The best way to spend an afternoon

[Flavio Morales-Tipene]

It was a warm, sunny day in New Zealand so it was no surprise that Flavio found himself crouching at the lakefront with his shoes scraping the water's edge and a large piece of bread in his hands as he fed the friendly, however still somewhat cautious ducks. They were hesitant to eat the bread at best. Though slowly, but surely the group of birds were beginning to trust him and he was glad to be in the process of making feathered friends. It almost made him feel like he was at home. Smiling at that thought, Flavio picked another piece from the bun in his hands and threw it into the water, watching in awe as one of the many ducks swam closer to eat it.​

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[Elt]

Elt had found her way down to the lakefront by no mistake. She loved to sit by the water's edge, plucking grass and watching for the mermaids she'd heard dwelled in its depths. Pools of water like the one at Hogwarts simply didn't exist where she was from, and she didn't imagine she could ever tire of the way it felt to dip her toes under the icy surface. But when she arrived that day, she was not alone. Flavio Morales, the boy she'd encountered now on several occasions, but never really spoken to, was crouching by the water feeding ducks. Elt froze, wondering what kind of magic he was performing. The animals where she came from would never have gotten that close to somebody - not even if they had food. She inched closer, mesmerised, until she was only a foot away from Flavio's back, and her small figure cast a dumpy shadow over him.

 

[Flavio Morales-Tipene]

Flavio enjoyed feeding the adorable ducks, and continued to do so until he felt the presence of another appear behind him. He was half tempted to brush it off as paranoia however turned around regardless and realized his feeling wasn't wrong. There was someone else with him at the lakefront and that person happened to be Elt, one of his fellow Ravenclaws who he spoke to on many occasions though never had a proper conversation with. Elt seemed nice enough so the Chilean boy was unsure why they had not conversed properly besides the blatantly obvious fact neither of them had the most confident grasp on the English language. At least Flavio could speak for himself in that respect. "Elt." He exclaimed, smiling at the girl. "Hello." Was his next word, another attempt for Flavio to be friendly to the other Ravenclaw and to acknowledge her presence before he returned his attention to the group of ducks in the lake and threw another small piece of bread towards them. ​

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[Elt]

Elt, who was bent at the waist in order to get as close as possible to the ducks, straightened and stepped back in surprise. "Hello," she said, returning his smile with equal fervence. "Sorry if I... I..." The part-goblin wracked her brain for the right word; and then, when she couldn't find it, she mimed being startled instead. She'd only recently come to terms with apologies - it just wasn't very goblinish to say sorry. The ducks were ever closening, and Elt took a tentative step forward towards the lake's edge, as if approaching something rare and extraordinary instead of common waterfowl. "Aren't they scared?" she asked, without taking her eyes from them.

 

[Flavio Morales-Tipene]

"They are not scared anymore." Flavio said to his fellow Ravenclaw friend as he threw another small piece of bread towards the group of ducks. At first they were hesitant to eat anything he threw at them, more likely to swim away no matter how delicious Flavio knew the bread was. Luckily they were slowly beginning to trust him, gradually realizing he wasn't a threat and that all he wanted was to feed and befriend them. "They used to be scared." Flavio added as an afterthought, turning his head from his feathered friends and towards Elt who seemed to be standing hesitantly enough to be scared of the ducks. "Want to feed them?" He then asked as he held the piece of bread he was holding towards her, hoping that she would take the opportunity to make friends with the ducks in the lake because it would mean they could have something more in common than their house and their limited ability to interact.

sorry this took so long ​

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[Elt]

Elt wondered how it could possibly be that an animal once afraid could now be tamed; but then again, pets had to come from somewhere, right? The part-goblin's heart skipped as it occurred to her she might be able to have one of the ducks as her own pet. Nifflers were fun to watch, and everything, but difficult to pet and utterly destructive when let loose in one's home - Elt had discovered that the hard way. But these ducks didn't look dangerous at all! Taking the bread offered with enthusiasm, she stepped right up to the water's edge and squatted down, stretching her arm out as far as it would go (not very). Slowly, curiously, a young duck with an emerald green head paddled over, its temptation clouding its better judgement. When it would not take the bread directly from her, she tossed it ahead into the water and sat back as it ate. "Can we have him?" she asked hopefully, her wide eyes turning on Flavio. "To have for ever?"

 

[Flavio Morales-Tipene]

Flavio stared affectionately as Elt inched closer to the lake's edge, attempting to feed the ducks. He giggled as she finally threw the small piece of bread in the water and a small duck with an emerald green head ate it. It was too cute and the young Ravenclaw was almost distracted further by the birds cuteness until Elt's question disturbed his thoughts. He'd never thought of keeping the ducks as they were wild, mostly. They were happy living on their own in the lake and being occasionally fed by students. Or so Flavio had assumed as he had never thought of keeping the ducks before. He'd always believed them to be his pets regardless if he took them home or not. "Um." He said. "If you feed them, they will always be here to greet you." He then added, unsure of how else to respond to his friend's words.
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[Elt]

Elt cocked her head, trying to decide if she liked what Flavio has said by the bits of his sentence she'd understood. It didn't sound like a yes, though, so she sighed, pouted, and shifted back on the grass. Perhaps when Flavio was gone, she'd swim into the lake and take one of the ducks for herself. Yes! And if they needed any more convincing to come with her, she could always bring them some cake (eating bread all day sounded very boring). Before this mischievous thought could reflect in her eyes, she changed the subject. "What is 'greet'?"

 

[Flavio Morales-Tipene]

As Elt cocked her head to one side, butterflies appeared in Flavio's stomach. He worried that his words did not make sense, that his English wasn't good enough to be understood. Elt's question confirmed his suspicions so he quickly shook his head, a small blush forming on his cheeks from embarrassment as he apologized. "Sorry." He then corrected himself, hoping his next sentence was properly formed and at least partially able to be understood. "If you are nice to them, they will be here to say hello every day." He said. "They can live here in the lake and be your friends if you want them to be." Hopefully this made sense to the much smaller Ravenclaw because Flavio was unsure of what else he could do if he was required to repeat himself again. More likely than not he would give up on talking and feel to embarrassed to talk to Elt later on in the castle or common room.
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