Sneaking About

[Nephrolepis Undersee]

Nephrolepis had woken up feeling better than she had in weeks. Meeting her new friend had stirred something inside her - almost woken her up from the nightmare she had been in before. She hadn't yet opened up to Rohan, but just talking to him was a start. Since it was her day off, Nephy pulled on a simple white shirt and pale blue jeans, slipping on her trainers without socks and giving her hair a quick brush. She didn't bother to try and tame the curls which reflected back at her in her small mirror. Instead, she just smiled and enjoyed the way she looked. After all, she couldn't change the image staring back at her, and she was finally beginning to accept that maybe she was OK after all. She didn't need to be fashionable, or have a face like a model. Someone liked her just as she was. And if one person did, why couldn't there be more?
Nephy practically bounced down the spiral stairs, sprinted across the dorm, down another staircase and out onto the grounds. To match her mood, the sun was shining, though it wasn't too warm and even though she ran towards the gardens, her blonde hair flowing out behind her, she didn't get too hot. As she reached the gardens and slowed to a quick walk, she was hit by the smell of roses and many other flowers she couldn't name. Possibly even the plant for which she was named after hid somewhere in this magnificent garden. Nephy didn't really care though, and had simply come here because it was quiet, and she could enjoy being happy alone. Though she shared physical things, and was a very outgoing girl, she kept most emotions to herself. This could often end badly, since she also kept all the nasiter thoughts to herself as well as the good ones, but she thought it was good that she could feel upset without having to bother anyone else about it.
As Nephy passed some kind of exotic pink flower with huge petals, she saw a movement behind the bushes not too far off. She ducked down, grinning and hoping she hadn't been spotted. Risking a glance around the corner of a rose bush, she knew all very well that a girl with bright blonde hair couldn't easily blend into a green and brown garden. It was hard to imagine that her hair was just another one of the interesting flowers in the garden. It just looked like hair. She couldn't help but let out a small, smothered giggle in anticipation of being spotted by whoever was occupying the gardens with her.

 

[Samual Kaster]

Samual stretched and yawned when he woke up, he wasn't the best morning person to live, but he was better than his roomate, atleast. Sam was a little down, as he usually was when he woke up. He liked reaming and the imagination that came whilst sleeping, when he was sleeping he didn't have to do any work or anything boring. But when he realised that it was sunny and bright outside, he basically jumped into his joggers, jeans and red t-shirt, he couldn't wait to get outside to the fresh air and bright sun.

Samual ran down the muliple staircases and out to the grounds, doing a little spin as he went. He was really and outdoors kid, he loved running around and jumping in puddles and making giant piles of leaves. That was what he wanted to do, make a giant leaf pile to jump in, it would be wickedly awesome if he could manage to make one that was taller than himself, though that probably wouldn't be possible because there weren't that many leaves on the ground. Sam frowned slightly. It was autumn and there were little to no leaves on the ground? It didn't seem right, he dare mother nature deny him such fun? It seemed very rude, but he let it slide, realising that flowers were just as fun to pick and sniff, even if he couldn't break a bone jumping into a pile of them.

Samual looked at the flowers playfully, he was thirteen, as everyone he knew pointed out, and he should be a little more mature and responsible than he was, but where was the fun in being 'responsible' and 'mature', his older sister Tamalia could do all that stuff, they went to the same school and were in the same house, so Samual didn't understand why he had to grow up, when Tamalia was doing all that for him. In fact, Samual was so childish that he decided to not acknowledge the death of several of his family members, they simply went on a holiday in his mind, they were going to come back, and Sam was going to make sure that none of his other family members went on holidays until their return. Samual tilted his head slightly when he realised he was being watched, by a small something with blonde hair, it was quite easy to spot because of all the green and bright flowers around. "Hi!" He greeted happily, moving some leaves to get a clear picture of the persons face. The hair belongs to a small girl, she looked nice enough and was surely younger than Samual, but he didn't care, age was just a number to Sam. "I'm Samual, you can call me Sammy!"

 

[Nephrolepis Undersee]

Nephy bobbed up from her hiding place when she realized she'd been spotted. It was then that she found out the voice belonged to a young boy who had been closer to her than she'd first imagined. She jumped back, but then smiled politely. Most people would ignore Nephy, and if they did speak to her, it was often just to taunt her or make fun of her height, so she was fairly cautious of the boy. Was he actually pleased to see her? It was quite hard to tell; some people were just good actors. Luckily, so was she, and so it was easy to smile back and with the same enthusiam, reply, 'Heya. I'm Nephrolepis. Or just Nephy, if that's too hard to remember,' a smile came to her lips then which was in no way forced as she realised she was acting normally for once. Curiosity got the better of her as she examined the boy's face and hoped she wasn't prying. 'What are you doing in the gardens?' she asked, a puzzled expression on her face as she plucked a pink rose and hoped she wouldn't get told off for doing so.
Nephy knew the answer to her question really. It was autumn and sunny. Who wouldn't be outside? She couldn't really understand the people who stayed indoors all the time, not bothering to come out and experience the wonders of the outdoors. Everything was fresh, peaceful and beautiful, created for a good purpose. Nothing manmade seemed to fit into any of those catagories any more. When most people went home for the holidays, they would have forms of technology in the house to keep them amused. Nephy's own house was quite boring in that way, with not one unnecessary gadget in sight.
This did not stop the young girl from being curious. She had to start a conversation going somehow - she had promised her Sister, who knew all to well that Nephy was not great at polite conversation, that she would try her hardest to socialise with the other students. This was a golden oppurtunity, and she wasn't about to throw it away with both hands. So she waited patiently for a reply, sniffing the delicate rose and then handing it to the boy with a delicate smile and cheeks the same colour as the beautiful flower.

 

[Samual Kaster]

Samual smiled brightly, the girl he had just met was very small, but he found it adorable, she was little a little doll that could move, it just perked up Sam's mood more, he had forgotten his worries and annoyences for the time being, he was too busy making a friend. When the girl said her name, Samual was slightly bewildered, he was sure he wouldn't remember that, so he was grateful that she suggested a nickname for him to use instead, much better. "Nice to meet you, Nephy." He said happily, sitting down on the ground so he could be more eye-level with her, he was careful not to squosh any flowers either, he wasn't a plant killer after all.

Sam laughed slightly, it was quite obvious why he was outside, but perhaps she meant why he was in the rosh garden and not doing something else, like swimming or going into the Forbidden Forst or climbing the cliffs? "Well, it's autumn, and it was bright and sunny outside." He explained, sniffed one of the roses, it nearly made him sneeze, but he didn't mind, he still loved flowers. "And I really wanted to make a giant leaf pile, but there are not many leaves on the ground, can you believe it?" He asked, total shock showing in his voice, it was obvious that he was passionate about leaf piles and really wanted to make one. "I think I might have to climb the trees and shake down some leaves." He added.

If need be, Sam would chop down the surrounding trees in order to get his leaf pile, he was very passionate about leaf piles and how fun they were, now he had a friend to help him, since his Hufflepuff buddy was around, this new girl could be his friend and help him make a giant leaf pile! It would be fantastic! As long as she agreed to help. "Do you want to help me make a giant leaf pile?" Sammy smiled brightly when the girl gave him the rose she held, he thought it was really nice of her to give him something, it was really sweet and it made Sam think of her as like a flowerbaby, one of those little things in muggle story books that would sit on flowers and were really nice and friendly. Sam happily tucked the flower between his ear and head, then gave her a rose also, just to show how happy he was. "Thanks!"

---

Awww

 

[Nephrolepis Undersee]

Nephy giggled again, feeling extremely shallow and girly. It wasn't like her to act like this, but she was having fun, and nobody cared. So what did it matter? She considered what Sammy was saying, listening intently and thinking he was brilliant. Just as he had said, she looked around and there were hardly any dead leaves to be seen. 'Wow,' she said, truly shocked at the sight. She hadn't noticed before, but now that she had, it was very strange indeed. Then something hit her; it was pretty obvious, which was why she hadn't thought about it before. She tended not to realise the most obvious of things, always trying to think of a more complicated soulution to a simple question. But this time, she had been thinking more openly. 'I wonder if there's a spell to create leaves?' She thought aloud in awe, wishing she had paid more attention in her lessons in case she'd missed the spell which could do just that.
At what the boy said next, Nephy was once again surprised at. She'd made two friends in a week. Well, two people who actually wanted to include her in things. A huge grin spread across her dainty face and her eyes lit up. She hadn't done anything particularily adventurous since starting at Hogwarts, probably because she'd been on her own for most of the time so far and adventures just weren't the same without a companion. Someone to share the fun with. A trip to Brightstone. A day in the sun collecting leaves to jump in. How had she lived without this? 'I'd love to!' Nephy gabbled excitedly before the boy could suddenly change his mind about asking her. She still didn't know if he was just trying to be nice, or would turn on her the next day, but she was too busy thinking about where to find some leaves to ponder over this too much.
A blush spread across Nephy's face, and she lowered her head to cover it when Sammy gave her a rose back. She copied him, tucking it behind her ear. She could smell it from there, and if it wasn't going to die soon, she would have treasured it forever. A real gift, from a friend. She smiled bashfully. 'Thank you,' her voice was a quiet whisper. Trying to distract herself to avoid turning into a tomato, she looked around. 'Where do you think we'll find some good leaves? Unfortunately I don't really know any spells to do with leaves at all. This could be a case of getting off my lazy bum and finding some,' she explained, her eyes shimmering brightly as they always did when she was feeling a strong emotion. And right now, it was excitement.

 

[Samual Kaster]

Sam thought about what Nephy suggested, there probably was a spell to create leaves, or atleast makes them fall down, but Samual wasn't interested in finding one, where would the fun be in that? Climbing trees was much more entertaining then waving his wand around. So, Samual simply shrugged. "There probably is, but where would to fun be if we just waved our wands?" He questioned playfully. "I think it would be much better if we climb trees instead." He explained, sizing up the nearby trees to see if they were climbable. There were a few good ones, but he had to make sure that Nephy could climb them too, it would be a total mood bust if she couldn't climb any of the trees because of her height.

Samual mirrored Nephy's face, he couldn't help but smile when someone else was smiling from happiness, it was a habit that he liked, because it usually made the person happier, and who didn't like being happier then they already were? Samual laughed. "That's great!" He cried happily, standing up and pointing to a tree that was not too high and it was covered in yellow leaves that looked like they needed a little bit of help to reach the ground. "Okay, you can climb that tree and shake it," he began, looking for a tree that he could climb himself, he had to make sure that it would hold his weight, or this leaf piling exhibition wouldn't end too well. When he found a climbable tree he nodded. "And I'll climb this one and we can shake all the leaves out and... and pile them all up into a ginormous pile!" He planned. Samual had a vision and it was going to be totally awesome!

Samual nodded in recognition of the thanks and then laughed at the thought of searching up a spell to help out their dilemia of finding enough leaves to make his vision of a giant leaf pile come true. "We don't need spells!" He said, as if it was ridiculous to even suggest such a thing. "All we need are arms,' he said, wiggling his arms. "Legs," he added, wiggling his legs playfully. "And an urge to defy gravity!" He finished, grabbing that first branch of the tree he had decided would hold his weight. The good thing about these trees was the fact that they had low hanging, sturdy branches, Samual was sure even a three year old would be able to climb them. When Samual reached his first branch that was fully covered in yellow, auburn, brown and a select few green leaves, he cheered happily and started shaking the branch carefully, he didn't want to fall or anything, so he crossed his ankles and laid down, it was obvious that he had done this sort of thing thousands of times before and if Nephy needed help, he'd show her exactly how to safely make a tree release it's leaves.

 

[Nephrolepis Undersee]

Nephy had a lot of practise with climbing trees, and she was eager to surprise Sam. She nodded in agreement. She hadn't really wanted to use a spell to create the leaves; indeed, there was no fun in that. It had been a thought which slipped out. Nephy hoped this wouldn't become a habit as she did a full circle to examine the trees around her. They had low branches, which weren't really necessary but helped a little. They were covered in the most beautiful orange, yellow and red leaves, just waiting to be piled up and jumped in. Nephy shivered a little with anticipation. She laughed at what he said about arms and legs. 'Well there goes my chance,' she joked and picked a tall tree, with the most leaves right at the top. She put her arms on it, looking as though she wasn't quite sure how she was going to climb it, and then delicately climbed with speed to the middle of the tree like a squirrel.
The branches here were fragile, but luckily, so was Nephy, and so her wait barely made them bend as she crawled out to one she could see was covered in leaves. She looked around for Sam, who was lying on his front in the neighbouring tree, and wished she had a rake to gather all the leaves up at the end. She shook the branch, and at first only one or two leaves dropped. Edging out a little closer - very slowly - she shook the branch closer to it's tip. Many leaves were shaken from their home easily, since they were hanging on loosely with their dead stems, and a multicoloured curtain swept to the ground. Nephy smiled, cautiously making her way down the branch and up to the next one. She repeated this several times, and then hopped down to the ground from a low branch. It wasn't a long drop for an ordinarily sized person, but even though it was longer to Nephy, the leaves beneath her broke her fall. Her ankle twisted, but she didn't mention it.
Nephy looked back at Sam, pleased with the amount of leaves which were now surrounding her tree. She scooped them up with her hands, putting them all into a pile a couple of meters away from the trees. They didn't want them to get in their way when they jumped in. Nephy grinned, kicking the last leaves into place. On her own, she'd accumilated a good number of leaves, and she was sure Sam would have gathered a lot too. She put her hand to her forehead to try and spot him. 'How's this?' she called to him, unable to spot him through the leaves and sunlight.

 

[Samual Kaster]

Samual had to admit, he was slightly surprised at Nephy's climbing abilities, she had obviously climbed trees before, which was good because it made it all the more fun. It would be quicker to get all the lovely leaves together, which meant that they could jump in them sooner. Smaul frowned slightly as he calculated whether the small branch above him would hold his weight. Sure he was an excitable kid, but he didn't have a death wish. Where would the fun be in falling out of a tree before making the pile of leaves? Sam shook his head and decided to climb the branch beside it, smiling as he looked at the ground and realised that the branch he had just shaken had released a lot of leaves. This was going to be the best autumn ever.

Sammy was having a great time, he loved climbing trees and shaking the leaves from them, but only in autumn. It was like a special thing that could only be done in autumn, otherwise it would have no meaning, just like he made snow angels in winter, had sun screen fights in summer and collected bugs for bug races in spring, if he somehow managed to do any of these things at any random time during the year, they would lose their specialness and would become boring. After Samual finished with his thried branch, he looked around, Nephy had nearly stripped her tree bare, which was good, they had just helped mother nature prepare for winter and it felt totally awesome.

Sam looked around when he heard Nephy's voice and the first thing he saw was a large leaf pile, he shook the tree branch that blocked the rest of his view and made all of its leaves fall, then he could see Nephy, but she looked a little like an ice-cream, just by how her body seemed to be shaped at the distance Sam was from her and to Sam her personality was a lot like one, sweet and nice and very comforting, she seemed to make Sam comfortable and excited, all at the same time! Though he could not see Nephy well, he could hear her voice being carried on the wind and to his ears, what she said made him grin. The amount she had collected was large and combined with Samuals own collection at the bottom of his tree? It was sure to rival Mount Everest, well, that's what Sam thought. "That's great Nephy!" He praised, hopping from the tree and doing a little barrel roll to stop himself from falling on his face once he landed. "This leaf pile is going to be, mega!" He enthused, picking up as many leaves as he could and throwing them onto Nephy's pile, his vision was coming true. "We now just need to combine them into a humongous.... thing and then build the the run way." He said, nodding and walking back to get more leaves, he was shaking from excitment and his eyes were beaming like car headlights at night.

---

Yes he did just mentally compare Nephy to an ice-cream

 

[Nephrolepis Undersee]

Nephy couldn't stop grinning as she ran towards Sam to help him collect his leaves and bring them to the big pile in the middle. She wanted to gather more, but it was too exciting to waste any time. Sammy was right; the leaf pile was going to be huge, especially to Nephy, who was only half the size of her friend. The leaves were almost up to her head already. She wasn't sure how they were going to make a runway, but they would certainly need one if they planned to jump in. Nephy giggled as she thought about disappearing under the leaves and jumping out to scare Sam. At this thought, her voice piped up again. 'I'll just do one more tree,' she said, not explaining why as she skipped off and easily climbed up the next tree trunk. After several minutes, she had already cleared most of the tree of it's loose leaves and they were still falling as she slid down a low hanging branch and onto the ground. Her eyes lit up as she realized just how many leaves she had collected. She took huge handfuls of them and dumped them in the center.
When Nephy was finished, she brushed her hands on her already dirty trousers and smiled. She strongly agreed with Sammy. It was going to be mega. She giggled and kicked the last leaves from the second tree into the pile. She poked her hand in curiously and felt a hard ball. Frowning, she picked it up and withdrew her hand to find a small snail in her palm. She smiled sympathetically, glad they weren't going to squash it. She took it to a nearby bush and placed it gently on a leaf before scanning the area for Sammy. A smile spread across her face when she saw him. 'This is going to be amazing,' she called, brushing her hands off again and feeling a little dirty from all the leaves. 'How are we going to build a runway?' she asked, making her way back to the pile which now came up past her head. She wanted to jump in at the top, but that would only be possible with a very tall ramp. 'Or maybe we could move it nearer the tree and jump in from a low branch?' she suggested, feeling this would be the easier option but wanting to leave it up to the expert. Nephy couldn't stop herself from smiling constantly. It felt great to have a friend like him, who she felt she'd known for years despite the fact they'd just met. The glint in her eye matched his as she waited excitedly.

 

[Samual Kaster]

Samual was having a blast, this was so much more fun than just sitting around twidling his thumbs from boredom, the leaf pile was ginormous! He chuckled quietly when he realised that Nephy was already towered by the leaf pile, until now he had not realised just how tiny she was, even though he had been talking to her and when he sat down he was still around her height, but that was just how Sammy was, he rarely realised the differences between people. When Nephy ran off to get more leaves, Sam nodded, he didn't know why they needed more, though it would have been nice for the pile of leaves to rival Samual's height, he knew it would not happen, he wasn't as small as Nehpy, not even close. He couldn't help but think that it was cool to be her height, to see flowers as fellow height friends, though Sam didn't understand how upsetting it must be to be so much smaller than everyone else, he had never had that problem.

As Nephy got more leaves, Samual was busy making a 'runway', he had kicked away all rocks that they could possibly trip on, it wouldn't be fun if they fell over before even reaching the pile of leaves, and he had put the rocks in two parallel lines, as if to remind them the way to the leaf pile, though that wouldn't be difficult because it was very visible, Sam hoped that no-one would randomly jump in it before he and Nephy had the chance, that would just be devestating.

Sam laughed. "I just made the runway, it's all ready for running." He announced, showing off his runway, the ground was as smooth as ground could be and there were now two parallel lines made of rocks and twigs. Sam thought about Nephy's suggestion and quickly realised why she had suggested climbing trees. Sam was a good jumper and with his height advantage, he would easily jump right on top of the leaf pile, but Nephy? Unless she had springs in her shoes, she would be lucky to get in half way. But Sam wasn't sure about climbing a tree and jumping off from a low branch, he had tried that once with his sister Tess and he had broken three of his ribs, he didn't want that for Nephy, so he decided a better solution. "I did that once, but broke my ribs, so I have a better plan..." He said, quickly picking Nephy up around the hips, she was quite light, like a toddler, it reminded him of his baby brother. Samual then turned around and threw Nephy onto the top of the leaf pile, careful to not throw her over the leaf pile. She would most likely land right in the middle. "Why don't I just throw you in there?" He asked, forgetting to actually get her permission before throwing her, but he was sure Nephy would be fine with it, it must have been fun to be picked up, turned around and then thrown into a giant pile of leaves.

 

[Nephrolepis Undersee]

Nephy's brown eyes widened at Sammy's suggested of being thrown into the leaves. At first, she thought it outrageous, but it was slowly dawning on her that there wouldn't be an easier way to jump in. And she didn't really want to break her ribs, after all. Nephy had broken a few bones in the past, and though she could handle some pain, it was something she really didn't want to have to go through again. She shrugged her tiny shoulders, looking up at her friend and smiling. 'Well, if you don't mind..' she replied, hoping that she wasn't going to be too heavy for the boy. She may have been small, but he was going to have to lift her quite high to throw her in at the top. She just hoped he was going to be gentle with her. Nephy was easily breakable, which she knew all too well, and she couldn't help but worry about it.
Nephy wasn't going to show her worry as this would spoil the whole excited atmosphere that was hanging around the two happy children. Instead, she kept her face clear of any signs of anxiety and kept a smile on her face which easily reached her eyes, since she was happy, even though she was a little nervous. She eyed the leaf pile up and down, believing that there may be another world in there, like there was in the muggle book she'd read about a girl finding a secret door in her garden. There could have been a huge adventure in there, and this was far more exciting than thinking about how she might get hurt.
Nephy took a step back, admiring their work for once. It was a great leaf pile, one which any child would be proud of. But she was happier that she was sharing it with Sammy than enjoying it on her own. Nephy liked her own company; in fact, she much preferred being on her own. But today was different, and it wouldn't have been at all the same if Nephy hadn't had a friend to enjoy the adventure with. She still couldn't quite believe that they had only met half an hour ago. They felt like close friends already. 'I hope I won't be too heavy,' she spoke her thoughts aloud, glancing at Sammy and trying to work out how strong he was. He looked like he had lots of adventures, which would naturally have made him quite strong, but if he thought he could chuck her in, then why not?

 

[Samual Kaster]

Samual rolled his eyes, of course he'd be able to pick her up, he would not have suggested it if he thought for a second that she may have been too heavy, otherwise it would have been unfair if it turned out that he couldn't chuck her in. Sam could pick up two of his older sisters, he was quite sure that Nephy would be no problem at all. He was glad that Nephy didn't seem worried, which was good, it would have ruined all the fun if she was really really scared, and it would have made Sammy feel horrible for scaring his new found friend, especially because she looked so adorable since she was so tiny and cute, like a little kid, it was just too adorable not to think about. "Hope, I don't mind, you're not that heavy, you're actually really light." He said, nodding slightly. Going on regular expeditions to random places would make anyone strong, though Sam had never been to the Forbidden Forest, he was adventurous, not clinically insane, though he had been thinking about wondering in there with a friend, but he wasn't sure if it was Nephy's thing to wonder around in dangerous woods, so he let it slip his mind until they meet again. Right now he was busy throwing Noehy into a pile of leaves, so it wasn't the time to ask whether she wanted to run into the forest or not.

Sam smiled, he couldn't wait to jump in, he was quite sure that Nephy's small frame was not going to destroy the leaf pile, but his possibly would, he was quite tall, but this wasn't really a problem because they could just build it up again, and again, and again, until it became too dark, too cold or they both got tired and decide to go to bed. That was why Sammy loved leaf piles, they were practically invincible! They could be built up again and again, with out any real thought or manual labor. Sam was going to wait until Nephy got out of the leaf pile, he was going to run up the runway and dive into the leaf pile.