Owlery

[Felixir]

At the very top of the West Tower is where all owls, whether belonging to you individually or the school, reside. As you ascend the tower and its many stairs, constant hooting can be heard and you can feel the temperature gradually dropping. Once you open the door, you can feel a draft blowing straight at you because there is no glass where the windows would be. A few owls flutter in and out of the windows as the door closes.

Stepping deeper into the owlery, hundreds of owls lining the walls in their little nooks turn their head at you. Some even swoop down from their perches to say hello in the hopes that you'll give them a few owl treats that are in a closed bag inside a drawer of an old wooden desk that was placed in the centre of the room. If you investigate the desk further, you will find spare ink, quills, and parchment should you need to write a letter on the spot if you aren't here to just check up on the owls. Pellets, old animal skeletons, belladonna berries, and owl droppings cover the floor, so watch your step.

[Charely Potter]

Caes felt like observing the skies without being completely outdoors today. So up the Owlery he went where he quickly got to cleaning the droppings along the trail he made towards one of the windows to sit at. Retrieving out of his pocket was a letter, he tied to one of the owls. "Hey, it's a lengthy journey but he'll make it worth your while," He said. His grandfather was one of those softies underneath the tough outer layer.

He waited as some other owls flew out the window as well, gazing to see until they disappeared from view.

[MadAlice]

Violet had made the long trek up to the Owlery, supposedly to mail a letter home to her family, but really to look for her ever mischievous, constantly truant pet magpie, Machiavelli. He was always leaving the sanctuary for unauthorized pets and creatures and causing mischief if Violet didn't keep a sharp eye out for him.

When she reached the top, she stopped abruptly. The new Slytherin boy, Caeson Hawkins, was already here. The very intriguing new Slytherin boy. She'd been wanting to have a chance to talk with him (preferably without his sister, Aria, around, but now that she had the chance, Violet suddenly felt awkward and was at a loss to say. But she was here now, and she had to say something.

"Oh....hi," she began (brilliantly--is that the best an aspiring writer can come up with, Violet?) "You didn't happen to see a black and white bird mucking about up here, did you?" Well, people used their pet dogs as an excuse to meet people, or so Violet had heard--so why not a magpie? He might as well be of some use for a change.

[Charely Potter]

As Caes looked out, his eyes traveled along the Ground outline from below. They sure were high up, but he didn't mind. He couldn't help comparing this school to his previous one. Not really to critique but just for comparison's sake.

His thoughts were halted by a familiar sound, "Hi..." His expression appeared blank. Either of surprise or confusion on seeing someone else here. Maybe it was the absence of Aria that planted these feelings since he had grown accustomed to her being around him all the time. "Oh, was that yours? I saw it fly off with the other Owls." Gesturing out the window he sat at, though at this point they resembled specks from the current distance.

Suddenly, Caeson felt awkward, here he was with another pretty girl who happened to share the same common room with him. He didn't think of himself as a smooth operator, but girls never really phased him so it was a strange feeling now. So he then went with his first instinct of action, "I was just here delivering a letter to my grandparents," Then adding, "But I couldn't help seeing the view, it's not so bad... so you really spent seven years here?" Since she was a year above him, it must have felt like home to her at this point. But rather than risk sinking too deep for either's comfort, "What's your bird's name?"

[MadAlice]

Violet looked off in the direction that Caes had pointed and sighed. If that really was her truant magpie, he was long gone for now and up to who knew what kind of mischief. Well, he was with some Hogwarts owls, so hopefully they would keep him from doing anything too wrong. At any rate, she would catch up with him eventually--she always did.

"Oh, his name's Mack--it's short for Machiavelli. He's always getting out of the area he's supposed to stay in and he likes to steal things--well, I guess to him it's 'collecting'. He loves shiny things and takes them off and hides them in a nest or somewhere, and then every term I have to track them all down and make sure he didn't take anything really valuable from someone. He's really a lot of trouble--if I'd realized how much back when I was eleven, I might not have brought him to Hogwarts." Violet suddenly felt awkward talking so much to an attractive boy and looked down and bought time by folding and tying up her letter. "Yes, I've been here six, going on seven years, now--well, really I should have graduated last year, but I...took a year off in what should have been my second year. And it does seem kind of like home in a way, and I'm sure I'll feel strange to leave, but on the other hand I kind of feel eager--I really want to go out in the world and see what I can accomplish, you know?"

She was feeling a little more confident and looked back up at him--which was certainly easy on the eyes. "And yourself--were you at Koldovstoretz all this time? It must be a little hard coming into a brand new school your sixth year. Did you like your old school a lot? Were you sorry to leave it?" Violet herself had never quite gotten over taking that year off--she had felt a bit out of step with her class ever since, so she couldn't imagine starting over in a new school after five years.

[Charely Potter]

She had a bird that steals things. "Really..." One of the corners of Caes' mouths twitched in an upward motion. Sounds familiar... He privately thought, though he was quite sure they wouldn't find the comparison as amusing as he did. "Well, I should probably warn Aria then, she has quite a collection that would tempt Mack." Slight pause as he tried not to imagine the scene of her fighting the bird off. "I mean, besides the klepto tendencies, he doesn't go around attacking people right?" He wondered if the bird had a softer side that made Violet hesitate on getting rid of it after all these years.

"Oh," Caes said in apparent surprise. Hearing that she was a year older than her classmates brought up a minor insecurity he didn't find important to bring up. "Do you mind if I ask how you spent that year away from here?" He had to think about how to explain his academic years since it had grown complicated. "School wasn't really my thing so to speak, I always thought of it as a way to pass the time... I was originally going to leave after my sixth year in Koldovstoretz."

While he was already looking in Violet's general direction, he hadn't really looked into her eyes fully until then. Is she trustworthy? She seemed like she had an open mind and ears. Plus, the area was void of anyone else. "I didn't have a family growing up, or rather I didn't know they existed until last year." If she felt awkward speaking, perhaps it was his turn to feel awkward speaking on his past, "I grew up in an orphanage until I started school, and it wasn't until last year that I found out who my grandfather was." Oh yeah, she did ask about if he liked the school, "I guess I didn't realize how much I appreciated the grounds until then. All the trees, the view of the water that this school reminds me of. In the summer, my grandfather thought it would be good to meet the rest of the family. So I went to my Uncles... and they adopted me." He hadn't talked that much in a while. "I guess you could say, I don't feel sorry for having to redo my sixth year. Chances are I probably would've already left school last year to work if I didn't know any better."

His face began to feel heated, "My apologies, I don't talk this much at once." Why was he feeling embarrassed? he urge to turn his face was creeping up, but instead his eyes gazed lower slightly before meeting back up again.

[MadAlice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charely Potter

"Well, I should probably warn Aria then, she has quite a collection that would tempt Mack." Slight pause as he tried not to imagine the scene of her fighting the bird off. "I mean, besides the klepto tendencies, he doesn't go around attacking people right?"

Oh great, just what Violet needed was to get Aria annoyed with her (though the image that suddenly sprang into her mind of Mack and the younger girl locked in combat over a bauble nearly made her laugh). "Oh no, he's not vicious or anything, he's just curious and...likes shiny things. Magpies are like that, you know--there's even a Muggle musician who wrote a piece named "The Thieving Magpie." And he's good company--useful, he sometimes will deliver messages if I don't have an owl. And loyal..." Violet thought of how Mack had escaped the Neo-Alliance and flown off to try to warn Miss Howard; definitely very loyal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charely Potter

"Do you mind if I ask how you spent that year away from here?"

Oh, dear. How to explain that, without telling too much. Because there's no good way to tell a new acquaintance that your father is a con artist. Especially when you've just told him you have a thieving bird--he might think it was a pattern. But as Violet hesitated, Caes suddenly started opening up, telling her all about his own background, really personal things, so that she felt she could do no less than be equally open (or mostly).

"Yes, well, it's a long story. Well--it's funny, I didn't really know my family for a long time, either, or at least not my parents. My mother's family is an old Pureblood house, and she ran off and married a Muggle, and at some point, when I was just a little girl, I was sent home to live with my grandfather and uncles. They apparently didn't like or approve of my father and would never talk about him or even my mother. I thought it was because they didn't like Muggles and that they therefore must not really like me much. I had a governess, though--Jane Howard--who'd gone to school with Mother and she told me a lot of things about her. Anyway, not knowing anything about my father made me want that much more to meet him. Then he started writing me secretly and the summer after my first year at Hogwarts he persuaded me to run away with him to America. And then..." Violet paused again--she still wasn't quite ready to tell Caes everything about her father... "Then I found out that it wasn't because he was a Muggle that my family disapproved of him, it was because he--well, he really wasn't a very nice man, and I don't know if he even really loves me, he just seemed to want to use my magic. Which is a laugh, because how much magic does anyone know after only one year at school? And Mother wasn't with him anymore and he didn't seem to know where she was, so I still don't know what's happened to her." Violet couldn't talk about this anymore, because she was sure her mother was probably dead, or she would have come back home to be with her daughter.

"Anyway, I was lucky--Miss Howard tracked me down and took me out of there and brought me back home. And it worked out well with my family, because now I realize that they do love me and don't care that I'm a Half-Blood, they just didn't like my father. Things could have turned out a lot worse, running off like that when you're only twelve." Yes, that had been really stupid, but Violet had learned a lot about Muggles and she had also learned a lot about life.

She suddenly blushed a little, and then laughed. "So now it's me who is talking too much. But I think you'll like Hogwarts, even if you're not into school. It's really kind of like being in a large family, especially the people in your House, and it has all these quirky customs. Anyway, I hope you like it here." Violet smiled again, and it suddenly struck her that this was why Aria seemed so strangely possessive of her brother--if he hadn't grown up with them, then she must not have had a chance to spend much time with him. No wonder she kind of wanted him to herself for a while.

[Charely Potter]

As Violet detailed her missing year, Caes caught himself being taken aback by some of the amount she detailed. Not that it was too much for him, but rather how some mentions seemed to stick in his mind. "Wow.. it appears we share a bit in common," Their biological parents were absent in their lives, sent to live with their grandfather and uncles. It was even theorized that his own father was likely a muggle due to the lack of records of him. Though given the careful mention of her time with her father, he imagined it turned dark from there. His eyes looked down at that moment, "I'm sorry you had to go through that with him," Before his eyes met hers again, "It really sounds like you have quite the supportive family." For him, all this attention he recently received he couldn't help but wonder how long it would last. Though he couldn't bring himself share this thought in case it did bring the end to his support he was getting used to. Luckily from the air Violet carried in her tone after, Caes figured it was safe to move on from the topic for now.

A small smile appeared, "Thanks, I am noticing that here right away." Then adding, "You especially are making it easier to fit in here," He said what he said. "What would you say are some of the fun things that can be done around here?" He had some ideas already from Aria, but he was looking for other ways that he hadn't considered before especially with some company. "I was already told taking one of the Forbidden Forest's trees to fly on wasn't allowed.. that was one of the things people did at my other school" Then adding, "But we would replant them right after seeing how far across the island we could fly," At least they were supposed to replant them, ahem.

[MadAlice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charely Potter

A small smile appeared, "Thanks, I am noticing that here right away." Then adding, "You especially are making it easier to fit in here," He said what he said. "What would you say are some of the fun things that can be done around here?" He had some ideas already from Aria, but he was looking for other ways that he hadn't considered before especially with some company. "I was already told taking one of the Forbidden Forest's trees to fly on wasn't allowed.. that was one of the things people did at my other school" Then adding, "But we would replant them right after seeing how far across the island we could fly," At least they were supposed to replant them, ahem.

Violet smiled and blushed slightly when he said she was making it easier to fit in. Then...oh. Ways to have fun--that might not be her specialty, exactly. That is, what Violet found fun was often different from what most other people did. Still...wait, what did he just say? "You used trees to ride on, like brooms you mean?" Violet was amazed and impressed; she herself had always had enough trouble just riding on a broom. "That's...that's remarkable. I don't think anyone here has done anything like that. That I know of--I'm afraid flying isn't one of my specialties," she confessed, hoping that this shortcoming wouldn't turn him off. But Violet did not believe in pretending to be other than you were just to make a friend. Or...something more than that, maybe.

"Anyway, they're pretty strict about the Forbidden Forest being...forbidden. And..." Violet had a sudden memory of being surrounded by Acromantulas in the Forest that time when Headmaster Fake-Trent had led them all out there. "...they're not making it up. There are a lot of dangerous things out there, like giant spiders and...other things." Violet tried to think of what she knew around the Castle that might appeal to this newcomer. "Well, there are a lot of other outdoor places we can go to--the Great Lake is nice, and sometimes you can see the Giant Squid there. And we usually get an outing once a term to the local village, Hogsmeade." Violet rather hoped Caes might want to accompany her there the next time they had a trip.

[Charely Potter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

Violet smiled and blushed slightly when he said she was making it easier to fit in. Then...oh. Ways to have fun--that might not be her specialty, exactly. That is, what Violet found fun was often different from what most other people did. Still...wait, what did he just say? "You used trees to ride on, like brooms you mean?" Violet was amazed and impressed; she herself had always had enough trouble just riding on a broom. "That's...that's remarkable. I don't think anyone here has done anything like that. That I know of--I'm afraid flying isn't one of my specialties," she confessed, hoping that this shortcoming wouldn't turn him off. But Violet did not believe in pretending to be other than you were just to make a friend. Or...something more than that, maybe.

"Anyway, they're pretty strict about the Forbidden Forest being...forbidden. And..." Violet had a sudden memory of being surrounded by Acromantulas in the Forest that time when Headmaster Fake-Trent had led them all out there. "...they're not making it up. There are a lot of dangerous things out there, like giant spiders and...other things." Violet tried to think of what she knew around the Castle that might appeal to this newcomer. "Well, there are a lot of other outdoor places we can go to--the Great Lake is nice, and sometimes you can see the Giant Squid there. And we usually get an outing once a term to the local village, Hogsmeade." Violet rather hoped Caes might want to accompany her there the next time they had a trip.

Caes was intrigued about the dangers of the Forbidden Forest. "Giant Spiders? But.. if they're so dangerous how come they don't come into the castle?" It was confusing, though maybe they helped protect the school as a deal? "I guess maybe it's like the waters surrounding our forest and school, we're advised not to take a swim without facing consequences." He was surprised at not just knowing more about the school but how easily it was conversing with Violet. Outside his little sister who was comforting as well.

"Hogsmeade?" A local village.. Interesting. They didn't have that sort of privilege. "Well.. maybe once the village is open for us you can tell me more about this school's secrets that you know of." Suddenly he felt his heart pause. Did he just ask her out? Well, no use taking it back now.

[MadAlice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charely Potter

Caes was intrigued about the dangers of the Forbidden Forest. "Giant Spiders? But.. if they're so dangerous how come they don't come into the castle?" It was confusing, though maybe they helped protect the school as a deal? "I guess maybe it's like the waters surrounding our forest and school, we're advised not to take a swim without facing consequences." He was surprised at not just knowing more about the school but how easily it was conversing with Violet. Outside his little sister who was comforting as well.

Violet frowned a bit at his question--what did keep the Acromantulas from getting into the castle? Probably the same protective enchantments that kept out other bad things (except the Board of Governors, unfortunately). "I think it's just the same enchantments that protect the castle in general--there are a lot of them supposedly, and very strong ones. The spiders are Acromantulas technically--I think they were left here by somone who was at Hogwarts long ago, or at least that's what I've heard, but I don't really know for certain. I just know that I never want to come face to face with them again. Ever." Violet shuddered slightly at the memory of that night, and then firmly put it out of her mind. She didn't want to think about things like that when she had an opportunity of getting to know Caes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charely Potter

"Hogsmeade?" A local village.. Interesting. They didn't have that sort of privilege. "Well.. maybe once the village is open for us you can tell me more about this school's secrets that you know of." Suddenly he felt his heart pause. Did he just ask her out? Well, no use taking it back now.

And...did she hear that correctly? Did Caes just, kinda, sorta, ask her out? Whether he meant to or not, Violet was jumping on it. She had been longing to have a normal school experience for four or five years now, and she was not going to let this chance slip. Even though social conversation was not her strong point. "Well, certainly--I'd be happy to show you what I know about Hogsmeade if you like. Hopefully we'll get a weekend during the winter weather--the village is really pretty in the snow. Magical, even," Violet chuckled slightly at the last, a weak attempt at a joke. "Actually, I wish I knew more of the castle's secrets--it seems every year there's something going on, plus, of course, school, and somehow I've never gotten around to exploring everything. But," Violet had a sudden idea, "have you seen the Weasley Swamp on the fifth floor?" She was trying to think of things a boy like Caes would like; she somehow doubted he would be as taken with the library or historical maps as she was.