Just curious Fin

Opeila enjoyed spending time outside and with February slowly coming to an end, it was not as cold anymore (OOC: Feel free to choose a different date, I can edit my post). For a whole while she had avoided the Courtyard, after certain unpleasant events in her first year, but that almost felt like a whole life ago. It didn't matter anymore really.
Now the second year was sitting on a thicker branch of a little tree, that was growing only so far away to not annoy students, who were walking down the paths that surrounded the fountain, and read a magazine, that said Enchantments Magazine on the cover. Or at least that had been the plan. It was an interesting magazine, despite her rather limited wealth she had decided to get a subscription of it. Something mundane to look forward to every month, Opeila had always been super interested in spells.

Still the young Slytherin ended up watching the other students in the courtyard. There was one building a snowman with the remains of the snow, which surprised Opeila. Most of the students were excited about the snow when it first came down, but after a few weeks missed the warmth. Opeila certainly did. The icehockey game a few weeks ago had been great fun, but she almost missed her squid friend in the lake, who was now trapped under the icey surface. She used to spend very much time at the lake, throwing food into the water.

Her attention shifted to a boy, who was eyeing the motionless griffins surrounding the fountain. The Slytherin smiled amused. That behavior was very familiar to her. She could remember the Gryffindor girl who she had recently discussed the seemingly empty suits of armour with- they were moving, right? Just... only when nobody was looking. They were hiding, Opeila was quite sure of that. She would not be surprised if everything that seemed somewhat normal in Hogwarts was just hiding.

"I don't think they will start to move as long as anyone is near.", she told her thoughts to the stranger boy. He had a rather memorable appearance, she noticed. Long red hair like that she had only seen on girls so far. Red hair was surprisingly common in Hogwarts, but not that long on boys. The second year closed her magazine and left her comfortable position on the tree, turned to the boy and let her legs hang down. "Sorry if I am interrupting anything. I am Opeila.", she added before she looked at the fountain again, a thoughtful expression on her face. "When I first came here, every object that moved, totally startled me. Now I am quite sure that everything in this castle has the ability to move. You just have to trick it into believing that it is not being watched." She smiled.

Quin, watching from the corner of his eye from near the fountain, had to admit he was impressed by the dedication to making a wizard snowman. Especially the wand, which he would have probably scrounged a branch or an icicle for.

His own snowmen were decidedly less artistic, and tended to sag wearily on their imperfect sphere based, their pebble smiles slightly resigned, like a shopping clerk at holidays who knows it’s still hours till they can escape the fury of those who realize the item they’ve come for is hopelessly out of stock and need someone to blame.

He was distracted enough between wondering about the prankish notions that might be had by the gargoyles on the fountain, and the artistic dedication to a snowman by the girl with the impressive dye job, that he startled slightly when the girl from the tree shifted, legs dangling, and introduced herself.

“ Eh?! Oh! Right... I mean that’s a bit of a relief. Nice to know there’s one place around here where the decor doesn’t move, yell, scold or eat your lunch... He rubbed the back of his neck with chilly fingers, flashing a sheepish grin.

“Only interrupting a bit of an I guess sort of muggly sulk. I mean... not a muggle obviously... just not used to it all. I’m Quinlan. Quin if you want. He nodded faintly toward the girl crafting with snow. “Friend of yours? Snowman’s not going to go all Frosty the why-is-this-a-children’s -song on us is it?

@Opelia Winters@Ginger Crowdyk

Opeila sent the boy an apologizing smile when she saw his startled reaction. "Sorry." She listened to him when he said that he was glad about the decor that actually acted like it was supposed to- not at all. "I mean, I think it could, if it wanted, but some objects in this castle prefer to be mysterious." She chuckled.

His claime that she was only interrupting 'muggly sulk' caught her attention. "Nice to meet you, Quin. Of course you are no muggle, you wouldn't be here then. But do you come from a muggle family?" It was always nice to meet people who had spent their childhood in the non-magical world. Whenever she talked with purebloods, there was a certain nervosity that they might mention something she wouldn't understand.

Quin then looked over to girl with the pink hair, who was still busy building her snowman and asked if she was a friend of Opeila. "No, I don't know her. But her snowman doesn't look bad."
Soon the girl also walked over to them- quite confidently. Opeila was surprised.

"Hi Ginger", she greeted the girl, "I'm Opeila. No nicknames for me." She smiled. The second year just didn't like being given nicknames. She had hated it when some Hufflepuff girls eventually made one up for her and she had to tell people not to call her that.

Ginger went on, telling them her house, then saying Quin's and... told Opeila that she was a Gryffindor. The twelve year old frowned a little- Why did the girl just say that? She didn't even know Opeila. The Slytherin almost felt a bit embarassed on her behalf. "... No, actually... Um, I am a Slytherin.", she corrected Ginger.

Whe Ginger got all enthusiastic about Hogwarts, Opeila could only bite back a sigh. She had never been that enthusiastic about Hogwarts, but she had thought that she was entering some fairytale. And then, only half a year later, she had been bitten by a darkmagical spider, that placed a curse in her that was still inside her until this very day. "The classes are pretty great!", was the only thing she told the two first years.

"You know I think I've only really met one Gryffindor so far?" Quin noted, thoughtfully, offering a hand out to Ginger in introduction. "We were checking out the Quidditch match and she gave a couple friends and I some information on what some of the calls meant. Saw one Slitherin on the train but he was... well he was him. Not the sort hanging out in trees. Nice to meet you, Gin.

No nicknames for Opeila then, though his thoughts jumped to "Opie" or... something Hamlet related, though that wasn't -really- the right name. Also if she didn't like nicknames she might just feed him violets if he gave her some as a joke based on some of the few parts he cared to remember of having to read through that play for a class. That had been painful.

Ginny seemed a good fit as a nickname for the other girl though, it was bubbly and energetic sounding, and seemed to fit someone who was this wildly excited to be out making detailed snowmen in a courtyard.

"It's something alright! Bit of getting used to, so if the fountain is just choosing to be mysterious, that is just fine by me. There's a horse head in the boys dorm that moves. And eats homework and sugar cubes and such. That was novel but then you start thinking about it too much and it's just a bit queasy." He admitted. It felt like a little bit of a failing to say so, but honestly. It was a dead but not dead horse.

"My dad was magical, but I didn't grow up with him. He and my mom split up when I was young, way before I accidently did a magic thing and got my owl and all that. I mean I knew it was a thing, because she knew, so we both kind of knew it might happen but might and did are a league away from each other when you're not really thinking about it. It's a bit like someone put a whole different country right in the middle of this one, with all the new coins and the magic and things moving that don't, elsewhere."

@Opelia Winters@Ginger Crowdy

Opeila chuckled at Quinlan's description of the Slytherin he met. "Yeah. There are expectations to every house, but I guess that we're all different in the end. Guess what, I know a rather shy seeming Gryffindor, I've met rather many not so intelligent seeming Ravenclaws and I..." Opeila smirked, her gaze moving to the ground. "... met... a mean Hufflepuff." It was almost a year since she punched the Hufflepuff prefect in the face and broke her hand in the process. Opeila had been rather annoyed about it back then, but by now she just found it a funny memory.

"But I have some friends in Gryffindor. I've seen many people make a difference when it comes to houses, like they don't want to be friends with a certain house... Rubbish, if you ask me." She had seen that with kids coming from blood purist families mainly. Those often were looking for pureblood connections because they knew that sort of thinking from home and Slytherin was the stereotypical bloodpurist house. Opeila couldn't care less.

Ginger apologized when Opeila corrected her assumption that she was a Gryffindor before she started about the classes. Flying and Transfiguration were her favourites? That was the first thing about the girl that caught Opeila's interest. Those were one of her favourites and her least favourite and Opeila was curious what Ginger liked about them.

And then... Ginger destroyed Opeila's temporary positive thoughts again when she started about her zodiac sign. The hair topic could have still caught the Slytherin a little, after all her own hair was dyed as well. Opeila would have loved to ask Ginger how she dyed hers. With magic or with muggle hairdye, if it was the latter, which hairdye brand she used. Topics that she would have shaken her head about a year ago, but now found interesting. Opeila had started to experiment on herself a little lately.

But then came the zodiac topic. Ginger said that she had no friends before Hogwarts and reasoned with the typical personality traits she had because of her zodiac, giving them a rather detailed analysis about capricorns, which Opeila was almost certain she had learned by heart from a textbook. And it weirded her out immensely. "Pisces.", Opeila answered short, when Ginger asked for their signs. The two first years might notice a slight change in Opeila's expression when Ginger finished.

The Ravenclaw's argumentation was rather familiar to Opeila and she truly hated it. Shifting blame for life situations on one's zodiac? On the way one was born? That was simply pathetic. Weak. Actions were what counted. Choices. Not zodiacs. Being a certain zodiac didn't take their choice away, it just seemed like Ginger didn't want to see herself responsible for the way people reacted to her. Opeila could not respect that in any way, it actually made her not want to ask the girl a thing anymore.

Opeila used to have people she got along with in elementary school, until a magical accident on the playground, where she had turned a bush, her hiding place to stone. The boy who had been the seeker tried to scare her from behind. When he grabbed the twigs to suddenly pull them aside, he cut his hands open. That was when people didn't want to play or talk with her anymore. That had been no one's fault but her own. Certainly not her zodiac's.

Quin told her something interesting. Opeila was aware that the Slytherin dorms all had some sort of special thing inside them, but she had no idea how the Hufflepuff dorms were like. "What, really?", she asked him, amazed. "Like- an actual horse head? That sounds like fun! I wonder how my cat would react to something like that." Loras had a bit of a weird way to react to some things, and a moving horse head... He might view it as a possible enemy. Maybe he would attack it. Maybe he would just find himself a hiding place and not come out for hours.

"Did you ever try to use the horse head as excuse for missing homework? Does it work?", she asked the boy.
His summary of his childhood was also rather interesting. Quin knew about the existence of magic before he had his accident, despite not really growing up with it. "It was the same for me kind of, actually. My dad was a muggle and he actually hated magic. He forbid my mum and grandmother to use it around me and sent me to a muggle school. So... I grew up like a muggle, but knew of the existence of magic. I feel like it is impossible to hide really." Opeila smiled. For her there had of course been the extra detail, that she was a seer. That was something her seer grandmother had prepared her for at a very young age already.

A little reluctantly Opeila turned to the pink haired girl. "What is your family like? Are your parents magical?"

Wow

Quinlan was unaccustomed to being steamrolled by -pure, effervescent enthusiasm[/i] in this manner, and had to admit he was a little taken aback. Not necessarily in an negative fashion, but simply overwhelmed because he hadn't expected a tsunami of gleeful zodiac discourse. He didn't normally pay attention to zodiac signs, and struggled to even remember what his was. He'd looked it up once he thought, but it was... something sea related. Not Capricorn though, or the fish...

"Oh, uh... It's uh. Crab. It's Crab. I mean Cancer!" He had no idea what that even meant. Presumably not that he was delicious boiled and served with butter sauce. He never felt unusually crabby... well, not normally.

It was sort of a relief not to have to explain that he didn't know much more than that he was apparently star-seafood when Opeila offered a way out.

"Yeah, there is. His name is Hengist apparently. I haven't tried feeding him much because I mean... you know... where does it go?. He whinnies and stuff, and he doesn't seem to be upset by being a disembodied horse head, but it's still a bit mad. I've watched him eat some sweets and such though.

He tugged absently on a few strands of hair, and added. I can't decide if your dad sounds like a lump or not. I mean, my mom isn't the biggest fan, but I think she's more upset by knowing there's this whole... secret world out there. She's in science, studies plants and stuff, and I think knowing that someone's playing keep away with things makes her a bit upset, even if she mostly only knows it on a passing level? I don't know if he ever shared details or stuff, just 'That's my wand, don't mess with it, and oh hey, keep an eye out. Our son might randomly be magic. Or you know... not. No worries, right?"

He was honestly surprised that it was hidden as well as it was, that strange divide between him and other students and the polite giggles of adults if he told them magic was, in fact, really real, his dad did it. Also wondering why most of them seemed to think it involved coins, mirrors and silk handkerchiefs. He'd stopped wondering and started keeping his mouth shut after a while, and it was his own odd little secret, and a lot of wondering if anyone he passed on the street secretly had a wand tucked neatly up their sleeve or in their handbag. If the shadows on his room wall at night were just the tree outside or something he didn't know the name to, passing by for a look... or a snack. He'd even started to consider not believing... before he'd accidentally discovered his own.

"I wonder if it's half as odd for kids who grow up with it all the way. Is it spooky for them if paintings never move and taxidermy just... lumps there and collects dust?

@Opelia Winters@Ginger Crowdy

William stepped onto the snow covered ground in the Hogwarts courtyard. He never liked the snow. As a matter of fact he hated it. Even as a kid no one could get him to enjoy the frozen substance. The only good thing that ever came out of snow for him, is when his friends were all outside having snowball fights, he was inside, secretly but safely, reading books.

To get back into a zone of happiness he began to hum one of his favorite songs to himself. That was another thing he missed here, music. There was no radios, and it wasn't like he would be able to make his own music. He wished he had learned an instrument before coming to Hogwarts, but that would have just been another thing for him to be made fun of, so there was no reason to.

He walked forward and the first thing that caught his eye was a very detailed snowman. He never understood the appeal of making those, but he had to admit that what he saw was more then detailed.

He then noticed the three students that were talking and instantly stopped humming to himself. At first he saw the girl with pink hair, which confused him slightly. He didn't understand why someone would want to have their hair pink, but its not like he was going to ask her that.

Then his eyes fell on the boy with red hair, who seemed normal enough. I mean, it wasn't like William had spent a lot of time with other students, but red hair wasn't an uncommon thing either.

William's eyes slowly fell on the girl who seemed to be sitting up on a tree. She looked a little older then the rest of them, but he just marked that as the normal "girls age faster then guys" speech he had been given more then once.

In his brain he could hear his mother's voice telling him to be more social, to be outgoing, and especially be kind doing so. So he walked towards them, aiming to keep the promise he gave her. He brought his hand up in a small wave and said to them, "Hey everyone. I'm William." He kicked himself a little mentally for that being the only thing he could come up with to say, but what could he do about that now. It came out of his mouth, its too late now.

@Opelia Winters @Ginger Crowdy @Quinlan Knight

Opeila was not enjoying the zodiac topic. Sure, it was somewhat interesting to analyze them in Astronomy class- The second year classes focused more on them than the first year ones did- but it was a rather dry and boring topic for conversations. They didn't mean one thing, they just set expectations to people how they should be behaving. The Slytherin was no fan and by now she was quite sure that she wouldn't become friends with Ginger Crowdy. The two girls were just too different. Not to mention, that Ginger simply ignored her question about her parents and instead gave Quin a detailed analysis about his zodiac. Finally she compared it to hers.

With steadily growing irritation Opeila looked at the Ravenclaw, who was apparently not even noticing how insensitive she was being. Not only because she had completely ignored Opeila's question, but also the way she talked to Quin. The young Slytherin's smile was completely gone by now. "Stop it.", she finally spoke up. "You're not realizing it, are you?" Opeila's voice was calm, Ginger had not made her mad to a point where she would snap at her, but Merlin... Opeila was certain now that Ginger not having any friends before Hogwarts had absolutely nothing to do with her zodiac.

"Two things", she continued, "One- you should stop blaming your zodiac for your actions. No one will ever take that for an excuse, it will only provoke annoyance because it makes you look like you are incapable of taking responsibility for what you do and say." Opeila was not accusing or reprimanding. She was simply telling the girl her thoughts. "And two- Really? Making assumptions about other people, who you don't even know, based on their zodiacs? Come on..." Opeila was seeing quite the pattern there. Many Ravenclaws were booksmart- But had a severe lack of social intelligence. It seemed to be the same with this girl.

That was likely the difference between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Both were popular for sort of intelligence. But from what Opeila had seen so far, her housemates were better at using their intellect in their everyday life, not only in class.

Opeila enjoyed the horse head topic way more. "Hm... Good question. Maybe the horse transports it directly into the kitchen? Could be, right? Like... Maybe it doesn't actually eat it, but simply teleports it somewhere else! I'm sure there is a spell like that. Or a rune maybe.", she added as an afterthought. Professor Zahid had introduced them to ancient runes recently in History of Magic and Opeila was fascinated. A transport rune wasn't so unlikely, right? Maybe it was a construct of two runes- One that sent it away, and it's counterpart that received it. "I don't think it is just stuck in the wall or something, that would be disgusting."

"I love my dad.", she told Quinlan, when she realized the way she was making her dad seem. "He has his reasons, he thinks magic is dangerous." Which it most certainly was, Opeila got to experience that more than once. It tore her family apart. "But magic or not, I love him and I know that he loves me, that is all that counts, right?"
But it sounded like Quin's mother had a good reason to hold a grudge against magic. "That's true... Last year there was an errand where we got to collect ingredients for a pepperup potion. Professor Price- Our old professor for potions- was going to distribute in the muggle world to help fighting the corona virus. I guess, wizards could solve almost all muggle problems, but that would mean that wizards would have to dedicate their lives to that. Muggles simply can't create healing potions and such. So I understand why magic is kept secret."

Which brought her to Ginger again, who told them that she spread the word about being magic. "That was not a smart thing to do at all.", she told her directly. "With that you did way more than going up against your parents' wishes, you know? I very much hope that no one believed you, or you gave the Ministry of Magic quite a bit of work to do." The second year had heard before that the ministry had to erase the memories of muggles who witnessed magic.
"Also why would you show muggle kids moving pictures?" Opeila more and more felt the urge to slap her forehead. Magic was nothing to brag about in the muggle world. "Also it's no trick behind things in the muggle world. It's all logical and has an explanation. That is pretty much what makes the muggleworld so impressive to me. They have rather privileged lives without cheating. Magic doesn't care about scientific rules. That makes everything easy to wizards. They don't have to play by rules."

Opeila shook her head when Ginger said that muggles were scared by ghosts. "Muggles can't see ghosts ore spiritual beings. If they are scared of anything, it is their own imagination."
Another child joined the little group, a boy who Opeila believed to be a first year as well. At least she couldn't remember him from any of her classes. "Hello William, I am Opeila. Nice to meet you." She raised her hand in greeting and sent him a friendly smile.

Quinlan opened his mouth for a moment to reply to Ginger, his brows drawing together in a frown that was part surprise, and part growing offense. Trick? How dare she call science a trick? And then Opeila waded in, slashing the run down on what Ginger thought he must be like to neatly dissected ribbons with surgical precision.

He held up a hand for a moment to offer her a fist bump, then let it waver, not sure if she'd understand the gesture.

Instead he put on his best, friendliest Grin and gave William a quick, none too serious salute. "Hey William, I'm Quinlan. Nice to meet you, bear with me a sec eh?"

The soft, sunny edges of the grin turned sharper then as he turned on Ginger, frown returning and deepening.

"Now you. First off, I don't give a flying owl fart if it's supposed to be a harmless term or not. I don't want to hear you calling my mother a muggle ever again. Or a No-mag, or anything else that implies she's not one hundred percent equal to anyone who ever picked up a wand. Got it? She studies and works hard to make the world better, and she does all of it without waving a stick around. She works on stuff that makes crops that grow in places where most things don't grow well, she helps solve real problems, and she did it all while taking care of me after my dad left. She doesn't do -tricks-. We're doing -tricks-, making keychains jiggle around and doing tongue twisters that throw sparks. That's tricks."

He took a deep breath, trying to keep from flushing in anger, which would look ridiculous with his hair. He knew she didn't know his mom was a muggle, he knew she probably hadn't meant it to offend, but just... the way people said it. The way it somehow seemed to carry a weight to it that implied they were ridiculous or less.... He didn't even think they were aware of it, not the ones born to this world anyway, but he could hear it and he was starting to hate it. Opeila got a pass, she respected them, but Ginger? Ginger called it tricks.

He huffed another angry breath, trying to get control of his thoughts and emotions the way he knew he should; the way he was sure his mother would. Merle would possibly have taken a swing by now if she were this angry. He wasn’t ready for that.

“I don’t. Care. About my star sign. I’m me. I’m not a crab. I’m not the day I was born, and it’s cool that works for you but it doesn’t for me AND…”

And what? Where was he going with this?

“Opeila is right, I don’t like the rule about not sharing but the way she says it… I get it. I don’t think I get you though.”

He took several more breaths, staring furiously at the ground and quashing the powerful urge to storm off, to go run through the grounds and pick a fist fight with the first magical thing he saw, and then finally, managed a strained smile to William again.

”Sorry ‘bout that. Nice to meet you. How are you?”

Owl farts he had probably scared the other boy, who looked like he had steeled himself just to say hi, out of half a years growth. He probably looked like -such- a jerk.
@Opeila Winters@Ginger Crowdy@William Erickson