A touch of relaxation

[Oliver Cade Halliwell]

After a hectic term of lessons, work, revision and exams Oliver had been looking forward the holidays and going home. That is until he got there. No sooner than he arrived home had he returned to school to live out the holidays in the sanctity of the castle. The overall number of people in the castle had been cut down drastically and this was how Oliver liked it, being able to walk through the halls in the middle of the day and hear your own footsteps echo in the rafters and the best part, having the grounds all to yourself. One morning after Oliver had skimmed through some of the course material for the upcoming term he decided to take one of his favourite books and head out to the courtyard, he sat down on one of the benches and propped himself up against the wall, laid his backpack at the foot of the bench and lost himself in the book. The only sounds to be heard was the faint chatter of portraits from inside the castle and the chirping of birds as they fluttered by.

 

[Star Moon]

Star was glad to return to school.Ryan had been as obnoxious as ever and the young blond wondered would he ever come out of the hole he had dug himself into.Star missed him though and she wished he would come back and be the old Ryan.Not having a conversation with your twin if like having grilled cheese with out cheese.Will for Star anyway.She wasn't sure how Kate and Sara had coped with out talking to each other.Star hated not talking to the person who had once been her closest friend and confidante.She just wanted to talk to him again and gosh maybe see a smile.Was that too hard to ask for? At least she had made a friend.She had enjoyed the afternoon spent with Samual Kaster.She certainly hadn't expected that morning to be making a fort and laughing and smiling as much as she had with someone else that afternoon.It had been a pleasant surprise.She hoped they would meet again.In making a friend she had also managed to get a crush on him.Trust Star to have a crush on the first boy in the year who talks to her.He had been incredibly sweet and cute though.His hair had been adorable!Star shook her head,giving out to herself for thinking like that.Over the holidays she had bought a camera,she had decided photography was going to be her new hobby.All she really did was read and study and now she wanted to try something new.As she walked down the many flights of stairs she got the various settings on her camera.She was glad that it worked as she had been worried it wouldn't since some electrical items didn't work in the school.She crashed into three people and avoided lots of other crashes only by a second.Once she reached the Entrance Hall she decided to head out to the Courtyard.There werea few other people milling around and Star put the camera to her eye and began taking pictures.Once she had taken a considerable amount she decided to sit down and have a look at this mornings work.She sat down on a nearby bench and began looking it.It took a few moments for Star to notice the boy who she recognized from classes and the common room.She had never spoken to him but since Star was in the try something new mood.She plucked up the courage to speak "Hey"She said smiling "Whatcha reading?"She asked her interest spiked

 

[Oliver Cade Halliwell]

Oliver was now in a world of his own. This always happened when he focused on his reading he had learned to shut out the world so that nothing existed except him and the book he was reading. This was often the best tactic as there was not a lot of people from the surrounding world that he even liked. Oliver often found that he connected more with characters in a book than he did with most real people and that muggle fiction was better than anything he had found in the Hogwarts library. Most people on a day like this would be out in the grounds laughing, laying on the grass enjoying the sun and fresh air. Oliver didn't care frolicking around, or at least he'd never met anyone he wanted to mess around with like that. When the sun was out and the air was warm Oliver only ever took it as a chance to read somewhere else and have a change of scenery. Reading was his thing, his hobby, when he wasn't studying he was reading. Oliver wouldn't usually notice when some sat on the same bench as him, usually because they'd be there briefly then they'd be on their way. This time was different, the girl sat beside him and at first Oliver hadn't noticed her but she spoke to him and it came as such a surprise he closed his book and turned to her and he was taken back. He knew her, almost. He knew her in passing from class and from the common room and he'd always thought it was a shame. She was a very beautiful girl and he always wished he knew her properly. Now was his chance. He smiled at her, a smile that had been known to melt a girls a heart. Not often, but it had happened. "Hi," Oliver said inching a little bit closer. When she asked what he was reading he looked down at his book and back to her, "It's just a book by a muggle mystery writer," He noticed her camera. "You a photographer?" He asked.

 

[Star Moon]

Star had always been an avid reader.Reading was one of her favorite hobbies.She loved the fact that you could get totally lost in the world of the book you were reading.It was nice to escape her world sometimes.The real world was sometimes an unhappy place for Star and losing herself in a book was often her defense against the world when things were tough.That was why she liked fantasy books the best.You could really lose yourself in one of those because you were in a completely different world.Star had once thought that magic was completely different fictional world.Never had she ever thought that there was a world outside the muggle world.Star had thought that the weird stuff she did was normal because all the rest of her siblings did it.She had often seen her sisters and brother do weird things.She was the first person Ryan had come to when he had started doing weird things.She had been afraid to tell anyone at first but when Ryan admitted it,Star had told him how the same things had been happening to her.She had then told him her suspicions about Kate and Sara and a few days later they both plucked up their courage and asked them.It was because everyone else in the family seemed to be doing these things that Star had thought everyone did it.She had never had a close friend in primary school who she could ever ask was this normal.She had been extremely shocked the day Kate and Sara got their letters.It was only then that her eyes were opened to a new world that lived right next to theirs.Star almost sighed in relief when he closed his book and turned to her.He seemed very nice and Star was glad she had plucked up the courage to talk to him.He had a very charming smile and Star returned his with her own smile. "What's it called?"She asked curiously. She had read a few mystery books and she wondered had she read it also.Star looked down at her camera and smiled shyly "Well,I'm only new at it"She said looking back up at him "You like reading?"She asked

 

[Oliver Cade Halliwell]

Oliver never had an interest in photography, despite what most people thought he never saw it as a skill. In Oliver's opinion the notion of pointing a camera and clicking the button at the right time didn't warrant a skill or a field of study in the muggle world. He preferred reading, how he loved to read. He could spend hours reading a book under a well shaded tree. He looked over at the girl across the bench, he smiled at her as she fiddled with her camera. "It's called Fractured, only just into it so don't know much about the plot. By this point he had closed the book and placed it beside him on the bench. "What made you want to take up photography?" He asked looking at the camera as she played with it. "I can't imagine it's a hobby wizards and witches would naturally fall into," He added as he shifted the book in its place.

 

[Star Moon]

Star had always been the different Moon.Even though she now looked like Ryan,he was so tall he looked more like an older brother then her twin.It had always upset her because she hated the way everyone had always looked at her like didn't belong there,but truthfully Star could be the full force of the Moon family.When things were down she would make everyone feel better and she would gather the whoe family into their huge sitting room and she would make them play a game of cards and eventually it would end with them all laughing.Those were the memories Star remembered when things were tough.Like now with Ryan,even though she was so angry at him she would remember all he good times together.They had been inseperable.But now everything had changed. "I;ve never heard of that"She said thoughtfully,she would send her parents a letter and ask them to send the book to her.Star shrugged "My parents gave it to me for Christmas because they wanted me to get into something new"She said smiling "Well my parents are muggles"She said shyly.She hoped he didn't mind the fact she was muggle born "What got you into reading?"She asked,putting the camera on the bench

 

[Oliver Cade Halliwell]

What got you into reading

The question got him thinking. Oliver had been an avid reader for as long as he could remember, he loved to escape into fictional worlds when he felt bored, or lonely or felt that his own world was too much. When he started Hogwarts he thought his world would get so much better and he would start a new life. His new life hadn't panned out the way he would have hoped. The truth was he had been reading books since he was a kid, his Dad was a big reader too and they used to read the same books and talk about them it was always there thing and even after he died Oliver just kept reading for the both of them. "My Dad was a big reader, so i just kinda took after him," Oliver said. Thinking about his Dad was always difficult but he reached the point that he showed no external signs of being affected by the mention of his father which came in handy to avoid awkwardly emotional conversations. "What was it like adjusting the being a witch then, the two worlds are so different so it couldn't have been an easy transition," He smiled, some people were always cautious about telling people their muggle born but Oliver had no problem, blood status meant nothing to him.