the tune of the passing world.

[Willow Cullen]

it was heading towards the end o semester. willow was looking forward to the break. What she was not looking forward to were the exams. sure she wasn't the kind of person who strived to get o's and she was pretty sure she would pass everything. but she wanted some alone time. she popped up to her dorm and grabbed her guitar, slinging it over her shoulder before heading the back way down and out of the castle. whilst she enjoyed playing and enjoyed the sorts of quasi-popularity it gave her at her last school it was not really something she wanted to be known for here. once she was outside the sunlight feeling warm against her skin it only took her a few minutes to decide where to go to. as the exams were coming up most people were studying inside. some were outside soaking p the sun as they read. or taking a break with friends. she wanted a corner where she had a little privacy. she followed the wall of the castle around up onto the cliffs. She wasn't sure if this area was out of bounds or not but at least it was quieter than the lawn.
Finding a nice sunny spot she sat herself down took the guitar out from its case and started to strum it her fingers naturally moving across the strings and the frets creating a melody though not anything specific. she started humming along adding odd words to the tune pulling sentences from random as she went. casually repeating a little bit into a chorus. though she was not really aiming at anything. she was more just watching the world pass, and letting her fingers go where they wanted. she wasn't a great player, which was why she liked to play alone. but it was always something she had found helped her to relax.

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur knew she should be studying for her upcoming exams, as they were really around the corner now, but today she just couldn't bring herself to focus. Unfortunately, she'd had a few of those days lately. Hopefully, her grades wouldn't be abysmal. She had told herself she would start studying after this walk, but somehow that thought had made the Gryffindor extend the walk more and more. She was now near the cliffs, a place she quite liked. Maybe after she just peeked over the edge she would return to the dormitory to study. Almost definitely she would. But as she approached, something curious caught her attention and made her forget all about her resolutions to study. She heard music! Curiously, she drew closer to the sound. As she approached, she noticed a red haired girl playing the guitar. Fleur recognized her from the Halloween Feast, and smiled. "So, you're an angsty teenage vampire who can make music, huh?" She asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked at Willow. She gestured to herself. "I was the Welsh Green." She knew she hadn't been the easiest to recognize in her costume.

 

[Willow Cullen]

Willow could see someone heading around the cliffs but didn't want to stop playing. it was one girl by the looks of it she would probably just pass and not bother her. as the girl drew closer she realised it was a girl she had seen in the common room a few times, another redhead. the girl stopped by her and she stopped playing.
Willow stopped and looked at the girl as she said an angsty teenage vampire who played music. it was clearly a reference to her Halloween costume. she tried to remember talking to the girl. she was sure she would have remembered talking to a redhead. she opened her mouth to make comment on this at the same time the girl said that she had been the Welsh green. well, that made sense she had had a huge dragon head on and she hadn't actually seen the girl underneath. "ahh fleur the dragon. I guess that is what makes angsty teen vampires angsty. she said smiling. "If they played Quidditch they would be preppy teen vampires" she said rambling a little.

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur smiled and took a seat next to the younger girl, she seemed friendly enough and hopefully wouldn't mind a short chat. Anything to prolong her procrastination from her studies. "It does make sense, it fits." She said with a grin. "I don't play Quidditch on the team, but I would have liked to if the team was less full. I guess that makes me a preppy dragon?" She asked with a grin. "What year are you in?" She knew the girl was younger than her, but the difference didn't seem to be too big. In a way, she reminded Fleur a little of her younger sister Emma, though an older version of her. It made her instantly like Willow, despite not really knowing her that well. "It's pretty awesome you can play like that." She said, gesturing to the guitar. Fleur didn't know how to play any instruments. "Can you play many songs?"

 

[Willow Cullen]

willow couldn't help but laugh when Fleur said that she liked quidditch so would be a preppy dragon. "I like quidditch too, I actually enjoy playing but I don't want to join the team as that is what my mum wants me to do, so it looks like we are both also preppy dragons what position do you like to play?" she said. to her twelve-year-old self, it made sense even if to the outside world it seemed like silly reasoning.
"oh I am the second year, how about you?" she knew fleur was older than her. but she didn't know how much, she could guess the third year as she had seemed to have friends in common with her cousin but wasn't sure. she could be the fourth year but probably wasn't much older than that.
when the girl said she played well and asked if she knew any songs she blushed slightly. she was a little self-conscious about her playing it had been a help at her old school but here it just felt a little unusual. 'I know a couple of muggle songs. but I don't really play much. I just like to put a few chords together and play whatever sounds good.

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur raised her eyebrows slightly when the girl said she didn't want to join the team because her mother wanted her to. Why was that a bad thing? "Wouldn't it make you a preppy angsty teen vampire?" She asked with a smile. "Why aren't you joining the team if your mother wants you to?" Fleur was never really one for teenage rebellion of any kind. She knew her mother would support her in anything she did, but she had never actively encouraged Fleur to pursue Quidditch. In fact, she thought her parents were a little relieved when she didn't join the team. It was a sport that caused a lot of accidents. "I'm in third year, so just one above you." She said with a smile. It made sense, the girl didn't seem much younger than Fleur was. She could tell Willow was a little embarrassed about her question about the songs, so she smiled encouragingly at the other redhead. "Hey, that's loads more than I can do." She said with a shrug. "It's cool. But if you want to continue playing by yourself I can leave. No hard feelings." She knew it couldn't be easy to suddenly have an unwanted audience, and if she wanted to practice maybe Fleur was blocking her progress.

 

[Willow Cullen]

Willow smiled as fleur said that she would be a preppy angsty teen vampire. "I guess it will depend on what mood I am in" she said. vampires were the only thing that she didn't have in her family as far as she knew. at fleurs question, she shook her head. "I don't want to join the team because she wants me to. she wants me to be like a mini version of almost her. and I want to be me" she said.
Willow nodded when the girl said that she was a third year, she had guessed as much. "cool, so you are in the same year as my cousin chante, she was at the Halloween feast too dressed as a wild thing" she said.
at the older girls response to asking about the music, her blush deepened a little. "thanks, I went to a muggle primary school and it was a way to fit in" she said. "you don't have to go, did you want me to show you a couple of chords?" she asked offering the girl her guitar. it wasn't something she would normally do but she enjoyed fleurs company she was so easy going. she could see her becoming a good friend if she tried. "Is a leftie flip, so you may find things back to front" she said.

Out of Character:

sorry it isn't great. and i actually see fleur and willow getting on quite well and being good friends in the future

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur laughed softly at Willow's comment. She was really starting to enjoy spending time with the girl. She really had a sense of humor. "So maybe that's your superpower, switching between angsty and preppy at will." She said with a smile. The girl's comment about her mother made Fleur pause, then nod. It wasn't like she had a similar relationship with her own mother, but she could understand why it was frustrating for the younger girl. Fleur herself knew she wasn't much like her mother, who was gentle and sweet and creative in a way Fleur wasn't. If anyone was like her, it was Lars. Though her mother had never forced him to like painting the way she did. It was one thing he just picked up from her as he grew older, something Fleur and her sisters had mostly ignored in favor of their own interests. "That would suck. I can understand why you wouldn't want to be a copy of her." Fleur said, thinking it over. "Do you have siblings?" Fleur thought maybe if the girl had a brother or sister, her mother would shift her focus to them. She nodded when the girl mentioned her cousin, remembering the other girl joining them at halloween. She knew Chante from classes, but didn't know the girl personally. "Oh, that's cool. She seems nice." Hearing Willow say she didn't have to go made Fleur smile, and her smile widened when the girl offered to show her a couple of chords. "Sure! That sounds awesome." She said, taking the guitar gingerly. Gently, she let her fingers touch the snares before looking at Willow. "Am I holding it right?"

Out of Character:

No it's good! And I feel the same way they're a good mix.

 

[Willow Cullen]

Willow had to laugh when Fleur said that that must be her superpower. that was exactly her, switching between being like her dad and mum when they had been in school, at least that is what she had gathered from the stories they told on those long evenings when they had family over and drank a little more than normal and talked about the old days. "you got me better than you think" she said as if in explanation to the laughter.
she nodded as fleur empathised with her regarding her mum. "yeah" was all she could think of saying. or rather that was all she felt like she could say, although she liked fleur and was sure she wouldn't be put off by the topic she didn't feel like she knew her well enough to say, 'but she would never want me to be exactly like her as no matter how much he loves her werewolves she would never let me get bitten" that would have just been asking for the kind of trouble she didn't want to face today. instead, she answered the girl's other question. "no, i don't have any siblings, but we do have a dog" she said. it wasn't like the dog was a sibling that would just be weird, but the animal was part of the family. "do you have any siblings?" she asked wondering if the girl did.
When Fleur took her guitar willow nodded to say she was holding it right. , now put your fingers here, here and here" she said pointing to specific frets on the board, once it looked like she had them right she said "now strum the strings with your other hand and you have a g chord" she said. g had always been her favourite chord she wasn't sure why it just had always sounded the best and most balanced chord to her.

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur had been joking around, but was glad Willow felt like she understood her. Even though they had only been talking for a little while, Fleur was starting to really like the other redhead. She had a feeling they could easily be good friends, and they probably would be already if they had been in the same year. Willow didn't say much more about her mother, so Fleur didn't bring it up. Maybe she didn't want to talk about it. Instead, she listened to her response to her question. It was always strange for Fleur to imagine having no siblings. Maybe Willow didn't mind that at all, but Fleur felt a twinge of pity for her anyway. "A dog is fun. I have a cat, his name is Jack." She said, focusing on that part of her answer in case some of her pity would shine through. "I have three younger siblings. My brother Lars is ten and will be coming to Hogwarts next year. Then I have younger twin sisters, they're eight." Fleur decided to stop there, before she started boring the girl with an elaborate description of her family.

The guitar felt strange in her hands, and she shifted it slightly until it was comfortable in her grasp. Even though the school had a room with instruments in it, she had never held a guitar before. Up until a few minutes ago, she'd never had the desire to. But now that she was holding it, it felt pretty cool. She tried her best to follow Willow's instructions about her fingers, her tongue sticking out of her mouth slightly as she focused on her fingers. It felt strange to put them in that position, a little unnatural, but once she got the hang of it it wasn't too uncomfortable. She had a feeling if she kept it up for long the snares would start digging into her fingers though. As she followed the girl's instructions, Fleur was surprised when a pleasant sounding noise emitted from the guitar once she strummed it. She grinned at her. "Hey, that's not bad!" She said, strumming it again and repeating it a few times.

 

[Willow Cullen]

willow smiled when Fleur said that she had a cat called jack. she was then proven right when fleur talked about her siblings. "three siblings. and two of them twins. that must have been a busy household" she said. in reality three siblings wasn't a huge family compared to some families at the school. but for someone like Willow who didn't have any, it seemed like a small army of smaller children.
Looking at the guitar in the girl's hand she could tell that it didn't look comfortable. then again it didn't look comfortable in many peoples hands. she had seen someone who was good at playing the guitar get halfway through a song before stopping and asking what was wrong with it. as Fleur played a g she clapped a couple of times. "that sounds good now try this." she said. showing her another chord. "if you put your fingers there, there, and there. and don't play the string on the top that is an A chord" she said. she thought maybe it would make more sense if she had picked an easy tune, not chords. but she had picked chords now so that was what she had.

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur paused when Willow commented the household she grew up in must have been busy. She supposed it was, but as she hadn't really known anything different she couldn't say she really thought of it as strange. Fleur shrugged. "I'm used to it, I guess. I think having no siblings would be really quiet." Too late, she realized she might have made Willow feel bad with that remark. She grimaced. "Sorry," she added. "Sometimes it would be kind of nice to have no siblings around too, honestly. The twins keep getting into my stuff while I'm at Hogwarts. Especially Emma, she's the troublemaker." Fleur shook her head, remembering how Iris always confessed to her tearfully after Emma convinced her to do something. But somehow, she kept being talked into it time and time again.

The guitar felt surprisingly light as she held it, though she knew the way she was holding it was probably not entirely right. It didn't feel comfortable in her hands, the way it had when the other girl had held it. It had looked like it belonged there, and with Fleur it just felt strange. But she was grateful to Willow for letting her play a little. It really was a fun experience. She paid close attention as Willow explained her how to put her fingers next, narrowing her eyes in concentration as she moved them. Once she got it, she strummed the guitar and grinned. "Wow! It sounds totally different. I mean, I know that's the goal of changing to a different chord, but it's still cool I made that happen." She said, her eyes shining with excitement. "When you play, do you switch between these chords quickly?" Fleur couldn't imagine. She'd needed what felt like almost an entire minute to change from the G to the A chord. How did guitar players do that?