friends among the flowers

[Tara Sitara]

the sun was bright, and a few clouds were drifting across the sky. out in the grounds the flowers were out in the garden. all through class the indian third year was itching to go outside and get her sketch pad out. as soon as the final bell of the day rang she left the charms room and headed out to the garden, she walked to the middle of a bed of small flowers and sat down. she opened her sketch pad and reached a pencil out of her bag. she seated to sketch the small flowers, one by one, a group of petals, stems and leaves spreading across the page. before she knew it she had forgotten where she was, and even a bit of who she was. she felt like she was back as a child, spending days drawing in the valley of the flowers back near her home. It was times like this that she had started to crave, she wanted to go back to her childhood and leave the compilations of her new stage of life behind (or ahead). she some days she would even consider going back to before she knew she was magic, but that was rare.

 

[Amberly Chang]

Amberly had just finished her last lesson of the day and immediately bounded for the entrance doors to head outside. With the spring in full bloom Amberly just couldn't stand being indoors for too long. The Gryffindor girl bounced down the steps of the castle and through the lawn happily. She brushed her short mushroom style hair out of her eyes and looked around, wondering where to go. She had climbed the trees in the lawn many times before and otherwise just lounged around but she was tired of going to the lawn and wanted to go somewhere she'd never been before.

For some reason Amberly had never visited the garden before. It wasn't like she didn't like flowers or anything, she had just never been there before since the lawn had always been enough for her. Today though she decided to venture on in, especially since it was spring, the flowers in here were bound to be magnificent. She was especially excited at the prospect of seeing some magical plants; having only learned she was a witch last year, everything in the magical world was still so new to her. As Amberly was walking around the garden, getting a bit lost but not minding it, she accidentally bumped into someone sitting down and said, "Oh I'm so sorry!"

 

[Tara Sitara]

Tara looked up as a shadow came over her. she turned just in time to see a girl as she walked into her where she sat. the girl bumped into her, she toppled over sideways, she sat back up and looked at the girl again. she looked asian, but she wasn't sure on the exact country she was from. "Its okay. i probably should have found a bench, my feet are getting dead anyway" she said picking up her bag and pencils with one hand and sketch book (still open) in the other, before standing up to talk to the girl properly. "I'm Tara By the way. a third year puff" she said attempting to offer the girl her hand to shake but in doing so letting the book who's page was the now jam packed with different coloured petals, leaves and stems slip form under her arm.

 

[Amberly Chang]

Amberly had barely managed to keep herself upright and not topple over as she had bumped into the girl but the girl she'd bumped into wasn't so lucky as she had fallen over sideways. On instinct Amberly couldn't help but say, "I'm so sorry!" again as the girl sat back up. She bit her lip and fidgeted with her hands nervously but the girl seemed to be okay, not harmed in anyway, and was getting up. Amberly sighed a little in relief but smiled apologetically anyway. Amberly was about to offer help with her things as the girl got up but was interrupted as the girl introduced herself. At her introduction Amberly flashed her signature wide grin and said, "Hi Tara, I'm Amberly, a second year Gryffindor!" Her English wasn't slow but you could tell it wasn't her first language, even despite the fact that Amberly didn't have a strong Korean accent; her English was the most natural of her sisters. But just then the girl's sketch boo fell from her arms and its contents slipped out and scattered across the floor. "Oh no! Let me help you!" the Gryffindor girl said right away, bending down to help her pick it up. She couldn't help but examine the sketchbook and its contents and said to Tara, "I like your book," with a friendly smile.

 

[Tara Sitara]

Tara smiled, "seriously it is okay." she said, she guessed that the girl wasn't a native english speaker, which would make things interesting as she also was a native english speaker, although she had been okay before new zealand, and had only improved since. "nice to meet you Amberly" she said before picking up her book. luckily the girl was already prepared and was helping her pick up a few loose pages that had slipped out. she felt pretty comfortable around the girl, she had a sort of happiness that she had possessed a year ago. "Thanks, you can have that picture if you want" she said as the girl looked at a pencil picture of the lake that she had drawn a few weeks back, It was pretty good, but she had drawn the same thing so many times before she was kind of getting bored of drawing the lake. hence why today she had come to the garden. "so what are you up to? just randomly walking or doing anything in particular she asked putting the last few pieces of paper into the book, and the whole pad into her bag.

 

[Amberly Chang]

Amberly helped Tara pick up the rest of the few loose sheets of paper that had fallen out of her sketchbook and couldn't help but admire them briefly before handing them over to the older Hufflepuff. It seemed Tara had noticed her staring at a particular drawing because she then offered it to her to keep but the Gryffindor girl shook her head, her short hair swaying wildly as she did so. "No I couldn't!" she said with a giggle, trying to hand the drawing that she had like the most back over to Tara. But just as she did so the girl asked her intentions of this stroll in the gardens. Amberly actually had a chance to look around the for the first time and smiled. "I just decided to come here because I realized I had never been. Do you come here often?" she wondered. It was a great place to discover interesting plants and draw them, and Tara definitely had the skill for that kind of creativity and patience, Amberly did not in the slightest.

 

[Tara Sitara]

tara smiled, "of corse you can keep it, i have loads of the lake, i used to be out here most days drawing, except lest year things changed." she said her voice wavering slightly at the end. s much had changed since the start of her second year, yet she was still out here most days drawing the lake, the mountains, the flowers, and anything once she could set her eyes on. her media had changed a lot though. first year she used coloured pencils, and watercolour, second year she had gone bolder with pastels, and oil pastels, among others, then this tear it was charcoal and pencil. "the garden is beautiful, you really are missing out if you don't visit, but at least your here now" she said smiling at the girl. "I come out here almost everyday, i am either by the lake, or here in the garden." she said. when it was raining she usually headed up to the towers to draw, it was one of the only things she could do that cleared her mind from the chaos she had got mixed up in. the other thing was talking with her friends, especially katie moon. "where about are you from? she asked her knowing that she wasn't from new zealand, but she wasn't entirely sure where she was form.

 

[Amberly Chang]

Amberly smiled with gratitude when Tara insisted she keep the drawing. "Well alright then," she said happily, looking down at the drawing once more and trying to figure out where to put it in her dorm. Though Amberly looked back up at the Hufflepuff girl when she noticed her tone get sullen as she spoke of things 'changing' last year. Amberly bit her lip, dying with curiosity to know what she meant by that but was raised never to ask questions that seemed personal and this one definitely did. Instead Amberly's eyes drooped to show her concern but didn't push it further as the girl changed the subject.

The Gryffindor girl smiled at her in encouragement and gratitude for changing the subject, because she didn't know how much her curiosity could contain itself, and giggled when Tara said she was missing out by not coming here. "I can tell, it's so pretty!" she observed with wide eyed innocence; for all she knew half these plants could be poisonous, but then again she wouldn't know because she never paid attention in Herbology or Potions. "Oh I love the lake!" Amberly commented happily, but cocked her head to the side. "I'm surprised we hadn't run into each other sooner," she thought aloud.

Tara then asked where she was from and Amberly smiled as usual. "Seoul," she said simply, pronouncing it the English way so it sounded like 'soul' instead of her native 'so-ool'. The Gryffindor girl chuckled in embarrassment slightly, as she realized that Seoul wasn't a city you could just name without giving its country like those in the states or other more famous countries. "It's the capital of South Korea," she smiled brightly. "What about you?" Amberly asked curiously. Amberly may not have been a native New Zealander but she had a feeling Tara wasn't one either. Still, she could've been completely wrong since she had never been to this country anyway.

 

[Tara Sitara]

Tara smiled and she was glad that Amberly let the subject drop. she was trying to get over her loss, and move on, but not forget it. "I usually find myself under that willow over there, it has a good view" she said pointing to a willow along the edge of the lake, just a little further on than most of the students usually bothered to go.
"South Korea, that sounds interesting. I Come from Joshimath, a small town in the north of India almost on the border with china and near Nepal, but the mountains are in the way." she said. hopeing that she wasn't talking too much. "so what do you enjoy doing in your free time?" she asked running a pencil through her fingers out of habit.