It isn't easy being the new 'puff

[Sephora Finette]

"Arrghhh! That nerve of that girl!" Sephora grumbled as she stomped her way towards the lake edge.
Her recent encounter of Maria Madison put her into a an angry and miserable mood.

She wasn't happy about her new dorm 'buddies' - except one girl, Mackenna Matthews who appeared to be really nice and she was hoping that she'll be her new friend.
Her other two dorm mates, Jessame Rose Trewelly and Maria Madison was another matter.

Sephora was feeling quite lonely in her new surroundings, she wished she was back home in Dunedin with her parents and her pony, Domino. Nothing else here seemed to cheer her up - unless someone was *trying* to cheer her up.

She walked across the Lake's edge, watching the gentle ripples going through the lake.
She sat down on a small rock and gazed out. Everything was peaceful and calm, a giant squid lifting it's tentacle out of the water and gracefully back under.

Sephora was lonely and confused. Without thinking of what she was doing, she grabbed a handful of small pebbles around her.

She thew a pebble in the water;
"Why Sephora, Why are you so shy? it isn't so hard to make friends around here, look at everyone - everyone has friends. Why don't *you* have friends" She muttered in angst before throwing another pebble in.
"I didn't do anything to her!" She thew a pebble in the water, thinking of how Maria treated her, how Maria laughed at her, how Maria thought that she was pathetic.
"And I didn't do anything to her either!" She thew another pebble in, remembering of Jessame Rose, how she glared at her as if she was some sort of sick person.
"Why do they treat me like this?...I didn't do anything to them, I just wanted to make friends" She thew another in. Her lips quavered as she said the word "friends".

She threw the rest of the pebbles violently into the lake, collapsing onto the ground in anger, she stared back out at the lake - large ripples were trembling through the water from her recent pebble throwing. Tears rolling, she started to wonder how she'll ever survive the next six years at this place.

((Sorry for the long intro, but this is just a way of helping me develop Sephora more *and* another way to release my need to rant. I hope you'll understand ))

 

[Samuel Sykes]

Sam shook water out of his hair as he waded to the bank. Now that he was getting used to Hogwarts, he was starting to explore a little bit more. Today was a bit more daring of him to go swimming in the lake. After all, he was by himself. Swimming was usually a social activity, especially if one had to contend with the giant squid. Even so, it was his quiet time. Sam was no Quidditch player, so this was his exercise. He was slightly miffed that he didn’t have a swimming shirt, so it had to be just the trunks today. This area of the banks were a bit more secluded than the open area near the Great Lawn, so the shy boy felt a bit more secure.

He reached the banks and exited, seating himself on the edge with his toes still in the water. Suddenly, there was noise. Plop! went a pebble to his right. A very frustrated voice floated across from him not twenty meters away. It was Sephora. Sam knew every first year Hufflepuff by name. When one was alone with no-one to talk to, you noticed a lot. Sam cared about his peers as well. This girl seemed quite animated, and he could see a great sadness behind her anger. Even though she probably didn’t know his name, he simply had to help.
“Oh, Sephora.” he said quietly to himself. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she collapsed back onto the grass. He finally got the nerve to approach.
“Well, look at you! Please, what’s the matter? You look so upset!”

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora was still muttering the thoughts from her head loud, the ripples in the lake have finally gone back to its serene state.

She heard someone one coming, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes quickly - but it just seemed to irritate it more.
A boy came through the clearing and approached her, he appeared to be the same age as she was and was coming her way. She hang her head down trying to avoid his eye contact, but it was too late because he was already talking to her.

"N-nothing, I-i'm fine - y-you can go now." She stuttered as she tried to wipe more tears away from her face.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

"Here," said Sam with a sad smile.
With that, he found the little bundle of clothes and books that he'd be carrying and pulled out a lollipop. Sam smiled at her. "Sugar makes everything better, didn't you know?". Stuff all those diets and health plans that his Aunt Lola liked to take. Sometimes one needed a pure stick of sugar to make the sun shine again.

"I shall go if you'd like, but won't you tell me what's wrong first? Sometimes it's better to tell someone you don't know." He seated himself cross-legged beside her. Sam understood about having bad days like this, like everyone. Perhaps if she told him the reason, he might be able to relate and help her out. There was a time to be shy, and this was not it. Sephora needed an ear.

"I'm Sam."

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora raised her tear streaked face and looked at the boy named Sam.
He too had Blonde hair and blue eyes, just like herself and for some reason, that had made her feel better.

She watched him rummaging through his belongings, pulled out a lollipop and offered it to her. Something so small and worthless never made Sephora quite happy to see such a trivial thing - her brother used to bribe her with Candy all the time.

Wiping more tears away, she took the lollipop from him, undid the wrapper and looked at the colourful sweet object. Impulsively, she tore the stick from it then broke the candy in half and held out the other half to Sam;

"...Thank you Sam, my name is Sephora...Sephora Finette" She looked at the stickless halved lollipop, she was going to tell him what was wrong, but for now she was feeling a bit better from being in his company.

"...I will tell you...if you promise me you won't leave." Sephora's eyes trickled down it's last tears. Thinking that she may have someone to relate after all.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

Sam seated himself himself on the grass beside her and smiled.

"No, never. I couldn't leave you looking like this without anyone to listen to you."

Well, in his world, sugar made everything better. So he took the other half of the lollipop, popped it in his mouth and sat down for a listen. He felt very sorry for Sephora. He had seen a lot of crying people since first coming to Hogwarts. At one time or another, someone would be in a corner with a handkerchief over their face, or sniffing heavily over a piece of homework with their eyes clouded with tears. It made him quite sorry, but he hadn't had the opportunity till now to listen to one of them. What at Hogwarts could make someone cry like this? The last person he had seen was crying because she said she was a muggle and hated this school. Actually, many felt like that. So he tried to keep an uplifted heart whilst he listened to her, so that when she needed a smile it would be there.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora sighed and popped the lolly in her mouth - sure, talking with her mouthful wasn't exactly the best manners but when sugar made you feel good, why go against it?

"It's a long story...I haven't really told anyone either" she swirled the lolly around the mouth, circling her tongue with its sweetness.

She faced Sam;
"Its just that...I wasn't always this shy, I mean. I can't help being shy...I guess it all started when my brother Sebastian left my family when I was eight...he didn't really say why but he's in America with my Uncle...We we're so close and I didn't have a few muggle friends because I always spent time with Seb" she hang her head down.

"and ever since he left...it's like...I lost a part of me" She scraped the lolly with her teeth, chewing on the small shards of the lollipop. She sat there in silence for a while, still sucking on the whole bit of lollipop she had.

"...and now, ever since I've came here...I feel so alone, I'm not with my parents, I'm not with Seb and the two girls I've tried making friends with pushed me away" She gave Sam a sad smile and returned her focus back out to the Lake.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

She sounded just like him, only in a situation ten-times worse over.

“Well,” he said kindly with a smile. “Now you’ve gained one more person who cares. That’s got to count for something, doesn’t it?”
Optimism was his strong point, when candy failed its job.
He was just like her, shy and quiet with few friends. He would tell her that and more besides, but he hated the idea of cry-fests, where everyone had to get in on the sympathy and were vying for the title of 'Who has the worst life'. It made people seem so hopeless. Even so, he thought it might help.
“I understand. I haven’t made many friends yet, either.” Naturally, he was blushing whilst talking. It was his most hated habit, but then this was a private part of him that he was sharing.

“I wish I could understand about losing a brother, but...” he paused. “I don’t have any parents or siblings myself. I live with my aunt. Maybe I’m a little like your brother. Perhaps I have a family living somewhere far away. I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter now.”
He pondered the problem of those two girls she spoke of. Everyone at Hogwarts had some sort of problem within themselves. It seemed like being a witch or a wizard was harder on every generation. One girl he knew, Jessame Rose, hated magic and all that was entailed with it. Sam watched these unhappy tales every day. Now it was his turn to help out who he could.

“You know, it was very brave to talk about it.” It was true. It took the courage that he couldn’t find himself to speak about your life. “Only good things can come of this kind of bravery.” Sam admired her somewhat for this.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora chewed on the rest of the lollipop and breathed in and out. It felt good to let her emotions flow out, especially in such a scenic area of the castle.

She felt she had connected to Sam on a deeper level - as if *he* knew how she felt and that he seemed to experience the type of things that she had.
She listened to his story about how he had no parents or siblings...just an aunt. Sephora feeling quite bad - everyone deserved to have a family, it wasn't until now how she appreciated being with her parents and the time she spent with Sebastian.

Guilt laid upon her head, she felt bad for ranting about such trivial problems to a person who had it far off worse.
She couldn't help but wondering how he managed to grow up not knowing who his parents was.

"I'm sorry...it must of been hard for you to see other people with their families having fun...while you..." She stopped her self before she did any damage.

--

Sephora blushed when he commented about her bravery.
Taking compliments was not her strongest point. Turning bright red on the other hand, was one thing she wished that didn't happen - she quickly placed her hands on her cheeks to hide the effect of what he said.
There was another thing on her mind though, one that she was wishing to say to Maria or Jessame Rose before she found out they weren't as nice.

Sephora removed her hands from her face and simply spoke;
"You know...I feel as if your like my friend already" she smiled brightly and with no shyness in sight where she gave Sam a hug.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

Sam hadn’t quite thought about what it was like to not have a family. To him, some people had two parents, others had one and some had none. It suddenly hit how much he would have missed his parents if he had known them. He never thought about why he was so shy, or sometimes got terribly lonely. He simply thought it was because he had trouble making friends; after all, he always had Aunt Lola. He furrowed his brow as the feelings of loss washed over him.

“I never thought of it like that,” he said quietly.

He was distracted when she blushed. He couldn’t help but grin at that. Sometimes it was funny to see someone else doing what he usually did. The loneliness abated for the moment, though it was to come again later. He laughed, poking her cheek gently.

"You know...I feel as if your like my friend already"

Sam quite agreed and returned her hug gently. Hogwarts didn’t seem quite so bad. It just went to show how diverse this place was. He had found a friend that was just like him. “There, see.” he said with a smile. “Isn’t it nice to share with a stranger? Sometimes it turns out they understand, and soon they’re a stranger no longer.”. The infliction in his voice said to her that he meant this about himself as well. That all he needed was to open up to someone he hadn’t before. Sam had helped them both, and he was glad.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora broke the hug and smiled again.

"I'm sorry you had to experience my whole...breakdown as you call it." She blushed again,
"But your right, it's nice to share something like that to a stranger...especially when you get a friend out of it" She smiled and picked up a pebble.

Feeling much happier, she stoop up and skid the people along the lake, watching it skip along until the tentacle of the giant squid caught it.

Laughing she skipped back to where Sam was sitting.
"So tell me...how have your days in Hogwarts turning out?" She felt it was his turn to share his story of this place - who knows, he could have had it worse.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

That was almost a sore subject for Sam, because so far there hadn’t been much to tell. He spent most of his time in classes like everyone else. Otherwise, he sat and read Potions books in the library (even though the first years weren’t taking Potions yet) or swimming just like today. Either way, there wasn’t much to do when you didn’t have many friends.

He explained this to Sephora, skipping over the bit where he said he had no friends. It wasn’t necessarily true anyway. Some people had been kind to him. He knew a total of four people at Hogwarts now, and all of them were girls. He wondered why this was.

“I’ve always made more girls as friends than boys,” he frowned as he said this, puzzled. To anyone, it would have been obvious why that was. Girls tended to think he was cute, and boys didn’t understand his mild manners and sweet temper. Sam was a bit too naive to understand this yet. Perhaps one day he’d realise.
“But this girl I told you about, Sasha, she’s introducing me to more of her friends. Apparently they’re Slytherins.”
It was also obvious to others that this could be bad news if he wasn’t careful. Sam was happy to have any friend at all, and so was too open to being lead. If he got into ‘the wrong hands’, this could spell trouble for Sam. He still didn’t realise this either.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora giggled when she heard that Sam made more girls as friends than he did to boys;

"You know, there's nothing wrong with making more girls than friends than having more guy friends...I guess, like the way my dad put it...It doesn't matter who they are, where they come from, what their blood type is - but if your friends then someone, then all your other worries in the world melts away...I guess what he means is, it doesn't matter who it is, at least you have a shoulder to lean on when you need it" Sephora smiled at him and continued;

"Those Slytherins...their reputated to be quite mean and nasty right?" Sephora looked at Sam as if she was to say something serious; "...Dad said they can be quite mean - he got teased a lot because his brother, my Uncle Alex, was in Ravenclaw and he was in Griffindor so of course they made the assumption that their smarty people...but that doesn't mean that *all* Slytherins are nasty right? I mean...Maria probably has the worst attitude out of everyone, yet she is in Hufflepuff!...maybe there are Slytherins who deserved to be in other houses." Sephora blushed when she mentioned her troubles with Maria, she really had to stop doing that.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

“Really? Mean and nasty?” said Sam, surprised. House to him was like blonde hair or black hair, just like ‘Blood Type’ to him was A or O or B. There wasn’t room for prejudice in his heart. Everyone to Sam was good and sweet on the inside, even if they’re horrid to other people. Or so he thought.

“Well, perhaps they just need a hug!” He was only half joking. “Though I agree. Cunning doesn’t necessarily mean horrible. They’re just wily, and good businessmen and women.” Always determined to think the best of everyone.

“It still makes me sad, though. I guess you could say I understand women better than I do men. Everyone though that doesn’t make sense.” Sam realised what he’d just said, and blushed as red as she had. “Well, I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean that girls often have friend trouble like I do.”
The sort of friend trouble Sam encountered most often was people taking advantage of him.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora nodded in sympathy;

"I don't have anything against them personally - thats just what my dad told me...but doesn't hurt to know them does it?" Sephora smiled.

"...I guess you could say I understand women better than I do to men"
Sephora gave him a bemused look;
"Acck - doesn't matter who your friends with, girl or boy. At least you have someone to relate too" She gave him a cheeky grin and gently punched him in the arm.

"But what do you mean that girls often have the friend troubles like you do?" She asked, the lake was getting still - only small ripples were coming from the giant squid.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

“Yeah, I generally find them easier to talk to,” said Sam. “Plus, they don’t punch you in the arm.” he grinned at her.
“But what I meant was...well, it’s hard to explain.” he sighed as he tried to find the right words. This was more like the usual Sam, stumbling over everything in a conversation. “Well, if you spend so much time around girls that hang around you, you start to pick up on the way they act better.” It wasn’t quite the answer to her question, but he didn’t know what else to say. He’d already made himself look like a goof.

Sam lifted his head as he heard a bell trill in the distance. “Hey, it’s lunch time. You coming?”. He rose to his feet and offer her a hand. He’d have to find his shirt eventually...he couldn’t walk into the Great Hall like this.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora nodded and understood what he meant;
"Yeah...well - the more you hang around someone, the more you get to know them." She shrugged and she gazed out into the lake. Completely. Still.

Her stomach gave a rumble and she looked down at her belly,
"Yah-huh. definately lunch time." She laughed and she held his hand to get up.
"I hope they have cake. cake sounds so good right now, just thinking about the sugar content in it just makes me want to smile all day" She grinned and brushed off her skirt.

Maybe Hogwarts wasn't such a bad place after all.

((Would you like me to make a topic in the Great Hall or would do you want to make it? ))

 

[Samuel Sykes]

(( Either or would be fine with me x) Most people hate starting topics, so if you're not keen I'm fine with it. And Oh-Em-Gee, how did you know Sam loves cake? DD ))

 

[Sephora Finette]

((Okay, I'll make it now x3 Cake? it was a lucky guess ))

 

[Samuel Sykes]

(( Lol! It's on his page. He likes Potions, swimming, calligraphy and eating cake Lucky indeed. ))

---

New Scene​

Sam pulled off his normal shirt and threw it onto the bank with the other clothes, left in his swimming trunks. A few minutes ago, he had invited Sephora to go swimming with him, and he waited for her down by the banks. It was getting to the afternoon, and the light was soft and warm on the water. It made him want to leap in now, but he had to wait.

In the back of his mind, something was pulling on his subconscious. As though he had forgotten something, or there was something he had missed. Somehow he would find out what it was.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora made her way down to the the lake again - but this time, for a much happier reason.
She was invited to go swimming with a boy named Sam that she had only met a few hours ago.


Smoothing out her sun dress (she had her togs underneath) she walked up to the spot where they were going to meet. She spotted Sam and and ran up to him;
"Your keen to get into the water from the looks of it" She grinned.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

Naturally, he blushed immediately at this. "Sorry, force of habit. Now let's see about this sand," he grinned at her.

Sam removes his Apple wand and knelt down by the banks. This spell was a little trickier than the water spell, but it should work find if he concentrated. With a wave and a flick, Sam pointed his wand down and said softly "Arenae Creo." With a spark and a jolt, the sand poured from the tip. "Success!" he said to Sephora with a laugh. Soon there was a large pile and he sat directly in the middle of it with an innocent look.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora's eyes widened and a smile formed across her face;
"WOW! I mean, Wow look at the sand!" She dove straight into the pile, cheekily pushing Sam aside and started building a sandcastle;
"You want to help me here?" She giggled. She never saw anything so normal at such a magical place.

"You my friend, have just become my best friend" She giggled more and rolled over on her back.
She missed the feeling of the grainy sand and the smell of the ocean - she started to wave her arms and legs to make a sand angel.

 

[Samuel Sykes]

Sam laughed. "Push over, you!" he said as he was tossed off the sand and onto the grass. He hadn't laughed so much in a long time. Sam lifted his foot and pushed the top of her sandcastle over. He gave her a mischievous look as he scooched over to help her make another one together. Anybody watching would could only shake their heads as they watched the silly first years rough and tumble in the sand, squishing each others sandcastles to and fro.

Eventually Sam lay back, panting with laughter and sand all through his hair. "I like that- best friends." he said as he smiled at Sephora.

The light would fade in another hour, so he ventured that they should go for a swim before it did.

 

[Sephora Finette]

Sephora looked up to the sky - it was slowly turning pink as the afternoon sun was slowly venturing away.

Giving Sam a mischievous look, she chucked sand at him (not aiming for his eyes) and said;
"Last one in the water is a rotten egg!" She laughed and stood up, removing her sun dress and placing it next to her towel and ran towards the water.