Gabrielle.

He shook his head quickly, the bird wobbled. His eyes were still bright, awake. He didn't seem bored or tired at all; and he opened his mouth, about to speak, then closed it quietly.
Crossing his legs again, he settled back and continued his staring at her. He didn't look like he slept much anyway.
The little bird was falling asleep, half buried in his hair, as if sleepy from its miraculously fast flight down. He felt its fast little heartbeat on the top of his head. He loved the cute little bird, it was one of his only friends that was actually living. It always sat on his head, ever since he'd met it, and he never knew why, but it was nice.
He interlaced his fingers again and rested them on his knee, watching the girl and wondering what kind of pet she had.

She looked at the bird, feeling her heart go soft. She loved animals.
"Is that your pet?" She asked, still smiling at the little thing on top of his head.
It was odd, if anything. The bird's own oddness reminded her of the boy's oddness. But it was a cute thing to look at. She loved the way the bird felt the need to be so close that it nestled itself into his hair.
"I have cat," She smiled as if he had asked her. "He's odd, a bit of a fruit ball, if you will."
Honestly, she didn't know why she called her cat a fruit ball. But it came to her, and she couldn't snatch the words back. All she could do was blush in embarrassment as the words floated between them.

The boy smiled, and the bird chirruped one last time before falling into a doze.
A fruit ball? He smiled wider, an almost laugh. This girl was interesting. He never would've thought to call a cat a fruit ball. He lifted a hand to his hair, brushing and playing around with his bangs, an odd thing for a boy to do. He'd begun to tap his foot again. He looked quite comfortable now, but quite awake.

She blushed a tiny bit at the fact that he found this funny, but then she realized he wasn't exactly laughing at her because she was being an idiot. He was just laughing because she said something... odd.
She smiled once more at the bird, feeling her heart get even softer. Her and her weak spot for animals; anyone could get her at this moment, because it was her most vulnerable thing. Show her an animal, and it was the easiest way to attack her.
"So," She said finally, overcoming her one moment of weakness. "Am I e'er going to get a name out of you?"
She was hoping to say something just to get a word out of him. She leaned on the edge of her seat, much so that if she leaned any farther she could tumble out onto the floor.

His smile faded, and he continued to stare at her. At last, a question he could not convey answers by thoughts or actions, so he opened his mouth,
"I'm sorry I did not tell you when first we met..." He said.
His eyes may have been weird, but his voice was weirder. It was soft, but not feminine; firm, but not masculine. It was hard to tell what it really sounded like. Not deep, nor high; harsh, nor lilting. He had a mumbling voice that was serious, and at the same time, a little dazed. All the descriptions kept contradicting themselves.
"My name is Abel..."

She tried to nod, but she couldn't. It felt as if she were a machine that had rusted.
His voice was nothing like she had predicted. In fact, it was somewhere in between. It was nice... something she would enjoy listening to if she could only keep him talking for a while. She looked at him as he stopped speaking, trailing his voice back to the source.
"I's not a problem," She said finally. Her own voice sounded weak in comparison, and right now it almost had a dreamy affect to it. "And I'm Gabrielle."
She couldn't help the small smile that came to play as it finally hit her. She got him to speak. This made her feel oddly happy, as if she had overcome something that was hard to do. Was it? She did not know.

"Pleased to meet you, Gabrielle..." He said, pulling his knees up to his chest, resting heels on the edge of the chair, and wrapping his arms around his legs
He felt strange now, speaking to someone he barely knew. He never spoke to anyone at this school, and even less so at his muggle home. Why was this girl so special? Why did he feel safe talking to her? Granted, she was unique. She got him out of the corner. That alone was enough to satisfy him that she certainly wasn't 'normal.' Besides, it wasn't a bad feeling. It felt good to finally use his neglected vocal cords.
He smiled, resting his chin on his knees and looking her up and down for the first time. She looked about just as tall as he, despite being a year younger than him. Her hair was interesting, streaked with a folley of somewhat Ravenclaw-esqe colours. He liked it, it wasn't so vapid like his own. Maybe he should do something with his boring brown hair... Nah, it'd only draw attention.
She had a pretty face, blue eyes, nice smile. It reminded him of someone whom called him a friend. An obnoxious, albeit kind someone. He sighed, giving his head a little shake. The teeny bird wobbled and teetered and nearly fell off; he'd almost forgotten it was still up there.
"I'm sorry, Timcanpy... I forgot you were asleep..." He whispered, so softly, it was as if he were only mouthing the words. The little owl twittered, as if in forgiveness, and fluffed around in his hair only to fall back asleep.

"I's nice to meet you too, Abel," She smiled at him. "And i's nice to know I'm not all that intimidating, eh?"
She reajusted herself in the chair so that now she sat crosslegged before him, able to stare across easily and talk. Her hands rested on her knees, where she soon began drumming her fingers, a quirk of hers she never quite understood where it came from.
"I've never found someone in here this late," She said. "Especially not hiding in the corners from me," She added with a grin in her eyes.

"Oh," He glanced up from his knees, where his gaze had wandered. Timcanpy twitched his wings in his sleep, but only ruffled them and slept on.
"I've been in the common room every night for a while now..." He twiddled his thumbs, staring intently at her. "The same corner, the same time... I see you every night you come." He smiled. "I guess no one ever notices me anyway."
Something seemed to be bothering him about the staircase again, though, and it wasn't sleep.

"Hm," Gabrielle tilted her head in thought. "That seems awfully rude of me not to have noticed you. Especially when we're in the same room almost every night."
She sighed a little, almost feeling guilty for this fact. She didn't know if it made it any better that she did notice him tonight because there still were all the other nights she didn't notice him.
"I'm sorry 'bout that," She smiled timidly. "You must 'ave been really good at sitting still... something I've never been able to acomplish, if I do say so myself."
She noticed his gaze going back to the staircase again, and wondered wether or not she should ask if something was wrong. It wasn't exactly her business to pry. She watched his face and waited for his gaze to return, hoping that she might catch something from him.

"Oh, no, no. I really don't mind if you didn't see me." He waved a hand nonchelantly. "It's usually my mission not to be seen." He smiled, lifting the little sleeping bird off his head and gently placing him on the arm rest next to him. It twittered in protest, but fell right back into a doze.
"Little thing's a menace," He mumbled, nearly laughing and smoothing down his ruffled hair.

"It's cute," She smiled. "It's got quite the personality from most birds I've seen. Our family one doesn't have half the personality." She felt bad for dissing Jade, their family owl, but it was true. At least this bird was cute and friendly, or so she thought it seemed friendly.
"How'd you ever come upon the li'l thing?"

"He likes wearing his heart on his sleeve, I suppose." He looked fondly at the tiny bird, stroking it along the back with his thumb like he'd done before. "He's a gift from my..." He paused, thinking...
"Late best friend's cousin's son's wife's sister-in-law." He said quickly. "The only other witch even close to me. When she heard there was another wizard she actually knew, she said she went right out of her way to give me one of her owls..." He sighed. "She has a lot of owls, I gather... Nice woman, hardly know her."

((Think Rachel's started posting at the Grounds again...)

She smiled at the tiny bird, admiring it for having such courage, or being silly enough, to wear its heart on its sleeve.
"Tha's a very complicated title to have," Gabrielle said. "Best friend's cousin's... son's wife's... sister in law."
She smiled, though, as she realized that she learned information about him.
"Best friend, huh? They go here?"

"Naw, she's a muggle, just like everyone back home." He said, listening to the bird's little coos of satisfaction as he was petted.
"She was a friend in grade school. Since I started coming here, we've begun to drift apart. I still write to her though." He shrugged, resting his feet back on the floor. "There's only one other person I know here, well, other than you now, I guess. Haven't seen him in a while though..."
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a great white cat leaped out of nowhere, up over his knees and landing directly in his lap with a thwump! front two paws pressed against his chest, as if to keep him pinned to the chair.
"Oof!" He jerked backwards, nearly knocking his chair over. Timcanpy, the little owl, twittered in alarm, taking flight and landing on the back of Gabrielle's chair instead.

She was just about to open her mouth in response as a big white thing jumped on to Abel.
Gabrielle felt startled, pressing herself into the back of her own chair with a little squeal. She pushed back too hard, sliding the chair back a couple feet, but not hard enough to knock it over. She didn't want to tip it and end up squishing the tiny bird.
"What... on earth is that?" She put her hand over her heart, trying to slow it's beating down. She was aware that it was thumping loudly, and she hoped that she was the only one who could hear it.

His breathing was quick and shallow, heart pounding painfully against his ribcage, eyes at their widest as he stared at the thing.
"A... A cat..." He said weakly. The cat twitched it's wiskers and meowed triumphantly, as if happy it had caught him. Timcanpy flapped his wings in distress at the sound of the cat. Abel glared into it's eyes, as if to tell it to get off, but it had strong willpower. It only meowed again.
"What do you want?" He asked quietly, still looking scared out of his wits.

She noticed, finally, as he answered.
It, indeed, was a cat. An awfully big one. Her cat would look like a tiny kit in comparison.
She felt the bird behind her, and turned so half her body was still facing Abel and the cat, and the other half was facing the bird, where she reached out a hand carefully to stroke it and calm its nerves.
"Where'd it come from?" Gabrielle asked aloud, not directing the question to anyone in particular.

The bird fluttered down onto Gabrielle's shoulder, a scared look in its eye. It twittered, as if wanting to help his master, but really quite unable to.
"Th-the staircase..." He stammered, pointing toward the dormitory. Then, realization dawned,
"I... I know this cat." His eyes widened as he tried to sit up straighter, but the cat stamped its front paws, forcing him further into the chair. "But if she's here, where's Di--" He broke off, looking at the entrance to the common room. No one was there. To the staircase? Nope, no one.

Gabrielle turned, feeling better now that the bird had flown down from the top of the chair, in easy reach of her whichever way she looked.
Her eyes rested on the big white animal. She still couldn't get over how big the cat was.
"Who?" She asked, realizing that he was talking about someone else now. "Is tha' what you thought was coming from the stairs?"

"Yeah." He nodded, attempting to lift the cat out of his lap, but it dug it's claws into his shirt. He quickly let go of it with a wince. "This is Diedrich's cat..." He mumbled.
"Where's Diedrich? This cat never leaves his side." He looked confused.

She squeezed her eyes shut a little as she watch the cat dig its claws into him.
"Maybe... he left it behind because he wanted to go somewhere without it?" She offered. "She looks awfully heavy." Gabrielle observed. Her own cat was easy to push off, but he never was a bother.

He scooched up a little in the chair, but just a bit, else he might anger the cat.
"He's probably outside. But he usually takes his cat with him outside..." He shrugged a little, and suddenly yanked the cat off before it had time to claw him. It meowed in protest and he tossed it gently, feet first, to the floor. It landed gracefully, gave him a vindictive glare, and wandered off to hunt some mice.
"Geez, he has to learn I won't babysit his animals." He mumbled quietly.
"So," He then began, trying to remember where they'd been before the attack.

She eyed the cat thoughtfully. Where was hers, anyway? Probably doing what he did best; sleeping.
"We were talking about friends," She smiled tentivly. "So, Diedrich's the other person you actually talk to, huh?"
Gabrielle couldn't stop smiling. For some reason, she just felt happy. It was nice to talk to someone who was different. Abel wasn't like anyone else, and Gabrielle really enjoyed that fact.

"Yep." He nodded solemnly. "He's the only one I've spoken to apart from you and my owl."
This was actually the first time in a long while that he'd spoken at all. Diedrich had made him self scarse for the past week or so, and he'd been running out of things to say to Timcanpy. His throat had begun to hurt from all the conversation.
After a moment or two, he pulled out a small gold object, a shiny pocketwatch, from the folds of his robes, and flipped it open. "Good gracious," He muttered. The clock read twenty minutes to three.