Looking for Sparks!

[Ariah Zhefarovich]

Ariah huffed and she checked underneath another Rose bush for her beloved pet that had somehow managed to find a way to get away from her attentions once again. Sparks was her precious pet bunny that had been given to her by her father as a baby before her first year at Hogwarts started during this year, he said this would be better than letting her have some animal that could be troublesome. But really this small bunny rabbit caused her enough problems to last a lifetime, everytime she took the little bugger outside for a walk or to play with him some he ran away and it always took hours to find him once he's managed to get away from her. "Spaaaarks, come on this isn't fun anymore!" She called out to the bunny as she crawled over to another rosebush and checked there as well. This was not going well for her and by this point she was about ready to freak out, it wasn't just the bunny anymore but everything that was starting to build up on her and make her become very stressed out. Ariah still had found out her that secret admirer person was but still received gifts from him all the same, whoever this was did a good job at being secretive and it really aggravated her.

"I give up." Ariah sighed and plopped her skinny body onto the ground with a huff, Sparks could stay outside and freeze if he was going to act like that. Ariah focused her mint green eyes on the ground and crossed her arms over chest, she would just have to wait until he came out or she caught sight of the dark blue ribbon tied around his neck. Hopefully she found him soon because dinner would be soon as well and she wanted to get something to eat before she went to start on some homework.

 

[Stephen Duquette]

The air was a bit more chillier than it had been for most of the term but Stephen didn't mind the extra nip in the air. Putting on a warmer jacket the sixth year made his way outside to the castle grounds, for some peace and quiet. The last time he had looked to the grounds for some relaxation time it had resulted in him and Andromeda almost colliding in the air, so this time he opted to stay on the ground. Making his way down to the lakefront he found an emply slope and without any hesitation he lay down on the ground and putting his hands behind his head, closed his eyes. A sigh escaped the young man's lips as he made himself comfortable and let his thoughts take over his thoughts once again. It was no surprise to him when he had thoughts of Becky which unfortunately were things that there was less of these days. He hadn't taken to her in sometime and missed her terribly. He was completely head over heels for the girl and even though he knew they would never be anything more than friends he was saddened that they couldn't even remain friends if they never saw each other.

As thoughts continued to run through his mind he felt something heavy but still rather light land on his stomach. Confused he used his arms to push himself up into almost sitting position. Looking at his lower belly he saw a bunny sitting there looking around as if it were lost. Noticing the ribbon around his neck he figured it belonged to someone. "Hello there. You lost?" he said in a silly voice as he picked the bunny off of his belly. Holding it gentally he stood up and went in search of the Groundskeeper who was the only person he figured would know what to do with a lost pet. Walking up past the rosebush he saw a young girl who looked like she was in a huff, but upset. "What's got you so down?" he asked in a kind voice, never liking to see people upset.

 

[Ariah Zhefarovich]

At first Ariah was unsure if the voice that was speaking was talking to her, but when she heard noises and felt the presence of only one other person she knew that the person couldn't be talking to anyone else. Even if Ariah was in a fairly bad mood and would rather chuck a rock at someone at the moment, she couldn't be rude to anyone and decided to give the stranger a proper greeting and explanation to why she was so bummed out right now. "Well for starters everyone keeps making fun of me, My rabbit ran away from me again and I have a secret ad-" Ariah pushed herself up to a standing position and turned to the person as she was saying all of this, but before she could get out that she had a secret admirer she noticed the small bunny with the Dark Blue Ribbon tied around it's neck and froze right in her place. The current situation looked really bad to her right now, at first it looked like the was trying to steal her bunny rabbit, then again Sparks had run away in first place so maybe it was just a mere coincidence. Ariah cocked her head to the side and pointed a finger at the bunny in his arms. "Annnnd....thats my bunny right there!" She stated with a small smile and a shrug of her shoulders, hopefully the boy did not intend on keeping the rabbit or anything because she wanted Sparks back, whether or not he intended on coming back with her or not. Maybe she needed to get him a leash, or stop taking him outside so often, he was getting better and better at hiding on her.

"Can I have him bac-AGH!" Ariah went to walk over and and retrieve her bunny rabbit from the boy but her knitted boot had unfortunately gotten stuck on a root and tugged her foot back as she tried to lift it up and walk. Although she didn't fall on the ground she did stumble a little before she saved herself and managed to tug the boot off the root, why was she such a klutzy accident prone goofball all the time? "Please pretend that didn't happen!" She turned a faint red color and rubbed the back of her head, the boy was definitely older now that she got to look at him, nor was he ugly either. That just made it all worse, on top of that...what if he was her potential secret admirer.

 

[Stephen Duquette]

Stephen stroked the bunny softly as he looked down at the girl who had began to talk. She seemed so bummed out and Stephen hated to see people so down, life was too short to spend time being bummed out about some of the smalled things that could easily be fixed with a different attitude towards things. Stephen thought for a moment about the bunny he had in his hands, wondering if it was the same one that the girl had lost, it seemed like a plausible thing that could have happened. Frowning his eyebrows when the girl stopped mid sentence and looked up at him, her mint colored eyes wide. Looking at where her finger was pointing Stephen's eyes dropped towards the bunny in his arms. He smiled at the girl as she exclaimed it was her own rabbit that had run away.

As he was about to hand it back to her he watched as she nearly fell. Throwing one arm out he tried to catch her but thankfully she caught herself before she had falled flat on the ground. Placing his hand on her arm just to make sure she was ok he looked at her, his eyes full of worry for her. "Are you OK?" he asked, concerned. "And don't worry you're secret's safe with me," he told her with a small laugh. "And this little guy." he said looking down at the rabbit again.

 

[Ariah Zhefarovich]

Ariah became a bit more embarrassed that not only had the boy tried to help her out, but he was also kind enough to ask if she was alright after she almost fell less than a moment ago. Either he was extremely nice or he just didn't know who she was, it was rare for anyone who knew who she was to try and help her out because they thought she was such a freak. "Thanks. I'd probably get laughed at again if you did." She stated shyly, averted her mint green eyes to the ground as she became embarrassed even more than she had already been before he touched her arm and asked if she was okay. Whoever gave her the genes to be such an ungraceful person should be hexed because she hated that almost everything she touched or walked by became something that could hurt her or become broken after she was done with it. Ten bucks that says she could even find a way to damage herself in one of those padded rooms that everyone said were used to put crazy people in when they finally lost their last thread of sanity.

"I'm Ariah Rowan." She introduced herself lightly, whether or not he cared she figured it would be the civil thing to do and make it known who she was to him for later reference. This was probably one of the first times she actually noticed that her first name was a little odd, she usually liked it but this time as she said it she noticed it was such an odd name to call someone, guess it suited her well then. "And that bunny's name is Sparks. I try to take him outside for some fresh air and he runs away on me. Where did you find him?" She asked eyeing her rabbit carefully, she didn't mind if the boy held him but she still wondered how he was able to find him so easily when she wasn't able to find him at all. Ariah had told her father man times that she wanted a different type of animal, but he was always so overprotective of Ariah and her little brother Colton that he would never get them anything excepts bunnies and once an adorable pet mouse thingy...that didn't last too long in her house.

 

[Stephen Duquette]

Stephen frowned noticeably when the girl said how people would laugh at her again. No one deserved to be laughed or made fun off just because they were a little clumsy. Stephen really didn’t like how people could be so cruel at times, and despite knowing nothing about the houses here at Hogwarts before he came he knew the sorting hat had put him in the right house, he was definitely a Hufflepuff. “Glad to help.” he said in a kind voice, hoping the girls mood would lift soon, now she had her bunny that was bound to help it a bit, right?

“Stephen Duquette! It’s lovely to meet you Ariah.” he said with a warm smile on his face. “And may I say you have a very pretty name.” he said with a charming smile, hoping a compliment would help cheer her up a bit, but he did like her name so at least he wasn’t lying. “Hello Sparks.” he said in the same silly voice he had used when he had found the bunny, or rather the bunny had found him. “I didn’t find him, the little guy found me.” he said with a small laugh. “I was just lying down on the grass beside the lake and he jumped on top of me, didn’t you.” he ended his sentence, looking back at the rabbit. “Anyway, I think he wants to go back to you.” he said, gently placing the bunny in his hands and giving him back over to Ariah.

 

[Ariah Zhefarovich]

Ariah blinked owlishly at Stephen, she liked his name but found it a tad bit creepy how she just gave her a nice compliment on her name when she was just thinking negative thoughts about it. For a moment Ariah narrowed her eyes at him oddly before she took a few steps closer to him and continued to stare. "Are you some sort of mind reader?" Her voice was playful and sly as she reached out and took her rabbit back from the boy, and stepped back a bit in case that comment of her struck him in a bad way. After a moment she decided that it was just silly of him to be able to read minds and shook her head at her own comment, she needed to stop reading mystery books before she went to bed. "Your name is adorable. And thanks, I think my name is a bit weird though." She commented, at least her first name was more tolerable than her middle name Nina. She could not stand that name and once day she would most likely plead to her husband that they would never ever try to call any daughters, pets, or grandchildren by the horrid name of Nina.

"Thanks again, Sparks loves people. He probably thought you were going to feed him or something so thats why he jumped on you." Ariah would have to remember to snatch him a carrot or some lettuce later this evening. Sometimes she would also bringing him apples or crackers but that was on rare occasion because her father said it would not be best to spoil the bunny, that and he was picky with how they were served and presented to him.

 

[Stephen Duquette]

Stephen looked at the girl with a sideways smile, she seemed lost in someway, she was very cute. Frowning his eyebrows in a confused way he shook his head, "Nooo, pretty sure I'm not." he said as he handed over Sparks, not overly sure why she asked the question. Now that he wasn't holding the rabbit anymore he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Then again I could be a seer and not know about it." he said widening his eyes playfully, laughing at his own words. He smiled back when Ariah commented on his own name, it wasn't often when for a girl to compliment his name, but he liked it. "Thanks, I think.." Still not sure how to take the compliment, really. "And I wouldn't say weird...unique would be a better word." he said with a kind smile.

Stephen laughed at Ariah's explanation of why Sparks had jumped on him. "Well sorry Sparks, I've got no food." He said with a small frown as he stroked the bunny lightly. His frown didn't last for too long though as he stood back for a moment grinning, giving Ariah a small wink to show he was only messing. It was something he loved doing with animals, talking to them as if they could understand him but in a playful voice like one would do to a young child. "Anyway I was happy to help." he added, once again, a soft smile on his features.

 

[Ariah Zhefarovich]

Ariah adored the sideways smile for a moment before her face contorted into confusion again, she remembered the Seers could predict Prophecy's and see into the future and such but she seriously doubted that he was one of those people. "I doubt that, your like way to normal to be a Seer." She had heard that they were either a bit weird or went into weird phases and such, and so far so good he seemed like he was fairly normal, so her conclusion was made. Ariah also guessed that he wasn't a Slytherin either, most of them knew who she was and weren't particularly nice to her when they remembered that she was rather fond of muggle-borns, Half-breeds, and Muggles. Honestly they were just as much human as everyone else was so why was it such a big deal that she associated with them? "Your welcome! Haha unique, weird, whatever it is everyone say it suits me nicely." Maybe that was their way of calling her weird, but she ignored them because they were only words and they couldn't do much to her as long as she ignored them and pretend as if nothing at all had been said to her.

"You can tell him that all you want, I think he has short-term memory. And if he's really hungry he ates my homework too." Ariah rolled her eyes and was tempted to set Sparks down again, but she knew better than to do that while there was still a chance he could hop away. He just refused to listen to her and sometimes she wondered if he didn't like her or something, she spoiled him rotten so there was no reason for him not to like her. "Thanks again so much! No one around here ever wants to help out." Durmstrang and Hogwarts had something in common, they were both swarming with bullies or all types and ages. It was a wonder that anyone had friends around here, luckily Ariah had a fair few of them and she was thankful for that.

 

[Stephen Duquette]

Stephen chuckled once more at the younger girls words, she was cute and her words, more so the way she delivered them, only added to this fact. "Thank you Ariah. That's a compliment if I ever heard one." Laughter lacing his words. He hadn't met any seers, although he knew of one in his year, Zazuka Bones, but he didn't know her personally. Although from what he saw of her in the few classes he actually attended and what his friend, Galileo, said about her, she didn't seem all that strange, but she did seem to have a few 'funny' moments. Then again, most teenagers did - it was called day-dreaming; something he spent doing on occasions when he thought of Becky. He nodded in agreement when she told him of how people said her name suited her. He had only known Ariah for what?, five minutes, and he could tell that the name truly did suit her. This was one thing that Stephen liked in people, that you for some reason have to speak to them in passing and are able to keep up a conversation with them. It's especially more enjoyable when the person that you're talking to is as nice as someone like Ariah was.

Stephen laughed at Ariah's comment about her bunny. "So it's a cross between a goldfish and a dog." he commented, taking the two traits from common pets which they are commonly associated with. Stephen didn't have a pet and never grew up having one. There was only the family owl which wasn't really a pet but just used for delivering letters to and from the house, poor Beaky (he had obviously named the Owl after Becky in the most inconspicuous way possible - something he was sure Becky would kill him for if she ever found out). Stephen's face fell again when Ariah told him of how no one wanted to help her out. People may say it's the Hufflepuff in him, he called it being human and having something called common courtesy, but he hated people being down right cruel and others being sad because of it. "You're welcome, but that sucks." he said placing his hand reassuringly on her shoulder. "I'm going back up to the castle for some food. Do you and Sparks want to join me?" he asked with a warm smile on his lips.