Sketches and Memories. (Anne)

[Kia Brightstar]

Kia watched the clouds float past the dorm window lazily. Sunlight streamed past the curtain and warmed her face. She had jumped onto her bed half an hour ago and hadn't moved since, the laziness was unusual for Kiana but she simply couldn't summon up the energy to move. Her sketchbook lay next to her, opened to a page with a rough sketch of her younger sister. Kia flipped over to see the sketch and half-smiled in an emotion that could most easily be called adoration. Kia's younger sister was the centre of her world and she made no attempt to hide it, her only annoyance was with the age gap between them. She wouldn't be able to see her sister start Hogwarts and that thought depressed her - Kia wouldn't be able to keep an eye on her and her sister had a tendency to get into trouble. A sudden surge of energy had her rolling off the bed and landing on her feet somewhat gracefully but with a loud thump. Her hand scrabbled for the sketchbook and pencils on her bed before she got up and sauntered out of the dorm room casually.

Kia shoved the sketchbook under her arm and glanced around, looking for a place to sit. An empty spot by the lake caught her attention and she sprinted toward it eagerly, unwilling to lose the spot in the sun. Her sketchbook hit the ground seconds before she did and she rubbed her back softly. She really had to work on her landing if she planned to do that again. The laziness of her previous mood evaporated, only to be replaced with a contended smile. She conjured the image of her younger sister and father in her mind before trying to transfer them onto the paper. Kia frowned at the curve of her fathers face irritably, it didn't seem right. She replaced the line with one she thought more suitable and half-smiled. Drawing was more her hobby than her passion. To her, it was something to fill up the time and a way to remember people and events that were important to her. Kia flipped to the back of the book and gazed at the sketch she had drawn of her mother. It was a rather bad one because she had only had a photograph to work from but it was the only thing she had of her mother at Hogwarts. She had left the photograph at home so her sister could look at it. Kia had the sketch to look at when she missed her mother so she felt it fair that her sister had the photograph. Kia resumed trying to draw her family from memory and became so immersed in it that she didn't notice someone sitting down beside her.

[charrie]

Annie smoothed out her white sun dress. She didn't like wrinkles at all and this certainly wasn't the day for it either. She needed to go outside. Not really a want in that, but she had been told by Alice that she needed to spend more time outside as opposed to inside, especially if she was going to garden over the summer. Annie smiled at the thought. Alice was always sending her little notes like that. I guess it was still her way of feeling important in Annie's life. The thing was that Alice would always be important to Annie, she didn't have to worry about not being that way. However, Alice never thought twice about it. She did what she did to help Annie and had become more of a mother than a nanny, which is what Annie had desperately needed all her life. The fact that her mother was around, but not there for Annie had always had a strange effect on her. She grew up with the love of a mother, but not the attention that one usually gives to their children. Annie sighed as she flipped her hair behind her shoulder and headed gracefully out of the dormitory.

Annie walked through the dark dungeon corridors. She always loved it, because of the darkness. She wasn't much of a light person. It's not that she didn't like it, it was just that she hadn't found anything worth liking about it. It would burn her beautiful skin. It would make her perspire and it made her greasy looking. She hated that about the sun. She preferred a nice cool place where no sun was and the dungeon had always been her dwelling for that. She wasn't even a bad person, sure she had her standards, but that didn't make her bad. As she puts it I just know what I want. And it's true, Annie knew exactly what she wanted in life. She was going to join the Pure-blood Associated of Irish Dancers. She was already guaranteed a spot in it as soon as she graduated. It helped when your ancestors had created the group years ago. Now she was going to join it and continue on with her life in dance.

Annie was enjoying her thoughts on dance when she opened the doors and was momentarily blinded. She pursed her lips in anger as she put a hand up to block out the horrible light. She sighed as she headed to the tree by the lake. At least she could sit in the shade and not have to worry. Sitting down rather gracefully, even for her, she heard a slight noise and looked over. A young girl was seated in the sunlight of the tree. She seemed to be drawing or sketching something. Annie refrained from being curt with the girl, but instead sighed. "Sorry, I didn't realize anyone else was under the tree. Do you mind if I have a seat here? I don't really see any other place that has shade," Annie said in a soft tone of respect that she had learned from Alice many years ago.

[Kia Brightstar]

Kia almost jumped when she heard a voice. She hadn't been expecting anyone to sit by her and had been so lost in her work that she hadn't even noticed anyone approach. She twisted her neck to see the girl and smiled warmly. "I don't mind at all, the sunlight seems to have brought everyone out to enjoy it. I can hardly deny you the last shaded place there is when I wasn't planning to use it myself." Kiana turned back to her sketch and finished the drawing of her sister before closing the book and looking back to the girl. Kia didn't want to be rude but this drawing of her family was important to her and she wanted to finish it while she had their images fresh in her mind rather than struggle to get her inspiration back later. "I'm Kia by the way. Nice to meet you."

Kiana studied the girl discreetly, trying to remember if she had seen her before. The girl appeared older than Kia so she wouldn't have seen her in classes. Kia didn't recognize her from the common room so the girl wasn't a Gryffindor. Eh well, Kia shrugged easily. Houses didn't matter to her. They only categorized a persons strengths, not the personality. One person's mistake could make a bad reputation descend upon a whole house, in turn that could cause the house to follow the reputation because no one cares if you don't fit the reputation. A case of hanging the whole house because of one person.

Kia shoved the sketchbook further away from her and sat up properly. The graceful way that the girl was sitting made Kia's fingers twitch. Not many people sat like that and the temptation to ask if she could draw the girl was overwhelming. Only the knowledge that to ask would be rude as she didn't know the girl, stopped her asking permission to draw the girl. "Do you draw?" Kia tried to start a conversation feebly, silence made her nervous but she couldn't think of a way to start a conversation. She glared up at the sun, blaming the heat for her inability to think properly. The brightness hurt her eyes and she looked down quickly, rubbing her eyes and cursing the sun silently.

[charrie]

Annie smiled at the girl politely who had just introduced herself as Kia. She realized the girl was probably not raised in a manor or mansion for the improper way of introduction, but Annie paid no mind to it. She was too used to formalities anyway. She held out her hand gracefully to the girl, "Anne Bradshaw, but you may call me Annie. I am not much for conversation I am afraid. I am not a drawer in really any since. Tried it once and realized that stick figures didn't look well enough to continue on with the hobby. I am, however, a dancer." Annie sighed at the thought of dancing. It had been a while since she had a good work out, but she wouldn't do it here or now. She would wait until she could wander off to a classroom by herself to dance. It was the only way she could dance at Hogwarts, alone and uninterrupted.

"Who was that you were drawing?" Annie asked in curiosity. She knew the question was slightly blunt and rude, but she didn't exactly care to take it back, but instead added a slight formality to it, "if I may ask?" Annie looked at the book in the girl's hand. It seemed to be important to her, by the amount of attachment she had to it, but that sort of thing didn't bother Annie. For she had her own things she was attached to and didn't let a lot of people see, like the small silver ring that appeared on her right ring finger. It was her family's crest. Every Bradshaw was given one, made from a silver gauntlet collection that had been handed down for hundreds of years in the family. Each new Bradshaw would have a gauntlet melted down and it have it formed into a ring to wear that bore the family crest. It was quite well known to all pure-blood families by now. Out of habit Annie rolled the ring with her thumb on her finger before turning her attention back to Kia.

[Kia Brightstar]

Kia returned the smile easily, recognizing the girl as someone who was either a pureblood or raised as a wealthy muggleborn or half-blood. "You may not be able to draw but I am absolutely awful at dancing. I dread the day that my presence is required at a ball. Anyway, most people see dancing as a much better achievement than being able to draw." She laughed quietly. Kia knew she was awful at dancing but didn't really care. If she was ever needed at a ball then she could easily get someone to teach her how to dance beforehand. What else was money for? "How do you dance at Hogwarts, if I may ask?" Kia repeated the slight formality that Annie had used, not wishing to pry into her personal business. "Not many boys would offer themselves as a partner and we don't have a dance studio..." Kia tilted her head curiously, the information could come in handy one day - if the day ever came when she needed to learn to dance.

"Hmm? Oh." Kia looked at the sketchbook and reopened it to the drawing she had been trying to finish. She was only too happy to talk about her art, she knew it wasn't the best art that anyone would ever see but she had worked hard to become even this good. "Its my father and my younger sister. Father didn't turn out too well but I think Kaelae looks rather realistic." She pointed to each person as she named them and then flipped to the back of the book, to the drawing of her mother. "And this beautiful person is my mother, she died giving birth to my sister when I was five." Kia traced the features of her mother lovingly, not really realizing what she was doing. Her mother had meant the world to her for five years and Kia had been hysterical when her father had told her about her mothers death. Kia shook herself back to reality and half-smiled at Annie. "This picture doesn't really do her justice because I had to copy it from an old, faded photograph and fill some parts in from memory. She looks pretty good though."

[charrie]

Annie smiled politely at Kia's response to dancing. "I tend to dance in classrooms when no one is around. Of course there is always the room of requirement, but not many people can find it. I can't always find it every time and I've been here 6 years," Annie said with a smile. She had been dancing in there for a while too. She didn't like dancing in there often, because she would lose track of time and end up getting in trouble with Prefects. It had only happened once, but it was enough to keep her from dancing in there. Her thoughts turned back to what Kia was saying about not dancing. The thing was that everyone could learn to dance if they wanted to. It wasn't hard at all, it just took discipline, which is what people mostly lacked in this day and age. Teenagers had become more rebellious and didn't care to have discipline. Annie had been glad that Alice had been so hard on her. It had given her an extra edge at dancing and discipline. With this thought Annie's thoughts drifted back to the things that were changing quickly between Alice and her. Not in ways that were sad or wrong, but it just seemed now that Alice was involved with someone of lower stature it wouldn't be long before Annie didn't care at all about purity of blood. She was already on her way down that road and it was hard for her to see the difference in people. This was going to eventually cause a huge blow up between her and her parents. She just hoped it didn't matter with the dance group she was going to be joining in a couple years.

Annie sighed to herself as she focused her attention on to the drawing of Kia's family. Annie smiled lightly. "Are you close with your family?" she asked with a slight longing in her eyes and voice. She had wished to be closed to her parents, but they weren't. They never would be close. Her only family now was Alice and Angie. They were the only ones she could count on and Alice wasn't blood related to her and Angie was a cousin. She had no immediate family she could trust or rely on. It was a difficult thing to know as a 17 year old. She knew that she would never be able to go to her mum for advice on boys or to her dad for childish games that were common between daughter and father. The thought saddened Annie, but she didn't show it at all. She just sat and listened to Kia.

[Kia Brightstar]

"Classrooms." Kia repeated the word thoughtfully. The information could be useful one day. The room of requirement was ridiculously hard to find - Kia had never experienced it herself, only heard people talking about it. She easily recognized the slight longing in Annie's voice and eyes. It was similar to the own wistful feeling she had whenever she heard people talking about their mothers. "My mother died when I was five." Kia began slowly, not knowing where to begin. Not many people were interested in her family history and she usually changed the subject if family came up but the longing in Annie's eyes was getting to her. Something made her carry on and Kia started to talk about her family.

"My mother died when I was five so I can't really remember her that much. My dad told me that I inherited my hair from her," Kia tugged at her hair unconsciously. "My dad...now he's amazing. He works a lot but always has time for me and my sister. Ever since mother died, he's been overly protective of us. Scared of losing us I guess. Kaelae, my younger sister, she looks more like dad than mother but the resemblance is still there. Especially in personality, Kae is rather wild at times, much like dad says mother was." A loving smile brightened Kia's face. She could talk about her younger sister all day and never get tired of it. Her mother had made the ultimate sacrifice for her youngest daughter and given her life. In Kia's eyes, it would be wrong not to love her sister.

"I hated my sister at first, I was so young and used to being the center of attention. And to learn that mother had died while giving birth...I blamed Kaelae for it." Kia's gaze dropped to the floor. Everytime she thought about the hatred she had held for her sister, Kia felt ashamed. Her younger sister hadn't deserved the aggression that Kia had held for her and although that hatred had long since passed, the unfairness of it stayed with her. "So what about your family?" Kia shook off her shame and smiled brightly, she had talked about her family too much and it was time to listen.

[charrie]

Annie listened with sadness to Kia. She may have been neglected by her parents as a child, but they were still alive. She could see them anytime she wanted. Annie had no idea how she would handle things if her mother had died. She had no similarities with Kia at all. And yet it didn't really stop Annie from wanting to connect with the younger girl. She had been raised in a pure-blood environment and a rich one at that. She was used to being ignored by her parents and having to spend all of her time with Alice. It had never changed for her. She had never known anything different. Kia had. She had known what it was like to have a mother for some of her childhood and then to have that suddenly taken away from her...well that must have hurt deeply.

Annie smiled slightly when Kia talked about her younger sister. It was obvious that no matter what jealousy had been there at one point in time, it was definitely gone now. Annie's surprise was yet to come though, when Kia asked her about her family. She bit her lip on the inside, a habit she had since she was a little child. She never talked about herself with anyone. It wasn't like she didn't want to, it was just that she never really felt open to talking about it. She usually only stuck around with her cousin. The two were almost inseparable, but those rare moments when they were apart Annie never found quite the right person to talk to. On the other hand, Kia seemed to be an all right person. She wasn't raised as a pure-blood, probably wasn't even one in the first place, but at the same time Annie didn't care about that any more. She just wanted to go on with her life. She shrugged more to herself than to Kia.

"I was raised more by my nanny than my parents. Not much to that," Annie said shortly. Even though she wanted to say more she couldn't bring herself to share any more than what was absolutely necessary. It was just her way. She preferred silence to talk and that's what she tended to do. She looked out into the bright sun and sighed, looking back down at the grass she was sitting on. She pulled out her wand and started growing little white flowers around her. Not a specific flower in general, just one that seemed to be a bunch of everything, like a mix between a rose and a dandelion. It was quite interesting. She just sat there playing with these different flowers that popped out of the ground at a silent spell she was saying in her head. She lost focus on reality and was sucked back into her love for plants.

[Kia Brightstar]

Kia lifted an eyebrow sharply at Annie's short answer but stayed silent. She glanced at her discreetly, noticing the slight tenseness that seemed to radiate from her. Annie's family was obviously a sore spot for the older girl and Kia mentally kicked herself for bringing it up. She knew how Annie felt - well, a variation of it anyway. Just as Annie seemed to not want to talk about her family, Kia usually shied away from any mention of mothers. People didn't seem to like talking about what they didn't know or didn't have, it was a fact of life and a part of human nature. Kia leaned against a tree easily, indulging the quieter and calmer side of her personality. Usually, she used the bubbly and hyperactive side of her as a front, to hide sadness that sometimes tugged at her. But, Kia smiled sightly and flicked a glance at Annie, it seemed right to remain quiet and revel in almost-forgotten memories.

A small frown crossed Kia's face. Her sister was eight now and wanted to know more about their mother. Dad absolutely refused to talk about her, saying it was too hard to remember her and Kia could barely remember her. As a result, her sister was causing trouble and sneaking out. She seemed to enjoy the worry that she caused their father and that troubled Kia. The house elves could only help so much and Kaelae seemed to be able to sneak past them anyway. The next time that Kia was home then she'd have to talk to her sister about it and hope that the mischief and chaos that her sister reveled in would stop. Her dad had written to her several times, almost begging for advice and the knowledge that her dad was struggling to control her sister tore at Kia's heart. Kia's dad had never had to deal with such rebellion before, Kia behaved at home and generally managed to keep her sister in line, and he was hopeless at trying to stop it.

Kia's eyes were drawn to the small flowers popping up out of the ground around Annie and she smiled in delight. Flowers were such pretty things and one of the main things that Kia drew. Her favourite thing to draw were people, family and friends or occasionally a stranger. Flowers were so much easier to draw though, they didn't move or complain about sitting still for so long. Her left hand reached for her sketchbook unconsciously and her right hand grasped at her pencil. Kia's eyes half-closed with concentration as the pencil started to scratch across the paper. All thoughts of asking permission to draw Annie flew out of her mind, she wasn't actually thinking at all. The only thing that mattered was marking down the flowers, half out of the ground, and the tall figure in white surrounded by them. Her eyes flickered up to Annie's eyes and a sudden sheepish smile appeared, finally realizing what she was doing. "Ah...sorry about that. I just....its strange, like an urge that suddenly overtakes me every once in a while." Kia's words were quiet and embarrassed, she had thought that she had managed to banish her urge but apparently not.