Feeding the crows

»»————-　✼ @Flac Flintshire ✼ 　————-««

Creatures.. one of the few things at Hogwarts that had been calming to Lark since arriving. Not to mention a great place to hide out and sketch in silence. Or some silence anyway, often she found herself still trying to hold a conversation with some of the creatures that made for better company than some of her peers.

Gripping the leather bound journal tighter in her hands, the young Ravenclaw bounced her way down towards the area that Magical Creatures was taught. Already it sounded like the crows were having their own meeting, often something Lark enjoyed taking part in.. they made for great drawings. Turning the corner down the pathway, Lark paused as her eyes settled on a figure. A boy she did not recognize was sitting with the crows. Honey blonde hair, hunched in a seated position upon his own perch. She didn't want to intrude but... did have to unfortunately walk by him on her way to the stables.

Slowly making her way over to the boy, Lark tried not to scare off the crows. Some rising into the trees while a handful, she assumed ones she often fed, stayed by the boy and watched her cautiously. Keeping a slight distance from him, Lark tried to peer down at him.

"Are you... are you alright?" she asked hugging her journal closer to her chest.

@Lark Flaer

Flac raised his head hastily, so hastily, that the drop from his nose lost contact and fell down onto the letter in his hand. But he did not notice yet, as his attention was captured by the girl that interrupted his difficult decision regarding the missing handkerchief. After a quick glance over her face he cleared his throat and tried to smile friendly, but it came out as a weirdly painful looking grin which disappeared quickly, as he realized, how it would look to the girl. To not scare her away he quickly decided to reply: "Sure, I am alright, but do you uhm... Do you coincidentally have a tissue I could borrow?"

Now, having this urgent question out of the way he took his time looking at the girl, trying not to stare openly. It was still uncommen for him, to talk to kids and he wanted to know, wether she answered like the adults he mostly talked to. Studying her pose he figured, that she probably was rather timid, but he was not sure, if he was right. Maybe she was just hiding something? Well, he thought, that hair will certainly take most attention away from what she is potentially hiding.

Her hair really fascinated him, as he knew nobody with dyed or otherwise unnaturally colored hair. But apart from her hair, he was most interested in her answer, waiting impatiently for it.

»»————-✼ @Flac Flintshire ✼————-««

Lark jumped slightly as the boy raised his head, she hadn't meant to startle him.. or herself. She raised an eyebrow at the boy as he gave her an odd look... Was he upset? Lark shifted her weight to one hip and started to think of how to slip away in case he actually was angry with her.

"Sure, I am alright, but do you uhm... Do you coincidentally have a tissue I could borrow?"

Lark blinked at his response. Maybe he wasn't upset after all, or at least not with her. Studying his face she noticed the skin around his eyes was red and cheeks appeared to be flushed, splotchy almost as if he had been crying. 'Oh no.. Realizing maybe there was more going on she felt that it was best for her to help in anyway she could.

"I uh.." Had she a handkerchief? Her father always mentioned keeping one at hand... and she often kept a plethora of things in her leather bag, just in case! "Let me see." Pulling on the leather strap across her chest, she drew her bag in front of her and dug into the larger pocket. If she were lucky there might be.... Aha!

"I actually do have one!" She gave a soft laugh being surprised at herself for once again being more prepared than she anticipated for just such an occasion. She held the limp piece of fabric in her hand. "Oh but it's well... I hope ye don't mind." Lark bit at her lower lip as she walked closer to the boy, offering the handkerchief out to him. As with most of her things... it was... pink. There was a small embroidered L.A.F on one of the corners that her Gran had done, she honestly had forgotten about it never having used it herself.

"I'm Lark." The young Ravenclaw brushed back some stray bits of fringe that had fallen in her eyes, neatly tucking them behind her ear. "What's your name?"

@Lark Flaer

After watching her search with his fingers crossed, the small boy shaked his head and quickly took the pink fabric, cleaning his nose, then looking to Lark again, a sense of relief in the grey eyes. "I am sorry for that. I will give it back, as soon as it is clean again." He then jumped from his little seat and gave Lark his small hand, shaking her hand firmly, although a bit stiff, as he was trying to mimic a formal greeting. "My name is Flac. Flac Flintshire." With brightened eyes he then took his hand back, smiled and took a quick look at the girl again.

"You are a first year too, aren't you? But why is your hair so colorful? I have never in entire my life seen hair of this color. It looks like your hair aged prematurely, but then someone threw a glass of ink over it and stains of that ink remained. But not in a weird or bad way, more like bleached Fwooper feathers."

Completely carried away by his racing associations and thoughts Flac nearly forgot how to close his mouth again, when he finally stopped speaking. However, he did not get embarrassed by that as many might get, but rather streched comfortably. Fearing what the girl could think of him did not even crossed his mind - one of the reasons he has not hesitated to use the pink handkerchief prior to their more formal greeting. The other one being, that he was mostly oblivious of what pink could stand for.

But none of this thoughts crossed his head as he waited for the answer of the oddly haired which, Lark, as he remembered.

»»————-✼ @Flac Flintshire ✼————-««

The stiff handshake wasn't something Lark had expected. It seemed rather formal... perhaps he was a Pureblood? Not that Lark had interacted with others her age until Hogwarts, so she had nothing to base this off of... but it seemed more formal than the greetings she received from everyone else so far.

"No worries." Lark waved a hand at the mention of returning the hanky. She wasn't worried about the boy not returning it but it was a nice gesture.

"My name is Flac. Flac Flintshire."

Closing the flap on her bag and adjusting it back behind her right hip, Lark smiled. "I am!" She gave a nod to his question on being a first year and sort of laughed as his second question came into conversation. "Ah that.. well.." Lark tried to hold back a giggle at how enthusiastic Flac sounded about her hair. It probably was strange.. and it wasn't until recently even she understood why it was so different.

"T..thanks." She felt her cheeks flush at the partial compliment. Fwooper's did have rather pretty coloring, at least she thought so. Clearing her throat she realized she hadn't really answered his quizzical rant about her hair color. "I'm actually a metamorphmagus." It felt strange. This was the first time she had really told anyone outside her circle of friends about it. Not that a lot of other's hadn't guessed it, but stating it more as a fact so openly was new to her.

"Sooo.." She drew out the word for a moment and looked down to where the crows had once been and Flac had perched. "Everythin' a'right?" Her Irish accent settling in a little thicker than normal whenever she had a serious tone to her voice. She didn't want to bring up any bad thoughts for the boy but it seemed rather important to him.

@Lark Flaer

To hear the girl trying to hold back a giggle and seeing her smile did wonders to cheer Flac up, and as the color rised into her cheeks, a cheeky grin appeared on his face. It still looked kind of odd, as his eyes were still red and a bit swollen, but at least it was honest and not forced.

"That's fantastic!" The boys eyes lit up even more. To meet something he has learned about in a boring book happend a lot these days, but he was blown away every single time.

"That must come in handy really often, doesn't it? If you don't want to talk to someone or something like that?" Flac really, really worked hard to hold himself back, to not hold a hourlong monologue of what one could do with that kind of power. 'She has them.', he thought, 'she knows best what she can do with them. No need to tell her.

First, Flac only recognized the accent, not necessarily as Irish, but as foreign, and smiled, the question where she was coming from on his lips already. But then his brain made sense of the words and he exhaled audibly.

"It should be, I guess. It's only, that my parents have sent me a letter and said my dog died."

Trying to sound calm and collected maybe worked for the first half of his answer, the rest he started fighting against the tears again, already searching for the pink handkerchief, he received from Lark.

»»————-✼ @Flac Flintshire ✼————-««

So far people had been accepting and even excited about her abilities but with how they came to be known to Lark herself it had been anything but a good thing. Another smile parted her lips as Flac spoke.

"It should be, I guess. It's only, that my parents have sent me a letter and said my dog died."

The wind rushed from Lark's chest at the boy's reply. She shouldn't have pried.. Lark watched Flac closely realizing he seemed on the verge of tears again. "I'm sorry.." she said quietly, squeezing the leather strap to her bag. Should she reach out and comfort him? Lark was never good with this sort of thing when she didn't know the other person well enough.

"It's hard losing something so important." Lark said, part of her knowing the feeling all too well especially recently. "It's okay y'know.." Lark bit the corner of her lip and rubbed her arm nervously. "Ta be sad about it, I mean." If she had learned anything so far at Hogwarts it was that grief wasn't something to run from... especially with how young they all were. After the Ball so many things were different and many of her friends still seemed to be grieving.. in their own way.

Lark walked past the boy and took a seat on one of the rocks near where Flac had originally been sitting. "I don't blame ye for comin' out here." She gave a smile and dug through her bag once more pulling out a small brown bag. "I used ta come out here a lot too, ta think." Shaking the bag towards Flac she gave a grin. Typically she carried some sort of treats for the owls and ravens out behind the stables, but today was the crows lucky day.

"It's - well, it was - just a dog. It should not be that important, that he died. There will be more dogs in my life." That these words were not what he really felt was painfully obvious, but not to Flac. Slowly he followed Lark.

"I always search the company of animals when I am really emotional. I don't know why, though. I mean, they will never answer or something and you can't even pet most of them." He thought about it briefly. "I guess, it's just that the crows are all I got here reminding me of home." Slowly, while speaking and simultaneously blinking furiously he managed to calm down a little. Nethertheless the pink hanky had to do his duty bevor the boy put it back into his pocket.

"But you seem pretty investet in that." Flac then diagnosed with a curious note in his voice, but not eager to pressure Lark into explaining. She probably would not either way and I was not curious enough to risk being alone here again.

"Oh, you are prepared." Flac smiled. "The poor crows will get fat if this happens to often, I fear." Then he shut his mouth, as the first birds came close in search of their food.

»»————-　✼ @Flac Flintshire
✼ 　————-««

Eventhough Flac's response had seemed like a brush off to the subject, Lark gathered from the look on his face the companion wasn't 'just a dog.' Not that she ever had a pet but grew up around various creatures and enjoyed them a great deal, she understood how deep bonds could be formed with them regardless of words.

"I do the same.. I came out here a lot at the start of the year." Lark smiled as she recalled her first couple weeks at Hogwarts. "It does sorta stink we can't get closer to some but... just having their company is great." She nodded in approval. Whether she came out here seeking refuge from loneliness or wanted to sketch some of the animals she was never disappointed with her time at the stables. As Flac mentioned the crows becoming fat from the feed, Lark laughed again.

"You're prolly right." Opening the bag she pulled out some of the mixture of seed, dried fruits and the occasional grub. Something her father had used back home and owled to her upon request. "Not that they'll mind. In fact it might be sorta cute." She grinned and gave another soft laugh at the thought of a chubby crow sitting atop a tiny branch. Tossing out some of the feed a handful of crows found their way back, greedily hopping around after the bits of grub.

Lark watched the crows gather, thinking of what else to say to the boy. She wasn't sure if she should leave him to his own devices or if he was grateful for the company. "So.. what house are ye in?" She couldn't be sure from his attire which seemed more casual than their standard uniform. "I got sorted into Ravenclaw which so far has been amazing. I've met a lotta wonderful people." the faces of her friends immediately coming to mind and making her smile brightly.

"My Pa and his family were mostly Hufflepuff...I think he was hoping I would get sorted there but my Ma is happy..." Her voice trailed off. "I think." She added quietly after a moment.