Stopping to smell the roses

[Skye Taylor]

Fifth year was taking its toll on Skye. As the second term drew to a close the daunting prospect of sitting her O.W.Ls was becoming more real. It meant she had to turn her attention to what she wanted to do when she left Hogwarts, the truth was she had no idea and the idea of planning for after was too scary a thought. Skye decided that she needed a break from everything, from the mountain of books she had laid out on her bed, from the career leaflets that were poking out of her trunk, and especially from her fellow fifth years crying and stressing over their hectic revision timetables. It was a feeling Skye knew all too well. When she finally managed to get outside, Skye took a massive sigh of relief as she breathed in the fresh air. It was a warm day, as most were at Hogwarts. The grounds were quiet for the time of day, most likely due to the fact most students were cooped up in their respective common rooms or the library cramming for exams.

Skye made her way through across the grounds and headed for the garden. Over the past year it had become her favourite place to go, a good place to retreat from the stresses that had pilled up from a combination of school work and quidditch. As she expected the garden was empty when she arrived, not surprising considering how quiet the grounds were, and it was just the way Skye liked it.

 

[Willow Jaye Hydran]

The year was coming to an end. It had been a pretty good year, as Willow would expect it to be. She actually wasn't dreading the end as she normally did. Normally she was dreading the prospect of seeing her sister, but as it was, Hazel had not invited her to stay this time. It was a little bit abnormal, but she figured that Hazel was beginning to settle into the routine of married life and didn't want her little sister getting in the way. Or maybe she had wised up to the absolute seething hatred that Willow had for her brother in law. Which ever it was, Willow was happy for it, because quite frankly, she was fed up with seeing Mr Kaster every which way she turned. Any person that got up before the sun was not someone she was inclined to like. Especially when she was woken up simply to watch the sunrise because "there's nothing more magical than a sunrise and you've got to see it every day!" If Willow heard that phrase one more time, she was going to tear her hair out and feed it to him.

But she was happy for now. Samual was not the annoying pain in her ass that he normally was and she was going to have a nice and relaxing holiday. She felt like she deserved it after all the crap she had gone through this year. Shaking her head and yawning, Willow made her way towards the Hogwarts Garden. She didn't often come here, but she needed to make sure she could get some rest away from the prying eyes of the younger years. Going back to her dorm was too much work and she doubted that she would make it up the stairs before she collapsed from exhaustion, so she just sat on one of the benches and shut her eyes for a moment, until she realised that someone else was here with her. It was a younger girl, a gryffindor. She'd seen her around. She was on the Quidditch team at one point, Willow thought. Willow smiled at her. "Hey! You're Skye right?"
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[Skye Taylor]

The last thing Skye expected to see in the garden was another living soul. All the times she came to the garden she had never seen anyone else. She had mostly achieved this by coming at times when the grounds were quiet. Skye was quite a sociable person but she liked having a place she could come to and be alone, at least she did. This particular girl was a familiar face however, it was a face she had seen many times around the school, she was a prefect after all. Not for her house but Skye still made a point to know who the prefects were so she could avoid misbehaving in front of them. Even thought they were the only two people in the garden Skye still didn't expect the elder Ravenclaw to approach her and say hello. Skye smiled at the girl in reply as she remembered her name, "Hi, Yes, yes it is Skye," She said fumbling her words a little, not expecting someone to know the name of one of the Quidditch alternates. If she was one of the main chasers then she'd understand, that or if Skye was someone who was regularly at the prefects mercy."Willow, isn't it?" Skye asked speculatively, she knew the girls name of course, how could she not, she was a prefect after all and not to mention she was beautiful.

 

[Willow Jaye Hydran]

Willow smiled at Skype and nodded her head happily as she was remembered. "Yes! Both of our names equate to something to do with nature, isn't that grand?" She asked winking at the girl. She had been feeling rather tired until a moment ago, now that she had laid eyes on Skye she figured it would be fun to relax. She'd been too preoccupied with a certain Hufflepuff of late, maybe she should start looking elsewhere for affection. Skye was gorgeous and she was nice. Two things that Willow respected in a person and she'd not really had a proper relationship since her fifth year, it was high time she got back out there again. All of her efforts with Rhiannon were getting no-where, why should she have to suffer because of it? She shouldn't not in her opinion anyway. Willow beckoned to Skye and patted the space next to her. She picked up a couple of the flowers from around the bench and started weaving them together with magic. Flower crowns were so much easier to make with magic. She never used live plants though, only flowers that had already fallen off of their stems. She never believed in hurting any of nature's creations. Of course when it came to food, she had little choice. "Come here, I want to make you a flower crown. Do you like chrysanthemum's?" She asked, looking up at Skye. She hoped so, all she had here were chrysanthemum's and a couple of daisy's as well as a group of roses. The garden's were well looked after and it was rare to have fallen plants to work with.
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[Skye Taylor]

Skye was amazed at how comfortable she suddenly felt around Willow given that she had only known her a few minutes. It was very rare for Skye to take to someone so quickly, of course the fact that she was friendly and absolutely stunning certainly helped this along. Skye smiled like an idiot when Willow drew a comparison between their name's and she was at a loss to explain why such a comment would have such an affect on her, but it was the wink that really made her tingle, "Yes I suppose they do I hadn't noticed," Skye stammered a little nervously. Willow beckoned her over and patted the ground next to her, Skye didn't need to be asked twice and made her way over and sat on the grass beside her new friend. She may have been getting ahead of herself but she had a good feeling about this girl. When asked if she liked chrysanthemums Skye didn't really know what to say. "Umm I'm not really a big flower girl, I mean i like roses because they match my hair but after that i got nothing but by all means crown me, i leave my head in your very capable hands," Skye appeared to settle into the conversation once she had a chance to ramble a bit. She was mesmerised as she watched Willow work.