A Walk by the Lake

Whenever she was upset or angry, or just needed to think, Dree would go for a walk. She loved walking, and here at Hogwarts, there were plenty of places to walk around.

She wasn't sure why she chose the lake, Dree wasn't to fond of large bodies of water, ever since Liam 'accidently' pushed her in a lake by their grandmothers house. It had been wehn she was about 7 and she didn't know how to swim. It wasn't a life-or-death-experience-that-makes-you-afraid-of-water-for-the-rest-of-forever type of thing. more like a Stay-away-from-water-when-Liam-is-around thing. She knew how to swim now, but she still didn't like it. She would much rather get her exersize by walking, like she was now.

She stopped, looking out at the Black Lake. It was really pretty. It made her forget all the bad things in life, at the same time though, it made her miss her mother...

Dree sat down by a large tree and leaned against it. She took a shaky breath of air then closed her eyes and streatched her legs out, pushing all the sad things away so she could get back to her thinking....

Charlotte still obviously didn't know everything about the magical world. All she knew was mainly from the classes, so when she looked around the grounds, she also wanted to get to know the people. It could by having friends and getting to know people was her plan. Apparently, that was one thing that her house was known for. Not for being smart (which Charlotte wished she was more of) or brave (not that she ran from the sight of a bug, but she wasn't going to jump off a cliff) or vain (hopefully not), but friendship.
Friendship connects us all.
I should write my aunt, she thought. She'd be proud, I would think.
That was when she say another girl with redish hair not too far from her. She looked at ease, but a little miffed. Almost as if God has slapped her in the face. She couldn't go back and change it, but she had to think about her next move. Most likely the other girl was thinking about life. Maybe she was thinking about the things that bothered her and the things that made her jump for joy. Charlotte didn't know.
She sat down not too far from the Ravenclaw, and smiled.

Vanessa had come outdoors to have her daily dose of fresh air, and was making her way towards the tree she had dubbed as hers only to notice two girls already by it.
It didn't particularly vex her, but she wondered at where else she could find her own place. Everyone needs a place where they can just sit and think, or just relax without worrying about being bothered. Shrugging her shoulders, she made her way towards them. She was going to break out of her shell, and she could only do it if she met plenty of friends.
Bracing herself, Vanessa stepped towards them in small,quick steps; walking just fast enough that she wouldn't have time to persuade herself out of befriending them.
Just as she was about to draw level to them, however, she tripped over a partially covered root, and landed painfully on the grass face-first.
"Ow. That really hurt!" she complained, rubbing her forehead. By later that evening she was bound to have an ugly bruise.
Hopefully, with any luck the two girls wouldn't have seen that painfully humiliating display of clumsiness.

Charlotte jumped up. "Are you okay?" she asked the Gryffindor. "Ooh, that must of hurt," she said and ran over to the other girl.
Maybe she doesn't want your help, Charlotte.
Shut up, me.

Vanessa looked up into the concerned face of a pretty redhead. Wondering idly at the nice shade of the other girl's hair, she almost forgot she was supposed to reply.
"A-Ah I-I'm f-fine....A-Actually, no n-not really, b-but I'll p-probably live," She wished she hadn't opened her mouth at all. Closing it shut with an audible pop, Vanessa stood back up and inspected the damage: a bruised forehead, dirtied hands and knees, and ruining her robes with the dewy grass. "Aw. This is gonna be a pain to wash out..."
Suddenly realizing that she hadn't introduced herself, Vanessa dusted her hands off and offered it to the other girl; she was one of the few who still greeted people with a handshake.
"H-Hello. I'm V-Vanessa. N-Nice to meet you"

Charlotte smiled. "Hi, I'm Charlotte Willow, Hufflepuff." She then looked at her forehead a little more. "Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing or to the Lavatory or what?" It looked pretty bad and then she noticed the stains on the girls robes. "You can just put a charm on that, I bet."

Vanessa tried to smile back at the Hufflepuff girl; she seemed nice enough.
"N-No. I-I wouldn't w-want to be a b-bother...T-thanks, though," she added as an afterthought.
She looked down regretfully at her ruined robes, this was the second time she had fallen this day. She could hardly face the humiliation she felt.
She looked back up at Charlotte, and smiled genuinely this time, her dimples showing for once.
"You're r-really nice"

Charlotte smiled.
Hopefully other people think that too.
"Thanks. So, Vanessa, when you said you didn't want to be a bother, did you mean a the hospital wing? We can just go to the Lavatory and check on it. Maybe clean it off a little."

Vanessa bit her lip, a nervous habit she had picked up from her mother, and nodded as a reply. "I-I guess that'd be okay..."
She picked up her bag which had fallen in her little randesvouz with the ground. She made to start walking in the direction of the castle. She would have to remind herself to warn Charlotte about the slippery patch of ground by the Great Hall's hallway...

Adreis opened her eyes and looked up at the two girls. she had been sleeping.. but these two were being loud. she sighed and stood up "um.. hi?" she said, slightly unsure. "I'm Adreis" she yawned.

Vanessa turned back to see the other girl had woken up. She immediately felt bad for that.
" I-I'm Vanessa. S-Sorry about w-waking you up!" She really had not meant to.
Again, she bit her lip, and hoped the girl named Adreis wouldn't be angry at her for waking her from her nap.

Hopefully Adreis wouldn't be angry for them being there. And if they were loud, they had an excuse. There was a bruise the size of Texas on Vanessa's forehead.
"Hi, Adreis. I'm Charlotte."

Terry tumbled from the tree's branches, waking up as soon as she had hit the ground. Looking up, she saw Dree, the Muggleborn from her Territory and a Gryffindor girl. "Er...Hi." she smiled weakly.

Charlotte tried to stay out of the gaze the Ravenclaw. She didn't seem to have a good first impression with her. She seemed miffed and now she seemed...dazed?

Sami sighed a she walked down to the Lake. To be frank, all she wanted to do was curl up to the fire with a good book and maybe catch some z's. That didn't happen. Instead she was bombarded with a letter from a friend to meet her at the lake, pronto. She would;ve ignored it had she have not read the P.S. that has instructed her to come or die.

Ugh, she is so dramatic.

As she approached the lake she saw three girls talking, one taking the form of her dorm mates Addy and Ri, as well as two other girls.

"Oi!" Sami bellowed, feeling quite confident with Addy and Ri there. "What's up?"

Charlotte had no sooner than introduced herself, and out of nowhere a girl flew out of the tree landing on the ground. How she was unharmed was unbelievable to her, and she desperately wished she knew her trick. Heaven knew she spent more time on the ground than anywhere else.
To shocked to trust herself to speak, Vanessa contented herself with nodding in acknowledgement to the girl. She knew she was being rude by gawking, but she couldn't stop staring. How in the world had she survived unscathed?

Dree waved a hand at the two, "it's fine." She turned around and looked at Terry, who had just fallen out of the tree. "Terry... What were you doing.. Nevermind I don't want to know" she grinned then turned back to the new comers "Don't call me Adreis. I probably won't respond. Call me Dree. and what happned to your head?" she asked Vanessa. "You should get that looked at."


She turned as she saw Sami coming towards them "Terry fell out of a tree and this girl did something to her head and her names Charlotte" Dree said, rambling again.

Terry felt kinda dizzy, but ignored it. She started giggling randomly, at nothing particular. Though that bruise was kind of funny.

Charlotte looked at Terry. She had this look that as if she had owned the world and then put it in a thrift shop. As if she could do anything she wanted. "How do you do?" she asked, a little sarcastic because of their last visit.

Relieved that Dree wasn't angry at them, Vanessa smiled shyly. Perhaps one day she would be able to speak to strangers normally, and make friends like a normal person. Though, that seemed to be impossibly in this very abnormal place. She looked pointedly at the girl named Terry that had just fallen from the tree. She was currently laughing. If asked, Vanessa would not lie that it was almost scary. Laughing because she fell from a tree hardly seemed like what someone sane would do, but she kept her mouth shut. Perhaps, there was an inside joke she had missed... rubbing her forehead she said towards Dree, "Ah I b-bruise easily. I-I'll b-be fine w-with just cleaning it..."

"Oh, well hi, Charlotte." Sami went from 60 to 0 in five seconds flat. Right now, confidence was NOT too high up. That and she was still a bit confused about the above statement from Addy. "And you would be?"

She hoped she hadn't sounded too rude to the new girl, (at least to her she was) the poor girl looked frightened enough...

"Uh, hi... I don't think I ever caught your name," Charlotte said to Sami. She looked at the Ravenclaws. They looked like they all knew eachotehr well. Charlotte wished that she got to know her house well. She only met Elise and Kyra (sorta).

"And you would be?"
Vanessa turned to the girl standing next to Dree that had spoken.
Furrowing her brows slightly in confusion, she pointed towards herself and said, "O-oh m-me? I-I'm V-Vanessa. N-Nice t-to m-meet you..."
She looked down at her hands that she was now twiddling;another bad habit she had aquired over the years.

"Come here" Dree told Vanessa. "My Mum was a healer. I know some stuff" she motioned for the girl to come closer.

She lightly whacked Terry "Chill Terry. Did you hit you're head when you fell?" she smirked at her friend.

"Sami" she looked at her dormmate "how goes it?"

Vanessa walked cautiously towards Dree, letting her touch her forehead reluctantly. She was being irrational by being frightened, and she had nothing to fear from the other girl; she,like Charlotte, seemed nice enough to her. She found the word "Healer" slightly confusing(doesn't she mean doctor?), but she let her do her own thing. "T-thanks..."