An unlikely alliance PV Miranda Everest Closed

The morning had dawned sunny and with clear skies, which had felt like the perfect start of her first full day at Hogwarts. Hopefully, it would stay like this for at least a while longer, so she could enjoy the sunshine before the cool weather that heralded winter arrived. Miranda hated the cold, and the snow made it even worse. At least you could use an umbrella and boots to keep dry when it rained, but with snow it was everywhere, and the only way to not get soaked to the bone and frozen was to pile on coats and jackets and an insane amount of extra layers. Which don't even last very long, anyways, because then those got wet and you end up even colder. In the end, the best choice was to stay inside, period.

In the time since she'd woken up, Miranda had gotten plenty done, from homework to some personal errands such as sending an owl to her parents. She highly doubted they even read them, but it was better to just do it anyways.

Now, as she left the Great Hall after lunch, Miranda made a beeline for the grounds. A small break couldn't hurt, and the sunlight that shone through many a window was just so tantalizing that she couldn't ignore it.

And the feeling as she stepped outside, leaving the grey stone walls of the castle behind in favour of the warm sunlight above and the lush grass below, was totally worth any extra work she'd have to attend to at a later date. For now, she could just enjoy it while it lasted. Be in the present and all that.

Miranda made her way along the edge of the Great Lake, careful not to stray to close to prevent falling in by accident. She admired the almost glassy water, that was disturbed only by a passing breeze every few minutes. Sometimes, especially on the hotter days, she wished she could swim in there, but fear of encountering any of the magical creatures down there, in such an alien environment, kept her back, along with the very precise and forceful rule that students were to keep out. Even if she didn't follow every rule, there were still a few she was hesitant to bend or break. Like this one.

With a sigh, she moved away and cut across a large field of grass toward one of the few, non-aggressive trees on the grounds. At first it seemed as if no one was there but as she got closer, Miranda saw a young girl, most likely a first year, writing at the base. At first she hesitated, wondering whether her intrusion would be welcome. The girl seemed focused on her task, but maybe she still wouldn't mind. Miranda wasn't sure, but then she decided she could just leave if she received a negative response.

So she approached, and called put a greeting at the same time.

@Miranda Everest

Another day had dawned in the picturesque scene that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as well as its surrounding area and the students and staff alike were out and about settling into their school life for another year of study at the ancient school of magic. For the young first-year badger that was Orianna Lightfoot the past day and a half had become one huge blur as she had started her new life as a student at the school making the long journey via the Hogwarts Express from London and the boat ride across the lake to catch a glimpse of the tall magical castle that she would now call home before going through the sorting ceremony and the start of year feast the evening prior retiring to bed shortly after.

The day so far had ended up with the young brunette sleeping in until just before lunch-time before getting herself washed and changed to have a bite to eat in the great hall as she decided to spend the day exploring both the castle and its grounds were permitted to get herself as familiarised as possible before the start of the school year would set in just a few days later.

Heading out into the school grounds, Orianna had found herself a nice place to sit and relax underneath a tall oak tree where she was currently seated her legs spread out ahead of her as she wrote in her journal about the experience of the previous day in full for future reflection whilst reviewing her personal school schedule to get used to timings.

As the sun shines down brightly in the sky above a nice warm breeze caressing the young girls skin a small smile etches over her lips as she continues to write down in her journal as she gets lost deep in thought as she thinks over what she had been through on the very first day of her adventure into Hogwarts, Orianna debates what else to do that day bare to write a letter home to inform her parents of her safe arrival knowing her mother all too well would probably be frantically awaiting that owl and there was no way that the young girl wanted to get into trouble back home for slacking off all until she would begin to hear the sound of footsteps approaching.

Looking up from her journal, Orianna would notice the feminine figure of another student approaching with long blonde hair heading straight in her direction. Placing her journal down on the grass beside her not wanting to appear rude in case the girl did head over to her, Orianna managed to do so just in time to hear the girls greeting called across to her which the young first-year smiled and calmly acknowledged the girls greeting with a smiling wave in her direction knowing it was the best method for now as she may have just been passing through the area with things to do on her agenda and Orianna didn't want to take her focus off that and stop her in any way unless the blonde wanted to stop for idle chit chat.

Miranda could often be considered too friendly by some. But it wasn’t really that. It was more like she was too curious instead. The friendliness came after. She was, after all, a Ravenclaw. That meant her thirst for knowledge was boundless, and the best way she could think of to sate it, other than holing up in the library for the whole afternoon while the sunshine slipped away, was to talk to people she hadn’t met before. You could learn just as much on a single conversation than you could in an entire book. If you knew what to ask and where to listen, that is.

Therefor, that meant she took the other girl's casual wave as a signal to come closer. It seemed to be the best she was going to get - better not waste it by standing around like an idiot. Just a quick chat was all she wanted...right?

"Hello there," she repeated as she drew closer. The other girl, who seemed to be either Miranda's age or a year younger, was sitting with her back against the tree trunk, a notebook laying in the grass beside her. Miranda wondered what it contained. She herself had many notepads and notebooks, and they held everything from drawings to notes to scraps of stories she'd started. "Sorry, but am I interrupting? I can go if I am." More than anything, she didn't want to seem rude. If avoiding that meant forsaking a potentially interesting conversation, so be it.

Reducio

OOC: Apologies for the incredibly short post, @Orianna Jayne Lightfoot as well as the long time it took to write it - my well of creativity kind of ran dry, and it took me several rewrites to get my thoughts into words

@Miranda Everest

The warm sun warming the pale complexion of the young first year Hufflepuff Orianna stayed almost silent underneath the tree to which she was currently seated her long brunette hair tied up into a loose ponytail to the top of her head as she placed her now closed journal deep inside of her school bag alongside her quill and ink pot as she awaited to see where the situation of the other elder girl who was approaching just seconds away would lead trying to make things look as normal and relaxed as possible.

From a young age, Orianna had always struggled to make friends with people of her own age or similar not because she wasn't as the term said friendly but due to her past and the way things had been in her short life so far simply the young girl had not had much time to develop social skills outside of the typical school setting back home in Cumbria as she would often spend her days at school to herself before returning home to work on the farm before completing her typical daily routine before heading to bed for it to all start over again the next morning the main people she would interact with being her beloved parents.

However, her sorted house of Hufflepuff would sum up the girls personality down to the tea as once the awkward start of something was out of the way the young brunette was an extremely loyal and dedicated individual who would set her focus on the right things in life whether it be familiarising herself with the school and her new life as was her current focus, to gaining the best grades in class possible when they started up or meeting new people who could end up becoming life long friends either way the happy go lucky girl was always happy to focus on the task at hand.

Hearing the blonde girl say a casual greeting before adding that she hoped to not be interrupting anything Orianna couldn't help but smile warmly across at her "Hey, No you're not interrupting anything at all. I'm just getting myself familiar with the castle and it's grounds as I am new here." She smiled in response her northern English accent shimmering through as she spoke moving across to one side politely to make room for the girl to take a seat if she wished.

Reducio

Hey, You don't ever need to apologise about lengths and all that jazz we all go through the motions with writer's block and muse issues sometimes so no need to worry at all, hope it starts getting easier for you soon!

When Miranda had headed outside, she hadn't really expected to end up speaking with anyone - more like take a quick walk, maybe check out the Great Lake, then possibly grab a book and come back out to read, if it was still sunny out. But that didn't stop her from snatching the offered opportunity when she happened upon the other girl.

Smiling widely, Miranda ambled over to where the girl sat, talking as she went. "First year, I take it? That's nice. I'm a second year, but that doesn't necessarily mean I know where everything is." She paused for a moment. "Just most of it."

Miranda took the fact that the other girl had scooted to the side as an invitation to sit, hoping that she wasn't making a mistake or offending the other girl with her assumptions. "I'm Miranda, by the way. What's your name?"

Ever since that awkward conversation she'd gone through during summer camp, Miranda always made sure to introduce herself right off the bat. Otherwise things mostly just soured, or the conversation dwindled to an end. Besides, what else would she call the girl, other than her name? Miranda had always been horrible at coming up with nicknames, unless she was close to someone, or simply shortened an already long name.

She mentally shook herself as once again her thoughts drifted off track. Now was not the time to think about things like that...now was the time to meet a new person, hopefully. So acting like she was taking a trip to the moon in the middle of the conversation probably wouldn't set up the best pretence.