Times Like These

[Andrea Kallos]

Andrea Kallos was perched on one of the thick branches that sprawled out from the great big oak tree beside the lake. Her legs swung freely at each side creating a slight breeze within the hot bubble that had Hogwarts trapped for the past three months. She hated the hot temperatures of the summers and having lived in New Zealand all of her life one would think that she would be so accustomed to it that she wouldn't want anything different. But Andie was one of those people who hated the blistering heat and whose pale skin burned uncontrollably from the sun. So being up in a tree on a day like today suited the thirteen year old perfectly. In fact it came as a surrpise to her that the spot hadn't already been taken, but then again, the lake itself seemed like the place to be on sweltering days like this afternoon. Andrea had never actually been in the lake before, she walked its edge once before, but she never actually went swimming in it. It was something that she never really wanted to do especially with so many students around. So for now, sitting up in her favourite tree was enough.

Sitting in the large oak reminded her of times back before she ever went to Hogwarts when she used to skip school and sit on one of the trees in the local park. Most days she sat and watched the people go by and wondered what on earth being a Witch meant for her. While other days her time was spent carving into the trees with her pen knife. Her engravings were detailed and sometimes took days to be completed and as modest as Andrea was about them, they were beautiful. She missed being able to carve into something so freely, but knowing she'd probably be expelled from Hogwarts if she was seen carrying a knife she dared not bring one, besides seeing as Hogwarts was the best thing to have ever happened to her, she didn't want to risk it. Andie never actually told anyone how much she loved it here, in this world of magic, it was like she finally belonged somewhere. Andrea sat facing the great big trunk and her fingers began to pick at the bark watching the small pieces crumble and fall to the ground. It was times like these where Andie became so ignorant of everything and everyone around her, it was times like these when she was happiest.

 

[Oscar Fossil]

At any point in a wizards life there are a number of decision which decide the future. Oscar Fossil was now with the ever prominent decision of what classes he would pick for the next year. He had no idea what would be a good thing and what be hard. Oscar wasn't sure of which choice would be best suited for his brain. The insane heat of the Ravenclaw dorm did not help towards his thinking. Oscar wasn't the type to sit around on his own thinking but then, he knew that he had to at least take 5 minutes to consider what was going on in his life, and how well he was doing in subjects. Something he really did not actually want to think about. Ofcourse he was very much behind the rest of his year, but he was ever so slowly catching up. It was just each time he thought he was close to being completely caught up, the class moved further ahead. Now, if this was just some out door race, Oscar would've caught up and would be on track, but it wasn't and he was stand at the back waiting for them to come back to him. Oscar had begun to focus himself upon the work he was trying to completely, but the young Ravenclaw found it too hard to focus, at most it was just too hard to focus in the stuffy warm, common room. So Oscar head outside. Oscar didn't think that the reason he felt so warm was that he was wearing jeans and converses. Of course he wore a short sleeved top but it made for little cooling. He was feeling warm, and the outdoors was just as. He didn't feel the same cooling as he would on a slightly more autumn day. In fact, it really did feel warmer. But, it was not something that played hugely on his mind, in fact Oscar got over it pretty quickly. He was glad to be out in the sun, feeling the real warmth against his skin. Knowing that he really would not get more work or thinking done, Oscar changed his mind set.

The large oak tree came into view as Oscar walked the ground, that area would provide shade, a little shade so Oscar could just sit. He had missed the ground of hogwarts they had come to be the only part of school that Oscar 100% enjoyed all the time. It was odd since it wasn't like he'd actually spent enough time anywhere to make that decision but, Oscar had, and he knew it was the right one. The hogwarts ground were the only place that Reminded Oscar of the many times, he just left the school, and went off on explorations of the wider world. Oscar knew he really hadn't meant to be doing that, but the boy could never help himself from just leaving. Oscar finally got to the shade, and looked out to the lake. He didn't want to go swimming. Oscar was good at most sports but he barely ever went swimming. It was at this point that Oscar looked up and noticed. "Andie?" Oscar blurted out questioning, unsure as to if it was really his best friend or not.

 

[Andrea Kallos]

The bark dug into the soft skin just beneath her fingernails, making Andrea withdraw her hand from the tree trunk rapidly. The tiny piece of bark came out rather easily however, leaving only a slight mark in her skin which soon faded. It was obvious that picking the loose bark of the tree wasn't going to entertain her for long, but that small piercing was enough to end it altogether. She shook her throbbing finger loosely until she heard a very familiar voice call up to her. She peaked her head out and looked down to see that she was right in pressuming the voice belonged to her best friend. "Oscar!?" She said with both feelings of shock and happiness escaping into her tone of voice. The boy seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth without a word and it was a first for Andie, as she longed to see her friend. Andrea Kallos longed to see another human being? It was unlike her. Completely unlike her.

She smiled before tucking her head back in, eliminating him from her view and carefully stood up on the thick branch. She wasn't afraid of heights but she had been sitting down for so long now that she only realised how high up she actually was. Placing both her hands on the branch above her, Andie leaned forward slightly and looked down at Oscar once more, a smaller version of that same smile still lingering on her pale face. "So are you coming up here or what?" She asked with her right eyebrow perked slightly.

 

[Oscar Fossil]

Oscar had not seen Andie in a long while. Since he'd left the school which was almost a whole year ago Oscar had not bothered to say goodbye. And he was beginning to feel like he should've. But, what had happened was not really important to Oscar, he was just happy to see her. His best friend. The only girl that Oscar got along with as if they'd known each other forever. Oscar liked how different they sometimes were and then how they thought along the same lines. Oscar was happy that it hadn't taken that long to see her but he knew that it was also pretty obvious the places Andie would be. Oscar looked up and nodded. He had to first of all figure out how to get up. For a thirteen year old, Oscar was strong and quick. His dance and sport background made it easy for him to begin to climb. Pushing his way through branches and being sure to always have a firm grip on each branch Oscar climbed. Being a ravenclaw, Oscar was aware that climbing trees was not normal behaviour. Most Ravenclaws sat around reading and wondering about the next week of classes. Oscar liked to think of himself as a part time Ravenclaw. Acting only like them when he needed to or wanted to. Oscar had a policy of not caring what others thought, so it made it pretty easy. Oscar was soon at the same point as Andie, and since she was stood up, Oscar stood, putting his hands on to the branch above them. Climbing trees was always an amazing thing. The view, the way people looked so small, and the way no one ever seemed to notice people that sat in trees. Oscar let his eyes scan the area around them, the way the lake reflected the sun, and the Castle dominated the ground and sky. He then looked to his best friend and just smiled. A it's-been-too-long smile. He knew that was his fault but it really had been too long.

"Andie. Why am I not surprised to find you up a tree. And to think I looked for you in the library while getting this terms books" Oscar said with a smile. "It's been way too long. I've really missed hanging out with you. Hanging around in trees is my favourite thing to do with my spare time." Andie was Oscar's only Gryffindor friend so far. Oscar only had a few friends, and since he'd gone away he'd fallen out of touch with most of them. "So, how've you been?" Oscar asked, wanting to do a quick catch up so they could get round to having some fun. Since Andie was a fun person, and because of Andie so was Oscar. It was just the way things were. And Oscar also loved doing crazy-ish things as long as he had his best friend by his side.

 

[Andrea Kallos]

Andrea hide away any signs of relief she had on her face, to see him again, put away any tinges of annoyance that he had disappeared without a single word to her or - she hoped - anybody else. There was something about Oscar Fossil that had changed Andie, deeply affected her. It was probably because Andrea had never really expected to let someone in like that when she first came to Hogwarts, of course she hadn't entirely opened up, but he had certainly dropkicked that barrier that so many other people were either afraid or unable to penetrate. And so it was for this reason, that Andie hoped he hadn't spoken to any of his other friends before he departed because, Andrea treasured Oscar as one of her closest friends and would have liked to think, that he felt the same way.

Putting all this aside however, Andrea watched as Oscar climbed the large tree and as he got a closer to her she shuffled over a little to make room for him. Her hands still gripped the branch above her, a little tighter now. There was no way Andrea could keep the smile off her face, it was one of those moments were smiling was pretty much all she could do, her eyes were glued to him still as he finally joined her on the branch. She looked him up and down, he didn't really look much different, a little taller maybe, but not by much. "The library? When have you ever seen me in the library?" She asked through her smile with an added eye roll. It was true, Andrea had barely stepped foot in the library over the past two years, which was something she probably would regret in the forthcoming years but right now, it wasn't bothering her. What was bothering her now was that she couldn't give Oscar a right shove for not warning her about his abrupt leave, she figured, standing on a branch mightn't be the best or safest time for it.

"Not important." She mumbled in response to his question. "How have you been? No. Actually, where have you been?" She asked quickly, her smile had faded from her face at this point leaving no evidence at all that it was even there. Although her tone suggested otherwise, her eyes still held a certain fondness towards her friend as she stared at him with a more or less, blank expression on her face. She didn't really understand why she was getting so worked up over all of this. If this was any other situation, Andrea probably would have carried on with her own business, perhaps get up to some sort of mischief, ignorant of the fact that this person had all but abandoned her in the huge castle. Probably ignorant of that fact that his person had left at all. But it wasn't just any person who had left, it was Oscar. Which changed the situation entirely. Although it didn't fully explain why she was getting so weird about it, in some way, because it was Oscar, it justified her reasons for what she had said in the way she had said it.

Out of Character:

Apologies for the late replies! So not cool of me.

 

[Oscar Fossil]

It was pretty much as expected. A retort from Andie about the library and boom, Oscar felt like nothing at all had changed in his absence. His friend, his best friend was almost exactly how he'd left her. This caused a small smile to appear on the boy's face. He knew it was not always going to just be simply them against all other forces but, he was happy to just having that feeling again. Oscar had never felt so normal and kid like before. And yet Andie seemed to draw it out of him. Oscar had been the kind of boy who took almost everything too seriously. He didn't care much for school, but he was pretty much acting older than he was and desparately trying to not be caught under his sisters shadow while also wanting to be better than her. It had been a pretty hard task, but now, he was making his own way. And Lily was a little less of a sister. Oscar knew that he hadn't exactly done the best thing just by leaving. He'd gone with out a word. With out a breath or hint. It had all been rather sudden. And it had been a long time. Oscar didn't like thinking on it too much. It was pointless, he'd get himself in knots about it. It wasn't something that he liked to think about all that much. Not because it was horrific, or scarring, just because he wanted away from what was left of a torn family. Two torn families. Oscar shook his head lightly and looked back to Andie. He was smiling though, he noted that her smile had somewhat faded. He was slightly startled by her question. He hadn't expected Andie to be the one to point blank ask where he'd been. She had never seemed like the type to care. But, Oscar hadn't really had a best friend like Andie before, so a lot was new to him. Her sharp tone, and blank expression told Oscar that a) lying would most likely be greeted with a punch and b) she was just looking for a simple answer. They were friends and friends told each other things, so after holding Andie's gaze for a few seconds, Oscar looked down at the ground below them. He took a deep breath.

"Family issues. It started when my gran died middle of last term. Don't worry, I'd never met her. Then after the funeral, my sister recongised this guy, he was Lily's friend, Livia's dad. Livia died when I was 2 or 3. Livia's mum, told us all that Livia is Lily's half sister, they share a dad. Who was the guy I thought was my dad. But turns out I have a half sister and a half brother. Lily is my half sister, we share a mum and I have a half brother called Adrian Delaney who is 16, a muggle and a dancer. So this was a lot to deal with." Oscar said, every so often pausing to think that he'd gotten it right. He'd missed out the part about his dad having killed Livia through the rage that she wasn't his. After that revalation, the others all seemed to spill out. Oscar didn't really know how to feel about it all. So, he'd come back to school. "It was getting too weird and strenuous, so I made up my mind and came back to school. I kind of regret leaving without telling you where I was going. I didn't think to tell anyone. Sorry" Oscar added on quickly. He met Andie's eyes again. he was actually sorry about leaving without much of a whisper. He hadn't had much time. "Anyway, How about you? How have you been?" Oscar knew that she probably wouldn't be interested in answering but he knew it would be worth a shot at moving the conversation, Oscar strongly disliked talking about himself too much. Especially about his family.

Out of Character:

Tis no problem!