Twinkle, twinkle, little leaves Finished

Ginevra Tsuchiya, or "Ginny" for short, walked through the grounds of Hogwarts all by herself, enjoying the lovely scenery of autumn. She was not fond of cold weather - not at all - but still, autumn was a beautiful time to take a walk. The leaves turned to colourful red, orange, and even gold, and the air was not too hot or too cold.

Inside her head, Ginny recalled the words her mum once read to her when she was younger. She could almost hear the voice of her mother. "Autumn is interesting because of its ambiguity," Mrs Tsuchiya read in Italian from a book sent to Ginny as a Christmas present from her aunt in Rome. "For many people, it is not such a happy time because they consider autumn as a marker of the coming cold. However, for farmers, it is a wonderful time for harvesting and giving thanks."

Ginny kept on walking. Nobody was in sight - at least it seemed so to her. Thus, Ginny decided to recite a part of her favourite poem, something she did not dare to do if she knew someone was around. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," she said aloud, interpreting that the word "yellow" referred to autumn. However, she stopped abruptly as she noticed a grey-eyed girl sitting alone underneath a tree.

"Oh, hello," Ginny greeted her. "Sorry, didn't notice you were here. May I join?"

Dawn was enjoying a peaceful walk through the Hogwarts grounds as an escape from the stress of school life. The beautiful trees, flowers, and shrubs alone were enough to take one's breath away, just like the rest of the castle. But now that it was autumn, they were even more breathtaking. The trees, some still green, others a yellow-ish orange, and still others a firey red, were stunning. If you had the patience to wait and watch a tree for long enough, you might even get to see a leaf or two gently float to the ground. Sitting in the shade of a tree, Dawn opened a book.

She had barely read three pages when she heard a girl's voice (Ginny's), it was audible, but still far off. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,". Putting her book down Dawn decided to see who was speaking. She thought she recognized the voice as that of one of her fellow Hufflepuffs, but she had to see to be 100% sure. Taking a few paces at a time in the direction of the voice, Dawn continued. After maybe a minute of walking, Dawn stopped, because she heard the voice again, this time as if talking to someone, "Oh, hello, Sorry, didn't notice you were here. May I join?" Taking a few more paces, Dawn was now able to see the speaker, it was her fellow Hufflepuff, Ginevra "Ginny" Tsuchiya. Ginny was an eleven year old with shouulder-length blonde hair, pulled back in pigtails, and brown eyes, while the other girl had white hair and silver eyes. Ginny may have been in the first year, while Dawn was in the second, but she still saw her alot around the castle. The other girl was clearly a Ravenclaw, but Dawn didn't know her that well. Must be in either first or third year, Dawn thought.

Approaching the two girls, Dawn said, "Hi there girls. I hope I'm not interupting anything, but may I join your conversation?" Hoping she wasn't interupting anything, Dawn stepped forward and joined the two under the tree.

Swan wasn't a loner. She was alone so she could think. It wasn't nice when your brainstorming or train of thought was interrupted. It was like when you wrote an essay on a paper, but then you couldn't find the paper again. Back home, there was one kid who was always like that. Precisely why Swan always kept her things tidy. There had been a Homeroom grade in her primary school, and that one kids almost always failed that part. The problem was he got good grades in all the other subjects. Not a good way to boost your morale, isn't it?

Mostly, everyone would technically scream about any social studies quiz. And also about a science quiz. Everything-else-quizzes were fine, absolutely fine. For Swan at least. Everyone would normally do last-minute cramming and all sorts of stuff.

Two Hufflepuffs appeared. She didn't know the other one, but remembered one from the corridors. All Hufflepuffs are friendly, right? Maybe if I talk to them about my family, they could give me advice or help about it. Anyway, thinking alone, sometimes, wasn't enough for Swan. Sometimes, she needed a friend or two to help out.

"Oh, hello. Sorry, didn't notice you were here. May I join?" It was the girl she'd seen in the corridors a few times. Soon enough, the other girl joined in. "Hi girls. I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but may I join your conversation?" Now, the three of them sat under the tree.

"Oh, hello girls! My name is Swan Mapleleaf. What about yours?" And what if that shows up as my quote in the yearbook, if they ever have one?

@Ginevra Tsuchiya
@Dawn Riley

Ginny turned to face her senior housemate Dawn; and it was not because she preferred a fellow Hufflepuff to the Ravenclaw Swan, but because two questions were addressed to her and Dawn was the first to ask. So, Ginny decided to give an answer to Dawn before replying Swan's.

"Oh, hi, Dawn!" she said. "You're not interrupting us. And, um, actually we have not even started to chat yet. You came just in time."

After that, she turned back to Swan Mapleleaf. "Nice to meet you, Swan. I'm Ginevra Tsuchiya, but please just call me Ginny for short. And this is Dawn Riley. She's in her second year here at Hogwarts, while I'm just a first year. What about you?"

And as the girls had just started their journey on knowing each other, the fresh autumn breeze passed by and tossed the leaves about with carefree abandon. Some of the leaves showered the earth with red, yellow, orange, and even gold. The sun, too, began to step out of its chamber of clouds and smile shyly. In its light, the windows of the Hogwarts castle on the girls' background sparkled. But the beginning of their beautiful friendship sparkled through the shrubbery even more.

Dawn heard the Ravenclaw say, "Oh, hello girls! My name is Swan Mapleleaf. What about yours?" Examining the Ravenclaw, Dawn noticed that her hair was a very pale blonde, not white as she at first thought. She hadn't expected Swan's response to sound so not ticked off. Most of the Ravenclaws Dawn had seen in the halls had pretty large friend groups, so when they weren't with a friend, they usually wanted to be left alone. If you were to interrupt one of them while alone, you would usually get some kind of snobby, "Go away, can't you see I'm thinking?" Dawn was so lost in thought that she didn't notice at first when Ginny spoke to her, "Oh, hi, Dawn! You're not interrupting us. And, um, actually we have not even started to chat yet. You came just in time" She must recognize me as I recognized her, Dawn thought. Dawn didn't have time to say anything before Ginny turned to Swan and spoke again, "Nice to meet you, Swan. I'm Ginevra Tsuchiya, but please just call me Ginny for short. And this is Dawn Riley. She's in her second year here at Hogwarts, while I'm just a first-year. What about you?"

Now it was Dawn's turn to respond to both, "Hi Ginny," Dawn had seen her in the hallways and heard her name being said, she had not interacted directly with Ginny yet, but Ginny still recognized her and remembered her name, just as Dawn did, "Its nice to see another Hufflepuff out and about, I don't interact with other Hufflepuffs much outside of the house." Turning to Swan, "Nice to meet you, Swan, what year are you in?" As Dawn waited for an answer, three leaves fell from the trees nearby. The leaves were of the same hue, but two were from one tree in a shape of four trees and one was from another. Laughing to herself, Dawn wondered if these fallen leaves signified an upcoming friendship for the three girls, that even though they came from different houses, they were still the same, just young girls.

The average Ravenclaw had lots of friends and would often gather, like the Order of the Dawn. The average Ravenclaw was also annoyed when they were alone and you just randomly walked up to them with a nice greeting. Very ideal scenario with your typical Ravenclaw. It was the best to never interrupt a Ravenclaw thats alone. Thats a fact, for sure. Swan wasn't that "Get out! You just interrupted my oh-so-wonderful train of thought!"type of kid. Well, she wouldn't yell as loud as some fellow Housemates do, but it was still pretty annoying.

The girls introduced themselves as Ginevra, first year, and Dawn, second year. Swan couldn't remember the last time any house but Hufflepuff cozied up to her. Well, she did have a few Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw friends, Hufflepuff, or so she thought, was always the ones who would practically jump out of the blue.

"I'm a first year, too. It's very nice to meet you both." Anyway, if there was a problem, they'll cheer each other up. Thats what friends do. Back at primary, there was a kid who never had friends. She got bad grades, to, plus bad behaviour. Swan had felt a little sorry for her.

Nature can show you a sign of upcoming tragedy, or when friendship is about to arrive That was one thing her grandmother told her about nature. So that was why Swan liked it. It was like future sight, except that you won't exactly predict the event. Three leaves fell down, the same colour. There were four trees, so Swan assumed it was one for each House. Two were from one tree, and one was from another. Two Hufflepuffs, one Ravenclaw.

It seemed like a friendship was brewing between the three girls.

@Ginevra Tsuchiya
@Dawn Riley

Trying to break the ice, Ginny asked both Swan and Dawn, "Have you girls ever read Muggle poems before?" She showed them the book she held in her hands.

Its front cover was cream in colour and decorated with a red border which gave an impression that a khaki-coloured paper was put inside a scarlet frame. A man's photograph was printed at the centre of the book, but unlike the usual wizard portraits, the man in the picture was stationary. Above the picture, printed in clear letters, was Robert Frost's Poems.

"I went to a Muggle elementary school before attending Hogwarts," Ginny told the other girls. "One day, a teacher brought some books to my class. He told the students that whoever got a full mark on the upcoming math (oh, how she forgot that some wizards might not understand what the word 'math' meant!) test would be allowed to pick one of the books as a prize. And - well - with some luck I managed to get an opportunity to choose a book. So I chose this."

She stopped for a while, slightly embarrassed that there was a chance that either girl would find her conversation topic boring.

"I was just going to read this, but it's much nicer to share it with you. Or to chat with you about another topic."

"I'm a first-year, too. It's very nice to meet you both." Swan said. I thought so, she isn't in my year, and she looked too young to be a third-year, Dawn thought. Of the other two girls, Sawn seemed to be the only one to notice the falling leaves that Dawn noticed.

In what seemed an attempt to break the ice between the three, Ginny said, "Have you girls ever read Muggle poems before?" Ginny showed the girls the book she held. Its cover was cream in color and had a red border. There was a portrait of a man on the front cover, but unlike wizard portraits, the man wasn't moving at all. Above the portrait, there were the words, Robert Frost's Poems. Dawn had read lots of poetry at her old muggle school but never had read this particular book. Ginny then continued speaking, "I went to a Muggle elementary school before attending Hogwarts," Ginny told us. "One day, a teacher brought some books to my class. He told the students that whoever got a full mark on the upcoming math test would be allowed to pick one of the books as a prize. And - well - with some luck I managed to get an opportunity to choose a book. So I chose this." Then, pausing for a moment as if in deep thought. But then continued, "I was just going to read this, but it's much nicer to share it with you. Or to chat with you about another topic." 

Dawn now spoke, "Ginny, I love muggle poetry. I'm muggle-born, so I read it and still read it over the summers. You said that you went to a muggle school before this, most wizard kids don't, so I was wondering... are you muggle-born too?" Probably not, probably just a half-blood, Dawn thought. "Oh, and yes, I would love to share this book, but only if it's okay with Swan."

Silence. What was going to happen now? Was someone going to ditch them and leave? Was somebody else coming? Did a professor or prefect- no, of course they didn't. That would be spying, and that would be rude. Stop worrying about them. Its not like they will just come out of the blue, people. Anyway, all this thinking didn't help the fact that seemingly, there was ice in between them that prevented all of them from talking to each other.

Ginny brought out a book. The title read "Robert Frost's Poem". Swan remembered reading that before when she was in elementary. "Have you girls ever read Muggle poems before?" Ginny asked, and then she further expanded on how she got the book, and also what happened back in her primary school about the book.

Dawn answered first."Ginny, I love Muggle poetry. I am muggle-born, so I read it and still read it over the summers. You said you went to a Muggle school before, most wizard kids don't, so I was wondering... are you muggle-born too? Oh, and yes, I'd love to share the book, but only if its okay with Swan." Was that question for Ginny, me, or for both of us?

Now, it was her turn to speak. "Well, I'm a pure-blood, but I do appreciate some of the things Muggles do or have invented. Muggle poetry is one of them. I've read lots and lots in primary. We even had to make a skit about one. Anyway, go on, you can share the book, Ginny. I'd love to read it."

@Ginevra Tsuchiya
@Dawn Riley