Crazy Camels and Polka Dots (Humphrey)

Lyra had decided that it wasn't really worth going home for the Christmas holidays anymore. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend them with her family, it was just that it didn't seem worth the long journey to the Netherlands to only stay for a few days. Besides, Hunter could go home, she didn't suppose her absence would matter too much. There would be six whole weeks to spend in the Netherlands in summer, and that was a much better time. Well, she guessed she could go back for good after this year if she wanted to. Scary. And there was plenty to do at Hogwarts, and she knew she wouldn't be the only one remaining at school. There'd be a huge Christmas dinner and maybe a party, so she probably wouldn't be too bored. Or too hungry.

Nonetheless, when she went down to the great hall for breakfast the first morning of the holidays it seemed suddenly very empty. It was still early, but even so there were hardly any students there. None she knew or liked well enough to sit with, so she just grabbed herself a cup of orange juice and left the room to find something else to do. It was odd being free like this at school - normally, she'd have homework to do or projects to work on, but now she had pretty much the whole castle to herself, only with nothing to do at all. She ended up heading for outside. It was freezing, but she just wrapped her scarf more tightly around her neck and put her hands in her pockets. She'd live. The lake seemed like a nice enough place to go right now, even if she froze to death sitting out there.

The ice had almost frozen - probably not enough to ice skate on, unfortunately - and it was quite a picturesque view she got when she took a seat on the grass. But it was too cold, so she pulled her wand from her pocket and muttered the incantation for a heat spell, before leaning back and settling on the frosty grass. Lyra didn't like Christmas that much. When she was little she used to love the excitement of Sinterklaas coming on December 5th but now that was gone the only thing she really enjoyed was seeing her family. And she wasn't even doing that this year. The whole thing seemed a bit pointless, otherwise. But winter was pretty cool, the snow and pretty scenes and all the rest of it. She had a little hope that spending the holidays at Hogwarts wouldn't be too bad. If she wasn't the only person she knew staying.

Although he was still a little confused by both Sinead's admission of thinking he was a cute boy and his own reaction to what she'd said, Humphrey felt that things were slowly getting back to normal between them. To his surprise she had even agreed to the idea of a double date which would mean her putting up with Dakota for a day. That more than anything had made him realize that he really had been acting like an idiot. Of course Sinead didn't actually like him, that would be crazy. She had confessed to him about her feelings for Danny, after all. If she was willing to be nice to Dakota he would be nice to Danny, and their Christmas might end up being rather nice despite the drama around her birthday. However, there was one thing missing, his family. He still firmly believed he'd made the right choice to stay and make sure things were okay between him and his best friend, but he still missed them. Especially his little sister Casey. They had written a few letters; however, letters were a far cry from the big hug they always had upon seeing each other and the fun times they had being silly together. As he picked at his breakfast, he began to realize that even though many had left for Christmas there were still too many people for his liking and put a roll in his pocket before grabbing a sausage and heading out of the great hall.

Quickly finishing the sausage as he walked out towards the entrance of Hogwarts, he began munching on the roll. At the moment he was starting to shoot up a little, and he had been hungrier than usual. Finally he saw the big doors that marked the entrance to the castle and walked out of them, letting his feet take him where they would. It wasn't that big of a surprise when he looked at his surroundings and found that he was by the black lake. This really was one of the most beautiful places at Hogwarts, and it was nearly frozen over already. Although there was yet to be a big snowfall, the temperatures plummeted at night and were around the freezing mark during the day as well. He had on a comfortable dark blue sweater, with a white tee-shirt on underneath and his favorite leather jacket pulled on over the top. There was a Ravenclaw blue and silver hat his mom had knitted him on his head, with dark blue gloves that matched nicely. On his feet were his usual favorite pair of converse, dark green in color, and he had a heavy pair of jeans to help him keep warm. Surveying the scene before him, he found himself wishing Casey could be here with him. Sadly, she was only eight and wouldn't be at Hogwarts for another two and a half years or so.

His eyes had gotten a bit watery when thinking about his little sister, and he wiped the moisture away with the edge of his sleeve. When he did, he finally noticed that there was someone else at the lake other than him. Part of him felt anxious about whether or not she'd seen him crying, but when he gauged the difference and saw she wasn't looking in his direction he deemed it unlikely. Deciding he may as well talk to someone instead of cry about missing his sister like a little kid, he walked over and moved into her line of sight. "Umm, hello. I'm Humphrey Williams. W-would it be okay if I sat with you?" he asked, a little nervously. She was clearly much older than him, maybe sixth or seventh year. Even though many of them were nice, he was still always a little intimidated by them.

Only, the more she let her mind wander, the more Lyra thought that perhaps she'd made a mistake in staying for Christmas. Maybe it had been a selfish decision, not wanting to go home because she couldn't be bothered with the difficult journey. And she didn't want her family to think she'd gone back to being the same person she'd been after Jack died. Hunter the auror and Lyn the good child, they didn't need to worry about, but Lyra was the stupid, immature one, she seemed to have proved in the past couple of years. Maybe all being together for the break was what they needed, the family. Maybe she was being even more of a disappointment, and letting her parents down again. Maybe if Jack was still there, Lyra wouldn't have hesitated for a moment in going home, and that was why it was so stupid that she was still here, not doing anything useful and most likely upsetting her poor mother. She chewed on her fingernail, her head spinning with more and more reasons why she was the worst child in the entire world, and she had to take a deep breath to avoid the thoughts.

The sudden sound of footsteps in the frosty grass broke her from the daydream and she turned to see a younger boy approaching. Maybe fourth year or so and clearly a Ravenclaw. She was a little surprised that anyone else was out here, in this weather and at this hour of the day, but she didn't dwell on it long, instead focusing on turning her worried expression into a friendly smile. She'd been trying to smile more recently, since she'd realised that she'd turned into an unapproachable bitch. And that didn't help her make friends. Not that she was particularly bothered about making a best friend of this small Ravenclaw she'd never met before. She'd just rather not be as hated as she probably used to be.

"Hi," Lyra answered with a smile. "Lyra VanDerberg. And of course you can, no problem." It was hardly her lake to decide who sat next to it. And now that she was being friendly and approachable, there was no excuse for not being super nice to this younger boy. He seemed a little nervous, though - maybe she wasn't as great at being super approachable and great as she thought. "So... uh... how come you're out here? Like, this early?" Lyra returned her gaze to the lake, wondering if perhaps she could try and ice skate on it after all, if she had her wand ready to save herself from drowning or being eaten by the giant squid. It might be worth it, for the experience. She was great at ice skating. Or maybe she would just wait until it snowed and start a massive snowball fight. It was sure to snow at some point, she was sure. Probably after Christmas. That was how it usually worked in Scotland. See, there was plenty to do at Hogwarts over the holidays in any case. Although what usually happened in her free time was that she ended up in the library, or taking extra shifts at work, boring stuff.

Upon seeing the girl's face Humphrey got the distinct sense she had been thinking over some pretty heavy stuff. It had turned into a smile quickly, but he had in fact caught the worried crease in her brow had softened into a friendlier expression. Humphrey had always been observant, but always tried not to ask prying questions unless they brought up a subject on their own. The main reason for that was that he knew how annoying it could be when people wanted to know things about his personal life he didn't feel comfortable sharing. Smiling just a little as well, he tried to relax a little. Nobody at Hogwarts would hurt him, well at least not seriously. There was always an accident or two due to working with spells and the occasional flying lesson. "Thank you, Miss VanDerberg." he said, plopping down onto the grass next to her. Although she was a student too she was so much older he wasn't sure if he should call her Lyra. Most people wouldn't mind, but his mom had taught him to be polite and he didn't really know the girl well yet.

His nervous anxiety was still there, and he still really missed his sister. Humphrey imagined how disappointed she would be when she got the letter saying he was staying at Hogwarts. Casey would probably write him back and sound cheerful as always, but he knew the little girl was probably missing him as much as he was her at the moment. Even though he still thought staying to make sure things with Sinead didn't get awkward was the right idea, that Casey-sized ache would be there no matter what. It was the first Christmas since she'd been born he wasn't there, and he hoped she wouldn't feel he'd let her down too much. Eventually, he decided it wasn't best to think about missing her too much and turned his thoughts back to the conversation they were having. He'd been asked about what had brought him out to the lake, if he remembered correctly. Pausing for another moment, he tried to come up with a way to explain it.

"Well, I was having breakfast like everybody else in the great hall. Despite the fact so many are gone it still feels a little too crowded for me, though. Was also just missing my family, little sister especially. Was probably the right choice to stay this time, but I hope Casey will be okay without me there. It's the first one I've missed since she's been born." Humphrey said, a small smile on his face as all the memories of their Christmases since she was brought into the world came rushing back. Maybe next time he needed to work things out with Sinead, and it was over a holiday, he could bring arrange it with her family and have her stay over with his or something. That way he wouldn't have to pick Sinead or Casey to spend time with. "And you?" he asked at the end.

Miss VanDerberg? Maybe it was that British people being super overly polite thing that she'd never really understood. "Lyra's fine," she smirked. "Miss VanDerberg makes me feel like an old woman." Although she supposed she was now, relatively ancient compared to all the younger students at Hogwarts. At least she could always think of Hunter, or her mom, and feel better about how old she was. But seventeen, almost eighteen, felt like a pretty good age. Lyra was old enough to drink now, at least in wizarding Britain. Not that age had ever stopped her drinking Hunter's firewhiskey before this year. Nonetheless, she was a grown up now. It was scary thinking about graduation, though. She didn't feel quite that old just yet. And she'd have to, like, get a job, and a life. There was half a year left and she had no idea what she wanted to do. Terrifying. But if all else failed, she'd be able to just go back to the muggle life and work on the farm back at home. And make up for being such a terrible daughter, maybe.

But this was too much serious thinking for a beautiful picturesque winter morning when she was in the middle of a conversation with Humphrey, so again she turned her focus away from the horrors of being an adult to the younger boy. "Oh, right. In term time I usually just get up early to avoid the rush, but I get what you mean," Lyra nodded. She'd always been an early riser though, her and Lyn up at the crack of dawn every day on the farm to let out and feed the animals, then make pancakes or scrambled eggs for breakfast with Jack and Hunter. Her heart ached a little bit when she thought about those mornings, and how they'd be over for good now. Since Hunter had moved out, her and Lyn were at Hogwarts (Lyra didn't even go home at Christmas) and Jack was never coming back. When her mind wandered to that, it hurt a lot more.

Humphrey was talking about missing his family, and she nodded sympathetically. Last year, Lyra would have resented anyone complaining about a problem like that, being so wrapped up in herself and her own emotions, but she liked to think that she wasn't quite that bad anymore. And she did feel bad for Humphrey. "Funny, I was thinking the same thing. Missing my family." Mainly Jack. "You normally go home then? How old's your sister?" Lyra didn't even have the slightest idea why she'd wanted to stay at school. She imagined the rest of the family at home. Not enjoying themselves, but appreciating each other's company. There was already one child missing, why had she left another gap at the table for Christmas dinner? "I just needed some time to think, I guess," she replied when he asked about her. That wasn't really a lie. But she was glad the Ravenclaw boy had turned up, though, because a conversation could serve as a welcome distraction from her thoughts right now.

Humphrey blushed just a little when she said him calling her that had made her feel like an old woman. Internally he groaned, wishing that he didn't always mess things up. He had only been trying to be respectful. "Sorry about that, didn't mean to Lyra." he said, making sure to enunciate her first name clearly. Seeing the smirk on the older girl's face as she'd said that made him laugh just a little nervously. Clearly she was used to handling social situations better than he was, which only made sense. Eventually, he relaxed a little bit and reminded himself that she wasn't going to hurt him. It's just a seventh year, not a dragon. The thought caused a genuine smile to appear on his face, because dragons were extremely cool. At the moment, learning how to work with dragons sounded one of the more interesting career choices in the wizarding world. There were other cool ones, but that was still at the top of his list. Especially once he'd heard that there were 12 uses of dragon's blood. Perhaps there were other parts of dragons that had magical abilities, and it was simply waiting for a weird Ravenclaw to run tests and discover it.

Humphrey completely understood getting up early to avoid people, he'd done that before. Over the last six months it had been harder for him to wake up that early, and even though it was probably because he'd grown some it was still a little annoying that noisier breakfasts with more people was the price he had to pay for it. "I did that last term. For some reason my body won't let me get any less than nine hours sleep, sometimes ten, now. And since I like to read and do homework in advance before I go to bed, makes early breakfasts challenging." he said, deciding to share a little. Maybe she could confirm his theory about it being because he was growing. Maybe it was just because he'd been getting close to becoming a teenager, and now he was. For some reason as he looked at the older girl he got the feeling there was a lot on her mind. Her expression was a little too serious for their conversation. "Is there something bothering you?" he asked quietly.

When the girl told him that she'd been missing her own family it helped him feel just a little better. If a seventh year missed her family too, maybe it wasn't him acting like a little kid and getting homesick. Family was important, so maybe there wasn't anything wrong with feeling a little bad about not going home to see them. "Yeah, I did my first two years. Casey's eight years old, and full of energy. We pulled some pretty great pranks together, still do over the summers." he said with a smile and laughing, thinking about her. She always knew how to make him smile and laugh, more silly than he was most of the time, but also kinder. "You have any siblings?" he asked. The response of needing time to think was something he answered with if he wasn't sure he wanted to talk about something, so Humphrey simply nodded and looked out at their surroundings. "Fair enough." Thinking out here was a lot easier than in a castle with students of all ages moving about and chatting.

Humphrey was cute. A little awkward (weren't they all) and totally adorable. Lyra smiled again, trying to convince him that she wasn't a horrible person and she wasn't going to eat him and she was just trying to be friendly, because she'd been the least friendly person ever in recent years. To everyone. She looked up at the sky, wondering if it would snow. Scotland was good, because white Christmases were a common occurrence, and it was the very best place for snowball fights and building snowmen and all the rest of it. Especially at Hogwarts, where the grounds were the greatest.

"Ah, right," she nodded. "I used to be a bit like that. I could hardly function without nine hours. It just meant I had to go to bed early. I guess I've grown out of it now." It had been stupid, when you were thirteen or fourteen and all your friends wanted to stay up and be teenagers and drink butterbeer and share sweets and gossip. Sometimes she would. Sometimes her and Lyn would sneak out and break curfew together, crazy rebels they were. Or more accurately, she'd sneak out and meet her sister in the basement by her common room. "But I grew up on a farm, so it's not too surprising I wake up at the crack of dawn." Lyra looked away when he asked if something was bothering. You didn't explain to a kid, a stranger kid, that the only thing bothering was you was that you'd watched a crazy psychopath kill your brother in the middle of a street and you weren't sure how to deal with it all. "Oh, just some family stuff, I guess."

She smiled when Humphrey talked about his sister; obviously they were close, you could tell from the way he talked about her. "That's sweet," she nodded. "And it's understandable that you miss her, especially since you've always spent Christmas with her." A few years ago she would have been exactly the same, a Christmas without Lynette would be the absolute end of the world. But it had been two Christmases without Jack now, and there was nothing she could do about that. "Yeah, I have a sister and a brother. Two brothers. A brother." She pulled a face at herself, tripping over her words. Did she still have two brothers if one of them was dead? Did it count? She hadn't thought about that until now. "I'm a twin, and then my brother, Hunter, he graduated last year." Hunter the hotshot auror, probably still a git. She really ought to owl him or something, pretend that she liked him or something. Christmas spirit.

Humphrey eventually smiled back, telling himself that she really was just trying to be nice. Maybe since she was an older student she felt kind of obligated to help out a younger one, or she was a kind person. Either way, he was grateful that he had somebody to talk to. Other than hanging out with Sinead and occasionally Dakota he didn't really have many friends. Maybe that one girl from Slytherin named Ari, but they'd only hung out once so he wasn't sure if she thought of him as a friend yet or not. Meeting new people always made him feel anxious and awkward, and even though most of the people here were nice it was hard for him to get past that initial weirdness he felt. Hopefully if he worked on it more it would get easier, at least he hoped so.

When she said she'd had a phase like that he nodded, and chuckled a little when she said she grew out of it. "Probably more like finished growing." Humphrey joked, unable to resist making it though he knew it was pretty lame. Lyra explained that she grew up on a farm, which made sense with her getting up early. "That's cool. Do you have a lot of animals to look after there or focus more on crops?" he asked. Upon asking what was bothering her he noticed her look away, and he frowned a little. The response made it obvious she didn't want to talk about it, but he wanted to help if he could. "Sorry, I just wanted to help. You don't have to tell me, though." he said finally, not wanting to pressure her into talking.

Humphrey blushed a little when she said it was sweet and he shrugged, a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess it is probably normal. Definitely need to go into Hogsmeade soon to get her something. Hopefully she won't feel too left out." he said. When she first said she had two brothers and then revised it to a brother he looked at her curiously, not quite sure what was going on. Then the thought that maybe one had passed hit him like a ton of bricks. "You lost one of them, didn't you? I'm really sorry." He couldn't imagine how hard it would be to lose Casey, and nearly hugged her before stopping himself. Lyra probably wouldn't appreciate getting hugged by a boy she hardly knew. "That's cool. Do you get along well?"