A Bit of Reading (Harmony)

[basketball101]

Madeline Finn stood in the courtyard grinning at the one of the water fountains as it poured out a beautifully tinted blue that fell against the crystal looking texture of the actual fountain. Normally Madeline wouldn't even pay this much attention to something but she was in the mood so she stood in awe watching the water fall gracefully and then be magically transported back to the top where it could fall again. She watched the transit one more time and then decided she could leave the scene and head for a more comfortable seat on the ground where she could lean against a tree and pull out a book. Normally she would have snuggled up in a common room chair, but decided that she didn't exactly feel like sitting in the dark today so she had headed outside and into the bright sunlit courtyard where students of all different ages were doing all sorts of different things.

Grinning Madeline sat down, finally following her first ambition and made sure she was completely comfortable before opening her book and settling it comfortably in her lap and beginning to read. The sun seemed to shine down on her through the pages of her book and the bad thing is her robes seemed to be making her hotter and hotter. She wiped a bit of perspiration off her forehead and using her wand and muttering 'accio' sound found a bottle of water sitting beside her on the ground with ice inside of it making it even colder. She took a long drink of it and then sent ir flying back upstairs and into her dormitory room on her bedside table. She absolutely loved being a witch. When she compared her life to a muggles it seemed to cool and upper class in a way. Grinning at her book as she continued reading she wondered if any one planned on coming up to her. Normally people wouldn't because she was reading or something, but at the moment she felt like talking and being kind of retarded.

[Harmony Chan H6]

((Set before Harmony's mother dies.))

Harmony ambled around her dormitory forlornly as she wondered what she could possibly do to pass the time. Dori was nowhere to be found, and her friends seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Sighing to herself, Harmony walked up to the window with a bored expression, her eyes gazing out across the beautiful grounds of Hogwarts. Eyeing the sunny outdoors, Harmony suddenly felt the urge to get out there herself. It was a beautiful day, and although Ari had never approved of wonderful weather, Harmony had always felt the contrary. It helped to lift her falling spirits. Smiling to herself as she observed the sun filtering through the pane of glass, Harmony decided that she'd catch up on her reading in the process of going outside. What better than to enjoy a good book under the summer sunshine? This was a fantastic opportunity to take up that fantasy novel Aurora had lent her a month ago, the one she'd never managed to finish. Pleased with her idea, Harmony rummaged around for said book, before heading out of the empty dormitory in a cheerful mood.

Soon, Harmony found herself out of the dark corridors of Hogwarts, away from the mumbling and moving portraits, and under the glare of the heat. Shading her eyes with her hand to look up to the sky, she noted with a grin that there was not a cloud to be seen. The azure blue seemed to stretch on forever. Making her way down the path, Harmony hummed to herself a tune, her book tucked firmly under her arm. She thought she may as well go to the Courtyard, and headed that direction. The area was peaceful and quiet; a perfect place for reading, Harmony thought to herself. She had often sought it for an hour or so of relief from homework, noise and stress, and it was also a beautiful place to be in. The Courtyard was filled with colourful flowers and mesmerising fountains of gushing water. It was always a sight to behold, even in the midst of Winter. Wandering past several flowerbeds, Harmony gazed around thoughtfully for a seat. The Courtyard wasn’t too full, with only a couple of people mingling and some, like her, seated under a shady large tree, reading.

Suddenly, Harmony spied a familiar face some way away, seated comfortably under a tree. Harmony immediately recognised the blonde head as belonging to Madeline Finn, a Ravenclaw girl in the year below. Harmony knew her as a friend, having met her a few times before, and smiling at seeing a familiar face, approached her straight away. Madeline was a nice girl, and friendly company. Harmony didn’t need to feel insecure or shy around her, and it had been a while since she had spoken to Madeline. She might as well have a good old catch up chat now. “Madeline, hi!” Harmony stopped before her, causing Madeline to abandon her book. “Long time no talk. How are you?” She beamed brightly, before sitting down beside her friend. “Hope you don’t mind if I join you.” Harmony spoke hopefully, placing her forgotten book on her lap. “We haven’t seen each other for a while now. How have you been?”

[basketball101]

Twighlight seemed to drift on and on what with Bella now making her way to Pheonix. Shockingly Madeline seemed so out of it she didn't realize it at all when Harmony Chan walked into the court yard so after hearing Harmony's voice she had jumped about a foot off the ground and ended up banging her head against the tree as she landed back down. Rubbing her head she grinned sheepishly up at Harmony. "Hey Harmony!" Madeline said, trying to act as though she hadn't just hurt herself. "You're right. We haven't talked in like two months or probably more...ever since we met that day in Hogsmeade, I am shocked you even remember my name." Madeline said chuckling a bit at the last part of the line. "I don't mind you sitting here at all, I haven't had any company in a while, and for some reason I wonder if my breath stinks or something!" Madeline said in a ditzy like kind of way.

Glancing down at the page she was on, Madeline made sure she wasn't going to lose her page before flipping her book over, snapping it shut and then placing it carefully on the ground so she didn't ruin it or mess up the cover because it wasn't hers. Now the thing is if it had been hers she wouldn't have even bothered to close it she would have most likely just carelessly tossed it to the side. "So what book are you reading?" Madeline asked, grinning as she saw the book hidden under Harmony's arm. Madeline had always wondered how people read wizarding books because she couldn't stand how the words and pictures moved and things so she just stuck with her favorite muggle authors that her grandfather had introduced her to when she had turned twelve.

He had decided that he didn't like the magical books and wanted to help Madeline expierience both lives and not just the one she was obviously meant to have. So on her twelth birthday he had taken her to one of the libraries in England and had shown her so many authors where she found her love for Stephanie Meyer, R.L. Stine, and J.K. Rowling. Grinning she wondered if Harmony's book was muggle written or magical. She knew that wizards had good stories to tell, but muggles had more imagination. They hadn't expierienced things like wizards so they seemed to guess and made everything so interesting and also made Madeline wonder how the could even come up with some of the things having not been quite as exposed to it as she had.

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony was quite calm and cheerful upon approaching Madeline and speaking to her, until her voice obviously caught the younger girl off guard, causing her to jump a mile in the air; it was unfortunate she was sitting under a rather low tree, and in the process of her fright, Madeline managed to hit her head against one of the branches. In horror, Harmony rushed forward. “Are you okay, Madeline?” She asked in concern and guilt. “I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have sneaked up on you like that…” Seeing that Madeline was fit as a fiddle despite the injury, Harmony began to beam brightly again. “Yeah, it’s probably been that long. Especially since we’re in different years and houses. How have you been?” Harmony repeated again with interest, taking a seat gratefully beside Madeline. “Thanks. I’m sure that’s not the case!” She laughed with mirth, thinking to herself how amusing Madeline could be. She didn’t know the Ravenclaw very well, because, like she had mentioned, she wasn’t in the same year or house as the blonde haired girl. It was by chance they knew each other, because Madeline was a friendly girl, and had once approached Harmony for some assistance. Although she was usually very shy, Harmony had been happy to help, and she found talking to younger people less daunting. Since then, the two had seen each other as friends, and despite rarely talking, did see each other around school on occasions like today.

Harmony glanced down when Madeline asked her about her book, and gave a small smile. “Oh, it’s a book my cousin Aurora lent to me. She’s always been into muggle books, because she was kind of brought up in the muggle world… It’s a novel called The Doomspell, by Cliff McNish. It’s really good so far. It’s a children’s fantasy book, and it’s very imaginative. Just my kind of book.” Harmony nodded enthusiastically, copying Madeline’s actions and placing the novel on top of her friend’s. “Perhaps you should read it some time. What type of books do you like, anyway?” Harmony asked in curiosity, hands skimming over the surface of her book’s cover. “I don’t really know much about you, after all. We rarely have time to chat and hang out…” She smiled apologetically and regretfully. “Personally, I like teenage or children’s fantasy books; adult ones are hard to read and difficult to understand. They make my head spin! And I’m not into romance novels yet, I don’t think… Aurora is, but she said I might be interested when I’m older…” Harmony mused over the matter for several seconds, before grinning, “Somehow, I highly doubt it. Actually, have you ever read manga? It’s like comic books, but drawn by the Japanese. It sounds really childish, and not many people in England like it, but it’s actually really popular all across the world!”

“Did you know I used to live in America?” Harmony asked, wondering if she had ever told Madeline about her sordid past with her father. Most probably not. The topic was reserved usually for very close friends of Harmony, and normally she rarely spoke about it. It wasn’t something she liked to talk about, or think about. “You’d think I would’ve known about manga then.” Harmony continued with a wry smile, “I was there for so many years, and manga is huge in the USA. But actually, Aurora introduced manga to me, and that’s when I discovered how addictive it was. Aurora has a massive collection at home! I never thought pictures could be so interesting!” Harmony laughed in amusement. “The drawings are honestly very pretty… I could stare at them all day, and I really envy the artist’s skills.” Harmony nodded more to herself than anything, imagining the pictures in her head. They certainly reminded her or Ari’s artistic skills. Perhaps her sister could be a “manga-ka” – Japanese manga author/artist – when she was older?