Please don't stop the music (Open)

Annie was free that day and decided that she wanted to let go and be free, so Annie grabbed her radio and a few CDs and went to the dance studio. When she got there it was empty so she set down her radio and plugged the cord into the wall, she then proceeded to put on a song to dance to which just so happened to be Wings by Little Minx. She took off her thin coat and threw it on the ground and began to move to the beat of the music. Annie was in a pair of tights with a red skirt on top of it, a red dance shirt, her strawberry blonde hair was in a ponytail, and she had on a pair of dancing heels. The Nightshade continued to dance.

It was raining pretty heavily that day and since Mary thought she was coming down with a cold, she decided to do her training inside. It wouldn't be the same, of course, but at least she'd stay dry and not get terribly sick. As NEWTs were coming up, she needed to stay healthy and do as much working out as she could in between studying.

She arrived at the studio, already in her gym clothes and with a bottle of water in her hand. With a groan, she realized someone else was in the studio already, as music was blasting on in there. She hoped that whoever it was wouldn't mind sharing the space. As it turned out, a very pretty girl was dancing there and Mary had to remind herself she was dating someone.

"Hey, sorry to bother you. Would you mind if I worked out in here?" Mary said after clearing her throat and smiling at the girl.

The song was almost over when she heard a voice. Annie stopped dancing and looked at the feminine voice from behind her. Annie was out of breath from dancing and when the other girl asked if she minded if she worked out there, Annie shook her head. "No not at all, be my guest" the studio was big enough for both of them. "I'm Annie Brycelynn by the way" the Nightshade introduced.

"I'm Annie Brycelynn by the way"

"Oh, you're in Nightshade, right?" Mary remembered seeing the name somewhere and she shrugged it off, it was probably on some list or another. Being the Head Girl, she was supposed to know the students at least by name and she tried to connect the names to faces and Houses the best she could.

"I'm Mary McNeely, nice to meet you." She introduced herself and gave her a smile before putting her water bottle down. Then she started doing her usual warming up routine which included lunges, stretches, jumping jacks, running in place etc. She was getting quite good at working out and she already had muscles, even though they weren't very defined yet.

Soon, she had to ditch her jacket and was left in shorts and a tank top and moved on to more complicated things. Her next meeting with Jake was in two days and she wanted to make the man proud.

When the older girl asked if she was in Nightshade she nodded. "Yes I am and you're in... Wormwood correct?" She had to take a moment to remember where she had seen this girl before. She introduced herself as Mary and that is when it clicked. "You're the Head Girl" it wasn't a question, it was more like Annie remembering where she had been seen before.

Annie watched from her spot as Mary began to exercise and Annie went back to her dancing. She changed the song and lowered the volume so she didn't disturb Mary.

Mary smiled and nodded her head. "I am. In Wormwood, and Head Girl." There wasn't much else to say on the subject, unless the girl had any questions, but Mary was sure she would just ask if she had.

After working out for a while, Mary was out of breath, sweating and in a great need of water and a break. So she walked over to where she had her bottle, sat down and downed about half the bottle in one go. She was used to the feeling of aching muscles by now and actually quite liked it. It showed she had really done something that day.

"You dance really good." she commented as she watched Annie dancing. She was still slightly out of breath and she figured a small break wouldn't do her harm. "Have you had any lessons?"

Annie continues to dance but when Mary compliments her she stops and smiles at the older girl. "Sort of, my mother was a dancer and after she died I went to lessons occasionally and in the summer and holidays I help teach at this dance academy place to young girls" Annie explained. "I guess you can say dancing is in my blood" she continued. "What about you? Any talents that you're good at besides exercising?" Annie asked, strictly with curiosity.

Mary listened to the girl explain and was a bit shocked at the seemingly easy explanation of her Mother's death. The Head Girl was familiar with the feeling and so she only nodded and smiled. "Sorry for your loss, she sounds nice. And that sounds amazing, it's really nice of you." she commented on Annie teaching kids to dance. She was still breathing fast and irregular and she hoped it would stop soon.

The Wormwood grinned and chuckled at the question. "I certainly hope so. I'm good at Potions... Though that takes a lot of hard work, same as working out. I'm really only working out so that I'll get in the Auror Training program." she explained and then took another sip of her water. "So I'm good at defensive magic as well, but only because I've worked hard to be good at it." Now that she thought about it, Mary didn't really have any special talents. Apart from magic, but given that she was attending a magic school, that wasn't really that special. "Do you know what you want to do after Salem yet?" Mary asked, mainly to stop thinking of her lack of talents.


OOC: I'm so sorry for the late reply

When Mary apologized for the loss of her mother, she nodded and gave a small smile. "Thank you Mary, it means a lot" Annie replied. She loved her mother very much and was sad that she lost her mother so young but there was nothing she could do about it now. When she complimented Annie on teaching kids she smiled. "Thank you again, if you ever want to learn you can always ask me to help you" Annie offered.

"Potions and Defensive magic is a good quality to have. I know you will do great as an Auror and anyone who can't see that will be idiots to not accept you" Annie encouraged her. The million dollar question was what she wanted to do. Annie felt like an idiot for not knowing what she wanted to do at all. She had some talents but she never thought she was good enough. "I'm not sure yet" Annie said bummed.

"Oh, I don't think dancing's for me!" Mary laughed. "You need a certain grace or rhythm and I have neither. I went to dance lessons when I was little and I failed miserably. I just shuffled around and trying not to cry because everyone else was so much better than me." she chuckled at the memory. It was absolutely horrible at the time, but she was glad for the experience. It taught her that she can't be perfect at everything and that she should work hard for her goals. "But thank you for the offer."

"Thank you," Mary said, heartfelt. It meant a lot to hear someone who barely knew her say that. "I'll just do my best and see if that's enough." she smiled, trying not to sound worried. The Head Girl smiled encouragingly at the younger girl. "It's okay, you don't have to have everything figured out. I've never wanted to be an Auror until a couple of year ago, when my - when the attack on the Quidditch Match happened." she explained, looking down at her feet. She didn't particularly wish to discuss Oscar's death at the moment. "So, my point is, you can be halfway through your seventh year and not know what you want to do after school. It's different for everyone."