Open Observing

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie was slowly adjusting to being at school. Once he'd written to his dad he gathered his bag and his journal and walked outside. He wondered for a bit, not sure what he was looking for just yet. After a while he settled down outside, under a tree. He was watching a large group of kids kicking around a soccer ball. He was enjoying seeing the game, it reminded him of life at home. He opened up his journal and started to write, wanting to keep an accurate account of his time at school.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse enjoyed being at hogwarts and somehow immediately felt at home. Perhaps she had been hearing all about it from her father and sister for literal years so she knew exactly what to expect. Admittedly, she hadn't calculated shiny dormmates into that equation but she wasn't going to let that bother her. She'd be fine. She was fine. The first year had made her way across the ground, spotting a group of kids kicking a soccer ball and quickly feeling the urge to go and join them. At least ask if she could join them. What was even more interesting to her though was another kid closeby that seemed to be writing in some sort of journal. "Whatcha writing?" Iva shot the boy a charming smile as she sat down next to him, trying to peak over to his page and not even attempting to hide her nosiness.

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie was startled when a girl he didn't know sat next to him. He blushed, unthinkingly scooting a little bit away and shutting his journal a bit. "I, um, I'm journaling," he offered up softly. "Writing a little bit about the soccer game. Are you going to play?" He asked.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse was a little disappointed the boy closed his journal so quickly, now even more interested in whatever he had been writing in there. "Well I can see that." She laughed when the boy said he was journalling, which had seemed rather obvious. "Maybe." Iva shrugged at his question. "I don't know if I'd be making a lot of friends though, since I'd probably beat them all."

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie blinked at her confidence, and shook his head slowly. "Only if you're a bad winner," he told her slowly. "Winning in itself wouldn't mean they don't like you," He offered slowly. He remembered his manners then and held out his hand with a shy smile. "My name is Charlie. What's yours?"

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse frowned for a second as she thought over the boy's words. She guessed he was right. The truth was she didn't know if she was a bad winner. She didn't think she was but she was sure others might disagree on that. "That's true, I guess." Iva shrugged, looking at the kids kicking around the soccer ball for a second before turning her attention back to the boy. "Ivelisse." She introduced herself in return, making sure to repeat the boy's name in her head once so she would remember it. "So you like sports then?" She asked, nodding towards the kids with the soccer ball. "Or do you just like writing about sports?"

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie drew back his ignored hand, tucking it in his lap and biting his lip. Ivelisse was a pretty name. "I like both," he offered. "My dad is a sports journalist and we watch all the time. I'm not really good at playing, but I like sports," he told her. "I like soccer, especially, and basketball. I've been to a few quidditch games, and they're cool I guess, I just think its weird that its like the only wizarding sport there is," He ranted a little, but stopped as he realized he was rambling. "Sorry," he apologized, his cheeks flushing. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse nodded when Charlie said he liked both, which made sense if she thought about it. Watching sport was fun but in her own opinion it could never be as good as actually doing the sport herself. She wasn't going to voice that opinion though. Especially not because people who wrote about sports were important. Who else was going to write about her victories? "It's fine." She smiled when Charlie eventually stopped talking, although she hadn't minded him rambling on about sports. She could talk about sports for hours herself. Although her stories mostly included her own wins rather than anything else. "Having a sports journalist for a dad sounds pretty cool." Iva responded. She was a little bit offended when he didn't sound convincing in describing that he had thought watching quidditch games had been cool. "Are you kidding me? Quidditch is like.. the best!" She continued with a short laugh. "But y'know if you don't like it I guess you can always try to come up with a new sport.." She gave a little shrug but at the same time her words sounded slightly challenging.

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie practically lit up when she said his dad sounded cool. "He is, my dad is the coolest guy ever, he works a lot but that's okay, it's great. He always makes the best traditional Finnish dishes, I mean, we live in New York but he's really great at keeping our heritage. It's just us, but he's great." Charlie hesitated again, biting his lip and clearing his throat. He shifted nervously, looking away. "Sorry, I-" He sighed. "I just miss my dad. I- It's always just been the two of us and I haven't been away from home before," He admitted shyly, letting out a nervous laugh.

He veered back to another topic. "Quidditch, it is a really cool sport, the point system is elegant and it takes a wide variety of skills." He offered. "I have no issue with the sport itself, I'm more... surprised that the wizarding world in all these years have only come up with one professionally recognized sport when there are nearly- well, nearly 200 recognized professional sports and 800 unrecognized sports in general in the muggle society. And the wizarding world has... what, Quidditch and gobstones?" He frowned.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse hadn't expected the boy to start rumbling on about his father when she said his job sounded cool. His job had sounded cool though. Travelling around to report on sports games had to be a good job, getting the thrill of watching a game every time. Even if she wondered whether it would still be as interesting after the fifteenth game as it was at the first few. "It's fine." She responded with a small shrug when he apologized for rambling on about his dad. Sure, she could've done without all of that information but it wasn't like the boy just kept on talking or she would've interrupted him. "I reckon you're not the only one." She added, trying to be nice. Being homesick wasn't something she was accustomed to, especially not since she had been waiting to get to the school for years.

Iva was a bit surprised when the boy gave her his take on quidditch as well. It sounded quite professional and it almost made her wonder whether he was just repeating something his dad had said once. "Maybe it's just because muggles don't have to keep everything a secret." She offered indifferently. She didn't mind that there weren't as many wizarding sports as there were muggle sports. Magical folk were more than capable of playing muggle sports too after all. Plus it seemed difficult enough to have to keep all the big quidditch games and locations, let alone if there'd be much more sports that involved stadiums and big matches. "Or because we also have access to all those muggle sports." She added, nodding towards the other students kicking the soccer ball around again.

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie shook his head. "I still don't understand why we need to keep our world secret. I think things would just be better if we could just.... all work together." He sighed. There were just some things he didn't understand. "I mean, I read all these fantasy stories were magic is just integrated into the daily lives of everyone, it just makes more sense." He sighed, running his fingers unthinkingly over his journal. He looked at the girl. "Did you grow up with magic?"

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Iva shrugged when Charlie responded to the topic of keeping the wizarding world a secret. It wasn't always fun and she knew her mother had struggled with it when her parents were still married, but she tried to understand it. And even if she didn't she knew it was just something they had to live with, get used to. "Muggles wouldn't be able to handle our coolness anyways. Or maybe they'd feel left out." She responded with a small shrug, speaking the truth that she felt applied to her own experiences. "Pretty much." Iva nodded in response to his question. "My dad's a wizard but my mom's a witch so I used to have a lot of both."

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie shook his head. It still felt ridiculous to him. He nodded as she answered his question. "My dad's magic but we live in the middle of New York, so our home life was always a mix of magic and muggle." Charlie smiled a little. "It was great." he sighed, hugging his knees to his chest a little. He really did miss his dad. "Do you miss your parents?" He asked her a little more quietly, wondering if anyone else was as homesick as he was.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

lol I didn't even notice I said her mom's a witch instead of a muggle

Ivelisse nodded when Charlie said he grew up with a bit of a mix of both magical and muggle as well since they lived in the middle of new york. That made sense. Her own family used to live in a regular neighbourhood as well and they only moved after her parents got divorced. "Not really." Iva shrugged when the boy asked if she missed her parents. It was clear by now that the other kid was certainly homesick but even if she tried she couldn't actually know how he was feeling. "I mean I've been waiting to go here for years, my sister is here as well and I'll see my dad during the break." She answered honestly, leaving out her mom on purpose since she had stopped missing her mom quite some time ago. Or at least started ignoring the fact that she sometimes felt like she needed her mom. "I mean I get that you do. I just don't."

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie nodded. That made sense. "I'm the only child, so it's just me." He told the girl, looking over to the soccer game again. "Aside from Quidditch, what's your favorite sport?" He asked. "I would have a hard time choosing myself. I tend to enjoy soccer, followed closely by basketball, then football, then baseball. I could go on with others, but those are the base favorites."

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

When Charlie told her he was an only child Ivelisse wondered what that would be like. It was hard for her to imagine a life without any siblings, without her sister. That sounded.. lonely. Then again the boy had never known otherwise so perhaps it wasn't all that bad. "You can always borrow my sister, she's a hufflepuff so I'm sure she won't mind." Iva joked. Although she was sure her sister actually wouldn't see a problem in that. "So you're a team sport kind of person." She laughed when Charlie started listing his favourite sports, which all so happened to be teamsports. Which were fun but not as much her style. Except for quidditch. For obvious reasons that some positions within a quidditch team were far more important than others. "I'm a gymnast, so I guess that's it." She smiled, before sitting up a bit straighter. "Oooh, wanna see me walk on my hands? Or do like a cartwheel?"

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie blinked. Was she joking? "Who's your sister?" he blurted, before blushing. He hadn't meant to ask that, but he didn't know how to take it back either. He nodded when she said he was a team sport player. "A team is like a family, I like that," he replied easily. His eyes lit up when she started on about being a gymnast. "Oh, yes please! But only if you want to," he replied, trying to hide the excited little smile. He always loved watching sports. Gymnastics, figure skating, even ballet, they were all so elegant. He wasn't sure ballet was actually a sport, but it took a lot of time and training.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse laughed when Charlie asked who her sister was, wondering if he was actually planning on looking for her. "Her name's Ana Sofia." She decided to just respond in a normal manner. "I think if you look for anyone who looks a little bit like me and has paint on her clothes she shouldn't be too hard to find." She laughed, sure that her sister would be easy to find even for people who didn't know her. Iva nodded at what he said regarding team sports. It made sense in a way, even if she'd still prefer any sport in which she could shine more than others. "Sure!" She excitedly jumped up after offering to show the boy some of her skills. She'd never shy away from an opportunity to show others how good she was after all. Deciding walking on her hands would probably be more impressive than doing a simple cartwheel Iva took a stand before bending forward with her hands and flipping her legs up into the air. She took a second to make sure she was well balanced once her legs were up before she moved her hands forward one by one and walked a circle around the tree Charlie was sat up against. When she came back around she rolled over so she'd be the right way up again and laughed as she took a little bow. "Easy." She said casually before sitting down in the same spot she had before again. "Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?"

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie nodded slowly, trying to remember the name and the information Ivelisse gave him. His eyes brightened as she stood, watching eagerly as she moved onto her hands before walking around the tree. He laughed lightly, making sure to clap for her as she settled back into her seat. He shook his head as she asked if he had any tricks. "Not unless you like to read," He offered with a shy smile. Charlie wasn't particularly good at sports, but he did like to write.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse was always glad to show others her skills just to see if they thought she was as good as she herself thought she was. And if they didn't then that was likely because they didn't have an eye for such skills anyways. "Unfortunately, not really." Iva responded casually at Charlie's response to her question. "I'm sure you're a good writer though." She added with a small smile to be polite about it. "Plus, we all need something to do right? I'd reckon you can write great stories about me when I'm owning the quidditch pitch next year." She beamed proudly, having absolutely no doubt in her mind that she'd make the team. She had to make the team.

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie blushed as Ive said he was probably good. He smiled a bit, laughing lightly as the girl said that he could write about her. "Well, actually, um, I am signed up for the Hogwarts Monthly. My first article is the Quidditch games this semester," He told her, smiling softly.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse nodded appreciatively when Charlie mentioned he'd already be writing for the monthly this year, covering the upcoming quidditch games. "That's cool. I reckon you can already start writing about Slytherin snatching the cup again." She said confidently. After having heard the stories of their house team being unbeatable she was keen to see them do the same this year again and even more so to try out for it herself next year.

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie chuckled at her statement. "We'll see. I think it's very likely. But we'll see how the games go," he mused, giving her a smile. "Are you going to read the newspaper?" he asked, curious. He wasn't sure if anyone would even read what he wrote, but he was going to do his best anyway.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse gave a small shrug at Charlie's response. She was sure slytherin would be grabbing the cub again this year, which made her wish even more that she could've just tried out this year. The whole 'first years aren't allowed to try out' thing was stupid anyways. Especially since she had heard one of the first year hufflepuffs had been allowed to try out and even made the team. Then again, it was probably because few hufflepuffs were even interested in quidditch. If they were anything like her sister they'd be far too busy doing literally anything else. Or maybe the bludgers just scared them. "Probably." Iva nodded in response to Charlie's question. "I mean likely not all of it, but bits and pieces sure. Whatever looks interesting."

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

He smiled, nodding at her words. "Well, if you read the quidditch article you can tell me if you like it. Or if I should change it." He smiled shyly, knocking her arm lightly with his own. "If you're trying out for Quidditch next year then you should absolutely tell me, since I'll be writing about all of your inevitable victories." He paused a moment. "If they let me, I mean," He added softly, glancing away. "I mean, I know my articles won't be as good as my dads but I can hope that they're alright at least," he murmured, tucking his hair behind his ear.