Open Little Bird

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue often went to the gardens when she didn't know what to do with herself, which was mostly any time she wasn't required to be in class. It was odd to think that her cousin had visited the very same spot in the school grounds when she was Blue's age. If she thought about Miya once being the same age as her for too long, Blue's head started to spin as she tried to conceptualise the entire idea of time and all of the thought branches that split out from there. She could easily lose hours wondering about it, and Blue didn't want to spend time inside her head right now. There was an entire garden to talk to! And maybe, if she was lucky, bugs living in the garden! Blue shuffled over to an overgrown patch of the garden and started tugging at the weeds. She was not very effective in her attempts at dislodging the roots of the weeds, but she was covered in dirt and had multiple leaves stuck in her hair so she considered herself successful in the venture.

She paused in her digging as movement caught her eye. A sparrow had flown onto the ground nearby and was busy hunting for food, and Blue was instantly infatuated with it. "Bird! Bird, you are small. So cute." she babbled cheerfully as the sparrow hopped around. It either hadn't noticed or simply wasn't scared of her. Blue hoped it was the latter. Small birds were friend-shaped and Blue wanted them to see her that way too. She frowned as she realised she didn't have any bird seed in her pockets to feed the bird. She did have several interestingly shaped rocks she'd found by the lake and a few buttons, but birds didn't eat buttons and she couldn't see how they could help the situation at hand.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

It wasn't a secret that summer was Hester's favourite season, and she had been enjoying the sun shining enough to spend time outside. Hogwarts was much warmer than her home tended to get, and it was nice to get out into nature and enjoy the warmth. After a full year and a half at the school, she was starting to get the hang of Hogwarts life, even beginning to feel comfortable with the idea that she could cast magic spells, but all the same, Hester didn't know if she would ever entirely lose the sense of wonder she felt at living here. Sometimes it was nice to just... walk around and take it all in.

As she entered the garden Hester spotted a familiar head, pleased to see her favourite roommate had had similar ideas about how to spend the day. She hurried over to Blue, grinning brightly. "Hey, Blue!" Hester called out, only then noticing the bird her friend had been courting. She covered her mouth immediately, only hoping her usual exuberance hadn't frightened it into flying away.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue was beginning to suspect that the gardens were a place of special magic that summoned people when she was lonely. "Hester, hello!" she whisper-yelled in excitement as she spotted her friend. Although Blue loved all of her roommates very much, Hester was definitely the one who was nicest to her and she appreciated that in a friend. Her eyes flickered to the sparrow to make sure the little brown bird hadn't flown away, and luckily it was still happily pecking at the ground. Blue hoped it was finding lots of delicious bird snacks hidden away in the soil. "I made a friend, look! She's so fluffy!" Blue smiled toothily. Fluffiness was not a prerequisite to be Blue's friend, although Hester would have fitted the description if it had been and Blue giggled quietly as she thought about it.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

Hester was relieved she hadn't scared Blue's bird away, keeping her hands over her mouth as she approached her roommate more carefully than before. "Ohhhhhh, she's so fluffy!" Hester agreed, speaking in a whispered undertone as she crouched down next to Blue. "I've never gotten this close to a wild bird before!" Hester whispered, leaning closer to Blue out of nerves. "I don't wanna scare her off, what do we do?"

 

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue blinked in surprise at Hester's question. Usually she liked to just watch the birds hop around and do bird stuff without any further involvement. If it had been a magpie, Blue might have thought to bring along some meat and try train it to eat from her fingers, but she wasn't sure sparrows would be interested in that. "If you stay quiet and move slowly, she might get used to us?" Blue whispered. She could easily sit and stare at the bird for hours if left to her own devices, but Hester's presence reminded her that she had originally come to the garden to garden. She brushed some dirt with her fingers and drew a little spiral pattern in the flowerbed. It was difficult to do gardening when all of the plants, even the weeds, were so interesting to her.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

Wild animals were something Hester was very good at scaring off, in her experience, and this was an opportunity she definitely wanted to make the most of. Blue seemed much more familiar with this kind of situation so she listened carefully to her roommate's advice, settling in quietly and trying to be as still as possible. "Do birds come up to you often?" Hester whispered, not tearing her eyes away from the tiny sparrow in front of them. Blue had always seemed a little bit like a Disney princess to Hester, and it wouldn't totally surprise her if this was just a regular daily occurrence in Blue's world.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

"Oh, I suppose so? They live here too?" Blue said, distractedly. Birds often did bird things and Blue just happened to be there when they were, but she didn't consider it unusual in any way. She'd just spotted a ladybug climbing up the end of a green stalk and the battle for her attention between the bird and the bug had begun. Blue carefully made a bridge with her fingers at the end of the leaf, and watched as the ladybug crawled onto her. "Hester, hold out your hand," she said, holding up the red beetle for her roommate to befriend.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

Hester nodded a bit uncertainly when Blue spoke about the birds. Sure they lived here too, but birds tended to disappear in a hurry whenever Hester was around. Maybe she was just too loud or too excitable for them, but she didn't think she had ever been quite this close to a wild bird before. She was so caught up in staring at the bird that she didn't realise Blue was doing something else until she was prompted to hold out a hand, raising it in confusion. Her eyes widened when she saw Blue had summoned a ladybird while she was distracted. "Okay, for real, are you a Disney princess?" Hester asked as she carefully held up one hand.

 

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue blinked uncomprehendingly. She'd never heard of princesses from Disney before, and she was sure that it wasn't her language skills failing her. "Is... that a country?" she asked, tilting her head to one side. This was why she loved spending time with her friends at Hogwarts - they always had such fascinating things to teach her. She carefully transferred the colourful beetle to Hester's hand and beamed at it. A fluttering of wings made her turn back to where the bird was, and she saw that the sparrow had decided it was time to move to another foraging ground. "Oh, bye bird!" Blue waved, a little sad it hadn't wanted to stay with them longer.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

Hester felt her jaw drop as Blue revealed that she didn't know what Disney was. How deprived could someone be? If that was what a magical childhood was like, Hester would take her own, thank you very much. "No, they're movies! Like Brave and Princess and the Frog and stuff! Do you really not know?" Part of Hester thought Blue had to be messing with her. It was hard to even focus on the beetle on her hand now, and Hester's outburst was enough to scare the bird away, her heart sinking in dismay. "Sorry..."

 

[Blue Hoshino]

Blue was proud of herself for knowing what a movie was. Her brother liked muggle things, but Blue had only seen a few as it was difficult to get anything muggle-made into their home without Karen getting angry about it. Blue didn't like to be around angry people, so she never tried to force the issue. "Movies, they're like shows on the little screens instead of a stage, yes?" Blue nodded very seriously. As birds just did bird things and went places even without people being loud, Blue wasn't sure what Hester was apologising for and just smiled happily at her friend.

 

[Hester MacGillivray]

The magical world kept finding new ways to surprise Hester, and she nodded in response to Blue's very serious explanation. "Yeah, exactly. I can't imagine never watching any movies!" She said in slight dismay. "They're so good!"