Closed Pansies

[Fiona Archer]

The sky was a uniform shade of steel grey. Not that that was an uncommon sight for the young Hufflepuff. But it was a shade of grey, and the caft the sin was imposable to locate in the sky that suggested that it was actually grey for everyone and not blue, masking as grey in Fiona's eyes. in other words it was fionas favorite kind of weather to be outisde.
She picked up her camera and donned her usual buket hat with the small robin embroydered on the front and made her way outside.
She wandered through the garden, enjoying the fresh air, stopping every now and then to take a picture of this flower or that. Fiona had grown up with photography. She found that taking pictures was a way to show people her world. there was some fun in the challenge of the garden, taking pictures of the early spring flowers. It was definitely a challenge to get the camera settings right, and she missed having her dad there to help her set it up, but she didnt have that many photos left on her film so she had to to her best to make them count. She lay on her stomach to look through the view finder at a patch of little flowers who each had s sun berst of white around their middle. such small flowers but pretty and she wanted to make sure she gave them justice and made them the focus of the picture not just a snap of them on the ground.


thread for @Hinemoa Josephs

 

[Hinemoa Josephs]

The chill of the grounds in September wasn't enough to put Hinemoa off getting some fresh air after having to return to the stifling, stuffy castle air. She didn't have plans beyond a walk, maybe sneaking into the Quidditch pitch for a fly, but her attention was quickly distracted from the plan at the sight of a friend. Unable to resist, a grin spread across Hinemoa's face as she crouched low and began sneaking up behind where Fiona was lying, eager to get the drop on the other girl. She moved as quietly as she could until she was nearly on top of Fiona, stopping just short of where her shadow would have alerted the Hufflepuff. Leaning right over, Hinemoa summoned as much volume as she could as she announced her presence; "BOO!"

 

[Fiona Archer]

Fiona held still not even daring to breath as she hit the shutter not wanting the flower to blow in the wind from her breath.
Press
Hold
"BOO!"
"Ahh" She almost jumped an inch off the floor in shock at the sound of shouting behind her. She curled herself around to see who it was, blinking a couple of times to focus them away from the silhouette against the sky. "Hinemoa." she said, getting up to give her friend a hug. "how was your holiday?" she asked glad to see her friend.

 

[Hinemoa Josephs]

Hinemoa giggled at the sight of Fiona's reaction, not bothering to hide the mischevious glee. She gladly met the hug, squeezing Fiona tightly before letting her go. "It was good! We went up to see my tīpuna and all the cousins." She grinned. Family visits had gotten stranger and stranger over the years. She had always been surrounded by older cousins to look up to, but more and more Hinemoa was starting to realise she remembered when they were the age she was now. Her earliest memories included watching Manaia, Ngawaiata, and Rāwhiti hanging out at Hogwarts. And now she was that age, and her cousins had all become adults. Even Marama had graduated now, and Te Rēweti and Hinewhaitiri were the only cousins left even close to her own age. Growing up felt strange, and she couldn't try to pretend it didn't. "How about you?" She asked, not wanting to let her nostalgia interrupt the conversation.

*Kuia - grandparents

 

[Fiona Archer]

Fiona listened as Hinemoa talked about her holiday spanding time with all her cousins. She knew she ahd a lot and they were a bit oleder. it did sound fun to have a lot of cousins around. "thats awesome. did you do anyhting fun with your cousins?" she asked. " me and Evan went to stay with our Gramie and Grandie. then our whole family went for a week on the gold coast." she said. it was always nice to see her cousinsthough as they were both muggles it was hard to talk about things she got up to at school without having to censer herself not to talk about magic. "Isnt itcool that we are second years and no longer the youngest people in the school." she said

 

[Hinemoa Josephs]

Hinemoa shrugged, rocking on her heels. "It was pretty fun but they're mostly older, so they're all like, talking about jobs and whatever. And Te Rēweti and Hinewhaitiri are kinda close to my age, but they're not really fun." She felt a bit bad, talking so meanly about her shyer cousins, but... well, it wasn't untrue. She wasn't sure she'd ever heard Te Rēweti raise his voice higher than a mumble even at family gatherings. She listened when Fiona talked about her holiday. "Oh man, that must have been cool. Bet it's nice getting over somewhere warmer in winter." She laughed when Fiona talked about their growing up, nodding. "Yeah, for real. It's so weird though, I remember when I was a kid the first years all seemed so big and now it's like, woah, that's a kid, you know? And we're nearly teenagers."

 

[Fiona Archer]

Fiona nodded as hinemoa talked about her cousins. shehad though it woudl be fun to have such a large family. But maybe it wasn't as fun as she had thought. maybe her family was a good size. but like her friend most of her cousins were far older than her. aurora and rosie were in their twenties now and branson was almost thirty. "we should hang out over the next holidays then I am not as fun as you but i can try and be fun" she said before putting her camera up to her eye and snapping a picture of her friend. It would probably not come out well because she hadn't changed the setting from the flower she had been taking before, but sometimes bad photos were surprisingly good.
"I wouldn't call Launcesten warm. but brisbane was better but so sunny it was painful" she said. She much preferred days like today when the cloud cover was so thick she could go outside without the need for dark glasses.
She chucl;ed as Hinemoa commented on the first years. She often forgot that she had pent most of her childhood around the school growing up and seeing students pass through. "yes teenagers this year. we will be so grown up." she said posing in how she pictured grown up teenagers to stand. "When is your birthday" she asked. She knew Hinemoa was older than her. but didnt remember how much older.