A Walk ((open))

[zaragirard]

The chilly wind swept across the grounds, causing some of the thin trees to bend dangerously close to breaking, and messing up Zara Girard's hair. Not that she minded. She was aware of the fate of her dark curls when she had stepped outside just a few moments ago.

It felt good to walk around the grounds, especially when it was a little empty. Kind of unusual for her to feel good when she was alone, since she always liked to hang out with her friends...but it does do one good to spend time alone and collect their thoughts. Her homework was done and she had had her dinner. And she decided that since she's so bored out of her wits, she could take a walk around the lake, one of her favourites spots in Hogwarts.

As she continued walking, she couldn't help but think about her still unanswered owl that she had sent to her father a week ago. She made sure to sent him owls quite frequently, to make sure he's fine. But the replying owls are either delayed, or they never come. Zara sighed. She knew how busy her father was. It wasn't easy, juggling between the roles of an Auror, and a single father of a teenage girl. But was it really that hard to write up a short reply and send it to her? It would at least ease her mind, and she could be at peace for some time, knowing that her father was fine.

She neared the very familiar oak tree, the one that she had sat under since the start of her first year at Hogwarts, and plopped down on her yet another favourite spot. She leaned back on her hands, looking up at the moonlit sky. How beautiful. Now, if only there was someone around here to join her...

[daisy]

The night was clear and beautiful. Daisy looked up at the stars and admired everyone her eyes could spot. There was something so vast yet inviting about Space, everything it held was a mystery, a far away, intriguing mystery for the world to gaze up at. It truly was a spectacular sight to behold.

Deciding it was probably time to get back up to the castle, Daisy pushed herself up from the edge of the forbidden forest. She wasn't brave enough to actually step foot in there but over the years she had found herself more and more willing to sit ever closer, after all, it wasn't only the skies that held mysteries that could intrigue. The forest had its own secrets too.

Deciding to go back to the castle the longest way possible, Daisy enjoyed the feeling of mud and grass pressing into the bottom of her feet and tickling the tis of her toes. It wasn't very often Daisy was seen wearing shoes. Only during lessons and meal times and right now it didn't matter to her that it was windy and cold, Daisy loved the cold! So she'd left her shoes and socks in her dorm like always.

The wind pushed across a few clouds and Daisy smiled. She liked clouds, they were pretty, always different shades to be found and with the moon bouncing off of it made Daisy feel like she was in some sort of black and white muggle movie. She had no idea why it was just a strange sensation she always got, watching the clouds pass by in the sky in the pale moonlight.

Turning her attention to the moon Daisy didn't take her eyes off of it, which for someone as clumsy as Daisy, was probably a little bit of a foolish thing to do, but it wasn't too long before Daisy became distracted by something else. The reflection. The moon and stars reflected in the great lake that sat in the middle of the Hogwarts grounds. Well, it wasn't so much in the middle as towards the edge, but Daisy appreciated its serene beauty regardless of location.

Daisy took her eyes off the lake to take in the trees along the shore. How graceful they all looked bending in the wind. It was then she'd noticed she was fast approaching another student. Daisy didn't like to stay out past curfew and she was pretty sure that she had plenty of time for a hello, maybe a chat and a walk around the grounds before having to be in her Common Room, though the red head wasn't exactly known for her time keeping skills and having been out since almost the beginning of dinner there was a chance that she'd passed more time than she'd realised.

"Hi." She said, approaching the other person but slowing down so as not to seem like some crazy attacker. "It's nice to see someone else out enjoying this beautiful weather." Daisy was quite a nice person on the whole and she didn't recognise this student as a Slytherin so she felt fairly confident she wasn't going to walk away from this encounter hexed to smithereens.

[zaragirard]

Zara had never really excelled in Astronomy, and certainly hadn't decided to study it as a core subject, but the stars, constellations and the sky in general fascinated her. It was nice to stare at it in the moonlight, and read the ocassional book or two when time permitted, but her love for astronomy stopped at there.

Taking another deep breath, Zara decided that it was time to head back. She didn't want to be caught out on the grounds past the curfew, and she was getting tired. Staring idly at the night sky had that effect on her.

Just then, she heard someone behind her. She turned around, only to see a girl, who seemed to belong to...Zara couldn't place which house the girl was from, but was fairly sure she wasn't a fifth year. If she was, Zara would've at least recognised her.

Zara smiled at what the girl said, and got up. "That is true. I did no expect to find someone here at this time," she chuckled. She vaguely registered the fact that the girl wasn't wearing any shoes, or socks, and hid her surprise. This girl seemed to be a tad different. Not that Zara judges anyone.

"The weather is indeed beautiful. The wind and the really beautiful sky. I have now forgotten what are the names of those constellations, but it never stopped me from admiring them," she joked, putting on a smile and being friendly as usual. "Were you heading back?" she asked her. If she was, it wouldn't hurt to have company as she headed back. "Oh, and I'm Zara Girard," she greeted, holding her hand out.

[daisy]

Daisy smiled, the girl seemed friendly! She was lucky! Not only was the girl she'd now met friendly and not dismissive, she was actually engaging in conversation! Daisy got a warm feeling through her chest as she felt as though she was making a new friend. Friends were always something Daisy liked to make, she liked having people around that she got on with but a lot of people did tend to keep away from her, they just never really got to know her.

"Lovely to meet you Zara, I'm Daisy Hookum. I'm in Hufflepuff and I love astrology! And yes, I was heading back to the castle. I'm not entirely sure how long I've been out here and I'd hate to be out past curfew, I worry that I'll get in trouble and lose house points." It was as though they were going to cram everything about themselves into five minutes of meeting at this rate, but Daisy didn't mind, not in the slightest, she enjoyed talking when she was in company that made her feel comfortable and she liked letting people know about her, it stopped them from thinking she was completely mental when they got to realising that she was actually a little bit normal, liked some of the things they did and disliked some of the same things too. Not everyone was the same but people had common interests with one another and that was how people became friends, as well as by being decent people of course.

"I was taking the long way back to the castle, walk across the grounds a bit. You can join me if you want." Daisy said, she'd actually like the company though she would stay here for a little bit if that was what Zara Girard was going to do. Daisy had a feeling that Zara was older than her because Daisy knew she wasn't in the same year as her and she certainly wasn't a third year or younger.

[zaragirard]

Zara was actually pleasantly surprised when the girl began introducing herself quickly, and her smile widened. A lot of people she met tended to just stop at their name, as if any further information would make her want to curse them into oblivion. But Daisy seemed to be just as friendly as she was, and Zara loved that.

"Nice to meet you too, Daisy. And yes, I'd hate to be caught out after curfew. Losing points for Gryffindor is not what my house needs right now," she chuckled, and nodded her head at what Daisy said. "Of course, I'd love to take that path. I often do, whenever I come out here in the evenings. Helps to get the load of stress off my head. Assignments these days, they can really kill me," Zara said, shuddering at the thought of what more assignments were going to pile on her head the next day.

She brushed off her back in case some of the dirt stuck to her skirt, and began walking. "Are you a fifth year? Because I am, and I haven't really seen you around in my classes," she asked Daisy.

[daisy]

Daisy laughed. Gryffindor didn't want to lose points at the moment because they'd ruin they're amazing lead over all the other houses. "I think Gryffindor are pretty safe. I'm in Hufflepuff and we're second at the moment but we're still 485 points behind you!" Daisy really hoped Hufflepuff would catch up with Gryffindor but with only a few months left at school, it didn't seem likely but Daisy would try and do better during the next school year, she wanted Hufflepuff to win the house cup during her time at school!

Daisy smiled widely, she was excited to have company on her walk back to the castle. "No, I'm in fourth year, not looking forward to fifth year now! It sounds hard!" Daisy wasn't a real academic type, she was good at the lessons she enjoyed and the lessons she enjoyed tended to be the outside ones, lessons where she could get dirty like Herbology or work with natures beauties in Care of Magical Creatures. She also enjoyed the splendour of the night sky which was why she had chosen Astronomy but more than anything else she loved muggle studies. Nature was amazing but so were muggles. All the ways they'd learnt to cope without magic was amazing and had always caught Daisy's attention. She hoped to one day give living like a muggle a try. Apart from that there were few lessons that interested her, even Charms, transfiguration and Defence Against The Dark Arts were dull.

"So what lessons do you take? Maybe you could give some tips for next year!" Daisy said hopefully. She could do with all the help she could get for her three weaker studies but she couldn't drop them and she couldn't just fail them because she wanted to stay on the quidditch team as Seeker and if she started failing classes she was worried she might get yanked off the house quidditch team. That was the last thing she wanted to happen.

[zaragirard]

Zara laughed when she heard Daisy talking about the house points. "Well, what kind I say? We always like some healthy, friendly competition," she said. She was competitive, yes. But she never took failure, or success, to heart. She loved a friendly game, but rarely took it further than that. Then there would be unwanted squabbles and resentment involved...which made Zara very, very uncomfortable.

"Ah.." Zara nodded as Daisy explained that she was a 4th year. "Yup, well, don't look forward to it if you don't score well," she made a face. "I enjoy Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology. Even Ancient Runes! But Transfiguration, Merlin, that subject is going to be the death of me someday," she shared with Daisy darkly. It was pretty hard to mask her dislike for that subject, since Zara never made it to the top of her class solely due to Transfiguration.

"Those are the lessons I take, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration. Oh, and Potions." She chuckled when Daisy said she'd gladly take a few tips. "Let me just share with you the fact that I'm not as intelligent as I sound," she grinned. "I can work my butts off usually, but I barely scrape through for Transfiguration. I do pretty well for Charms, though. It's one of my favourite subjects," she told her.

[daisy]

Daisy was not looking forward to her fifth year and transfiguration? Well that sounded horrible. She wished she could drop it but she preferred it over potions. Daisy was pretty terrible at potions. It was all too exact, timing was everything with potions and Daisy had a tendency to forget about things, miss a step or two and get confused with stirring clockwise and anti-clockwise, plus lessons were held in the basement which just felt so depressing.

"I like the outdoorsy lessons and muggle studies. Muggle studies is my all time favourite! I never knew much about them growing up but Merlin they're fascinating! I wish I could be a muggle sometimes! It seems like it would be an amazing experience!" Daisy was a little bit of a dreamer and she often thought about becoming a muggle and it was a wish she didn't mind expressing, though she liked to be sure she wasn't in the company of the Slytherins, she imagined they'd be very critical of her wish.

"I think I'll be all right for most of my lessons, it's just Charms, Transfiguration and DADA that are my trouble areas. I need to be getting A's or else I'll be kicked off my house quidditch team. I play seeker." She said proudly with a grin. It had taken a lot of effort to get on the team but she'd done it and she loved it! It wasn't something she loved to the point that she wanted to become a professional quidditch player but she loved it enough to have it as a hobby. "Do you like Quidditch?" She asked Zara. She seemed really nice and Daisy wanted to get to know her better and to have a good new friend!

[zaragirard]

Zara grinned at the girl's enthusiasm about muggles. "That's true, they can be really fascinating. I'm not taking Muggle Studies, mainly because I'm a half-blood. I have a fair share of muggle knowledge," she chuckled. Muggles were indeed fascinating, and their technology, Merlin, it can sometimes surpass magic!

"So...I take it that you like Herbology? Since you like outdoor lessons? i enjoy Herbology. It's fun, you get to be outside of the castle, and minus the annoying plants that can really make alot of noise, I think it's a very enjoyable subject," Zara said, nodding her head. She really did like Herbology. After Charms and Defence against the dark arts, it was her best subject.

When Daisy mentioned that she played seeker for her House Quidditch team, Zara was surprised. "Ahh, so that's why you seem familiar! I've seen you in the games sometimes! And wow, a seeker, really. You must be playing really well. I've always thought I'd be an awesome flyer when I was younger, you know. Because my Dad was a Chaser himself, when he was studying at Hogwarts. Turns out, I'm a horrible flyer. I can't fly for nuts, actually. See this scar?" she asked as her showed Daisy the scar on her left knee by hitching her skirt up just a little. "Got it while attempting to fly around on a broom, when I was 6. Merlin," Zara laughed, shaking her head at her own silliness and inability to fly.

[daisy]

Daisy grinned with excitement. She loved people that had a background knowledge of muggle things, she was known to occasionally get on people's nerves by asking them all sorts of questions and so she wasn't going to bombard Zara with too many questions, maybe just a couple of quick, easy to answer ones. "Really? Wow, that must have been fascinating! What was your childhood like?!' Okay, so not really a short, simple question to answer but Daisy just got carried away sometimes.

Daisy nodded her head in agreement. Herbology was a fascinating subject for her, mother nature had so many tricks up her sleeves and some of the plants she had come across had been so tricky to deal with, some even made mandrakes look like a breeze! "Oh yes, herbology is amazing! I'm always scrubbing dirt out from underneath my nails at the end of the day!" she said enthusiastically. Daisy was a nail bitter, it kept her nails short but it was more of a habit than anything else, usually out of boredom.

Daisy listened to Zara and nodded proudly. She was a good flyer. She was a little uncoordinated on the ground, but in the air she was graceful. Walking, jumping, skipping and running all took too many muscles, when you were flying it almost seemed as though your broom could read your mind, the slightest touch would change the brooms direction. If you were extravagant with your movements then flying generally wasn't for you.

"Cor blimey! That looks as though it would have been sore! And it's still there after ten years?! Must have been quite an accident!" Daisy straightened herself up from having looked at Zara's knee. She started walking slowly, figuring it was probably time to head up to the castle but she was walking very slowly and backwards so she was still facing Zara and could talk to her and encourage her to join her. "I don't think I've ever fallen off a broom. I've had a couple of near falls but I've never actually come off." She said, thinking about her flying history. "You're not scared of heights, are you?" Daisy asked, wondering if that might have contributed to Zara's fall as a child, or maybe it had started such a fear.