Perhaps Some Quiet Study Time

Marie stepped into the gardens with a couple of books hugged to her chest. The midday sun was bright in the sky, and the warmth of it on her face brought a bright smile. The scents from the surrounding plants filled her nose, and she knew she had made a good decision about where to do her studying today. Looking around she noticed a rock that looked large enough to make a nice seat. Heading for it, she sat down, and looked at the two texts that she had brought out here with her.

Setting the potions text next to her on the rock, she opened the charms book to what they were currently studying. She loved to come outside and find a quiet place where she could be alone to study. The common room was much to busy, and even the library had its distraction. Marie knew if there was anything around to distract her from studying she wouldn't do it. She absolutely hated it, but unfortunately it was a necessary evil. She didn't need perfect scores, but she did need to do relatively well.

After what seemed like hours of studying, but was probably closer to fifteen minutes, Marie thought she heard something nearby. Looking up from her book quickly she turned to her left to discover the source of the disturbance, Unfortunately this sudden movement caused her charms text to fall from her lap hitting the ground with a soft thud.

Maya sighed to herself as the stifling air in the library was dulling her senses. She rubbed her temples and decided the best cure was some fresh air before lunch. She loved to be outdoors but sometimes found it so distracting so she walked until she found a quiet spot where she could relax.

Sitting down near a tree offering some shelter from the sun she closed her eyes and enjoyed the slight breeze against her face. She looked up when she heard a motion nearby and seen a girl suddenly jumping up and dropping her book. Getting closer to investigate she noticed the girl was in Slytherin. She was a first year like herself and remembered her from the sorting ceremony.

"My name is Maya," she said, smiling to the girl who seemed distracted. "Is everything ok?" She asked.

Marie jumped at the sound of a girl's voice, her heart pounding in her chest. Turning toward the girl with her hand over her pounding heart, Marie laughed. She recognized the girl vaguely, a fellow a Slytherin for sure and Marie thought a fellow first year, but hadn't known her name prior to this. As her heart returned to it's usual pace she thought to reply to the girl.

"Ummm, hi, yeah I'm fine just thought I heard something and dropped my book," Marie said reaching down and grabbing the book up off the ground. After she straightened back up she continued, "I'm Marie. It's nice to meet you, Maya."

Marie realized that with this appearance of another person, there was very little chance that she would get anything else productive done. Tossing her book over on the rock with the other one, she asked, "So, you're a first year too, right?"

Maya laughed along with the girl as she as her shocked face greeted her.

"Well you never know what it could be when you're out here", she said gesturing to the grounds. There was so many bugs and creatures she had never seen in her life that it was a little overwhelming the first few times she ventured the grounds.

Maya noticed Marie throwing her book aside and registered the title out of the corner of her eye. "Oh do you like charms?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Yes I am." she replied to her question. "You are too." She stated, having recognised her. "I haven't seen you in the common room much." Maya smiled friendly as she made conversation.

Marie looked around her at all the strange plants growing in the garden. Maya was right you never knew what you were going to find out here. Hogwarts was always full of surprises, especially when you were wondering about the grounds.

At Maya's question about charms, Marie just shrugged. Marie couldn't say that she really enjoyed charms but it wasn't the worst class ever. The enthusiasm the girl showed when she asked the question seemed to suggest that she liked charms. Seeing any student get enthusiastic about a class was rare, and always a pleasant surprise. "Eh, charms is okay, but I much prefer potions," Marie responded.

Marie was impressed that the girl had noticed her enough to know that she was a fellow first year. Most people didn't pay that much attention to others that they didn't know. "The common room is so usually full of people, and I'm not much of a people person. I don't really like crowds. There's too much going on, too many distractions."

Maya was interested in charms, but she was never the best at it, in fact, currently she was struggling with mastering any of the charms. "Potions, really?" Maya said, grimacing to herself, that was definitively not one of her strongest subjects. She always struggled with been given direct orders and following them, her attention span just couldn't handle it.

Nodding in agreement she said "I would completely agree, sometimes it's way too distracting. I'd much prefer here the library to get some work done. How are you finding school anyway, are you happy being in Slytherin?" She added.

Marie giggled when she saw the face Maya made when potions was mentioned. It was fairly common for people to dislike the subject. It was a challenging one for sure, but that is what Marie enjoyed it about it so much. "Yes, potions. It is what I spend most of my time working on. I just find it incredibly fascinating and fun challenge," Marie responded with a nod.

Marie grimaced herself when she heard Maya ask whether she was happy being in Slytherin. That was definitely a complicated question for her. Marie herself was perfectly satisfied here, but she couldn't help but feel that she had disappointed her parents. Neither of them showed it when they found out she had been sorted into Slytherin, but they hadn't exactly seemed excited either.

"School is going okay, I guess," she said with a shrug. "I'm enjoying all that I'm learning, but I really hate doing homework. It's so much effort, and I don't see why it's so necessary." She paused for a moment before addressing the Slytherin question. With a small sigh she responded, "I'm okay being in Slytherin. I'm not too sure my parents are all that happy about it though. They were both in Ravenclaw, and I think they expected the same for me." Marie gave a small shrug. "But it is what it is, I guess. Things don't always turn out like we expect."

Maya was taken aback when Marie started to giggle, she didn't realise the face she was making and quickly tried to rearrange her features, attempting to hide her distaste for the subject. "Really?" She questioned, trying to hide her shock. Few people she know took the subject, never mind liked it. "Each to their own, I suppose," she smiled coming to terms with the fact that she enjoyed potions class.

Maya noted the face Marie made when she asked her was she happy in Slytherin, but presumed that questioning further was not appropriate. She knew that some people's family wanted their children to stay away from the house, considering the record it held years ago during the dark times for producing the darkest wizards. Trying to get the thought out of her head she smiled to herself at the support she had received from her own parents. Her mother was just relieved that she was accepted into the school and her father, being a muggle, knew no better.

"My mother was also in Ravenclaw," Maya shared trying to comfort Marie. "She says I got her brains, just not her work ethic. I'm not very studious sometimes. The effort of homework!" Maya joked, thoroughly agreeing with the Slytherin girl.

Marie laughed at the girls comment about homework. That was a sentiment that Marie couldn't certainly agree with. "Homework isn't usually worth the effort," Marie said with a smile. She knew her mother expected her grades to be close to perfect, but that wasn't very important to her.

Looking around at all the plants in the garden, Marie had a random thought which she didn't really intend to say but made no effort to stop herself from saying. "I think herbology may end up quickly becoming a favorite subject of mine too though. Magical plants are so interesting, not to mention very useful for potions." Marie loved things that she could tie together and make use of so it seemed natural to her to be interested in herbology.

Reaching her hand out she grazed the petals of a vibrant blue flower with large rounded petals. The plant appeared to have thorns and Marie avoided those as she ran her hand over the plant. After a moment she realized she had completely turned away from the girl, and this was probably incredibly rude. Turning back she flashed the girl a bright smile.

"Yeah, tell me about. Although loosing house points or, worse, detention doesn't sound like a better option!" Maya replied to Marie after sharing a joke. She knew she shouldn't be complaining too much about homework, after all she was only in first year. She had seen fourth years staying up well past midnight trying to finish assignments and practice spells.

Maya grinned at Marie's comments on Herbology, there she was going on about potions again. She really must like the subject she thought to herself. "Yeah, it's not too bad, I suppose. It can be very hard work sometimes, physically I mean. And then, there's some dangerous aspects to it too. Eventually we'll probably be working with poisonous plants or something.." Maya finished, shuddering to herself. She wasn't too fond of plants that could think for themselves, especially ones that were poisonous, she would much rather just avoid them altogether.

As Maya was pondering this over, Marie was preoccupied with a plant, following its path as she turned around.

At the mention of eventually getting to some point in a subject, Marie couldn't help but realize that she still had so long left here at Hogwarts. Marie was glad to have met Maya today. The girl seemed very nice, like she could become a friend. That was something that Marie really needed. She knew that her lack of social skills and friends was a major downfall of hers, and her parents were always trying to get her to spend time with kids her age. Plus, she and Maya were both first year Slytherins so they would probably be around each other a lot anyway over the next few years.

"I think that when we get to the point that we are dealing with more dangerous plants will be fascinating," Marie said with a smile. "Of course you have to be more careful, but they can be used for so many extraordinary things." She was really interested in these kinds of things, and couldn't wait for school to get more challenging and interesting. Maybe then she would be more focused with studying and homework. "I can't wait until we get to a point where things become more interesting. I know school will be harder, but I don't think it'll be too hard and everything will be so much more fun."

Smiling to herself she couldn't help but pick up on Marie's enthusiasm when she talked about future studies in Herbology. "Well I think I'll be ready for it," she said with an air of confidence. "I've looked in the different Herbology greenhouses and seen some pretty cool plants in there, but there's nothing too overwhelming at the same time," Maya continued on, her ambitious side shining now.

"I'd be more worried about the magic we'll have to start preforming." At this Maya took out her wand remembering that she was supposed to be practicing a spell from Defense Against the Dark Arts. Looking down at her wand and turning it around in her fingers, she hadn't preformed much magic yet but she was sure she would be ready for whatever would be expected of her. Gripping her wand tightly she confidently said "Lumos." It was all she had done so far. A bright, blue light burst from her wand, then flickered and went out. Shrugging to herself, she wasn't too bothered, she knew she had to practice.

Marie smiled at the girl's response. Maya had already been exploring the greenhouses, what fun! Marie really should explore more, but that just hadn't made her to do list as of yet. "Nothing overwhelming? Well, that's good. Do you just go wandering about exploring?" Marie asked curiously. Since it would have never occurred to do so, she wondered if Maya just did things like that.

Watching as Maya attempted the spell, Marie smiled. It wasn't an excellent result, but there was a result and definitely in the right direction, so that was good. However, apparently the time that Maya was using to explore was the time Marie was using to practice, because she knew she could easily accomplish that spell successfully. "I'm not too worried about the magic. I spend quite a bit of my alone time practicing. But that was pretty good," Marie said with a smile. "I've definitely seen worse. You shouldn't need much more practice before you have it."

Feeling bored, Kynan had decided to explore more of the outdoors. The only places he had been in the outdoors was the Stone Circe and the Middle Courtyard. If that even counts, he thought. The Middle Courtyard is outdoors, right? He shook his head. Suddenly realizing that he was staring at the ground, he looked up and found himself in the Gardens.

His hands were in his pockets as he walked, not really interested in the beauty of the flowers or whatever like he usually was. He just felt like walking, something to let the time pass. He stared at his feet as he walked. Thump, thump, thump, his feet went, not too loudly. That's when the sounds of voices got his attention.

Looking up for the second time, Kynan saw two girls talking. He recognized Maya who he had met once and knew from most of his classes. But the girl talking to Maya he didn't know. He could hear them talking about practising something and saw that Maya had her wand out. Practising a spell, Kynan thought to himself, realizing that he needed to practise the Wand-Lighting Charm himself.

Resisting the urge to talk to them, he walked past them. For some reason, Kynan always thought that if he talked to someone first he'd annoy the person so he just walked past them, staring ahead.

"Yes, I do" Maya replied in response to Marie's question. " I'm probably not supposed to but sometimes I can't help it. I love the outdoors and prefer exploring it to the castle, where it is so easy to get lost!" Maya said recalling her first week in the place, she was late for way too many classes.

Slightly embarrassed at how her spell had turned out there was a slight pink twinge appearing on her cheeks. Looking around for a distraction she spotted another student walking past. Realising it was Kynan, she called out to him. "Hey Kynan! Want to come and join us?" Maya asked in a friendly manner not knowing if he passed by purposely as they were both Slytherins.

A voice got his attention and Kynan turned around. It was Maya who was calling him and he noticed that she was blushing a little. The girl was asking him to join them. Kynan shrugged an 'okay' and walked towards them. "Hi," he greeted them, unsure of what else to say.

Glad that Kynan had decided to join them she gave him one of her genuine smiles. She liked the kid, he was quiet but friendly at the same time.

After Kynan arrived a silence ensued as he stood there awkwardly, deciding that she better introduce everyone she pointed at Marie, "this is Marie, she's also in first year and a Slytherin." And then turning to Marie and pointing at Kynan "and this is Kynan, he's in Gryffindor." She hoped that Marie wasn't too put out that she had invited someone else over, but seeing as she had been so friendly towards her she hoped that it would be alright.

"We were just practising a bit of magic," Maya said looking down at her wand that she was still holding.

"Nice to meet you, Marie," was all Kynan managed to say since Maya already introduced him. He returned Maya's smile, though, as he didn't want to be rude. "How's your year going?" he asked them both, not wanting an awkward silence between them. He hated awkward silences.

As Maya stated what the two were doing, Kynan said, "That's cool." He really didn't know what else to say.

"It's been good, thanks. I've enjoyed meeting new people and the classes are fun, although its hard work and sometimes its hard to find them! What about you?" Maya asked.

"I suppose, you've been alright, since you have your sister to help you?" Maya added as an afterthought, recalling someone mentioning that he had a sister in Ravenclaw.

"Have you been practicing?" Maya asked, genuinely curious as to how other students were getting on with the spells. She hadn't seen preforming magic being this hard and was trying not to inwardly panic. Though she kept her face passive, trying hard to leave a passive smile on her face, not wanting to show her emotions.

Kynan nodded in a agreement. "It's good. Loads better than Muggle school," he simply said. Then Maya was saying something about having a sister and he frowned. "I don't see her much," he admitted. "We're both busy with classes or homework or Hogsmeade trips or whatever," Kynan shrugged. "Do you have any siblings?" he asked curiously.

"Um..." Kynan hesitated for a moment before saying, "Not really."

"I didn't mind muggle school too much," Maya said recalling her friends that she missed. "But yeah, it's tons better," she said agreeing, thinking of the opportunities she would have never got living in the muggle world.

"Oh," Maya faltered when Kynan said he didn't see his sister much. "That sucks. At least you're both attending Hogwarts now though." Maya said, trying to comfort Kynan. "Ehm, yes I do. We get on great. I have an older brother and younger one too. Hopefully my younger one, Wes, will be going here next year." Maya said uncomfotably, not wanting to elaborate more on the topic.  

"Well how about you try it now, I could really use some pointers?" Maya asked, trying not too sounds too pushy, but she felt like she did need help and Kynan seemed like the type to not judge as she felt slightly underwhelmed by her own performance of the Wand Lighting Charm. She also didn't like the thought of Professor Umbranox finding out that she didn't get the complete hang of a simple spell, he seemed scary and intimidating at the best of times, never mind when he was angry.

To Kynan, Maya seemed to think that he missed hanging out with his sister. He was about to say that he didn't mind but a piece of him really did mind. It was that feeling of emptyness that got to him that moment, making him feel really lonely even though a friend was talking to him. Immediately, he started to miss annoying and teasing Aylee. He missed hanging out with her and laughing and joking with her. Still, he didn't show it or Maya would think that he was being baby-ish. So instead he shrugged and asked, "Did your older brother come to Hogwarts, too?" Maya kind of sounded like his sister, with an older brother and younger brother.

When Maya asked Kynan if he wanted to try a spell now, he shrugged again and took out his wand. For a moment, he wondered wether the other Slytherin girl, Marie, was going to talk. He felt like he was replacing her in the conversation or something but he still bit his lip in concentration and muttered, "Lumos." A really small light appeared at the end of his wand, but it was probably small because he was practising in the daylight and couldn't see clearly. But the light on his wand didn't go out so he guessed that he had got it right. He said, "Nox" and the light went out. Instead of putting his wand away, Kynan said, "Lumos" again and the light appeared at the tip of his wand again. This time it was a bit brighter. But after a few seconds it went out. Kynan stared at the wand for a moment before looking back at Maya. She probably thinks I'm showing off, he thought to himself.

"No, " Maya responded quietly. Wanting to move on from the current topic she changed the subject straight away. Recalling that Morgana told her that Kynan's sister was in a different house, she suddenly wondered why that was. "It's weird how she's in Ravenclaw and you're in Gryffindor, isn't it? Or is she just the brains of the family?" Maya teased. "Do you have any other siblings?" Maya thought it would be hard to see siblings if they were in different houses as they would spend most of their time in either classes of their common rooms.


Maya watched as Kynan took out his wand and quickly glanced at Marie before attempting to cast the spell. Biting his lip in concentration, he said the incantation quietly and light burst from his wand. Clapping in appreciation, Maya noted Kynan's smile and was glad that it had gone right for him. "That's really good! Have you practiced at all?" Maya asked, impressed.

Kynan nodded and realized that Maya probably didn't want to talk about her siblings. It made him curious about the fact but he decided not to push it further. Maya asked him another question which made Kynan chuckle. He couldn't help it. "Brains," he exclaimed. "All she does is read books, I wouldn't be surprised!" Then he said, "I don't know why I'm in Gryffindor myself. I'm not very brave and noble." That thought made him remember how in Herbology, the teacher said that he was going to be nobler than he already was. Something that had to do with his wand. He shook his head and answered Maya's other question. "Yes," Kynan replied. "The oldest brother in the family. Ethan. He's not a wizard, unfortunately. He really wishes he was, though."

When Maya clapped and told him that the spell was good, Kynan felt surprised. "In class mostly. Sometimes when I'm bored. I bet I'm not as good as you," he muttered the last sentence and looked down. He quickly put his wand away and looked back at Maya.

Maya had to laugh at the way Kynan described his sister, his voice was full of affection though, when he talked about her. "Sounds like my older brother actually. There was no distracting him from his books once he got started." Maya smiled, remembering the time she threatened to hide all his books unless he played with her. She felt a jolt in her stomach at the memory, she really did miss him she had to admit.

She thought it was nice to talk with someone about siblings, Kynan seemed close to his siblings, like herself, but she was sure he had the same squabbles that she had with her brothers. "Well she must be really smart if she got the brains then," Maya couldn't help but say. Kynan seemed quiet in class, but she was sure he knew more than he voiced. He was certainly getting the hang of magic just as quick, if not quicker than she was. "Well the sorting hat is never wrong. I'm sure it'll be proved right some day." Maya said, shrugging. She wasn't too sure on whether she belonged in Slytherin herself, but everything happened for a reason and she had complete faith in the hat. "Not many eleven year old's are noble." Maya added as an afterthought, thinking that the trait wouldn't be very prominent at such a young age. Still, she didn't know Kynan that well, so he could very well be.

"Are you muggle born then?" Maya couldn't help but inquire, hoping her voice didn't sound judgmental.

"Same here. Sometimes there just seem to be so much distractions around the castle, homework takes a low priority." Maya blushed at Kynan's comment, but left her wand where it was, having no desire to attempt the spell again in front of an even larger crowd.