Butterflies PV Ruka Tân Closed

Ruka had spent his morning on the Quidditch Training Pitch.
After having hurt his ankle, he had quickly come to realise that flying on a broom meant he didn't need to put any pressure at all on it.
He had zoomed across the field for at least an hour until the sun became too hot and he decided to return the broom to the shed and instead go for a little walk along the lake.
He was carrying some bread from breakfast for the Squid around, like always, in the pocket of his baggy blue jeans, and he had left his cloak on his bed this morning to instead wear only a red T shirt that was only slightly too big on him. His feet were bare as they were usually when he spent his time outside, and his wand was safely tucked in his backpocket.
He smiled as he walked along the lake, limping only a little bit whenever he put a bit too much pressure on his ankle. His gaze drifted across the seemingly black water, over the outlines of Hogwarts Castle, and along the rows of students enjoying the sun by the water.
Until he noticed a familiar shape sitting by the water, book in his hands, black haired head bent down to read.
"Alex!" Ruka called excitedly, smiling brightly when the other boy looked up at him.
He looked even better in sunlight than he had in the rehearsal rooms last time he saw him; there was a flower in his hair and a colourful butterfly on his head, and he looked nothing if not kissed by spring.
Ruka clapped his hands excitedly as he let himself drop in the grass next to Alex, giving him a quick hug in greeting. The butterfly remained even through the slight turbulence, clearly feeling at home on Alex' head. "Is it okay if I sit?" he asked hopefully, showing that he was willing to leave should Alex want some time alone. "I just thought I should come an say Hi. Tell you that my ankle feels much better again. Compliment you on the butterfly head accessory you've put on today." He laughed cheerfully as he pointed at the butterfly on Alex head. "It suits you, you look like a real flower child!"

Alex kept on turning the pages of the book. He was reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He knew that they didn’t start Care of Magical Creatures until 3rd year, but the book was interesting. He smiled as a familiar person called out his name. He put a bookmark in the book. ”Ruka! How are you?” he said happily. He met Ruka in the Rehearsal room while he was practicing ballet. The boy did a dance with fire. They taught each other some things, but Ruka hurt his ankle. It was much lighter outside, and Alex could see him better than in that room. He accepted the hug with a smile. Even though it had only been a few days, he kinda missed him. He nodded. ”Go ahead.” he said. He remembered his promise to run after him with an ice pack. He chuckled a bit to himself. He gave Ruka a confused look as he said there was a butterfly on his head. He tried to look at it, but he couldn’t for it was on his head. He pointed at his head. ”Are you sure there’s a butterfly on my head?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. He laughed at the flower child comment. ”Really?” he asked, tilting his head to the side in thought.

Ruka felt his heart flutter a bit when he saw that Alex was reading Fantastic Beasts and where to find Them. It was one of his personal favourites, along with Quidditch Through the Ages, and to know that Alex was also interested in Magical Creatures made him like the other boy even more.
He made himself comfortable, leaning back on his hands as he sat next to Alex, face turned towards the sun for a moment. Maybe he would finally get a bit of a tan; the whole year round he was usually cursed with pale skin and freckles, so he always appreciated when spring came around to lend him some colour.
He turned back to Alex, laughing at the way he was trying to find the butterfly on his head. "Yeah," he said, grinning, pointing at the top of Alex' head as well. "Right there." He smiled when the butterfly moved and fluttered from Alex' head to the closed book, lazily moving its wings up and down. "I guess it got a bit bored, just sitting on your head. Not enough flowers on there." He grinned and reached out to pick a small red flower from the grass, carefully tucking it next to the one Alex had already put in his hair. "Better," he decided with a nod before sliding forward just enough to dip his toes in the water of the lake. "How are you, then? You look really good." He smiled, hoping his statement was clear that he was talking about Alex looking healthy and relaxed. Not that he didn't also look really, well, good, but Ruka had decided to stop making awkward comments about that to anybody. "Enjoying the start of spring? It's about time we're getting some good weather!"

Alex smiled slightly as Ruka leaned back onto the tree next to him. He looked so relaxed. Alex blushed for a moment and looked around. Staring is weird, Alex. Don’t do that. He sighed as looked at the bright blue sky. He smiled as the butterfly went from his hair onto the book on his lap. It was a blue butterfly with black around the edges. He looked at Ruka and chuckled a bit. His eyes widened as Ruka placed a red flower behind his ear along with the daisy that was still there. His face was tinted pink as he smiled a bit. He then smirked and took a pink flower and put it behind Ruka’s ear. ”Now you have a flower too,” he said with a smile. He followed suit with Ruka and took off his shoes to dip his toes in the lake. He placed he converse beside him and dipped his toes in the cold water. It was refreshing, really. He smiled at the compliment. ”Thank you! I’m sleep deprived though so I don’t know how I can look good,” he said with a smile. He nodded. ”I know right? I love winter and the snow, but honestly I need a break from that,” he said, looking at his toes in the clear water.

Ruka could see Alex' face tinting red before he looked away, and he wondered what was on the other boy's mind to make him blush.
He decided not to dwell on it, instead examining the pretty butterfly on Alex' copy of Fantastic Beasts. It was beautiful, and it looked like it was meant to be right by Alex' side. If Ruka knew how to draw, he would have already doodled about seven drafts of the picture it made.
He was a little taken by surprise when Alex took a pink flower and tucked it behind his ear. He smiled brightly, reaching up a hand to gently touch the flower. For some reason he found himself wondering how the pink looked on his ginger hair, and if he looked even just half as cute as Alex did.
"I love it," he said happily, offering Alex a wide, sincere smile as they both let their feet dangle in the cool water.
He looked up, head tilted when Alex told him that he was sleep deprived. "School work keeping you up?" he asked, concern in his eyes. Sleep deprivation usually meant something was wrong, at least for him. He had had quite a few restless nights himself ever since he got his dad's last letter, so he couldn't help but wonder what kind of worries kept Alex from sleeping, but he didn't want to overstep any lines asking about it outright.
Instead he concentrated on the little weather based small talk, nodding along with Alex' words. "My dad and I," he started, throwing a piece of bread into the water when he saw a tentacle peek out of the water surface a little further away. "We, uhm... We didn't have anywhere to stay, right? So, of course the winters were pretty cold, but on the first day of Spring, my dad would take me to the closest lake, put on a circus performance just for me, and then get me a scoop of strawberry ice cream." He smiled at the thought, fingers loosely playing with a few strands of grass. "So even if I love the snow, whenever spring comes around, it lifts my mood by miles. The first real spring day is like an instant happiness button for my mind."

He smiled as the butterfly fluttered it’s blue wings. He dug into his satchel that was beside him and pulled out an old Polaroid camera. He smiled and clicked a picture of the blue butterfly. He took the picture and waved it in the air slightly while he put the camera down. The blue butterfly contrasted with the red and gold cover of the book. He placed the picture in the bag. He looked over to Ruka with a smile as he thanked him for the flower. And if he asked, pink went good with ginger. He took a rock and skipped it across the lake. He smiled at the sound it made. He seemed to be smiling a lot lately, even in his state of mind. He sighed a bit when Ruka asked why he was sleep deprived. ”Yeah, it’s stressing me out,” he said. That was part of the truth. There was another reason, but he didn’t want to mention it at the moment. He concentrated on Ruka’s words. Alex had a surprised but sad look on his face as Ruka talked about not have a home, but smiled a bit at his story about the performance and strawberry ice cream. He sighed slightly. ”I’m glad it make you happy,” he said quietly as he made swirls in the water with his feet.

Ruka watched, a little bit in awe as Alex pulled out a camera to take a picture of the butterfly. He had never actually seen a camera before, so he watched in interest as Alex waved around the freshly taken picture before putting it back in his bag.
Things like that were what made Ruka realise that he was very different to everyone here, not just because of the fact that he had never known about magic until he got his letter, but because even normal Muggle things were completely fascinating to him sometimes. "Did you grow up with Muggles?" he asked curiously, realising that he didn't actually know anything about Alex' upbringing, but considering he had what seemed to be a normal Muggle camera, he assumed that there had to be at least some Muggle influence in his family.
He smiled over at Alex when he admitted that school work was definitely stressing him out, but there seemed to be something else, something, something he didn't want to push or prod if Alex didn't want to talk about it by himself, so Ruka just nudged Alex' side lightly, playfully, with his elbow and joined him in making a rock skip on the water.
He could see the slightly sad look on Alex' face when he talked about life on the streets with his dad, and it was nothing he wasn't used to, he just wished people would stop assuming that he had a bad life just because he hadn't had a place to stay at. "Yeah," he said with a little smile before letting himself lie down in the grass, feet still paddling in the water, fingers curling around verious flowers. "What about you? Did you have any spring rituals, growing up?"

Alex smiled as the picture came out good. Thank god it wasn’t blurry. He smiled and put it back in the bag. He noticed Ruka staring in awe. Alex tilted his head. He took the picture out of the bag again. He asked if he had grown up with muggles. He smiled sadly and nodded. ”My father. He was a muggle. He gave me this camera on my 9th birthday. He was still in China, but I was glad he gave to to me. It was originally his. When we were in China, he’d always take pictures of us, but after...” he cut himself off there. He didn’t want this to become depressing because of him. He felt Ruka nudge him and he smiled a bit and continued to skip rocks. He felt like he did something wrong when Ruka saw him looking sad. He looked at his feet again, swirling them in the water creating a pattern. He saw Ruka lay down, so he followed suit. He saw the butterfly fly off of the book and onto his arm. He smiled a bit. ”Well, my mother always said that on the first day of spring, we would go on a holiday to this one field, kind of like this one, but no lake and lots of flowers. We would have a picnic with our favorite foods. My grandparents would come as well, and it was just beautiful.” he said with a sad smile as he looked at the faint clouds in the sky.

Ruka hummed silently as he looked at the beautiful picture Alex had taken of the butterfly on the book while listening to the other boy's words curiously.
Alex sounded a little reserved, like it wasn't exactly a topic he liked talking about to just anybody, so Ruka decided not to press it too much. "You're really good at taking pictures," he said with a smile and a little bit of awe in his voice. It seemed like Alex was good at pretty much everything, and Ruka was thoroughly impressed by it. "So, you grew up in China then?" he asked curiously. He had never left Ireland before coming to Hogwarts, and the small town they usually stayed around wasn't exactly known for their diversity either, so Ruka was excited to hear about other countries, traditions and mentalities.
He just hoped it wasn't too personal a question for Alex.
He watched as the butterfly fluttered onto Alex' arm like the boy was a magnet, and it made him smile. Alex really did look like a flower child with the butterfly on the arm and the flowers in his hair. It was precious.
Ruka turned his head to properly look at Alex' face and he smiled at the little story about the picnic on a field. He turned onto his stomach, steadying his chin on his hands, elbows digging into the ground. "We should find out where the kitchens are," he said, hoping to lift Alex' spirits a bit by fantasising about some harmless adventure. "We could get whatever food we want and have our own spring picnic." He grinned, taking out his wand to cast a levitation charm on a nearby rock and drop it in the lake. "We could stay until sun down and watch the stars while snacking on some pumpkin pastries."