By the Lake<<Anyone>>

[phantomlynx]

"Oh sorry," Skyler responded to Will's inquisitive expression. Of course, he wouldn't know Kody or Ezzie. "Kody and Ezzie are both Gryffindors. Third years. They seem nice enough. You know, I've only met Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. I have yet to meet a Slytherin. Almost as if they don't want to met me because I'm a half-blood. Honestly though, with You-Know-Who gone, shouldn't those feelings have disappeared with him? I guess I don't know though. I am still really new to the wizarding world."

"I agree with Will. I haven't heard of a Ravenclaw only library. Otherwise all the Ravenclaws would spend all their time there and no one would believe there actually are Ravenclaws at this school." Skyler listened as Elizabeth and Will discussed the restricted section of the library. He had no idea what could be in there. He hadn't really thought about it. If it was restricted, there must be a reason. Elizabeth and Will suggested sending an owl home to retrieve some muggle books. Skyler kept his mouth shut but he disapproved of the idea. He was here in the wizarding world. He wanted nothing to do with the muggle world. He had lived there for eleven years and this is the first time, here at Hogwarts, that he really felt alive. If they wanted to do that, that was fine. He wanted to cut off all ties to the muggle world when he was here at Hogwarts. It still bothered him when his mum sent an owl. He would have to reply right away or else the next day he would receive a howler from her demanding to know what was wrong. No, he had had enough of the muggle world.

Just then, the wind blew across his face. It rustled the grass and Will's sketchbook. It felt nice. Not one of those chilling winds but a nice warm wind. A comforting wind. A could shifted in the sky and brought the sun out. Skyler raised a hand to shield the sunlight as he looked up at the sky. "What a beautiful day," he commented. "I couldn't ask for better weather to make friends." He brought his attention back down to Will and Elizabeth. "I can call you guys my friends, right?"

[Elizabeth Peasegood H1]

((Edit: hadn't noticed you'd posted. ))

Elizabeth's eyes lit up. She loved talking about her favorite books, though she hardly had anyone who wanted to hear about them. Michael used to bear with it to a certain extent, but now he just snarled at her when she tried talking to her. She hoped he cooled down a bit before she came home for the Winter hols. "Oh, it's awesome! It's made up of all these interviews of different vampires--the first one's terribly dull, I skip over it when I reread it--and all of their perspectives on different things--whether it's immoral or not to drink human blood, the Ministry's classification of them as Dark Creatures, whether it's fair to have children, knowing they'll be vampires...some of them even argued that being a vampire isn't a bad thing. There's this one in the middle with this vampire who was a total psychopath--he purposely kept getting women pregnant and then, years later, would come back and eat the children. Suck out every last drop of blood so they couldn't even become vampires. Really gruesome stuff. They had to chain that one down. It's probably a little outdated--it was written sometime in the seventies--but no one's written a book like it since. It's genius," she said, and then shut up because she was rambling. But at his suggestion, she perked up again. "Yeah! We could swap books! I have a lot of fiction--err...d'you read Muggle stuff as well, or just our stuff?"

Elizabeth smiled at Skyler's comment. "Well, I guess I should be happy there's no Ravenclaw private library," she joked. "Then you guys'd hibernate. I'd never see you. And then I wouldn't have that nice library, would I?"

Her smile grew when Skyler called her his friend. She'd only had two friends before, if Michael counted. "Of course you can call me your friend," she replied. "And it is a pretty day. Weather back home is usually really stormy. A little variety is always nice."

[Williard Thoth R4]

Williard stopped petting Jeremy and looked up at Elizabeth. He couldn't believe she wanted to swap books. Skyler looked like he didn't, but even if he didn't Williard didn't care. He was sure He and Skyler liked some things the same. He turned back to Elizabeth.

"Um, yeah, I know what fiction is. My mum and dad don't discriminate when it comes to books. In their opinion, whether its written by wizards or muggles, good literature is good literature."

Just then, a really warm, pleasant breeze swept the grounds. It felt really nice, and judging by the look on Skylers face, he was enjoying it immensly.

"What a beautiful day," Skyler commented. "I couldn't ask for better weather to make friends." Williard almost dropped Jeremy but luckily Skylers eyes were closed, and Elizabeth was looking at him too. Skyler brought his attention back down to look at them both. "I can call you guys my friends, right?"

"Of course you can call me your friend," Elizabeth replied.

"Me too, of course." Williard said with a small smile.

"And," said Elizabeth, "it is a pretty day. Weather back home is usually really stormy. A little variety is always nice."

[phantomlynx]

Sklyer smiled as they both responded affirmatively to his question. He had never tried to make friends back home. Actively make friends that is. Now that he had done it though, it wasn't that hard. He heard a growling. He looked at the cats but quickly determined that the sound had come from him. He hadn't eaten since lunch. He was expecting just to come out for a brisk walk and then eat dinner when he returned to the castle. Now because of his detour his brain might have forgotten about dinner but his stomach had not.

"Have either of you eaten dinner yet? I haven't and I'm awfully hungry. Do you mind if we head in to the Great Hall?"

[Williard Thoth R4]

"Um, no not at all. I haven't eaten dinner either. I came out here to relax for a bit before actually." Williard gently set Jeremy down, and proceeded to pick up his sketch book and pencil. A new excitement washed over him. Before when he went into the great hall, he went in alone, and sat alone while he ate. The prospect of walking in with two new friends made him very happy.

Then, with a glance at Elizabeth, he saw her crest again, and had forgotten that she was in Hufflepuff, and had to sit at her assigned table. Williard thought it rotten luck that Elizaberth was in a different House. She seemed like she should be in Ravenclaw with him and Skyler. Did the Sorting Hat make mistakes? He decided he'd ask his parents when he sent his owl requesting his books from home. Well, maybe the three of them could do something together after dinner if she wasn't tired.

[Elizabeth Peasegood H1]

Elizabeth smiled. Williard was the first wizard she'd met so far who knew a thing about Muggle books, not counting her own family. "It's great they don't discriminate," Elizabeth agreed. "There's a lot of good stuff out there written by Muggles. I like their ideas about magic especially--some of them come pretty close. My family's half-and-half, so we read a lot of everything." Except for Michael, of course, who was more engrossed by the telly and his GameBoy.

Elizabeth hadn't felt hungry until Skyler had mentioned food, but now she suddenly realized she hadn't eaten in hours. "I'd love to eat some dinner with you," Elizabeth said. Then she caught Williard eying her House crest and bit her lip. She'd forgotten about that. "Do you think anyone would mind if I sat with you guys for part of the meal? Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are hardly mortal enemies."

[phantomlynx]

"I don't see why you don't sit with us the entire meal," Skyler answered Elizabeth's question. "In my opinion the house system is stupid and needs to stop. There's no difference between you and us, I mean, besides that you're a girl and we're boys," Skyler blushed. It wasn't until real recent that he noticed a difference between talking to boys and talking to girls. They used to all be his friends, but now he was noticing a difference. He still wasn't sure he liked the difference. "To me the different houses are like the is class system that England used to have. You know, with serfs, nobles, and royalty. The professors say that you're put into a house based on your personality and learning style. Supposedly it makes it easier to make friends. But what if I don't like the bookworm Ravenclaws? No offence, Will." Skyler sighed. "I don't care what anyone says. You're always welcome to eat at the Ravenclaw table and I hope Will and I can eat at the Hufflepuff table."

Deciding that they had heard him rant enough he turned towards the castle. "Sorry guys. I feel very passionate about it though. Shall we go?" And with that he started towards the castle. "Although I admit that I don't have a lot of time to sit and eat. I have to find my way through this maze of a castle to the library to finish my potions essay." He actually had another reason to leave dinner early that he didn't want to tell his new friends, he was hoping to run into Alex. Skyler wasn't trying to hide Alex from them... just... if he ran into Alex, Skyler wanted to be by himself.

[Elizabeth Peasegood H1]

Elizabeth jumped into the fray as well. "I wouldn't say it's like the feudal system very much because one House isn't really recognized as superior by everyone. I mean, people say Gryffindor is the greatest, but I wouldn't want to be in Gryffindor. They're all stuck up--no offense to your friends in Gryffindor, Skyler," she added quickly. "It's more like we were four different tribes somewhere--you're allowed to interact to a certain extent, but anything past that is taboo and suddenly you're fraternizing with the enemy instead of making friends. It's so strange, especially with the Hat telling us we should unite."

She smiled at Skyler's comment about eating together and felt the back of her neck heat up. She was just glad right then that she never blushed on her face. "Of course you can always eat at the Hufflepuff table with me, as long as you don't care if the Prefects try taking off points," she said, "and I'd be happy to eat at Ravenclaw with you." She nudged Gala with her toes, hard; Gala got the hint and started moving. "Shall we?"

[Williard Thoth R4]

Williard set off to the castle in toe with Skyler and Elizabeth. He agreed with them both. It shouldn't be a big deal if Elizabeth ate at the Ravenclaw table. But, he still felt a bit uneasy. He wasn't sure exactly what would happen if she did. What if there was a spell or curse that fell upon you if you sat at a table that wasn't your own? That was silly. He took a deep breath, and dismissed the matter. He and Skyler invited her, so it shouldn't be a problem. If anyone else didn't like it so be it.

He then realized he was carrying something. "Oh, guys, I want to go up to the common room and put my sketch book away. I really don't want anyone to see it. Save me a seat will you?" Without waiting for them to reply, he began to walk a little ahead of them then stopped.

Williard wondered if they would think him weird, but decided not to think about it. He was being silly again. Ever since that Slytherin boy criticized him about his drawings earlier, Williard was a bit cautious about leaving it in plain sight, where people might ask to see it. He remembered the boy saying something about his drawings being really amateur and not moving or something like that. Williard didn't know why he cared so much about what the boy said. After all, everyone else who saw his drawings liked them. The Slytherin boy was probably being mean just because he was a first year.

He turned back to Elizabeth and Skyler, looked at them both, and smiled slightly. "Nevermind."