To Reflect Back On PV | N. Shymane Closed

Carrying her bag over her shoulder, the Slytherin made her way to the Great Lake. It had become a habbit to come by nearly everyday. The view changed here often and was great for practicing landscape sketches. Her bright red hair, slid across the wind as it carried her locks every so often.

Her big fluffy scarf stayed around her neck like some sort of big shield. The weather could change here rather quickly and Nico wasn't taking any chances. The memory of the cold breeze trying to infiltrate her fluffy wall made a shiver run down her spine. She was grateful for the Scots extra scarf back then.

As she walked by the shore, she noticed a robe resting on one of the big rocks. Someone's nearby. Who could it be... Curiously but weary, Nico peeked over the rock to see a lightblonde girl. She was sitting on the edge of the rocky cliff which loomed slightly over the murky, black water of the lake. It wasn't high at all, but there was a small distance. Nico's iceblue eyes noticed that the girl seemed to have dropped something. Ouch, in the water, apparantly.

A voice inside of Nico made her curious to get to know the girl. It made her feel quite uneasy and nervous. How should she approach her? What could she ask? All these questions made her feel abit wobbly on her feet.

Did she see a sketchbook in that girls hands? If so... that could be a good start.. Nico's eyes peered down at her bag, filled to the brim with art supplies and sketchbooks. That's it.

As if she never had looked like a stalker, watching a girl from the dark, Nico carefully stepped up until a few meters from the girl. Noticing the uniform she was wearing, she was probably a Slytherin aswell. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to make some friends. She stayed abit in the shadows of a tree that stood beside the rocky floor. The sunlight was bright today and it hurt her cheeks abit.

Carefully, she cleared her throat and put a soft smile on her face. 'Is everything okey?' Her hair framed her face, like red curtains. Her blue, ice cold eyes stood out.

Koko's head snapped up as she heard approaching footsteps. She looked at the newcomer, who was a fellow Slytherin, but she was something much scarier than a Slytherin: she was a prefect. The last prefect that Koko had met was also a Slytherin prefect, but one who went by the name of Fridge. Fridge had been absolutely terrifying, and Koko hoped that this girl who was approaching her wouldn't be like Fridge.

But when Koko let her eyes scan the girl, she noticed something. This prefect was clad in a large scarf, and she seemed much less cold than Fridge. She had bright red hair and icy blue eyes that thankfully did not scream evil. Evil was not good. Evil made Koko want to sprint away, and right now she didn't want to sprint away. That meant that she should wait. If she felt uncomfortable, though, she might go ahead and do just that.

To Koko's surprise, this girl didn't seem to be cold, mean, or evil in the least. No, she seemed to actually care for the students that she was supposed to look over, and for that Koko was grateful. Koko still wasn't used to the weather in Scotland, and as she looked at the Slytherin girl, she realised how smart it was to wear a scarf. Koko was a little chilly herself, but she wasn't about to admit it. There was a slight breeze to help cool the warm spring day, and Koko had goosebumps on her arms because of it. Perhaps she would take to wearing either a jacket or a scarf. Koko wasn't sure yet, but she did know that one of those two items would certainly be useful, perhaps as useful as her combat boots. Those were very useful - they kept her feet protected, but they could also house knives.

Not that Koko would hide any knives. She was a better person than that. She followed the rules of Hogwarts. As she was pondering, the prefect's voice broke through her peace. Koko had expected her to be like Fridge and tell her to get away from the lake, but instead she did something else. Instead, she asked Koko a question.

"O-oh!" Koko exclaimed, surprised beyond measure. "Y-yes," the golden-eyed girl stammered, "It's all right. I... I just d-dropped a pencil." To someone who could read any emotion at any level, Koko would appear to be scared. And she was. She avoided detention like the plague, and she didn't want to receive detention for being too close to the Lake. "I-I'm sorry for being s-so close to t... the Lake. I... I can move." It never occurred to the little girl that the other snake might be trying to help. No, Koko always thought the worst. So of course she would apologise, and if Koko saw reason not to be scared, then she would act on it and be fearful no longer.

It seemed she had startled the girl more than she anticipated. The way she responded to her presence Nico wasn't sure what to make of it. But then it hit her: she's a Prefect. A Slytherin one so they would probably meet each other at the dorms.

The redhead would surely feel agitated and nervous too if someone with a certain status of authority appeared on the scene. The Lake was a very busy place for students to hang out at. Heck, even this Slytherin Prefect snooped around here occasionally to get a glimpse of the beautiful scenery.

'It's fine. No need to apologise.' She said waving away her apologies. This blonde girl... It seemed they weren't so different. 'You're not in trouble, hah... I hope I didn't spook you too much.' Carefully approaching the girl, she kneeled down next to her peering over the edge into the lake. The water was black, there was no way she could reach in to pick her pencil up for her. If she couldn't see it, she couldn't use a spell to lift it up.

'Ugh... I'm sorry about your pencil. I hope it wasn't an expensive one.. or one that means alot to you...' The murky waters continued to slap against the rocky shore. Nico dropped down and folded her legs into a lotus pose. 'Hold on...' Slipping her hand into her leathery shoulderbag, she fished out her pencil case. Zipping it open she showed it to the Slytherin blonde. 'Pick any one you like. I have plenty.'

It's awful when a dedicated artist loses a part of her equipment. It would put the redhead in a bad mood if it would happen to her. She didn't like to see the girl sad without it. 'Just to be clear. I'm not giving you detention. I-I come here often too. So... You're lucky it's me and not one of my colleagues.' She let out a shy giggle. 'I heard Miss Choi can be rather unforgiving..'

What Koko was not prepared for was kindness. Perhaps anything else could be considered, but never kindness. Koko wasn't used to kindness from prefects. But this girl was anything other than mean, or rude, or honestly any synonym to those words. She was actually kind.

"Uh..." Koko looked at the redhead. "N-no, not really. I just... Prefects scare me. No offense, by the way. It's not objective or anything. Just that some of you are really scary. So I guess I'm stereotyping all of you into this one large scary mob." She felt awkward now. Of course she did. Koko had just told a prefect that she was scared of prefects. It was a stupid, idiotic fear to have, but Koko had it: Prefectaphobia. Koko doubted that was a thing, but if it was, it would describe the little Slytherin in one word. Prefectaphobic.

But this one seemed a little different. "No, no, not too expensive. I can always buy another set sometime if I have to. My brother's cat eats them all the time. I don't think it's good for him..." Koko laughed during that last sentence. She was trying to make herself at ease, though she would still jump into the Lake if she had to. She was a strong swimmer, and she had staff supervision - no rule broken. She was still watching the other Slytherin carefully when the redheaded girl pulled out a bag full of pencils. Koko's eyebrows raised, not of her own accord, and she bit her lower lip. "T-that's very kind of you," Koko said softly. She picked a single pencil and smiled. "This one should serve my needs. Thank you!"

Koko shifted where she sat; a rock had dug into her leg and she needed to move for the sake of comfort. She was still letting her eyes dart between the prefect and the Lake, just to be careful. Better safe than sorry, as all the old people said, right?

Miss Choi... The name rung a bell. "Hehe, thank you for not giving me detention... I shouldn't have been close enough to let a pencil drop in. I... I suppose it's nice to see someone else who I might see passing by, be it here or in the Common Room," Koko said with a smile. "Miss Choi... I met her a few times. I... There was this one girl, who she had a bunch of nicknames for, and she called me 'Miss Kokonut'. How odd... Then again, she was known as Fridge that day. She's scary," the girl admitted, shivering a little from the memory. Fridge had smiled at her, and it had been a terrifying smile, even more terrifying than her resting cold expression. "I don't think she would hurt me, though. Hopefully." She was just paranoid. Koko didn't really trust too much authority, and she wouldn't until one of them proved their trustworthiness to her.

It then struck Koko that if this girl had a pencil case, she most certainly was either an artist or a Muggleborn who disliked quills. "Do... Do you like art?" Koko asked, closing her sketchbook gently and holding onto it tightly so that she wouldn't lose that as well, to the angry depths of the hungry Lake.

The girl seemed agitated. What did Luna do to scare her this much?

Although... Nico could imagine a few things. Luna was a rather cold person and not easy to read. Since she saw her warm side, it seemed weird to see other people being afraid of her.

'Fridge?' Nico frowned with a smile. What a silly name. Where did it come from? It wasn't a play on her name, it was something deeper than that. Possibly because... she's a cold person...

Having found the answer finally, she turned her head to the blonde. A question about art. Well, then. This was going to be interesting. It was rather ... obvious if you were a person that would risk the possibility of losing a drawing tool, that that person would be an 'artsy' person.

Nico smiled warmly. 'I- Yeh. I do. Art is amazing.' Pulling up her knees she gazed upon the Lake. 'You know... I draw too.' Winking at the girl, she patted her leathery bag. 'All my tools and paper are in here. I always carry them with me. Well, not always, but whenever I can, I carry them with me.'

She let her legs hang over the edge of the rocky surface and unclipped her bag. Swiftly, the redhead pulled out her precious sketchbook, placing it down next to the other Slytherin. 'Have a look. Actually... Art is what brought me here, to Hogwarts. They say all these kids here have a moment in there life where they show... a sign of some sort that proves they are magical to some extend. Well.. mine was my drawings.'

Brushing her hair of her ear. 'My drawings started to move one day. You know, like the pictures in the newspaper and the portraits in the halls. Just like that.' A frown formed on her forhead. 'Well.. the portraits have their own life... maybe the drawings are closer like the newspaper photos. B-But you know what I mean right?' Rambling again. A waterfall of words. This happens everytime she speaks about something she's pasisonate about. Not everyone is a big fan of it.

'Anyhow ehm.. I love art. There's nothing that's not good. Every drawing is a part of someone. An expression of once mind. It can be anything you want too! Like.. a dragon... or.. a unicorn. Everything you put your mind to.' She smiled at the girl. 'You just have to be brave.'

'Say, how about you? What do you like about art?'
Folding her legs, she watched the girl. 'What made you pick up a pencil one day?'

Koko's golden eyebrows rose as the redhead spoke. Her eyes would travel down the other Slytherin, eventually landing on the bag that the other girl was patting. So that would be where she kept all of her supplies. That was... A very good idea. Koko now wanted to buy a bag the next time she went to Diagon Alley. A bag, perhaps enchanted with a charm that let it fit anything inside it.

The other girl took out her sketchbook which immediately caught the blonde's attention. "O-oh?" she asked, "These are your drawings?" She opened the book and flipped through it, her eyes scanning the images, not with the eyes of a reader or a usual spectator, but rather with the gaze of someone who actually understood what the other had done to get this far. "That's really neat," Koko said softly in response to the girl's statement about her first act of magic. She listened as the redhead talked about art, listened as the other girl talked about the subject with such intensity that Koko knew she enjoyed it greatly.

Koko blew a lock of golden hair out of her face. "I wish I could make drawings move," she said wistfully. A smile had crossed her lips sometime as the blue-eyed girl talked, and she seemed much less apprehensive. Art seemed to calm her. "Bravery. That... That is something that I wish I had." She said it softly, as usual, but it was meant for the wind to carry it away. Whether or not her companion heard it was unbeknownst to her.

After the Dhampir asked her a question, Koko tilted her head to the side, thinking. Hm... What had inspired her to draw? "I..." Ah. Yes. It made sense now. "I think that it was after seeing my mother's drawings." No, not Rosalie. Koko's biological mother, who had sent art to Rosalie. "You could see the life in them; they weren't just pieces of paper with bits of graphite and charcoal on them. I wanted to do that." The blonde Slytherin's gaze had travelled back to the Dhampir as she spoke, still not seeming confident but seeming much less agitated. She crossed her legs, tapping the pencil on one of her calves, and she smiled."I really do apologise for my earlier fear... It might have been perceived as rude. Do forgive me, please." She did not say it in a 'begging' type of voice; rather, she said it as if she just wanted to feel content. She did, and while she still felt a little jittery, she felt as if she were ready to take a deep breath and relax.

Nico had tried to catch her breath as subtly as she could. Talking was still quite a work out for her. Defenitely whenever she spoke of something she was passionate about. It's a miracle she never passed out before. Trying to cover up her need for air, Nico gently stretched her arms out, her one hand holding on the back of the other. Taking in a deep breath, the girl could return to her normal breathing rhythm.

The fresh air did her good.

Looking over at the blonde maiden, the redhead listened to her intently. After Nico mentioned bravery, the girl seemed to look abit down. Well.. she had been looking abit down the entire time since they started talking, but it looked like it was something she had a hard time with. Bravery.

Nico didn't want to interrupt her. Maybe she'd bring it up again later. It felt nice to talk to someone about something they both felt a certain deep connection with.

Hearing the young Slytherin speak about her mother, Nico could see some light flicker in her amber coloured eyes. The little Dhampirs heart felt warm. This girl was so afraid of her, so scared. Luna, what in the world did you let this girl go through?

She apologised for her being rather afraid and cautious. It didn't offend the Dhampir. Kids in kindergarten didn't know how to act around her. She looked different. Quite different.
But ofcourse, this girl did mention her fear for Prefects since Luna scared her. Nico sighed relieved and turned her gaze towards the lake, a shy smile resting on her lips.

'That's okey. There's no need to apologise. I understand that I might look abit... scary? Intimidating?' Nico wasn't entirely sure herself. The cause of why she sometimes made people feel uneasy was still... abit of a puzzle to herself. Her parents told her it was probably because of how ethereal she looked.

Well, mom, I think this time it's just because I wear this shiny badge on my collar.

The Dhampir chuckled and scratched her chin gently. 'I'm glad you're feeling more comfortable now. I think... I'm the softest prefect in the Slytherin team right now.' Sheepishly, she smiled and scratched the back of her head. 'Oh! I- I forgot to introduce myself. I-I'm Nico. Shymane. Shymane Nico... Ehm.. Y-You can just call me Nico, hah.' Good job. You looked so mature and have-it-all-together and now you just look like an afraid little girl. Get a grip.

A flush of red appeared on her cheeks as she giggled slightly embarassed. 'Who may you be?'