The Dying Windows

[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva Khulik was head strong and wilful, always with a mind of her own and though she set great store in rules and laws and structure, when her mind got hooked into an idea then she could no more defer from its train of thought than she could stop a gryffin in flight. Having left the Hufflepuff common room to the celebrations of their win, she had made her way along the corridor, down the stairs and to the entrance hall. It had been a miserable morning and it wasn't so very late now, she glanced at her watch and figured she'd have enough time to check out the trees and plants on the outskirts of the forest before dinner time, that was if any of them even showed up for dinner.

Once outside the large doors she removed her jacket from beneath her jumper and put it on, swinging her bag over her shoulder and walking briskly along the path that would take her close to the forest, from there she would move off the path in the direction of the trees. She glanced about her twice but saw no one following her and had little thought they would have. She was after all a non-entity, she was like someone had cast an invisibility charm on her on her name day and ever since no one paid any attention to whether she was around or not. It had always served its purpose before and it hopefully would again now.

It wasn't long before Minerva was standing facing the row upon row of trees. This was incredible, they were so much taller than her. With mist still falling she approached slowly and placed her palm against the bark of one of the trees, that was when Odin her moody bombay cat decided to make its presence known. She glanced down at him as he purred rubbing his back against the tree alongside of the one she touched.
"If you turn out to be a weirdo animagus who delights in tormenting young girls, I will find you and I will torture you with a serious grooming session!" she told him before looking back to the tree again.

This time she removed her bag from her shoulder and taking out her notebook, penciled in the type of tree and those surrounding it. She began making a rubbing of the bark as Odin became utterly fed up by her lack of adventure and slinked off into the forest.

 

[Therese Fergusson]

The brunette wanted to see something outside and she had seen a forest outside of the tower that she wanted to see. As she made her way outside she was thinking how it would be more fun if someone had come with her. Perhaps she should return and ask April if she wanted to join, but she found herself walking and was arriving at Forbidden Forest already before she knew it. She knew it was forbidden but standing in front of it wasn't breaking a rule right? Therese couldn't admit she was curious at it, and she was quiet excited to take a step into the forest. But than she heard a girl saying something but she didn't saw anyone else than herself and the girl so walked over to the girl asking if everything was ok, because when it wasn't Therese couldn't walk away from it. '' Hello, everything ok here?'' she asked not seeing the face of the girl yet.

 

[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva did not hear the girl approach until she spoke and instantly her pencil tip went through the paper onto the bark of the tree. Slowly she lifted the paper up by the aid of the pencil holding it like a flag and stared in mild amusement at the thing before turning with a lopsided smile at the girl.
"Everything is ok" she assured her, "it's only a pencil through the paper, I was just getting some rubbings and ..." she needed to stop before she got carried away and said so much that the girl thought her completely bonkers and walked away.

Minerva glanced at the girl for a moment, "You're in my house ..." she paused trying to remember the name of her dorm and class mate, "Teres ... Theresa.. no, Therese" she gave another slight smile before chewing on the side of her lip and turning back to the pencil and paper. Carefully she folded the paper up and put it back into her bag before sitting down on the ground beneath one of the trees and with her back to it looked out over the school. Sunset was about an hour away but she really didn't want to go back just yet, this was nice here. Quiet and calming.

"How are you settling in?" she asked the other Hufflepuff, hoping she hadn't done anything to frighten yet another person off.

 

[Therese Fergusson]

Therese was a girl that wanted to care for others. And if she noticed someone alone or when it seemed not everything was okay she was the first to help. When she saw that the girl was her roommate Minerva she smiled. She didn't spoke much yet to the girl but she was one of the girls that shared a bedroom with her and that was something special she thought. Therese already learned the names of all the girls because she could remind them pretty quickly. The brunette was good with faces and names and that was mostly handy. The Swedish girl smiled as she came closer, and was glad everything was ok with the girl '' I'm glad, I'm sorry if I ruined your stuff on the paper, what where you doing here?'' Therese said friendly at Minerva as she saw the girl was busy with a pencil and paper. She was wondering what she was doing, did she liked to draw too or more a writer? The girl seemed nice and a bit shy or not sure what she had to say, but Therese didn't mind. Everyone was different and the brunette herself liked variation with people.

As Minerva noticed Therese being in her house and her name the brunette was suprised. After Leif, Minerva knew her name also. She was doing a good job and liked making new friends here at Hogwarts. Therese would think of someone as a friend pretty quickly and didn't really had people that she hated or didn't liked. What she did hate was negativity, so she made out of every situation something positive. '' Yes! I'm Therese and you are Minerva right? We share a bedroom together.'' the brunette said friendly to the girl. She hoped she wouldn't scare the girl with knowing so much. The brunette was just paying attention really good to others and was very interested in others. It was very friendly of Minevra asking how Therese liked it so far '' I really like it here. The people are so kind and Hufflepuff is amazing so far.'' as the brunette spoke her Swedish accent was clearly there but the girl didn't mind.
'' And how about you? Are you liking it so far? It is a big change right, from home to here?'' Therese was gladly wanting to give some answers and liked to chat but she was also curious of Minevra so hoped the girl wouldn't mind her returning the questions.

 

[Minerva Khulik]

Minerva had thought that Therese on their first meeting in the dorm had been very friendly, she herself wasn't the easiest person in the world to befriend, she just seemed to rub people up the wrong way somehow. She didn't mean to but people or her peers really just got odd very quickly when she opened her mouth. She was liable to say just about anything really from facts about the day, the weather, the year, the person's surname ... it was like people thought she had opened up an encyclopedia one day and devoured the lot. Something however made her want to reassure this girl that she had not been the cause of the hole in the page.

"No need to apologise, it wasn't you at all. I pressed too hard when rubbing and then there was a knot in the bark right here, " She bit her lower lip to stop herself from rambling about force against a hard static object. Instead she crossed her legs and opened a book before her on the ground and placed the folded piece of paper inside it.

"I take note of things" she told Therese, waiting a bare moment to see if the girl would think her completely silly, "I did a few bark rubbings of these trees because I don't have those particular ones yet, I will write a small piece about them from my observations, draw a leave from the different seasons in to the page as well and maybe a sketch of the way the twigs gnarl and knot like that and then when that is done, I'll ..." she glanced up from where she had sat to look at the girl and went quiet. She had said too much again, she always did but instead of walking away or looking at her as if she were completely insane, the other Hufflepuff began telling Minerva about how she liked it here at Hogwarts.

Minerva felt her own mouth open in wonder, she had so far written home twice a week asking her parents to please come and get her, that she had learned whatever lesson they had been trying to teach and she'd never misbehave again. She had read once about a place called Azkaban and she felt that Hogwarts was just a younger person's version of it.

"It's a huge change" she said honestly, her voice going more quiet than ever before, "Do you really like it here ... why?"

 

[Sydney Melbourne]

Professor Melbourne was doing some inventory before the semester one ended, Sydney is a very neat and organized person, leavign everything empty before semester two starts would be the death of her. She had learned to keep up with the ingredients her students use and when to refill their separate walk-in cupboard that she and Professor Pendleton share. Some jars are empty and some are almost to the point of refilling them again, The Professor sigh and double check her clipboard. Although some of what they needed has to be bought at the Obsidian Harbour, some are easy to find at the greenhouse. So, Professor Melbourne trek down at the castle field to the greenhouses near the Forbidden Forest. It was easy to ask permission to get some herbs from the two Herbology Professor, they were nice and willing to give. As Professor Melbourne neared the greenhouses, she spotted on the side of her eyes two figures about to go inside the forest or was planning to go inside. The potions Professor released a sigh of frustration. Would these kids stop being so curious? She asked herself. Professor Melbourne has the option to leave them be or struck up a conversation. She didn't need her ingredients yet and maybe talking to other students other than her niece would be a new thing to her.

Rolling her eyes, she journey further right of her where the girls stood talking. The Professor neared the two and cleared her throat to get their attention. "What are two beautiful little girls doing just outside the forest?" She asked with utter sarcasm. Although, they are gorgeous kids. It must have been the genes of today's generation Sydney would like to have her own kids one day but that'll have to wait eventually. "You two are not planning on sneaking in, are you?" She added. Professor Melbourne loves to punish students, specially the ones who don't follow her rules.
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