Dewdrops in the Grass

[Isabelle Valentina]

Isabelle tilted her head back, feeling the long tresses of her chestnut hair cascade down her shoulders. Beautiful afternoon sunshine covered the gardens in a soft glow, reflecting off the drops of dew that clung to the blades of grass. Isabelle smiled joyfully; she had a garden at home, but it was nothing as magnificent as this one. Hedges rose up around her, designed like a maze. Flowers of every color were scattered about the lawn, birds alighted on delicate tree branches, and crickets hummed in the underbrush.

But what really drew her attention was the strange assortment of different plants, unlike any she'd every seen before. At a glance, they seemed normal, but as she peered closer, she found they were wild colors and foreign shapes. One bush had thick, pink needles growing out of it. Another plant had large, carnivorous teeth and loomed menacingly in the shadows. Others had sweet, enticing scents emitting from their velvety leaves. With a grin of amusement, Isabelle spotted an abnormally large pumpkin basking in the sunlight.

The Gryffindor brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and sat down on the slightly damp grass. Her fingers spread, clutching the earth and feeling the delicate stalks. Suddenly, her expressive brown eyes spotted a beautiful purple flower with a deep azure center. Overcome with wonder, Isabelle inched closer, breathing in its light fragrance. No such flower was as lovely as this one, she thought. She brushed her fingers along its spiked leaves, accidentally pricking herself. A red bead of blood appeared in the center of her finger, quivered, and fell. Isabelle looked forlornly at the flower. That wasn't very nice, she mentally scolded.

Her gaze shifted to a cluster of herbs. They were a mottled green with small dark specks scattered randomly on its leaves. Their stalks were a soft lavender, a color not often found in nature. I wonder why some plants only grow in Hogwarts, and not in other places, she thought. New York's climate was pretty much the same as New Zealand's but one wouldn't find violet herbs growing there. Isabelle leaned down to get a closer look.

 

[Eugene Smythe]

Spring had finally arrived.The snow had melted and the plants had grown green again. The mornings were slightly chilly as the mist cleared in the heat of the rising sun and left the grass wet with dew.The flowers bloomed in different colours and different fragrances mingled together heavily perfuming the air with their scent.

Eugene had always know how lovely the grounds would be during spring and now that it had arrived Eugene felt like every place he visited had a lot more to offer.And the place that he had always wanted to visit was now full of activity.The Hogwarts Gardens had always looked so pretty when Eugene saw them from his dorm room window and now he finally had time to go and see them.He knew that there were so many magical plants and flowers grown in the garden along with normal ones and he wanted to examine them closely as some of them he had only read about and never seen.

He walked down the sloping lawns and made his way towards the garden's gate beyond which he could see tall hedges of what appeared to be a hedge maze.He could see that here and there in the maze were gardens that one would stumble upon without seeing them coming.The maze had several entrances and Eugene picked one randomly and started going forward.It wasn't hard to navigate since the purpose of the maze was just for show.He reached a garden that was surrounded by lemon trees and other bushes with flowers and plants of every kind.There was a fountain in the center with a stone mermaid in it whose head seemed to be gushing water out of it.The fountain and the statue was beautiful and about ten feet tall and Eugene admired it as he went and sat on its edge and gazed out at the plants.

The he noticed a girl sitting in the grass,who seemed like she was enjoying the gardens just like he was."Beautiful arent they,the plants and flowers? Each one unique with it's own magical properties. It's fascinating how they bring so many different effect in different potions.How they can look harmless but turn out to be dangerous. And some of them are just not to be messed with,like that venemous tentacula over there,trying to act all innocent.It could poison you with one bite." his voice had a dreamy effect to it as if he was speaking to himself rather than the girl.Eugene got that way when he was extremely fascinated by something.Just like his mother,Eugene loved magical plants and creatures as they served the role of making great potions.And sometimes Eugene didn't realize how weird he acted around such plants.

 

[Isabelle Valentina]

Isabelle turned around, startled. Her deep brown eyes found those of a handsome Hufflepuff boy, who didn't look much older than she was. In fact, Isabelle recalled his face from her Charms and Flying classes. He was one of Margo's new friends, so he must be nice. Recovering from her initial surprise, Isabelle realized he seemed to be lost in some sort of reverie.

He certainly knew a lot about plants, that's for sure. His voice was light and soft, and full of admiration. Isabelle's voice took the same quality when she talked about fencing or exploring. At the mention of the...what was it? Venomous Tentacula?...Isabelle glanced quickly over her shoulder, noticing with a shudder its menacing branches.

"I don't know much about plants," she admitted, smiling shyly. She rolled onto her knees, so as to better observe the boy. Isabelle loved to study people; they were so expressive and intricate and alive. You could find out so much more about someone by looking into their eyes. "But I'll blame that on the fact I haven't started Herbology yet. My name is Isabelle, by the way. I'm a Gryffindor first year." She brushed back a long strand of chestnut hair and tucked it behind her ear.

 

[Eugene Smythe]

Eugene surfaced from the trance just as he realized that he now had the girl's attention.Eugene's gaze turned to her and he realized that he had seen her around the school and in the classes before.Eugene had never talked to her though and he realized that he hadn't introduced himself either.He mentally scolded himself and then smiled at the girl,"Please excuse my manners,I didn't mean to bore you,I just have a weird fascination with nature and It takes control of my brain sometimes." he said, making a face and tapping the side of his head like he had a loose screw in there, in hopes of sounding funny.From her accent,Eugene could easily tell that she was American but Eugene didn't stereotype so he knew he could get along with her quite well if he tried.

"I'm Eugene, Hufflepuff." he told her with a smile as he got up off the edge of the fountain and sat down cross-legged on the grass next to Isabelle.Eugene realized why he remembered her face.It must have been because she was very tall but also very pretty and stood out from the other girls with her big dark eyes and hair.Eugene blinked a few times trying to sort out his thoughts and looking for somewhere to start a conversation. Eugene wasn't so very good at making small talk because he had never had many friends but he was starting to get the hang of it after meeting so many new people at the school

"So Isabelle,how do you like Hogwarts so far? Did you know that you were magical before you got your letter? I knew,but I never expected to cross seven seas because there's the original branch of Hogwarts in Scotland but now I think New Zealand is it's pretty neat,isn't it? It's different too,with the competely different weather and all...but in a good way..." Eugene's eyes tried to convey how he really felt about the new school when words fell short because he really truly felt good about being at Hogwarts New Zealand even though sometimes it wasn't clear because he distinguished things so much from how they were in Scotland.