A Sketch Away Finished PV Linnéa Seacloud

The kissing party that she'd attended the day before felt like a fever dream when she woke up the next morning. Linnéa still couldn't believe that she'd done that! I mean, there had been plenty of attractive people there worth kissing, but it was so far out of her normal comfortzone, she was still astounded by herself. Her cheeks still burned red thinking about it... The host- some kind of otherwordly beauty- was obviously too attractive for his own good, but it was someone else she found herself thinking of after that night... Que- UGH! Linnéa buried her face in the pillows again, nearly screaming and wanting to die. She desperately needed a distraction before she lost her fucking mind.

After sleeping in till noon and eating a very late breakfast, lunch at this point, Linnéa collected a pair of pencils one of her sketchbooks to bring out to the grounds. When her mind was scrambled with complicated feelings and thoughts, practising her arts were the best courses of action to clear her head. Today it was drawing, but the next day it might be dance. The lake was still frozen... Maybe she could figure skate one of these days, before it was too late, she thought to herself as she found a good spot to sit down in the courtyard. On a bench, partly hidden under a stone pillar where the wild vines were particularly heavy.

Slowly, she set herself up for a sketching session; opening up a new, empty page in the sketchbook, arranged her pens beside her in an order from the softest B6 to hardest H6 and got comfortable. She glanced up and looked around her, searching for a source of inspiration. The vines and stone above was pretty, but she would rather not break her neck trying to draw it. Instead her gaze settled on a boy bent over his own notebook a bit further away. He hadn't noticed her yet, but she thought he looked very pictureesque and elegant from this perspective. The way a few strands of his hair fell over his face. He was really pretty, she thought and bit her lip. It inspired her.

Grabbing a hard pencil, Lin immediately began to sketch out a rough base, glancing up once in a while to gauge her porportions before she started drawing in details. Like the sharp yet soft curves of his profile; nose, lips and chin. When it looked alright, she picked a softer pencil and filled in with shadows to add dimension. It was starting to come together. Obviously nothing too detailed, but good for what it was: a quick sketch. It was right on time, because the next time she looked over at her muse, he'd closed the notepad and was now staring ahead. Thinking he was about to leave soon, she hurriedly added the finishing touches. A bit too messy for her usual tastes, but from another pair of eyes it might just look like a deliberate choice for stylization.

She looked over her work, satisfied with the outcome despite the circumstances. It had to be, otherwise she wouldn't have approach him to give it to him, if she didn't think it did him justice. That's what she did. Carefully ripping off the page, so it wouldn't break, she grabbed her stuff and walked over to the boy, holding on to the drawing.

"Hi," she approach carefully, with a friendly smile on her face. "I know we don't know each other, but I thought you looked really nice sitting with your journal, so I drew this," holding out the drawing for him to take. "You can have it if you want." It would be a little weird to keep a picture of a stranger, at least now when he knew she had made it.

@Eldred Grayswell

The grass slowly tried to regain its green color, despite the still frosty weather. Eldred stared at the meadow in front of him, contemplating what he should do next. He could, theoretically, start over. Tear the page, crumple it, and throw it away in hearth of the Gryffindor Common Room—so that no one would find it. The other option was perhaps just crossing out the word and writing ‚Flower correctly‘ behind it.

Eldred was just about to look down to see how likely it was that the second plan would succeed when the ‚Hi‘ pulled him out of his thoughts. He lifted his head and looked straight into the face of a girl. Her long, wavy, honey-blonde hair melted away Eldred‘s furrowed brow and frustration. His first thought was: enchanting.

Before he knew it, she had already started speaking again, explaining herself and holding out a piece of paper to him. Eldred felt briefly overwhelmed by the information that she had drawn him. For that, she must have had to look at him, for a long time , didn‘t she?
He briefly wondered if he had perhaps done something silly in the last hour.
He hoped by Merlin's beard that he hadn’t been staring at the paper with a grumpy face!

"Hi-" he repeated briefly, greeting her back. His face took on a neutral expression. In a second of curious glancing, he looked down at the paper to examine the drawing in question. What he saw before him was by no means himself with a grumpy face! The picture was overflowing with talent - it truly was a piece of art. Eldred could only judge it as an amateur, but to him, it was more than fantastic! The last bits of tensed expression dissolved immediately.
Fascination tugged at the corners of his mouth, pulling them into a smile. His gray eyes sparkled, and the boy’s head quickly lifted back up. A few more dark brown strands of hair fell onto his forehead, but Eldred didn’t care. She had succesfully pulled him out of the melancholic, frustrated mood he had been in for an hour.

"You’re incredibly talented! I can’t believe you drew this! Would you like to sit down with me?", he asked and looked in to the icy-blue eyes.

The way he looked at her at first, shock in his piercing grey eyes- and maybe something else she couldn't quite place- made her feel a bit embarrassed. Maybe she'd gone too far... They didn't know each other, as she'd just said. Linnéa tucked her hair behind her ear, not sure what to do with herself while she waited for a response. Should she just leave? Before she made a fool out of herself? More than she already had, I mean. But that soon turned into a feeling of fluttering pleasure, because as soon as he saw the drawing, his face lit up in amazement.

"Oh, thanks, it's nothing really," Linnéa said humbly but still unable to stop the grin on her face, feeling the sudden need to downplay her talents when he complimented her so kindly. "But I thought you were leaving so I didn't have much time to add more details." It was difficult to accept compliments when she knew that it hadn't required that much time or energy to warrant a response like that, but she was happy that he seemed to like it. I suppose it was kind of nice, if not a bit simplistic.

He, the boy she still didn't know the name of, invited her to sit with him. Surprised, she nodded and brushed her skirt beneath her as she sat down. Glancing at him, she said: "Sorry, I still don't know your name. I'm Linnéa. Hufflepuff," pointing at the her robes that wore her house colors. It was a bit of an odd timeline; drawing a person first, before even learning their name. He was a Gryffindor though, that much she could gather by only looking at him. The boy seemed a bit shy... or perhaps reserved was a more appropriate word? Different from the Gryffindors she did know. All of them very social and confident, some extremely arrogant. However, she supposed she would also think of herself as hot shit if she looked like a supermodel or something. If it wasn't clear already, Linnéa was very self-critical.

"I saw you were drawing and writing stuff in your notebook before, do you mind sharing?" Curiously, she nodded to the closed book in his lap and then held up her own, offering a trade. "You can look through mine if you want." The rest of her sketchpad was mostly filled with still life and watercolor paintings of horses, one of her biggest passions.

@Eldred Grayswell

She looked incredibly pretty to Eldred, with her blonde hair and blue eyes. He just loved blonde hair in general. It reminded him of Honey, Gold, Sunflowers and dull hay. All of those things were items he enjoyed seeing included in wreaths, too. Despite her natural prettiness, she didn’t come across as arrogant, which surprised him! Until now, Eldred hadn’t had much luck meeting other normal students. Her modest reaction only confirmed that Eldred liked the girl right away. She seemed nice and, judging by the picture, very talented!

He was immediately happy that she accepted his invitation to sit. The very orderly and calm boy waited until she was seated. Eldred had no problem talking to strangers. His self-confidence was healthy, which is why it wasn’t difficult for him to look her directly in the eyes and keep the smile on his face. She didn’t make him nervous—she wasn’t a tease or one of those arrogant people who got under his skin lately.

Eldred’s body tension relaxed a bit. He leaned on one of his arms and watched her as she spoke. The student introduced herself as Linnéa and briefly gestured to her house crest on her uniform. The boy’s gaze lingered a bit longer on the yellow color. Hufflepuff, that was his mother’s house and the reason he had been given yellow slippers to bring to Hogwarts. She had probably hoped he would follow in her footsteps. The boy briefly imagined what Hogwarts would have been like if he had. He imagined he might have met the blonde student earlier. His eyes returned to hers.

They lingered there while she spoke. He listened to her until the end.
It was important to him that she could finish saying everything she wanted to. So Linnéa was her name.
“Nice to meet you, Linnéa. I’m Eldred Grayswell. Gryffindor, as you’ve probably already have noticed.”

The question of whether she could see what he had been working on was easy to answer. The answer would be a clear no. The content was too private. Still, he didn’t let that disrupt his newly found calm, as he didn’t want to come off as rude. He briefly thought about how to explain it best and decided to stick with the truth. People who can’t respect that, don’t need to be treated kindly anyways! He hoped she would be understanding it.
“No, I’m sorry. It’s kind of like a diary. If it weren’t so private, I’d definitely show it to you!” he smiled a bit more charmingly, trying to get the point across, that he didn‘t say no out of any other reason.

Since it was an exchange offer, though, he first held out his hand with the palm facing up to her book. She should decide for herself whether it was okay for her, even without an exchange from his side.
“I’d still like to see yours, if that’s okay?”

Eldred, as the boy was called, rejected her offer to trade books. Linnéa was honestly disappointed, but tried to not let it show so much. Obviously she couldn't make him show her the stuff he'd been writing and drawing- maybe it was really private stuff in there, but it still kind of sucked, since it had felt like an easy way to bond. Now the girl was left a little embarrassed for being so straight forward, not sure how to proceed without making the whole situation more awkward. At first it had felt like a good idea, now she just felt stupid. "Oh, alright. I wouldn't judge, but that's okay..." Lin forced a sheepish smile, silently wondered what she should do now. Merlin,that was dumb of her. Should she still sit here, or excuse herself?

Before she could do either, Eldred told her that he'd still like to look at her drawings if she was okay with it. The reason for her asking in the first place hadn't been to show off her own work- it would just have been fair if he'd let her look at his. However, there wasn't necessarily anything to hide in the book, so she nodded, albeit hesitantly.

"Ugh, yeah okay, it's not my best work though. Be warned," she tried to lower his expectations for her own sake and handed the book to him. Maybe he was way more talented, and would laugh at it? It was not likely, but who knew! When he opened it, Linnéa glanced away to study a nearby beetle crawling on the ground, finding it too cringe to watch passively while he scrutinized her drawings.

Once in a while she got too curious to see what he was looking at and couldn't resist sneaking a glimpse. She knew them by heart of course, but it was interesting- and cringe- to see which ones he found more interesting. If it were the flower studies, minimalistic horse portraits, birds with colorful plumage or her architectural drawings. She enjoyed drawing those, but there was still alot to learn. It wasn't her strongest suit.

"I know you don't want to show it to me... but what do you like to draw or write about?" Maybe he could at least tell her something about it, to make conversation.

@Eldred Grayswell

Eldred was glad that she had entrusted him with the book and understood what he meant. At least that iswhat the boy thought.
He elegantly placed it on his lap and began to examine its contents thoroughly. It sparkled in the gray of his eyes. He looked at the lines, colors, and compositions. Then, with great care, he placed his hands on the paper and turned the page.

Eventhough he was focusing on the sketches, what she said should not go quietly unnoticed! He continued to listen to her and answered in a calm tone, while the smile and the glimmer in his eyes never left his face.
„Linnéa, you’re brilliant, you draw everything so incredibly well. I wish I had even half the talent you do…,“ suddenly, he realized she had said ‚I wouldn’t judge you.‘, and Eldred felt the need to comment on it back.
„I didn’t assume you would judge me for anything. It’s just really personal, I write stuff about feelings and family, and how Valentine’s Day went, for example... I just disguise it like a newspaper entry I‘d work on, because I really like reading the Daily Prophet.“

Eldred turned the page again. His gaze fell on a study of flowers. The leaves were drawn so organically that they captured the dynamics of a summerbreeze, which was embracing leafes and petals of a meadow – or so he envisioned.
The boy leaned slightly forward, examined the sketch, and lost his expression. Instead, a noticeable fascination slowly spread across the calm face of the Gryffindor.

„I wish I could do that too...“ which was the perfect start for him to answer her question next, „I also like drawing plants. I usually don’t like flowers, but a guy gave me a peony for Valentine’s Day, and somehow I think it’s actually quite a lovely one..“

Subsequently, Eldred lifted his head. An intensity flashed in his eyes, because an idea had came to the boy‘s mind. „Linnéa, could you show me how you draw something like this? I would love to learn from you, please“
The young Gryffindor wasn’t sure if she would agree. By now, she seemed a little shy, or maybe just not confident in herself. She talked too much about how these weren’t her best works. Meanwhile, If Eldred could draw like that, he’d probably tack it to the wall for everyone to see.

His praise both made her want to sink into the ground and stimuntaniously start to fly and dance away in the sky, torn between loving hearing it, and feeling like it wasn't deserved. "Thanks. I'm sure you could, if you just practised enough. I've done if for a long time." Then again, she hadn't seen his work and therefore didn't know what he had to work with, but her skills were mostly due to simply hard word. Unfortunately, things weren't just served her, like some people just seemed naturally lucky. Of course, some might say that Linnéa herself was delusional for not realising her own privliges and talents, but it was difficult for her to see it from that point of view. At least at her age. Anyway, the compliments did make her loosen up a bit in his presence. She leaned back, comfortably while they watched the drawing together instead.

At the mention of something happening on Valentines Day, her interest piqued. It sounded like something special had happened, perhaps related to another classmate. Not even Linnéa was immune to gossip, though she rarely- never- spread any of the secrets she did find out about. Well... at least not out of malice. "What about Valentines?" She couldn't help but ask, curiously, if he felt comfortable sharing. Either way, the question was out. Whether or not he wanted to tell her was up to him.

It didn't take long before he followed up with ther story, some if of it anyway. Seeing her flower drawings, he told her about some guy that had given him a peony flower on valentines day, and it had apparently changed his view on flowers. Why he didn't like flowers was a different question. What was not to like? Anyway, her eyes widened, a cheeky grin spreading on her face at the context of the story. Linnéa bumped her shoulder against his and did a teasing 'aww', sound. All in good humor, of course. "Oh-la-la! Sounds like he was trying to flirt with you, or? Did he just randomly gift you one?" That sounded really cute, all the same. Wonder who it could be? "Well, how did you feel about that? Is it someone I know?" How on earth Eldred would know about her friend circle, she didn't consider at the moment.

"I didn't get any gifts for Valentines, but I was at a party... And... well..." How did she even begin to describe the clusterfuck that had been the kissing party? She almost regretted even starting the sentence, but Eldred had trusted her enough to share something with her. A bit embarrassed, licking her lips and biting back a revealing smile, she admitted: "The whole purpose of the party was to kiss each other, so... well, I didn't leave the night completely empty handed." Just not with material gifts.

Regarding if she could teach him how to draw like that, she shrugged. "Yeah, I mean I could try. I haven't been a teacher before, but we could maybe get together at the library and draw together sometime? I could show you how I draw flowers."

@Eldred Grayswell

Eldred liked her. He realized that the moment she seemed to relax and the ‚Oh-la-la‘ slipped out. The Gryffindor boy listened attentively to every word she said. From time to time, he glanced down at the sketch of the flowers and admired her work again.

He was already thinking about the best way to answer all of the questions to her. Eldred didn’t want to get anyone into trouble. Although he thought the idea of a party with kissing was strange, he didn’t want anyone to have negative consequences from the professors over it.
Surely, no one was being forced to attend, and Eldred himself might have liked to go, just to peek in and see who would show up to this silly thing.
He loved gossip and the curiosity was tearing him apart, not knowing who would voluntarily attend such a meeting!

Eldred was still thinking, but then the information about a party and her response to teaching him followed. His excitement faded, and instead, the boy looked at Linneá.
There was no judgment on his face, no negative expression. However, he looked far too interested and focused. He leaned in slightly, lowered his voice, and spoke more quietly to her.

"I’ll answer everything, I promise, but first I need to ask you something... Are you talking about Sebastian Drake’s party?" Eldred raised an eyebrow.
If this was the party, he was very surprised that she had gone. Linnéa seemed so sweet, so grounded and humble, and almost unsure of herself! Did she hide some superficiality behind her eyes? Eldred briefly tried to find something of it in the icy-blue color — but it was in vain, he found nothing.

Honestly, she wasn't as surprised as she maybe should have been, when Eldred asked her about the party, revealing that he was aware of it. Maybe he wasn't the only one. Maybe it was common knowledge at this point that there had been a kissing party, hosted by Sebastian Drake? That would also mean that everyone knew, sooner or later, that Linnéa had been at said kissing party. A mere first year. The thought was a bit nervewracking. The girl had been very much inexperienced in terms of kissing before that night, and wasn't sure what she would think if the rest of the student body got the wrong idea about her. However, would people really care? She was hardly a celebrity at this place. Barely had enough friends to count on one hand. Perhaps the embarrassment was prompted by the way Eldred seemed to study her closer. Not exactly disgusted, but clearly surprised since the image Sebastian portrayed was the opposite of how Linnéa portrayed herself. Something in the energy did shift when she told him about it. Hopefully it wasn't negative things.

She leaned in closer, matching his energy, until they were practically whispering in each other's faces. "Yeah, obviously! Who else would host a party like that?" Linnéa giggled, as if the answer was obvious.

Of course she didn't know Sebastian that well personally, except on a lips basis, but what other eleven year old would have the audacity to do it? Mostly inviting only girls aswell. Quentin had been there, but if she hadn't forced him along as emotional support, Sebastian would have been the only guy- the star of the show. As he kind of was anyway. Linnéa liked both boys and girls, but it seemed like most of the girls at the party had been fighting over the him.

Even Quentin had seemed a bit annoyed by being reduced to watching it unfold. Only further confirming that something wasn't normal about him! Not only was he ridiciously attractive, and she'd felt compelled to go to the party when he flashed her that smile, but girls were going crazy in his presence.

They were so close at this point that she could smell freash schampoo and something she assumed to be toothpaste. The courtyard was mostly empty, so she wasn't sure what they were whispering for. "How did you know about it? All the girls assumed he only invited girls to be the center of attention." In which case, he suceeded. Honestly, it had been a bit comical to watch. Linnéa laughed a bit recalling the event; shamless flirting and fighting for attention. Even if he did invite guys, o one had clearly been interested enough to attend.

@Eldred Grayswell