First Tour of the Grounds

[Aries Centauri]

Aries walked with his hands stuffed deep inside his pockets, looking briefly in various directions before rethinking the map that was now firmly implanted in his brain. The deputy headmistress had given him a map of the school and its grounds and he had promised himself that on his first free day, he would do a tour of the place. The weather here was pleasantly mild compared to when he was at Durmstrang. He had suffered from more bouts of flu and chill-blains (sp?) there than at any other time in his life. At least he would never have to wear large fur robes again, nasty smelly things.

His feet took him in the direction of the lakefront, here apparantly the Durmstrang ship had anchored the year before. He hadn't known any of the students really but through a friend of a friend had heard stories of what they had gotten up to here. Shaking his head, Aries felt relieved, genuinely relieved to be out of that place. He didn't mind that his grandfather was no longer on speaking terms with either of his parents or himself over it, that was his own business.

Finding a nice slightly flattened spot where no dodgy looking herbs or other plants grew, Aries sat down and pulled a book out of his robes. So he had set the day aside for exploring, well a bit of light reading wasn't exactly going to kill him either now was it?

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Whether being able to read and walk at the same time was a skill or just asking for trouble, Violet was still not sure. But years of having her head buried in a book at every possible opportunity had allowed her to develop that 'talent'. She recalled walking home from school, back home in Brisbane, with her eyes glued to the pages of her book. There had been a couple of near misses with cars, but on the whole, she could manage walking and reading at the same time fairly skilfully, even though her mother despared every time she did so.

Today's book of choice was Pride and Prejudice, which she was re-reading for the third time. Violet knew she should have probably been reading her textbooks - for example, Ancient Runes, which was proving to be a difficult (yet extremely fascinating) class - but today, she just wanted to take some time out to relax.

As she walked closer to the lakefront, Violet looked up to see a boy who looked to be about her age, if not older, reading by the lake. She hadn't seen him around before - which was odd, Violet had seen most of the students around. Then again, plenty of students had moved over from Hogwarts Scotland, apparently, so that could have been the case. She wasn't willing to disturb him, but on the other hand, she was curious as to what this boy was doing here. And there was also the fact that he was male. Hogwarts was seriously devoid of males.
"Um, hello," she began, shyly. "I hope you don't mind the intrusion, but is it alright if I join you?" she asked polietly.

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries had become so engrossed in his book that he hadn't heard the footsteps getting nearer, not until a girls voice asked if she could join him. Closing the book but with his finger still marking his page he glanced up. He smiled, she was lovely what could he say but yeah sure. He wasn't shallow at all but goodlooking girls didn't offer to sit beside him everyday, especially when there was so much room around this part of the lake to sit and enjoy a book. At this he noticed that she too had a book in her hands and had been so obviously reading and walking something he had once been in the habit of doing before knocking himself out cold by walking into a pillar while at Durmstrang. Not his smoothest move ever.
"Erhm, sure please do" he patted the ground beside him, then quickly turning his head he grimaced. Patting the ground, come on man how lame are you going to be here, frighten her off in one fell swoop why don't you?
Turning back again to face her he ventured his most winning smile, at least he hoped that was how it came across.
"I'm Aries Centauri".

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Violet blushed slightly as she took a better look at the boy. Goodness, he's cute, she thought - then almost laughed out loud, because that was exactly the type of thing her mother would have said. She managed to keep composure, however, and fairly gracefully took a seat.
Violet smiled back at the boy - Aries, as he introduced himself. "A pleasure to meet you Aries, I'm Violet. Violet Bellamy. I haven't seen you around before, and I'm guessing you're not a first year. Are you new to the school?" she asked politely. Dodgy way to start conversation, Violet, she admonished herself, but kept smiling nonetheless. Hopefully Aries wouldn't mind.

 

[Aries Centauri]

"Hello Violet" he grinned thrilled that he hadn't frightened her off just yet, no doubt that would happen soon enough. His rapport with girls was not exactly the stuff of legends, far from a Casanova was he. He was amazed by the speed at which she spoke but liked it as well. The girls he was used to, had hardly ever said more than four or five words and only always when in a group. None would have thought to chat to a boy on their own.
"I'm definitely new here, transferred from Durmstrang actually but the way that seems to be going down with the natives could mean that you are the last person that I am actually going to tell it too. I guess the few who came last year for the tournament weren't exactly your regular variety of nice" he hadn't actually known the chosen champions, not to mind their overall champion though they were talked about incessantly all year long.
"Fourth year, Ravenclaw is the new me" he smiled again at her and found he couldn't help it, the daftest notion to just sit and smile at her all day long seemed a pleasing one.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Violet nodded as Aries explained that he was new from Durmstrang, but that seemed to draw a negative response from most. "Oh really? I suppose there haven't been good things said about most people from Durmstrang. I was kind of living under a rock so I'm not really sure what happened, all I know is that there was a fight between this girl and a few of the guys at the Yule Ball," she said with a shrug, suspecting that Aries probably didn't want to hear Durmstrang gossip. "Oooh, Ravenclaw? Awesome," she said, smiling in approval. "I wanted to be a Ravenclaw, the Sorting Hat decided I was extremely soft hearted and put me in Hufflepuff, though. Not that I mind. I'm a third year, myself," she explained, before blushing and looking down at her hands, embarassed. "Oh dear, listen to me, blabbering on. I'm probably boring you to tears already and we've only just met."

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries could well believe the girl had a soft heart, she had now stayed sitting near him for longer than five minutes. Was this a record? He liked her name Violet, knowing it was a type of flower made him grin daftly. Some Ravenclaw I'm turning out to be.
"No, no tears not bored yet" he told her, glancing across the lake thinking any second now he would goof this up entirely. It is not everyday a good looking girl sits beside you, up the anty a bit will you?
"Hufflepuff is supposed to be a good house as well though isn't it? I mean to be honest, I haven't much of a clue yet about the various houses. My father was in Ravenclaw in Hogwarts Scotland, so he was alright with me getting the same house as him. So," he looked at her and just wanted to stay that way. Stupid, snap out of it.
"Before I start blabbing myself silly what is there to do around here recreation wise?"

 

[Violet Bellamy]

"Oh, good," Violet said, grinning in relief. "All the houses are pretty good, in their own ways. My brother is in Slytherin, absolute opposite of Hufflepuff, but it's okay," she laughed. She looked up at him and felt the colour rising in her cheeks again, noticing that he was looking at her. Don't be stupid, he's probably just never seen such an awkward looking Aussie girl before, she thought to herself, as she absently played with a strand of hair. He wouldn't think anything of you, a third year and a Hufflepuff, not to mention the rate you talk about nothing... her mind brutally told her. "Recreation?" she repeated, pushing those thoughts out of her mind. "Well, now, there's swimming in the lake...never done so myself, but lots of people find it fun, despite the freezing cold, apparently," she said, with a wince at the thought of swimming in the freezing lake. "There's Quidditch, or, well, flying, of course, and exploring the castle. Bit boring really. People come up with their own mischief, or spend most of their time studying...or procrastinating, if you're me," she added, with a small, self-conscious laugh, shrugging her shoulders.

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries looked out over the lake when she mentioned it was alright to swim there. That was good to know considering how much he had loved to swim at his previous school and if the temperature there was so much lower than here, then surely swimming in this lake couldn’t be all that bad. He was also delighted to hear that there was flying and quidditch though it appeared as if there wasn’t much else to do.
“Do you fly or play quidditch?” the list of questions that were forming in his head to ask her was beginning to hurt and if he wasn’t careful, he could well blurt them all out. ‘what’s your favourite colour, what colour would you describe your hair has? What do you eat for breakfast?’ The list would go on and on.

He took a deep breath and waited for her to answer the first one though, steady boy very steady.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Violet nodded enthusiastically in response to his question. "I love to fly!" she replied, eagerly. "I play Quidditch for Hufflepuff, too...except...well, except it's kind of disorganised around here, in that I haven't been able to play an actual game of Quidditch yet," she explained, a little saddened and also a little embarassed. "How about you? Do you like to fly?" Although she suspected that the fact that he'd asked the question meant that he fairly obviously did.

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries just wanted to literally eat her up, smart, goodlooking and flew. What couldnt' she do? The smile on his face must have just been the broadest thing in the world at that moment, he loved the eagerness she showed for quidditch and flying. These were his great loves, that and reading. Girls were pretty high up there too, so today well, today was a bloody glorious day in his mind.
"Yeah I fly" he didn't trust himself to say anything else because at 15, he was definitely too young to ask someone to marry him. The colour in his cheeks rose and he looked about for a neutral topic, inorder to calm himself down just a fraction. Her green eyes were intoxicating and he knew he was bound to say or do something stupid at any moment. He noticed her book again and grasping at straws he smiled.
“So what are you reading?”

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Violet beamed, she liked this guy already! She found herself wishing he was one year younger, or that she was one year older, so that they'd be in the same year level - not that one year's difference really mattered. She found also that she loved his smile - and the heat rose in her cheeks as she thought this, she must have looked like a real fool, blushing like mad because a (rather cute) boy smiled at her. Calm down, stupid girl... she told herself, trying to relax and look like less of an idiot. "Oh, well, I'm reading Pride and Prejudice. Re-reading, actually. I should be reading books for school, but I thought I needed a break and I wasn't allowed to buy too many new muggle books on the holidays," she explained, blabbering on and on in her nervousness. "What about you? What were you reading, before I so rudely interrupted?" she laughed, trying to persuade the colour to die down in her cheeks so she wouldn't look so stupid.

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries watched mesmerised as Violet began to blush. Was he actually causing her to do that? No way, it couldn't be me? He felt his own cheeks heat up again and began to nod his head at her choice of book.
"The old muggles really can come up with some great books can't they? I read that before actually. I know not a very boyish book to read but my mother kept harping on about it and how my father so resembled Mr. Darcy in her mind. So intrigued by that alone I had to read it. Couldn't help but laugh though, told my mother it was her overactive romantic nature that made her see my Dad as a proud, overbearing, handsome hero with a heart of gold" he couldn't help but laugh now, "don't get me wrong my Dad is great, really he is but my mothers view of him and mine are thankfully not the same but good book."

He picked up his own from the ground and turned it to face her.
"Another muggle classic, had to smuggle them all passed my mother. She'd have blown her wand out if she knew the amount of books I cramped into my trunk. I've always been a huge fan of Alexander Dumas, I love the Three Musketeers and the Man in the Iron Mask but this one is definitely my favourite."
He looked at the cover of the Count of Monte Cristo and glowed with pride.
"This is actually one of the first editions of the english translations of the book. That's another reason why my mother would blow up at me, well we didn't have any other copy for me to pack up and I read this book at least twice a year."

Now he knew he had over done the geeky over reading, part of his character and gave the book a squeeze as he waited for her to make her excuses and leave. Any second now.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Violet couldn't believe she'd been lucky enough to meet a guy like Aries. He liked flying, was close in age to her, was smart, liked reading, and was quite good looking. Oh, I can't wait to tell Mum about this, she thought, jokingly. She was surprised, in a good way, of course, that he had actually read Pride and Prejudice. I thought most guys would balk at reading such a feminine book, she thought, glad she had been wrong. "I'm glad you don't see your father in the same way as your mother, else I'd be quite worried," Violet joked, eyes full of mirth. When she saw what Aries was reading, she slapped her forehead, out of the blue. "Oh, that's it!" she muttered. Looking at Aries again, she gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, I just knew there was another book I had to add to my reading list and I couldn't quite remember what it was," she explained. "And that was it," she laughed, desperately hoping that Aries wouldn't think that she was some kind of psycho.

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries laughed along with her when she said she was glad he didn't see his father the same way his mother did. She had a healthy sense of humour which he appreciated. Most girls were literally as cold as ice and then there were the others who laughed at just about everything a boy said. Neither types he liked much but Violet, she was one of the rare ones with a mind so obviously her own. This he liked and liked even more when she showed an interest in the Count. It was literally his favourite book of all time and though his mother would probably have a coronary by what he was about to do, considering how much the book was worth in monetary and sentimental value. Aries held the book out to Violet.

"I've read and re-read it, so why don't you borrow it for a while and let me know what you think afterwards" he smiled at his own cunning, now this was a sure fire way to get to meet her again. Providing she agreed to borrow the book at least.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Violet couldn't help but be surprised when Aries offered the book to her to borrow. "Are you serious?" she replied, amazed. "I mean, I'd love to read it, and I'd be extremely careful with it, but are you sure you're willing to let me borrow it?" she explained, hurriedly, still blushing a little. Now she knew she was really lucky, to have met a guy with impeccable taste in literature who was actually willing to let her borrow one of his books.

((haha, sorry about the short reply. getting rather sleepy.))

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries thought for all of five, no two seconds about whether or not he was serious and came to the conclusion that he had never been more so in his life. He was only 15, well closer to 16 really and could honestly say he had never experienced the full force whallop that this girl had dealt him. He was smitten, he was bowled over. If he was willing to let her borrow this book it was only because she had quite literally borrowed his heart from the moment she had asked if she could join him.

"Of course I'm serious, you look like you're trustworthy"
And if I can trust you with that book surely I can trust you with the blood pumping organ inside me too. He had always considered it stupid refering to such a gross looking body part as the thing that told a person whether or not they really cared for someone else but his had been doing back flips and somersaults since she had sat down, was his logical nature really going to ruin the one moment in his life that made no sense to him what so ever.

He smiled at her again.
"You can take your time reading it" he didn't know what else to say now, convinced that the pounding of his heart was getting louder and louder. Any minute she would hear it and run off.
"It's possibly the best book in the world, it's got everything in it action, adventure, deception, betrayal, sacrafice, romance... " he stopped and looked at the ground for a moment before looking up at her again, those green eyes had him hooked.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

"I promise you, I am," she smiled. It was true, at her muggle school, every teacher had said Violet is reliable, trustworthy, but prone to daydream and often procrastinates. Violet was certain that she'd be daydreaming of Aries, sure, she'd only just met him but - she couldn't quite understand it, but she knew that she really, really liked this guy. So the beating of her heart was telling her, anyway. He was smart, funny, good looking, and hadn't made an excuse to get away from her as yet - very impressive indeed. She figured that most guys would have, not that she'd ever really spoken to any except the couple in her classes. "It's okay," she added. "I know what it's like to have a book mean a lot to you. Goodness, I've put marking charms on some of mine. I will read it quickly and get it back to you as soon as I can," she said, earnestly. "I reckon I'll enjoy it," she grinned, looking up at Aries and feeling the odd sensation she'd been feeling since she'd started talking to him. What does it matter, she thought, that bitter cynical side of her coming out. He'll probably find someone much better and forget about you straight away. She pushed those thoughts away and continued to enjoy the moment, however. She'd just met the most awesome guy she'd ever laid eyes on, how could she not enjoy herself?

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries smacked his forehead, how stupid could he be?
"Do you know after all these years I still don't have the sense to mark any of my things, some Ravenclaw I am" he shook his head and wondered had he just let himself down in her eyes, had he blown it by showing how ultimately humanly stupid he could be.
"I guess I'm just too trusting, saying that though my two best friends from my old school were forever taking my stuff and very rarely giving them back until more or less the last day of term" this was said goodnaturedly, Althios and Harrison were possibly the most decent friends anyone could ever have.
"The ...um school sent me on a list of activities that they hold here, the halloween feast will be a big deal, will it? I mean do you all dress up for it?" he thought this would be hilarious and couldn't wait but wasn't going to say so unless Violet herself owned up to attending the parties.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Violet couldn't help but giggle at that. "Oh, it's okay. What can I say? I'm far too paranoid for my own good, sometimes," she admitted, self-conscious. "At least you got your stuff back in the end, right?" she added, with a shrug. She grinned wickedly as the Halloween feast was mentioned. "Oh yeah, the Halloween feast. That's always...um...interesting..." she explained, thinking back to the last two. "Last years resulted in a giant prank which may or may not have been caused by some girls in my year level, rendering the food impossible to eat. But the costumes are always good. There's this girl's group, the Sorority, which I'm part of, and we're, well, I wouldn't want to spoil anything, but we've got a group costume which should be pretty interesting..." she said, with an innocent look. "The food's pretty good and it's shameless fun. I never liked parties but Hogwarts parties are always good," she added. It was true, she'd never been a social butterfly, but once she got to Hogwarts, things changed a little. She was even convinced (by her little brother and one of his good friends, no less) to go to the Yule Ball last year, something she didn't think she'd do until about her fifth year at Hogwarts.

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries nearly sighed with relief, as much as he loved getting his head down into the books and as much as he loved flying. He also loved to party and have fun. It was great to see she was more or less the same way, he felt like he couldn't wait to see her in her costume.
"Well if I don't recognise you make sure you come over and say hi, I'll probably be the wall flower standing at the back of the room" he smiled, now that wasn't a bad concept for a costume. He knew Althios had conjured up something similar another year but would disguising himself as a giant flower or plant really win the girl over. Maybe if he was a giant rose. Immediately he did a mental check; what in the world was happening to him. I was actually considering dressing up as a rose? Am I just plain mental now? Obviously. Perhaps this was the very reason why I haven't associated myself with girls in a while because I go a tad loco.

But he knew that wasn't it at all, he had been around lots of girls but none had had the effect that Violet had.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

Violet grinned. "I'll see if I can find the opportunity," she said, as a joke. Of course she'd go and talk to Aries. He'd probably be the first person she sought out in the room. "I quite like standing towards the back of the room, but I usually prefer to stake out a spot near the food," she added, with a laugh. "Provided it hasn't been tainted, of course." Although, now her mind turned to worrying about her costume. Would it look okay? Would all the girls look okay? Would Aries like the way she looked in her costume? She hadn't had her first pick of costume, but she hoped that yellow and blue would be somewhat flattering. She was extremely glad she'd changed her hair and lost a fair bit of weight over the holidays. Mum, I owe you one, she thought to herself. Of course, she instantly began thinking of how silly she sounded. Just like a typical girl. Fourteen years and you've never behaved like this, and you're starting now.

 

[Aries Centauri]

Intrigued Aries turned to face her, getting the full on set of those emerald green eyes. Dazzled he looked away for a minute before looking back at her.
"Why would the food be tainted?" wondering if this was a usual thing at Halloween festivities he made a note mentally not to eat anything on the night but to stock up before hand, of course she had mentioned a prank the year before with the food so perhaps that's all it was.
"Never mind" he smiled, picking some grass and wondering if he could get away with asking some of his questions, he had after all had the decency to allow some time to elapse.
"So, erhm what kind of music are you into?" that definitely didn't sound lame at least not to his ears anyhow.

 

[Violet Bellamy]

"Just a silly prank, that's all," she explained, dismissively. "I hope nothing of the sort happens again." She smiled, serenely, as she looked out to the lake, feeling as relaxed as she could feel with such an attractive boy next to her. "Music? Well, I like most things. Don't get to listen to as much as I like here, though. I usually listen to my dad's muggle music collection at home," she added with a shrug. "Um, and yourself?"

 

[Aries Centauri]

Aries smiled at that, how often had he taken to the muggle village near where they lived just to hear some of their type of music. He really liked it.
"Muggle music does tend to grow on you doesn't it?" he smiled, "I guess I'll always prefer the kind of stuff I grew up with though, wizarding rock can't be beat really. The Apollonia's are brilliant but some of their new stuff is really heavy going, the Potion Makers are good as well, I have all of their stuff."

He stopped and smiled, wondering if she even listened to any wizarding music. The heavy rock beats of both his favourite bands was great but not to many others taste.
"Ok so that's music covered, what about food?" he laughed then, realising he had said the first part of the sentence out loud instead of thinking it as he had meant to.