Sophia was feeling a tad romantic, so she found herself trekking waaaaay up to the Astronomy Tower in the late afternoon, still carrying her books from the day's classes. She wanted to see the sunset from the tower. She was certain the view would be worth the climb. And she hoped (really, really hoped) that no couples had had the same idea as her. She couldn't think of anything worse than accidentally crashing somebody's romantic sunset date on the Astronomy Tower.

Maybe it was just her that thought it was romantic, though. She'd have to take a poll. She could ask the other Slytherin third years.

There was no real reason behind Aurora making the long trek up to the Astronomy tower other than that she had nothing better to do and her friends had retreated to their respective common rooms leaving her rather lonely. Anyone close to Aurora knew that she didn’t do well on her own, the chatterbox would go crazy and end up talking to any person that walked through the doors.

The view of the sunset was equally as spectacular from her dorm but there was no harm in viewing it from a different angle. She had taken the staircase two steps at a time, stretching her little legs out in an effort to get up quicker although exerting double the amount of effort considering how vertically challenged the thirteen year old was. She was pleasantly surprised as she rounded the corner to see that there was someone else present who she could bombard talk to.

“Hi Soph!” she skipped over to her yearmate, her blonde pigtails bouncing around on her back. “Whatcha doing?” And moreover could she join in whatever she was doing and save her from her own boredom.

Sophia turned quickly, slightly alarmed to hear someone joining her on the Astronomy tower. Given the number of stairs, she had expected to be up here alone. She smiled in relief when she saw it was her friend Aurora. "Hi Aurora," she said, shuffling her books around so she could get fully situated on the ground.

"I'm waiting for the sunset, i thought it might be nice." There wasn't much of a view of sunrises or sunsets from her own dorm. Once the light filtered through the depths of the lake to the Slytherin common room window...there wasn't much color left. Aurora was a Ravenclaw, though, so she didn't have that problem. Which left Sophia wondering... "What are you doing?"

That was a very reasonable question and not necessarily one that she had an answer to. “Boredom I guess? I couldn’t find my sister and my best friend’s are in the other houses so I couldn’t spend time with them.” Which quite frankly was the worst part about the house system. It wasn’t that she didn’t get along with her fellow Ravenclaws but she seemed to gravitate towards the other three houses and therefore when it became evening and everyone had retreated back to their own common rooms she was left a little lonely.

“Also I could see the sunset looked really pretty from my dorm so I climbed all the way up here as I knew it would look even better.” So she was in agreement with the Slytherin there. There was something about the way that the Astronomy tower had been positioned that allowed it the best view of the sky and as she tiptoed to peek over the railings she could see the orange glow bathing the surface of the lake and making it appear as if it were on fire. “I wonder if Bartholomew likes looking at sunsets too?” she pondered aloud. Or the Mermaids, or the Grindylow or whatever other magical species had made the Great Lake their home.

She plopped herself down in the space next to Sophia ready to make herself comfortable whether the other girl appreciated her company or not.

That answer surprised Sophia. While she appreciated the exercise of all the stairs (kept her Quidditch-ready, she thought!), she assumed most people wouldn't want to come all the way to the top of the Astronomy tower...just because. But Aurora wasn't most people, so she must have misjudged the Ravenclaw.

"Well, you can spend time with me," Soph volunteered. She hadn't aimed for company here, but she hadn't been specifically looking for solitude either. She shifted her weight, trying to get into a comfortable position. She wasn't sure sitting on the floor had a comfortable position, though. She frowned, thoughtfully considering Aurora's question.

"Can squids see the different colors? It might just look like...normal sky, to him," she said. It was a bit of a pessimistic thought, but she couldn't picture the squid lazing at the surface of the Great Lake to watch a sunset.

Aurora most certainly wasn’t ‘most’ people. She also had enough energy at this time in the evening to clamber up all those steps thanks to the generous portion of sugar filled pudding which was completely disproportionate to the petite Ravenclaw. It was likely at some point that she would crash but for now she was content and bouncing off the walls and she had made that strenuous journey without even exhibiting a huff and a puff in response.

“Good! Everything's better when in the company of friends.” At least in her opinion it was but Aurora was the true definition of an extrovert who recharged her batteries through social interactions and found that being alone drained her. It was true that the floor wasn’t particularly comfortable thanks to the flagstones and lack of soft furnishings adorning it but it seemed as though they’d be spending the rest of their evening there. “Do you think we can use the cushioning charm on the floor?” she pondered out loud. It was a spell they had learned the previous term and it seemed simple enough to replicate if she could actually remember the incantation. “If I’d known you were here too I would’ve brought my cushions up and we could’ve built our own pillow fort.” Unfortunately her transfiguration skills were not up to date to transform any of the objects into soft furnishings quite yet.

Although the third year was fascinated by all creatures great and small, she hadn’t conducted enough research to recall whether squids were able to see in technicolour or if they were like dogs who could only see in monochrome. “I don’t know. I’d like to think he can see everything bright and colourful like we can. Maybe even MORE colourful. Imagine how pretty it would look under the lake if he saw things not so murky, it would be like a coral reef kingdom.”

Friends, yes. Sophia was glad that Aurora also considered her a friend. She smiled, trying not to look too embarrassed when Aurora suggested a cushioning charm. Why hadn't she thought of that? "I don't think there's any rule against it," she said. "I think you should try." Aurora was much more likely to be successful than Sophia, so she wasn't going to volunteer to embarrass herself with a failed attempt at a charm.

"Maybe we should make a pillow fort later, when it gets colder. It'd be really cozy," she suggested. A pillow fort sounded fun, and outside sounded even better.

She frowned, thinking it unlikely that the giant squid could see a coral reef kingdom in the lake, or even that there would be a coral reef kingdom in the lake. "I bet we could ask Professor Paton," she said, not thinking they really would. It wasn't that important a question, and knowing or not knowing wouldn't make the sunset any more or less serene.

Sophia was a little mistaken if she thought that Aurora was more likely to be successful at a charm than she was. She might’ve had the enthusiasm and confidence of someone who looked like they knew what they were doing and proudly sported the Ravenclaw colours of the house that were supposedly the ‘intelligent’ ones but Aurora’s head was a little too in the clouds to be considered good at any spell. With that being said she was more than willing to give it a go.

“I’ll try. Umm.. let’s see..” she stood up from her spot, removing her wand from the holster and tapping it against her chin a couple of times trying to think of what the incantation was. “Spongify?” she pointed her wand at the slab she was previously sat on only for it to morph into a squishy, spongy surface. “No wait, that’s the wrong spell!” her eyes widened as she placed a foot onto the tile only to be pleasantly surprised that it had created somewhat of a mini trampoline she could bounce on. “I guess that works” she giggled bouncing up on her toes a couple of times.

As for the building a pillow fort idea later that evening it sounded like the perfect idea. “We can bring our duvets and blankets and my Pygmy Puff.” She’d suggest lighting a fire too but that would probably be a terrible idea as far as Aurora was concerned.

It wasn’t that she thought there was a coral reef kingdom within the lake and as Sophia was a Slytherin she would probably know better than Aurora did about the mythical contents of the Great Lake but she hoped that Bartholomew could see in much more vibrant colours than they could and therefore was always amazed by his lonely habitat. “Good idea.” The truth was that the Ravenclaw was likely to completely forget about it by the next morning anyway.

Sophia was relieved Aurora agreed to do the charm, as she didn't want to attempt it in front of a classmate and fail. How embarrassing that would be. She was however surprised at the charm Aurora used... she'd definitely been thinking of another, but she followed suit and gently tapped the floor with her foot. Eh, even if it wasn't the charm they'd wanted, it had worked. "Perfect!" she said cheerfully, scooting onto the spongy part of the floor. This would be even better with blankets and pillows.

At the mention of Aurora's pygmy puff, Soph tilted her head thoughtfully. "I wonder what colors pygmy puffs can see," she said. "They're colorful themselves, do you think they know that?"

Getting the spell or incantation or wand movement wrong wasn’t a particularly rare occurrence for the Ravenclaw and therefore she felt no inhibitions over making a ‘fool’ of herself in front of her peers. Besides, they were only third years and the point of education was to learn so they shouldn’t be expected to get everything correct anyway.

“We should spongify every other tile and make a bouncy hopscotch through the tower” she giggled. Maybe later though? For now she was satisfied with bouncing up in the air, folding her legs underneath her and landing cross-legged on the spongy floor. Her bottom scooted to get comfortable too.

“I have no idea.” Aurora’s Pygmy Puff had been a surprise gift for her and therefore her research prior to receiving her had been limited. She had of course researched how to care for them since although had no recollection of learning about their vision. “Maybe they can only see in shades of pink and purple like their fur is?” Which didn’t sound unpleasant. Aurora already saw the world through rose-tinted glasses, she might as well literally see in only pink.