Do You Believe In Luck? PV Finished

Nick wondered how someone could be so chipper and carefree as Alina is. They might be young and not even technically teenagers yet, but there was just something about Alina that felt like... what? He couldn't quite place the word on it, but he supposed that most Hufflepuffs were like this. While most of the students were down to earth or hardened by their childhood, the Hufflepuffs were just so happy.

Turning to Miranda, Nick gave her a half-smile. She seemed a lot more extroverted than his first impression of her. Sure she wasn't nearly as extroverted as Alina, but that's a pretty high bar to beat. She also seemed to fit the archetype of Ravenclaws he's met, very relaxed and peaceful. The Sorting Hat really was good at its job.

"I tend tae just write in my free time, nothing tae special, mostly just novel ideas that normally don' get past the first chapter." Nick said, clutching the journal still in his hands, "That's how come I was in the courtyard actually, 'til all my papers went astray." He wanted to become a writer, but it was really hard for him to slow down and write an entire story. He tended to just speed towards the ending, and not take his time with the story itself.

There were other hobbies Nick had, but he liked to keep them under wraps. Most notably being him playing the piano and singing. He enjoyed both quite well, but he didn't want anyone to know that. His town thought that both of those activities were 'girly', so he has it internalized that what he's doing is a bad thing.

@Miranda Everest & @Alina Rosier

"I only really write down notes," Miranda admitted. "Reading, on the other hand, is one of my full-time occupations." She grinned. "But most people expect that out of a Ravenclaw anyways, don't they? I would guess that it doesn't come as a surprise. Although I do admit I'm a bit of a Gryffindor, you could say. Like my father and brother." It might strike some people as weird, but Miranda always tended to try and take a person's house and compare it to their actual personality. Or, like in her case, see if there were traits that seemed better fitted to another house in a person. It was an old - and an odd - habit of hers.

Miranda glanced around as they neared the lake, her eyes catching on the large pool of water. It had been a frequent question in her mind as to what might lurk at the bottom. She'd heard tales of a giant squid, water demons, and other odd creatures, but in all her time at Hogwarts, she'd never seen anything out of the ordinary. Then again, that could also be attributed to the aforementioned fact that she hated water.

"Piano sounds like an interesting talent," Miranda piped up, rejoining the conversation. "I have absolutely no musical talent whatsoever. You should consider yourself lucky."

The Great Lake was massive and could be seen even when you're not that close to it. The lake was the absolute gorgeous centrepiece to the breathtaking landscape of the Hogwarts courtyard. It was quite curious, Nick's fondness for the lake, after all, he didn't know how to swim. He supposed it was that forbidden fruit mentality; he yearned for the water even though if he went in he would likely drown. Nick would teach himself how to swim, but he didn't know how to go about since his mother doesn't know either, and he doesn't know who else to ask for help.

Nick looked down at his feet as he continued to walk at the mention of playing the piano. He knows that he was way more embarrassed about the fact he plays it then he should be, but it was a very internalized belief. So far, there was only one student in the entire school that knew he played. To be fair, she was pretty nice; she reminded Nick a lot of Alina.

"I probably should read mare, but I guess I just can' wait for the end!" Nick said, chuckling, "Don' get discouraged if yer writing isn' immediately great Alina, I know 've only recently actually wrote some good stories." One of the first stories he ever wrote, when he was like eight, was about a dragon fighting to save his lover from a wizard. Looking back on it now, it was a pretty silly story, but pretty mature coming from an eight-year old's imagination.

"So why did ye decide tae take us tae the loch on this fine day Alina?" Nick asked curiously. He hadn't expected it, but he was actually quite enjoying his company with these two girls. It was nice to talk to them and honestly a welcome change from his normal quiet days alone.

@Miranda Everest & @Alina Rosier

As they came closer to the lake, Miranda grew more and more preoccupied by its presence rather than those of Caelan and Aline. Water and her had never gotten along well. She was more of a warm, fiery person. At least, that was what Cedar had always said whenever she went out of her way to avoid the scattered ponds back home.

The memory of her brother temporarily distracted her with new question. Where was he? The two of them had been at Hogwarts for six full days, and she had yet to see hide nor hair of him. It was almost like he was avoiding her, or had simply forgotten to go seek her out. If this continued, Miranda would be forced to hunt him down, which honestly didn't sound like the most intelligent thing to do, because there was a high chance that he was in a secret passage she didn't know of half the time. Her brother was good at finding out that sort of thing - she wouldn't be surprised if he already knew where half of them were.

Because the thoughts of Cedar were mostly just making her feel sad, she dragged herself backs to the present in time to hear Caelan ask Aline why she'd brought them here. Lacking anything else that was positive to distract herself from the thought of the water, Miranda latched onto the conversation eagerly, hoping it would keep her mind off of her fear of water.

Nick listened intently to Alina's very detailed description of the lake. "Oh yea, the loch is pretty awesome." Nick said, "Also ye said ye weren' good at poetry but that was a pretty poetic description o' the loch Alina." All the students at this school amazed him. Most of them were just so much more talented at everything than them, like complete natural masters. Not only that, but they were so humble about it. He hoped that his talents would be that good one day, especially his writing.

Tree climbing was pretty niche hobby, so Nick was surprised that both he and Alina enjoyed doing it. Sure, he mainly did it to write, but before he started writing, Nick would climb trees whenever he had free time. Miranda hadn't mentioned anything about it, but it would be even more of a coincidence that all three of them liked to climb trees.

"Ehh.. my Second Year has been... interesting sae far, how about ye?" Nick said, trying to be as general as possible. Before he had even gotten to Hogwarts, literally on the train, he had one of the most traumatizing experiences of his life. He had to learn that he had this rare talent only a few wizards have, by experiencing this traumatizing vision about this complete stranger.

As the conversation continued between Alina and Nick, he looked over to Miranda, who hadn't said anything for a while. She seemed a little lost in thought, almost a bit too engrossed in thought. He knew that it wasn't much of his business, but it seemed to be pretty important for her to be thinking about it this hard. "Hey Miranda, ye good?" Nick asked as casually as possible, so Miranda wouldn't feel threatened.

@Miranda Everest & @Alina Rosier

When Alina mentioned a good tree for climbing, Miranda glanced over, but couldn't help but be disappointed by how close it was to the water. Sure, it could no doubt be a nice place to relax or read, but not if there was a chance of tumbling into a large pool of liquid if you fell. The Ravenclaw fixed her face hopefully before either of the others could see the faint disappointment that had been there, and instead smiled slightly, although it only barely reached her eyes.

"Oh, it's been quite good so far, actually," Miranda replied, her smile becoming a bit more real. "Much better than staying at home, what with all the opportunities to learn, and meet new people, and well..." She trailed off, gesturing vaguely at the grounds as if there weren't words to encompass what she wanted to say. Mostly though, it was nice to get away from the indifferent gazes of her parents. And besides, her younger brother now also attended the schoo, which made it even better.

She gazed around again, her smile fading. Miranda just couldn't seem to keep a n expression for longer than a minute these days. There were just too many things to think about, for better or for worse. Suddenly Caelan spoke again, and this time his words seemed to be directed at her. His voice seemed casual, but Miranda knew she'd been too obvious about her uncomfortableness.

"No, I'm fine," she replied, possibly a bit too quickly. Miranda had always kept her dislike of water a secret from all but her brother, and didn't want anyone to find out less they use it against her. Which kind of sounded bizarre, considering the second year had next to no qualms about revealing her...supernatural nature to just about anyone. "Just...thinking."