A Picnic by the Lake PV Aurora Ranvier Closed

@Melody Rathburn

There are only three things that truly matter in life. Chocolate, yoghurt, and egg. One bag filled with containers of those three things, and the other filled with school books and whatnot. Her small posture combined with her uninterested expression, plus those two big bags on her shoulder, it wouldn’t be out of nowhere if someone mistook her for being a house elf who just got herself fired.

It was unexpected when she received a letter from someone she met during her first day in Hogwarts. A smile that followed with the feeling of guilt rushed over her as soon as she read the letter. Honestly, it never came to her mind to owl people who are also in Hogwarts. There was a slight worry that if she did send a letter to someone, they wouldn't reply. That would be awkward and embarrassing, as if Aurora’s entire life isn’t like that.

Aurora still wore her complete school attire. She had potions before lunch and it lightened her mood because it was one of her favourite subjects that she considered herself good at. When she arrived at the great lake, she spotted the Hufflepuff waiting for her with a book looking a bit distracted with those little bugs who just mind their own business. Aurora thought she was grinning, when in reality, there was a subtle smile on her face as she greets her first friend that she made in Hogwarts.

“Hi, melody.. it’s uh, really good to see you”

Although her tone came out as if it was a question. That was what someone said to her on their first meeting, that should be friendly enough. If Melody hasn’t not set up the picnic mat, she will pull out hers (which actually was a blanket) on the ground first before sitting on it. If Melody already did, she immediately sat on the ground next to Melody then added, “Sorry for the wait, I hope you haven’t waited too long.”

From one of the bags, Aurora started to pull out some of the containers of her three most important things in life. She took a swift glance at Melody, who did not seem to wear her uniform.
“Umm.. you don’t have any class this morning?”

Hastily shoving the book away under the basket, Melody looked up at the call of a familiar voice and smiled. Aurora was there, and she was smiling as well. Melody hoped she hadn't come off as rude since she had been reading as she waited.

"Hullo!" said Melody cheerfully, "that's fine, and I brought my book anyway."

As Aurora sat down on the blanket, Melody pulled out the two wrapped sandwiches and set down the pitcher of cold lemonade beside the cups. Everything was in a neat little arrangement and poured the glasses full of the sweet, cold drink until they were almost full. She placed one in front of her companion and one in front of herself.

"Oh, no," Melody smiled, "not this morning, no. This afternoon I do."

Classes were the hardest thing in Hogwarts for Melody. She wasn't very good at any type of school, and with assignments it seemed that her brain was just not wired that way. Most of the time she got distracted, going other places or owling her pen-pal in London. She brushed off her pants and looked up at the girl across from her hopefully.

"I hope you like ham," Melody said.

The four little ham sandwiches in front of them were stuffed with other things, and they looked most tempting to Melody. She had brought a few of them from the Great Hall, as she couldn't cook herself. Usually her mother did most of the cooking at her house.

Melody looked up and noticed a little package in Aurora's hands. She peered at it, and wondered what it could be. Perhaps it was some of those 'pencils' she mentioned? Had she brought them to eat? Melody thought they had a funny little name, but there didn't seem to be anything in her hands that looked like it would be called a pencil. She shrugged and pulled out a bar of chocolate from her basket, which of course, being Melody, she always had.

The breeze began to pick up, and the trees swayed gently in the wind. Melody reached up to tie her hair back, but eventually gave up, for the tie she was using blew away. She looked out at the lake, wondering what creatures lurked inside, and basked in the fresh sun.

Maybe a picnic wouldn't be so bad after all.

@Melody Rathburn

The key to a healthy lifestyle has always been escaped Aurora’s grasp. Someone should tell her to leave her obsession with chocolate and everything sweet so she won’t have to deal with the horror of diabetes. Aurora occasionally glanced towards the basket that Melody brought to the lake, she wondered what kind of heaven exist inside it. It turned out, she had sandwiches and a cold lemonade pitcher. Good food equals a happy tummy equals spectacular mood. The Hufflepuff said that she hoped Aurora likes ham. Of course she does. Apparently, she enjoys all type of food as long as it is edible.

“Don’t worry, I eat everything.” Once everything laid out in front of her, it was a lot of food. There is no way that much food will fit inside the two first years.
“This is a lot of food, huh?” Compared to Melody's, Aurora’s food combination was a little out of place. Chocolate, yoghurt, and egg. You could not make a sandwich out of that, but that was not what the Ravenclaw was thinking. She began to open two bars of chocolate, put it on top of the container lid, spread some yoghurt, and put a sunny side up on top. What an innovation.

“Now it is a sandwich-“ Aurora slightly tilted her head, her eyebrows furrowed together, then added, “Perhaps, a burger? Eh, whatever, cheers!” She shrugged and began to take a bite on the ‘chocolategg’ sandwich. As her taste bud reacted to the chemical reaction inside her mouth, she thought it might be better if she did not do that. But it was not the worst food she ever tasted in her life, obviously. A high-pitched ‘hmm’ sound came out from her muffled mouth followed by an odd expression.
“Oh, I a-moz fohgad-“ She paused for a bit to swallow the food, “I have something special for you.”
She put down her sandwich creation and reached for one of her bags. Two parchment scrolls were being pulled out, and she handed it to Melody with a proud grin on her face.

@Melody Rathburn

The girl across her looked both confused and surprised at the same time, hopefully, because of a good cause. Aurora turned her focus back to the chocolate sandwich and took a large bite. The Hufflepuff asked something about the club with a mouth full of food, then she wiped her mouth and repeated the question. With a subtle nod followed by a sound that indicated a yes. She started to explain some of the clubs that were written messily on top of the parchment.

“So, quidditch is quidditch, arts and orchestra is basically what the name says, the headliner is Hogwarts publication, we covered pretty much everything that happened in Hogwarts, WORD stands for writers of the real dexterity, we write poems and stuff, really fun, archery is archery, though I cannot even hold a bow and arrow, I consider myself lucky that I haven’t killed anyone since I joined! ISR is international student representative, it was actually all about culture exchange type of club, League of Aspirant Animagi is for those who wants to become animal, well it’s not as bad as it sounds, actually it pretty cool! You can transform back to human of course-“

Aurora rambled on and on and on, not sure if Melody grasped anything she just said. Then, Melody pointed at the frog choir group. “-Ah yes, frog choir. Honestly, it was so weird, you basically sing with a toad or frog , the muggles could never! I was late on the audition, though. Luckily the coordinator or something was pretty nice and pretty cu-“ Something stopped her from continuing the sentence as she faked a cough, “Oh sorry, I was rambling.” Aurora took another bite of her food.

“dis? Itsa chozledeg.” “Chocolategg, just made up the name. Don’t try it in this combination, though, not good.” She let out a chuckle of awkwardness. Her eyes wandered to the parchments that she gave Melody earlier.
“The map is for you to look at if you ever get lost, I suppose. It is still incomplete because I haven’t explored the forbidden places myself, so I will leave them blank until further notice”

@Melody Rathburn

Aurora gave Melody her biggest smile as she continued to munch her sandwich that slowly tasted even more disgusting than before but she managed to eat the whole chocolate sandwich thing.“Uh-huh” She nodded to the Hufflepuff. There are lots of side of Hogwarts that she hasn’t see. It was all because she doesn’t have access to. It won’t be a surprise if someone found her sleeping in a tent in the forbidden forest someday. Of course, she will be cowering in fear, but will return to her usual calm demeanour as someone approaching.

Then she heard Melody said something about werewolf in the forbidden forest. “I’m pretty sure they are not only in the forbidden forest, it could be someone among us, that would be cool.” She took a sip on the lemonade. It was too sour to her liking, painted on her expression was a scrunched eyebrow. “Whoa, I did not expect it to be that sour, but it’s refreshing.” Aurora took another sip, with yet another scrunched eyebrows.

Aurora took out her scrunchie and tied up her hair in a messy bun. The girl across her seemed to wonder about something while her eyes glued to the great lake. She decided to ask her about it, although she will not try to pry if she did not want to talk about it.
“Anything on your mind?” Her mouth let out a sigh and joined Melody to pondered to the open water. “You know, whenever I go near the lake, I always wonder if what my father told me real or not.” Her gaze shifted to Melody, and she smiled. “I think I told you briefly about it on the train.”

@Melody Rathburn

Aurora chuckled at Melody’s comment. Now that she thought about it, why would she think lemon will not be sour? Her ravenclaw brain indeed walked away at that moment. “No! I thought it would taste like orange or something”
She put down her glass of lemonade and put her arm around her knees as she looked at the great lake. She could see Melody shrugged , had another bite of her sandwich and told Aurora about the stuff that was on her mind.

Aurora never really thought much about the reason why wizards and witches are hiding from muggles, but it all made sense. She sighed and said,
“Well, i grew up in the muggle world. All I know is, there are a lot of manipulative and bad adults, you know. Especially if they have power. I suppose there’s no different here either. But the thing is, the Wizard's population is much smaller compared to muggles. Which means, in the muggle world, we have more bad people. If someday the wizarding world decides to come out from hiding, I think all these-“ She made a gesture to point at Hogwarts castle, “- these amazing things will be gone.”
The Ravenclaw turned her head towards Melody and continued
“I mean, of course not all muggles are bad, but usually those who seek power will do anything to achieve what they want. Just like dark wizards, there are dark muggles, you will be shocked if I tell you how many active serial killers who haven’t got caught in the muggle world.” She did another light hearted chuckle. If she thinks about it deeply, those prejudiced wizards who hate muggles cannot be 100% to blame for their behavior considering the witch hunt that happened back in the day. Although she knew it was not a nice thing to do. No one deserves to be treated like trash.

“Muggles are doing good enough without magic. Please don’t ever introduce them with magic, I really don’t want to imagine hundreds of serial killers casting killing curse at people just because they can” Aurora is always a quiet person. But when someone starts to talk about things she is interested in, you will see the other side of Aurora, which is the rambling Aurora.
“Sorry, it turned dark really fast.”
It was nice to have someone to talk to once in a while, talking with Melody didn’t feel forced at all. All of the topics seemed to flow like a river.