Curled Up by the Fire (Open)

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Naomi was curled sideways in a chair by the fireplace, scribbling notes on her Charms text. Since she'd missed a few classes, she needed the review. Lucy was settled next to her right ear, purring as Naomi ran one hand absently over her head and back. Ink spotted her hands, but she didn't really care about that. It would wash off later.

Sighing, Naomi closed the book. She thought she'd caught up to the place where the rest of the class was, although she'd heard the professor was terrible. She wasn't sure she didn't want to keep "accidentally" missing the class (though the first few times had been accidental, admittedly), but the thought of her father's disappointment convinced her that she should go as soon as she was actually able to make it on time. She was rubbing her temple when the vision hit.

Color. Red, blue, brown, white, black. A loud noise. Was it screaming? She couldn't tell. Somebody's hand, reaching for something, silhouetted against blue. Somebody else's foot, dangling in empty air. The feeling of falling...

Naomi jolted back into herself, trembling lightly. She hated getting visions unexpectedly, especially since they were never wort anything, as stilted as they were. Sighing heavily, Naomi closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of the chair. She felt Lucy's raspy tongue start to wash her forehead, the cat concerned as always when Naomi got one of her visions. "What am I going to do, Lucy?" she asked the cat quietly.

Spoiler:

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Finley went unnoticed almost all of the time, because he was quite happy sitting out of the way of everybody with his head stuck in a book. Muggle or magical, it didn't matter to the boy, as long as he had something to read. The evening was no different, it was cold, so most people were huddled around one of the many fires, with friends debating some book of other, Finley, however, was not.

Instead, the small Ravenclaw was sat under a blanket on the far side of the room, trying not to get too much of a chill as he read about the adventures of the Three Musketeers. How he wished he could be as brave, or as handsome, or as strong, or as talented as any of these men. To be role models like these guys, but he was just Finley.

His mind was taken from the book when he noted the cat in the common room, and he tilted his head slightly, watching it interact with the girl in the chair. A small smile touched his lips in that moment, because it was nice to see. Shivering slightly, Finley decided... well, he needed to get warm, and he wanted to go over and see the cat too.

Standing from his place on the floor, the Ravenclaw moved to the fireplace, so very thankful for the warmth already. "H-hi." Finley greeted the witch with a small, very nervous smile. "F-Finley." He said, pointing to himself. His introductions were terrible, but they were consistently terrible.

"D-do you mind if I s-sit... here?" Finley asked, motioning to the floor just in front of the witch so that he could reap the benefits of the fire too. "P-please."

With that, he waited, not daring to speak more because he wasn't sure the girl even wanted him here, if he was honest.

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Naomi opened her eyes and looked up as a boy, one who was in a few of her classes, approached and introduced himself. She shook herself out the stupor that remained from her vision. "Hi. I'm Naomi," she replied. "Oh! Yes, of course you can sit here. It really nice by the fire, isn't it?" She smiled shyly and ducked her head as he sat down. Looking down, she caught sight of the book in his hand and gasped, smiling. "That's one of my favorite books!" she said excitedly, forgetting to be shy for a moment. "D'Artagnan is my favorite. I love all the daring sword fights and intrigue."

Suddenly aware of how much she had been babbling, Naomi blushed and looked down at her hands in her lap. Lucy chose that moment to jump from the chair onto her head and from her head onto Finley's lap, curling up and purring. "Lucy!" Naomi said, shocked. "I'm sorry, she's really stubborn. She probably won't move on her own for a while. I can take her back if she's going to bother you." She looked worriedly at Finley, hoping that Lucy hadn't upset him.

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When the girl, now known as Naomi, introduced herself, Finley had smiled shyly at the witch. That's a pretty name, he thought to himself, but his lips didn't move to say that, because he was too shy to pay the witch a compliment. And when she said he could sit down, the look of relief on his features was quite clear as he almost crumpled down on to the floor. "T-thank you." The thirteen year old told her with a small smile, shrugging off his blanket to get more heat to his skin quicker. And then a second later, he nodded. "It's l-lovely." He agreed softly.

Note to self, sit closer to the fires even if there are people.

When the witch sparked up conversation on the book in his hands, Finley looked up in disbelief. Why was it hard to accept a girl might like this book? He wasn't sure, but his disbelief became a huge smile a moment later. "I l-like all of them." Finley responded to her words, because it was true, even if his answer was a little flat. They all had their best characteristics, and he found it hard to choose between them. "The s-sword fights sound f-fun, too!" He added, trying to hold the conversation, but he could tell he was failing already.

However, when the cat moved, Finley's eyes moved to it, jumping slightly when it jumped in to his lap. However, Finley was more than excited to have the cat in his lap, and gently pet the animals head, before scratching behind it's ear softly. A purr let on that he was doing good. "She's f-fine." Finley insisted, looking up with a smile at the witch who looked a little worried. Was it him? Oh no... "I w-won't hurt her." He added quickly, hoping that it would make the girl before him look much less worried than she did presently.

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Naomi watched Finley practically basking in the fire and giggled. "You're acting like a cat, all curled up on the hearth," she informed him. She was a little bit more comfortable with this boy than she was around normal people, as he seemed to be even shyer than her. She rolled over so she was stretched out on her stomach sideways across the chair, propping her chin on her folded arms.

"That's true, they are all pretty amazing," Naomi said, nodding. "I just think d'Artagnan was really brave, asking to join them when they were all already friends." She nodded at Finley's comment about the sword fights, but looked thoughtful. "I think I'd rather read about them than try to repeat them," she confessed. "They'd be scary. Nana always told me not to look forward to fights because they were scary, even when they were necessary."

Naomi relaxed when Finley didn't seem upset by Lucy's presence, ducking her head to hide her smile when he began petting her enthusiastically. She looked back up at his promise not to hurt her. "You're doing fine," she told him with a small smile. "She can take petting from my three year old cousin Caitlin, so she'll really enjoy this, because you're being really gentle." She hesitated, wondering if she was prying, or being annoying, then asked, "Do you have any pets?"

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Finley let out a soft chuckle about the comment of him acting like a cat, before nodding a little. "I a-am." He agreed softly, his eyes flicking up to the witch's and then away again because he had a light blush in his cheeks in that moment and he didn't really want her to see it, though it was probably already visible.

The words of trying the sword fighting not being the witch's cup of tea made Finley uncertain whether to say the next thing that came to his head, but he decided to go for it. A stint of Gryffindor courage coming to him from somewhere. "I m-meant learning to sword f-fight. Not actually h-hurting someone." Finley amended, because he didn't wish to do that. Well... maybe their Charms professor, but even thinking such things was dangerous, so Finley quickly pushed it away.

The praise from the younger Ravenclaw made Finley smile a little bit. Animals, his parents had told him, were to be treated with respect, and you never hurt them. Which meant, of course, that Finley followed such guidelines strictly. "I h-have an owl. S-Speedy." Finley explained, looking up slightly in thought. "B-but I don't have anyone t-to write to, so..." Finley paused, not wanting to call his owl anything nasty. "I d-don't know if having an owl y-you don't s-see counts." He finished hoping that it would be somewhat understandable.

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Naomi noticed his blush and blushed in return, looking away towards the crackling fire. "I can't say I blame you though. The castle's colder than I expected it to be, although I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. It is a castle after all."

"So something like fencing?" Thinking for a moment, Naomi decided that just knowing how to use a sword wouldn't be so bad. "I suppose you're right. I wouldn't want to hurt anybody either, but knowing how to do it... maybe I could feel like a lady knight." She smiled. Maybe if she knew how to do something like that, she would have more confidence around people. Talking to Finley alone wasn't so bad, and it was even fun, but what if there were more people around? She'd clam up like a... well, like a clam.

Naomi made a face when Finley mentioned that he had an owl. "I don't like owls very much," she confessed. Our neighbor's owl was awful to me." Her hand drifted to her shoulder, where the scars from owl talons were hidden beneath her robes. "I haven't liked them ever since then. My cousins always want to write to me because they're Muggles and they're fascinated by the mail, but sending letters is a nightmare." She wondered why he didn't have anyone to write to, but decided that question was too intrusive to ask.

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The notion of the castle being cold made Finley smile slightly. "I h-hear that the t-towers are better than t-the dungeon though." Finley responded, though he didn't have proof of this, and being in the Ravenclaw tower for over a year had taught him not to say something 'was' something unless you had proof. But his statement wasn't solidly stating it to be true, so he hoped it would be okay.

The notion of fencing made Finley nod, and then shake his head. Pausing he thought for a moment, before shaking his head once more now that he'd decided on an answer. "L-learn with proper s-swords. Or r-replicas." He responded, pausing once more. "N-not the wire... t-things." He insisted, because knights and medieval stuff and similar looked amazing.

News of Naomi not liking owls made Finley frown a little, to himself, before she explained (vaguely) a bad experience. Finley nodded in light of this information. "It's o-okay. My m-mum doesn't like cats." He explained, petting Lucy a little more to make sure the cat knew that he didn't have the same opinion. Though, that was probably quite obvious in the way he was quite happy to sit stroking it as if it were his own pet. "D-do you just have L-Lucy?" He asked, curious.

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Naomi's nose wrinkled. "True. I wouldn't fancy living down there. I've heard the dorms are beneath the lake, and wouldn't that just be cold and damp?" She would miss sun coming through the windows, at least when there was sun. Even watching rain through the windows would be better than living underground, at least to her. She liked heights and being outdoors too much to live anywhere but a tower.

"I don't think I could lift a proper sword," Naomi said, glancing down at her skinny arms. "Besides, I don't think I'd like to learn the sword at all. Maybe archery, in addition to wandwork. I bet I could do pretty interesting things with bespelled arrows." Her mind wandered off for a moment, thinking over the possibilities for a combination of bow and arrows and spells. She made a mental note to look up any precedents later.

Naomi nodded. She knew that some people didn't like cats, although she didn't always understand them. "That's why I was worried at first when Lucy jumped on you. She's very outgoing and I was worried she was going to upset you." She was glad Finley didn't make fun of her for disliking owls, although he didn't seem the type. She was always worried, since owls were so commonplace in the wizarding world. "Yep, Lucy is my only pet. There's this really nice fox that lives in the woods near my house, though. I pulled a thorn out of his foot last year and made sure it didn't get infected, so now he sometimes lets me see him if I'm in the woods. I don't get too close, though, because he's still wild."

Guest

The thought of living beneath the lake made Finley stop for a minute. It surely would be damp. So, how did they get away with that? "P-Perhaps they use heating c-charms?" Finley suggested, though he wasn't sure about that. It was magic though, absolutely anything was possible in this castle!

Finley let out a soft sigh at the idea of not being able to lift a sword, looking at his own arms in the same moment Naomi did. Well, no, he wouldn't be able to do that either, not really... "Maybe y-you start with little s-swords?" Finley asked, because he wasn't at all sure if he was completely honest. But then the idea of archery came and Finley grinned at the cool things you could do with arrows that were bewitched. "Y-you could make f-fireworks or something!" He said excitedly, looking to see if the witch liked the idea as he motioned it hitting a target and then giving a small fireworks display. Okay, it was probably a bit dangerous, but it was harmless in the idea.

The news of having a fox made Finley's eyes grow a little bigger in wonder, excitement, disbelief... Many things. But ultimately, he thought it was so very cool! "T-that's amazing!" Finley insisted, his smile growing more permanent now he was speaking with the witch. "So you l-live near a woods? D-do you go in t-there often?" He asked, because the woods was a cool place. He'd thought about going in to the forbidden forest, well, until he found out it was off limits, just to explore. But now, well, it seemed highly out of the question.

» I really do need an Owl (Open)
» Playing With Fire (Annabelle)
» Maybe I will buy new pet (Open)
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