Grounds: The Duck Pond

[Wilber Winterbottom]

Graphic credit: FearlessLeader19

A dozen white feathered Pekin ducks could be found gracefully swimming or sunning themselves in this pond in this pond. With their orangish-yellow legs and feet and short yellow beak, this particular variety of feathered creatures is among the friendliest of its species you will ever come across.

The rocky ledge surrounding the pond allows you to take a seat. You may even dip your feet into the pristine water if you like, just beware of the ducks wanting to take a nip at your feet for the fun of it. Or maybe they’ve mistaken your toes for a tasty treat? Speaking of treats… have you brought along a snack for these magnificent creatures? While bread is not high in nutritional value for them, they will accept fresh and small pieces of it. Lettuce, oats, seeds and cooked rice will also suffice.

Play nicely with the ducks! While they are social, they will not take kindly to anyone being cheeky with them!


OOC: You are free to RP for the ducks though there should be no serious injuries!

[Emzily]

You might think that this Slytherin would have a distaste for ducks, given his silly surname that had granted him plenty of ridicule over the years, however that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Solomon Duck quite resonated with the feathered cuties. (He’d never admit to calling them that out loud.)

Solly did not have his uniform on due to no classes today, and was instead wearing a thick, grey tracksuit. It was brand new, thus appearing very clean. However his trainers were far from that. Tatty, dirty, and almost falling apart. Unfortunately he did not have much of a fashion sense, this one, but it never bothered him much. He slumped down onto a rock placed around the pond, but kept his feet away from the edge. Although foot dipping was allowed, that was not his cup of tea.

He beckoned a couple of duckies towards him after tossing some oats around them. Some he picked up from the kitchens on his way here. He knew very well that bread wasn’t the best option despite popular culture. He smiled widely as a few swam over to him.

[Lottiepot]

Any addition to the school grounds was appreciated by Aurora. Although she admired the castle for all its grandeur, it was outside where she truly felt she belonged. Even better when that new addition featured small furry creatures (or in this instance feathery ones), it was likely to become a frequently visited spot along her weekend walk.

Dressed rather casually in a t-shirt and blue denim shorts, her hair down in loose waves, making the most out of the remains of a short-lived summer, the fifth year instantaneously spotted a familiar set of dark waves by the pond's edge. Usually she would’ve just barged her way into a hug but judging by Solomon’s lack of acknowledgement at the feast, the blonde was a little hesitant on her approach to the space next to him.

That didn’t stop her from leaning into his side as she watched him toss the oats into the water. No greetings were deemed necessary, it was obvious from the closeness who she would be, at least she assumed that would be the case. “Do you think they know your surname is Duck? Like maybe you have some spiritual connection with them.” If that was the truth then she’d need to find and marry a man whose surname was Unicorn.

[Emzily]

Though he would unlikely realise that he would need to explain himself for his lack of sociability during the feast, Aurora needn’t take it personally. In fact, he simply hadn’t noticed anybody, rather than actively ignoring them. Well, he was possibly trying to ignore one person or two, but certainly not Aurora. His smile grew less when company made itself known, however once realising it was his bestie, was comfortable to return its cheerfulness. “There you are, Rora.” Solly leaned towards her too and gave her a shoulder nudge. She had, in fact, been on his mind very recently so they could resume their Hoggies journey together. Anna, too. Golden trio vibes.

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders at her question. “I hope not. That would be a bit of a sad special attribute of mine.” He quickly imagined being in a mighty battle and summoning… ducks to his side. Not very galant. “Although I can speak to ducks.” His face was very serious.

One duck in particular had approached the pair very closely and Solly bent down and whispered some silly quacks to it. “He says hello.” He said to Aurora, trying his best not to smirk.

[Lottiepot]

The smile on Solomon’s face was a relief, she wouldn’t have known what to do had he rejected her company nor would she have the words to comfort him on whatever issue he was going through. That wasn’t to say that she wouldn’t try but there was a lack of male hormones in her house, her experience was very limited. “I thought you were avoiding me after the feast” she continued the lean, softly chuckling. She didn’t really think it was true, the ‘golden trio’ were practically inseparable - until the other two would graduate a whole year before her anyway but she didn’t want to think about that yet.

The ability to have a connection with any animal or creature sounded like an incredible attribute to the Ravenclaw. “It would be better than having no special attribute at all! And I reckon ducks are much smarter than you think.” Their bills were probably capable of great damage if they wanted to, they just chose to be passive and friendly and live a docile life floating on the pond. If those pesky squirrels were capable of planning world domination, she was sure that birds could too.

“Does that make you a Quackletongue?” she giggled, carefully reaching down to see if the duck would approach her without invading its personal space. “You can tell him that I say it’s nice to meet him.” Mostly because it was cute watching Solly quack to a duck but also on the off-chance that he really could speak to them and then the fifth year would be seen as rude.

[Emzily]

The thought of upsetting Aurora at the feast had quite clearly unsettled Solomon in return. He frowned and shook his head, though there would never be a reason for him to want to avoid Aurora. She was a good egg in many ways. “No way!” He exclaimed before sighing, wondering if he was now obliged to explain himself. As usual he did NOT want to get into it. “I was just, uhhh… a bit grouchy. Not to be back here, of course, but just saw someone I didn’t want to see.” Solomon squinted his eyes shut in realisation that he’d said too much and knew very well that Aurora would press for more details. Looking for a distraction, Solly pulled a nearby flower and offered it to his fifth year friend. “Milady.” ‘Twas but a mere daisy, fyi.

“Ha! I suppose they would be great at listening in on conversations and spilling the details back to me.” Their ability to walk upon land as well as swim would definitely come in handy. “Know what? I reckon I could take over the world with that power.” Solly said quite seriously, before laughing at her choice of name for the language. “Yes, that’s perfect.” It was quite a funny homage to Parseltongue, which sounded much MUCH cooler.

Solly whispered his quacks once again to the creature who mid sentence turned its back on him completely and swam away. “Well. Your smell clearly frightened him off.” He told Aurora. “I can only apologise for his rudeness.” He refrained from using milady again because it had now retired.

[Lottiepot]

It wasn’t that she was upset, it was more a matter of concern for his happiness. No one was allowed to be sad or frustrated or annoyed around Aurora, you see? She was making it her life’s mission to put a smile on every person’s face, or at least every Hogwarts student's face anyway and so far she was achieving it to varying success. It would be no good if one of her closest, most favourite people wasn’t happy in her presence.

Which he quickly put to rest anyway as she squished into his side, linking her arm through his. “Good. Did you feel better after the feast though? The Elves outdid themselves this year.” They did every year to be honest. Maybe it was just the same but the two month break had made her crave something unhealthy. The second part of Solly’s sentence quickly caught her attention. “Who?” she gasped rather dramatically. Because if he was avoiding someone, it would only be right that she avoid them too! Unless it was Anna, there was no way they were splitting up the twenty-second century reverse golden trio.

The daisy was a great distraction though, she adored flowers. “Awww. I’ll put it in my hair” she giggled as she tucked the stem behind her ear.

“No one will suspect a duck.” The cute feathery creatures they were with their wiggly butts. “Just as long as you ask them to spare me. I wouldn’t like to be pecked by their bills.” And she rather fancied herself as a real life princess the way she tried to talked to animals. Quackletongue would now be firmly cemented into her vocabulary should the need to use it ever arise again.

Now that was just RUDE. “I smell like strawberries!” she protested followed by a laugh. “At least I don’t smell like pondweed.”

[Emzily]

“Yeah,” he smiled softly, “I felt much better afterwards, thanks.” That was actually true. In fact, he’d almost forgotten why he was so grumpy once he had unpacked the basics and relaxed into his bed. His attitude switching quickly, Solomon was quite clearly bothered by Aurora pressing about who it was. While it was a normal reaction of a best friend to find those sort of things out, Solly knew that she would likely be upset to hear the details and would probably tell said person about it. That being said, he didn’t want to snap at Aurora, which took a bit of effort in all honesty. “Nobody. Just some guy, you don’t even know them.” He lied.

Solly felt warmed when she put the flower in her hair, and he found another that matched and placed it into his own mess of hair, nearby his ear for extra security. It would likely get lost shortly, but for now, they were a pair. “Probably doesn’t look at lovely on me as it does on you.” He complimented her, effortlessly.

“Of course we shall spare you.” Solly placed his hand on his chest as if he were making a promise. All of the nearby ducks had now moved away from them, leaving him looking a bit of a silly Quackletongue. He laughed at her defence over her smell. “Suuuuuure, you do.” Nah, she did always smell pretty nice. Her gel pens did, anyway.

“Pondweed never smelled so good!!” He lifted his arm and dramatically sniffed his armpit. “Ahhhhh. Delightful.” In reality he could do with some sort of deodorant. Hopefully Aurora couldn’t REALLY smell him.

[Lottiepot]

Food had the amazing ability to work wonders on one’s mood, or it did for Aurora anyway. Not that she was frequently found in a negative state and even if she was she rarely ever showed it. But a helping of jam roly-poly or an apple crumble and custard would always put a smile on her face. “It’s always the best way to end a long journey.” That and the deep sleep in the dorms afterwards, if she hadn’t remained up all night catching up with her dormmates that was.

Aurora wasn’t enquiring to be nosy nor was her intention ever to be annoying. She WAS a curious Ravenclaw after all and even more so when the situation applied to one of her most favourite people. It was only natural to want to know more. With that being said, the blonde was starting to understand when others didn’t want to say anything further. “Oh. Well if you see him, point him out so I can avoid him too.” For friendship reasons obviously, she couldn’t go unintentionally hurting her nearest and dearest. Friends enemies were HERS too, right?

Maybe. She was pretty sure she was incapable of having enemies but she could probably pretend.

The compliment was greatly received by the rosy colour touching her cheeks. “You’re beautiful too, Solly” she smiled sweetly. It was true. Aurora might have blossomed into the young lady sporting her Mom’s model looks and golden hair but she also had the innate ability to see the beauty in everyone and Solomon was obviously exceptional. She reached out to place another daisy gently in one of his curls on the opposite side, braiding it in so that it remained secure.

“Perhaps you could ask the ducks to protect me from the squirrels? They have a vendetta against me you see? The gnomes too.” Scary creatures the both of them, squirrels with their perfect acorn aim and gnomes needn’t have any explanation as to why they were terrifying when running full pelt at her baring their teeth.

The Ravenclaw wasn’t offended by the mocking, she knew she smelled great most of the time. Nor could she smell anything negative on Solly so he was safe from any accusations on her behalf. “I didn’t mean YOU smelling like pondweed” she laughed, nodding her head towards their retreating feathered friends.

[Emzily]

Well. Aurora’s ability to drop it had Solly surprised. He almost felt bad for not disclosing his problems to her, granted her being his best friend. He so wanted to tell her more than anything. He sighed, defeatedly. “It’s just… someone you’re friends with, that’s all,” he thought they were friends anyway. “and I’d hate to make things awkward between us… or you and them.” He knew that much was true that things would get awkward. Truthfully the said person hadn’t even done anything wrong other than make Solomon feel uncomfortable 99% of the time, which didn’t make sense because feeling romantically about someone was supposed to be a good feeling. A few diary entries would explain it better than I.

Solly felt more shy after his compliment towards Aurora rather than hers to him. While he didn’t think of himself as a super attractive person, he had good feeling that he wasn’t awful to look at. “Look at us. Just two beautiful people, sitting by the duck pond.” Using humour to discount shyness always worked for Solomon.

“What do squirrels and gnomes have against you?” He was immediately curious and. Sheesh, gnomes were freaky little creatures so he could understand why she had issues with them, but he had had a childhood experience with those that had left him traumatised.

“Oh.” He laughed at his misunderstanding, but still stretched both of his arms up to reveal his underarms once again. They didn’t really smell of anything other than regular boy stench…

So, yeah… pretty gross.

[Lottiepot]

What was actually more offensive was that Solomon believed that there was something that could come between them for she was under the impression that their friendship transcended far beyond trivial matters. Whatever said trivial matter was. Aurora wasn’t the best at figuring out exactly WHAT was wrong but she was emotionally intuitive. Her Ma had insisted that was why she belonged in Ravenclaw, she had a level of emotional intelligence that her Ma could only dream of. “You’re SO silly y’know? You’re my favourite friend..” Other than Anna of course but that went without question. “..and nothing will get between us.” Her hand slid into Solly’s and she gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze.

Call it maturity or whatever but fifth year Aurora had certainly grown when it came to offering advice. She’d also learned that pushing for an admission didn’t always give her what she desired. Being on the receiving end of a Solomon frown was NOT something she enjoyed.

Beautiful. Aurora saw beauty in everything, not necessarily just in the physical sense. You could change everything about the way you looked but it was what was inside that really counted. “Admiring the beautiful ducks and the beautiful view. Isn’t life beautiful?” she giggled. Especially when you could ignore all the trials and tribulations that came associated with being a teenager, something that Aurora found alarmingly easy to do. Or pretend to do, when wasn’t there a smile on her face?

That was a GREAT question and one she didn’t have an answer to. “Squirrels have had a vendetta against me since I remember. My mum’s used to walk through the park near our home with me in a pushchair and they’d target me by throwing acorns.” It had become so ingrained in her memories that the bushy tailed delinquents had become her sworn enemies since. As for the Gnomes, that history was a little more recent. “Do you remember when Professor Hernandez wanted help to degnome the grounds? I got attacked by one.” An over exaggeration for it never touched but it the fear attached as the vicious little thing came stampeding towards her baring its jagged teeth.

They were the only creatures that she wouldn’t want to work with but that didn’t mean she hated them outright.

“You smell like boy” He could interpret that as he liked. Aurora wouldn’t say that it was unpleasant but it wasn’t exactly sunshine and candyfloss.

[Emzily]

Call him a pessimist, but he could think of a thousand ways to strain a friendship/relationship, or destroy them altogether. Thankfully his petty and silly teenage issues weren’t quite that extreme, but he still always thought the worst in situations, and wondered how he had even maintained friends at all. Her comment made him smile, though he was still a little reserved and unsure whether to confide or not. “Thanks, Rora. You’re my favourite, too.” He had a fair few favourites but Aurora was definitely up there. He squeezed her hand back but started to feel embarrassed so was eager to move on.

What HE really wanted to know, was if there were any happenings in Aurora’s love life. They were teens, he knew he wasn’t the only one catching feelings for dumb people. People who really weren’t even worth his time but just looked pretty. Maybe he should just marry Aurora or Anna and he’d be happy. Sage popped into his head for some reason, but he shuddered at the thought. She did things to his head, mahn.

“Anyway, enough about me. What’s going on with you lately? Any guys I need to have a stern talking with?” Solomon actually thought he WOULD be protective over his friends in that regard. The guys in this castle were not cool. Aside from him, of course.

Isn’t life beautiful?

Weehhhhhhhh. “Suppose so.” He laid his head back against the floor, away from the ducks and turning his sight to the sky above, moving away straggling stones that could tunnel into his skull. She was quite a wonder to Solly the way she always saw the good in things. It was quite refreshing, really. “We are quite lucky to have such a nice school. Makes you think is the world outside of the castle as pretty? Or is it just bleak beyond here?” He would vote the latter. These were all important thoughts as graduation was creeping in for this Slytherin.

Okay, okay, okay… Aurora was here talking about traumatic experiences but Solomon could NOT help but buckle into giggles. He covered his mouth immediately. “Sorry, that’s hilarious.” Especially because he always thought of squirrels being scared of human beings rather than targeting them. “Seagulls are the worst, dunno if you’ve ever encountered those.” They maybe weren’t as scary as a wild Hippgriff would be but they loved to steal sandwiches and THAT was not enjoyable.
He did, of course, recall the degnoming lesson, although he wasn’t particularly involved nor did he join in much. Solly hated the creatures. “Maybe they HATE the smell of strawberries.” Cue more giggling.

Solly clutched his heart dramatically. “Awww, thank you so much.” It was a very fake thank you, and he suddenly had the thought of buying himself some aftershave. What age did boys need to start wearing that?

[Lottiepot]

Even if there was some sort of weird situation involving two of her friends, it was likely that Aurora would remain that neutral Switzerland. She had a knack for not judging others and she could frequently overlook flaws in favour of what she liked about the other person. Unless someone did something really wrong but she doubted that anyone in her social circles would be capable of such atrocities anyway. “Good! Or else I’d have to find a new favourite boy.” she teased, squeezing his arm gently. “And my pool of candidates isn’t the biggest for that so it would be mighty inconvenient.” She also made a habit of relying on her friends' opinions to create her own so it would be extra hard.

Solly would be disappointed to hear of the lack of activity when it came to Aurora’s love life. She had always, up until this year anyway, pushed aside any thoughts of relationships in favour of friendships and fun and just developing who she was as a person. Arguably she was still in that position however with the added complexity of admiring her peers.

“No,” she laughed, finding his protectiveness (whether it was jokingly or not) endearing. “There’s no one you’d need to tell off.” Emphasis on the lack of pronouns, Aurora DID have two Mum’s after all. She’d experienced her first twinge of jealousy the other day but had found the recovery pretty quick from such petty feelings. Mostly because she felt guilty for experiencing them in the first place.

Besides, she was under the impression whilst watching the other couples mingle around the castle that she would be forever the Bridesmaid and never the Bride.

She too laid back against the stones, only she had quickly performed a cushioning charm to prevent any digging in to her skull. She had become quite the master at them now after much practice. “I think that the World is as beautiful as you make it.” She wrinkled her nose at her own words, sounding like they stepped out from the pages of one of her sister’s romance novels. “There’s plenty out there that Hogwarts doesn’t have. Like beaches and ice cream parlours and bowling alleys.”

There was no offence taken, if she hadn’t found it so traumatic she likely would’ve laughed at the thought too. Plus laughter was infectious and she couldn’t help but giggle too. “Stoooop. They HATE me and I’ve never done ANYTHING to them.” Menaces of the trees like seagulls were menaces of the sky. Maybe it was the strawberry scent but she thought they’d be attracted to that.

“You’re welcome!” The Ravenclaw beamed completely ignoring the sarcasm in his tone.