The Pathways Graphic credit: Felixir A set of paths, some stone, most dirt, link the wooden bridge to almost every other area of the Hogwarts grounds. You will more than likely use these pathways at some point to reach your grounds-based classes, to visit other outdoor locations, or simply to take a walk and clear your head. This is a quiet area of the grounds with the soft sound of leaves rustling in the wind or lightly crunching below your feet. Doesn't the air just seem fresher around here somehow? |
for Mitsuki Finn had settled in, sitting cross-legged on one of the benches on the grounds. Despite a slightly reassuring chat with one of the Ravenclaw girls about O.W.L.s, he was still very worried about it. He didn't want to get tired of the library and normal study places too early in the term, though, so he'd ventured out here for his studying. His current stressor? History of Magic. He was reading the textbook perched on one knee, taking notes in a notebook balanced on the other knee. Verrrry focused. People might have walked by, and he hadn't noticed. He was too busy worrying about keeping all those Goblin rebellions straight. |
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So it was with this airy ignorance that she glided along the pathways this afternoon, hands clasped behind her back as she followed a trail of ants like a hammer in water. As she did, she hummed, remarkably loudly for a Mitsuki, a somewhat melancholy tune as she did her best to tip toe and avoid stepping on any of the leaves that had fallen across the path. |
Nora/Anna Banana! As much as Professor Paton LOVED being in the barns, pastures and reptile room, sometimes a woman needed a breath of fresh air. A walk even. A chance to stretch her legs and enjoy a moment where she wasn't one million percent focused on tending to every creature in her care. One of those moments was right now. A peaceful walk along the pathways was exactly what she needed on a lovely afternoon. Shortly ahead of her was her families crup (Beans) that she had at Hogwarts on account of her son's insistence. She thought the crup might like to stretch his paws and get some playtime in for a bit. |
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"Mitsuki!" he said, waving energetically. He closed his book and notebook and stood up. He deserved a break. Maybe he'd walk with Mitsuki. "Where are you going?" he asked. |
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"Hello, Finn," she greeted with a small bow from the waist, her hands clasped behind her back, and a twitch to the corners of her lips that could have been read as a smile. "I don't know," she answered honestly and clearly not bothered by having no real destination in mind. "I was just following the leaves and the gaps between them." Which...was hardly a descriptor since there were literally leaves everywhere along the pathways. |
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"Can I follow with you?" he asked, tucking his books under his arm. It might end up being a break with no end, but it was still early in the year. He had plenty of time to study for his O.W.L.s, at least in theory. He smiled back at her, hopeful that she wouldn't mind a little company. |
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With an odd sort of pause in her step, Nora attempted to meet the woman's gaze. "Hello, Professor Paton," she said. That was when she spotted the creature just ahead of the woman. Nora blinked and stared at the creature's tail. By now, she'd read up on enough information to know that was a crup, but the very appearance of its little tail still took her by surprise. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to seeing things like that..." |
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Having heard some footsteps close by, it wasn't very hard to meet the gaze of the first year those steps belonged to. "Miss Collins, hello there. Enjoying the lovely weather that we're having today?" her smile was warm and gentle as was her tone. Seeing how Nora's attention shifted onto the crup that was with her, Hady gave a gentle laugh and a nod of her head in understanding. "It takes some getting used to but it will happen in time. One day it will all seem like second nature to you and then you'll be asking yourself when that had happened." Being around so much magic, day in and day out had a way of shifting how one thought, looked at and felt about certain things. "His name is Beans and he's a very friendly, if not sometimes lazy, crup." No offense to Beans but he was slowly getting older, around five or six years old now. "You're welcome to pet him if you like." The offer was there if Nora wanted to. |
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"That's what I keep telling myself. That one day this will all be like second nature to me," she remarked. "Right now, it's not even close." So the dog's name was Beans Paton, hmm? The name made the creature seem less of a threat and more like the kind of dog she was used to. Paton was offering to let her pet him, too, but Nora wasn't sure just yet. "Umm, I don't know," she said. "What...what happened to his tail?" |
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His question caused a moment's pause, the Ravenclaw wondering for a few prolonged moments whether or not Finn doubted his agility or thought that she would be moving with hastened steps. Either was possible, either was also not possible. Could he follow her? She supposed he would just have to try and see. "I do not see why not," she blinked, still mulling his words over a bit and being entirely too presumptuous about it for her own liking. "Unless you intend to find yourself petrified in the next few moments." |
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"That day will come much faster than you expect but there's always going to be that sense of wonder behind all things magical. At least.. that's how it is for me." There was plenty of different forms of magic and they each held a special sense of awe even now for her after all these years. Hady smiled softly in understanding. "That's alright, maybe another time when you're ready to. Crups are a magical breed of dog, Beans was born with his tail that way as are all crups. Normally their tail is cropped a bit when they are very young to make them more undetectable around none magic folk." |
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"I think I just miss home," she admitted. "Everybody else seems to have someone in their life who's also a part of the magical world. I feel like I've been taken away to a completely different planet or something." As much as she and her older brother displayed a healthy dose of sibling rivalry, she'd have given almost anything to have him here with her. She cleared her throat in a somewhat nervous type of way and knelt down beside the crup. Slowly, as if she'd turned into a sloth, she reached a hand out toward Beans. "Hi, Beans," she half-whispered. Please don't eat my hand. |
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It might not feel like it to the first year but what she was saying was true for many students. Perhaps not in the fact that they also came from non-magical homes but homesickness was real and very strong at the start of a new school year. "It's more than okay to feel that way, everything you've ever come to know is now completely different. Hogwarts is very overwhelming even to those that come from magical backgrounds." Meaning that Nora wasn't all alone in her thoughts and feelings. "It does get better. There may even come a time when you are home and you miss being here." Life was full of surprises and one could never know for sure how they would feel about something in a few years time. Or even within a few weeks! Hady smiled softly in encouragement as she watched Beans and Nora. Beans being the sometimes lazy crup that he was, laid down right there at the young girls feet looking up at her with dark eyes as he expected the pettings. |
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And, without question, he took a step over to stand behind her. Leaves. Steps. Right. A bit of an unexpected activity, but he was eager for a distraction, and Mitsuki was usually good company. When she wasn't threatening him. |
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She drew in a sharp breath as the pup...err, crup...laid against her feet. She flexed her outstretched hand as if second guessing her decision. She slowly released the breath she'd been holding in and then hesitated for just one second longer. Finally, her hand came into contact with the crup's back, and she gave it a few soft pets. "Oh," she said, slightly surprised. "I know this sounds weird, but...I didn't realize how normal this would be." She continued to pet the dog, and her confidence grew with every second that passed. She soon stood to her feet again, though. It had been a pleasant first experience with crups, but it had also started to feel like too much too soon. Maybe later, though. |
the thought of Mitsuki threatening anyone has me HOWLING Quote:
Unprompted, Mitsuki reached to unclasp her necklace and held the ends carefully while her other slid one of her pinecone pendants along the chord. Without further explanation, for now, she offered one of the third eye pinecone pieces to him just as he came and stood behind her. "For protection." |
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Beans laid there quite contently enjoying the pets that he was getting for as long as it lasted. Hady gave an encouraging smile as she watched. "That could be because he's very much like the average dog if you're not looking at his tail." His forked tail was what gave him away. "Start small and work your way up towards the more magical creatures. There's plenty in the barns and out in the pastures.. many students and even us professors bring a companion with us." Hers just so happened to be a python. |
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He held it tentatively, looking first at the pinecone and then back to Mitsuki. He cleared his throat. "Are we going to go?" he asked. He didn't want to hold her up from her meandering. And he'd rather not her be looking at him as he tried to figure out what, exactly, to do with the pinecone. |
HE SHOULD XD poor dude Quote:
"Yes." Eyes cast downwards, Mitsuki stepped forward on her tiptoes with the delicate grace of a ballerina and brought her other foot forward into another leaf-free patch of ground...and again...and again...and again in a lazy zigzagging pattern along the pathway. |
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Each crunch from Finn's feet encouraged her to be more spritely as she wove through the path on her tip toes. He would be okay now that he had the addition of the pinecone pendant, at least enough so that Momiji-hime ought to be appeased. As she continued to lightly bounce along the path, her movements turned even more fluid. One with the wind, Mitsuki's movements were more akin to dancing and she had even resumed humming. Had she just found inspiration for her next performance calligraphy presentation? It was quite possible and her fingers were already tracing characters on the air as she continued to glide about - now with her eyes closed. |
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19 years later...lol Text Cut: Kolyander Nora looked over at the professor and gave her an appreciative smile. It was comforting to realize she'd likely never be seen as an outcast here, and most people were bending over backwards to help her get adjusted. Her face noticeably fell when her question about her parents was answered with the opposite of what she had been hoping it'd be. At her old school, there'd been an event every holiday, and even then, there'd been events in between the holidays. Nora was hoping there would have been at least something to help with her homesickness. "Maybe it's better this way," she finally said. "I wonder if I'd just want to go back home with them if they were here." Did she even have that choice? She hadn't thought about the possibility of a meeting in Hogsmeade, and in the next few silent seconds, she rolled the thought over and over in her mind. Maybe... "So are there any dangerous creatures here? Really dangerous creatures?" she asked. She'd honestly been expecting a wild dragon to come up through the fields one day and burn down the school. "I keep reading about all the creatures in the magical world. I'm kind of nervous about accidentally uncovering one." She did laugh a little after she said that. She'd been at Hogwarts long enough to realize things wouldn't just pop out. Or, at least, they hadn't yet. "A companion?" That sounded interesting. "Like what?" |
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This.. It was a question she didn't like. How did she answer this and not frighten the Nora? "As the CoMC professor I can easily argue that even the smallest and sweetest looking creature can be dangerous if handled wrong. However, the creatures in which I think you may be speaking of you don't have to fear. We have special rules and things in place for everyone's protection, that's why the Forbidden Forest is no place for students." It was dangerous. Hady smiled softly when things took a lighter note. "A companion is what some call their pet that they feel most closest with. One you have a very strong bond with. Here at Hogwarts those are generally cats, owls, toads, rats and pygmy puffs. Others are sometimes allowed to remain in the barn with permission from the Headmaster, Head of House and myself." |
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