to the point of near physical exhaustion. Performing dueling spells took a lot out of someone, especially when performed so vigorously at so frequent a pace. Lifting a hand to his forehead, he wiped a little bit of sweat off his brow. He wasn’t sweating profusely, just enough to be aware of the heat on his cheeks and his head. Taking in a deep breath, he exhaled just as he heard the large doors to the arena squeaking open. Sterling glanced upward, not particularly worried about seeing a faculty member standing at the door. Authority didn’t really bother him much anymore, and he had so many detentions lined up that the prospect of another didn’t really scare him.

Instead, there was a pale girl with dark features. She had small lips that blended to her face, and there was something about the way that her shoulders curved that caught his attention. She had hollow cheekbones, but eyes, those eyes, that were uncharacteristically sharp, in a way he’d never really seen before. Had he seen her before? Who was she? Surely he must have, because he’d been at this school for almost seventh year, and she had to have been here for at least four of those years with him. If he had seen her before, he surely hadn’t had the pleasure the observe her like he was now. She spoke.

“Not at all,” he said, leaning off the barrier to the stands, and sweeping a hand around him, as if offering her to come over. Before he’d even done so, though, she made her way over towards him. A half-smile curiously spread to the left side of his face, his right eyebrow raised a little bit in thought. She was flapping a piece of parchment around, simultaneously digging into her bag in search of something, a quill maybe? He coughed a bit, completely taken aback by her complete disinterest in his person. He took this as a person hit, especially since he was so completely confounded by her.

“And what’s that?” Sterling saw no harm in placing a hand hard on the barrier, vaulting his legs over it so that he could climb to where she was, behind her actually, in order to peer over her shoulder and examine her parchment. He was aware that his face was dangerously close to hers, but he had a very nice smelling aftershave, so he wasn’t worried. Not that he ever was. This was Sterling.

TAGS: Cassandra Longbottom
WORDS: 421
OUTFIT: CLICK!
NOTES: <3

[CASSANDRA JOAN LONGBOTTOM]

Cassie smiled when the boy said he didn't mind. She kept her eyes down, failing at keeping confidence. "Thanks," she lifted her head up a bit to meet his eyes. Only, then did she truly take in his appearance. His hair looked rather unkempt, as if it hadn't been washed in a few days. Unshaven, and seemed to have a good layer of sweat. Obviously though, he had been practicing dueling and what she had heard from her brother, dueling took a lot out of you. She preferred standing on the sidelines and letting someone else handle the rough and tough aspects. Not to mention that she was never much of a fighter. Although, besides those aspects the boy had decent features. There seemed to be the minimum requirement put into keeping his shape, deep eyes that seemed to go in contrast to her own, and blimey was he tall.

The boy jumped over the barrier and sat behind her, to add to that if she turned her head even a little bit to the side her nose would certainly hit his cheek. That thought alone made her blush. Why was she getting attention from boys lately? Sure, she might have decided to make a few life changes as of late, but it was not like her boobs grew two sizes. She was still a twiggy little Hufflepuff that had no real idea about romance. Being completely honest even the idea of sex grossed her out, no matter what she was told. Still, more and more boys were becoming interested in her and her homework. Linus would advise her not to question it and simply go with it. "Um, well, hopefully it will be my potions essay once I finish it," she pulled out the quill and then the ink. "It was due today but I figured if I found a good enough hiding spot I might be able to get it finished, and hopefully the professor won't go asking my dad where I was," she rambled.

She could actually smell how close he was, it was a decent aftershave with just a hint of sweat. Cassie looked over at him through the corner of her eye, refusing to turn completely. "So, erm, while we're both here, we might as well do introductions," Cassie scooted a bit further on the bench so she could properly turn, "Cassie Longbottom, Hufflepuff." He'd probably hear Longbottom and go back to his business. Unless he was like Xander and found more interest in her for some reason. Though she still didn't understand half of what was starting in her social life this school year. Just don't question it, that would be Linus, she knew it would.

tag: sterling sloper
outfit: here
words: 397
notes: looooooove

[STERLING ELIJAH SLOPER]

From inhaling naturally, he picked up a pleasant smell. Day-old perfume, or maybe just her appealing natural odor? He was unaware of possibly making her uncomfortable by being so close; any sense of discomfort from social awkwardness was voided by him, his sense for those kinds of things had been dulled from a very early age. At least she answered him without tripping over her words again, which, he had to admit, had been adorable the first time she’d done it. Did he sense the heat from a blush? It was too quick a sense to tell, and he wasn’t quite ready to pull away from her yet.

He smirked, leaning backwards a little bit at the idea of homework. Productivity was something he would, most likely, never encourage. When it came to homework, school work, and studying at least. “If you put it off this long, you obviously don’t want to do it. Why do it, then?” he observed, replying to her after she’d finished speaking. Well, replying to the first part of her little speech. It wasn’t until after he’d replied was he smacked in the face by her comment about her father. Family friends? Was she related to a professor? Sterling was horribly out of the loop when it came to gossip on professors. He’d talked to a number of them only a handful of times. The headmaster, deputy head, and head of his house, however, were a different story. They all got along just splendidly, as he was being disciplined by one of them nearly every other day.

She turned herself around to face him, and he was once again slapped across the face with the intensity of her two sharp blue eyes. He saw no problem with introductions, as he’d probably have pressed her for her name sooner or later. How nice it was to have the lady want to know his! Most of the time he got a “buzz off, creep!”. When they were sober, anyways. Longbottom? Herbology’s daughter? “Sterling Sloper, Slytherin,” He responded in a fashion similar to hers, holding out a hand to shake hers with. As soon as she placed her small hand in his, though, he turned his grip so that he was holding her fingers, and lifted the back of her hand towards his lips, as if to kiss it. But just before they touched, he let it linger there for a moment, his dark gaze colliding with hers, and then he lifted her hand away from his mouth and into the air slightly, as if in cheers.

With that, he stood up off the bench and vaulted over the arena barrier again, turning around to walk backwards as he addressed her once more, trying to imagine how so intricate a girl could have come from so bumbling and silly a professor. “I’m sure there are lots more interesting things you could do with your fifth period than write a potions essay that’s already late.” He smirked, but it turned into a wide grin as he slowed a little bit, standing idly in the center of the large arena.

TAGS: Cassandra Longbottom
WORDS: 520
OUTFIT: CLICK!
NOTES: I assumed she’d shake his hand, if that’s alright, haha.

[CASSANDRA JOAN LONGBOTTOM]

Sterling did bring up a fair point, and it was rather accurate. There were many classes that Cassie stressed in though, and had always had trouble doing the homework all at once. Some days she would wake up early in the morning just to finish what ever she needed to do. "Well, because, it's important. If I don't do it getting a zero will effect my grade negatively than a fifty would. So it makes sense to have something instead of nothing in this case," She shrugged. Cassie cared about her schoolwork, a lot. Since she was a little girl she was convinced that any bad grade, even one, would set her future as a homeless witch that was trying to mooch of anyone and everyone. Personally, Cassie was not fond of that fate and would do anything to make sure she was set for her future. And hopefully her future was set traveling around and discovering new plants and their properties. If worst came to worst, she'd just take over teaching Herbology when her father retired.

She smiled at Sterling. For a moment she was convinced he was going to kiss her hand when she went in for a hand shake, she let her smile drop for a second. Then, he pulled away. The girl had heard nothing about this boy, and she knew for a fact that he wasn't on a Quidditch team. That was one social event that she enjoyed going to all the time. "How come I haven't seen you around school before?" she asked curiously, "Are you in dueling? My brother's in that, I'm not but then I'm rubbish with casting offensive and defensive spells," she said, in an attempt to start conversation. The boy stood up and made his way back to the barrier, she watched him carefully. Merlin only knew what this boy was like.

"Well, yeah, there's a lot of stuff I'd rather be doing, but homework is important," she argued. Cassie was curious as to what this boy was thinking. "Should I be worried that your plotting my instant demise? Or are you being goofy?" Her blue eyes squinted as she watched him move to the center. She was only slightly tempted to join him up there. However, it was not enough to make her get off the bench. How stupid of her too, here was this boy that seemed to be wanting to kill time and she was too naive to even think that he could be interested in her. He was not some creepy boy attempting to pull her away and into the forbidden forest. No, he was just a goof ball, that much was evident. Still, Cassie was too stupid to even realize what was happening around her lately.

tag: sterling sloper
outfit: here
words: 416
notes: yeah it's fine. gah they'd make beautiful babies.

[STERLING ELIJAH SLOPER]

Because its important. He resisted scoffing, instead just tilting his head back a little and closing his eyes for a split second. Important was a relative term. Important for the class? Maybe. It depended on how much the paper counted for her grade. Important for the school year? On the grand scheme of things, he was sure there were other things that were more monumental. Important for…everything? Certainly not. A potions essay was perhaps the least important thing he could think of. It would have little to no impact on the rest of her life. What on earth could be so special about that measly little essay that would stay with her until she died, or something of that nature? Surely he wasn’t completely in the right in his thinking, but it was how he thought about things. This sort of thinking made him who he was. He didn’t press the subject, just shrugging his shoulders in response. He didn’t want to turn her off with his strong beliefs on the matter.

“I like to keep a low profile,” he said with a sarcastic sneer as he jumped over the barrier. He couldn’t suppress his natural smile, which was surely apparent as he turned around and started to amble backwards towards the middle of the arena, continuing to talk to her as he did. “Not in dueling, no.” It was a shame really. He was quite talented. Actually, it was really the only thing he was good at, but he was modest in that respect (if there’s one thing Sterling isn’t, it’s cocky). But he didn’t dedicate himself too much, and the mere idea of having to show up at a certain time for meetings turned him off to the idea completely. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, feigning pity, winking at her as he stopped in the middle of the arena.

There she went again. He couldn’t resist giving an opinion on the subject now that this was the second time she’d dropped the word ‘important’. “It’s important,” he said, scrunching his eyebrows a little and looking up as if in contemplation. “Is it really?” he asked her, quite seriously. The silence afterward, in which he simply looked at her, raising one eyebrow into the air in question, was effective- he thought so, at least.

“Oh, you have no idea the plans and plots that manifest up here,” he said, rocking a little on the spot and pointing lazily to his head. “If I was plotting your instant demise, you surely wouldn’t know until you were already…demised.” Lame finish, but he didn’t worry about it. He didn’t care much what he said or what people thought of what he said. He made a waving motion with his hand, urging her to come out to the middle of the arena to join him. “Come here, I’ll show you something.” It was a simple request, pulled out of thin air. Not a trick, but the simplicity of his request could be misconstrued as trickery. He the same arm in the air, extending it in her direction, as if waiting for her to come to it and take it, inviting her to join him, and forget about her ‘important’ things.

TAGS: Cassandra Longbottom
WORDS: 539
OUTFIT: CLICK!
NOTES: I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM. And I’m really starting to get a hold of Sterling. I love it.

[CASSANDRA JOAN LONGBOTTOM]

Cassie took a moment to consider how important homework actually was. No, it was incredibly important, because if she started slacking in one assignment she might just start slacking in all of her assignments. "It's like a habit thing, really, stop doing one and I might fall behind too far. Like I don't want to do good on just my NEWTS and OWLS, I'd like to also have great grades to get into whatever job I go into," she shrugged. Hopefully she became that herbologist she was dreaming of. Still, a plan B needed to exist and so far she could not even begin to think of one. Thus, the better the grades the more opportunities for her to explore and figure her adult life out. "Like, what if you don't get the dream job where your only real skill is the only thing required?" she asked rhetorically.

"Oh my!" Cassie exclaimed, giving a small giggle, "I better find myself some body guards then. Hopefully some will protect me from the apparent dark wizard in front of me." The idea that a killer was currently attending Hogwarts was absurd, on an reality level. "I think if you demised me, my father and brother would have your head and you'll no longer be able to demise anyone else, seems a bit tragic," she rambled. Ah crap, she was probably talking too much. She needed to stop rambling and just be comfortable around people, boys especially. Still, the fact that boys were suddenly talking to her was astonishing at the least. She did fancy the attention, it was a good confidence builder. It was like what ever had been wrong with her in the previous five years was melting away and leaving a beautiful girl in its place.

Sterling extend his hand out to her, and invited her to join him on the stage. She took a few seconds to consider if she should just leave and go to the library, but her new life seemed to be taking on the rebel side. The girl finally put her parchment and quill back into her backpack. Cassie climbed on to the stage, trying not to look too awkward in her dress. Once she was up she took Sterling's hand with great caution. "What exactly are you showing me?" she asked, unsure of what direction Sterling was taking.

tag: sterling sloper
outfit: here
words: 394
notes: I'm so in love with these two

[STERLING ELIJAH SLOPER]

He successfully convinced her to get up and away from her homework, which was a start. Sterling couldn’t help but widen his smile as she stood up and walked over to him. It was exciting, getting to know someone new, and no better way to start their friendship than with a little adventure. The moment it took her to walk over and take his hand was fleeting, and he secured his fingers about hers, pulling out his wand with his other hand as he did so. Smiling at her before he did, he turned on his heel and towards a large obstacle in the middle of the arena. With a couple taps of his wand, the side of the obstacle disappeared. There was a set of stairs before them, leading down into a pitch black area one couldn’t make out with the naked eye.

“Ready?” he asked her, turning around to see her reaction as he did. He didn’t linger long though. “Lumos.” He started down the stairs, giving her a hand a little squeeze as he did. They weren’t straight stairs, rather a spiral staircase that went on for a little while. He hoped she wasn’t claustrophobic in the slightest, because the area encasing the staircase was just about as wide at the stairs themselves. They were walking down a narrow tube to god knows where. Well, to Sterling knows where.

After about three minutes of walking, they reached the end of the staircase. Before them was a tunnel. “You ok?” he asked her, still holding on to her hand with as much vigor as before. He didn’t want her to be scared. There was something about the entire situation that made him believe that she didn’t scare easily, but there was also something about her that made him believe that she didn’t do this kind of thing very much. Maybe it was the whole dad’s-a-professor thing. He turned back to the tunnel again and started through it. They walked for another minute, his wand held out in front of him like a torch.

It didn’t take them long to reach the end of the tunnel, and soon his wand illuminated a humungous room before them. Honestly, the ceiling must have been at least fifteen times Sterling’s height, and the width about twenty feet each way. Sterling grinned and lowered his wand, finally letting go of Cassie’s hand. He clapped twice, and the entire room filled with a hazy light. The source was a hulking chandelier hanging from the ceiling far above them, and it showed the entire contents of the room. There were comfortable couches all over the place, winding bookshelves and desks with cauldrons. “A ravenclaw’s paradise, it seems.” he chuckled. The novelty in the room for him was the fact that it was a secret and that it existed. He never did homework, so he’d never taken advantage of any of the desks or bookshelves. Vaulting over a couch, he landed on it and put his hands behind his head. “Cool though, right?”

TAGS: Cassandra Longbottom
WORDS: 507
OUTFIT: CLICK!
NOTES: TOO MUCH LOVE

[CASSANDRA JOAN LONGBOTTOM]

Cassie felt very wary while holding Sterling's hand. As soon as their hands were clasped together, Sterling had turned toward one of the obstacles in the room. A side of it swung open, which alone was shocking to Cassie. From what she had heard father and Hermione talking, the Weasley twins had found all of them already. She had never even heard of this one at the slightest. Quite impressive for this boy to know one of his own. "Going down a dark staircase with a boy I just met, how could I possibly be ready for that?" she asked. Cassie stayed close behind Sterling as they moved down the cramped staircase. With her free hand, she carefully took hold of his arm so that it looked like Sterling had a Hufflepuff permanently glued to him.

The further and further they went the more and more it seemed that the boy was taking her to her unmarked grave. Eventually they reached the end of the stairs though, and Cassie lightened her grip on his arm. "Yeah, yeah, I-I'm fine. Really. Just really really dark," Cassie stuttered. She was becoming more and more nervous about where Sterling was leading her. They still continued walking, it was never ending though. Or at least that was how it seemed. "I feel like this is a secret passage into another universe," Cassie said after a few seconds. A universe where all animals and magical creatures talked, yes that one would be quite lovely.

They came to a giant room, and after Sterling clapped his hands Cassie's face dropped. She took a few steps in and just simply gazed around at the room while the Slytherin made himself comfortable. "Blimey this is more than cool," she said. The place was beautiful, and it did not take long before Cassie found herself books on creatures, plants, and even how to make proper potions. That last one would definitely come in handy if she was to ever pass that class. "No one else knows about this?" Cassie asked, poking her head out of an aisle. "How does that work? No one has ever bothered to look for this place?" She pulled out a ginormous book on magical wildlife found in Australia and made her way to a couch that was across from Sterling. "I like books like these, they're the perfect things to get lost in you know? When everything else in the world seems so silly and overrated you can turn to a book on facts and know that there are something in the world that are real and...stuff," she rifled few the first few pages before coming to a faded picture of what looked like some type of weed.

tag: sterling sloper
outfit: here
words: 456
notes: looooooove