The Way Things Have Been |()pen|

[Mary Jane Novicane]

Mary Jane entered The Three Broomsticks on a Saturday afternoon. She took a table to herself, one where no one else was sitting. One of the few tables no one was sitting at. Just me, myself, and I, she thought. That was the way it had always been since Jimmy left home. She shook her head, and than put it in her hands. "Oh, I'll just have a butterbeer," she said as the waitress came by. When the waitress came back with her order, she lifted the glass. "To lonelyness and emptiness," she muttered. The way it's alwaysbeen, and always will be, she thought, taking a sip of her drink.

[[S] t a r g e m]

<sub>There was no reason why she was here. Perhaps boredom? Probably, and this place seemed inviting enough. Her stride was strong and swift as she walked through the streets, barely paying attention to the others around her. Astrum had come here, well, maybe just to buy stuff. Her friends were no where to be found, and considering that Hogsmeade was becoming a popular place for Hogwarts Student, she might as well join the crowd.
Astrum wasn’t wearing her Gryffindor Robes, just something she brought from home. No, it wasn’t muggle, Astrum had enough sense not to wear that kind of material, since…well, and Muggles weren’t liked among many, including her. Since the girl was lurking, and noticing that she was thirsty enough, along with the fact that the Three Broomsticks was towering right over her, Astrum went in.

As she had plenty of gold—anyone that went to Hogsmeade should, Astrum strode over to the counter, dropping some coins. ”A butter beer please.” She said, echoing the same reply another girl had just said. As the drink appeared before her, Astrum nodded her thanks and averted her glance to the….Slytherin?
Hearing her words got Astrum on the pity track, ”Hey.” She said, nodding, holding her butter beer with one hand. What else was she to say? Oh yeah, ”I’m Astrum.”</sub>

[/sub]

[Mary Jane Novicane]

Mary Jane looked up from her butterbeer and nodded. "Mary Jane," she said. She took about a minute to look at her clothes, during which she took a long sip of buterbeer. Wizard's clothes, Mary Jane thought. Another pure blood. Mary Jane was just wearing a black and white stribed short sleeved tunic top, jeans, and a pair of chucks, probably the reason for the stares she was getting. Sighing, and than smiling in an effort to be pleasent, she said, "So, Astrum, how are you?"

[Lily Vanes]

Lily looked around as she entered the Tree Broomsitcks. She looked for someone, anyone. She longed for at least one friend and didn't care who it was. She spotted a Gryffindor one year younger than herself. And next to her she spotted what seemed like a Slytherin. Neither were wearing their school robes. Lily wasn't either. She was sporting a pair of Levi's with an American band T-shirt and chucks. She had her hair pulled into a ponytail and her bangs were falling out.
She walked up to where the girls were sitting. Desperately hoping for them to notice her and talk. If they didn't, she would do what she does everytime after each Hogsmeade trip: go to her dormitory and cry her friendless self to sleep. She ordered a Butterbeer and sighed.

[Mary Jane Novicane]

Mary Jane looked up from her butterbeer and noticed another girl. Smiling forcidly, she said, "Hello," in an effort to be friendly. She felt alone, even with these two other girls standing by her. Damn, they're both Gryffindors, she thought, relizing why she felt the minority. She was just a Slytherin, a mangy, half blood Slytherin. The smile sliding off her face, she took a chug of butterbeer.

[Lily Vanes]

Lily brightened up. "Hi," she said with enthusiasm. She looked down. She may have sounded too desperate. She looked at the Slytherin.
"Hi," she repeated with less enthusiasm. "I'm Lily, I'm a Fourth Year."

[Mary Jane Novicane]

Mary Jane smiled a polite smile, more of a friendly smile. "That's nice, I'm Mary Jane. I'm in third year," she said, wondering if saying 'That's nice' was too... Ah, for lack of a better word, impolite. Flicking some of her hair, er, the hair that could be flicked, as it was pretty short, behind her shoulder, she asked, "So, heard any good songs lately?" That seemed to be her default question, the one she sort of steryotyped people on.

[Lily Vanes]

"Well, I haven't been listening much lately," Lily said quietly. She looked around as she took a sip of her butterbeer. "How about you?"

[Mary Jane Novicane]

Mary Jane shrugged. "I like the older stuff a bit more. Nirvana, man. But some of the System of a Down's good too. I'm more in the indie scene, you wouldn't know much about it. Muggle music, that's my real territory," she said, revealing one of the facts about her she hated the most. But it was cool with her. If they cared she listened to muggle music, she didn't. It was good stuff, raw. Wizarding music, it didn't have the raw feel, it had more of a perfection to it.

[Lily Vanes]

"I know some Muggle music. I only know it because I have no friends and my family sort of disowned me when I got into Gryffindor. So I go to the Muggle stores in the summer and look for stuff to listen to," Lily said. She really liked talking about music. She knew enough of it to hold a steady conversation. "But the best CDs I have are Hellogoodbye, Jack's Mannequin, and Elemeno P."

[Mary Jane Novicane]

Mary Jane nodded. "I've heard some Hellogoodbye, I've heard of Jack,s Mannequin, but I've never realy heard any of their songs. I'm more of a Anti-Hero, Tegan and Sara, and Saves the Day myself. More of the punk/pop indie. It's weird, but it's all indie," she said, shrugging.
00C- Writers block. Must. Die.

[Lily Vanes]

"I've never heard of Anit-Hero or Saves the Day. But, my cousins are from America and they've told me a lot of their bands. Like, since they're Christian, Relient K and Hawk Nelson. Those two are sorta rockish i guess. But I listen to the hip hop music cause they can't sing and it's fun making fun of them," Lily said. "I really like the Goo-Goo Dolls."

[Mary Jane Novicane]

Mary Jane nodded. "Yeah, it is fun to make fun of rap bands. Weird Al does it so perfectly. Can't ya see I'm just so white and nerdy, white and nerdy?" she began to sing, mimicking Weird Al in White and Nerdy. She laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, sorry about that, I can't sing. Well, I can, but I do emo so much better," she said, and than shrugged. "But for the most part, I'm like most people with no vocal talent whatsoever." She took a long glug of butterbeer.
Writers block. Slowly. Dying.

[Lily Vanes]

"I love Weird Al!" Lily laughed. She coughed a bit. "My friend, she's Muggle of course, runs on a team and they make fun of her because of that. They call her 'Whiter Than Sour Cream.'" She took a small sip of her butterbeer and sighed. "I can sing. But I don't really try in public because I am so shy. So when I sing, it purposely sucks."

[Mary Jane Novicane]

Mary Jane nodded. "Yeah, a lot of people do that. One of my freinds who could sing beautifuly used to do that a lot. I think she stopped, but no one knows. And another of my freinds, she sang awfully, but you could realy tell she liked singing, and that kinda made it sound better," she said, and took a chug of butterbeer. "I guess it's mainly vocal tallent that counts, but the other 50% is if you like doing it or not," she finaly stated. It was a bit true, the better the singer was, the more you could tell they either loved doing it or not, and if they didn't love singing, you could tell it in their vocals.
Writers block. Almost. Dead! by MCR rocks.