Open Finally Some Warmth

[Ellie Tsai]

Ellie Tsai grew up in a place that never got as cold as it had been at the beginning of this semester. She hadn't been very prepared for the colder climate outside of her home. Stuck inside for weeks now other than going down to the pitch for flying lessons, the young girl felt relieved when she could finally leave the castle without being numb after two minutes. She made her way down to the lawn intent on doing some studying outside, she missed the fresh ocean air of home. Here it was stale air typically too cold for any scents to even be carried on the wind. That was of course just Ellie's opinion. She laid out the top blanket that had been on her bed on the ground before plopping down herself. Her gaze went around herself, mostly to check that she wasn't about to be disturbed by something, before settling on her stack of textbooks and she began to study away in the afternoon sun.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen was happy with the sunny weather today, and in celebration she had put some flowers in her hair today. The Slytherin practically skipped outside, ready to enjoy this nice day. Gwen hoped to run into some friends or classmates to hang out with, as she had no shortage of acquaintances. Gwen wandered around the lawn, occasionally bending down to pick a flower. She spotted a familiar girl nearby on a blanket and frowned, watching her for a moment. Gwen had thought she was having a picnic by herself at first, but the reality was even more boring. The girl was wasting this beautiful day by studying. Gwen walked over to her, trying to remember her name. She couldn't, but was fairly sure the girl was in Ravenclaw, which seemed typical. "Hi! What are you doing?" Gwen asked, though it was fairly obvious.

 

[Ellie Tsai]

Ellie was mostly enjoying herself on the lawn. The nice breeze would come through and flip her book pages a few times a minute which was a little more than annoying. She hadn't thought to bring anything to hold pages down so she could take notes so she resorted to using other books to hold them down. It was while she was on a very interesting bit about Transfiguration that she heard someone approaching her. They weren't very subtle about it, especially when a young girl's voice cut through the silence of the lawn to talk to her. Looking up, Ellie's face remained mostly emotionless as she looked over the figure for a second before answering. "I'm studying some of the extra text my Transfiguration Professor said we should read this week," Ellie replied before looking back down at her books. She thought for a moment before glancing back up, it had been obvious that she was studying. Maybe this was finally someone who would want to study with her, she felt a little excited about that. "Are you in Transfiguration as well? We could study together," the young girl suggested, feeling pretty confident that this girl was at least in her year.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen wondered if the girl was mad at her interruption since she didn’t as much as smile at her. Gwen made her own smile extra bright, hoping to coax one out of the Ravenclaw in return. She told her she was studying for Transfiguration, which was a subject Gwen didn’t have yet. She shook her head. “I’m not. I have History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Astronomy this semester.” She said with a small shrug. “Oh, and flying of course.” She added, gesturing vaguely to the Quidditch pitch. “I think we only have Astronomy and flying together.” She added as Astronomy was the one lesson she remembered having with the Ravenclaws. “It’s such a beautiful day, surely there are more fun things to do than study?” She then asked, wondering if she could talk the girl into doing something else.

 

[Ellie Tsai]

Ellie listened to the girl explain that they weren't in Transfiguration together. She wasn't too disappointed, knowing she'd find some study mates at some point and it'd probably be easier to find one in the common room or library. "Yes, Astronomy, it's too dark to really recognize anyone from that class, I hardly notice who in my house shows up every lesson or who pretends they are sick so they don't have to go that late," Ellie said shifting over on her blanket to offer the girl a spot if she wanted to sit down with her. "It's not quite warm enough to swim and that is probably the only other thing I could really think of doing," she said staring down at her hands wondering if she sounded a bit boring. Ellie missed being at home near the ocean and the salt air in the wind. "I'm Ellie, anyways," the young preteen offered her hand out to her classmate.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen didn’t really agree with astronomy being too dark to recognize anyone. She knew which house she had that class with, didn’t she? Why couldn’t this girl? But she simply smiled and nodded, like it made complete sense. “I quite like getting the excuse to be up that late.” She explained with a giggle. “It’s like an adventure.” Maybe that would be true if Astronomy wasn’t a very boring subject, but Gwen wasn’t going to talk negatively about something unless she knew the other person also didn’t like it. Gwen pondered things to do, tapping her chin. “Well, when I saw you sitting with your blanket I thought you were having a picnic.” She admitted. “That is something to do.” She then smiled and sat down on the blanket as well, pushing a few books to the side. “Or just chatting, that is something. Do you often swim?” Gwen asked curiously. “I’m Gwen, nice to meet you Ellie!”

 

[Ellie Tsai]

Ellie shook her head at the girl's words. "Being up early is an adventure, the quietness right before birds start to wake up and make noise. It's like you're the only one alive," Ellie said her mind still focused on hating how late Astronomy was. Listening to the girl talk about a picnic she wondered where in the castle she would have gotten the food from to have a picnic. She would have needed to pack food from during the lunch hour in the Great Hall, but she was hungry then and ate then. There wasn't a point to picnicking now. She did have to admit eating out on the lawn now it was warmer did sound like a good idea. "At home I would go to the ocean almost every day. I learned to surf when I was very small." Ellie replied while trying to not frown as her books got pushed into the grass.

 

[Gwen Goodwin]

Gwen blinked at the girl's word about being up early being an adventure. She didn't think she had ever been up before the birds and didn't think she wanted to. The mere thought made her stifle a yawn. "Oh, are you an early riser?" She asked the girl, wondering why on earth anyone would wake up before they had to. But Gwen smiled at the girl, leaning closer with interest as she spoke about her hobbies at home. "Oh, wow. That's so cool!" Gwen said, meaning it this time. "You must miss the ocean a lot. I bet the lake doesn't measure up even a little." She said, glancing at the water briefly. Definitely not something one could surf on.

 

[Ellie Tsai]

Ellie wasn't completely sure how she felt about this girl Gwen. She did seem to be overly friendly and interested in learning about her. Which, maybe was how one became friends with people. The teen could hardly remember how she made her friends at home, they had just grown up together in a small community of magic folk. "And you're a late nighter," Ellie said in reply to the girl's question. Though Ellie had thought it seemed more like a statement than a question. She did look over the lake, you could just barely see the far side of the lake from their higher spot up on the grounds. "Imagine the lake is land and we are the ocean here, that's what home is like. The lake will never compare," she said her voice only just hinting at her sadness over the thought. "I..suppose that means you're not from near the ocean then?"