Closed Nightly Wonders PV

End of 2023-2024 School Year | Late Evening Great Lake, Hogwarts

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Anticipation of a busy night was on the Ravenclaw prefect's mind as he stepped out into the castle grounds to begin one of his final patrols of the year. The air was growing warmer and that meant there were likely to be more students than often attempting to skirt the rules and stay out past curfew. He knew some could be quite stealthy but most were clumsy and easy to identify. Some were even so brazen as to light campfires.

Idiots.

Cassius shook his head with a long sigh. Any rule breaking student was a disappointment but it was the students from his own house he was most disappointed in. He was not disappointed necessarily that they were breaking rules, but that they got caught. Ravenclaws were supposed to be clever and while he did not doubt the intuition of the sorting hat, some choices had yet to have their wisdom revealed.

Luckily for him, the other houses seemed to have the slight majority of rule breakers. At least that was the anecdotal conclusion Cassius chose to believe. as the glass-like surface of the Great Lake grew in size with each step. He walked with no lantern, preferring to move with some degree of stealth as to not alert any rule breaking students that a prefect was approaching. Some patrols he even brought his invisibility cloak for added camouflage but it was too warm this night for an extra layer. His school robes and cloak were heavy enough as is.

Cassius walked for a short while along the edge of the lake, half in thought on the school year soon coming to a close. He would be a sixth year. How had time moved so quickly? It seemed like only yesterday he was casting his first charms and brewing his first potion. He had come a long way since then and his days of being a scrawny little recluse.

His train of thought was disrupted by the sounds of rocks skipping across the water. He paused and listened in an attempt to determine whether it was human or creature making the noises. Convinced it was the former, he approached the source and pushed through the brush to find a girl sitting against a tree.

"You are aware of the time, yes?" He said with a soft but firm tone, breaking the silence of the evening. As he approached closer, he could make out the features of the unfamiliar student through the dim light. She was clearly not a first year as he had expected nor one of the frequent offenders which caused him to soften his tone somewhat. "It is almost curfew," he said, eying the quickly setting sun over the lake. It was quite lovely and a view Cassius would greatly miss during the summer recess.

"What are you doing out here anyways?" He inquired, returning his attention to the girl.

Logan wasn't sure how long she had been sitting out along the Great Lake, so lost in thought she was not paying attention to her surroundings at all. Probably not the greatest idea with what creatures could potentially be in the surrounding trees but at least it was not a random creature sneaking up on her, instead it was another student. It had honestly been nice just sitting in the silence, but apparently also very dangerous if she was able to be snuck up on so easily, even if it wasn't on purpose to try and scare her.

With a yelp, Logan dropped the rock she had just picked up to skip at the sound of a sudden voice beside her. That is also what the girl realized how late it had even gotten. "Don't sneak up on someone like that." She gasped a little, hand on her chest in a weak attempt to slow her now racing heart. At the sound of his owner's voice, Sherlock removed himself from the nearby tree and sat beside the Hufflepuff.

"Sorry, I didn't even realize how late it was getting." She muttered just audibly as her heartrate finally slowed down as she ran her hand across her cat's back. "I wasn't doing anything bad, I can promise you that. Just thinking, especially being so close to the end of the year." The girl made no move to stand up, even though she should really make her way back to the school, but that would require her to have to go back and think about the real world again.

End of 2023-2024 School Year | Late Evening Great Lake, Hogwarts

Interactions: @Logan Baird Mentions: n/a

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“My apologies,” Cassius said with an apologetic tone, contrition clear in his physical mannerisms. “I am accustomed to coming upon students attempting to skirt the rules. Sometimes if I allow them to hear my approach they will flee in an attempt to avoid getting caught. It never works, of course, but they try. It just means more work for me to chase them down. Quite inconvenient.”

It really was getting late and with curfew approaching he was duty bound to continue his patrol, but her words resonated with him. He had also been ruminating on the end of the school year. It had been an eventful year that saw him not only become the captain of the duelling team but also a prefect. Quite the leap for the once shy and reserved Ravenclaw.

Cassius glanced up at the sky. The sun had not yet set. Rather, it appeared to be fixed in place and resisting the pull of the horizon that would bring night and darkness. Poetic. Like the year itself coming to a close. Cassius did not want the year to end but there was no stopping the crawl of time.

“Perhaps there is some time yet to spare. Might I attempt to make it up to you?” He asked, approaching the girl and her cat. The Ravenclaw found a grassy spot vacant of twigs and harsh undergrowth and lowered himself to the ground, sitting cross-legged. From within his robes he withdrew a brown paper bag. “Would you like a marshmallow biscuit? It is hardly extravagant picnic fare, but they are one of my favorites from Honeydukes.” He extended his arm out towards the girl, offering her the bag.

“I am Cassius, by the way. Cassius Eden.” He introduced himself with a warm smile. "What is on your mind? If you are willing to share. I have been told I am a good listener."

A quiet laugh escaped Logan at the thought of students attempting to run from a prefect. "I feel many of the younger students will do anything in an attempt to not get caught, including running across the grounds in the middle of the night like a fool." Logan had not had to patrol outside often when she had been a prefect, but there were a few occasions she had caught students wandering the halls at night and they had attempted to run away or hide from her.

Glancing down, Logan sighed softly as Sherlock softly perched himself in his owner's lap. After the scare she just had, it was quickly becoming peaceful again at the edge of the lake. Her eyes looked back out across the lake, hand running down the back of her cat as he began to purr softly.

The Hufflepuff was not expected to be offered food, especially from someone she had never met before, but she reached her hand out and took the treat carefully. "Thank you," she spoke softly in an attempt to not disturb the peace around them. She could not remember the last time she had eaten a marshmallow biscuit, preferring to stick to the butter cookies she had such an obsession with.

"Logan Baird, it is nice to meet you." She finally took her attention off of the lake and put in on the boy sitting across from her. The girl had no idea what to say at this point, did she just start speaking her thoughts to a complete stranger or just lie and say she was thinking about nothing. "Just thinking about graduation, what I am going to be doing after school. That sort of thing, but I really don't want to bother you if you have more patrols you need to do. I know I liked getting my patrols done early so I could go to bed when I was a prefect." Logan didn't want to take up the boy's time. She had hated staying up while being a prefect and preferred her sleep, one of the reason she had left being a prefect in the first place.

End of 2023-2024 School Year | Late Evening Great Lake, Hogwarts

Interactions: @Logan Baird Mentions: n/a

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ℭassius withdrew the bag once the girl had taken one of the treats, taking one himself before placing the bag on the grass beside him.

“Oh, it is no bother at all,” he commented with a dismissive wave of his hand after finishing one of the biscuits. The boy withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket to brush the corner of his mouth free of crumbs. “Truth be told, it is a welcome distraction from the petulant first years with a chip on their shoulder because they are soon to graduate,” he mused. “Just this past week I caught three attempting a midnight swim. I really should have attempted to imitate the sounds of a dugbog or grindylow to frighten them properly before confronting them.”

A gentle breeze blew through the foliage causing the tree branches to sway. The wind was calming, especially as it carried the scent of nearby flowers. “Do you have any idea what you want to pursue once you graduate?” he asked the girl. It was a question he had been pondering to some lengths himself. “I will admit it has been on my mind of late as well. Two more years and then what? We are suddenly adults with adult lives and adult responsibilities. It seems so sudden.”

What did he want to do?

It was a valid question that deserved a valid answer that he could not rightly provide. All he had was ideas and possibilities.

“I think I will travel. Perhaps see some wonders of the world before I take a position within the family business or the Ministry. The prospect of becoming an aide to some stuffy bureaucrat is less than appealing. Have you ever been on holiday abroad? This summer I will visit Finland for a short time.” With a slight grin he added, “I really need to convince mother to find more tropical holiday locales. Somewhere less cloudy than home, at least.”