Autumn Leaves Are The Best

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper wondered to himself why he didn't spend more time in the Hogwarts Gardens instead of wandering around in the castle between periods, especially in these beautiful autumn days were the leaves were all kinds of pretty colours. The garden though, was quite impressive at this times of the year, there were some flowers and plants that Kasper hadn't even seen before, he probably would have if he had paid a bit more attention in Herbology. Instead of sitting on the bench Kasper normally sat on when he went for a stroll in the Hogwarts Gardens, he looked for a nice spot on the grass that was wet from the rain that had fallen a few hours earlier. So far Hogwarts had been pretty great for the young Hufflpuff. He managed to make friends in the first week of his arrival at the castle, play a game of Quidditch just for fun (Even though it felt more like a serious game of Quidditch to him instead of game that was meant to be 'just for fun'.), he even managed to keep up with his homework. When Kasper wasn't busy with other stuff such as homework or eating (The food at Hogwarts tasted delicious and it was way better than the meals his father made for the two of them.) he was taking pictures of the sunset with the camera he got from his nephew as a birthday present from inside the castle. Kasper pulled out a piece of used parchment from his backpack and started drawing a random leaf while Mr. Rubbles - Kasper's cat who had been following him around ever since the boy woke up this morning - settled down beside him on his backpack, purring softly. The young Hufflepuff stroked the cat's small, brown head before focusing his attention back on the drawing.

 

[Madeline Walden]

The castle was so claustrophobic, Maddie couldn't stand to be in there anymore. Especially the Gryffindor common room she never thought that she would get bored of it but since Professor Kingsley enacted this curfew she felt like she was going stir crazy. All Professor Kingsley did was make all the Gryffindors mad at her, they missed the last Brightstone weekend which Maddie was looking forward to, a nice way to catch up with all her friends away from the castle. She sighed and took advantage of the free time she had away from classes and made her way outside to the garden with her pet cat following closely behind her. It was a nice place to find solace, somewhere to get lost and forget about all the work she had to do.

After a short walk around the garden she noticed a young boy who looked like he was a first year like Maddie. She was pretty sure that she had seen him in a couple of her classes but he definitely wasn't a Gryffindor. Maddie being Maddie, she walked up to the boy ready to engage him in conversation. She loved meeting new people and making new friends and as she walked closer she noticed that the boy also had a cat who lay right beside him. Taking advantage of the situation she bent down and called the cat over, while stroking it she complimented the boy on his choice of cat. "Your cat is beautiful! What is it's name?" she asked the boy, not taking her eyes off the cat. Her own cat didn't seem to impressed being ignored by Maddie.

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

With a loud tear Kasper tore the parchment out from his notepad, crumbled it into a small ball and threw it away. He had wasted five minutes here and for what? A page full of doodles instead of a leaf - stickmen specifically. It was a rather strange habit of his to draw stickmen, he wasn't exactly sure whether there was any meaning behind it but it was something he always did. Something he liked to draw because of its simplicity. His lips parted and he let out a soft sigh. Even though he loved being at Hogwarts, Kasper had to admit that he missed his dad. He remembered the conversation he had with his friend Eilidh in the Student Lounge the night he forgot the password to the Hufflepuff common room about the future, about how he would feel in two months from then. Two months had long passed and Kas still felt that way a bit. He still missed his house in Blenheim.

Kasper was about to start drawing again when a girl about his age approached him and began to stroke his companion once she knelt down besides them. He looked to her and smiled at the girl when she complimented his cat. ''Mr. Rubbles,'' Kas said, looking at Mr. Rubbles, who clearly liked being stroked by the girl. ''Got him from my cousin as a birthday present.'' He held his hand out and made a sound with his mouth, hoping that her cat would walk towards him so he could stroke it. When it didn't move Kasper decided to introduce himself quickly before the girl would notice the failed attempt. ''I'm Kasper by the way, but you can call me Kas. I'm in Hufflepuff. What about you? Haven't seen you in the common room, so that means you aren't sorted into Hufflepuff, right? I've got a friend who is sorted into Slytherin. Are you in Slytherin too?''

 

[Madeline Walden]

As a result of being too busy and too interested with the cat she didn't realise that the boy was drawing the scenes around them. Maddie couldn't draw very well and was completely in awe with people who could, but the boy didn't seem very impressed with his drawing because he crumpled up the paper and threw it away. Maddie scrunched her nose and walked over to pick up the ball of paper, she unraveled it as she walked back to the young boy and his cat. "Do you have anymore?" she said as she looked over the drawing. Even though they were only stick figures, she could tell that there was potential there. It was more than what she could do anyway.

She giggled at the boy's name for his cat, it was nice and seemed to actually suit his pet. "That's so nice! He seems to completely at peace here with you" she commented. "Can I sit with you?... Kas?" she said as she learnt the boy's name. Maddie placed herself beside the young boy who said that he was in Hufflepuff. She shook her head at what Kasper asked her "No, I'm in Gryffindor actually. One of my good friends is in Slytherin too though" she replied smiling. She called Aurora over so Kas could pet her, she was a distrustful cat but she also fed off of Maddie's vibes of people so she was sure she would get on with Kas and Mr Rubbles.

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper watched as she walked over to get the ball of paper he threw away a minute ago. He smiled and nodded when the girl asked him if he had more drawings. ''Yes, I do.'' Kas said, handing over his notepad to her so she could see them for herself. ''It's mostly stick figures and Mr. Rubbles here.'' He went on while stroking the brown cat's head. ''I was trying to draw one of the leaves over there.'' Kasper pointed to a leaf that had alot of colours. ''But I didn't really like it, so I threw it away. I was going to pick it up though, later, I swear!'' He smiled at her. ''Anyway, back to my drawings, so they're mostly stick figures. There are also some drawings in there of my father and nephew. My dad didn't think it was accurate, but cousin Miles liked his one.''

His cheeks turned red when the girl giggled at the name that he gave his Scottish Fold. ''That's because I really, really, really like Mr. Rubbles, and I'm the one who is feeding him, so I've got that going for me. Which is nice, because I feel a bit lonely sometimes.'' Kas straightened and crossed his legs. ''Of course you can!'' He said with a broad smile on his face. Kasper liked making new friends, even though he doesn't have many friends here, yet. When the girl said she was in Gryffindor Kas almost stood up out of excitement. ''That's so cool! I've got my first Gryffindor friend!''

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie smiled at Kasper and took the notepad that he handed to her and she began to flick through the pages. Her fingers traced over the lines that he had drawn of Mr Rubbles, they were pretty good drawings. She waved away his modesty and excuses "they're really good. Better than what I can do by miles" she complimented and gave Mr Rubbles a scratch behind his ears. "Look! This is you!" she said giggling as she showed the cat a portrait of himself. Aurora seemed to be getting a bit jealous so she pounced onto Maddie's lap and started to purr loudly. Maddie absentmindedly stroked her cat as she listened to Kas as he chatted.

She smiled as Kas talked about Mr Rubbles, they seemed to be such a cute team. She felt a bit sorry for him when he said he got a bit lonely sometimes, of course everyone did and so did she, but Maddie didn't like admitting it so much. But life at Hogwarts could be a bit lonely at times "you must feel so much better knowing you have Mr Rubbles here though" she said reassuringly. She laughed when he exclaimed that he had a Gryffindor friend. "Hufflepuff seems nice though, one of my best friends is in that house" she said.

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper smiled at the girl when she complimented him on his other drawings. "Everybody can draw." he replied to her, giving her his pencil so that she could draw something herself. "Draw the first thing that comes to mind, and don't think about it too much." Kas said with a smile. Saying that you can't draw was something his father always said to him whenever Kasper asked him to draw. Kasper started stroking Mr. Rubbles' belly after the girl scratched him behind his ears.

''I do,'' he said. ''I'm glad that he liked me.'' He wasn't always this good with his brown cat, the fur ball disliked Kasper at first, and used to scratch his arms whenever Kasper wanted to pick him up. Kas smiled when she mentioned that one of her best friends was also in Hufflepuff. ''Who is your best friend, maybe I know him or her.''

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie shook her head at what Kas said "not me..." she sighed. She didn't mind too much, she had other interests and not being creative was okay with her. She had a couple of friends who made up for her lack of creativity. But she gladly took the pencil and paper that Kas handed her, she smiled as she took it. "Okay..." she closed her eyes and tried to picture the first thing that came to her mind. "Got it!" she exclaimed and she started to draw a very basic drawing of the two cats that were sitting with them. "Okay, so don't laugh. This will not be the best drawing you'll ever see" Maddie closed her eyes, took a deep breath and showed the drawing to Kas. She opened one eye and waited for his reaction.

"I find that cat's are actually the loyal animals. Not dogs" she said "think about it. Dogs like anyone, but you have to earn a cat's trust and from then on, they are pretty much yours" she explained. "Well that's what i've found anyway" Maddie said smiling shyly, wondering if Kas thought the same as her.

"Amy Rosemary?" Maddie asked the Hufflepuff boy, she hadn't met that many Hufflepuff's now that she thought about it.

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper smiled at her when she took his pencil and paper. It was nice of her to give it a try even if she couldn't draw. He sat perfectly still when she began to draw, he didn't want to distract her from drawing whatever it was that she was about to draw. Kasper nodded when she asked him not to laugh at her drawing. ''I won't, I promise.'' He looked at the piece she had drawn and smiled at her. ''It's actually quite nice,'' Kas said ''It's basic and simple, just the way I like it!''

''I must say that I agree with you on that. Cats are indeed the loyal animals. But dogs cat protect you if you need protection. There are also dogs that help blind people and dogs that help people who are trapped under thick pile of snow.'' he said to the Gryffindor girl. ''Though my reason of why I'm found of cats is because whenever I feel lonely or sad, Mr. Rubbles usually comes to comfort me. It is like he can feel that I'm sad and in need of a friend.''

''Amy Rosemary?'' Kasper repeated after her. ''The name definitely sounds familiar to me. Might have seen her in classes, probably.'' he added.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Thankfully, Kas seemed to be positive about her drawing. It was nice that he was being kind about it even though she knew it wasn't very good. She smiled at him and suggested something a bit different "okay! Let's try something different! Lets both draw each other and then on the count of three we show them!" Maddie crossed her legs and faced Kas "what do you think?" she asked him.

She listened intently to his point of view on the argument of cats vs dogs. It always seemed to divide people you were either a dog person or a cat person. But Maddie liked all animals so it didn't matter too much to her. She nodded in agreement about how useful dogs were "what you are saying is true of course, every animal is useful." Maddie scratched behind Aurora's ears and gave Kas a smile as he spoke about Mr Rubbles.

Maddie shrugged, Amy seemed to be quite quiet so she wasn't surprised that Kas didn't really know her that well. "You'd probably like her, she's really nice".

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper smiled broadly when she suggested drawing each other this time and without giving her an answer he tore two papers out of his notepad and handed one over to her while searching for another pencil in his backpack. When Kas had found one he gave it to her right away so that they could begin. ''Okay, so how much time do we get to draw each other? A minute or two?'' Kasper asked with a smile on his face, ready to begin.

He nodded and once more agreed with what she said. It was true, every animal was useful, even spiders were pretty useful; although he wished that every spider would die instead of being useful. ''So how did you and ehh,'' Kas gave a nod towards her cat. ''Your cat meet?'' He asked her, realizing just now that he didn't know her name.

Kas smiled when the girl said that he would probably like Amy. ''It would be awesome to have another Hufflepuff as a friend.'' He replied happily.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie was pleased that Kas liked her idea and agreed wholeheartedly to join in. "Yay! Okay..." she took a piece of paper from the young hufflepuff boy and got her pencil at the ready. "Yes! A couple of minutes sounds good. We cant look, not even peeking till we're finished!" she said excitedly.

She frowned when she realised she hadn't revealed her cat's name "oh sorry! She's called Aurora" she smiled as she looked to her pet. "Well, I got her for my birthday a couple of years before I came to Hogwarts and my parents let me bring her here!... She only likes me anyway" Maddie giggled.

"Maybe I could introduce you guys sometime?" Maddie suggested.

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper straightened and gave his cat on last stroke on its head while he looked at the girl in front of him, grinning. ''You ready? Alright, let's start.'' he said. Before sketching her face, Kasper started staring at the girl's face for a few seconds, taking in her appearance. He had to admit to himself that she looked quite beautiful with the autumn sun shining on her skin. Kas shook his head quickly, getting out of his thought about the girl, and started to sketch her head first. After he was done with the shape of her head, the boy began to sketch out the rest of her face, carefully, while looking up occasionally to draw her, or so he thought, rather beautiful hazel, or brown coloured eyes. (Kas could never really see the difference) Once he finished both of her eyes, Kasper quickly started sketching her eyebrows, mouth and hair, since time would probably be over soon.

While the two of them were drawing each other, Kasper continued the conversation. ''That's a really nice name for her.'' Kas said. He listened to her as she was telling how she got her cat and couldn't stop smiling when she giggled. ''Aurora probably wouldn't have let you go without her then.'' Kasper added quickly, hoping she would not have notice him smiling. ''Sure, whenever you feel like introducing me to her, or the other way around.'' Kas had not made a handfull of friends yet, but the ones he had made seemed to be really nice.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Straight away Maddie started drawing the young hufflepuff boy sitting opposite her. She couldn't decide on whether to draw him cartoonishly or life like. At least if she drew him like a cartoon it wouldn't matter too much if she couldn't draw that well. But she thought that Kas would appreciate her attempt all the same. In the end she opted for cartoony, she wanted to make her new friend laugh and she hoped he wouldn't be too offended. She exaggerated all of his best features: his long(ish) dark brown hair that perfectly framed his face, his eyes which complimented the colour of his hair, his kind, warm smile, the way his face lit up when he spoke about things he loved, among many other things.

Maddie laughed when Kas spoke about Aurora "probably not, she's quite stubborn. I don't know where she gets it from!" she joked as Aurora meowed at the mention of her name. The meow reminded Maddie to add Mr Rubbles into the drawing! She looked up from her drawing for the moment as Kas mentioned meeting Amy sometime. "Yeah definitely! It would be my pleasure to introduce the both of you" she said smiling at him.

"Okay so i'm nearly done... I think" she said while adding the finishing touches to the drawing. She brought the paper up to her chest and grinned at Kas "are you ready?"

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper was about to draw the girl's mouth when she mentioned she was nearly done with her drawing of him, ''Not yet,'' He said with a smile while looking at her, ''Almost.'' Kas couldn't stop smiling. Not because of her, not because of the weather, but because he had made a friend who didn't mind drawing with him. For a second he wondered if Eilidh or one of his other classmates would've done the same thing. ''Alright, ok, now I'm done as well.'' he laid his pencil on the grass and turned his paper around so she couldn't see it, yet.

''My dad says that pets take over the behaviour of their owners.'' Kasper began to chuckle a bit when he said this. ''So, are you quite the stubborn one?'' He asked. ''Look at me and Mr. Rubbles for example. We both don't say much.'' (That's a lie, obviously.) ''And we both don't moving much.'' (That would also be a lie, since the moment she approached him Kasper didn't sat still for a second.)

''How about this; we both count to one.'' He wanted to be just as suprised as she was.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie giggled "i'm expecting great things from this picture now!" she teased. Truthfully, she didn't mind what the picture was like, she would love it all the same. No one had ever drawn her before so this would be the first, and it was exciting! She grinned when Kas said he was finished too, she shuffled onto her knees and got ready to show her drawing.

She thought about was Kas said "maybe that's true. We are very similar" she said, stroking Aurora. "I'm guessing you two are quite alike then?" Maddie asked him. She nodded in agreement. "Okay, Three... Tw..."