Zero to Hero

[Maya Fergusson]

Maya had been hoping that over the course of her one month of school, things might have started to look up. Apparently, she was wrong. Upon returning home in June, she had discovered, to her horror, that after being married for approximately six months, her father and brand new stepmother, were expecting a child. Three months pregnant. Maya didn't know what she was supposed to feel, nor what she was supposed to say, but either way she was not happy about any of this. She had only recently accepted the fact that her daddy had gotten remarried, and now she was expected to deal with all of this too? Sighing, Maya pulled her hair into a plait reminiscent of the one seen in Frozen and walked out of the dorm and down to the lakefront. It was not exactly cold, but its wasn't a hot day either and so she developed light goosebumps on her legs when she sat in the slightly damp grass. It hadn't been raining, but condensation from the morning had gathered around and as she was sitting by the lake, it made sense for there to be some dew. Well she thought, I don't have to worry about any of that here, I can just worry about school.

Standing up and pulling her vest tighter, Maya dusted off her skirt and walked closer to the waters edge. She had heard a rumour that there was a giant creature in there. She hoped not because that would be scary, she also hoped that if it was in there it wouldn't mind her tossing rocks in. She'd never really tried to skip stones before, but it could be fun. Smiling to herself as she leaned down to pick up and rock, Maya drew back her hand and tossed the rock into the lake. Maya then frowned when the rock simply plopped into the water and wasn't heard from again. Clearly she had done it wrong, but she didn't really know how. She thought back to those times the kids from the tribes used to do it. What had they done? Flicked a flat stone along the surface of the water. Well, first thing first, her rock had been much too round. She would need to find another one. After a few moments, she succeeded and found a flatter stone, though it was still quite round. She twisted it and turned it every which way, trying to imagine it across the water. She shrugged and drew her arm back once more. Once again the rock simply sunk below the surface. She frowned, what was she doing wrong?
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[Tomas Hayes]

Tomas was not looking forward to the rest of his school career. He was now the eldest of four Hayes' at the school, and he missed being the only one. He could live with Ellington. He could accept Keye being here. But Leander? That was not going to slide. Spending his holidays with that ridiculous woman his father married, and being instructed to care for his baby brother was impossible for the Slytherin. If Leander got himself into trouble, it was not his business. But then he was reminded that, yes it was. Leander shared his name, and that meant that if that stupid, dirty pick-pocket got himself into trouble, it would reflect upon Tomas as well. Especially since they were in the same house. He had to share a common room with that ridiculous monstrosity. His father should have sent him back to Italy with the rest of his siblings. Plenty of children lived with their grandparents and uncles and aunts. Leander had next to no business being in Tomas' life. Tommy was here first, he was Austiin's son for longer, and Leander could just go on and pack his bags and get out. Now Austiin was telling him to babysit for him, to protect Leander, make sure he doesn't get hurt. Tomas was not paid enough to care for the boy. If his father had such a worry for him, he should have homeschooled him and been done with it - it wasn't like he couldn't homeschool all of them, he just doesn't have to time apparently. Not with his job and new wife.

Tomas, still fuming at his newest assignment, walked down to the lake front, and realised that there was someone there. Fortunately, no-one he knew. He could not deal with Victoria at this time, and only wanted some peace of mind. However, that annoying clunking the girl was making with her failed stones was not remotely soothing. The Slytherin watched her carefully, finding her technique all wrong. He plucked a reasonably flattened, smooth-edged stone from the ground, and stood beside her. She was thinking too much, putting far too much force into the swing, causing the stone to become heavy. It needed an even swing, he was told it was more aerodynamic or something. She also was not crouched enough, which made a big difference. His rock had a few dimples on its underside, but this allowed him to grip it. He showed her his gripping technique, showing that it was a stone that fit nicely into his hands, and then threw it, his arm whipping across his chest, and the stone skipping several times before succumbing to gravity. He then located another good stone for throwing, and presented her with it, before finding another for himself.
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[Maya Fergusson]

It didn't matter what was going through Maya's mind, she could always appreciate that Hogwarts was a beautiful place. There was definitely a contrast between the school and he home in Alice Springs, an entire continent of contrast really, but she could always find the beauty in a place like this and Hogwarts just brought the charm every time. To be honest though, even though she started out here and got homesick all the time, she was beginning to really warm up to the place and she had a rather sinking feeling that it was because she no longer wanted to be at home anymore and that was making her kind of sad. She loved her home and she missed her brothers, but her new Stepmother, it just didn't feel right and she just couldn't be happy for her father, though she knew her mother would want her to be. The woman was a monster, she was sure. She hadn't seen it yet, but there was something, she knew there was something and one day when she got proof and was going to expose that evil witches secrets. Well, not evil witch, because she had met witches and most of them were nice, she was even a witch herself, but the point still stood.

Despite wanting help with her rock throwing, Maya was rather surprised when she was actually joined by another person. She had no idea that people even came out this way on a day like this. It wasn't particularly cold, but it was relatively early in the morning and that meant that there was still some dew on the ground. It had managed to give Maya's butt a bit of a wet patch when she'd been sitting on it, but she didn't mind it so much. She'd just change her uniform when she got back to the castle. Classes weren't to start for another couple of hours at least. She watched her companion as he showed her how to skip the stones and was rather obviously surprised when whatever he did worked. A small smile graced her lips as he handed her a stone. One he'd chosen himself. Clearly he knew what he was doing. She watched him one more time as he skipped the stone and tilted her head a little to really get a handle on what he was doing. She saw it just as he left the stone go. He flicked his wrist slightly. She'd not tried that. Nodding to herself, Maya leaned back a little and flicked the stone out onto the lake. It skipped, once, twice and then sank into the water. It was not as grand as her companions, but at least it had skipped a little bit. She turned to the boy and smiled a little bit and inclined her head before looking for another stone. She wondered if she should introduce herself. He looked a bit like the silent type though, so she thought that maybe she would wait.
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme was a busy person currently self inflicted busy but busy nonetheless, he had his OWLs, those important exams but on top of that, he had other things to worry about, as most his age always did. Primarily his worry, or his time was taken up with quidditch, Graeme worked hard for his team, and since he had decided at the start of the year that once he left Hogwarts that he would likely end up in a career of quidditch for as long as he could keep going, he had started imposing a routine on himself, a routine to allow himself the discipline he would need to be a professional player. Just getting him trained and ready, he didn't want to be out of school and struggling to get on any team, though the boy already had a team in mind that he wanted to join. So he felt he needed to be in perfect shape as he grew up and became older and more mature, well relatively more mature. He knew that puberty and his current fitness level would have to work together, he couldn't let himself get fat if he wanted to continue playing. Graeme knew he had to be in the most peak physical condition that he could, if he wanted to help bring victory to Hufflepuff and a career for himself. He liked it, Graeme liked his routine and he liked keeping fit, which was why despite what most would call the ungodly early hour, the Hufflepuff teen found himself on the quidditch field. He loved quidditch and so it made sense that he worked hard at it, at all and any hour of the day. The boy was a hufflepuff after all, and while not necessarily driven he worked hard at the things he enjoyed, one of those being quidditch. The teen was currently on the pitch, he had been practicing shooting balls in to the hoops from different distances, testing himself and trying to figure out where he was strongest. He knew the next game they played they had to win, so whatever he could do to help that was important. He had homework in his bag, where the rest of his gear was, but it lay forgotten, he would get to it eventually, the day had barely begun.

Eventually came sooner than the teen had thought it would, it was fairly early and therefore a little cold and Graeme had been up for a couple of hours, it felt like a good time to end it. He had grown a little tired and the day was turning out to be nice enough that he wanted to go and do something else, enjoy it a little more than just be out in it. He had done all that he needed to for that day in terms of practicing, and so he decided it was perhaps time to get his work done, some of that school stuff he was procrastinating on. The teen flew back to the ground and within a matter of minutes within the changing rooms, had changed into more casual and normal muggle attire rather than attire for sports though his sports attire was pretty muggle too. He was still sweating lightly, and his t-shirt was sticking slightly to his sweaty chest, but he didn't mind. He took a long drink of his water as he packed his things away and then left the changing room, swinging his bag on to his shoulder as he walked out the door. Rather than heading back up to the dorm or even to get food, the teen made his way to the lake front he had homework to do technically and since he had no real interest in it, he knew it would be easier to do someone where he could just relax which was easily the lake front. Graeme as he approached the lake front spotted two people already there which was perhaps a little strange for this time of the day, from his distance he could see one was a guy, and the other a girl, and as he got closer he realised that while he didn't know the guy, he did know the girl, "Maya!" he called as he ventured closer, waving slightly as he did so. He watched her, realising that she was skimming stones, or at least maybe trying to. He closed the distance and placed his bag down. He glanced at the other guy and with a friendly enough smile, "Alright" which was a way of greeting him before turning his attention to Maya, "I'd hug you but I'm sweaty. It's good tae see you though. How you been?"
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[Maya Fergusson]

Maya frowned when she heard her name being called, she would rather be alone right now if she was completely honest. Well, not alone, but she didn't really want to deal with- she spun around when she realised that she actually recognised the voice and grinned when he walked towards her, placing his bag on the ground. "Graeme!" She was always happy to see him and was even happier when he had thought to think of her feelings before hugging her. She laughed though and threw her arms around him in a hug anyway. "Graeme, my dad was a miner remember? And i have three younger brothers and I live in Alice Springs... I think I can handle it." She told him before stepping out of the hug and twirling her hair through her fingers. She ignored her companion for the moment, who really didn't seem to mind anyway, and paid attention to her first friend. "It is so good to see you, I missed you during the break. I've actually not been so good, honestly." She looked down as she spoke, unconsciously sliding the tip of her index fingernail up and down along the side of the thumb beside it. It was a nervous habit she had, she didn't even know she did it. "It's okay though, I'm back here now so I don't have to worry!" That last part was probably a slight fib, but, well, she couldn't exactly tell him that she was miserable because her step monster was having a baby and she wasn't happy about it, she'd sound like an awful person. She was, but she didn't need Graeme to know that.

Maya finally looked towards her companion and smiled at him. "This is my friend Graeme, Graeme, this is... um..." She searched her brain before realising that she didn't actually know his name. She blushed red with embarrassment and ran her fingers through her hair. "Uh, I'm sorry, I uh, I don't actually know your name." She looked at him expectably and laughed nervously. She'd never been in this situation before. "Well, he was helping me to learn to skip stones. I'm ever so bad at it. Did you see me? I was failing even worse before... he... came along!" She told Graeme, not wanting to seem rude for not knowing the boys name. She really hoped that she hadn't been ignoring him her entire Hogwarts stay! That would be absolutely dreadful. "Oh, Graeme guess what?" She gave him a couple seconds before continuing. "My little brother is starting to show signs of magic!" He was only six right now, but she thought it was really amazing. She thought she was the odd one out in more than one case. It had all been pretty terrifying for Maya, but Ethen would be prepared, she would make sure of it. They actually knew what they were dealing with this time.
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[Tomas Hayes]

Tomas was not one for groups. He would have been comfortable with speaking to either Hufflepuff separately, enjoying the lake. However, both at the same time? He was not one for hanging out with strangers that obviously knew each other. He returned the smile he was given by the boy - Graeme - if he were to believe the Hufflepuff girl - Maya. They were hugging, for Merlin's sake. Clearly, they were friends, and Tomas felt like that unnecessary wheel on a tricycle. He returned the stone he was holding to the ground, as he had already made his decision. He would leave, and let them do whatever should please them, as talking to them would not please him in the slightest. They were probably great people, but he was not interested.

Tomas met Maya's eyes as she began to introduce him to Graeme, and apparently realised that she had no idea what his name was. He stared at her in mild amusement, not at all offended, as there was no way she would know his name. If she did know his name, it would have been very disconcerting for him. "Tomas Hayes," he replied quietly, before inclining his head to both of them. "I will be going. Have a good day, Graeme and Maya." He then began returning to the castle.

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It's your choice if he stays or not - just call him back and he'll come. Or I can just leave and let you guys continue. As I said, your choice, ladies.

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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme laughed at her words, though still shook his head at her. He had no interest in getting his sweat on her, it was just disgusting, it didn't matter if she was used to it. He needed to shower before he really touched anyone, or at the very least cool down enough that he stopped sweating so badly and that his t-shirt stopped sticking to him. But, before he could even turn it down, the girl had wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. He tried to hug her back without touching her too much as was glad when she pulled out of it. With a smile clear on his face he just shook his head at her, and her actions. He had missed her during the holidays, it was always good to see her, she was so easy for him to get along with. So simple, he had never once had a problem with it, he frowned a little when she said that she hadn't been okay but was better now, "Do you need Graeme to go beat someone up?" he said with a smile, trying to say simultaneously that he was here for her if she wanted to talk but also that he would help her in anything else that she needed. He didn't like seeing one of his friends in anything other than a perfect mood. He would do anything for most of his friends, even if it meant getting in a fight which Graeme didn't do often at all.

The teen gave a small smile as he was introduced to the other boy, Tomas who had filled in when Maya had clearly been unable to come up with a name. He knew the boy slightly, they were in the same year, so they shared a few classes. Graeme gave a small smile at him as Maya continued to speak, talking about skimming stones, Graeme just grinned at her and then also the boy, who seemed to be a little uncomfortable. Graeme would've said something had Maya not then just said that her brother might just be magical, "That's fantastic!" he said to her brightly, he would've said more, but the other boy, Tomas said he was heading back to the castle, Graeme frowned slightly unsure why he was leaving, "Mate, stay," he told him motioning for him to come back to join them, "This way I can teach you both the perfect rock skimming techniques," Since Maya had been talking about just that it seemed right that it was actually what they did. Graeme picked up a stone, and then showed with practiced ease how to skim it, the rock bounced five times.
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I'm sorry if this is awful, I'm tired, literally the best I could do.

 

[Maya Fergusson]

Maya laughed when Graeme offered to beat someone up. Unfortunately it was not that kind of problem, not so easily fixed so she shook her head. "Nah, I appreciate the offer though. It's okay, I'll figure it out eventually I'm sure. Just need to work out some stuff." Everything that had been happening with Melinda was her problem and no one else's. She was going to just have to deal with it, because her father didn't seem to care how she felt. He'd married that woman, no regard for Maya or the boys what-so-ever. She was beyond angry and was moving closer to shock and utter disdain. Not that she would tell Graeme, she had her reasons for keeping her mouth shut about it all. She was glad that Tomas was able to take over for her, and grinned when he indicated his name. Tomas was a very nice name, quite plain she thought, but not overly boring either. Hayes confused her. She knew an Ellie Hayes, perhaps they were related. "Oh I know, I'm totally excited about it. We won't have to worry about thinking he's possessed either, because now we know what to look out for, you know?" She remembered she'd told Graeme about being scared of magic when she was a child. Blowing up a toaster did that to people.

Maya was about to ask Tomas about his name, and his maybe relation to Ellie when he indicated that he was leaving. She agreed with Graeme, "Yeah, don't leave! I want to learn in a group! I pick things up much faster!" She remembered the day that she and Graeme had met. "Graeme is a wonderful teacher! He taught me my first spell!" She told Tomas, going slightly red when she also remembered that she practically fallen into his arms upon first meeting. How embarrassing. Maya looked back at Graeme. He managed to make his stone skip five times before losing its momentum and Maya just started open mouthed at it. She was never going to be able to skip stones like that, she just knew it. "That's too good for me. I'll never learn to do that." She pouted. She really wasn't much of a physical being. She could do anything with colours, clothes or hair, but not much else. "It's just not meant to be!" She laughed, before picking up another stone and handing it to Graeme. She offered her second one to Tomas. "I'm happy just to watch the two of you do it!"
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I'm so ashamed -_-

 

[Tomas Hayes]

Tomas stopped in his tracks, a sigh getting caught in his throat, causing him to cough slightly. He should have just said goodbye, and ran out of there, leaving no chance for Graeme and Maya to call him back. They seemed like a great pair, really, and he was sure they were very nice and would be loads of fun to spend time with, but it was not his thing. The Slytherin shuffled back to them, not seeing why he was called back. Why would they do this to him? He thought it was pretty clear that he sucked at being sociable and talky. He wasn't even sure what they were going on about - Graeme's teaching ability? Tomas was sure he was a great teacher. He had seen him in classes, and he always appeared to be very busy, and focused, so he was probably a decent tutor to younger years if they needed it. At least someone was, Tomas suspected, however, judging by her reddened face, that something other than Graeme's teaching prowess attracted Maya to him. They both seemed rather nice and he hoped the best for them - if they would stop kidding themselves and just get together. He couldn't really see any issues, except if one of them was homosexual, or something. That'd probably stop things before they got going.

Though he had no use for lessons on skipping stones, as he was rather proficient in that regard, he decided to observe the male Hufflepuff, and nodded his congratulations to him. When offered another stone by Maya, after she decided that she was too rubbish to bother, he shrugged, and took it. "Thank you, Maya." Seeing as he had just decided to be taught by the Hufflepuff, regardless of his own level of skill, he let Graeme go first, and regardless of his throw, Tomas made sure to make his worse in order to avoid showing the Hufflepuff up in front of Maya.
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[Graeme Fergusson]

Graeme enjoyed spending time with Maya and happily would spend time with her while surrounded by others. He didn't know Tomas all that well, Graeme kept mostly to himself, it was really only spending time with Maya and occasionally with the quidditch team that Graeme really came out of his shell. He enjoyed spending time with those people so he did just that. But he didn't know Tomas, he did know that he didn't mind spending time with him if it meant still spending time with Maya, while he'd suggested to leave, Graeme, who still wasn't sure about his feelings towards Maya and the nature they were taking was happy to also have the other company. He grinned happily at Maya when she agreed with him in telling Tomas to stay, really in Graeme's mind who were they to force someone else to leave, especially when that person had really been there before at least Graeme. He watched with a smile, as the boy came back over to them, he would've patted him on the shoulder or something like that but decided against it in the end, instead just smiling brightly, since he had no idea if this person enjoy or want physical contact in any way.

Instead he focused on finding rocks to skim, he threw a couple over to Maya, "No sitting out, come on, how bad can it be!" he told her his accent strong as he spoke, but nothing could take away his enjoyment, he always felt lighter, happier after he'd spent some time on the pitch whether that was in the air or on the ground he felt lighter, and just more at ease with everything, the euphoria he guessed from either flying or working out. He knew that it could be a little hard, and when he watched Tomas' throw he almost wondered if the other boy was making himself worse so that he was better, "Skimming stones is almost like the flick movement with your wand at the end of the swish and flick movement," he mused trying to come up with a better way of teaching Maya. He placed a better stone in Maya's hand, and then guided her hand into a more suited position for throwing, Graeme's hands were a little rough, not at all soft like how Maya's hands felt as he guided her hand, he smiled almost nervously at her. He then had another stone in his hand, and with the usual flick of the wrist sent it out, this time reaching a grand total of seven, which he was definitely proud of, "Come on, your turn Maya! Tom, I think you're pretty good already, don't need much guidance fae me, want tae see who can throw furtherest? Friendly competition?"
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[Maya Fergusson]

Halloween would be here soon. Maya did like Halloween and it was one of the things she was using to distract herself. She'd been thinking about her costume for this year for ages. She was always really excited for Halloween, dancing, friends, good food. Halloween at home had never been that big of a celebration. It wasn't celebrated very much in Australia and she figured even less so, but muggles. Since being at Hogwarts she'd learned more about what Halloween really meant for witches and wizards and she was really quite enamoured by all of that history. It was really quite cool. She was very glad when Tomas decided to come back. She didn't like people missing out and so far she had been having fun. Taking her mind off of recent events was really important to her. She knew she was probably only denying the inevitable, but its all she could really think of doing. At least she wouldn't have to face it until Christmas, or even after that, she had an amazing christmas planned out, despite it still being a couple of months away. You really did have to prepare for these things. It was bad form to let it create itself.

Maya shook her head and made to try and run away when Graeme told her that she wasn't allowed to sit out. Though he was explaining it to her, she didn't think she would get it. She laughed as she watched the two boys skim their stones. She was never going to be that good. "No! I can't do it I tell you!" As soon as Graeme placed a stone in her hand, and guided her hand to a better, more comfortable throwing position, Maya's face flushed red. She suddenly felt nervous and really didn't want to throw this stone now, but she didn't want to be remembered as the girl who wouldn't try. She cleared her throat nervously and watched as Graeme's stone skimmed seven times. Maya's stone dropped from her hand as she watched it in awe. She quickly shook her head and bent to pick up the stone again, moving her hand to the place she thought Graeme had moved it. "Okay, swish and flick, right?" She closed her eyes slightly and remembered the moment from her first ever day in the castle. She flicked the stone and it hit the water for one skip before sinking, but Maya didn't care, she'd made it skip and she was very happy about that. She threw her hands in the air and jumped up and down excitedly. "Woo! It skipped! Did you see that! Oh my god! I didn't think it would do that!" She was terribly excited and she wrapped her arms around Graeme first and then Tomas. "I'll probably never be able to do it again, but yeah!" As nodded as Graeme offered Tomas a friendly competition. "Oh, please do it! I learn by watching! It'll help!" She hoped Tomas would be happy to do it, she was sure it would be fun.
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[Tomas Hayes]

Normally, Tomas would have participated in some friendly competition. Whilst he was not exceedingly competitive, versing others in things was fun. However, today he was not seeking such things, and so shook his head. "Thank you, but I don't think so," he replied, smiling slightly in an effort to not be seen as annoyed or disinterested. He glanced at his wrist, examining his watch. "I think I best leave you two at it." He really only approached for some quiet, and because Maya appeared to be upset. He had no intentions on actually having a group conversation or anything. He shrugged slightly. "Besides, I have a class soon that I should probably prepare for. I'll see you both later." Whether he actually had a class or not, the Slytherin was not sure, but he felt it would be best to give them the opportunity to hang out together, seeing as they appeared close. He had no intentions on being a third wheel. With another inclination of his head, Tomas left the couple with more haste than previous, and returned to the castle.​

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Feel free to carry on without me, ladies!