Hogsmeade Weekend

[Kalvyn Evans]

Kalvyn didn't often go out for the Hogsmede weekend, least never for the last one in the semester, so close to the time of exams, but the teen had ventured out this once. He was wrapped up nicely accounting for the cold day and was keeping his head down as he made his way from the castle to the village, staring at the snow on the ground. He listened to the crunch of the snow under his feet, he had a little bit of money and his book under his arm, and was just looking to have a bit of relaxation time. The brown eyed teen had no real plans for what he would do in the village, his mind was just telling him to get a couple of sweets and then sit somewhere and read, preferably indoors if he could given the weather. He didn't like the idea of having to talk to the shopkeeper but he wanted a little bit of sugar, his body had been demanding some, he was always very careful with what he ate, but he'd been feeling a little strange the last few days and was deciding that he wanted to have a little bit of time outside of the castle, outside of his little world, and a little bit of unhealthy food. After all, he was beginning to fear what might happen after school, he still couldn't really talk to people. His shyness had not gotten better, it had gotten worse. As a fourth year he'd been able to try to hold a conversation but now as a sixth year, he struggled, being in Hogwarts reminded him of that so he felt he needed a little bit of change, that would be in the form of this day out.

After getting the sweets and an awkward one sided conversation with the shopkeeper, they had tried to engage Kalvyn, but Kalvyn had just nodded or shook his head, saying nothing. He felt a little cold and decided he wanted to get something to drink, preferably hot, so he'd headed into the three broomsticks, but the place had simply been packed. He stood at the entrance, his brown eyes scanning the room, and after a few moments of doing this the teen decided that he couldn't stay here. There were too many people and he'd probably have to engage in conversation and he really didn't want that. Kalvyn shook his head and turned on his heel, heading straight out the door and back out to the cold. He tightened his jacket and balled the edges on his jacket into his fists to stop the cold air getting in. He wandered around for a few moment, not sure whether he should just head back to school, but it seemed pointless to come to Hogsmeade and go straight back. He finally found a bench just opposite the the three broomsticks that seemed quiet enough. He took a seat on the bench and smiled slightly, it was cold yes, but he was happy for the seat. He pulled out some of the sweets he'd bought and began to contently eat them. Avoiding eye contact with those coming in and out of the three broomsticks, and feeling somewhat content with this, he was lonely, Kalvyn was very lonely, but he found himself content with this. The ravenclaw teen placed the book on his lap and smiled at it. The simple joys in life were important, Kalvyn knew this, but he knew that having even one friend might help him enjoy things a little more.
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[Lucy Kaster]

It was getting towards christmas and Lucy still had not done her christmas shopping. She had neglected it mostly out of spite, but considering... Lucy rubbed the tears from her eyes as she walked towards Hogsmede. She'd gotten the letter about Danika's death a little over two weeks ago, but it still felt raw. She'd never spent much time with her Aunt, but she knew her to be very kind and a very good fit for their family. She had Jack behaving so well and Lucy loved babysitting for them back when she was homeschooled. She hadn't even gotten to meet her new cousin yet and it would still be weeks before she could, but she knew his name, Flynn. As she got closer to Hogsmede, Lucy had to wonder what she was even going to get everyone. She had a lot of relatives and whilst she didn't have to buy for her Aunts and Uncles, her mother asked that she buy something for Jack and her cousins. She definitely couldn't begrudge that. He was probably going to have a really bad Christmas this year. Sniffling slightly and pulling her hoodie up to cover her beanie, Lucy shoved her hands into her pockets and jogged through Hogsmede looking for what to buy. She wanted to try and get it all done in one go, hopefully she would succeed. It was too cold to be going back and forth between Hogsmede and the castle. She was still getting used to this climate.

Almost two hours passed and Lucy still wasn't finished. Though she was managing to sweat now. It was freezing cold and she was sweating. She supposed if she wasn't so used to do things the muggle way, maybe she would have thought about using a levitation spell, but as it was, she was too cold to think properly and so was pulling the bags along on a sled she'd bought specifically to carry all of this back to the castle. However it was taking quite a bit longer than she had expected. She jumped the sled, accidentally, over a rock and half of her bags fell off. Lucy gave into defeat and pulled it all over to the closest bench, which happened to be occupied, and sat down to catch her breath. Lucy sighed slowly and pushed her hoodie down to free her face a little. Lucy sniffled slightly, and leaned back against the bench, turning her head when she remembered that the bench was occupied. "Gosh, I'm sorry. No-one was sitting here, were they?" She asked, her accent clear that she was not from around here. He was definitely a student, but she didn't know him. She was only a new transfer so she didn't know many people. "I'm just resting a sec and then I'll move if you like." She did hope she hadn't just stolen some-one's seat. She didn't want to get back up again, she was too tired and she still had to make the trip all the way back to the castle.
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[Kalvyn Evans]

Kalvyn shifted the old book on his lap slightly as he adjusted his position on the bench, making himself slightly more comfortable than he had been. He took the packet of sweets out of his pocket and stuffed a few of them in his mouth, enjoying the sweet taste of them, a little day off from his usual regime was always good, most of the time this regime just stemmed from the fact that Kalvyn wasn't really a huge fan of sweets, but today he had wanted some felt it would be good to have some, and Kalvyn had therefore gotten them, Kalvyn wasn't that impulsive but he also opted to never limit himself in that way. He was happy, in a way, to be sitting himself on this bench the sweetness of the candy filling his mouth, the light freezing breeze touching the tips of his ears, the solitude held many bad things and ill feelings, but this wasn't so bad. He sighed slightly, constantly his mind fought between enjoying the peace of the solitude to feeling so lonely and desiring friendship above all else. He lifted the book, flicking through the pages stopping randomly within the book until he stopped at one specific bit and a little piece of parchment fell out the book and on to his lap. He picked it up and put it in a different place within the book and then just started reading, he had time to kill and a willingness to stay outside to read.

This would've continued in silence had someone not very suddenly taken the seat next to him, essentially falling down into that empty space on the bench. He glanced over, alerted and ready to move if he needed to, Kalvyn realised as he glanced at who it was that it was a student like him, perhaps a little younger than him, but marginally so with a sled in front of her. It seemed laden with gifts and he couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't used a levitation spell or something, surely that was far easier than dragging it along. Which seemed like a useless thing, and far more effort than it would be worth. The girl began speaking, he picked up right away that she wasn't from around these parts, well, at the very least not from either Scotland, England or Wales, he realised it sounded a lot like what Lydia sounded like, perhaps she was from New Zealand? Or at least from that side of the world, rather than this. He shook his head at her, indicating that no one was sitting here, this bench aside from him had been unoccupied, though not so much any more. He didn't mind if she stayed a while, why would he? It wasn't like he was holding the seat for anyone and despite his loneliness he still doubted that he would say or do much about becoming friends or even getting to know her, "It's okay," he muttered to her before glancing at the snow and then back at his book, which he reopened and began reading again.
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[Lucy Kaster]

Lucy was breathing rather heavily as she stretched out on the small section of unoccupied bench. Were she anywhere else, it might even have been a little obscene, but the sled in front of her did well to relay her actions and so it was no major brain usage to figure out what was happening. Lucy sighed slightly as she rubbed her cold hands together. Despite the gloves, she was much more accustomed to the warmer New Zealand weather than she was to this snowy country. Scotland was a place she'd never thought much about, despite having family who attended, all those of her generation and most of the ones above had attended Hogwarts in New Zealand, so she really hadn't prepared for this weather. She'd been so unprepared in fact, that she'd had to owl her mother for extra clothing. That had been really awkward. Walking everywhere in blankets hadn't helped to ease her into the semester either. She was sure it was the reason for her slightly lacking group of friends. They all most assuredly thought her a freak. Lucy didn't overtly mind however, the less attached she got to this place, the more able she would be to persuade her mother to send her back to New Zealand, where all of her friends actually were. She didn't know whose idea this was, but she wasn't exactly happy about it.

Stuffing her hands back inside her completely obsolete jacket, Lucy watched her breath mix with the frozen air and sniffled again. She personally absolutely hated the sound, but was unable to do anything to prevent it. She had no ready tissues and even if she did, she wasn't exactly inclined to move her hands from their new warmth pressed up against her warm skin. Though the zipper of her jacket was cold against her stomach, the rest of her abdomen was quite warm and she had forced holes into her jacket pockets for this very reason. It was probably the reason she still remained mostly cold, but at least her hands were toasty. She looked to the boy beside her then, as she realised that he had spoken and she had likely just ignored him, too caught up in her lack of warmth. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I don't mean to intrude and I certainly didn't mean to ignore you just now. I'm Lucy by the way, I'd shake your hand, but that would require moving it." She smiled slightly at him and noticed that he was reading. She didn't want to interrupt him, she knew how annoying that could be, so instead she smiled a little more and stood up. "Sorry, I was disturbing you, but, you really shouldn't read out here, it's gotta be too cold, right? We can walk back to the carriages together if you want?" She was trying not to think about everything that was happening at home. This was christmas, she wanted to at least try to enjoy herself.
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[Kalvyn Evans]

Kalvyn watched the girl carefully, keeping his eyes mostly downcast and staring at the girl's hands as they remained in her pockets, only occasionally glancing up. He was wearing fingerless gloves to better be able to grip the book, which still sat in his hands, the fingerless gloves were not good at protect Kalvyn's hands. The tips of his fingers felt a little like blocks of ice, they were stiff and a little difficult to move and steadily growing paler in colour. He had been about to just turn back, and continue reading his book, ignoring the girl completely but the girl continued speaking. Kalvyn looked up at her and listened along with what she was saying, not altogether sure why she was talking to him, Kalvyn didn't have any friends and most people didn't bother to even acknowledge him much any more. He lacked people to spend time with and all of a sudden some girl was sitting next to him on a bench, clearly wanting to talk to him, making polite conversation and she was being friendly in a way Kalvyn wasn't all too used to. He did know plenty of friendly people, he just never held a conversation with any of them. He just tended to say hello occasionally in the corridor if he knew any of them well enough which was not actually often true, since Kalvyn knew very few people. He then realised that she'd introduced herself and he realised he would have to do the same, "Kalvyn," he told her quietly, clearly just saying it because she had said hers.

Kalvyn didn't know what else to do, he stared down at the book on his lap when she said he it was strange that he was reading outside, since it was so cold. He looked at her, and then wondered if she meant right at this very moment she wanted to head back up towards the carriages and therefore the castle. He glanced back at his book, and then looked at his surroundings, "Too loud in there," he motioned towards the three broomsticks which was what they were sitting opposite. He looked back at Lucy and gave a small shrug, unsure of what else to say, he wasn't particularly interested in moving just yet, he'd come to Hogsmeade for the fresh air, for the freezing air to chill his bones. He had needed it, felt too closed off in the school and this had been the perfect opportunity for him to do something about it. He wasn't too interested in leaving just yet, but she appeared to want to, and to not ruin this opportunity of someone to talk to, Kalvyn put his book in his pocket, "Do you want to leave now?" he asked her, waiting for an answer to his question before moving any more.
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[Lucy Kaster]

Sorry this took so long!!

When Kalvyn mentioned that it was too loud inside for him to read, Lucy raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder into the shop. She supposed that some people just couldn't read in the noise. Lucy found that she could basically read anywhere, not that she did it terribly often. Sometimes though, admittedly, she always had to put herself in a quiet area. However she certainly couldn't remember a time where she had willingly put herself in the cold just to get away front the noise. That seemed a little odd, even for her. She wasn't going to judge though, so she nodded at him, in a kind of show of solidarity. Fellow book readers unite and whatever. "Can't say I've ever had that problem myself. I find that I can pretty much read anywhere." She told him, bending to try and fix the bags on the sled. She knew she was going to regret buying so many things. She was going to have to seriously rethink a lot of this as she got back to the castle. How was she going to lug all of this up the stairs. It didn't take long until she was palming herself in the face and shaking her head. "Why didn't I just levitate this? Oh my God. Am I even a witch?" She proceeded to pack the bags closely together and pulled her wand out of her pocket looking at her new acquaintance. She smiled and laughed slightly. "You should've said something!" Admittedly she probably wouldn't have said anything either, but now she felt like a total fool.

Lucy levitated the bags with the sled, though it was shakey as the bags and sled were heavy and Lucy was not a confident levitator. She decided to keep it low to the ground, incase of spell failure. She looked at Kalvyn and smiled. "Well, if you don't want to leave yet, can we at least find somewhere that you're not going to freeze?" It was cold out here and whilst she would prefer to go back to the castle now, she had disturbed his reading and she felt bad about that. "I need to go through all of this to make sure I got everything anyway. There's probably a quieter place closer to the carriages, somewhere would have a fire going I'm sure." She scanned both left and right, wondering where the best place to go was. "I'm also happy to go back to the castle now too. I think my face is going numb."
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[Kalvyn Evans]

It wasn't so much that Kalvyn didn't like loudness when reading, after all he did manage to read with ease in the common room, and the great hall but it had just been the amount of people within such a small space, he would rather sit alone in the cold than have to deal with that. He looked at the girl as she spoke, to which he just shrugged, feeling that he couldn't really add anything else to that, not that it really required him to do so. All he did instead was just sit on the bench and watch her closely looking up and down from his book to her, he didn't feel confident enough to really use his voice around her, and from the way she was acting he figured that she was perhaps one of those people whom he would never have to say anything to. He smiled slightly at her words, before shrugging. He hadn't thought of it, or been able to tell her that because he hadn't been paying attention to her. He didn't think he would be in the correct position to be saying anything of the sort. With his head in a book he hadn't been paying attention to the world around him, the silence was always easier to read in, few distractions or silly conversations.

Kalvyn really didn't mind when they left, he would've been happy leaving in an hour or just right away as it appeared they were about to. He shrugged at her, "We can leave now," he muttered shyly, not wanting to force any decision on to her, he had no where else to be, nothing to carry, nothing pressing for him to do, he had just needed the air, he had come out to the village for the area, to be able to breath deeply and be grateful for how the term was going. He worked hard and every so often he just needed a little bit of time out, and that was even if it meant sitting outside in the cold when one really ought to not. He took in a deep breath, and let it go equally as slowly, "We can leave now," he told her, trying to not seem like he was making the decision but suggesting what he believed was best for them to do. Kalvyn got to his feet and stretched slightly, he was fairly tall and having grown a lot in the last few months he wasn't always entire sure of his own limbs. Without saying anything he motioned to the items she'd been carry, asking if she wanted him to take them. He knew she'd talked about magic, but he knew he was just as capable.
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[Lucy Kaster]

Lucy struggled slightly with the sled, but managed to keep it steady when she moved the bags into a more stable position around sled. She was happier now that she was sure it wasn't going to fall all over the place. "Does that look steady to you?" She asked Kalvyn, though she wasn't really asking for his opinion. She smiled slightly however and nodded at him when he mentioned that they were fine to go. She was glad for it, certainly, because she didn't think she could hold out much longer in this cold. She stepped in front of the sled and started walking, seeing if Kalyn would follow her. She noted that he seemed to be offering to carry some of her bags. She smiled at him and shook her head. "Nah, it's okay. I'll just go slowly so none of them fall. It's close to the ground anyway, so I think I'm fine." She quickly looked back over the bags. "I appreciate the offer though. You should put your book up there if you want, then you don't have to carry it." The main reason why Lucy sometimes forgot to use magic was because her mother didn't. Being a squib, her mother couldn't use any magic and so it was sort of an unwritten rule not to use magic around her. She didn't know about it of course, but everyone knew how excited Lisa had been to have magic, only for it to turn out that she didn't have any at all. So, to avoid her having to see it all the time, they mostly just didn't use it. Only when they needed to, considering they lived in a magical community. She had to see it everywhere else, surely it wouldn't hurt to go without whilst at home.

"So do you often stay for the Christmas holidays, or do you go home?" Making conversation was something that Lucy was pretty good at. Most of her family were talkers and so it was hard to get a word in usually. Kalvyn didn't seem to be much of a talker, so it kind of unnerved her that he could be so quiet. He'd never be able to get a word in with her family, never.
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Next one will be better, I promise.

 

[Kalvyn Evans]

Kalvyn had always had problems keeping friends, it was just factor of his life, he was so shy that making conversations with people was not an easy feet for him, he just listened to what others were saying, nodding or shaking his head, very rarely adding his own input into things, which was why when she asked if it was steady he just nodded at her, after one small glance. He thought it looked relatively steady and really if it wasn't then he would be more than happy to take some of the stuff, or even just use the magic that they both had. The girl in front of him, seemed to ignore his offer of a hand with it, and he just shrugged at her, knowing that she obviously didn't have to take his advice if she didn't want to, which it appeared in this case that she didn't. The offer of placing his book on top went ignored by him, as Kalvyn just shrugged at her and then secured it in his pocket as if to show that it was fine and he didn't need to add it to her growing pile of belongings.

As she asked him the question, he realised that she was likely looking for him to respond, and so he though he didn't really need to, he thought about his answer. Kalvyn really hadn't had to, he knew what he did, but, this just seemed like the right moment to think about it, "Mostly go home," he told her. Since that was the truth, he mostly went on, on a few occasions he'd stayed at school, but that wasn't always the case, not that the teen really minded, he then looked at the girl, "You go home too right?" he asked motioning to the gifts that she had which he very much believed meant she went back to her family. He wasn't sure what else to add, and he was beginning to feel a little useless since he wasn't really doing much to help besides providing another eye to be sure none of these gifts fell off, "Big family?" he felt his cheeks redden when he spoke, he hadn't really wanted to, but the girl seemed like she need conversation more than he did, while he was perfectly comfortable with silence he didn't think she was.
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[Lucy Kaster]

Lucy nodded as she was asked if she went home. She smiled as she thought about the kind of Christmases they had. Though it was likely that this year would be emptier than normal, considering Danika's death and her Uncle's subsequent disappearance into the unknown, Lucy had a feeling that he would not be around this year. That wouldn't stop her buying presents for her cousins though, she loved them after all, despite them all being much younger than her. "Yeah. Every chance I get really. Though my mum and I don't get along sometimes and I mostly came to this school so that I could get away from her, I still love her, but sometimes it can be hard not using magic and her trying to tell me what to do all the time. I mean I understand she's trying to be involved, but whew, slow down a little." She told him a little more than she had intended to, but she didn't think it mattered all that much. He wasn't much of a talker, she could see that, so anything she could do to keep the conversation going was good. She wasn't much good with silence if she was honest, but sometimes, if she had something to do, listen to music or whatever, she was fine. When she was at home, when everyone was still living there, it was always loud. She often missed it. She liked holidays though because everyone was together again and there was always a lot of noise. She could be in her room and always have trouble concentrating because she would have to hear the arguments or the bets between people. Jack and Parker were always betting on something, one time it had been on how long it was going to take Lucy to finish her potions homework. They'd both been wrong, she'd cheated.

Kalvyn asked if she had a big family, likely spurred by the amount of gifts she was lugging around. She laughed slightly and nodded. "Sometimes too big. There's an awful lot of us around. My immediate family is big, but my extended family is even bigger. A couple of them came here. Some still do. I have cousins all over the place, though I don't know them well." She said, as they were starting to come up to where they could get back to school. "These are just for my immediate family. The one's the live at home. Also for my mum's and my sister." She added, pointing to each of the bags. She'd done most of her shopping a couple of days ago, so that was lucky. "Do you have a big family too?"
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[Kalvyn Evans]

Kalvyn was a better listener than he was a talker, he didn't need to say much, or he didn't feel the need to really say much and this was clear when considering him with others, he just nodded along as she spoke, not knowing what it was like to not get along with ones mother since he got along perfectly with his, even if they had some differences she was always there for him and he always tried to be there for her, to be good for her, which was a little difficult occasionally given distance but he was always happy to keep trying, it was only with his family that he had the confidence to really talk to them. He felt nervous around Lucy, and though she seemed like a really lovely person he could not find the words to talk to her, it was just going to be silent with her because he couldn't find the courage to speak to her. Kalvyn was happy to just listen and walk in silence and he was happy to just walk back in this silence, though from what he could gather about this girl, she wasn't too much into the whole silence thing.

Which was why he had asked a question said something that would help bring more conversation and fill the air like he assumed that she wanted it to. The teen was happy to listen to her talk about her family in the way she was, her family seemed interesting enough, though he knew very little bout them, and through it all he just nodded and nodded. Until it was finished and the question was returned to him. He shrugged a little at it, considering the question, since technically he did have a large family if he included all the extended parts but really there were too many of them, "Not really, my immediate family, is just me, my parents and my two younger sisters," the teen replied quietly with a small shrug giving nothing else away about it and just continuing on, at a loss over what to say next, maybe asking about how many siblings or perhaps that was too personal, he didn't want to ruin the friendship before it even began.
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