First Impressions ((Maryn))

[Kody Leuchten G3]

Kody sat in the lounge, right in front of one of the fireplaces. He was getting frustrated, slightly, because he couldn't get a spell to work. He tried it again. Pointing his wand, the one from his mother, towards the calm fire, he spoke the spell once again, "Florikus." and flicked his wrist towards it. Nothing happened. It was a spell he had learned from Bryce Alexander. Kody had been practicing it for the past hour, but to no avail. On about the fifth try, he had felt a small cold burst, emit from the wand, but not nearly enough to put out the fire. His one goal right now was to put out that fire. He tried the spell again, with a little more emotion. "Florikus!", he said, with another flick of his wrist. Another slight chill, but nothing major. He put his wand down, and sat down next to the fire, pulling out his Dueling Handbook, and flipped to the page with the spell on it. Bryce had showed him a different variation than the book had showed, and apparently it was working, just not the way he wanted. He read over the page again and again, and the note that Bryce had written for him. "Make sure you're far enough away from the target, and you need the right flick in your wrist to get it just right. Good luck, buddy." Apparently he wasn't getting the right flick of his wrist. Almost, but not quite.

Why had he even picked this to try and learn? It was easier to just use a water charm and put it out. But if he wanted to learn and be a better wizard, he had to learn different ways to do the same task. He read over the note and the page one last time, and got up. He looked over to his side, and flicked his wrist a few times, trying to get it just right. When he felt like his hand was about to fall off from trying it quite a few times, he knew he was ready. Kody moved back a bit, but was still kind of close to the fire, and got in position to cast it. "Florikus!", he said loudly, flicking his wrist hard. He immediately felt a cool chill, and saw the cold burst of air flow out of the end of his mother's wand, putting the fire out completely. "Yes!" he exclaimed, excited that he had finally got it. Kody automatically wanted to run over to another fireplace and try it again, but knew that some people were studying in other parts of the lounge. Next time, I'll know how to put it out, and bring it back, too, he thought to himself.

He turned around and picked up his bag, putting it on the nearby table, and as he did so, he noticed a girl standing nearby. She was beautiful, which was one of the first things he noticed. That was surprising, because he usually wanted to get to know people before he looked at outward features, but this girl was just beautiful as it was. He wondered if she had been watching him, and immediately he was embarrassed at his exclamation over a simple spell working. He wondered who she was, for he hadn't seen her around before, had he? Wait...he wasn't positive, but he might have seen her the other night in the library, when he had that run in with Skyler and Ezzie. What an odd night that had been. He barely remembered everything that had gone on there, but he did remember how he hadn't finished his paper that night. Even so, he wanted to know who this girl was. He sat down at a table near her, wondering what he should say to her.

(Bryce Alexander used by permission)

[Maryn Livley]

Love, Maryn. Maryn signed her letter to Nate. It was amazing how well he was doing. To think, her little brother had been diagnosed with Leukemia only two years ago and now he was well and at home in his own room. Back then, they didn’t even know if Nate would it through, but he had. It was amazing really. It was weird for Maryn to think back to when she had found out about Nate’s Leukemia. That was only a couple of months before Leon was killed. Maryn could recall those few months vividly. Everything that happened before his death seemed special. She could remember everything about him before he died, but that was it. She wished that she had more memories of him. She wished that she could have more memories of him and May running about the streets at Christmas time. But, she didn’t. Maryn sighed as she closed the envelope of the letter to Nate. She was tired of living in the past. It seemed that, that was all she had been doing over the past two years. It was time to move on and she had to do it weather she was ready or not. Maryn smiled as Morgen, her barn owl, took the letter and flew out of the window. Maryn fell back on her bed. Yep, it was time to live in the present and not the past.

Kia and Ciaran weren’t in the common room. Maryn noticed this as she passed through. Usually, they would be in there doing homework and chatting and Maryn would spot by and try and do an essay when she was really just chatting with the two. Maryn loved hanging out with her friends. Kia was Maryn’s best-friend of course and Ciaran was turning out to be a good friend as well. Instead of Maryn and Kia just hanging alone as they used to, now they had Cia too, which was actually quite fun. However, sometimes it could be a bit weird. After all, Ciaran and Kia were like a little mini couple even though they didn’t know it yet. True, they weren’t together, but they liked each other. Sometimes, it was weird to be around them, but Maryn knew that Kia would give her a glance if she tried to leave in the middle of a conversation. Maryn sighed as she left the common room. She couldn’t try and study alone with no one to talk to, as weird as it sounded. So, she headed toward the Student Lounge, hoping to find something to distract her even if her main focus should have been studying.

Maryn eyed the Student Lounge for any signs of her friends. Nope. Oh well. Suddenly, she heard someone exclaim something. She squinted slightly as she turned in that direction. Apparently he had just mastered a spell. Florikus, was it? Maryn remembered it from years past. She smiled slightly. She often got excited about mastering a new spell as well as this boy. Maryn smiled slightly. She didn’t know the boy that was for sure. Then again, Maryn mainly stuck around Ciaran and Kia. Or at least she had gotten in the habit of doing so. She sighed and sat down as a table. Shortly there after, the boy sat down near her. She looked up to him. “That spell took me a while to master. Well, master isn’t such a great word for it. Florikus, right?” She asked even though she was fairly confident that she was right. “Oh, hi. I’m Maryn.” She felt the need to explain herself since she was talking to him. Maryn paused and waited for the boy to respond.

[Kody Leuchten G3]

As Kody sat there, the girl spoke up, mentioning how it had taken her a while to master it as well. He wasn't even close to mastering it, so he figured he would explain that. "Yeah, that was actually the first time I got it to work fully," he mentioned. "I've been working on putting out that fire for about the past hour. It gets pretty tiring, working on the same spell over and over, wouldn't you say?" Kody listened as she said her name, and he politely gave her his. "I'm Kody, nice to meet you Maryn. It's always nice to meet someone new. And yes, it was Florikus, but you look a bit older than me, so you would probably have that one memorized and be able to do it whenever you want, huh?" he chuckled. "See, what I want to be able to do is put it out, and then bring back the fire. But I'm not to that point yet, apparently. The only other charm I know by heart is Aguamenti, which I could have easily used on that fire over there. But I wanted to get that other one down. Now I'm babbling..." he laughed at himself. He was likely boring her, and ruining any chance he might have at anything with this girl.

He reached down into his bag and pulled out a couple books, setting them up to read for a bit. Kody caught himself looking at her again, admiring how beautiful she really was. He quickly turned his head before he thought she noticed, and pretended to read his Magical Beasts book. He wondered what she was thinking. It was a new feeling for him, liking someone immediately as he met them, but he wanted to be subtle about it, so Kody began to make some small talk with Maryn. "So, what do you like to do for fun around the castle, Maryn? Do you have a lot of friends?" he asked, hopefully not too forthright. It had been a crazy day, and he really didn't want to do much, rather than sit here for a while and get to know this new girl.

As he spoke with her, he called his snowy owl, Furler, to him and began to pet his back. He would soon have a letter for his dad, and he'd give it to Furler to take to him. He loved his dad, and they had grown in their father/son relationship so much more, particularly since Kody's mom had passed away. Yes, it had been a rough transition, even to the point of them having to move to a much smaller house, but in the end it had brought them closer. Much closer that they had been in previous years. Before that, he had always tried to stick to his mom's side, just because he loved her so much. Not that he loved his mom more, she was just always around, and his dad was always trying to keep up. It had all been rough on all three of them, getting through everything, and then when his mom was gone, things fell apart. But he and his dad picked up the pieces and moved on. Kody shook his head, clearing his mind of what he had been thinking about, and paid attention to his surroundings, and particularly the beautiful girl he had sat down with, talking.

[Maryn Livley]

Maryn attempted to look down at her Potions book and study. But, it was hopeless. She was horrible at the subject, really. Maryn’s first Potion’s Class during her first year ended with Maryn’s cauldron oozing blue foam. It had been so embarrassing and Maryn had lost House Points on top of being humiliated. Maryn sighed. She always hated studying for Potions. Maryn was a smart girl, but Potions was her down-fall. She had to try hard in every subject, but Potions was by far her worst. Maryn looked up. He was cute. Younger, but cute. He sort of reminded Maryn of a boy she once knew, but she wouldn’t let her mind drift back to her dead friend. She couldn’t; it hurt too much to. Maryn sighed as she once again glanced up from her book. She would rather be doing anything other than studying for Potions. But, it was necessary. After all, Maryn didn’t want to get a T in her Potions OWL. Nope, that wasn’t an option. She could at least try to study now and then actually study later. Yea. Maybe that was what she needed to do.

Maryn nodded. “Yea, I know what you mean. It takes me forever to master a spell.” Sometimes, Maryn wondered if that was because she was a muggle born, but she knew that she couldn’t limit herself to that. Muggles borns were just as good as pure-bloods. Maryn knew this, but sometimes, she didn’t believe it. Maryn smiled and nodded. “You too Kody.” Maryn always felt comfortable in meeting new people. After all, she once met Kia and Ciaran and they were now her best-friends. Maryn smiled a bit. “Yea, I’m a fifth year. And I do know it, but I don’t get too much of a chance to use it. Well, in the summer sometimes, but that’s about it.” She nodded as she looked back down at her potion’s book but none of it made sense to her so she looked away from it. “You’ll figure it out, I’m sure. Charms used to take me awhile to figure out, but I’ve got better. Potions, well that’s a different story.” She laughed.

Maryn shook her head and smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I babble a lot in general.” Especially around Kia. Well, Maryn and Kia liked to have fun more than anything which always included a lot of talking. Maryn thought for a moment at Kody’s question. “Well, I play Quidditch, Chaser.” She paused briefly. “And I play my guitar..badly, but I’m trying.” She smiled. “Well, I have a best-friend, Kia and Ciaran is a pretty good friend as well. He might not be as adventurous as Kia, but he’s a cool guy.” She smiled thinking about Ciaran and Kia. “And he and Kia would make a great couple but shh..” Maryn joked and put her finger over her lips. “Don’t tell them that.” She smiled again. She was a smiling type of person. She always had been. Only a few things that had happened in her life temporarily took that away with her. But with time, her smile always came back. “So, how about you? Do you play Quidditch or anything or are you a closet poet in your spare time?” She joked a tad. Maryn as in a good mood, actually. Finally, things didn’t seem so complicated. Finally.

[Kody Leuchten G3]

Kody caught himself watching Maryn as she tried to concentrate on her reading for Potions. She seemed to be having a hard time, so he gave his own little advice. "Hey Maryn, if you need any help with Potions, it's my favorite class and the one I do the best in, usually. Despite Snape's rough attitude at times, I'm usually able to sneak through undetected and get a good grade in the process. So if you want me to help you, I can," he offered. It was true, his favorite class was Potions, but he couldn't admit to not wanting someone different in the teaching position. Snape could get on his nerves from time to time, but sometimes it was just unbearable.

He stole another look at Maryn, taking in the beauty he saw before him. She was quite attractive, yet she was older than he was. Kody figured he would never have any chance with her, just because of the age difference. She probably didn't find him the least bit appealing. Maryn likely thought that he was just another Gryffindor, looking for friends, as all of them sought to do. He talked about his constant babbling, and smiled when she said that it didn't bother her, and that she babbled as well. He hated speaking without a purpose, but his father had taught him that. "Speak with authority," his dad had always said, even moreso after Kody's mom passed away. Maryn and Kody continued talking, and he found out that she liked playing guitar, even if she was slightly bad at it. He commented, "Yeah, I have a guitar as well, but I haven't had the time to get to learn, or play it. A few of my friends are surprised when I tell them I have a guitar, then I take it out and they're horrified by how out of tune it is!" he chuckled as he explained. "Do you write songs? I'd love to hear one sometime if you do."

She went on to talk about Quidditch, and his run-in with Bryce two weeks ago came back into his mind. Bryce had encouraged him to try out for Quidditch, and he had, but he hadn't heard anything back yet. "Well I've tried out for Quidditch, but Madam Hooch and the captain of the Gryffindor team hasn't let me know how I did yet. I want to play Seeker, that's my favorite position, and I'm quick in the air on my broom, as far as I know. My mother was a professional Quidditch player, and she was also a Seeker, so I think that's where I get my tendencies." He wasn't about to open up fully about his mother. Not just yet, unless Maryn asked him about her. He didn't want her to feel sorry for him. He hated it when he told people about it and they became all concerned for his well-being. Kody had learned to hold back the tears and grow into the young man he was turning into here at Hogwarts. He didn't want that to stop because of some bad feelings.

Kody realized that he hadn't really told Maryn much more about himself, other than his tryout for Quidditch and the guitar. "Well, on my part, you already know about Quidditch and my guitar. Basically there really isn't much to me. I go through the motions of getting all my schoolwork done, and trying to make time for friends. Let's see, what else....Oh, well I don't have a girlfriend," he said. "Guess I haven't slowed down enough to begin looking. People have told me, even here, don't rush into anything, and I don't plan to. I just want to have fun with someone, and if things go further, that's great." He listened as she commented. "No, I'm not a closet poet, by any stretch of the truth. I write stories from time to time, about made up wizards in our world of Hogwarts and wizardry. But they're nothing substantial yet." Kody wanted to know more about her, so he asked. "What about you? Anything else you do you haven't told me about already? Do you have a boyfriend that you spend a chunk of your time with? I don't want to keep you if you do." He winked at her, just playing around, and he hoped she would find it at least a bit amusing.

[Maryn Livley]

She smiled a bit as she looked away with her Potions. She could only tell herself over and over that she only had a year and a half left of Potions, but she was released from taking them. Well, she could take them for NEWTS, but she wouldn’t. Maryn sighed. She would rather do anything other than Potions work, but that wasn’t really an option. She did like talking to Kody though. He seemed nice, plus, anything was better than Potions. “Thanks.” Maryn smiled as Kody offered to help her in Potions. No one had ever said that they would help her in any subject before. Well, Maryn did ‘study’ with Kia, but that usually ended with them eating cake. Yep, it wasn’t studying at all. “Yea, I would get a better grade if I liked the subject more, but I do try. Thanks for the offer.” She thanked him okay. Kody seemed to be a nice guy as far as Maryn could tell. And Maryn hadn’t met one of those in a long time. Well, Ciaran, but he was jus a friend and in Maryn’s mind, he and Kia would be a perfect couple. Maryn smiled just thinking about them together.

Maryn smiled more when Kody said that he had a guitar as well. But, he didn’t have the time to learn how to play it as well. Weird. Maryn thought. She hadn’t met many people that she had even one thing in common with. Or at least, she hadn’t known that she had anything in common with them in just a few minutes. It was a tad weird to her that she had something in common with Kody already. “Yea, I wish I was better at playing, but at least I’m trying. I used to be a dancer, but when I gave that up, I picked up a guitar. I’ll get better hopefully.” She explained. Maryn had been a dancer for years, but everything that had happened since her third year had held that back. So finally, she decided that she couldn’t bare to dance anymore and she bought her first guitar. It had been a great idea, but now she wasn’t so sure.

“I kinda do. You?” She told him about writing songs. “I wrote one song, but I trashed it shortly after.” She paused. Maryn had shown Kia the song, but Maryn decided that she hated it shortly after. The emotions in the song were off. The lyrics didn’t click. It just wasn’t good enough. Maryn had to do better. She would force herself to do better. She smiled as Kody talked about Quidditch. “I can help you out there. Well, kinda. I’m Vice Captain. I’m sure Cass is just busy.” She said nodding. Maryn thought about the house roster. She was pretty sure that all the spots were filled. “Yea, Ciaran’s seeker, but you could play for reserve. That’s where I started.” Maryn had actually liked being a reserve. She got to learn everything before she went out to the big leagues. “Wow, that’s so cool.” Maryn announced when Kody said that his mum was a Professional Quidditch Player. Maryn sighed. “My parents are muggles. They barely know what Quidditch is, but they try. They thought that Quidditch was the same thing as football. But, they’re starting to understand.” She said thoughtfully. Maryn loved her parents no matter what. But sometimes, Maryn wished that she was like everyone else.

Maryn smiled as Kody told her a bit about himself. Maryn liked talking to him. He was fairly easy to talk to really, which was nice. “There is always something to someone that doesn’t meet the eye. I know that sounds dorky, but there it is.” She laughed a tad. Maryn nodded when Kody talked about finding a girlfriend. “Believe me, you don’t have to find one. The good ones come to you.” She thought of Leon for a moment, but she let that go. Maryn had never been his girlfriend. She just wanted to be. But, she never got the chance. “Oo, story writer.” She smiled. “I was I actually had an imagination, but it seems to have faded through the years.” Maryn could a few reasons as to why, but she wouldn’t. Not yet anyways. Maryn laughed at Kody’s last statement. “You aren’t keeping me and no I don’t.” She told him as she smiled a tad. For once, Maryn didn’t mind saying that sentence. “I’m just waiting for the right person I guess.” She laughed. “Wow, that sounded totally cliché.”

[Kody Leuchten G3]

Kody smiled as she thanked him for being willing to help her with Potions. The class could be rough sometimes, particularly for those who didn't like it that much. He enjoyed the class, to a point, and if Maryn needed help, he wanted to be available. She seemed to be taking a liking to him, but he wasn't sure how or why. It was true that he wanted a girlfriend, but he wasn't sure if Maryn was interested, or even if they had been friends long enough for him to even get close to asking her. He might have liked her right then and there, but it wasn't something he should act on. First feelings had never worked out for him, particularly this quick. He wasn't sure what to do, so he figured he would try and play it cool, just keep her talking, and see where things would go. She then asked about him writing songs. "No, I don't write songs. I've barely ever taken my guitar out, much less write anything to play on it," he replied. She went on about writing a song, but trashing it. "Why did you trash it? I would have liked to hear it, I'm sure you're amazing at writing." He winked at her, hoping she would appreciate the compliment.

He smiled again when she talked more about Quidditch. He knew about Ciaran being a Seeker, but he knew that he could eventually work his way up. Besides, every seeker needed a backup. He figured it would be good to start in reserve anyway, if he even got in, and learn from them, working his way up. He was glad that he wasn't the only one to think of that, as Maryn said she had. As Maryn talked about her parents, she seemed sad. Understandably so, with her parents being muggles, they could never understand some of the things she, as a witch, would go through. It hadn't been too bad with his parents, particularly because they had both even gone to Hogwarts. Maryn would never know something like that, being that her parents were both muggles. Kody wished he could help her figure things out with her parents, but he knew he couldn't.

She mentioned about him not needing to find one, and he chuckled. "Yeah," he said. "I know I don't need one, but it'd be nice to have one. Someone to spend time with, talk with, just be around. I love companionship, and having friends. It'd be nice to have someone who's a lot closer than just a friend though. Does that make sense?" He wondered if he was scaring her off with his talking, but she confirmed that he wasn't by continuing to chat with him. She teased him a bit about being a story writer, and he smiled again. He was also happy that he wasn't annoying her or anything by sitting there talking with her. It was really all he wanted, just to talk with her. If there was more there, he knew it would manifest itself into their friendship. She mentioned about sounding cliche, and he shook his head. "No, that's not cliche," he said reassuringly. "It just means you couldn't think of any better excuse for not having a boyfriend." He laughed at his own joke, hoping she would see the humor as well.

She had mentioned about waiting for the right person, and he had joked about it, yet he was doing the same thing. Kody's thoughts drifted to Maryn possibly being that right person, but he wasn't sure. She seemed interested, but again, he couldn't be sure. He wondered if she'd want to go for a walk or something. Nothing major, just a casual walk or something throughout the castle. He wanted to get to know her better, but he didn't want to scare her away. Kody wasn't usually too shy, but with girls he was interested in, he could tend to be that way. He decided to chance it. "Maryn," he started slowly, "I don't know if I'm being too forward here, but would you want to go for a walk through the castle with me? I want to show you my favorite place to go. It's a secret, and I don't tell many people. What do you say?" He secretly freaked out as he waited for her to answer.