Before It Takes Wing PV Ellaine Weatherby Finished

Speech: #a38b3e Mentions: @Ellaine Weatherby

Campion realized too late that he was blabbing without letting Ellaine get any words in. He discovered his transgression as soon as Ellaine spoke, and found himself getting pink in the cheeks again. Campion directed his attention towards the owl as Ellaine continued to speak.

"I should hope not. It’d be a nightmare to wake up to a chicken screaming good-bloody-morning next to your head."

Campion grinned, still watching the owl as Ellaine proceeded. It was an affectionate little fellow. The owl repeatedly rubbed its head on Campion's hand as he pet it, much like a cat might. A very affectionate owl, indeed.

Arius was apparently a well-mannered owl. Campion gave her a look. She was a Great Horned Owl. A beautiful creature indeed, though Campion preferred the look of barn owls. If he ever had an owl, he decided it would be that kind. Knowing his affinity for troublesome but affectionate animals, including the chickens at home, whatever owl he got would keep his hands full. Arius was beautiful, though. And clearly well-mannered. It was obvious why Ellaine seemed to love her so much beyond growing up with her.

"And your chickens? How is it, having them?"

For a moment, drawn up in his attention towards the owls, Campion completely forgot he was in the middle of a conversation. He didn't respond for a moment. Once he successfully re-engaged himself, he answered: "The chickens are grand!" he said enthusiastically. "Mam won't get a dog to protect them, but they fare well enough. We have a few. It takes a lot of eggs to feed ten people breakfast every morning. I believe they sell them during the school year, the excess."

He turned to Ellaine with his left hand still gently patting the owl's head. Now, he was facing her directly as she pet the owl's chest. The owl seemed very clearly pleased with the arrangement. "You've had Arius for quite a long time, then. Why did your mother let you take her off to school? Won't she miss her?"

There were a million questions he wanted to ask Ellaine, but Campion thought he'd start with one. Best not to overwhelm people.

Hex: #855B51 Mentions: @Campion Taylor

Notes: Word Count: 423

There was a moment’s pause that had Ellaine worrying, for fear that she had mumbled her words again, or that she’d been too quiet. She had even contemplated subjecting her pride to more of the awkwardness by repeating her question, before fortunately the response came: “The chickens are grand!”

Ellaine let out a relieved breath, and resumed her petting of the owl, continuing where she had unconsciously paused.

“Mam won't get a dog to protect them, but they fare well enough. We have a few. It takes a lot of eggs to feed ten people breakfast every morning. I believe they sell them during the school year, the excess.”

Ellaine blinked. Mouth slightly agape, eyebrows raised, all of it. If he had turned to get a look at her then, he would’ve been subjected to the sight of an astonished Ellaine, who simply couldn’t imagine having ten people at a single table every day. It was quite a strange concept, hard for her to grasp, even with a family of five.

“Ten people?” she whispered out loud, surprise colouring her voice. Ellaine coloured a bit as she wondered how her hopefully misheard words could’ve been construed as, and hastily remedied her previous remark. “Never mind,” she mumbled, and was relieved when he went on.

“You’ve had Arius for quite a long time, then. Why did your mother let you take her off to school? Won't she miss her?”

“Ah, that…” Ellaine didn’t have to take much time to answer, for she herself had spent quite enough pondering over the very same thing, many times over. “Mum said that – well, that it’d do me good to have a familiar face here, but I don’t know what she’s on about, really…” Or perhaps she simply already knew much of her own questionable ability to make friends, Ellaine thought wryly.

Her mum often said things while doing different things, keeping the real reasons for these actions close to her chest, for whatever purposes, Ellaine did not know. It was quite annoying and distressing for her to deal with whenever she tried to ascertain her mother’s views on a topic. She was hellbent on making Ellaine carve her own choices, and this freedom had her wandering around in the dark – figuratively, of course.

“But then again, I think the real reason was because, initially, she was going to use Arius for work. Turns out, secret-y stuff does not often make use of owl-delivered letters, so… yeah.”

“Yeah,” she repeated, “she’s mine now.” Ellaine wondering if her words even made sense. Probably not, she groused. Sighing, she returned the conversation his way. “Ten people, you said; everyday at one table – how come?” The words came with pauses, disjointed and somewhat confused-sounding, so Ellaine gave up halfway through, pulling back her hand to instead look out the window. It was windy outside, but she reckoned it was miles better than when she had first arrived.

Speech: #a38b3e Mentions: @Ellaine Weatherby

Campion rather childishly enjoyed seeing people grow shocked at the size of his family. It was perfectly normal to him, of course, but for just a moment in the conversation, he felt a little bit of family pride. He didn't dig into the moment, generally. However, people often had follow-up questions that he was happy to answer.

"Ten people, you said; everyday at one table – how come?"

"Two parents, three boys, and five girls," Campion grinned. He loved his family, as annoying as they could often be. "It's a lot of birthdays to remember, but we have a calendar. Mam is due soon, too, so it'll actually be three boys and six girls in not too long. I'm excited – I haven't actually held a baby since I was little. For some reason, my aunts and uncles don't like me holding their wee ones, though no one will tell me why."

Campion cleared his throat. That was enough gentle boasting about his family, and social decorum indicated that it was time to turn the conversation away from him. He noticed Ellaine looking out the window, and approached it.

To stand at the precipice of a very tall building on a very windy night, though it seemed to have settled a bit, is to rattle one's body with a magnificent adrenaline rush. Campion stood a safe few inches away from the window, but the rush came nonetheless as a gush of wind hit him directly. He braced his body at the impact, and took a step back lest un-bracing his body led him closer to the window than was safe.

"I'd rather a tree, or a broom. I'm no Gryffindor, but I love the feeling of the wind. It reminds me of being on a broom. I only got to fly in summers before now, when my brother or my sisters would bring home their brooms. Did you get to fly before coming to Hogwarts? Ah, that is... if you're not Muggleborn, like my dad. I'm sorry, I don't remember..." Campion cleared his throat again and stepped back from the window thoroughly windswept. "Do you have a broom?"

Hex: #855B51 Mentions: @Campion Taylor

Notes: Word Count: 321

Ellaine noticed the pride that seemed to gently emanate from Campion as he went on about his family. It was quite clear that he loved them all, even with – what was it, seven siblings? Soon to be eight, come the end of May. …She simply could not comprehend such an existence. Fondness for one’s siblings, though – that she understood.

“For some reason, my aunts and uncles don't like me holding their wee ones, though no one will tell me why."

“Probably for the best,” she jokingly replied, though she could understand that sentiment… sort of. Perhaps they were simply wary of accidentally dropping children. She certainly felt anxious when she’d held her baby brother when he was very young.

And… seeing Campion move closer to the window she’d been staring at, Ellaine thought perhaps he was expecting her to follow, and so she did. He was standing quite close to the open window, and, standing at his side, Ellaine too was hit with the fresh gust of wind that came through. Instinct had her stepping back just slightly, and she glimpsed Campion doing the same. Seconds later, likely prompted by the wind itself, Campion started to talk of flying.

“…Did you get to fly before coming to Hogwarts? Ah, that is... if you're not Muggleborn, like my dad. I'm sorry, I don't remember...” He seemed to pause for a while, and she fancied that he was thinking of a next question – “Do you have a broom?”

Ellaine hummed for a while before saying, “I don’t.” While flying brought her nice feelings, she – no offense to other flying enthusiasts – didn’t think of it much. “And yes, I did fly a few times before, using my ma’s old broom.”

She wondered whether she should answer his unasked question. Her grandma would say that was an impolite question, but, well, no harm in doing it – “Halfblood. My da’s a muggle,” she said out of the blue, before following it up with her own question. From the way he phrased his words, she assumed that he had no broom of his own, but she figured she might as well ask. “What about you? Managed to sneak yours to Hogwarts?”

Speech: #a38b3e Mentions: @Ellaine Weatherby

Campion nodded. "I sometimes got to fly on my sisters' brooms, but no I don't have a broom for myself, yet. And my brother's, this summer, after he got it at Diagon Alley," he said. "I enjoy it. You do have to be careful not to knock into anyone else, though. That's a headache..."

He paused, seeming to be lost in his thoughts for a moment, perhaps thinking of one of those prior 'headaches'. "They're not very fast like some of the brooms the sports players have, but they get the job done. My dad insists that we all get our own brooms after we've learned a bit about flying properly."

Campion frowned. He knew, vaguely, though he didn't have much wizarding socialization prior to attending Hogwarts, that discussing blood status was considered impolite, but hearing that Ellaine's father was a Muggle like his own mother made him curious. "Did your da always know about your mam's magic, then? For some reason my dad thought it would be a grand idea to wait until after my oldest sister got her letter. He said he wasn't sure if his kids would have magic since he's Muggleborn, himself. Isn't it a dominant trait, though? Be a bit rare if one of us didn't. I was only little, but it was a wee bit tense for a bit in the house, then."

Campion was definitely oversharing, but in his defense, he rarely found the opportunity to talk about himself. He was always so busy with his schoolwork, or going about on a school broom, or especially just sitting in a tree to find time to talk with his schoolmates. It was beginning to feel a bit lonely for him. He thought it embarrassing that his parents may well still be his biggest confidants, and that, he felt, was not a good look for a 12-year-old.

He frowned, but brushed it off his face quickly. "And you? Your dad?"

Hex: #855B51 Mentions: @Campion Taylor

Notes: Word Count: 471

“You do have to be careful not to knock into anyone else, though. That's a headache...”

Ellaine shook her head in lieu of a response. It seemed that Campion had had personal experience first-hand. She did not envy him, not at all. Knocking into someone is one thing – at least it wasn’t a full-on crash?

She nodded vigorously. At least his father had good sense. To imagine her brothers on brooms, untrained… A nightmare, surely.

“Did your da always know about your mam's magic, then?”

Ellaine was puzzled – for the first few seconds it took her to remember that she was the one who’d dropped the little bit about her blood status just a moment before. At least Campion was rather open-minded about it. It made sense, she supposed, though perhaps he didn’t have much choice…

Listening to him, Ellaine couldn’t help but formulate her own thoughts, though she made no move to voice them out loud. She simply couldn’t imagine keeping such a big secret from her own spouse, especially if they were planning children. She was… surprised that his family was still okay. A marriage was essentially a new life, to her, and though she wasn’t keen on the idea of marriage, she understood that trust and devotion was an integral part…

For a second, she wanted to know more on how exactly his mum had reacted then, but – it is not an appropriate question, is it? she thought to herself. Instead, she focused on his next words…

“And you? Your dad?”

As he was quite okay with sharing bits of his own life, Ellaine felt that it would be alright if she shared hers as well.

“Yeah, he knew it alright… Well, my mum— she’d made sure that they and their families were all very serious about marriage first…” Ellaine, being Ellaine, had accidentally come across her parents’ album on their marriage, then had ‘subtly’ inquired as to their graduation year, which resulted in a one-year gap in between. So yes, she supposed her mum was very serious about making sure. “ …A year of— ‘courting’, I suppose… and then she told him. I suppose he must have been very accepting of it at first, since they married after.”

That was okay enough to share, right? she asked herself. Ellaine wasn’t sure where the boundaries lay, in part due to the fact that she wasn’t used to talking ‘deep’ with others, much less those her age. She’d consider her brother her closest, but she knew herself enough to determine that it was because he couldn’t leave her that she felt comfortable enough to admit things. She’d been trying to – ah, improve on her social interaction skills, and she supposed that this was a good milestone. Another friend? (How presumptuous of you, Ellaine, she chided herself.)

“But then again…” Ellaine trailed off before falling silent entirely. She just stared helplessly at Campion for a few seconds before she shrugged. “I don’t know what to say.”

Speech: #a38b3e Mentions: @Ellaine Weatherby

Campion cleared his throat, feeling rather awkward. He was finished trying to converse, before he dug himself into a deeper hole. If he wanted to make friends, he should really get better at it.

"Well," he said. "I've got some studying to do. Thanks for helping me with that owl, though. Usually animals are cooperative with me, but... I think that one was in a bad mood."

Shifting from foot to foot, Campion offered Ellaine a gentle smile. "But I hope to talk to you again. Er, if you want to anyway. No pressure. Ah, I mean... Well, yeah. Thanks."

Campion waved off Ellaine, and, without allowing an immediate response, began to scurry away towards the stairs. His hope was to take them fast enough that she wouldn't be able to immediately follow. He was horribly anxious he'd fumbled the whole interaction, which he found unfortunate because Ellaine seemed kind. He thought she'd be nice to have as a friend, if only he were a bit less awkward.

"Come on, Campion," he muttered to himself as he began to descend the stairs at a rapid pace. "Can't you act normal for once in your life?" The answer evidently being no, he proceeded with a red face and a strong desire to get back to his Herbology homework.

Hex: #855B51 Mentions: @Campion Taylor

Thank you :] Word Count: 227/xxx

“Well, I've got some studying to do.” – Ellaine puzzled at the familiarity of that phrase, before remembering that she herself had used it often to get out of her relatives’ conversations – or simply when tired – “Thanks for helping me with that owl, though. Usually animals are cooperative with me, but... I think that one was in a bad mood.”

A bad mood, alright, thought she wryly. Caught off-guard by the sudden smile, she reflexively returned it; a small thing, to mirror his kind one.

“But I hope to talk to you again. Er, if you want to anyway. No pressure. Ah, I mean... Well, yeah. Thanks.”

“Thank you, too, and likewise,” she said, a beat later, uncaring if he even heard her as Campion began to walk off. She didn’t bother with a wave, but didn’t let go of the smile, keeping track as he slowly disappeared from sight.

Taylor. Perhaps she’d recognise him in the hallways someday. Ellaine had little hope of being friends, if only because she had an ‘unhealthy’ habit of keeping people at arm’s length. A shame, she thought, but he was – is – very kind. She dug inside her satchel, intending to find her book, but instead her fingers closed around the letter she’d meant to send. Oh, right. Looking up, she judged the winds kind enough that Arius might want to fly. “Alright,” she mumbled aloud, “I should probably get around to sending it.”

Turning around, away from the direction of the stairs, where the Hufflepuff-Taylor had left not too long before, Ellaine began the hunt for her precious Arius. Now, where was it that she’d perched just minutes ago…