The Long Awaited Chase [Sin Moon]

[Anael Zabini]

Anael was not the sort of girl to fall in love, or even to fall in 'like' all that easily. She danced through life, and found many admirers, and when she needed it, she always had a pair of arms to fall into when she was feeling low on herself. Even though she was seventeen and now an adult, she didn't see herself changing anytime soon. It wasn't that she didn't care about the feelings of others. It was more that she believed she knew the truth about love. That it was always fleeting, never meant anything but hurt in the end, and worth it as long as they were happy for a while. She just didn't let others in on that secret.

She would sometimes find someone that did strike her interest more than the common pompous Gryffindor or the playboy Slytherin, but after a few weeks she would become bored and a bit restless. This year was different for only one reason: the target of her affections was not a student at all, but instead a professor. The muggle studies professor.

There were several things wrong with that. She didn't know his exact age (not that it mattered that much since she was an adult now), he was a professor while she was a student, and he was obviously quite tolerant of muggles. Probably liked them. And she didn't know his blood status. That didn't matter to her as much as she pretended that it did during the family parties but it still stood that she would be going for someone that her father didn't approve of. But since she was a rebellious young woman with a traditional family, that did anything but dissuade her. Truth be told, he was the only reason she took the class.

In her eyes, Sin Moon was as close to perfection as a man could get. His eyes were what drew her more than anything, which was interesting to Ana because she had been drawn to other areas before most of the time. Although she wouldn't say so to another person (and hardly let herself dwell on it), she had almost been knocked breathless when she first saw him. And she was a difficult person to impress... She knew that she deserved the best.

She went to class as the vision of an ordinary student, her hair with its natural curl but in a ponytail that fell over one shoulder. She sat quietly and listened to him, smiling when appropriate, and ignoring the rest of the people in the room. When the time came to bring something up to his desk, she folded a piece of parchment in half and brought it instead, setting it more in the middle so that there was no chance it would fall and be read by the wrong person. She returned to her desk just as casually, but couldn't resist watching him until he reached her paper.

Once he did, he would read the words she had so carefully put together before class, a good ten minutes of thought (which was more than she gave to the actual assignment). Her name was signed on the top the same way she would sign it as though it were a homework assignment, but the words were far from impersonal.

[/i]write to. Words aren't really my strong point, so my only hope really is showing you in actions how you make me feel inside. To be frank I think that you might be the person that I have been waiting for. Someone who isn't an immature boy trying to pretend that he is a man.

I don't know if you have someone already, but you seem somewhat timid...I'm not. Let me show you some things that I've learned over the past seventeen years. You can teach me about muggles... and I can teach you about witches. [/color][/center]
[/ul]

She kept it simple this time, stating her intentions and trying to get a reaction. On the whole he was pretty lucky. Ana really did have the mouth of a sailor sometimes, and she could have been vulgar. Or perhaps worse, she could have used her elegant charm to win him over with false words. In the end it was short and simple, to the point, and not misleading at all. [/blockquote]

[ooc: see, it wasn't as bad as i had feared, though she is only getting started. we'll see... hope the post is alright though!]

[Professor Sin Moon]

It was strange how, after a couple of classes, Monroe began to be able to become comfortable with playing the role as "Professor Sin Moon". It was not too many years ago that the young Ravenclaw had been completely and utterly unable to communicate or express himself. In fact, he never put himself out there. He was the invisible man who, though extremely intelligent never had the courage to raise his hand or talk to the unlucky person who sat next to him. Even now, the pictures of him as a child reflected a miraculous transformation. He blended into the background, a short boy around 5'3" with large glasses that his his eyes, and unscrupulous long black hair that hid his face and touched his shoulders. Outside of class he was never found outside his room, often reading after doing homework. He was a troubled nerd, who watched all the beautiful, lucky people from afar, desiring to be as brave and daring as they. But he was use to being overlooked, overshadowed and forgotten. If one asked around, no one could remember the student named Monroe Elliot.

Now, if anyone asked if they knew the model Monroe Elliot, that was a different story. He a model that had been going on strong for at least a year now, popular as the sharp eyed prince. He was half Korean and half English, with jet black hair and sky blue eyes. He was scandal-less...up until the moment that happened when he was sent here.

Yet, even in front of a camera or a crowd, he could never talk as fluidly and confidently as he did now. He had learned to face his students, who he treated as his equals, his friends. And though he sometimes touched upon difficult subjects, and his class wasn't necessarily 'easy' anymore, he had earned respect...but surprisingly, as "Sin Moon" he earned a fan base as well. The invisible boy had grown over a foot taller than he use to be, he no longer wore glasses--cut his hair so it was messily short-- and worked out everyday so that his shoulders broadened, thickened, and abdominal tightened until he became the man his younger self could never be. Yet, if one of these girls had ever professed their interest in him he would never beat it. Despite the many changes he had undergone, he was conditioned after years of solitude to believe he would never be the man the person he loved could want.

His lecture on electricity finished, and he returned to his desk, allowing his students to have the last five minutes of free time as he collected their assignments and started grading them immediately. About three papers in, he had pictures up a much longer assignment. With his interest peeked, he pulled his chair closer to the desk--the desk, mind you, was not built for a man six feet and four inches tall--and his legs were indeed cramped beneath it. He held up this single letter casually, thinking he was already going to take marks from it due to the fact that it was written in pink. However, it was legible, and so he studied each cursive line...

Until he realized it wasn't an assignment.

As he continued to read through it, his heart began to beat like an african drum, palpitating against his ribcage so loudly he was sure everyone in the room could hear it. His skin felt warm as that blood tingled in his fingers, causing them to shake a little as he held the letter. He read the beginning sentence, and at the phrase, "A young girl thinking she's in love coming forward..." and the shock forced his legs to slam up into his desk creating a loud, echoing nose throughout the classroom as the old wooden thing shuttered, pens rolling off of it. The look of pain and shock on his face forced him to bite his lip as his blue eyes immediately turned to Anael Zabini.

Realizing that all eyes were suddenly on him, he pulled at the collar of his shirt and tried to laugh it off. When did it get so hot in here? He smiled wide, bending over momentarily to pick up the fallen pencils, face turning a deep crimson. He started to hide his face with the letter, holding it up.

I want to get to know you better...You might be the first person...You might be the person I've been waiting for...Let me show you some things...You teach me about muggles, and I'll teach you about witches.

For the first time in his life his heart had shook so suddenly he swore that this feeling was permanent. He set the letter in a draw in his desk, locking it up shakily before covering his mouth for a bit, trying to prevent himself from making a sound, and trying to hide his smile. By now, everyone in class could guess what had happened, and it seemed as if some of his more studious girls were furious. Sin didn't notice. He didn't dare look at Anael again for fear of giving her away, but he had impeccable memory, and one memory that stood out about that name was the beautiful girl smiling and laughing tenderly.

And it was in this memory of her image he began to think fondly of her, trying desperately to remember every detail-- from the color of her eyes to the gentle curls of her black hair. He was thunderstruck, and seeing stars, wondering how such a beautiful girl could write this beautiful letter to him. It was then that he began to frown, and his eyes were cast at the desk, his happiness fading from his expression. And then he realized why she, of all people would send this letter, the only answer he could come up with.

Sin buried his face in his hands, not hearing the bell when it rang. He was trying to gather himself, but the disappointment and agony on his face was conscious and visible. For a moment, he believed the letter was real, before realizing it was a cruel joke.

[Anael Zabini]

Whatever reaction Anael had been expecting, it wasn’t what she saw when he read through the letter. While she had said that he seemed timid, because he did, she had thought that to be some kind of an act while he was here at school because he was around students. How could someone that looked like him be inexperienced, anyway? More likely it was because he didn’t know how to handle a student with ‘misplaced affection’, because maybe she really was the first one to approach him this way.

Ana may have been one of the only students not to jump when Sin’s legs collided with his desk, but only because she had been watching him and expecting some kind of reaction. She couldn’t help but smirk, though when Sin turned his eyes toward her she turned the smirk into a kind of weak smile. Both because she nearly faltered, not expecting him to look this way, and because she wanted to smile too much. No one had ever had quite that reaction to something that she had said or done. Already people were looking at her almost knowingly. She had done something like this before, though never to a teacher and unlike Sin if anyone caught on to her, they didn’t believe it for a second.

But instead of putting the letter immediately away when he realized what it was, he kept reading it. That had to mean something, didn’t it? She didn’t watch him the entire time but glanced up to see what his further reaction might be – not that there was much to see, since he had hidden his face from the class behind the very letter that she’d written. For a moment she turned back to actual homework because even though she didn’t turn it in on time, replacing it with a letter, she had done the assignment. With less care. She would bring it up at the end of class, and if she got points docked for being late, that was fine. Certainly not the worst thing that had happened to her.

When the bell rang she gathered her stuff together rather slowly. Students filed out without being told by their professor that they were able to (probably thinking that he was kind of out of it today anyway) and Ana lingered behind. She put her bag over her shoulder and came forward. She stopped, though, realizing that the demeanor of her professor was quite different from the last time that she looked at him.

Had… she done that? She felt something that she didn’t feel very often: guilt. And even though she was a tough person with an even tougher exterior Ana didn’t like to see certain people upset. Mostly it was her brother (unless she had upset him, which would be the whole point) or her close friends that she would do anything to bring a smile to. Still, there was something so great about his smile when she’d seen it today that she decided to try. Even though words really were not her strong suit.

“It was that bad, huh?” she asked, using humor somewhat as a shield. She had no idea what he thought of her now, or what he might say since they were the only ones left in the classroom. “Maybe this will cheer you up.” She set the assignment down on his desk. She turned to leave, but found that she couldn’t, because she would just be wondering about him when she was away. She stood there very awkwardly for a moment, debating with herself.

Then she moved closer to his desk and touched his hand. She wasn’t continuing her forward pursuit, instead staying it for the time being because while making people uncomfortable had always been a source of amusement to her, it stopped being funny if it affected them this badly. “Professor… I wouldn’t have written that if I knew that it would upset you. This is actually the first time that someone’s reacted that way.” She quickly regained her confidence and looked at him straight on. “But I can’t say that I would be able to hold back forever. Not after today… I want to see you smile like that again, and know that I was the reason.” She felt a bit embarrassed because that was not something she would usually say, but her confidence didn’t appear to fall.

Still, she moved her hand now and re-shouldered her bag, preparing to leave depending on his reaction. If she was swept out the door with a broom that would be something new, too.