TERM 6 - Clouds - Stone Circle - Hunter VanDerberg, Layla Blackwood

Leila giggled at herself "Oh i'm sorry Hunter, i keep you're a muggle, a squib is a person who, ever thought his parents are both wizards, does not display magic powers, but they are rare, it is most likely that they're're was a squib in your family, most muggle-born wizards had had squibs, its like the magic skips a generation or something." Leila smiled softly "I don't know, its the first school year and i don't want to be distracted from my studies."

Hunter listened to Leila explain the term squib. It sounded to Hunter like a squib was the opposite of him. While he was magical and his parents were muggles, a squib was a muggle with magic parents. or something like that... "That would be awful," he said. "To know all about magic and never be able to do it. Much worse than just being a muggle." Hunter knew right away that he would hate to be a squib.

"I don't pay too much attention to my studies," Hunter said, laughing. Then, he gestured to his textbook that lay in his lap unused as proof. "As you can see." Hunter was never the best at studying.

Leila nodded "Yes, but i read in a book that most muggle-born wizards are descendants of squibs.", Leila searched in her bookbag and found her History of Magic textbook "If you dont believe me look for yourself." she smiled

"That's really interesting," Hunter said to her, watching her pull a book from her bag. "No, I don't need to look, I believe you," he laughed. "I have enough reading to do of my own," he said, half in amusement, half in exasperation. "I really need to learn to study better." Hunter was terrible at studying. He never had to study in muggle school to do well, but at Hogwarts he knew he wouldn't be able to scrape by as easily.

Leila laid on her back and looked at Hunter "You're a procrastinator, that's all right most kids are, well, except the Ravenclaws." She smiled at Hunter, thinking of her cousin Violet. "So what type of Homework do you have, two heads ARE better than one."

"I haven't really made any Ravenclaw friends yet. I met one girl, Seren, who's a first year," Hunter told Leila. "And she's in Ravenclaw. But I've only talked to her once." Then Leila was asking him what homework he had. "Charms and Transfiguration," he said. "But it's mostly reading. Which is the most boring kind of homework."

Leila perched herself up on her elbow as she listened to Hunter talk about his homework, "Ugh, i HATE transfiguration, mainly because i suck at it , and mainly because when i tried it i tuned my cat in to duckcat, sometimes he still quacks." Leila looked at the ground thinking of her cat Monty, "so what class are you not good at?"

Hunter couldn't help but burst into laughter when Leila explained her hatred for transfiguration. "Duckcat?" he repeated, snorting. "How did you manage that? He really quacks?" Hunter had never even tried transfiguration on anything but a matchstick. Then Leila was asking about the classes he wasn't good at. "Pretty much every class," he admitted with a shrug. "I'm rubbish at Defense Against the Dark Arts. Transfiguration's no good. Charms isn't so bad, but it isn't my best..." It would really be easier for Hunter to name the classes he wasn't bad at.

Leila crossed her arms as she gave Hunter a serious look "Its not funny Hunter, that poor cat is starting to eat bread instead of tuna." Leila looked at Hunter as she began to calm down "Sorry, but i love that cat." Leila looked at Hunter in confusion, "So what subject aren't you rubbish at."

Somehow, Leila managed to keep a straight face while talking about her cat that was half duck because of a spell gone wrong. Hunter, on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing. Not even when the blonde girl reprimanded him. "Oh, come on," he said through his laughter. "You can't honestly not find it funny." Because it was funny. Hilarious, actually. Hunter tried to picture a cat quacking, the result being that his laughter didn't die for a few more minutes.

Leila asked which subject he wasn't terrible at. "Flying," he answered without hesitation. It was the only thing that had not only come easily to Hunter, but that he'd actually enjoyed since he'd gotten to Hogwarts. "Potions is pretty good, too. But flying's my best. Bit of a shame, considering it's only a class this year. Next year I'll have nothing."

Leila, with her arms still folded, tried her best to not show the smile that was trying form,"Well, maybe it is a bit funny." she said as she looked at Hunter burst into laughter."Flying, huh, well, you don't have to stop, try joining the quidditch team."

"It's very funny," Hunter corrected her, taking a deep breath to control his laughter. "Why would you ever try to transform your cat into a duck, anyway?" Leila suggested joining the Quidditch team. Honestly, the thought hadn't crossed Hunter's mind before. "I don't think I'm a good enough flyer, yet," he said. "But maybe if I practice, I can make it in a year or two." It would be pretty cool to be on the Quidditch team one day. Hunter liked sports. He'd played on his school baseball team at home.

Leila shrugged at Hunter "It was for an assignment." Then Hunter spoke about the quidditch team "you'll be fine, its not like the sport requires you to be tall or anything... how tall are you?."

What kind of assignment made someone turn their cat into a duck? Oh well, Hunter wasn't going to push the subject. He'd gotten his laugh out of it. He raised an eyebrow at her as she said that he didn't have to be tall to join Quidditch. "I'm not that short!" he protested. "I'm tall enough," he said when she asked how tall he was. "Mum thinks I'll be pretty tall when I'm done growing. Like my dad."

Leila nodded "In my family we're all tall, people think we're half giant, i like to think we have long bones, but never the less, i think you should join, if you like the sport go for it."

"Half-giant?" Hunter asked. "Is that even possible? And anyway, you don't look much like a giant to me." That is, if real giants were anything like the giants in muggle movies and stories. Huge and ugly and stupid.

Leila burst out laughing,"Oh Hunter, i keep forgetting your muggle-born, full born giant Huge and ugly, but half-giants are beings with some, but not a total, amount of giant heritage or blood, as well as part human blood." she wiped away the tears that slipped from laughing "I'm not a half-giant, i'm just tall for my age, the kids where i live at used to ask me that though."

"I never even knew Giants were real," Hunter said as Leila explained. "What kind of person would want to be with a Giant, anyway?" Hunter asked. That sounded a bit strange to him. "Are there other half-species too? Not just half-giants?" There must be. The wizarding world was so strange.

"Of course giants are real." she said "do you take history of magic?, the books talk about them." She looks at Hunter in confusion "No person wants to be a giant, they were just born like that." Leila nodded "Yeah, there are other half species we call them half breeds."

"No, I meant who would want to be with a giant," Hunter explained, laughing slightly. "If there are half-giants, that means there are Humans that end up with Giants. Which is strange." Maybe it wasn't strange in the wizarding world. But it was strange to Hunter. "Half-breeds," he repeated. How strange.

Leila thought about what hunter was saying, who would want to be with a giant, Leila scrunched her nose "Ok, that's kinda gross, but i see your point." Leila scratched the back of her head "Yeah, um, Half-breeds is a name we give to people who are of two species."

"That's pretty cool," Hunter responded, trying to think of what other kinds of half-breeds there might be. With a sigh, he glanced back down at his book. He'd been talking to Leila for a while without getting any studying done, and it was getting late. "Well, I think I've just about given up on reading," he laughed, closing his book and gathering his things before standing up. "I think I'd better head back to the common room. It was nice talking to you Leila!"