Flying Hats (Humphrey)

Sinead had successfully managed to perform the levitating charm last term, and to further enhance her ability, she had borrowed all the hats from a couple of the boys and girls in her house and after putting them all up in a box she'd gone up to the Astronomy Tower because that place was absolutely breathtaking. So, there she was, wearing her Ravenclaw robes proudly, chanting the levitating charm again and again at 7:31 in the evening. Her 'mud hair' was braided and she felt quite happy that day, as last term's professor had announced to the rest of the first years that her charm conjuration had been excellent. With that in mind, she walked up the steps to the Tower and placed the hats in a circle around her. Her main goal was to be able to levitate one hat at a time and place it magically on her head, as if the summer had not taken her smarts away, so without further ado she began with her first hat. It was a Ravenclaw knitted hat, which she thought was pretty cute. "Wingaaardium LeviOsa!" she changed, and the hat shakily made it's way to her head, Sinead beamed. She was going to be a great witch! No, correction. She was a great witch already.

Sinead was going to change the world. There was only one small problem; she wasn't sure exactly how that would happen. As she stood in front of hats, the sound of her growling stomach distracted her. Frowing, Sinead walked over to where her purple book back rested on the floor and took a seat. She'd been smart enough to pack something for breakfast, because she hadn't eaten anything before leaving to practice, and though her first class was not until 10am, Sinead thought it best to bring a turkey sandwich and some apple slices. Most of the time, Sinead forgot that food existed. Practicing magic was more important sometimes. Much more important. Therefore, breaks from practices usually left Sinead a bit sad, because that meant she was wasting precious time. Nevertheless, she ate her apple slices and practiced other spells, more specifically, the fire spell. She wasn't supposed to know it yet, let alone be able to cast it, but she knew she could do it. Sinead was very smart, she just had to keep practicing it. Waving her wand, her mind recalling the movement necessary to conjure the spell, Sinead chanted "Incendio." But to her disappointment, nothing but a puff of smoke came out. "Noooooooooooooooooooo!" Sinead cried out, like a bratty child who didn't get her candy. Because, how was Sinead going to rule the world if she couldn't manage the simple fire spell?

Humphrey was stoked for his next year at Hogwarts, eager to start learning more interesting magic. Before that happened though, he thought it might be a good idea to practice some of the things he'd learned last year. Thinking of the places he could go to do it, he remembered the top of the astronomy tower. It was usually empty and had plenty of space, so he figured it would be a good place to practice. After making the decision, he made his way up the flights of stairs until he got there and walked out onto the astronomy tower. He was a bit surprised to see his friend Sinead already there, and he heard her say incendio before yelling nooooo! She appeared to be having trouble lighting things on fire, though why she was trying to do that he wasn't quite sure.

Walking up behind her, the young Ravenclaw tapped her on the shoulder. "That's a nice hat you got there, representing Ravenclaw pride I see. What is it we are trying to light on fire today?" he asked her. He didn't see anything up here that was particularly flammable, other than a random assortment of hats that is.

The tapping on her shoulder made Sinead jump, immediately standing up as a defense. However, as she turned around she saw only Humphrey. Letting out a relieved sigh, because she could have been caught by a professor, Sinead smiled. "Humphrey!" She exclaimed, raising her hand for a high five. "What are you doing up here?" She asked, taking her seat on the floor again and motioning to a spot nearby for him to take. "Where's Dakota....?" She asked, a bit cautious as she was Humphrey's best friend but Sinead wasn't a huge fan of her. Or any kind of fan of her at all. It was, in fact, strange to see Humphrey away from the Slytherin.

She thanked him for the compliment, before answering his question. "Nothing in particular. Mainly just trying to get the fire spell to work." she confessed, feeling a bit dumb for not having a set goal. "Have you learned it yet?" she asked, feeling a small hint of jealousy run through her mind. Humphrey could'nt have....he just couldn't.

Humphrey felt a little bad when he saw his friend jump, clearly worried that it was somebody else who had happened upon her. He smiled at his friend when she let out a sigh, glad she wasn't going to accidentally blast him with magic. Seeing the hand coming, he happily high fived her back. "Hey Sinead!" he said, excited. When she patted the spot on the ground next to her he took the seat. "I just came up to get some fresh air, enjoy the view, and maybe review some spells. You?" he asked her. To be honest he was a bit surprised when she brought up Dakota, he knew that she didn't really like her all that much. "Well she goes by Violet now, but I'm not sure where she's at. Haven't seen her since I spotted her at breakfast this morning." Humphrey explained.

The fire spell was a tricky one, he'd been practicing it but he still hadn't managed to get it consistently. "Worked on it some, but still can't get it right most of the time. I can give it a go though." Humphrey said, trying to be optimistic. Pulling a feather out of his pocket that he'd picked up earlier in the day, he set it on the ground in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he did his best to focus on it before waving his wand. "Incendio!" he announced firmly, and saw a small spark of flame before it petered out. "Aww, almost thought I had it for a second..."

"Cool." She nodded as he explained his reasons to even be up in the Astronomy Tower. "Same, minus the enjoying the view part." Sinead wasn't a big fan of heights either. She would take skiing over sky diving any time. Any time. However, she had to keep herself from laughing when Humphrey mentioned Dakota's new identity. Violet. Out of all the names. She was going by Violet now. Keeping an uninterested face, she replied, "Did you know violets are used as laxatives?" To be honest, she wasn't even sure Humphrey knew what a laxative was, but it was still worth mentioning. Haha, violets for laxatives. Sometimes, Sinead was just too funny.

Aha, so he wasn't able to cast it either. Good. Nodding, Sinead agreed with her fellow Ravenclaw. She'd been working on it as well, and still wasn't able to get it right. When he offered to try it, Sinead almost rolled her eyes. If he couldn't do it, then what was the point in showing her? But no, Humphrey was a good kid. There was no reason for her to be so mean to him. Besides, he was trying to look on the bright side, which was quite comforting to the stubborn Sinead. And then out of nowhere, he just pulled out a bloody feather out of his pocket. Like he was waiting for the moment to show off his skills with the fire spell. "Do you collect feathers or something?" she wondered, but the words faded out as his spell failed. He had managed just a spark. "Well," she began, smiling at him in a nicer way than she would have had Humphrey not been her friend, "You did better than I did."

Humphrey gasped dramatically when she said minus the enjoying the view part. "It's a crime not to enjoy the view from up here, Sinead. You can see just about everything." he said, smiling as he leaned over and looked around. Heights had never really bothered him for some reason, to be honest he rather enjoyed them. Raising an eyebrow at her when she said violets were used as laxatives, he figured that she must be pulling his leg. "Was that a joke or are you serious?" he asked, looking at her curiously. He knew what a laxative was and he kind of doubted violets would be used in them, but he didn't know for certain.

Blushing a little when she asked if he collected feathers, Humphrey shook his head. "No I don't collect feathers. I just saw it on the ground and thought it might come in handy." he admitted with a shrug. You never knew what would be useful, and if he thought something could be he usually saved it. He smiled back at his friend when she said he'd gotten closer to getting it right than her. "Thanks. You know, I bet if we both work on it one of us is bound to get it eventually. After all, we aren't Ravenclaws for nothing." he said optimistically, trying to help Sinead look on the bright side of things.

"I know it's not. I just don't like heights."bSinead admitted, because just because Humphrey liked heights and all of that elevation stuff, it didn't mean Sinead had to like them. Friendshipsnwere best when there were differences. Sure, she could see just about everything, but she could aslo die. The first one she could tolerate, enjoy even, but he latter was not okay in her book. Simply not okay. Not to mention, she had almost died a few days ago because of Rowena's stupid trick staircases. I almost died because of the bloody staircase, Humphrey. I could have been dead by now! You would have been Sineadless!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air for dramatic effect. Anybody being Sineadless would have been terrible.

"I'm serious. Look it up." She said, a smug look on her face. Sinead was good at lost of things, her spcialty being trivia. If there was ever a trivia board game, Sinead would beat everyone because she was the Trivia Queen. The flowers and the leaves have medicinal qualities, and so they are often used in laxatives." She explained further. When he explained his reasoning for picking up a random feather, Sinead giggled, "Hoarder." Sinead didn't just pick stuff up from the floor. She picked up animals from the street, but not objects. Frowning slightly, Sinead said, "Umm...How about we make it a race, Humphrey?" There was a hint of mischief in her voice, and a smile almost betrayed her with its appearance.

Continuing, she pulled out her Charms textbook from her bag and flipped to the index of spells. "We can choose some spells from the book, and at the end of the term we can count how many we were able to master. We would have to demonstrate them in each other's presence, though. To make sure we don't cheat." She figured some spells were pretty easy, but there were also some that seemed incredibly hard. "We could start with the fire spell, and then the water spell, and then a few more." she was actually very excited with this idea, and hoped that Humphrey liked it too! She could even gather other students who maybe wanted to race as well. He was right, they weren't Ravenclaws for nothing.

"I understand, what gets me is small spaces. Can't stand them for more than two or three minutes." Humphrey said with a shiver. It never took long for the feeling of being trapped to set in and start making him more and more nervous. Perhaps that was part of the reason he enjoyed heights, the open space you could see when you were up high. When she said that a trick staircase had almost killed her he frowned and gave her a quick hug. "Well I'm very glad you didn't die. Don't know what I would do without my best friend." he told her honestly.

Laughing a little, he shook his head when she told him to look it up. "Don't have to, I believe you. So no slipping laxatives into my food, you." Humphrey warned, suspecting that she may find it an amusing prank. "Hey, it's not hoarding." he whined. After thinking about it, he let out a sigh. "Okay fine, maybe a little bit." the boy admitted after thinking about it. At the mention of a race his eyes lit up and he smiled at her. "A race, you say. That sounds fun."

Looking over the list of charms, he nodded when she explained how the race would work. It made sense to him, and he knew that they would both enjoy the friendly competition. "Sounds good, maybe we can have once a month where we try the spells we've been working on with each other. We can both keep a list of the ones we get through, just to be safe." Humphrey said, already starting to get excited. Those two spells were definitely good ones to start with. "This is going to be awesome!"

Sinead smiled when Humphrey told her about his claustrophobia, she had never expected that from anyone she knew. She wished she could at least see a bit from his point of view when it came to heights, but Sinead's fear was deathly. She could practically die at any moment. At any moment! She was taken back when Humphrey hugged her, not being one for physical affection. Best friend? Well, she wouldn't exactly call him her best friend.....but he was probably the closest thing Sinead had to a best friend. She gently, but awkwardly, patted Humphrey's back as the hug lasted too long for her to feel comfortable.

Sinead laughed as well, but she didn't comment on what he was asking because chances were that she wasn't going to be the one slipping anything into his food. She didn't trust his girlfriend, but Sinead went by the 'live and let live' motto. But then she laughed again when he admitted to hoarding. "I told you, I know all." Okay, that was definitely a lie but he didn't have to know that. Of Sinead could make everyone believe she was the smartest person on earth, she could do it by speaking confidently. Of course a race sounded fun! She could beat him easily, but maybe she would let him win on a few occasions. He already had an advantage on the fire spell, but Sinead could always catch up with the other spells. She was determined to win, now.

She nodded, "Sounds like a plan!" she beamed, before coming up with another idea. "What would you say, about getting other people in our year to try it out? Not a study group, no. Just to make it a bit more interesting. Just two or three more people, not the whole school." she suggested. Of course, it was just an idea and she liked the first one too, just having to show the spells to Humphrey. Surely he would bring his lady friend along, but if Sinead could prove to be smarter and more talented than the Slythering girl and other people, then she didn't really mind.

The hug made him feel a little better and Humphrey was smiling when he let go. This was the first time he'd called her his best friend and he hoped Sinead didn't mind too much. The truth was he could be rather awkward sometimes, but he didn't want that to happen to them. Having somebody he could talk to about pretty much anything was something he greatly appreciated. Leaning back, he simply enjoyed the time he had to spend with her, relaxing with nothing important to do.

Hearing the comment about knowing all made him chuckle a little, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, really. All?" Humphrey asked her. She was certainly smart but nobody knew everything, so he couldn't help himself from asking the question instead of letting it pass. Their competition to learn more spells than the other was going to be fun, even if he did lose. Pitting himself against a worthy adversary to get better would also, he hoped, help both of them to improve. Not that they were doing poorly, but still.

When she proposed involving a few more people he took a minute or so to think it over before responding. "Well, I guess that would be alright. Couldn't hurt to have more motivation to do better." Humphrey admitted. To be honest he wasn't sure who else would want to join, though. "Any ideas of who might want to do it with us?" he asked her. Humphrey wasn't the most social person and didn't really know a lot of people.