Christmas in Greece (Luna)

[Loukas Souris]

It was the evening of Christmas Eve in the country of Greece, and the world was covered in lights and for the first time in ever, there was a light snowfall blanketing the ground. He was stealthily hidden behind the mountain of presents that his father carried up the walkway to the Demetriou's manor in Athens. Athene, his little sister was riding happily atop Loukas' shoulders, looking up at the sky with wonder, laughing as the snowflakes melted on her skin. The sound of her laughter made him smile and carefully he set her on the ground as she took off to meet their parents in front of him. For a moment, he finally stopped and looked up at the snow as it fell.

Wow. That felt wonderful. It was beautiful, peaceful, serene.

He was studying the flakes as they danced downward, and he missed his mother knocking on the door. He missed them entering the house and wound up laying in the snow, looking up at the sky. He enjoyed this weather far too much to just go inside. His parents were already in conversation with the Demetrious. His father was explaining to his long time friend that the past few Christmas breaks were spent in a few other countries for work, but on request of his wife, they chose to stay in Greece with Athene (he introduced his daughter, a petite 17 year old girl with long blonde hair and strong blue eyes) and Loukas. He'd turned to find the doorway empty, and sighed. "I'm sorry. He was just here. He must have lingered outside. Ever since he played in Siberia, he can't get enough of the snow."

After a moment, his mother opened the front door and called to him. "Loup! The Demetrious are waiting!" They apologized again, and in a few short moments, a hooded figure that towered over his mother came in. She reached up and yanked he hood from his head, exposing the young man's face that erupted into laughter. "I apologize for my absence. Snow absolutely fascinates me. I never, ever saw it until about a year ago." He removed the fur lined coat and held it tight within his grasp before casting a glance over those who were assembled within the foyer. There were the Demetrious, he had met previously, their son and a dark haired girl near him that he gazed at fondly, his hand on her waist (must be a girlfriend), and then their daughter. The twins were bigger than he could recall them being the last time he saw them, however it had been a long few years. Before he started playing Quidditch, at least.

Names were failing him.

First, he went to Artemis and introduced himself with a handshake and a smile, and he didn't leave out the girl at his side, Bella. When he finally moved over to where Luna stood, he offered her his hand and a smile. "I know we have met before, but I'm afraid I am not the best at remembering names. I'm Loukas."

[Deleted]

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Upon receiving the owl at Hogwarts a week before the Christmas break, she had not been happy to hear that she and her brother had been expected to return to their home in Greece during the break in order to socialize with some family friend of their adoptive parents. Upon presenting the letter to Artemis, he had also been unpleasantly surprised and had initially had the same reaction of displeasure that she had had at the news, only for his protests to fade upon reading that the invitation was also extended to his brother's girlfriend, Bella Walsh. Artemis had been delighted at the unexpected surprise and had been nothing but smiles since then, leaving Luna to wallow in her own displeasure as he spent time with that girl, happily planning what it was that the two of them would do during the break. The bloody traitor. Upon writing a letter to her friend of sorts, she had found that surprisingly, he was the one that had sympatized with her the most, telling her that she should be happy, at least she would get some sort of amusement with the showing of Artemis' childhood pictures to Bella, something that had managed to draw a smirk from the stoic female's lips. Xayden did have a point, besides it was highly unlikely that she would be forced to do more than say a generic greeting to whoever was coming to their manor anyways, then she would be free to explore on her own time, something that she had not had a chance to do in a very long time.

A week later found them already in their manor, settled and well rested for the upcoming celebrations. It was the night of Christmas eve and it seemed as though everyone was in the holiday spirit with even Luna's soul lightening up a bit with all of the holiday joy. Lights had been hung up and for the first time that she could recall, it had actually snowed in Greece. It was something that had fascinated everyone, even herself. Wide blue eyes stared up at the beautifully falling snow with a quiet admiration before a single hand was held out, a faint smile crossing her lips as a single wayward flake landed in the palm of her hand. It had been a long time since she had been able to enjoy the snow without that deep sadness, without that ache that plagued her heart. Perhaps this miracle was some sort of sign from her lost love, telling her that it was time for her to move on and let him go. It was a thought that was forgotten just as quickly as it had been brought up before the girl decided that it was time for her to go inside and with a single last look at the pure white snow she walked back into the manor leaving the snow and all of the memories that came with it outside in the cold, just in time to hear the faint knocking sound on the door. 

Ah, so she had made it just in time. Good. She would have never heard the end of it from Adonis if she hadn't. Even if she was the favorite of his out of the twins, that simply meant that more was expected out of her than Artemis. Lucky, lucky her. When the Souris family finally made it inside of the manor, they were greeted warmly by the family as well as given an explanation on why they had not been around sooner to visit during the holidays, something that her adoptive mother and father brushed off with warm smiles and an equally warm greeting. She, her brother and Bella were introduced to the Souris' daughter Athene, a name and face that she locked away into her mind for she had a feeling that she was to remember it. The girl was given a warm welcome from everyone in the house ( even Luna had given her a small smile and a small handshake, as was expected) and it seemed as though there was another person that they were supposed to meet, though this person had apparently been fascinated with the snow and had stayed outside, something that had Luna shaking her head as a slight smirk crossed her lips. It seemed as though Xayden had been right, this was already starting to turn out into quite the amusing evening already!

It was a moment later when a large figure finally entered the manor with his hood drawn up to cover his face, something that the mother quickly fixed by pulling off his hood, causing the large male to laugh. Cold blue eyes studied the face with a bit of recognition, she had met that man before a long time ago after all and yet despite that she found that she could not remember his name no matter how deeply she dove for that information. Well this certainly wasn't a good thing, she could only hope that this guy would reintroduce himself to her, saving both her and her family from a very awkward and painfully embarassing moment. Thankfully she got her wish when the male approached her, offering her his hand and stating that he himself was bad with names before giving her his own name, something that nearly had her sighing with slight relief. Now she wouldn't have to hear Adonis' incessant whining about her lapse in memory. " It is fine Loukas, it's been a long time since the last time we saw each other after all. My name is Luna." She spoke in her normal neutral tone before moving her hand up to grasp his outstretched one in a firm hold, shaking it once before releasing it from her grasp and allowing her hand to move back to her side and allowing her gaze to return to the outside, watching as the snow fell from the sky through the windows, obviously expecting that to be the last of their conversation as it usually was when it came to meeting Adonis and Annabelle's friends and their children.

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TAGGED: Loukas
WORDS: 1014
LYRICS: I’m with You-Avirl Lavinge
NOTES: None!
CREDITS Belongs towhispers @ Caution 2.0[/center]

[Loukas Souris]

Now, normally, Loukas would have went on his way and went off to find something entertaining to do or read, however, his attention seemed focused out the window and on the snowflakes as they fell. Ah, he loved the off season. No pressure to be anything more than himself. Everyone else seemed wrapped in conversation with each other, save the two of them still looking out of the window. "Beautiful, isn't it? I have never seen it snow anywhere in this country but in the mountains before. Something about it is very peaceful." He was eyeing where Adonis had hung his coat with a slight mischievous grin. "Do you think anyone would notice if we ducked outside for a while?"

Call him crazy, but he did love the snow.

The snow reminded him of London, conditioning there in the winter. It was wonderful. The further he got from Greece, the less likely it was that he would be known by people. Anonymity was something he would kill to experience more often than not. It seemed that Luna had a far deeper love for the snow than he could hope to understand unless experiencing it himself. No words could properly capture the expression in her eyes that he could see in the reflection of the glass.

To know that sort of joy.

He managed to stealthily reclaim his coat and started glimpsing about for a back door to duck out of, as so to avoid being dragged in to talk about his profession.

[Deleted]

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To say that she was surprised when the older man had spoken with her again would have been an understatement. Icy blue eyes turned away from the falling snow to glance at the man, listening carefully to his words while doing her best to make herself seem as though she wasn't too interested in what it was that he saying and yet, she found that his words, his insightful observations to be absolutely true, at least when it came to this subject in particular. The snow was beautiful in every single way, pure and a stunning shade of angelic white, especially when reflected in the stunning moonlight. It was something that even someone as cold, someone as broken as herself could not hope to hate even with her negative connections to it. A small smile crossed her lips for an instant before quickly sliding away so fast that one might have thought that the small upward curve of the lips was a figment of their imagination. " You are right, it is rare that it ever snows here, other than the mountains, however I think that that makes it just that much more beautiful and serene. If it were to happen all of the time, it would be a waste. Others would not appreciate it as much and soon would lose the admiration and the respect that they had once held for it." That was a sad truth and yet she knew from experience that she was right. Man took for granted, the wonders that the world had to offer them, using and exploiting them until they lost their beauty. That was something that she hoped would never happen with the snow, it was the one thing that she treasured more than anything else.

Her gaze which had returned to the window during her small observation turned back to the male, surprised to see that he was eying the coat that hung from the rack where Adonis had carefully placed it, noting the mischevious expression with a weary gaze that often came to her when it came to dealing with others and the plans that they came up with. His next words however, had taken her completely by surprise, something that could be seen by the way that her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly. Slowly, her gaze moved from the gaze of her temporary conversation partner, running over the faces of all of the adults as well as their siblings and Bella. They looked completely engrossed in the conversation, something that she knew would not end for a while and worked greatly to their advantage. As long as they were careful and kept the noise down to a minimum, they would not be caught leaving the room, she was absolutely sure of that. " As long as we are quick about this and we manage to stay quiet then I do not think that they will not notice that we are not with them. Judging by the way that they are speaking to one another we will have quite a bit of time before they notice our absence." She spoke with confidence, watching with a raised brow as he reclaimed his coat and tugged it on before trying to look for an exit and with a quick glance to the others that were in the room, she slowly made her way over to the man, taking the sleeve of his coat in her hand and quickly tugging him towards the exit that would lead them outside without any hinderance, releasing his sleeve the minute that they were outside and in the snow again. A sigh of relief left her lungs as she felt the cool night air brush gently against her face, blowing her loose hair and ruffling it gently as though it were an old friend or relative greeting her after a long period of seperation. It felt so much better out there in the cold than it did in the warm house, at least it did in her opinion. Despite growing up in such a warm and tropical climate, she found that she took to the cold better than she did the heat for some reason. It was a moment of comfortable silence between the two of them before she spoke again, apologizing for touching him so suddenly. " I apologize for grabbing onto your sleeve like that, but we would have been seen if we had taken much longer in getting out of there and I am not interested in hearing any sort of scolding from my mother or father at this moment in time." That had been the one thing that she did not want to happen. While it seemed as though Loukas had his own reasons for wanting to escape, she had hers as well and she did not want to be noticed before she had managed to do so especially when she knew that all it would have done was aggravate her father and put her in a much worse mood than she had originally been in when she had come here to begin with and that would not have been good for anyone involved. 

Her worries were soon forgotten as her gaze returned to the falling flakes of beautiful snow and for a moment that smile returned and her eyes softened as she held out her hand again, allowing them to fall on her hand. Yes, the snow was the one place that her troubles could melt away and for a moment she felt free. Free from the stress. Free from the pain.

Just free....

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TAGGED: Loukas
WORDS: 931
LYRICS: I’m with You-Avirl Lavinge
NOTES: None
CREDITS Belongs towhispers @ Caution 2.0

[Loukas Souris]

He had not expected to be led so swiftly from the house, but there was logic behind her movements. Lingering would have been an open invitation for someone to spot them and drag them into the conversation, or worse, start one. Loukas knew that the instant his father or mother would get on topic of his career, it was over. Anonymity would be gone. At least Athene never started those. She had become skilled of dancing around topics as he had. Then again, he had to if he wanted some semblance of a life.

In the snow once more he found his lungs expanding to take in the cold air and his head turned upward to allow the soft tingle that came with the melting of the flakes on his face. Holy Hera did that feel amazing. It took a moment or two of silence before he looked down at Luna again. He had forced himself to look upward once the wind had tousled her hair so beautifully. Come now, he was still a man, despite being unable to see people as anything other than individuals, he still admired each individual person's beauty. She seemed so much less cold among the snow than in the house, so much lighter and free, careless, worryless, but it was a thought he would keep to himself. No doubt she had trouble with people only noticing her beauty. People were closed minded.

It was odd to see someone from Greece tolerating the cold so well, even he could not do so, so it brought him to ask, "Are you and your brother originally from a colder climate? You seem to fare far better in it than most people to. Even the British get a mite bundled in the winter. I am just curious, if you don't mind my asking." A smile flickered over his face.

Something about the smell of cypress and snow (yes, snow has a smell, it held a vague smell of rain. Clean, crisp, a scent that was beautiful as its appearance) made his insides warm. It filled him with a sense of being home, and this past year had been particularly busy. Not stressful, just busy.

He had taken to laying back in the snow again, arms folded behind his head, as if this were the perfect place to be. Blue eyes moved from close moving flake to close moving flake, fully content in the atmosphere, the company, all of it. There was no pressure here. "Oh!" He sat up slightly, "Before we got here, my mother mentioned that you play Quidditch for your school. Do you enjoy it?"

[Deleted]

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Upon hearing the man's question, she paused for a moment, her gaze sliding from the sky to the man again with a unreadable gaze as he asked about just where it was that she and her brother had come from. It wasn't that she minded the question, no she was far beyond being offended by simple questions such as those, by now knowing that the people asking had no intentions of offending her and yet she could not help but be confused to why the man would be interested in knowing the answer to what many would consider a very personal question. It took a moment of quiet contemplation before she allowed herself to give an answer to the older man's question, sharing with him the limited knowledge that she herself knew about their birthplace and about their birthparents, a subject that she truly had not been all that interested in despite her brother's excitement. Why should she be happy about finding out more about the people that had abandoned the two of them, leaving them to freeze to death in the snow? Artemis could have died that night and as a result of their neglect, had suffered from a long period of sickness and fragility. She could not understand just why it was he had forgiven the two of them so easily. " I do not know much about our birthplace, only that we come from some wizarding town in Hungary and that our parents were given some sort of castle there by the ministry for some reason or another." That had been the only thing that she had allowed her brother to tell her of his and Bella's adventures in Hungary and thus that was the only thing that she knew. It was enough to answer his question at any point. They were from the east, a place that was known for their frigid winters more than anything else. It would explain how she had gotten her immunity to the cold at any rate. Well that and she was used to wandering around in the cold, even the British winters would find her wandering around without a coat on, something that had gained her many odd looks from people in the past much to her rather obvious amusement. 

Those icy eyes of hers noticed the smile that had crossed his face and for a moment, they lingered. Thoughts of him having a nice smile crossed her mind for a brief moment before they were chased away just as quickly as they had arrived. She was not the sort of person that grew close to people based on physical attributes, she had far more pride, far more honor than that. She had not been that way when it came to Kaoru, had not been that way when it had come to Xayden and she sure as hell was not going to start being that way now, nice smile be damned! Those eyes averted from his form and she moved to sit amongst the snow comfortably, paying no mind to the icy coldness nor the wetness as she sat, her head tilted back as she looked at the beautiful sky once more. Merlin, she could stare at that sky wordlessly for hours upon hours. There was something that was so beautiful, so oddly hypnotizing about the pale snow falling from the dark sky that even she with all of her rationality and her logic could not resist the pull to sit and stare for a long while. It seemed as though even Loukas could not resist it, for it was moments after she had sat down that he had chosen to lay in the snow with his arms behind his head, his form completely relaxed. For another moment they sat in a content and comfortable silence before Loukas suddenly sat up with an exclamation, drawing Luna's attention to him immediately as she stared at him, a single brow rising in question as she stared at him, waiting for him to speak to her again. He told her that his mother had told him that she was on her house quidditch team at the school and asked her how she liked the sport, something that nearly made her smile with amusement. She should've guessed that he would ask her such a question. " Yes, I am on my house team. I play as a beater for the Ravenclaw house and to be honest, I did not like it at first because I only joined the team to keep the quidditch captain in check since he was a bully of my brother's at one point. I figured that he would behave if he knew that I would knock him off of his broom the second that I heard he was hurting my brother again and for the most part it worked. After the bullying stopped, I stayed on the team and as time went on, I began to enjoy it more and more, I really like it now and I must say that I am glad that I had the chance to join when I did, even if I joined for not the most conventional of reasons to begin with." She found that quidditch was a great stress relief and it was one of the times that she truly did enjoy herself. She was proud of the Ravenclaw team and while they had not yet won the house cup, she was one of the first to say that she felt that they really stood a chance this year. The passion that Xayden Andrews had had as captain the previous two years had stayed with the members that had been on the team when he had been captain and likewise had been drilled into the new members. They had practiced hard and she was beginning to notice that they really might stand a chance this year at winning the cup. " I think my house might truly stand a chance at winning the Quidditch cup this year and it is exciting because we've never won the cup before. Not once in all of the years that the school has been open."

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TAGGED: Loukas
WORDS: 1025
LYRICS: I’m with You-Avirl Lavinge
NOTES: None
CREDITS Belongs towhispers @ Caution 2.0

[Loukas Souris]

Hearing her story, he caught himself chuckling softly. He could actually imagine her keeping someone in line by smacking a Bludger at them. "As unconventional as your reasons to join, I find them very honorable. I would have done the same in your position, plus the fact that you grew to enjoy it makes the experience that much more rewarding." Once again, the image of her beating someone off of their broom popped into his mind and he chuckled again, holding out a hand to pardon the outburst. "I'm sorry...the image of you smacking someone off of their broom just tickles me for some reason. I did something very similar to that to the Bulgarian beater during a match. It has a gratifying feel to it when it's deserved."

Carefully, he moved back into the snow and looked up into the falling flakes again. A few moments of silence passed before he spoke again, "What is Hogwarts like? I've never even seen the school. I've only ever been to Durmstrang. I would like to hear your opinion of it." He was enjoying her company more than most other people, and honestly, he would have been happy to simply stay out here with her. 

[Deleted]

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If she would have said that she had expected that sort of reaction upon telling him the true reason why she had joined the Ravenclaw quidditch team she honestly would have been lying. It was not often that she found that others approved of her strange and sometimes rather violent methods and yet again she was well beyond caring about whatever criticisim that her methods gained her because she knew that they were effective and they helped her get the best result not only for her, but also for whoever it was that Luna was trying to help. Point in case, Xayden had ceased his bullying of her twin and while he had been a complete jerk up until he had met Aito, it had been nothing that a well aimed bludger towards him would not fix for a couple of days if not a week or two. Just the thought of his face whenever she had managed to knock him off of his broom was enough to make her want to smile, though such an urge was quickly suppressed as she managed to gain control over her emotions yet again as she spoke to him again. " It is good to hear that I am not one of the only decent human beings that are left on this planet and that someone actually agrees with my reasoning." Even Adonis had disapproved of her knocking the Andrews boy off of his broom, saying that Artemis should learn to defend himself and that she should not have gotten involved in any sort of way, something that had made her absolutely furious at the time that she had heard those words coming out of her adopted father's mouth. It was needless to say that the next time that Xayden had dared to say something bad about her twin, he had been hurt twice as bad as he normally was and he had to stay in the hospital wing overnight for extensive injuries that had been caused by some sort of 'bizarre accident' on the quidditch pitch. Oh yes, she had trained that boy well.

Her train of thought was interrupted when she heard the sound of sudden laughter filled the air for the second time that evening and a curious gaze moved to glance at the older man again. Were the words that she was saying truly that amusing? She waited calmly for the man to stop laughing, listening to him as he explained just what he had found to be so funny to him. It had not been her words, but rather the mental image of her beating someone off of their broom that he had found amusing. It seemed as though he had done something similar to the Bulgarian beater during a match that he himself had played, something that caused a small smirk to play across the girl's lips. That truly did make for an amusing mental image, she could understand why it was that he had laughed. " Good. I'm sure he deserved it if he made you angry enough to do something like that to him to begin with." Even if she truly did not know him all that well, there were some things that the Demetriou woman was able to tell about a person just by talking with them for a while and Loukas did not come across as the sort of man that would act violent towards another person without some sort of reason. When he asked her about Hogwarts, she allowed a small smile to cross her lips before she began speaking about her home away from home. " Well as you can imagine, we live in a castle the same as you all do I imagine? In hogwarts, we are seperated by four houses. Gryffindor for the brave and strong. Hufflepuff for the loyal and just. Ravenclaw for the smart and witty and Slytherin for the sly and cunning. Around the school we have courtyards and fountains as well as a large lake to relax around when we are not in class. A little distance away, there is a small village called Hogsmeade where the older students will go to with either their friends or their significant others to escape from the castle for a weekend. There they have almost everything that you could ever want or need to keep yourself busy for the weekend. There's a sweetshop, a tea house, a clothing and a pub as well as a few other things as well." She murmured quietly with an almost fond tone. It was obvious that she enjoyed that small little village more than she let on, even if she said nothing in particular to praise it. " As for the people, there could be better company. Not all of them are bad mind you, there are actually a few whose company that I find myself enjoying, but there are more bad seeds than there are good it seems, which is a shame." Especially when you considered the fact that some of those bad seeds were actually the professors! Thoughts flashed through her mind of the vampire that had stalked her throughout the halls of the castle and she frowned, her brow furrowing for a minute as she thought about what the headmistress could have possibly seen in a person like that. Thank Merlin he had left when he did, she probably would not have been able to outsmart him for that much longer at the rate that he had been gaining on her. " Then again, they're truly not too bad I suppose. The worst of them have left the school and now things for the most part seem to be relatively peaceful. Now, tell me about Durmstrang. I'm afraid I do not know much other than what I was able to observe when they came to Hogwarts for the tournament last year. How different is it from Hogwarts?"

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TAGGED: Loukas
WORDS: 983
LYRICS: I’m with You-Avirl Lavinge
NOTES: None
CREDITS Belongs towhispers @ Caution 2.0

[Loukas Souris]

As she spoke of Hogsmeade, the fondness in her voice made him crane his head to look at her. To say the aight of her slight smile was appealing would be quite an understatement. To see her speak with adoration made him smile softly. He could try to imagine the castle with her words, and the village nearby. From how it was described, he wished he could visit it. "It sounds very picturesque. The castle and the village both. The team's coach has been contemplating sending a talent scout to watch the matches in the Spring. I may volunteer just so I might see if my mental images have done your descriptions justice. If that happens, might I ask you to be my guide?" He could think of no one better.

"Durmstrang castle idle located in Norway, actually. It is very cold, which is why our students wear furs in the winter. We did not see much of the outside during the winter months because it often was dangerously cold, so I had to admire the snow from inside the castle walls. The grounds were very expanse, but we had no place to visit to get away. The castle is only five stories, however we have fewer students than Hogwarts gets. Usually, they only allow purebloods into the school, but my dad pulled some strings. They didn't like me for being a half blood." He wasn't proud of that, actually. "Most of the students are elitist arrogant jerks, but there are some that simply do not fit that mould. There was one student younger than I, a German fellow, kindest soul you would ever care to meet. Wouldn't harm a fly, but no one dared tangle with him either. I believe he works at your school now. I can't recall his name at the moment." It would likely come later.

"I imagine with the differences in headmaster views, we have learned different things. For instance, we actually learned a lot of dark magic. Not that I practice it, only in a dire emergency would I dare dream to utter half of those spells." The thought made him shudder. When he was young, he had thought of using them simply to get back at those who had bullied him. "On an unrelated note, you say Artemis was bullied a lot, or is? I could teach him a couple self defense spells I have picked up from the library. When I was young, I was tormented tirelessly for being small and weaker than the others. I know a bit about silencing spells, or a good old fashioned 'Charm a lobster to crawl out of an orifice' spell. If it would ease your mind some."

And make you smile a bit.

Ah, he was never good at saying what he thought. Perhaps the guide comment was bold enough for one conversation. At least for the time being. He gathered some of the freshly fallen snow into his hands and blew softly, letting the loose flakes dance between them. "Honestly, I don't mind helping at all." He smiled, suddenly realizing how pretty her eyes were. That had never punctured his thoughts more than how it did now. Hm. Interesting.

[Deleted]

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There was a part of her that hoped that she had given Hogwarts justice with her description of the castle with her wprds and when Loukas had spoken, telling her that it sounded very picturesque she knew that she had and any slight feeling of concern that she had had melted away, giving way to a slight calmness that she had only felt around one person before. It was an interesting thought that she seemed to enjoy Loukas' company almost as much as she had once enjoyed Kaoru's when he had been alive and it was that strange contentment with the older man's presence that had her talking before she could even truly think about the pros and cons of showing him around should he come to scout out the players on their house quidditch teams, something that truly was not like her in any sort of way. " If you come, then I will be your guide." She confirmed simply, before falling quiet for a moment in slight surprise. Wait, what had that been about?! It did make sense that he would want her to be his guide considering the fact that they were already somewhat familiar with one another but at the same time the easiness at which she had agreed to his request had definately been odd. Perhaps it was a natural instinct of hers, wanting to save him the trouble of dealing with those annoying girls while she could. " At any rate, it is better that I show you around for I already see that a majority of those who will volunteer to showing you around will be a bunch of squealing hormonal young girls and something tells me that you don't seem like the sort of person to enjoy that sort of attention."  Then again he was a man, so perhaps she was wrong.

When the man talked about Durmstrang, she listened quietly to how he described the castle and the climate that he had been forced to endure during the harsh nordic winter. It sounded like it was a significantly less warm place than Hogwarts was and that they held an even worse taste for Pureblood superiority than even Hogwarts had, something that made her roll her eyes in more than slight annoyance. Despite being a pureblood witch herself, it had always annoyed her just how important blood purity was to everyone else in the world. In her eyes, it made them no better than dogs or even cats for that matter, with everyone fighting over the best breed [family name], the ones that had the most appealing papers [blood]. It was sad, what their kind had been reduced to. " I am glad to hear that you were able to attend the school that you wanted despite that idiotic acceptance policy and the elitists that you had to deal with. " When he mentioned that some of them did not fit the mold and said that there was this boy that was younger than him that had been one of the kindest souls that he had ever met before saying that he now worked at Hogwarts, much to her surprise. She had not been aware that they now had someone new working at the castle. That had certainly been a surprise and yet as she heard of how Loukas described him, she did not feel worried. He sounded like an insanely kind person and even if he wasn't, she knew that Xayden and his mentor were stationed in Hogsmeade. If this person was up to anything, they would put a stop to it.

She was surprised to hear that the rumors about Durmstrang being a school for the dark arts was actually true and such a fact was enough to make the female weary, not of Loukas but of the school itself. If a school filled to the brim with pureblood elitists was practicing the ways if dark magic, one would think that that would be a huge red flag to all of the aurors, who were currently fighting to keep control over such magic and the ones that used it. It was nearly obvious that the school was helping to rise the population of dark wizards and witches, so why hadn't this been looked into already? " Yes, I imagine that we did learn very different things from one another. Our headmistress strongly scourns the use of dark magic and as such it is not taught at our schools. We actually have a defense against the dark arts class and everything." She mused quietly with amusement. It seemed almost as though their schools were complete opposites of one another. When Loukas spoke again, she listened nearly smiling again when he brought up Artemis' bullying and saying that if she wanted, he would be willing to teach Artemis a few spells that would help keep him safe. It seemed as though Loukas had gone through the same thing that Artemis had when he had been younger and as such he would teach Artemis some silencing spells as well as a few other things if it would help ease her mind. " Yes, Artemis does have a problem with bullying and though it truly is not as bad as it once was, the fact that it is happening at all troubles me more than I care to honestly admit. Thank you for your offer, it means a lot that you would be willing to go out of your way to help my twin in such a great way. If there is anything I can do to repay you, do not hesitate to ask me. " 

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TAGGED: Loukas
WORDS: 935
LYRICS: I’m with You-Avirl Lavinge
NOTES: None
CREDITS Belongs towhispers @ Caution 2.0

[Loukas Souris]

"I would ask no repayment. His safety and your peace of mind are quite payment enough for me." There had been something, about seeing her smile perhaps, that waved through his mind quickly, but was pushed away by the sound of his mother's voice. "Loukas! What are you doing? Come back in! Adonis wishes to speak with you about your last match with Scotland."

His face fell as she moved back into the house. "I suppose it's back to being the Greek Beater rather than Loukas again. I must say," He paused as he rose to his feet, offering her both hands to rise, "That it was nice while it lasted."

Once in the house, he found himself immediately bombarded with questions about the match and he cast a warm glance to Luna before answering in an amusing and animated sort of way to keep the adults entertained and laughing. All seemed well until he heard the comment from Adonis, to his father. "You've raised a super star athlete, you must be proud to have a hell of a son." There was a look of disappointment shot in the direction of Artemis, who luckily was not paying attention as he curled against his significant other's side with his eyes closed happily.

The look on Loukas' face bordered shock and anger, he could not refrain from speaking out, but not out of anger, "Really, Adonis. I am quite unoriginal. I went to the same school as my father and grandfathers, my career requires little more than physical health, and in most ways of the world, I am vastly inexperienced. Fame is meaningless. I envy your son. In his life, he has experienced and attained more than I have in my own. Both your son and daughter are gifted in ways I could never be. They are individually more unique than 10 of me. I was lucky, they have skill. I have heard tremendous things from students of my alma mater regarding them last year and from an alumni of Durmstrang speaks nothing but praise of your son. Excuse me."

He moved from one side of the room to near Athene, and put an arm around her. "Anyone care to fly with me?"

[Deleted]

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Like all good things it seemed as though this was something that absolutely had to end as well for it was a moment later that Loukas' mother called out to him, asking him to come back inside because Adonis had wished to ask him something about his last match against Scotland, something that had Luna's icy eyes moving to glance at him with a look that was akin to pity. She could not say that she envied his position at that point in time, for having Adonis' attention on yourself was not exactly the most pleasant of things for a person to have to deal with. " I cannot say that I envy you in the least, but I will apologize in advance for anything that he does or says that makes you angry or offends you in some sort of way." She murmured quietly, shooting an annoyed glance at the manor before she accepted Loukas' hands, using them to pull herself up before brushing the snow off of her clothing. " I enjoyed our conversation as well, it is nice to have an intellegent conversation with someone outside of the family for once, perhaps we will do it again in the future?" It was with that last statement that she began making her way back to the manor, slipping in and choosing to stay towards the very back of the room with her arms crossed over her chest and her form leaning casually against the wall, watching the chaos as it unfolded before her eyes with a blank stare, back to showing no emotion.

Loukas had barely made it into the home when he was suddenly bombarded with all sorts of questions about his last match and she missed the gaze that had been shot her way in favor of watching her brother, making sure that nothing had been said by the old man to hurt him in her absence, her body relaxing the slightest bit when he seemed just as happy as ever. That was a line that no one, not even the man that had saved her from freezing to death was allowed to cross. No one was allowed to hurt her brother in any sort of way, that was the one thing that she did not tolerate. Slowly her eyes moved from her brother to the adults, watching the way that Loukas answered the questions was nearly enough to make her frown. The way that the man moved, the way that he spoke was not natural, almost as though it was something that he had made up just to keep them entertained and perhaps the most disturbing thing was that it truly was not that difficult to notice. Even if she had not been who she was, there was a part of her that was more than confident that even her brother, who truly was not the most observant soul in the world would have been able to notice how uncomfortable he seemed. Taking pity on him, Luna had moved and began walking towards the group, ready to take some of the attention off of him when she saw the glance that had been shot towards her brother and froze.


He did not just imply that her brother was a dissapointment in front of company.


A mixture of absolute rage and disgust built up in those bright eyes and her gaze narrowed into an icy glare that was directed specifically at Adonis as both her jaw and her fists clenched for a moment. For a moment, she was tempted to draw her wand and hex him into silence and she had her hand reaching towards her wand before her mind cleared up long enough for her to catch herself. Taking a shaky breath, she forced her body to be still trying to think of numerous things to calm her burning anger before she listened to Loukas speak again, her body relaxing when she heard what he had to say about her brother before she threw in her own two cents. " As am I, I am nothing more than all work and no play, I am afraid. That is how I get the marks that I have. Artemis here, however, is able to get just as high marks as I am as well as still being able to have time for a social life with some of his friends and maintain a healthy relationship with this wonderful young woman here. He truly is an amazing young man, I am lucky to have such a wonderful younger brother." Her gaze slid to Annabelle, watching as her face lit up and she began speaking praises about Artemis just as she had planned. Good. Now Adonis would have to listen to all of the good things that were said about her brother and would have to even compliment him the way that Annabelle did, something that she knew pained him more than he would ever let on. A smirk crossed her lips for a moment before falling off and returning to her normal neutral mask when Loukas spoke again, asking if anyone would like to fly with him. " I will join you." She murmured before crossing the room and walking out of the doorway.


She would do anything to get away from there at that point.




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TAGGED: Loukas
WORDS: 884
LYRICS: I’m with You-Avirl Lavinge
NOTES: None
CREDITS Belongs towhispers @ Caution 2.0

[Loukas Souris]

As Luna moved through the doorway, he turned on his heel and looked down to Athene before whispering to her. "Make sure that nothing ill of Luna or Artemis is said again, okay? If there is, tell me when we get home. I lost my temper, and I don't want to say something I will regret in front of mixed company." She grinned and nodded profusely before looking at the adults with a content smile as her brother left.

She truly was his little sister.

As he pulled his coat on and made his way back outside, he caught himself taking a deep breath. "Ech. Hera's Handbags, I need to replace my mind to mouth filter. But, in that situation, it could not be helped." He pulled out his wand and summoned his broom, which came sailing from the front of the manor and hit his palm at the ready. They had flown to get there, mostly because one missed so much scenery when appirating and Loukas had not been home for a while so, seeing his country was refreshing for him at least. At best, it was a breath of life.

He heaved a sigh and mounted his broom, kicking off with a well practiced gesture and sailing about the back yard with an almost lazy speed. The air felt incredible. "You know," He began, looking over at Luna, "The amount of love and respect you have for your brother is admirable. I feel the same toward Athene. She is a gifted student, but can't fly to save her life. A lot of kids picked on her for having a famous brother who plays Quidditch for a living and she can't fly. I used to tell her that I may be able to fly, but I can't brew potions like she can, or tend plants. I tried to instill in her the understanding that everyone has a gift somewhere, and she should try to see that in everyone. That is part of the resonance I went off like that. I apologize if I upset you in any way. Perhaps, that comes from being a half blood. My mother can't do magic, but Hera does she love watching us do it. She has her own gifts, gifts we need magic to replicate. I just don't tolerate belittling like that."

You just don't compare people to others. It was not fair.

[Deleted]

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Upon reaching the outdoors her wand was out of her pocket and with a frown she summoned her broom to her with a single word, a sigh leaving her lips upon feeling the smooth wood meeting the palm of her outstretched hand as her free hand ran through her hair, gripping onto it for a moment in her frustration before releasing it with an irritated grunt. Merlin, Adonis knew how to anger her in ways that no one else did and while she more often than not took revenge on the man when he deserved it, she found that it was a win and lose sort of situation for her, for while she did get her sastifaction from any sort of misfortune that she caused him, there was the remnants of anger that lodged themselves into her chest, into her heart and staying there for much longer than what was normal, even by her own standards. When Loukas moved to join her outside he would find her staring off into the distance with that troubled frown still crossing her features until he spoke. She listened to Loukas speak for a moment before shaking her head and sighing again. " None of that was your fault in any way. Adonis should know better than to do something like that, even without you saying anything. He deserved what you said and a hell of a lot more than that if you ask me because if he so easily does something like that to his own son, he is no better than the bullies who I knocked off of their brooms ." Her eyes narrowed again in her frustration before her eyes slid closed and she managed to reign in her temper again for the time being. The next time her eyes opened, the rage had left them returning them to their normal nearly emotionless gaze. " I apologize for that scene in there, I am sure that your family did not come here to see us in our disfunction and I know that I did not make it any better by losing my own temper in there."

After the apology was given to him, she fell quiet before temporarily leaning her broom against the side of the home, her hand reaching into her pocket and pulling out a hair tie which she used to secure her hair so that it would not get in her way while she was up in the air before grabbing onto her broom and mounting it before quickly kicking off, up into the air. There was something so refreshing about feeling the cool breeze brush against her face and it was beautiful, to be flying amongst the falling snowflakes. She was so entranced by the beauty of the scenery that she flew slowly, just so she could commit the image to the more pleasant part of her memory. It was only when Loukas spoke to her again did she force her gaze away, only to show that he had her attention. He said that the love and respect that she had for her brother was admirable, before telling her that he was very much the same way with his own sister, something that made her smile again for the briefest of seconds before she spoke, filling the quiet air with her voice as she responded to him. " The love and respect for my brother is something that is natural to me. Because I am his twin, I notice things about him that for some reason most others overlook for some reason. They cannot see in him, the things that I and the things that his girlfriend can. They are cruel and they try to break him not knowing that the person that they are trying to harm is a person that truly holds no evil in his heart. That is why I protect him with all that I am, I do not wish to see my brother's light to go out. I don't want him to stop smiling, I want him to be happy and loved and I will do anything to ensure that that happens." She wanted him to be happy and to live life carefreely and in order to make sure that he did, she would make any sacrifice even if it meant that she herself could not be happy in this lifetime.

That was the power of the love that she had for her twin.

It was odd, to reveal such a thing to Loukas after such a short period of speaking but for some reason she felt comfortable around him, so she did not let such things trouble her, at least not yet. When he brought up his sister's bullying issues as well as telling her what it was that he used to say to her to make her feel better. He also gave her an apology, something that had surprised her before going into detail about how he believed it was the halfblood nature in him that made him speak out, something that she immediately disagreed with. " It is not the hald blood nature in you, it is the fact that you are a decent human being that made you speak.  There are some purebloods that would have done the same thing that you did, granted you could probably count them on one hand but I do know that there are some of them out there." She paused for a moment before returning her gaze to the sky and speaking again. " There is nothing to apologize about, you did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact I should be thanking you for what you did and you're absolutely right. The sad thing is, those idiots, those blood purists are too blind, too foolish to see the truth that lays before their very eyes. " Both muggles and magic users had magic within them, the only difference was that muggles did not need wands or spells in order to create their results. They were able to make the magic happen with their own hands, with their own effort without taking the shortcuts that they had to and perhaps that was the most amazing thing about the world, about the humans.

They all had magic in them, some were just far too blind to see that.

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TAGGED: Loukas
WORDS: 1048
LYRICS: I’m with You-Avirl Lavinge
NOTES: None!
CREDITS Belongs towhispers @ Caution 2.0[/center]

[Loukas Souris]

Loukas smiled over at her from his broom, "Speaking on behalf of the brother here, sometimes we find our happiness in the joy of our sister. When things go well for me, I'm alright, but when my sister is happy too...there is no greater feeling." The broom swooped downward and curved back up and he settled at her side. "I would imagine he worries about you more than you think, just wanting to see you happy as you do him. I'm no twin, but it's obvious that he would like that."

Truthfully, it was the same with Athene.

When she began dating her boyfriend, she was happy. He was happy that she was happy. But, she wanted him to feel that same joy. If took him a while to explain to her that even if he wasn't seeing someone, he was happy with himself as he was. He did not need a person to define his joy, but...it would be nice to have someone to come home to, he did admit. Love was something difficult for him to attain.

"Now, I have to admit. I am curious again, what are the classes you find most enjoyable at school? What subjects challenge you?" Himself, he loved Transfiguration, Charms, Duelling, even Care of Magical Creatures. He would have enjoyed potions more had he not been the lab partner that usually wound up blowing something up.

He was that partner.

Potions had been far trickier than it should have been.

He enjoyed learning about her, she piqued his curiousity far more than most humans. "I apologize if I ask a lot of questions. I enjoy learning about you and hearing your thoughts on matters. You are very fascinating, not just because of your gifts. Your passion for things is intoxicating. Your open mindedness of blood purity is absolutely a breath of fresh air. It is wonderful to meet someone like you." Nevermind that her eyes were beautiful, or her half smile infectious. Beauty faded with age, but her heart. That would never change.