Lying beneath the clouds. (Lyli)

[Matthew Dorm R3]

"Now that one is a flamingo, or it could be a cauldron..." Pausing mid-sentence, Matthew lifted himself up into a sitting position; tilting his head in a state of determined concentration. "Although i think it's most likely a gremlin on fire trying to eat a dancing cauldron" Looking around, to notice no one was nearby, he let out a little laugh, realizing to himself how odd he must have seemed.

He lay back down in the relaxed cool shade of the large oak tree, located roughly thirty footsteps away from the cool lake; perfectly still but for a few odd ripples here and there. Matthew, during the start of the afternoon in this favorite spot of his, had already confirmed that these suspiciously large ripples were possibly the giant squid's tentacles. Smiling happily, he continued to look up at the sky, his eyes lazily focusing on various wispy passing clouds, slowly breathing in and out as he calmly allowed his mind to wander.

The breeze brushed his flushed cheeks, cooling them as his imagination left him in a day-dreaming state. He was lifting up from his body, peacefully rising up into the clouds, floating higher and higher, up into the blue canvas that was the sky. He landed on a cloud, and lay back, feeling his body sink into the cottony warmth, glancing sideways at the sun above him in eternal blue sky.

His eyes flickered open, with a feeling he rarely experienced. It was one of those feelings you would get from a long nights rest. The feeling where your lying asleep in your bed, and when you wake in the morning, its sudden and calm, and you find yourself suddenly awake and comfortable, calm and happy. His heart was skipping in his chest, and he felt inclined to sit up. Pushing himself once again into a sitting position, he looked above him, admiring the suns rays piercing through the gaps in the branches above him. He looked to his left, and thought he seen someone a distance away. Blinking, he silently wondered why his heart was beating twice as fast as normal. There was a girl in the distance, spinning in circles, her blond hair spinning eternally around her as she went. Blinking, he looked closer, trying to make out if he had seen her before, who she was. His efforts proved nothing but a further skipping of his heart. Suddenly he felt like he was in a dream, and he briefly closed his eyes. He opened them, wising he hadn't been dreaming, to see the girl had vanished. He spun around nervously, looking from right to left, all around him, feeling his heart sink as he realized she had gone.

Sadly laying back down, he looked hopefully to the sky above him, half expecting to see her up there.

[lyli]

It was before dinner, but after all her classes were over. Deciding to get a little fresh air before being locked back up in Hogwarts, she walked casually out to the Grounds. A smile spread across Lyli’s face instantly as the fresh air hit her. It was so refreshing, smelling the smell of grass, the faint smoke from Hagrid’s cottage far off on the edge of the grounds, and the smell of just freshness over all, but all in one. She felt like bursting out in laughter even though nothing was funny, but just because she was suddenly so cheerful. She stopped just standing on the sidewalk right in front of the huge doors- it was rude to block the way for others, and it was beginning the get backed up- and walked into the fresh grass. It was incredibly soft, compared to her home’s prickly grass in Ireland, and it wasn’t so itchy. Her walked began to quicken, turning into a fast walk, then a jog, then a sprint. She laughed silently as her blonde curls trailed behind her.

Lyli stopped in the middle of the immense field glancing around her. She saw no one in sight, surprisingly, but to her luck. She felt like acting like a little child and spinning in circles until she fell. With no one to see her antics, she spread her arms and began spinning. She beamed, not even feeling herself becoming dizzy. All she felt was herself becoming lighter. She spun faster, as if trying to spin so swiftly that she’d launch herself into the flamingo and cauldron shaped clouds above her. Last minute, she felt the dizziness, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. She just fell onto her back and looked up to the spinning world around her. It was as if the clouds were dancing, spinning like a ballet dancer, and the world itself that she lay on was rolling around. She smiled.

The feeling left her eventually, and she jumped up, and jogged to a some-what nearby tree. It was thick, tall, and so strong looking, compared to her fragile frame. Looking up, she looked into the maze of green, a if expecting to see something wonderful pop out at her. Nothing was in there, it looked like, and she sat down, leaning against the tree. She was out of breath from the running, spinning and more running, but being out of breath was a uplifting, refreshing feeling. She looked up at the sky once again and began looking at the wispy clouds for shapes and figures.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

The thought that he must be invisible to anyone passing popped into Matthew's head, but quickly vanished as he told his brain he didn't really mind. He was perfectly happy here, content with relaxing under the tree for the entire afternoon. Laying further back into the grass, he got the same feeling as when his imagination had lifted him up to the clouds, the same feeling of lying blissfully in cottony-like warmth.

Lazily lifting his arm above him, wand in hand in a state of random inspiration, he happily flicked it in the direction of the tree's leaves above him, quietly whispering charms under his breath. Stopping for a moment to admire the now variously colored leaves above him, he thought that he heard a faint rustling around the other side of the tree trunk. After stopping to listen for a few moments, he decided to ignore it, and lay back down, adding a touch of gold to the rainbow colored leaves above him.

A quite shuffle followed by a faint meow alerted Matthew to Roger's presence. Laughing quietly as he realized he had almost forgotten about him, he rolled onto his side. He lay there, his tiny body hidden by the grass, his four little legs stuck attentively towards the sky above him, his cute quaint mouth partially ajar, one of his bright, green eyes open slightly. He was always the same when he was asleep. A fluttering purple butterfly flew by, circling Roger, before calmly landing on his little, pink nose. Roger's eyes opened, curiously attempting to peer towards his nose. His mouth stretched into a cute little grin as his eyes located the purple butterfly; they were his favorite animal. His bottom legs bent slightly, read to lift him into a standing position; and in a sudden flash, Roger was on his feet, running around in fast circles, letting out delighted meows as he chased the butterfly around the other side of the tree, out of Matthew's sight as he disappeared around the tree's trunk.

Laying back down, his attention starting to once again wander up to the sky above him, his mind was brought back to the ground as he heard Roger let out a long, excited squeal. Wondering what he had discovered, he proceeded to move around the trunk to the other side. "Roger, what have you done now... if you've found another one of Hagrid's stray pumpkins i hope you didn't squash it, it'll just mean another bath for you.." Matthew stopped mid-sentence, left breathless as he found himself face to face with a beautiful girl. The same girl who had been spinning circles a few moments ago. He was left there, sitting, staring into her eyes for a good few moments, before he tried to speak. It seemed to take him a few attempts before he caught his breath, before he quietly spoke, "Um, hello." He blushed, cursing himself as he felt his cheeks turn crimson.

[lyli]

Lyli stretched out underneath the tree and looked around. She was nothing, and could only hear the faint rustling of leaves above her. Thinking there was something that ran into, flew into, or climbed into the tree above her, she looked up. A smile spread across her face when she was the once deep green leaves of the tree turn the all colors of the rainbow. Reds, oranges, yellows, different shades of greens, deep ocean blue, light blue, purple, lavender, pinks and hot pinks, were all spread like little pain droplets on a paper. She reached a hand up, trying to see if she could pick a leaf, aiming for one of the light yellows, or deep blue, but for her, anything she could grasp would be good enough. She stretched her fingers and wiggled them in the air, as if doing that would make her arm stretch to reach the dangling soft pink leaf, but she was barley even a centimeter short. Sure, she could have just rose to her feet and picked very color leaf she could think of from that one low hanging branch, but she was in such a comfortable position, she didn’t even contemplate moving.

Her arm returned to her side, and she her a quiet meow from the other side of the tree. Lyli didn’t bother turning to look, knowing that it was a cat, probably someone’s lost one that maybe go locked out of the common room, or maybe someone’s that was nearby. Her grey eyes scanned the clouds, the shapes being stretch and mutilated into just wisps that had broken off, or a stretched cloud, looking like stretched cotton. She frowned a bit, before returning to the area around her. She saw no one in sight, and it made her wonder more about the meow she had heard. She looked to the side that she thought the meow came from, and saw a little kitten jumping and running playfully around her, trying to catch a purple butterfly. It reminded Lyli about the tree’s leaves that hung above her, but it wasn’t the butterfly she was watching, grinning and giggling about: it was the adorable kitten.

“Here little kitty…” she whispered to it, stretching her thin arm out. She smiled and then saw a brown and whit figure come into her peripheral vision. She turned and looked, seeing a boy was sitting on the other side of the tree, calling the kitten. She smiled, looking to the kitten and then to the purple butterfly that had landed on her arm. Lyli looked back to the boy, and he was blushing. Lyli herself blushed at how cute he looked with his cheeks rosy, and his eyes, seeming to be dancing. “Hello there.” Lyli smiled at him, responding to his nervous greeting. “Is the kitten yours? He is so cute! Roger’s his name, eh?” she asked, her Irish accent thick in her melodic voice. She shut up before she could ramble on nerously about the butterfly, or the kitten, or the boy himself. She bit her lip, feeling a butterfly’s- or rather a hundred butterfly’s- wings taking off and fluttering in her stomach as she sat there, staring at the boy and his kitten.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

He sat there, briefly stuck in silence once again. Shaking his head slightly, he moved his arm out, gently touching her arm and feeling the butterfly's delicate touches land on his hand. Lifting it up, smiling, he pushed it towards her, into her open palm. He was surprised to see her blushing aswell, which resulted in the warm feeling in his cheeks rise.

Standing up, he reached to a lower branch, picking four different leaves. Sitting back down, he handed her them; a warm purple one, a complex blue one, a deep green one and a bright lavender one. Looking into her eyes, he didn't know what to say, he tried to focus on not stumbling on his words. 'Yeah, this is Roger; he seems to like you.' Smiling, he pointed towards the tree, 'do you like it?, i think it looks really pretty', he said quietly.

Looking down towards her hand, he seen the butterfly there, a slight fluttering of its wings as it breathed. 'Sorry, I'm Matthew Dorm, I forgot to tell you.' He spoke, looking first at her, then up towards the tree's leaves. Both were similar, both just as beautiful; he felt himself thinking.

Feeling a slight weight on his foot, followed by a delighted meow; Matthew looked down to see Roger, lying upside down on the grass, playing with a loose shoelace from his shoe. His eyes moved to Lyli, staring at her, before getting up and running towards her and jumping into her lap. Repositioning himself a few times before he lay comfortably down and fell asleep, a large smile spread onto his little face.

He hoped she wouldn't mind. Reaching from his pocket, he withdrew a painting he had done a few hours ago. It was of that afternoons landscape, the sight from the tree of the stretching calm lake, dots of trees and varying shades of grass beyond it, the hills far beyond set below the deep blue sky; complete with it's wispy white clouds. Matthew had never shown anyone his drawings, but he didn't feel himself doubt showing the girl; something inside him wouldn't allow it. He felt himself trying to hard to avoid looking at her eyes as he handed her the drawing.

[lyli]

As Lyli looked to the butterfly on her arm, gently flapping it’s wings in a content manner and then calmly climbing onto his hand, she felt the gently breeze and the flutters of the millions of butterflies flying within her. They weren’t confined to her stomach as the normal nervous feeling made her feel, but they were unleashed and wild, tickling the insides of her skin, filling her head and brushing against her heart. She smiled softly, her eyes dancing and her cheeks a pure pink as she slowly looked up to the boy. She say him push the butterfly toward her lightly and it climbed into her palm. She looked at it, adoring its soft lavender color in its wings. It was probably the most beautiful thing she ever saw, that wonderful, gently and docile butterfly sitting on her smooth, pale hand. The soft tan she had on her normally pale skin accented the purple of the butterfly. It was a wonderful color combination.

She felt the grass around her lift up a little and Lyli’s gaze shifted to the boy. He was standing up and her mouth dropped slightly at his height. He towered over her. She knew that she was sitting down, but even sitting, she could tell she’d be about up to his shoulder on him. He was picking the different colored leaves of the tree. She looked up to each of the tree leaves, noticing how not one shade matched any other. They were all unique, whether it was just slightly, or very obvious. The small natural smile shown on her face lifted a bit, loving the colors the boy had picked and showed to her. As he handed the blue, green, lavender (it made her beam as it resembled the butterfly’s color almost perfectly), and the different shade of purple. This caught her attention momentarily as she looked and saw his eyes on hers.

The contact their eyes made was almost indescribable. She felt different emotions, all good, but it was confusing. The slightly burning in her cheeks skyrocketed as they became vivid red. She stared, looking at the color of his irises. They were a shocking blue, warm and inviting, yet cool and calming. Her attention was diverted as he spoke, his voice like a melody to her ears. “Roger is a very cute little kitten…” she said in a uplifting voice a little louder than the one he spoke in. He went on to talking about the tree and she nodded, smiling. Lyli looked at him and then to his shoe after she saw the boy- Matthew- looking at the shoe. The kitten- Roger – was playing with the boy’s shoe lace and she smiled. Her soft smile turned into a look of cinfusion when the kitten suddenly stopped playing with the shoelace and looked to her. “Hello…” she spoke to him, just as if the kitten was a human. Lyli’s smile returned bigger than ever as Roger leaped into her lap and fell asleep.

The butterflies were whirring, spinning inside of her in joy as she looked to the kitten, then to the leaves, the butterfly and Matthew. She felt paper pressed to her hand and she took a look at them. They were wonderful drawings; they looked as if they could be a scene anywhere in the world. They were so realistic and flawless. “Matthew, these are beautiful…” she whispered, looking at them and then to his face. She looked to the drawings again, grinning. “I’m Lyli, by the way. Lyli Adams.” She smiled, looking into his wonderful eyes again.

[Matthew Dorm R3]

"Thank you," he modestly spoke, his voice coming out in a small whisper. He saw that she was looking into his eyes, and he stopped mid sentence, positive that his hammering heart would wake Roger. Perhaps it did, as the tiny kitten rose from the girl, sleepily at first after his brief afternoon nap, before his energy returned to him and he spotted the lavender butterfly perched calmly in her smooth hand. His small eyes flashed momentarily and his mouth stretched into a grin as he tore after the butterfly, a long and excited meow reaching Matthew's ears as Roger disappeared around the tree.

He tried to muster as much effort as he could manage not to look into her eyes, focusing on avoiding his rosy cheeks turning an even deeper shade of red. This however, proved impossible as he timidly engaged in conversation, stumbling on his own words and trailing off into silence as he was turned speechless at every moment their eyes both met. Roger appeared in Matthew's vision, managing to somehow keep his tiny legs working fast enough to keep up with the little lavender butterfly, but remaining unsuccessful in capturing it as it avoided his little paws by rising a couple more foot into the air above him.

Sudden realization of his appearance flashed in Matthew's head, and he raised an instinctive hand to try and flatten his messy hair. The butterfly, closely pursued by a tiny, giggling blur that was Roger appeared before them both. As the small spot of lavender seemed to have stopped playing, it fluttered over to Lyli and perched itself on her shoulder, it's small wings once again moving slightly with every breath it took. Roger, realizing the chase was over, happily skipped over to Lyli as well, and set himself comfortably on her lap once again, before closing his eyes and falling asleep. "I'm real sorry.. I can tell him to stop bothering you if you want.." Matthew spoke, worried that this amount of attention from animals may be bothering her. The same thought occurred to him he may be bothering her, "I'm sorry if i might be bothering you, I usually come to this tree whenever I have some spare time... but i can go if you want me too," he spoke, his voice turning quieter with every word as the heat in his cheeks raised.

"I still have my paints with me, if you like I could paint you?" The moment the words had left his mouth he regretted it. Of course she wouldn't want him to paint her, he wasn't even that good at drawing landscapes, let alone capturing someone's beautiful face.