A Little Fresh Air finished

How was it already spring? Time seemed to have passed so quickly and Bridget still had quite vivid memories of a year ago, of the lead-up to that Blossom Ball and her involvement in a plan that had fallen through. There was another Blossom Ball coming up, the first whispers of it having started recently. She was far less involved in trying to solve what was going on at the school than she had been, though. It wasn't that she wasn't interested anymore, that she didn't care, but rather how much of a dead-end it all felt like. Despite her efforts, how much more had she actually uncovered? How many of the new developments were just more questions, answers few and far between?

And now, she was almost a fourth year, approaching the halfway point of her time at Hogwarts. That was... kind of scary. Leaving the school wasn't something she was even close to ready for; she barely had a clue what sort of career she wanted to pursue. Thinking about it was a lot, so she decided to focus on something positive about the swift passage of time, like how it meant the weather was nice again. The Slytherin could certainly use a little fresh air. The duelling season may have ended, but she had taken to spending every spare moment in the duelling room. Having time off was no excuse to stop working at it, especially as she had a long way to go to be satisfied with her abilities. Her most recent duel had hardly been a failure--a win counted as a success--but it hadn't been perfect, either. There was still so much to fix, namely the backfires that still happened occasionally, a mistake she was none too keen on happening in an official duel again, and her aim, which left much to be desired.

Today, the world outside the castle was beckoning, promises of fresh air and the sun's rays smiling down. Perhaps she could afford to take a break, just for a little bit. Despite her tendencies to push herself, she was aware there was such thing as overdoing it. Yes, it would be good to recenter. And so she changed to accommodate the warmer temperature, bringing out a pair of shorts for the first time in a long while. She didn't have a particular destination in mind beyond outside of the castle, but she was drawn to the lake. It was a nice setting, a lovely view, a favorite spot of hers back in her first year when she'd had more time for this sort of thing. As she neared the water, she caught sight of a familiar figure. That was Illowy, right? It mostly looked like her, but she didn't usually put her hair up anymore. Squinting in hopes of proving for certain she'd come across her friend, she slowly picked her way over. Once she got closer, she'd be able to tell, and if she'd been wrong, she was hopefully positioned in such a way the person wouldn't even see her approaching.

It was Illowy. "Illowy, hi!" She made her presence known--the original intention might have been to creep up on her, but that was only to make sure it was who she thought it was, and she didn't want to scare her. After a moment of looking, she found a nearby boulder to sit on, turning to face Illowy once settled in.

The most immediately obvious thing was the outfit. It had been since... well, since before the spider attack that she'd seen Illowy in anything less than long sleeves with her hair down, for the most part. "I like your dress," she commented with a smile. She remembered earlier this year, the conversation they'd had, how hard it had been for Illowy to deal with those stares. She'd come a long way from that point, and while it still bothered Bridget a bit that the Slytherin had to deal with it at all, she was glad she wasn't hiding so much. At this point, her hopes of the curse going away were... very small, so they might as well find a way to be comfortable in their own skin.

Speaking of which, she felt kind of guilty about that, especially here with Illowy who was still searching. She'd stopped her research a few months ago. It had just become too depressing, not finding anything. Finding excuses had been all too easy, too: she was too busy, the Professors weren't even doing much. Both were true, of course, and she doubted she would have found anything useful even if she kept devoting her time to the search, but she felt bad for accepting the curse all the same.

There was little she could do about the regret right now, so she might as well focus on spending time with her friend. Illowy appeared to be drawing, a shared interest of theirs. Although, Bridget hadn't done a whole lot of sketching for quite a while. After the spider attack, her inspiration for the hobby had run dry and she would find herself staring at a mostly blank canvas whenever she tried to pick it up. This winter break, she'd started doing it some, a nice, relaxing pastime for the rare moments of free time she had. "What are you drawing?" Never able to truly allow herself to sit idle, she opened the book she'd brought with her, pushing her braid over her shoulder. To be fair, she was reading for fun, sort of. It was Jinxes for the Jinxed, a book she'd bought over break to further her interest in duelling and general self-defense.

@Bridget Collins

For the first time in months, Illowy allowed her mind to just calm and clear itself. Drawing wasn't something that took too much brain power, just a focused eye and a steady hand as the pencil lightly stoked and scrapped itself against the page until she had a rhythm going: a glace up towards the corner of the castle closest to the lake, a glance back down to her paper, a short series of stokes here, a bit of shading there, another glance up, and repeat. It felt like mindless fixation, and she allowed herself to fall into the mediation of it.

That was, until she heard someone call at her. Though her steady hand didn't flinch, it was enough to break the spell and make the snake look up suddenly in the direction of the call. To her relief, it was only Bridget; a more then welcome intruder to her calm. It'd felt like forever since she'd really spent time with her friend, despite their beds being beside each other and being on the dueling team together. That wasn't quite the same thing as spending true time together. Truthfully, Illowy thought of Bridget as her only real friend. Sure, she had other people she spoke with once in a while, but none that she really trusted the way she did Bridget. The fellow snake was safe to Illowy. She could be weak around her or depend on her and feel okay about it. She didn't have to feel judged or self conscious around her, and in Illowy's experience, that was difficult to find.

"Hey!" A small smile lifted her features as Bridget crawled onto one of the rocks with her and settled in and Illowy rested her pencil in the crease of her sketchbook. When the other complimented her dress, Illowy did her best not to let her smile falter into something more wavering. Had someone told her at the beginning of this year that she'd find the courage to ever think about wearing something like this, she'd reject it faster then a bludger from it's case. Even wearing her hair up had been something reserved strictly for dueling, and only because she wasn't going to duel with hair in her face. Besides, if people were paying attention to her looks during a duel instead of the duellist, the she was clearly doing something wrong.

She smoothed her skirt a bit, almost as though trying to keep nervous hands busy, "Thanks. I use to wear pretty dresses and stuff all the time. They're really nice when its warm." she explained, keeping her tone as casual about it as she could. A bit of a 'fake it til you make it' kind of thing. Illowy knew she'd eventually have to make herself be okay with the markings, especially if it was possible that, cure found or not, they may never go away. After over a year of hiding the extent of them though, naturally it almost felt like she was naked without the protection of at least a cardigan and a dark pair of tights.

The attention then went to her sketchbook as Bridget cracked open her own book that she'd brought along on this lovely day, "Just the castle and the lake." she moved the pencil to hold up her rough sketch, "My brain's half fried, so I figured I'd just do some doodling." the girl shrugged, then gestured to the book, "Brushin' up on jinxes?"

It was a small thing, but the way Illowy's face lit up when she made her presence known had her own smile widening. In a school as crazy as Hogwarts, friendship could be characterized by the big, dramatic moments. Like their journey into the dungeons back in February, standing together in the face of danger and coming to each other's aid. Not thinking as much of the less flashy moments was all too easy. Now that she was reflecting on it, she realized she hadn't been spending as much time with Illowy as she would have liked. The other girl had worked her way into Bridget's small circle of friends and yet she'd been devoting so much of her time to her work that the time set aside for the people close to her had dwindled. It was definitely something to be more mindful of; she really wanted to get better at duelling and all, but her friends were just as important.

Both their smiles would falter ever so slightly after Bridget commented on Illowy's attire. She didn't miss the way Illowy hesitated with the topic, no doubt still self-conscious about it all, and Bridget felt bad in response. She didn't want to make this step out into the open any harder than it already was. She was really proud of Illowy, but she dropped the topic quickly, simply nodding along to the description of what used to be.

Their hobbies were much easier conversation points. The castle and the lake were great for drawing. It could be a bit frustrating if any perfectionistic tendencies carried over to the artwork since replicating the amazing scenery of the Hogwarts grounds wasn't easy. That was also what could make drawing them fun, capturing a snippet of that beauty on paper. "Can I see it later?" She figured a doodle on a fried brain was something Illowy wouldn't have a problem sharing, especially since they were close.

In turn, Illowy inquired after her choice of reading material. "Mhm." She turned the book over to look at the title again. "Trying to get a few more spells for duelling." There it was again, duelling pervading every spare moment. Obsession would be a fitting word for it at this point. The aim was to get ahead in classes, too, she supposed, though that wasn't the driving force. Her grades in many of the less spell-focused classes had actually slipped from 'outstanding' to 'exceeds expectations'. And neither of them was a stranger to trying out spells from older years; Bridget's efforts were directed mainly to Defense Against the Dark Arts and Illowy was an ace at Charms and Transfiguration. Of course, there was also the fact you never knew when you might need a certain spell in one of the chaotic situations the school had a way of throwing them into, so the more she knew, the better.

@Bridget Collins

Though she would never admit it, Illowy felt lonely often when she pulled her nose from her books long enough to let it settle in. Though there was a difference between feeling 'lonely' and feeling 'alone'. Once upon a time, she definitely felt alone. However now, her relationship with her cousin was stronger, he having become almost like a grounding rode for her when thinks felt too much and she needed her true perspective back; and also she had some friends now, like Bridget, or arguably even Xailah. Now, when those feelings of being lonely set in, she recognized that it was often because she put herself in that position.

For one so young, she had started placing so much responsibility on herself as a means of feelings like she had some level of control over all the chaos going on. It felt like her place that, since she wasn't sleeping much of the night, to sit in the Common Room and keep watch if anything felt amiss. It felt like her job to figure out how to help Kyle with his curse as well as the Slytherin curse given she was one of the few still standing and actively trying to figure it out. All these obligations she had given to herself led her to often self isolate from her peers, so if she felt lonely, who else could she blame but herself?

As the topic switch to their current hobbies, Illowy smiled, "Sure. If it doesn't come out too awful." she joked. It felt like eons since she'd sit down to actually draw something with the intent of creating. Sure, she was still like any other kid who would doodle in the margins of her notes, but that wasn't quite the same thing. However, Illowy had learned quickly that trying to make a 'realist' interpretation of such an intricate castle as Hogwarts was a recipe for disappointment. Adding a dreamer, more artistic air to it always made for less frustration.

The girl chuckled a little when Bridget mentioned trying to acquire a few more spells for dueling, "Becoming the deadliest piece on the board, I see. Not that ye practically aren't already." she mused in a strangely worded compliment, "I book marked a few spells the other day that I want to work on over the summer. Maybe you can come some time and we can work on stuff next years for dueling." she suggested.

If it doesn't come out too awful. The joking promise elicited a laugh from Bridget, a sound quite frankly not heard enough at Hogwarts. That really was the thing with art. You could of course get good at it like anything else, but it was different from school or a sport. Sometimes your creative choices just didn't pan out, and looking back on past work almost invariably caused you to cringe. At the same time, especially if you didn't have the pressure of presenting your art to others, it was simply a fun outlet. She supposed she could count as an audience to present to, but it wasn't quite the same--she was no critic, only interested in seeing Illowy's art style. And even if Illowy hated how the drawing turned out, perhaps they could still get a laugh out of it.

Such creative hobbies contrasted with things like duelling. Sure, sports could still be fun, an outlet, and Bridget did acknowledge the sport as both of those things. She had the pleasure of doing it with friends and teammates, of pushing together to victory. But aspects like precision and perfection mattered a lot more; magic was no casual matter. Carelessness led to backfires, which could be disastrous. Not to mention the fact it was very much a competition and being rather competitive herself, Bridget would put in whatever work it took to win. Which, with her current view of her skill, meant quite a lot of work.

She was certainly less confident in her spell-casting than she'd been at the beginning of the year before she'd done it enough to see where she was weak, but not so insecure she couldn't take Illowy's compliment. "Thanks." She smiled, cheeks going a bit pink. "I'm not so sure I'm there yet, but that's the goal." The 'deadliest pieces' in the duelling club was something she would ascribe to the likes of Dmitri, Celynne Gray, Amadea Campbell. Phaedra and Astrea, too, despite the duels they'd lost, and Illowy for that matter--since they'd duelled back at the start of second year, she'd considered the snake a skilled witch. She hadn't seen as much of them, but Meenauh and Galton seemed like a strong pair. And, of course, Santario. It could be argued that as her partner Bridget was a bit biased, but that also gave her the most insight into how she performed. Santario was truly a powerful duellist.

Those were people she saw as true forces to be reckoned with. She didn't imagine she had anyone shaking in their boots when they saw she was who they were up against, unless simply by nature of being a third year. Maybe she should cut herself a bit of slack, though; this was her first year duelling and she'd already come a long way. And maybe she'd gotten so critical she couldn't see her own talent. In that case, a bit more thought should be given to Illowy's outside opinion. It was hard to tell just how objective the other third year was--was she just saying that out of some sort of obligation as friends?--though she considered Illowy a pretty honest person, not one to sugarcoat things.

Whatever the case, Illowy's offer had her interest. For one, if these spells had caught Illowy's eye they were certainly useful, worth her time. The invitation to come over this summer sparked excitement. She wouldn't get her hopes up too high--it was just a suggestion at this point, they'd have to check with their parents if it worked out--but she would love that: the time with a friend in the midst those odd months where she was away from what had become her life, spell practice, curiosity over what a wizarding family's household was like. "If it works out, that would be great!" A genuine smile had fixed itself as her expression, and despite having opened her book, she hadn't started reading. They were both quieter, so she didn't doubt she'd retreat to that at some point, but it wasn't necessary yet.

On the note of spells, she posed a question, not quite ready to let the conversation fade away. "What would you consider your favorite spell to use, for duelling or just in general?" It sounded a bit like the stock questions you might ask someone you'd just met, like what their favorite animal was, though for Bridget there was a real inquisitiveness behind it. Knowing what sort of spells someone liked to use best could say a lot about how they approached problems, and besides, it was an interesting bit of information.

@Bridget Collins

Illowy grinned when the other snake reacted enthusiastically to her offer to hang out during the summer. She'd never actually had a friend over before... mainly because she'd never really had friends. Holidays were rarely spent home anyways and she was usually at Kyle's house with her aunt and uncle. Certainly meant for a lot more company. The summer back from Hogwarts after first year had been almost painfully quiet. While at school, all she had wanted was some peace, quiet and unbroken solitude like she was used to. By the time she'd gotten home, she'd become so accustomed to the background noise of her peers and housemates that the silence of being left alone most of the day was deafening. At least at Kyle's there was always something they could do. Baking with her aunt or helping in their little garden, or just hanging out with her cousin; even if half the time it was just her sitting off reading while Kyle practiced his boxing and whatnot that he'd gotten into. At least there was another person, and that eased the loneliness.

"I'll talk to my mum when I get home and see what she says. She's hardly ever there most of the time anyway because of work, so I doubt she'll mind. I'll send you an owl when I know." Illowy assured, "Though I know the week before camp, Kyle, my aunt and uncle and I are going away for a few days, so I can't then." What did people even do when their friends were over? Obviously, they'd just discussed going over spells for dueling, but watching Kyle and his best friend growing up, she knew friends didn't just study when they hung out. However those were boys, and they always got into trouble inevitably, and she knew the same wasn't expected of girls. So what did girls do? Just as well, Bridget came from a Muggle background. What did Muggles do when they were with their friends? Were those even appropriate questions to ask?

Best to put a pin in that for another time, "Worst case scenario we can always see each other at camp if you're going too."

The girl looked down against to her work, making a couple new strokes of her pencil as Bridget inquired her favorite spell, "Bombarda, if they'd let us use it in duelling." she chuckled, "I think I use Aqua Fervens the most though." she turned a bit, reaching into her bag to pull out a little flower printed thermos of tea she'd made for her time out on the grounds, "Its handy here when there's not really a great place to put a kettle on. A cuppa makes late night studies a bit more bearable." she responded thoughtfully before looking back to her friend, "What about you?"

Just like that, plans were made. Loose plans, for sure, but they sounded entirely possible. Her parents would be fine with her seeing a friend for a few days and from the sound of it, Illowy's mother would allow it as well. It sounded exciting, no doubt amplified by the fact she hadn't gotten out of the house a ton in summers past. That at least made it so she didn't have a crowded schedule; Illowy being away the last week should be easy enough to work around. Of course, there was always camp. "I'll be there, yeah." Camp certainly wouldn't be the same, but it was something, time together outside of the school year.

"I don't suppose you have a phone, do you?" Did wizarding families usually have phones and other devices? Could they, or would magic fry the technology like it did at Hogwarts? "Or we could just exchange addresses. If your family has an owl, we could send them with that, but the Muggle postal system might work, too." Honestly, communicating with her friends over summer vacation was hard. The differences in things as basic as technology, coupled with the fact she did not own an owl--though Sherlock's cuteness more than made up for it--made for a bunch of hoops to jump through to even get a letter to someone.

With the question she posed, the conversation shifted from getting together over the summer to spells. Bombarda, interesting. It would definitely be a powerful spell to use in duelling, though she imagined being on the receiving end of it would be an unpleasant mix of Flipendo and Incendio. That was not a Charms class she was particularly looking forward to; while interested in the spell, she feared the mishaps bound to happen when they learned it. Did she really trust her peers with a spell to explode things with, anyhow? Some of them were responsible, like Illowy, but others... well, just look at what happened when they gained Incendio! Though the ones making everything worse with fire seemed to be younger, so perhaps they'd finally matured enough to see the dangers of certain spells.

As for the Water-Heating Spell, that was an example of a functional spell, one used in place of the machines her parents might use. "Good thing you're heating water more often than blowing things up," she commented jokingly. What about her? Hmm... "For duelling, Ventus I think. It hits hard like Flipendo but helps for longer." It was certainly a spell she favored, something anyone who watched her duels could tell. "Outside of that, it's hard when we know so many, but Reparo is a lifesaver. When I was little, a lot of the time there was no fixing something if it broke, so it's nice to have a spell for that." Things that came to mind were all the dropped plates and glasses. Her little brother had dropped a fancy teacup that had belonged to her grandmother one time, that had been a shame. Toys broke from use, clothing would tear, and she wondered how many instances of children breaking something and then trying and failing miserably to cover up would have been no problem at all with magic around.

@Bridget Collins

Illowy grinned. Having actually company at home, for the first time ever. Certainly that would be exciting! Though there was still one obstacle; communication, "A phone?" she echoed, thinking a moment, "That's the thing in the wall with the coily string right?" once upon a time her house had been a Muggle home. They lived in Dublin after all, though not in a typically wizarding neighborhood. She never had been sure why, but like many things in her life, she never questioned it. They'd retained some things, like the frigidaire, but that was mostly it. Frankly, who knew how long that old landline phone had been there, much less if it was still operational or even connected, "I don't know if it works, but I can ask." she offered. "My mum does keep an owl though, Maybelle. I can always send her with a letter." she suggested, "Or I can try the Muggle post. I've never tried it before though, but if its anything like sending owls I'm sure it would be fine." after all, a letter was a letter. How different could it possibly be to send it the Muggle way?

As the conversation eased to spell casting, Illowy chuckled, "Believe me, some of the people here make me was to utilize bombarda regularly. Lucky for them I have some will power." she joked. Nodding along as Bridget explained her answer, it made her curious how Muggles could get along doing anything without magic. How did they muddle through with their laundry? Or any kind of cleaning really that needed more then just a rag and some soap? How do they fix broken things? From Bridget's description, they just stayed broken. She had plenty of questions that hypothetically could be answered in Muggle Studies... but surely asking someone from an actual Muggle background was just as good, if not better, right?

Then a thought came to her that she remembered discussing with Opeila when they'd first met, "I have a question." she started after Bridget had finished speaking, "Opeila told me once about this Muggle thing. Its like..." she thought hard for a moment, trying to remember exactly how their housemate had explained it, or what the bloody thing was called, "something like a window? She called it a window I think anyway. A window with... buttons? Which is an odd thing but put on a window, but that's what she said. And the window is... like a book? But without chapters. You just summon what you want to see and it shows you. Does that make sense? Do you have one of those?"

A laptop. The clueless lass was trying to describe a laptop. A concept she still wasn't entirely sure she grasped or trusted, but she certainly was curious.

"Yes, that would be a phone." She was pleasantly surprised to hear Illowy had one, though as her friend continued, she supposed the next hurdle would be operating it. It didn't sound like the Magnards used the phone much, if at all, so it was still very possible it was there yet fried by magic or simply not set up. "I would be nice if it works. You basically input in the phone number of the person you want to call on the buttons--I'll make sure to give you my phone number and address before break--and then hold it up to your ear." Illowy's mom had an owl, that was helpful. "If you can't figure it out, let's send letters with Maybelle." The Muggle postal system was a bit more complicated than telling an owl where to go, and she didn't want Illowy to have the stress of puzzling it out. Not to mention someone utterly clueless to the functioning of the postal system would be suspicious--not on the level of exposing the magical world, but she was aware secrecy was important to wizards.

From methods of communication, to spells, and now the conversation was shifting to 'a window with buttons'. Bridget cocked her head, mentally replaying what Illowy had described. A window, buttons, something like a book, bringing up what you wanted to see... it clicked. "Oh, a computer!" She nodded. "I do have one of those. Muggles use them a lot, they're often needed to do school and jobs and things." What Opeila had described to Illowy wasn't a bad approximation, but perhaps she could do better. "I suppose the thing you look at--it's called a screen--is a little like a window. Maybe more like a mirror, since you're not looking through. Basically, it's a flat surface that displays words and pictures. And the buttons are on the keyboard, not the screen itself."

She propped her book half-open, one side resting on her lap and the other held up at a right angle. Gesturing to the different parts, she explained the crude model. "This part would be where the screen is, and the keyboard would be down here. I guess it's comparable to piano keys, but instead of causing sounds, it changes what's on the screen.

Describing what a computer looked like was one thing. Explaining its function when many things a computer did had no direct translation in the magical world was another, but she'd try. "As for the book part, that's kind of right? You can definitely read all sorts of things on a computer, books included, mostly through this thing called the internet. Think of it as a giant library, Muggles sharing lots of what they know where everyone can access. You can ask a question and the computer will bring up information relevant to that question, like a librarian finding you books. You can do other things on a computer, too: type out papers instead of hand-writing them, pretty much like with a typewriter--you've heard of typewriters, right?--and play video games, which are like board games transferred to a screen, and watch movies. Movies are similar to plays, but they're recorded and presented on screens."

Perhaps she was getting a little carried away. Even to another Muggle, describing a computer would be long and complicated, and Illowy didn't necessarily need a perfect idea. With so many details, she might have actually made things more confusing. "Sorry, did that make any sense?" It wasn't easy to create a mental image with no physical visuals. "I could draw one, if that would help. Oh! Actually, I'll bring one if I come over this summer, that way you can see for yourself how it works." She was now even more excited for a hopeful visit during the summer, to show Illowy a part of the world she grew up in.