The Bird Garden
 

https://i.postimg.cc/kXwT316b/the-bird-garden.jpg

If you’re looking for somewhere quiet to sit and think, the Bird Garden is a good place for it. Conveniently located near both Professor Paszek’s cottage and the Hogwarts Barn, this is where most of the magical birds spend their time. But with most of the Garden’s inhabitants being the silent - or Silencio’d- type, it tends to be low on actual birdsong, unless it’s about to rain. Have a seat in one of the benches or garden chairs if you'd like, it’s a good place as any to read a book or try to spy an Augurey’s nest.

In addition to the birds who live in the garden, you might spot a fairy, flitterby, or bowtruckle in the trees or one of Professor Paszek’s pet diricawls running about among the flowers and bushes. If you spot any gnomes or clabberts, be sure to let Professor Paszek know.

Text Cut: Bird Garden Inhabitants

Augureys:

• Romeo
• Julia
• Atreyu
• Loralei
• Phobus

Fairies:

• Violet (Female; rainbow wings with a purple dot)
• Oren (Male; green wings with pearl dots)
• Silvermist (Female; Silver wings with whit dots)
• Brock (Male; Blue wings with a gold dot)

Fwoopers:

• Martin
• Ella

Jobberknolls:

• Pavo
• Aurora
• Silas
• Tallulah

Victoria :3
 

V was not one to do her homework. But she had promised her parents to TRY and do better.....and so, she was going to waste a few hours making an elaborately pretty color-coded schedule! It would make her feel productive, surely, and maybe she'd even stick to it!!!!!

The bird garden seemed just the place to be filllllllled to the brim with creativity. Her handwriting was just so CUTE. She spotted the older girl whose name escaped her, and she waved. Luckily, V was feeling friendly! "Hi! This place is super pretty. I dig it." She smiled and nodded.

Valentina had been carefully watching an augurey that had been sitting on a tree nearby. Was it just her or did it look extremely sad?? or angry? She couldn't tell. The blonde wondered what it's name was - she made a mental note to ask the professor later.

... and suddenly she had company. "It's super pretty!" Valentina agreed as she turned to look at the younger girl with a bright smile. She was going to hang out here a lot more often. "Are you here to study?"

V made a face at her question. "No. Not study. I came to make a schedule to stay on track with my homework because I failed at doing homework last year. And not doing homework really affected my grades." Shocking. Not really, but V was rather annoyed with her past self. "SoooOOooo...I'm here to made a really pretty color-coded schedule with my fancy markers my papa got me."

She held out the tin box he had made her just for them. The markers were REALLY EXPENSIVE. They were vibrant and BEAUTIFUL, and he had said they would even color on WOOD if she wanted to. But nah, parchment would do just fine. "So...I gotta make a calendar of sorts first for September, and go from there. If you want to help, you toooootally can." She shrugged.

Well, homework was definitely SUPER boring. Valentina did try hard to do well studies wise though. Her grades needed to be decent if she wanted to pursue dancing as a career. But, she had been managing somehow.. mostly with help from friends. She leaned forward to peek inside the box.

"Oh, they are so beautiful!!" All the colours looked so bright and pretty! "Of course, I can help you!" Valentina wasn't sure if all this scheduling was going to help, she just went with the flow honestly.. but each to their own. "I'm Valentina, by the way." She introduced herself with a smile.

Weren't they? V beamed. "I know. Thank you. My dad is really into art stuff since he's....kind of an artist. Ish. He really designs fancy furniture, but he often puts his art into his furniture, whether it's magical or not." She paused to think. "He also does murals sometimes. My mama owns an apartment complex and he has this REALLY nice mural in it." She loved going to Alix's complex just to sit by the mural and admire it. For like, ten minutes before she got bored.

"Hi Valentina. I think I knew that. But I'm glad for the reinforcement," she said with a small chuckle. "I'm Victoria, but everyone should call me V. I go by just V." She had always been called V....her dad and mum had started that when she was just a weeeeee lass.

Aries & Samia!
 

Lisa had been feeling a certain way since the feast. Tongue tied, butterflies in her tummy… And she didn’t like it.

Her emotions were all a jumble like honey jumbles and she found that finding some time to herself was the best thing she could do. She didn’t know how or why she ended up in the bird garden but she was here now with a beautifully decorated picture book about magical and non-magical birds.

Looking at the illustrations and learning facts made her feel very, very calm. Her stomach was less floppy flippy. She took a deep breath and glanced up, trying to spot the birds that she saw in the book.

Hmm… where was that augrey?

Lisa bit her lip and then looked back at her book, studying the illustration closely and tracing the bird with her finger.

"That's interesting. I've always liked art!" Kind of. Valentina didn't know anything about art to be honest.. but she always did admire artists. Like how did they bring life to paper?? Or furniture.. like V's dad? They were just so talented. She wished she could draw or paint but it just wasn't her cup of tea. Dance was the only art form she was good at. "Are you decent at the art stuff too?" She asked curiously.

"V. It's a cute nickname. Mine is Val so you can call me that if you like." Or Tina but it was mostly just her parents who called her that. She preferred Val to Tina anyway.

This was heaven, right??? Because Aries’ eyes said so. Wife and gleaming, he stood at the entrance of the garden - completely taken aback. How did Hogwarts manage this? It was all he could wished for - and it would still take his breath away.

Chasing a silver mist, the thirteen year old made his way over to where Lisa was sitting. ”Brilliant, isn’t it?”

”I think this is my favorite place here” he announced, more to himself than her.

V shook her head. "No. I've tried because my papa REALLY wanted me to be," she did have good handwriting though. She opened her planner and began to draw the lines to make her schedule all nice, neat, and tidy. "I mean...I'm not terrible. But I'm nowhere near as talented as my dad," she said. She scoffed and took out a ruler because her lines were NOT coming out straight. She tore out the page she had just started and crumbled it up, tossing it aside without a second thought. It just didn't occur to her that she was littering. Oops.

"Val. V. Almost the same, kind of. That's cool. I find girls with V sounds are prettier," she said with a small smile before looking up at Valentina slowly. "Not that girls who don't have V names aren't...but have you EVER met a girl with a V name who wasn't utterly BEAUTIFUL?" she flipped her hair over her shoulder and wiggled them a little. Because DUH.

This bard was truly magnificent. Feathers a deep blue like the Ravenclaw credt with intelligent eyes….. Brilliant, isn’t it? She thought before realizing she had repeated someone else’s words. Huh? Blonde hair? Tall? Lisa glanced up to find Aries (she had to double check if it was him but would Atlas really spend time here??? Uh she was going to assume no!) near her. Glancing up, she quickly could see that both summer and genetics had been kind to her friend. Her stomach began to flip flop slightly before she distracted herself with BIRDS! She could have sworn she saw a beautiful green one dart across. “Isnt it? I think I like to come here and think…. It’s a safe haven and the birds are friendly. I’ve even made friends, y’know!” she half joked. She was close to making friends. Birds were much easier than kneazles.

Her eyebrows raised when he mentioned that it was his favourite place. She turned the page of her book and listened, knowing that the comment perhaps was more of an exclamation than pointed to her. “Is it your sanctuary too, Aries? I like this place too… feels calming. Wanna sit with me?” she asked before scooting over to make room on the bench that she was sitting on. She flipped to the next page of her book. “What do you like about this place so much?”

Valentina picked up the ball of paper V had tossed to the ground without a second thought. She didn't want to see this place messy, it was just so beautiful! It was home to so many birds too. Besides, what if they were caught littering and were never allowed back there? "Maybe you just need to practice?" Val suggested with a little smile. Practice always helped one to get better at something, didn't it??

..... BLINK. Val was tongue tied for once. She didn't know how to respond..? Like, girls with V names were prettier?? Personally, she didn't like how that sounded because all girls were pretty in their own way, as cliche as that sounded!! It was the honest truth. "But there are lots of pretty girls here whose names don't start with V!"

She had made friends??? Aries turned to look at her, clearly very very impressed and not at all getting that she was maybe joking. "Really?" He was in awe. "Which one is your friend?"

And yes - he would definitely sit with her. Moving swiftly to take a seat beside her, he continued watching the birds around them. "I don't think I could just sit here and think -" Not that he thought much anyway. "I'd be so distracted"

Grinning at one of the birds swooooshing past them, he shrugged lightly, "it could be - I'd like it to be. It just feels so ... full of life and peaceful at the same time, yo know?"

V was busy using the ruler to make straight, dark brown lines in her planner to notice Val picking up her litter. She had her tongue between her teeth in concentration. "Maaaybe. But I don't have the patience for it. I'm impatient, and I...I tend to give up on things easily when they're too hard." She shrugged, sighed, and finally looked back up at Val. "I have a lot of flaws. I wish I was a better person," she sighed longingly before carefully replacing the darker brown marker. She pinked a hot pink one next to write the numbers for the dates.

"I KNOW that. But have you ever met a girl with a V name who wasn't pretty? NO. I'm definitely going to name my kids all V names so I KNOW they will attractive. Victor. Valencia. Vika. Venecia!" she had a whole list READY TO GO already.

Valentina understood that feeling all too well. She did tend to get disappointed and give up on things if she didn't understand them - even if it was a dance routine that she couldn't quite grasp - but she was making an effort to learn. To understand. ... and then she raised her eyebrows. Wish to be a better person? "Why do you feel that?" It was a very mature thing to say. "Everyone has flaws."

KIDS?? She simply stared at V for a second, realizing that they were super pretty names. "I like Veronica too! My parents were going to name me that first actually." But she liked Valentina better. Obviously.

Why did she feel like she could be better? V didn't answer right away. She was thinking while she decorated her planner with the hot pink marker. Still working on the perfect way to write the dates and whatnot. "Um. Well." She took a break from drawing to look up at Val. "I'm not always nice. And I'm really..." would she say it to Val? NAHHH. She switched gears before it slipped out. "I, uh, I just think I'm only twelve and hopefully as I get older I can...I can be better. And maybe smarter, too. I'm kind of a dull one, you know?" she squinted down at her paper once more and slid her hot pink marker back into the pack. It was LAVENDAR'S TIME TO SHINE NOW!

"OOooOOooh! Veronica! I LOVE that one. And the cutest nickname EVER could be RONNIE!" she grinned as she thought about it.

She noticed the impressed look that he gave her and it made her feel oh so INCREDIBLY SMART AND SPECIAL. Her cheeks flushed her favourite colour and she beamed at him. “It was one of the Fwoopers that stopped by… I may have had some food so he joined me… or she… Im not quite certain if it was a he or she or they…” she chuckled. To Aries’ question, she looked just shy of his left shoulder and found the Fwooper that had come and taken some food from her. “Thats the Fwooper. I think I should call him Fernando if he’s a boy but im sure what her name should be if she’s a she? Got any suggestions?” Names were important. The Fwooper had to have the perfect name.

“I like being distracted. It helps me stop overthinking things and feelings and things,” she admitted before biting her lip. Oops. That was a bit much. She had been struggling with feelings of envy all morning and had moved herself out here. It was silly to be envious. “Aries… have you ever been jealous of someone?”

She nodded. Lisa understood what he meant. Peaceful and full of life. “And without the drama,” she began before hearing a couple of birds squawk over something. She giggled. “Guess I spoke too soon and jinxed it?” She laughed and kicked her legs out in front of her momentarily.

Val was momentarily distracted when she noticed a bird swooshing by. Ohhh, it was a fwooper. So CUTE. It was so bright and colourful! Her gaze shifted towards V again, taken aback. She wasn't always nice?? But Val thought she seemed nice! Granted, they just started talking but she didn't sound mean at least. "Well, people get mature as they grow older." Like, how she was a LOT mature than she was before. "I'm not very smart either." At least she didn't think so. Her grades were decent - nowhere near the top of the class. "But I don't care about that." She added with a light shrug of the shoulders.

"Exactly!! So, that can be a name for your future kid too!" Valentina grinned at her before looking down at her planner. "That lavender is super pretty."

V ducked at the swooping THING and SHRIEKED. "AH!" she covered her eyes, jumping a little. "What WAS that?!" it had looked like just a blur to her! Her heart was all klerhfeirufhieufhlr now, and she was clutching it like an old woman shocked at a scandalous event. Her papa would call her Miss DramaMama right now.

"But you SEEM SO SMART to me. Maybe you naturally get smarter the older you get. What's it called ----- WISDOM. You get wiser. I do feel a little wiser than last term, I guess. Like, I kiiiiind of know what's going on around here. More than I did last year, anyway." She held the marker up to Val. "Wanna write on yourself with it? It will stay for a loooooong time."

Val really tried to not laugh at V's reaction. It was so funny and super dramatic!! She seemed so freaked out about a bird.. but suddenly feeling a little bad. Maybe she shouldn't be this amused. V genuinely looked scared and the younger girl needed to be comforted. "It's a fwooper." She offered V a kind smile. "You needn't worry, it has gone now." Maybe the bird freaked out at V's reaction. It was a possibility.

SMART? Her? Yeah, right. But Val did agree with whatever V said. She, personally, was a lot wiser than the girl she was as a first year, who had been immature to say the least. "See? And you'll know a lot more next year. You'll grow up to be a really wise woman." The blonde said confidently. Oooh, what did she want to write on herself?? She briefly considered writing Henry's name but decided against it. Instead, she drew a little heart on the inside of her wrist. So cute.

A fwooper?! V squinted. "I was WONDERING. It looked so pink and furry!" She kind of wanted it to come back, now. "I wonder if fwoopers would make good pets. I don't remember anything about them." Even if they had gone over it last term, she forgot. She liked animals, but remembering ALL the things ever? NAHH.

A HEART.

VAL CHOSE TO DRAW A HEART. And while she thought it was cute, it was pretty basic. Not like V would have drawn anything cooler. "Cute. It could be a tattoo!"

"I think they would?" Valentina couldn't see the bird anywhere. "I mean.. as far as I know at least. But I would prefer a kitten to a bird." Kittens are just SO cute, aren't they? She'd been really wanting one lately so maybe.. her parents would agree? Maybe. She'd have to convince them a little. "I think puppies are adorable too!"

Heart was the only thing she could think of! "Right? Maybe I can get an actual tattoo of a heart one day." Not that she was interested in tattoos or anything. They did hurt a lot, didn't they?? "Do you want to write something on yourself?"

V made a face at the word KITTEN. "I...don't trust cats normally. I've never met a nice one until I came here, and my roommate's cat is the sweetest. Her name is Pepper. Ollie Burke's cat! If you know her. She's nice, too. I DO have a lot of friends, now that I think on it..." which made her tilt her head to the side as she wrote in her lessons schedule into each day with a DIFFERENT color. A NAVY. The color scheme was amaaaaazing!

She shook her head, though, at the drawing on herself. "Nope. I'm good. It might be against school rules, and I don't want to get in trouble," she made a face at Val and shrugged. Had she just kind of coerced Val to do it? SURE. But V thought about it, and she didn't want to get in trouble! This was a BOARDING school after all, and the uniform rules were kinda' strict! So...Val could get in trouble, but V was not!

HA!

Didn't trust cats?? Val couldn't help but look VERY surprised. Weren't they the sweetest creatures?? O____O But, she also had no idea who Ollie Burke was. She nodded vaguely when V continued talking about having a lot of friends.. just mildly wondering if she was bragging but she couldn't tell. This girl was a little over the place. "Maybe introduce me to Ollie, sometime? I'd love to meet her. And pepper, obviously."

Hmm. She watched V rather curiously, a tiny part of her feeling stupid because she was silly enough to not realise that they could get in touble but also?? V was careful not to tell her that.. it was a little selfish. More than a little selfish. A LOT selfish. Not that she was going to let it bother her.

Anyway - "I'm sure there is a vanishing charm for this." She could easily get this removed, it wasn't going to be a problem.

V WAS all over the place, and Val wasn't the only person who noticed, either. But did Victoria notice? Not even a little bit. And, for the record, she hadn't been meaning to brag. She was actually more surprised to have a lot of friends because she'd only had one or two in her pre-Hogwarts days.

Ahem.

"Probably. I should go, though," she said quickly, noticing the time. "Maybe I'll draw on myself later...on my hip or something. But the wrist is SUCH a cute idea for a tattoo for the future!" she began to pack all the markers and the parchment and whatnot. "Val, thanks for talking to me. You're nice." And she BEAMED.

Violet had spent the better part of the afternoon looking for Mack in the Bird Garden, having failed to find him in the creature sanctuary or on the grounds. It would be just like that cunning magpie to try to hide himself amongst all the other birds. But she'd failed to find him here, either. Exhausted, she sat down on a bench and pulled out her Arithmancy notebook, thinking that she might as well get some work done on their term assignment.

April 17 she wrote. Now, her personal month number was 9, plus 17 was 26, which reduced to 2+6...which was 8! That was her Soul Urge number, too, so it must have been an important day.

She looked in her book and read that that number meant handling money and taking charge. Violet looked through her notes for that day, trying to see what she'd done or what had happened that would fit that meaning. Hmmm....well...she'd started to spend some money on candy one of the other enterprising Slytherins was selling from a stockpile they'd accumulated on their last visit to Hogsmeade--but she'd decided not to at the last minute. That didn't seem all that significant...

Oh wait, that was the day she'd seen the noxious vapours leaking out from the greenhouses and gone to Professor Flamsteed's office to warn her:

https://www.snitchseeker.com/herbolo...l#post12510495
https://www.snitchseeker.com/herbolo.../#post12510552

That was taking charge...sort of. So Violet wrote all that down.