Searching For Friendship in the Great Hall Closed

Interacting with @Carter Bradshaw
Mentions: @Janet Jackson and @James Cadwell

Ariana scanned the great hall as she walked in, her green eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to find her friends among the big crowds of people. She beamed as she spotted James and Janet waving at her and moving forward she saw her group sitting at the table along with most of her fellow gryffindors, many of which shouted congrats to her getting on the quidditch team as she passed. Smiling, her face flushed with happiness, she rushed forward to sit next to Janet, whose plate was well... quite full. "Your gonna eat all that?" Ariana asked in amusement, as she swung her legs over the bench to sit down. "What? oh.. well i'm hungry" Ariana laughed and put her school bag down next to her, "Anyways, have you met any new people around here?" They were all still very new first years, and although Ariana had met a fair few people around, she still was looking for new people to help and new friends to make. "Im not hungry" She turned and said this to Janet, who shrugged, her mouth half full of mashed potato. Ariana scanned the great hall again, craning her neck to get a view over the tops of people heads, her eyes landed on a ravenclaw first year boy, who looked quite at a loss of what to do, this was natural when you first started and took some time to get used to depending on the person. Ariana beamed, delighted at the thought of making a new friend. “See ya in a second!” She called her friends as she left, swinging her satchel onto her shoulder, brushing her long brown hair out of her eyes and dashing to the table where the ravenclaw boy sat, leaving her friends looking bemused. Ariana sat down opposite him, he looked up at her arrival and Ariana noted his delicate green eyes, no wait were they blue? He looked kind, and confident, she wondered, and she put her hand out to greet him.
“Hello! I'm Ariana Walker, what's your name?!”

He looked up and smiled to her. She seemed upbeat and friendly and her demeanor was infectious. Plus, that and he was tired of sitting alone. She had a pretty name, he thought, and that made him realize he needed to introduce himself still. “Carter Bradshaw. Nice to meet you.” She sat down, her bag tipped over onto the long table and some of the contents spilled out. There on top was a quidditch magazine of hers. “Qu...Quid...Quidditch?” He asked curiously. It was a word he never had seen nor heard before. Surely from the photo on the cover it was some kind of sport and that intrigued him, especially since he himself liked sports, at least futball. “Sorry,” he laughed. “Sometimes easily distracted. It’s nice to meet you.”

The things that had spilled over towards his end of the table he helped gather up and hand over to her. But he looked down and saw that he had gathered up one of his notebooks with her things so he took it back and placed it over on his side. “Lord, you’re going to think I’m a clumsy twit at this rate.” He smiled though, able to laugh at himself.

“Qu...Quid...Quidditch?” He asked curiously. “Sorry,” he laughed. “Sometimes easily distracted. It’s nice to meet you.” Ariana beamed at him "you've never heard of quidditch before?" Her expression turned to amazement. He leant forwards to help her collect up her things, "Thanks" She said. He saw that he had accidently gathered up one of his notebooks with Ariana's so he took it back and placed it over on his side.“Lord, you’re going to think I’m a clumsy twit at this rate.” He smiled though and Ariana smiled back, his smile was infectious. "Don't worry, I think clumsiness is kinda cute!" She giggled, then realised what she said and clasped both her hands over her mouth. She stared down at the table and felt her cheeks go red. “Anyway,” she continued, trying to cover up her embarrassment, "you asked about quidditch?" she lifted her head up and her green eyes sparkled with excitement, she loved explaining about the things she loved, "It's amazing! Its like a sport, but played on brooms. Im a beater for the gryffindor quidditch team!" And off she went, explaining the rules of the games, and the different teams, until she realised that she might have been talking too much. She paused "Sorry, I have a terrible habit of jabbering on, sometimes it's annoying" She glanced up at him, but the boy didn't seem to mind her talkative nature, instead he smiled at her. Ariana noticed that most people were clearing out of the hall now. "Hey you don't suppose you wanna go for a walk or something?" She asked timidly, hoping he would say yes.

@Ariana Walker

Carter stood up, ready to instantly take her up on that offer. That smile of hers was rather irresistible and he glanced down to his bag, trying to hide his smile in response. Sure, he may only be a first year but he had already held fondness for the female gender. “A walk sounds really nice.” The two left the table and headed out of the Great Hall and into the corridors. “One of my favorite things so far about this place is the grounds.”

Down the corridor, the two headed out of the entrance and onto the cobble stone walkway that lead to the grounds. It was a wonderful evening, with a gentle breeze.

Hogwarts had a way of just seeming magical even when nothing around them at that given time was magical, or maybe it was just him anticipating what the year was going to bring.

He glanced over to her. She was athletic, intelligent, friendly, and beautiful. She was the type of person that he wanted to get to know more. “Tell me about yourself,” he started the conversation. “Who exactly is Ariana Walker?” He wanted to know it all...her past, her family, her future ambitions, her hobbies. Anything she wished to share.

@Carter Bradshaw
“Tell me about yourself,” Ariana glanced over to see Carter slightly smirking at her “Who exactly is Ariana Walker?” Ariana giggled to herself. "Well, if you must ask Bradshaw, I am quite adventurous and daring, I guess that's why i'm in gryffindor. I can also be impatient though, and I have a temper, which sometimes gets me into trouble, I know" She turned and smiled at him. "that's another thing" she laughed, " I have a knack of getting into trouble, even when i don't mean to, I mean I like playing pranks, and making jokes. I guess that's just my nature."

They stopped at a bench in the ground, Ariana sat down, the tangled ivy hanging above them, like decorations, "magical isn't it?" she turned to Carter and looked him in the eyes, they somehow shone, even in the darkness, and there was something comforting about them, Ariana felt at ease with him, happy and content. "I also come from a big family, I live in London with my mum and my dad and i am the youngest of 7 brothers, so i've always had them to rough me up, they care a lot for me though" The breeze blew lightly around them,"We spend most of our summers playing quidditch in the backyard. It's really fun, I should teach you" She grinned at him, bursting into laughter at the look on his face, "you'll enjoy it! It's kinda like football or soccer!" She punched him playfully on the arm, "as for my future ambitions, well I wanna be an auror like my parents, it's an awesome job, you get to go on tons of cool adventures. If not, then probably a quidditch player" She paused, thinking, "yeah, I guess i'm good at that '' The sun had started to set and the fiery red sky blazed brightly letting out streaks of pink and yellow along the horizon.
"What about you, Bradshaw? Tell me about yourself"

He was glad she was so open to talking to him and sharing about her family. She seemed to come from a nice one and that made him happy for his new friend.

“Myself? Well...there isn’t all that much to tell, Walker,” he smiled brightly because of how she called him by her last name.

“There really isn’t. I’m from Oxford, England...where The University of Oxford is. My father is a professor and head there. It’s what he spends all his time doing really. I’m pretty much always alone at the house. My mum walked out when I was little. Four. No siblings.”

He continued, “I like soccer as well, and drawing and writing. I want to be a historian and discover things and record them. It’s been hard to find time though for what I want to do because my father places such high expectations on me. Always wanting me to be better, know more, do what he thinks I should be doing.”

He turned and looked at her. “It‘s not bad...it’s just lonely. I had some friends back home that helped that void and now...I’m glad I’m meeting ones like you here to keep that going. I don’t like being alone. I want to feel like I matter to someone.”

She watched him intently as he spoke“It‘s not bad...it’s just lonely. I had some friends back home that helped that void and now...I’m glad I’m meeting ones like you here to keep that going. I don’t like being alone. I want to feel like I matter to someone.” He said, and she smiled softly at him. "Well now that were friends, you matter to me" She looked up at him and grabbed his hand "I don't ever want you to feel alone, you got me, remember that and..." she paused tilting her head slightly to the side, "Im glad I met you too Bradshaw" Laughing she clapped her hands together, "Well our friendship is official!" She announced standing up and giggling, "We better get up to the castle, its getting late" She grasped his arm and tried to pull him up from the bench, "Awww come on Carter, your not gonna be lazy are you?" she fake pouted giggling and she let go, and bent down to tie her laces, "Race ya there!" She cried out, jumping up suddenly so that her long brown hair was whipped out of her face and her green eyes sparkled with excitement, laughing as she took a sprint up to the castle. 

@Ariana Walker

She beat him to the stairs of the Entrance Hall but only barely just. In his mind he figured it was her just-tied shoes but ultimately she was probably truthfully faster than he was. And that was okay. She sat down on the steps and he laughed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah...rub it in, Walker,” but he was smiling as he sat down beside her. They had their last few moments of freedom upon them.

“You said you like adventures. You know what we should do to celebrate our friendship? Skip out one night and campout in the forbidden forest.” He looked to her as her eyes turned to him. “I know it’s...well...forbidden, but we wouldn’t have to go very deep into the thicket. I’ve never been camping before but we could do it all...the tent, marshmallows, graham crackers, a fire. What do you think?”

Before she could answer though he decided to lay on some guilt. Playful guilt that friends did. “I’d even go myself but then I might get lonely out there all alone. And a beautiful friend of mine just told me this very evening that I never had to feel alone again because I had her.”

@Carter Bradshaw 

“You said you like adventures. You know what we should do to celebrate our friendship? Skip out one night and campout in the forbidden forest. I know it’s...well...forbidden, but we wouldn’t have to go very deep into the thicket. I’ve never been camping before but we could do it all...the tent, marshmallows, graham crackers, and a fire. What do you think?” He paused, “I’d even go myself but then I might get lonely out there all alone. And a beautiful friend of mine just told me this very evening that I never had to feel alone again because I had her.” 

She beamed at him, a beautiful friend of mine? he actually thinks i'm beautiful? I can't believe it! He’s so sweet! her insides squirmed with excitement and happiness.

Her eyes lit up and she turned excitedly to Carter and grabbed his hands, "No way?!You're kidding?! Heck yeah! I love camping lets go!" She laughed and jumped childishly on the spot.
"We'll need our things though!" They both rushed upstairs to collect their things and were back down within a flash, gasping and panting, but still grinning. "Let's go then!" and they slipped out the front doors into the fresh night air, careful not to be seen. 

They set up their stuff, blankets, pillows, marshmallows, and lay down next to each other laughing and giggling, staring at the night sky. "Hey Carter can I ask you something?" Ariana turned to look at the ravenclaw boy she was laying next to. "Did you...I mean...did you really mean what you said when you said I was beautiful?" She turned to stare at him with her intense gaze, smiling slightly, she couldn't help smiling whenever she looked at him.