Closed To the Top

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy was feeling somewhat refreshed. It was a beautiful day out, with a few clouds in the sky, the temperature a brisk twelve degrees. Lucy had layered up a bit but since they'd be moving she figured she wouldn't need as many layers. It was just nice to be outdoors, and nice to be with her friend. A break from home life which she promised she wouldn't think about. Not with the arguments. Not with everything seemingly going wrong.

Mentally shaking that off, Lucy smiled, a backpack on her back with some supplies and food for a picnic once they reached the top. They were in Auckland, Lucy's hometown, climbing Maungawhau. It was a short walk, only around forty minutes, but it was a nice trek and once they reached the top of the hill they could look out onto the city. "Have you been to Auckland before?" Lucy asked Audrey as they started up the hill.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey may have had to downplay the dueling tournament loss a bit to her parents when she got home, but she could tell them she'd helped Ravenclaw win the Quidditch Cup. And, seeing as though that was what they seemed to care most about, things at home had actually managed to be somewhat peaceful for once. But it was always good to get out, and Audrey practically jumped at the chance to go on a hike with Lucy. Almost literally - she very nearly hopped out the window on her broom, if it wasn't for the fact that flying a broom to where they were going was a bit of a bad move.

Audrey couldn't help but be excited, though, it was nice to actually get out and especially because she was spending time with one of her best friends. "Not really! I think maybe passed through once or twice, but never really got to enjoy the sights." Sure, a hike was tiring, but it was nothing the two of them couldn't handle. Audrey fiddled with her water bottle lid as she walked. "You'll so have to show me some of the best places to go."

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy nodded as they walked along the track. "I don't know if I'd say it's a great city," Lucy said honestly, "but it's home so I like it. I might be able to show you the area I live once we get to the top!" Lucy said excitedly. "There's actually a few mountains you can climb, that aren't really mountains, they're more big hills, but we call them mountains for some reason." Lucy paused, realising she'd been talking mostly about herself in a roundabout way. "How about your hometown? What's that like?"

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey shook her head. "It already looks cool from here, and we aren't even at the top yet," she said, earnestly. There was a sort of endearing quality to her wide eyed enthusiasm at the sights, which no doubt to Lucy were mundane and every day but new and exciting to Audrey. "I guess all the stairs keep you in practice for when you get to go climbing in the holidays, right?" She hesitated a little at Lucy's question, tapping two fingers to her lips as she thought. "I don't know if I have one," she admitted, shrugging. "I mean, like, I was born somewhere, obviously, Sydney I think, but we moved around so much and only stayed in like, you know, the community," she said somewhat conspiratorially, having decided to be on her best behaviour and not say anything about magic when muggles might overhear. "It's all always so small and boring, not anything like this."

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy laughed about the stairs. It felt like it'd been a while since she'd laughed so freely. "Yeah, they kinda do, I suppose." She continued their trek, intrigued with Audrey's answer. "Oh, wow. See, I've moved maybe once but I was so young and it was just to a different neighbourhood. Is there a reason you moved so much?" Lucy asked, wondering why people moved in the first place. But she'd always been happy with where she lived so it was hard for her to imagine. "Well, when you're a grownup, you can go where ever you like! You could live in the biggest city in the world if you wanted to, right?" Lucy said somewhat naively.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey focused on taking consistent steps for a moment, one foot after the other. She supposed she'd never really considered that her upbringing was especially strange, but it seemed like it may well have been. "Mum and dad played and coached. So, they went wherever teams wanted them to go." Audrey was just slightly careful not to actually say too much in case of being overheard, not that it was that much of a risk but she did just want to do the right thing. She did perk up a bit at Lucy's comment, nodding vigorously. "Oh, yeah, absolutely! I want to see the world after I finish school. What about you? I bet there's all kinds of hills and mountains out there just waiting to be scaled!"