Open Musings of a First Year

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Charlotte wasn't quite ready for the school year to end, but at the same time, she was ready to go back home. She hadn't made any real friends like many of her classmates - there was no one she automatically went to after class or to study with. She enjoyed the clubs, but she mostly wanted to pick the brains of the older students, who were not interested in engaging with an twelve year old. The Hufflepuff decided to embrace her loneliness and work on a solo art project. She levitated her basket in front of her as she walked across the grounds, feeling proud that she had mastered such a basic but useful spell. However, her landings weren't always the greatest, and the basket clunked onto the ground as a few rolls of ribbon fell out. Lottie gathered the ribbon and then sat on the grass, looking at the large tree in front of her. She wanted to decorate it with the ribbon and string and yarn to make it all kinds of colors to put together a piece of how she felt about the last year. Her grandmother had helped her decorate many of the trees at her home with crocheted and knitted scarves and wrappings. While this wasn't quite the same, Charlotte still wanted to brighten up the tree, even if it was just for her.

 

[Jasper Beese]

Jasper felt like his first year at Hogwarts had gone by so slowly, everyone said it went quick but he disagreed, he felt like he had been at Hogwarts for a lifetime. It was very familiar to him now and he'd explored almost everywhere, except he still hadn't found this room that apparently came and went. Tori had told him about it last term but Jasper wasn't convinced that it even existed, or if it did, it went away a lot more than it ever came. Apart from this room, he found his way around relatively easily and could confidently navigate his way from the Gryffindor common room to outdoors without any issues. Today he went for a walk across the lawn, stopping when a girl from his year was sat looking at a tree. Intrigued and deciding that going over and talking to her wouldn't do any harm, he did exactly that. "Hey," he said in a friendly way as he approached, "Nice tree, do you know what species it is?" He said to start a conversation but generally Jasper did suck at starting conversations.

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Charlotte had started pulling out all the ribbons so she could organize them by color - it always helped when started an art project - when she was interrupted by a boy from her class. "Uuuuuummm, I think it's... Kahikatea," she said, trying to remember the word for it. "It's a pine tree, but I'm going to help it look a little more pretty," she continued, hoping this boy wasn't going to go tell on her in case there was some rule about decorating the school grounds without permission. "What's your name?" Lottie asked with a twinge of guilt in her voice. There were so many people in her class, and she didn't really interact with many outside of Hufflepuff. He looked like a Gryffindor, but she couldn't remember.

 

[Jasper Beese]

Jasper nodded along, trees and nature weren’t exactly his strong subjects, though he still took an interest. "It's already pretty, but how are you going to make it more pretty?" He asked curiously, "And can I help?" He added, hopeful that it might be fun way to spend his time outside. "Oh I'm Jasper, you're Charr- Charlotte. Right?" He was pretty sure that was her name but he hadn't seen her around much to be certain.

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Lottie looked at the boy curiously, realizing he didn't quite understand the art she was trying to create. "Well," she started, gesturing to the elements in front of her, "I'm adding color and yarn and ribbons. Kind of like making it its own outfit. You can help if you want. Unless you don't want to participate," she added, as she did not want to tolerate any attitude about her project. "Charlotte, yeah. And Jasper was not what I thought your name was so I'm glad I asked," she laughed, holding up to a few pieces of thick rainbow yarn and started braiding them together after tying a not at one end.

 

[Jasper Beese]

Jasper didn’t totally understand the assignment with the Kahikatea tree, but he could tell Charlotte was into it, and he liked that. He scratched his head, figuring he’d just jump right in and see what came out of it. “Okay,” he said slowly, but soon started warming up to it. “Oh! I could make some decorations out of the supplies. I know how to make yarn spiderwebs,” he suggested, getting a bit more excited now. He looked at her when she commented on his name. “Oh really? What did you think my name was?” he asked curiously.

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Charlotte looked at Jasper curiously when he mentioned spiderwebs. She had never tried to make those out of yarn for anything. "That seems complicated," she replied, pushing some yarn options his way. "Honestly, I thought it started with like a T or an L or something. But obviously I was waaaaay off," she continued with a laugh.

 

[Jasper Beese]

Jasper started playing around with the yarn and scoffed when Charlotte said she thought his name began with a T or an L, "What you thought I was called Tasper?" He said bursting into laughter, "Or Lasper! They aren't even names!" He commented while trying to make it into a spider web, "It's easy enough to make, I can show you if you like?"

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Lottie looked at him, scrunching up her face. "I didn't think your name was Lasper! Maybe Larry or Lars or something. I don't know. It doesn't matter anymore. You're name is Jasper, and now I know that," she said before looking at the yarn and thinking about a spider web. Spider webs could be beautiful, too, she supposed. "I'd like that. Maybe it will make the tree stand out even more. How do we start?"

 

[Jasper Beese]

Jasper nodded along quickly, though he was finding Charlotte a little intimidating. He put his attention back on the yarn, "Like this!" he said, fumbling with the yarn in his hands. The spiders web unraveled in his hands and he tried not to panic. "No, wait. Sorry. I meant like this," he added, hastily fixing the mistake, his fingers moved clumsily as he held off unraveling himself.

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Lottie watched as Jasper attempted to make a spider web. "You know, there's no rush," she added calmly, placing her hand on his for a moment. Her grandmother did that when she was having an anxious moment sometimes, and it calmed her down. "What is the first step?" she asked, finishing up a braid she had started and then getting some yarn to follow the Gryffindor's instructions.