An Experience

[Ruby Fairleigh]

Ruby Fairleigh had been having a really busy time at school so far, and she decided that it was time for her to get out of the castle and just relax. She had some homework that needed finishing, but she'd decided that it was 'too distracting in the common room' and 'she couldn't possibly get it done.' It turns out that I'm just a really good procrastinator. Ruby shrugged to herself and continued walking through the grounds. She wanted to explore some more, so this time instead of stopping at the lake she made her way up to the cliffs above it.

It wasn't hard-going at all, especially not for Ruby, who'd been climbing the mountains around her home for years now. Being up on the cliffs reminded her of them, actually, and a small wave of homesickness broke upon her unexpectedly. She hadn't talked to her parents in person for what seemed like ages, and had only received the one letter from them. And that hadn't been fun to read. They'd acted like getting sorted into Gryffindor was a major flaw on her part, and that now she'd have to work even harder to make 'contacts'. Not friends, 'contacts'.

Good thing I didn't tell them that I don't actually have any friends yet. Ruby sat down on top of the cliffs and gazed out into the distance, even though she wasn't seeing anything but the faces of her parents. I don't think I could face any extra disappointment from them. She put her head in her hands and continued to obsess over the expectations that all her life she'd never quite lived up to.

 

[Alex Montgomery]

After doing nothing but reading every book he could find, Alex decided he was ready to explore the castle grounds a bit more. He'd seen the Lake, and looked at the Forest from a distance, but nothing beaconed him more than the cliffs. Overlooking the lake, he loved how they just seemed to drop off into nothing, a plain of smooth grass just stopping. It was worth taking a look. The trek up to the top wasn't too hard, as Alex was used to just wandering around the hills of Wellington aimlessly. As he got to the top of his ascent, he looked out over the lake towards whatever was over there.

He really had no idea where Hogwarts was in relation to the world, so he had no idea what was beyond the mountains. He'd have to wait for the sunset, then maybe he'd be able to get his bearings set. Alex walked along the edge some more, trying to find somewhere to sit. He chose a nice little spot beneath a tree, half hanging over the precarious ledge. There were a few more people on the cliffs, but not many. He doubted any of them would come and say hi. Still, there was a chance. He could hope.

His gaze turned along the cliff, and he was surprised to see someone else sitting there. He stood up, not really thinking, but his palms sweating. Making a half-U-turn to wear he thought he could walk without slipping over the edge, Alex wandered over to the person nervously. This was stupid... Nope, he had to do it. For the benefit of... erm, him. His mouth dry, he spoke to the girl, "Hi."
​

 

[Ruby Fairleigh]

Ruby was still lost in her head, something that happened quite easily whenever she sat down for a few minutes. But she snapped out of it when she heard someone talking to her. Well she presumed it was to her, but she'd been wrong about that before. Looking up, she saw a boy with dark hair standing in front of her and yes, it did appear that she was the one he was talking to. "Oh, hi. Sorry, am I in your way?" That would be just her luck, she'd already almost been tripped over in the past couple of weeks by someone who was trying to walk along a path where she'd unconsciously just sat down without thinking.

She stood up so that she wouldn't have to turn her head at an awkward angle to talk. "Um, I'm Ruby Fairleigh, and apparently I don't always watch where I'm sitting." She uttered a slight laugh after she said that, because it was always better to laugh at the stupid things you did in these situations, rather than someone else laughing at you. The boy didn't look like he was going to make fun of her though, and for that Ruby was thankful. She'd never been around people her own age before and so she was a bit unsure of how they acted. But no one at the school had even paid her any attention, which was so different from home. Here she was just another student and there was nothing to mark her out as someone to pay attention to. It was actually quite nice.

But it did mean that she was a little rusty on her conversational skills. She asked the boy the first question that floated into her head."So, what are you doing up here on the cliffs?"

 

[Alex Montgomery]

It would be easier just to say yes. Then, she'd move out of his way (even though there was a whole field around her), he'd walk past her, and he'd be on his way, never getting a friend during his first year of Hogwarts, being labelled as a loner for the other six, and being an outcast for the rest of his life. He would get depressed, and live an awful life in a run-down government flat. Fun!

No, Alex had come this far, he had to continue. "No, erm, you're not... I just, uhm, came to, erm, say hi." he said. Brilliant. He had this making friend thing down for sure! He was sure to make dozens of friends with his amazing skills.

His dark eyes examined the girl... Ruby. It was a nice enough name. "I'm Alex Montgomery, and, erm, I'm not good at sitting anywhere," he continued, laughing silently with her nervously. Now that he thought about it, this was probably the first interaction he'd ever had with someone his age other than basic little things with no meaning, usually in an attempt to stop awkwardness. It never worked. It just got more awkward, and he never saw the kids again. The Muggle 'play-dates' his mother brought him never really got Alex. The attempted friendships had never formed.

"I'm just kind of... exploring. I've never been here before, so, erm, here I am." he said, continuing his streak of awkward conversation. He definitely was good at this stuff. But, what was next? He'd said hi, he'd initiated conversation... wait, he had to make it so he'd be able to stay there. If he kept standing up, it'd be like it was such a passing by conversation, and it would end quickly. He had to sit. His palms were beginning to sweat. The sooner he became 'comfortable' with Ruby the better... before he started to look like a tomato. "Could I sit down?" he asked, gesturing at the ground beside her. Hey, that sentence wasn't so bad. Maybe there was a chance for this to work after all.
​

 

[Ruby Fairleigh]

Ruby watched the boy, Alex, he'd said his name was, as he replied, noting a little hesitancy in his answers. Well, she thought she noted it. It's not like I actually have any experience in this kind of thing. She smiled in an attempt to reassure him, just in case she was right. She'd often experienced blank looks from her parents and other adults when she'd tried to talk to them, and it had always made her feel awful that they weren't the least bit interested in what she was saying. She decided that she would never inflict that on anyone else. Not when she knew how painful it was.

"Oh, I like exploring,too! I haven't been anywhere much yet, other than the castle and here-ish, but isn't that kind of the point? I mean, why do it all at once? Then there's nothing left to explore." Ruby stopped, suddenly aware that she'd babbled a whole lot of words for only a few seconds. She was used to just rambling in her head, dashing from thought to thought, but she'd never realised she might talk like that too. She didn't know if she'd blushed, but her face certainly felt hot enough. She began twisting her hands together, hoping she hadn't scared Alex into just going again.

Curious. She wanted to talk to him, and she wasn't annoyed that he'd interrupted her thinking. This had never happened before. But then again, hardly anyone had ever talked to her before. When he asked if he could sit down, Ruby was a bit surprised, it was a free country after all, but said "Sure." She wondered whether Alex was in any of her classes, she hadn't really paid much attention to the other students in them. It was hard enough making sure she didn't divert her concentration from the professor. "What house are you in?" She made sure she stopped after that. Her babble meter was now on a strict limit.

 

[Alex Montgomery]

At Ruby's permission, Alex lowered himself to the ground gently, sitting cross legged with his hands flat on the rough grass. The edge of the cliff wasn't all that far ahead... it'd be cool to swing his legs over. It wasn't like there was any spiders, or anything down there. The only thing that he could worry about would be the side, already partially eroded, falling away, and him with it. But, hey, he was sitting on it without that happening, so maybe it'd be okay. But, still... it was pretty high up. Then again, he was already conducting a first in his life, why not cross out another?

Alex inched forward, and swung his legs over the edge. He wasn't dead yet, which was good. He put his shoes against the cliff face, and gently laced it around a root, sticking out before looping back into the earth. He did it as delicately as possible, because he didn't want for it to pull out, and then the earth fall away, and him with it, so he'd die. It was only then that Alex realized that he worried quite a lot. Only now? There was clearly something wrong with him.

"I'm in Ravenclaw," he replied to Ruby, nervously pulling grass out of the ground, before tearing it apart, and putting it in a pile beside him. What was he meant to say now? Maybe something about Ravenclaw...? But she'd probably know all about Ravenclaw anyway, and it'd seem weird to suddenly blurt out that that meant he was smart. Plus, she'd probably think he was self-obsessed or something, and not someone she'd want to be friends with. He sure wouldn't want to have regular conversations with someone who only talked about himself.

So, with that out of the question, he went to the next, and most obvious alternative. "What about you?" he asked, beginning to settle down.

​

 

[Ruby Fairleigh]

Ruby watched Alex sit out on the edge of the cliff, and decided to follow him. She was surprised she hadn't thought of it herself, as it was something she did quite regularly at home. So he was in Ravenclaw... that meant he'd be in Potions, and Flying of course. She'd have to look out for him. She swung her legs a bit, wondering how much to tell him about the background story behind what house she'd been sorted into. "Well, I'm in Gryffindor. But, um..." She paused, but decided she'd tell him. She could always stop if he started looking freaked out. "I'm supposed to be in Slytherin. My whole family was, but then I got here, and well, I'm not. The Hat didn't even mention it." She looked down, pulling at her hair. "So, they're not very happy with me. But I kind of already knew that I wasn't going to be in that house. I'm really not like anyone else in my family."

Damn. I thought I wasn't going to talk so much anymore. Ruby was worried that she'd unloaded too much on poor Alex, who'd just had to listen to her family issues. She didn't think she should have done that, especially since she'd only just met him. No, she definitely shouldn't have done that. She continued pulling at her hair, realising that she'd been doing that a lot recently. Was it a becoming a habit for whenever she was nervous, or stressed? Well, she was obviously nervous right now. She might be about to be called crazy again. As she thought that, for the first time, Ruby decided she needed to get out of her own head, ignore herself, and talk to another person. Looking at Alex, she asked, "Did you think you would be in Ravenclaw?"

 

[Alex Montgomery]

"Erm, well... I don't really think family should matter. Like, it judges on you, and people are in the same houses as their families because families are alike..." Alex replied, as awkward as ever. His father was in Ravenclaw, he knew. Not that he was like his father. He didn't want to be like his father. If he was going to have kids some day, he'd actually talk to them. Not like his dad, who avoided all contact with Alex, aside from a few murmurs hello. Sometimes, he was too busy, but... other times, he just didn't talk.

Did he think he'd be in Ravenclaw? Definitely. But not because of his dad. Because of him; he knew he was intelligent, and that was what Ravenclaw was all about. Brains. Wit. So, how could he phrase it without going into a full on rant about his father? "Yes..." he began slowly. "I thought I'd be in Ravenclaw, but... not because of my family."
​

 

[Ruby Fairleigh]

Ruby nodded along with Alex, agreeing that a person's house shouldn't be based on their family. Then she'd be stuck down in those horrible cold dungeons, where there was no sunshine. She'd only been down there for her potions lessons and every time she entered them she shivered violently, unable to stop herself. No, she was definitely glad that she'd been placed in a house that occupied one of the towers. Being high up made her feel like she was at home. Ruby was finding that the school was beginning to feel more and more like that, strangely enough. She was gradually getting used to the masses of people that surrounded her all day and she liked being basically anonymous among them. She didn't have to try and live up to their expectations all the time, like she did with her parents, and that was brilliant. Yes, she was glad she was different from them, she'd hate to have that kind of attitude in life.

"Well, I think Ravenclaw sounds like a great house. It has a nice name." Ruby smiled, hoping Alex wouldn't find that statement too weird, but he hadn't seemed to think that at all yet, from what she could tell, so she was feeling better about herself in that respect. She was enjoying talking to him actually, it was good to have a pleasant conversation with someone for once. She didn't want it to end so she quickly asked "What's your favourite class so far, Alex?"

 

[Alex Montgomery]

He nodded. "It is a nice name," he agreed, smiling a little. He was beginning to loosen up, which was good. Maybe it was a chance to make a new friend, if everything went well. Wait, a new friend? It was actually his first friend. Heh. Hey, that was depressing. Very depressing. He shouldn't be such a downer. But, hey, he was! Besides, things seemed to be looking up.

What was his favourite class? Alex realized he'd never really thought about it. Flying was certainly not high on the list. Potions was fun, but he got the feeling it was about to get much harder. Herbology was... well, okay. He had decided he preferred being in trees than listening about them. Transfiguration seemed persistently fun, so he guessed he'd go with that. "I like transfiguration. It's really cool how the stuff just changes like that. And... I'm looking forward to charms, too."

Thinking back to learning his first charm, in Herbology, strangely, Alex quietly got out his wand, and muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa," pointing towards a dying leaf on the ground. To his amusement, it slowly levitated up, rotating around as it did so. A small smile appeared on his face. He looked back up to Ruby, letting it fall back to the ground. "What about you?"
​

 

[Ruby Fairleigh]

Ruby watched Alex cast the levitation charm on a leaf, smiling as she watched it twirl. Suddenly, inspiration flashed and she had another idea for one of her paintings. "That's so cool, it almost looks like it's dancing." She could see them all now, scattered leaves hovering in a dance above the ground, and the caster's shadowy silhouette in the background. She almost drifted away as she began imagining what colours she could use, but she grounded herself with Alex's next question.

"Transfiguration is my favourite class as well!" She had been happily surprised to learn that that was also Alex's favourite class. There was just something about the Transfiguration that excited her, and made her truly feel like she was learning magic. In retrospect, she realised she'd been a little bit over-excited during her first lesson and she quickly reminded herself not to get too enthusiastic and dominate the conversation. "I love how Professor Davershire can change into a dog! I want to learn how to do that one day... although maybe not a dog." She stared off for a second, thinking about it. "I don't know what I'd be to be honest. But it sounds fun."

And what classes am I looking forward to? She thought about it for a moment, but she had it. "Astronomy. That's the one I think will be awesome. I like stargazing and stuff like that." It seemed that the more fantastical something was, the more she loved it. That's why being here was so great. Even this conversation was fantastical, because yesterday there was no way she would have believed something like this could happen to her.

 

[Alex Montgomery]

"It does sound fun," he agreed. "I wouldn't want to be a dog though either. Do you think you get to choose?" That had been bothering him since he first learnt what being an animagus was. Was it based of your personality, or was it something you chose? And how would you choose it? He guessed you'd sort of have to... connect with it, in some way. And then you'd maybe focus on it, somehow. But did you do that every time, or did it kind of program itself into your brain? There were so many questions he wanted to be answered. But he didn't want to snowball them all onto one person. That probably wouldn't turn out well.

"I do astronomy now," he said, grinning, "It is cool. It's mostly theory though, and we've only had one lesson where you can actually see stuff, in the Astronomy Tower. But you can see the stars out the window, 'cos it's nighttime and dark, and you wouldn't be able to see the stars in the day, and that's why it's then..."

Alex was still on the fence on whether or not he enjoyed it as a subject, or just looking at the stars, and all that spacey stuff. The professor was nice enough, but there were points where he just faded out, not bothering to listen that much. Still, he listened enough for him to get what he hoped would be good marks. Good marks were good. One of the only things he took pride in, really. "What's charms like?" he asked, remembering somehow that the Gryffindors had that as a class.
​

 

[Ruby Fairleigh]

Ruby thought for a second, surprised that she hadn't thought about that aspect of becoming an Animagus yet. "I always got the impression you were allowed to choose... but I'm not sure." She chewed her lip as she puzzled it over. She'd have to remember to ask next lesson. But then, remembering wasn't something she was always very good at. She wished she had something to write it on her hand with. It would solve so many memory problems.

Ruby enjoyed hearing about what went on in the astronomy lessons, although she was little disappointed to hear that there was more class work than actual stargazing. That seemed to feature a lot in most of her classes. Sure she'd got to do some things, but mostly the professors just seemed to talk a lot of the time. Except for charms. "Oh, charms is brilliant. We hardly ever write stuff down, and we've learnt to do about four charms already." Ruby enjoyed the class for that exact reason. The thing she'd been most excited about when she'd got her acceptance letter was that she was going to finally be able to learn magic, and so far the charms class hadn't let her down. Unlike some other classes.

"Have you learnt any spells yet, I mean, other than the levitation charm?" Ruby suddenly realised something. "Where did you learn that, anyway?" Maybe he'd been reading the textbooks or something. Ruby knew she should probably be doing that, but it bored her and she could hardly get through her homework sometimes. She preferred to just learn things by doing them, rather than reading about them. And it was always so hard to find things in books anyway. There weren't enough pictures for an artsy person like her.

 

[Alex Montgomery]

"We learnt it in Herbology," he told Ruby, "We planted some pumpkins, and we used it to take them up to the kitchens. It's the first actual spell that I've learnt."

Alex thought for a few seconds, before continuing, "Except for stuff in Transfiguration. I guess those count too... but I don't really know. I think they do. You use a wand, and you say stuff, and then stuff happens, so yeah." He wondered how many spells they'd actually end up learning, and what types. He guessed it'd just be normal stuff, but what about little 'fun' spells, like ones to change the colour in flowers? Maybe they were just going to pick that sort of thing up along the way. And they probably wouldn't learn stuff that could hurt people, but just basic defensive spells... that was what DADA was for.

He was unsure about DADA. It sounded like fun, but he didn't think he'd have the ability to do that sort of thing.
​

 

[Ruby Fairleigh]

Ruby enjoyed learning spells, so much so that she felt a bit sad that Alex had hardly been learning any. "Yeah, I'd say Transfiguration definitely counts. Even though I can't always get it to work properly the first couple of times I try." It was kind of frustrating when that happened, because she wanted it to work so badly, but the object refused to change. It was just her luck. The one subject she really loved was the one she didn't seem to be very good in. Charms was all right, and Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts were mostly theory, so she thought she was doing pretty averagely in those, and she hadn't had any problems with the flying lessons. At least, no physical problems, she was still uneasy every time she mounted the broom, although she had no idea why. No, it just seemed to be Transfiguration that she was having difficulty in.

Which unfortunately reminded her of something that would be happening soon. "I guess I'll have to start practising those spells for the exams. Gah. I've never done an exam before in my life." She'd never been to a school before the beginning of this year, and so she was still discovering things that everyone else already seemed to be familiar with. Like exams, which she hadn't thought about at all until one of her professors mentioned them. Instead of being worried, which she thought was a normal response, she was actually vaguely curious about the whole thing and wondered what kind of marks she was going to get.