Thoughts of Serenity (( Friends ))

[Savannah Johnstone R7]

Savannah exited the cast and walked down the stone steps to the Courtyard. It was more like a large garden with many little paths and benches scattered about amongst the flower beds and water fountains. Walking past the students busy with their conversations, Savannah headed to her usual spot, a bench in the shade near the far corner of the garden. Savannah was not like most students in that she couldn't stand idle chit chat. To Savannah; a conversation required information to be exchanged, simply talking to talk was not her idea of fun and as such she was often viewed as a loner. Though she didn’t come to the court yard to converse with people, she rather liked the scenery and she was most the time left alone to her create her own entertainment, which usually came in the form of writing or drawing, two things she was sometimes poked fun of for. There was once a time when Savannah was quite the popular target, she was right up there with Neville Longbottom and the muggle borns who were ruthlessly targeted by Slytherins. Savannah took it in good spirits her first year as she was informed that it was sort of the "welcome to Hogwarts" type of thing. As she stepped off the train to start her 2nd year she was ready for it to be over. Yet it didn't stop which was unfortunate for those who would pick on her the first few days. Savannah's fiery temper boiled over many times during that first week which produced her with the reputation as one not to be bothered with. Now four years later the fierce temper inside Savannah lays silent but is always there, ready to explode if properly pushed. Her cruel outbursts have alienated her from all but a few close friends who have managed to see past her dark exterior and have gotten to know the real Savannah.

With all these thoughts weighing heavily in her mind, Savannah walked to the corner of the garden and found herself her usual bench which was nicely concealed from most the rest of the courtyard by a rather large fern. It was for this very reason that Savannah loved it so, she was where she was at peace, by herself with her thoughts. As she sat down at the bench she pulled out her parchments and quill. Hours upon hours she'd spend here writing stories, songs, and poems until winter came and would force her to seek refuge elsewhere, such as a dark corner in the library or common room. Her writings and drawings were very personal to her, some of her writings were simply outpourings from her heart, her deepest feelings, the subjects of which were read by Savannah and perhaps some of her closest friends. Minutes passed, perhaps hours even, yet to Savannah it made no difference as she drew and drew. Often she'd work undisturbed for hours until the sunlight disappeared forcing her to return to the castle. Today however, Savannah was brought out of her drawing phase as someone approached her little world.

[rosewood]

Julie Rosewood shut her book and stared at it for a few minutes. Finally she was done with that chapter they had covered in Transfiguration. Time for a break and some fun! It was Sunday after all and Julie was sure some of her friends wouldn't be studying. It was only their first week back, and despite the fact everyone had been astonished by the amount of work the NEWTs students' were going to have to do, most of the sixth years weren't going to spoil their first week by worrying about their studies. Julie ran her fingers through her hair pushing some it back across from her forehead and looked around the common room. None of her friends were around, so she got off her seat and decided to go look for someone to sit with and chat.

Julie left the common room and then changed her mind. She thought she would just exit the castle and go outside, and enjoy the September sun before the cold winter months arrived. She walked on to the green Hogwarts grounds and made her way to the courtyard, where many people were engaged in conversations and laughter. Julie smiled a little to herself. The past summer had been very different than the usual one before it. Everybody was taking safety precautions against Voldemort; pictures of Death Eaters were published on a weekly basis; there was a hidden fear in the eyes of the magical community that Julie had never seen before. But back here at Hogwarts it was like a dream, like another world where none of this existed. Everybody was worried about classes; who was going to win the next Quidditch match, just the normal school matters like every year. Until you bumped into Harry Potter she reminded herself. He was a reminder of all the events, of what was to come, of the unknown that nobody was sure was going to hit them when and how, only that it was soon, and that they had to be prepared.

But now it was difficult to think of such things. Julie felt at peace with herself and with the world, just like she always felt when she was at Hogwarts. Julie was thinking how wonderful the courtyard looked at this time of the year when she came across a girl with brown hair loose over her shoulders, scribbling on some parchment. The girl did not look up as Julie approached; she was very engrossed in what she was doing. She was seated in one of the benches that were concealed from the rest of the courtyard by a large fern, and it was a place very few people ever wandered into but Julie who had been busy with her thoughts had walked to without consciously realising it. It was a very quiet spot. Julie knew the girl well as they were in the same house and year. Savannah Johnstone was one of the girls in Julie's group of friends that included Catalina, Celina and Dorian.

Savannah was not your normal sixteen-year-old girl. While many of the girls at Hogwarts discussed make-up and charms to make you look more beautiful or who was dating who and the newest robes they had bought that summer, you would never find Savannah engaged in such a conversation, and if she was standing with a group of girls discussing these topics she would either look away and say nothing or just leave them. Savannah also had a very sharp tongue, one she used to make very witty remarks but some that were very sarcastic also. You had to be careful around Savannah Johnstone if you didn’t want your head bitten off. Five years had taught Julie though that first impressions were false. Behind the gruff exterior though was a very expressive and talented teenager, and the one time Julie had seen one of Savannah's drawings she had been astonished at how well she could draw. Savannah also did a lot of writing, though Julie had never asked to read anything she had written as she felt Savannah might not like it.

Julie didn't want to disturb her so she said quietly with a friendly smile, "Hey Savannah! Do you mind if I sit down here with you? I won't bother you much but it's such a lovely place to sit down before it gets too dark."

((Will modify if asked to. ))

[Savannah Johnstone R7]

Savannah furrowed her brow as she studied her drawing. The rider and horse were fine as was the grassy field, yet the large willow tree was simply ugly. Reaching over to her bag, Savannah pulled out a small pink eraser and vigorously rubbed away the branches of the tree leaving a large trunk. Hard pencil strokes were followed by soft touches as Savannah concentrated first on the outline of the branches and leaves. As she continued to work she was unaware of the presence of another person until they spoke. The sound of the girl’s voice startled Savannah such that her hand twitched violently and the result was a long black mark running across her parchment from the trunk of the tree to the rider. Eyeing the hideous black mark Savannah grasped her pencil tightly as she balled her hand into a fist. As her eyes moved right she found the girls feet dressed in black shoes, and above the feet school uniform robe. The robe itself was typical black but the blue trim on it indicated a fellow Ravenclaw. Yet Ravenclaw or not, such behavior was not tolerable. Savannah’s icy expression remained as she looked up to the girl’s face and found Julie smiling at her.

Julie was a fellow 6th year and one of the very few people at Hogwarts whom Savannah called a friend, which was a great testament to Julie’s character. Through 5 years of schooling Savannah’s icy nature towards others had driven off many would be potential friends and left her able to count her true friends on her fingers. The fact that she had few friends didn’t bother Savannah one bit though, she refused to let herself be picked on or made fun of at any time, cold looks had served her well in years past and she’d perfected it. Of course Savannah wasn’t one who looked for trouble and confrontation, she’d simply rather avoid them altogether. Keeping her distance from others allowed her to watch people and only those who she saw genuine kindness in did Savannah associate with, and of those only a few did she befriend. Those select few whom Savannah called a friend had a devoted friend who would not allow any insults to be thrown towards friends. Naturally Savannah had lost Ravenclaw house points in previous years as well as collecting herself a couple detentions along the way getting into verbal fights and a one duel while trying to stand up for friends. However if she had to replay the events again, she’d have done nothing differently.

Savannah’s stern expression at Julie faded as she dropped her pencil and reached for her eraser once more and set to repair the black mark. “Go ahead” Savannah said as she shoved her bag off the bench with her right hand to make room for Julie. “Did you get lost? Hardly anyone ever comes to this back bench, it’s pretty much mine.” While she busied herself on mending her drawing she shot Julie a few wayward glances now and then. She hadn’t seen Julie much yet this school year, and it wasn’t too hard to figure out why. Julie had been talking to and working with that boy an awful lot of late. Savannah herself had no interest in the boys at Hogwarts, she simply didn’t want to deal with that drama, but she couldn’t help notice the lack of Julie’s presence and the dreamy look she had when she was around. The final stone was her taking a page from Padma’s book and spending more time applying makeup and going the extra mile to look good. “So..” Savannah said, “how’s he doing?” she asked as she looked Julie over again.

[rosewood]

Julie decided she would have to be on her guard when Savannah looked at her. Julie had tried her best not to startle Savannah when she had come over to sit with her, but she could tell from Savannah's icy look that she had. "Thanks," she said quietly and sat down in the space Savannah made for her. Julie had seen that look before, though she wasn't used to being one of the people who received it. The bench was indeed located in a very lovely place, serene and the scenery was very soothing, and Julie wondered how she had never found this place in her six years at Hogwarts. Julie's had a strand of her long brown hair between her fingers, twirling it as she looked ahead of her not wanting to bother Savannah thinking maybe she would want to finish off what she was doing. It was quite normal for Julie and Cat and the other Ravenclaw girls to be sitting in the common room with Savannah in the middle of a conversation while Savannah was drawing something and they wouldn't bother her as they all knew how important her art was to her.

Savannah however seemed to want to talk with Julie as she rubbed something on her large notepad, and Julie replied to her question slightly amused as Savannah told her that nobody usually approached this area of the courtyard. "By chance. I finished my homework and studying for today and was looking for any of you girls to sit around with; we haven't talked that much since the beginning of the year. I must have been thinking about something a bit too deeply, I was here before I noticed where I had walked. None of the others are in the courtyard though," she said. For a minute the girls sat in silence, Julie thought Savannah was fixing something on her drawing and enjoyed the peace of the courtyard when she noticed Savannah give her a few looks. They were slightly reproachful looks and Julie wondered what exactly was up with her. She didn't say anything knowing Savannah to be one to speak her mind, and sure enough Savannah asked Julie a question a few seconds later. Julie was nevertheless startled. It was not because she had not been expecting Savannah to say something, it was what she said. Julie sat up a little in her seat and looked at Savannah with a slightly confused look on her face. "He?" she asked, noticing the emphasis Savannah had put on the word. "Who exactly do you mean?" she asked, wondering what was coming.

[Savannah Johnstone R7]

"Deep in thought?" Savannah asked in a muttered tone as she eyed Julie suspiciously. "How can you possibly walk around so deep in thought you don't realize what you are doing?" That thought baffled Savannah as she focused once more on her drawing while Julie stumbled about the next question posed to her. Giving Julie another keen look Savannah set her pencil down on her notepad, crossed her legs and arms across her chest and eyed Julie. "Oh come off it Julie, everyone sees you staring at Harry and whenever you've just finished talking to him you mumble and are lost."

Savannah then tapped picked up her pencil and tapped it on her notepad while awaiting Julie's reply. She personally didn't care if Julie liked him, she just wanted it out in the open so that they could move on and not have to deal with these silly little games most girls played.

[rosewood]

“I know how lame that sounds, but the important thing is I was lucky enough to find this place and was even luckier to find you here, right?” said Julie, her light brown eyes twinkling as she tried to lighten the mood a bit. Savannah was still looking reproachful for some reason, and Julie wanted to know the reason behind that because she and Savannah were close friends and things had never been like that between them. She also wasn’t used to being the one disapproved of by Savannah, usually it was someone else being criticised by Savannah and Julie having to convince her that people made mistakes and had their faults and she had to try and accept them as they were.

“I do not mumble and act like I’m lost, really Savannah,” said Julie. “I like to think that when I really do feel those kind of feelings for a boy, if you're insinuating that I like Harry, I will be sensible about it and not act like I’ve had an overdose of Love Potion.” Julie looked at Savannah intensely for a minute. “You want to know the deal with Harry? I’ll tell you the truth, even if I’m feeling a bit confused myself. You’re my friend, and I usually like to know your opinion about things but please Savannah, give me a chance to tell you about this without biting my head off, OK?” said Julie. She had wanted to talk about Harry to her friends for a while, but it wasn’t easy, as Julie wasn’t used to having a boy interested in her before, at least in that way.