Open Won't make my mama proud

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Lottie was just not feeling those robes her mum kept buying for her. She had of course worn them growing up in a wizarding family, but only on rare occasions. Her family had really let her wear whatever muggle or wizard clothing she preferred. And while the robes kind of reminded her of dresses, they weren't pretty or cute. They were very blah, and her mother had told her she was not allowed to alter them in any way.

Thankfully, they had taken a break from shopping to come to the park, and her mum was busy with Margot over by the swings while Lottie sat on a rock nearby, kicking at the dirt. She didn't want to worry about school or learning a bunch about magic. She just wanted to exist and play. The eleven-year-old picked up a stick and started drawing in the mud to her side.

 

[Harrison Irvine]

Harrison normally did not mind being dragged along to Brightstone when there was shopping to be done. He did, however, mind when it was just his mom, his sister and him while his two younger siblings got to stay at home with dad. Mom's idea had been that she wanted to get a headstart on some school shopping for both Summer and him but the reality had turned out to be far from it. When his sister was present it could never be just a quick trip. Instead, she had put on her prettiest smile and convinced their mom she really needed some new clothes. Which meant Harrison had been getting dragged from shop to shop until he had finally argued loud enough for them to do something he wanted to do. Not that he really cared, as long as it wasn't clothes shopping.

Their mom had eventually taken them to the park and while Summer stuck with her while she ran into some acquaintances Harrison couldn't get away from the both of them quick enough. He loved them, he just disliked being outnumbered when it came to arguing where they should go. Especially when he was so used to having his brother to back him up. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shuffled around near the swings for a minute before deciding he was bored enough to actually head over and talk to another kid. "You enjoy poking the mud?" He casually asked a girl sitting on a rock, stopping perhaps a little too near to where she was dragging a stick through the mud. It hardly seemed like fun, but it was still a better distraction than anything he had been doing so far.

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Charlotte was about halfway through her abstract mud masterpiece when she looked up to a voice. "Poking? I'm not poking. I'm drawing," she said with a bit of an irritated tone. There was a clear rhyme and reason to her art, and obviously this boy wasn't imaginative enough to see that. "You can draw on that side if you're gonna," she said, not wanting him to mess up her art area.

 

[Harrison Irvine]

Harrison looked down at the mud from a different angle when the girl stated she was drawing, trying to figure out what she was going for. "Right, yeah, that's definitely a..." He trailed off, waiting for her to fill in the gaps. Deciding he had nothing better to do anyways he sat down a little bit away from where she was drawing in the mud. He poked his finger down into the mud twice and then dragged it along beneath those dots, creating a smiley face. "Done." He grinned back at the girl before wiping his hand on his shorts. Who needs a stick anyways?

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Charlotte made a face that the boy couldn't see, a little irritated that he didn't seem to be at least minding his own business and would rather make unhelpful comments about her artwork. She continued until the boy spoke again, and she looked over at his drawing in the dirt. "I guess art is not your best skill," she said, surprised that he only drew a smiley face. "What's your name?" she asked before looking at his smiley face and adding some eyebrows with her stick.

 

[Harrison Irvine]

Harrison was too busy contently looking at the smiley he had made to notice anything the girl did, raising his eyebrows when she commented on his 'art'. "Not the best, nah. Definitly top ten though." He shrugged, poking his finger into the mud again to draw a little sun. It wasn't as if art was super difficult either. He had seen paintings that looked like a baby had thrown paint all over it be considered 'art' and those looked horrible. At least everyone could tell exactly what he had been drawing. He squinted for a second when her stick interfered with his smiley face before deciding that the eyebrows weren't a bad addition to it. "Harrison." He responded easily as he glanced up again. "Yours?"

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Charlotte smiled when the boy suggested art was in his top ten skills. Her four-year-old sister drew better than him. "I'm Charlotte," she said, trying to place his name in her brain. He looked around her age. "Do you go to school yet somewhere?" she asked, wondering if having friends before going to school would make her feel a little better. But probably not.

 

[Harrison Irvine]

Harrison wasn't one to put a lot of energy into other people until they had proven to be worth it, so even if Charlotte was an easy name to remember he wasn't sure if he actually would. "Nah, I'm heading to Hogwarts this coming year." He replied to her question, drawing a circle around the smiley face and scribbling a few wonky lines on top to give it some hair.

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Charlotte was surprised to meet someone that she might be attending school with at the park. She thought "might" because she was partially still convinced she could make her mother homeschool her or let her go to school in the United States for a little bit so she could see her dad. "Wow.... are you excited?" she asked, trying not to show any feeling about the matter as she watched him add to the smiley face masterpiece.

 

[Harrison Irvine]

Harrison shrugged when Charlotte asked him how he felt about heading to school. "Don't know, not a big fan of anything school related." He answered truthfully. "I'm sure there's plenty of fun stuff to do around there too though." He added with a slight smirk. "What about you?" Harrison asked curiously, wondering if she already attended Hogwarts or was meant for another option. Like one of those fancy schools far away.

 

[Charlotte Astor Williams]

Charlotte nodded as he asked her the same question, glad to hear he wasn't quite the school type either. "Yeah, same. Although, I'm still hoping I might go to a different school, but I doubt it," she continued, looking over at her mum as she caught Margot almost falling off the side of the playground. She made eye contact, and her mum gave her a thumbs up. Charlotte just turned away and looked back at the mud drawings, smushing all her's out and leaving the smiley face masterpiece alone. Getting a better look at the boy, she thought he looked vaguely familiar and then realized she had seen him around Daycare. There were a surprising number of kids that filtered through that place, though, and since she spent quite a bit of time hanging out with her Nan instead of always being in the classroom she was supposed to be in, she was guessing he didn't recognize her either. "Do you see any water anywhere?" she asked, trying to shake some of the mud off her hands but also not wanting to go to her mum to have her clean them.