Shyness PV Duncan O'hara Finished

The grounds of Hogwarts reminded Duncan of family trips into the wild. A wall hid most of Hogsmeade in the distance so only wilderness remained. A giant Lake dominated much of what one would call Hogwarts' grounds. It was a beautiful landmark despite the many warnings students were given about entering the Lake alone. The edge was safe enough to visit at least on a nice sunny afternoon. Duncan decided to head over by himself to go for a walk and maybe say hello to some people.

As he approached, it seemed a young girl was startled by his presence. He had not meant to sneak up or even to fully go up to her in the first place. She seemed busy painting and he had not wanted to disturb her. Seems that had failed at least so far. He stopped in his tracks when she asked who he was. His tone was calm and friendly as ever when he answers.

"Me? I'm Duncan..," he paused after saying his name to motion towards Verla. "Who might you be? What you working on there?"

Duncan quietly hoped she was doing okay. It seemed she was on edge with such a response. She seemed familiar like he had seen her around at the Hufflepuff table or something, but he had not met her. Maybe this is just how she was, for all he knew. His mind wandered to any time he had seen her previously but he couldn't even come up with a name let alone anything about her.

"I'm Verla, and I'm working on a sketch of the lake, I do different angles of it." She smiled sweetly at him, Duncan didn't mean to scare her, that she could tell. He seemed too nice of a boy to do such a thing to such a different girl. She had no clue how to use her words, she was nervous, he was making her nervous.

She bit her bottom lip, looking down at the drawing. Then she looked back at him again and smiled kindly again. He made her day, she hadn't spoken to anyone in a while. Which made her feel alone, besides Ollie, who looked at Duncan in a curious way. Verla giggled as he jumped on his shoulder. "I think he likes you. I'm working my butt off to try and keep him, this girl Dorothy is trying to make me get rid of him, but he doesn't want to go to his home, I tried to explain that and..." Verla paused, "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear me blabber on about my own problems." Verla looked down "it's just, if I lose him again then I'll probably leave and never come back, since I have no one else."

Duncan's light blue eyes scanned the painting of the lake she had been creating. He was focused on trying to critique it in his head so he hardly noticed the creature until it was on him. A slight step back in surprise was all he really responded with until he saw it seemed harmless. It was certainly an odd thing for a student to have. When Verla spoke up describing the situation he felt a bit lost. He did not pretend to know all the rules about creatures at school anyways. The young hufflepuff figured if it made people happy and didn't hurt anyone, things were okay.

"He seems... nice." Was all Duncan could say before trying to get the creature to return to its owner. "Is it against the rules to have one?"

Once the creature left his shoulder he kept it in the corner of his eye. He didn't really want to be climbed on by it until he knew for sure that it was indeed harmless and not against the rules. Last thing he needed was a teacher appearing at the wrong moment to tell him he was in trouble for having it. It did seem nice though from first impressions. There was still much to learn about magical creatures and it was an area he was mildly interested in. Not that he'd get to study it for a couple more years anyways.

"Not that I know of at least, though with Dorthy, she's probably going to try and make one. She says I need a lincense, but I say that I'm just a kid with a companion who wants to stay with me. He's completely harmless, though he likes to get into mischeif. Oliver get out of there." Verla put her hands on her hips when he crawled into Duncan's pocket in his coat. She put her hand in there and grabbed him quickly, and touched nothing but Ollie, so she didn't make Duncan uncomfortable, which is the last thing she wanted.

He seemed kind enough to under stand. Ollie began chasing a few bugs, he was hunting them. Apparently he was hungry. Verla sat down in front of the shore of the lake and watched as the squid swam around. She hoped she'd see some mer-people swimming around, but only one of them poked their eyes out of the water and scanned the area, then saw Verla and Duncan, and dipped back down, waving their tail as they did. Verla giggled slightly as she began to draw the head into the picture she'd been doing earlier. She liked to draw new things.

Once the creature was retrieved by Verla, Duncan took a couple of steps back. He wasn't sure if he liked being touched by either a girl or a creature. His eyes focused back on the painting for a moment as the creature seemed safely tucked away. Now she seemed to be adding something to it. He wasn't sure what but it looked like a head maybe. Was she going to draw him next? Or was it herself? Or her pet? It was too early to tell where she was going with this.

"What are you adding to it?" he asked, a slight tilt in his head from the curiosity.

It was a bit odd to say the least what was going on here. The boy had just come out for a walk but met a girl who seemed emotional and had a strange pet. It wasn't ideal but maybe he would make a new friend. It was still better than going inside and studying for classes. Those were what he dreaded most. Studying was so low on his list compared to friends, food, and adventure. Not that he hated school, but he had more important things in his mind. Classes just needed to be passed, not aced. His father would scold him for thinking that way and his mother would probably encourage him to pursue whatever he wished as long as he passed. Either way it was best just to do well in school when possible but he just didn't like it. All that said, it is why he decided to stick around a little longer despite feeling uncomfortable.

"It looks like... a head maybe? Who is it?'

Verla looked at his uncomfortableness and apologized. Now she felt bad for that. She replied to his question, "It's one of the mer-people, they poked their head out and I added it on here." Verla giggled as Oliver shivered "sorry for not introducing you to Oliver, Duncan, this is Ollie, he's a bowtruckle, I found him my first day here." Verla smiled politely. Hopefully he could understand why she had touched him. She was beginning to blush, but she hoped it didn't show or that he wouldn't notice. Now she was beginning to get nervous again, and she thought he was beginning to notice.

Verla took a deep breathe and smiled at him "would you like to sit with me? I could draw you if you would like, I woulnd't mind at all." That made her think of a song her mother once sang when she was washing dishes and Verla had listened carefully. She began to hum it and she drew in the details of the head, sticking her tongue out to the side out of concentration. Ollie giggled slightly, he loved it when she did that. 

A lot of other people seemed to like it too. She hated it though, like she could help it at all though.

Duncan awkwardly sat nearby but kept a fair personal bubble of distance. He watched the painting for a few moments before he ever answered at all. No one had offered to paint him before nor had he really been one to paint. After some consideration he decided there was no harm in it. Now that the creature seemed to be leaving him alone it may be a fun time. His shoulders came up in a neutral shrug of sorts.

"You can paint me if you really like," he said slowly, a smile spreading. "Just make sure I'm tall."

Back home in Dublin, they mostly took photos of people. He was always so small even compared to his younger sister who somehow grew taller than him already. Being painted as taller sounded much better to him even if it wasn't necessarily true. His height always made him self-conscious and he hoped people wouldn't tease him for it. Maybe in the next year or so he would get a late growth spurt. For now he would just have to make up for his height in friendliness and magic. There had to be a spell to make someone taller. Maybe a potion or a plant. Something would do the trick.

Verla giggled and bit her bottom lip. She took out her sketching pencil again and began drawing the boys face, and began with his eyes, mouth and nose, then went down to his freckles and the color of his eyes. She smiled as she made him tall, and drew in his clothes. She giggled again "do you want me to make you look strong too?" She laughed, and snorted. Then gasped and covered her mouth. Then she began laughing and snorting again, then she said "sorry, it was just funny. I hate my laugh. I don't snort all the time either, but when I do, I lose it as I laugh and keep snorting." She giggled. 

She continued drawing him, then she began to concentrate and stuck out her tongue to the side as she did. In a cute, funny way. She measured his height with her thumb and made him a tad bit higher, since every inch matters. When she was done, she stuck her tongue back in as she compared the two, nodded with approval, and showed it to him, hoping that he'd like it. She smiled kindly at him and at her professional looking art. She was quite proud.

The Irish boy's face turned to confusion as the fellow Hufflepuff began to paint him instead of the other scene. It admittedly felt a little odd being painted by somebody rather than just using a photograph like the muggles. Duncan tried to sit still at least while she was working as he knew that was important usually. Whether or not it would be to her, he was unsure of that much. When she asked if he wanted to be seen as strong as well, it made him smile a bit in embarrassment.

"I already am, so that wouldn't need to change." He tried to show self-confidence there to recover his pride, but it didn't really work. "It's okay..."

He wasn't sure how to answer her comment on her laughter. It wasn't something he knew anything about and didn't want to hurt her feelings or seem too invested. Once she was done with the painting itself and showed it to him, he would do his best to be happy no matter how it looked. In truth he hoped it would be good but he was certain it would make him look silly. Duncan wasn't self-hating by any means but his confidence on his looks was low. He hated being short and small in general.

"Oh," Duncan commented when he finally saw the finished work, unsure whether to be flattered or feel awkward. "It's me. Cool."

It wasn't his smoothest comment, but he gave it a smile as well. His attention then turned back to the lake, then to the castle, before he returned to Verla. His free time had been here rather than the lake, but that was okay. He liked meeting people more than being alone. Once the painting was done, he had run out of time to be out and about. Duncan stood and stretched before saying his farewell.

"I should head back, see you later!"