Closed You Belong among the Wildflowers PV Simon

Despite all the coursework the professors placed upon the students, and the continuation of broom racing practice, and the slow formation of his own Club; a photography club called LUMOS, Simon wouldn't forget the meet-up he had planned with his new quill pal, Beatrice Dupont.

She had an interest in painting and had offered up some of her skills to him. Simon was always eager to learn something new but it wasn't just that; it wasn't mostly that - he might be able to gain a new friend here.

It was going to be interesting to compare their lifestyles from their lives before Hogwarts. She was a wealthy pureblood and he was a standard income level muggle born (at least that's pretty much how he grew up). Even at Hogwarts, he was pretty sure that the Slytherin experience of schooling was somewhat different than that of a badger. The Common Rooms alone beckoned to that.

Simon had gathered up some flowers from around the castle before their meeting. There were a few places that the school elves scattered them around or placed a vase here and there for a splash of color. Many of them right now were a scattering of what looked to be wildflowers: some pink - bell heather, bramble, clustered dock, dog rose, orange - with some perforate st. john's wort, a couple yellow - welsh poppies, tormentil, meadow buttercups, kidney vetch, green - with the stems and the leaves, a bit of blue - from the heath milkwort, lots of purple - in the common butterwort, common mallow, and common dog violet and a splash of red - from one bright and beautiful common poppy.

Once collected, he placed them into the vase that he was carrying around, pretty certain that the school elves wouldn't mind his borrowing. After all, they did the floral decorations so that those at the castle could enjoy them and what better way than to preserve them for always in a painting.

When he finished, he made his way to the Classroom on the Second Floor and gently knocked as he entered, seeing that his quill pal was already there. She looked very organized and ready and he smiled. "Hello, is this painting lessons with an amazing quill pal?"

English | French Word Count: 379

Interacting with: @Simon Kincaid Mentioning:

Beatrice was ready for anyone that would come through this door. She knew that the boy she was about to meet was in his third year and a Hufflepuff. His name was Simon. They had talked about a couple things in their letters and because Beatrice had wanted to be prepared, she read them all again before this meeting. In his first letter he had told her that he spend most of his time playing and or writing music, training for broom racing, studying for classes, researching the wizarding world, doing schoolwork, reading the Bible, reading books or widening his Herbology and Potions knowledge as he was also interested in Medicine, both in the muggle and magical world. He apparently also enjoyed writing to his muggle friends from back where he lived, South Kensington, London. Simon has an aunt named Maggie that he lives with and here at Hogwarts he also likes hanging out with friends or girlfriend. As for what he does at home, Simon has told her that he enjoyed going to church and being part of the choir, skateboarding, ice hockey, going to concerts and other musical events, visiting museums, and being with his friends and aunt. Beatrice had just finished going through all of this in her head, as someone knocked on the door. She turned and met the face of a boy with strong features and dark hair. He came through the door with a smile and immediately seemed incredibly nice. She returned his smile with a wide one spreading across her own lips.
„Most definitely. I'm Beatrice- but you already know that.” she laughed a little. „I'm happy to meet you Simon, I'm sure this will be nice and I see you brought some beautiful flowers!” she gestured to the chair beside her, for Simon to sit down. „You can set the flowers down on the table and sit down here if you'd like. I thought we'd start with sketching a little before doing anything else. Are you okay with that?” Beatrice was a bit nervous and surely Simon would be able to notice that. Picking up her sketch book again, Beatrice laid it in front of the older boy to show him some things like shadow work and the basic sketching process.

"Can't say my sketching skills are that polished either, Professor Dupont," he smiled to her. He knew the last name from the quill pal program and thought it would be amusing to call her by that, as if she was his Art Teacher at Hogwarts. Hey, who was to say she wasn't? He was there, in a classroom, placing out materials for instruction so the could go sit in one of the workspaces and learn. If that wasn't teaching, he didn't know anything in life.

"I borrowed the flowers from around the Castle. I believe the school elves put them around try and alleviate any sort of winter depression. It's nice though, the splash of colors and seeing them so up close. Sometimes we don't appreciate all of God's wonder, you know? I certainly don't take in nature as well as I some - but that's not rightfully the fault of my own. I suppose if I were more normal, I would totally enjoy the sunshine a little more."

He was saying all this as he placed everything he needed before him and took some peeks over at her demonstration. He'd study it a moment, his eyes trailing over the details, and then try it on his own. There was one thing Simon had going for him and that was the ability to perceive the details and to copy them. Now, when asked to draw or paint something on his own - that would be quite the different outcome.

"Exactly how long have you been doing art, Professor Dupont? What is it about art that draws you to it?" Simon couldn't help but smile widely, wider than he had since his arrival. "Get it? ....Draws you to it? Pun most intended," and in saying that he smiled still - thinking about AngelFyre McCubbin and her love for the words. "But the question quite seriously intended, indeed."

English | French Word Count: 475

Interacting with: @Simon Kincaid Mentioning:

Beatrice's eyes narrowed down on her sketchbook before snapping up to the older boy again. Had he just called her Professor Dupont? A smile spread across her lips. Professor. That sounded weird. Yet it was quite amusing and not wrong in a way. She was here to teach him a little of her knowledge and to get to know her quill pall a little more. It was nice to meet Simon. He seemed so open and amazing to talk to. As Beatrice listened to the older boy talk, she only realized how true this was. The way he talked about Nature and seemed to appreciate every little detail of mother earth. She agreed, the splash of color in these gray months was rather nice. Although, what did he mean with normal? Her eyebrows slightly furrowed together before going back to a normal expression.

„I agree. Such gifts of Nature are nice to see in these dark months. I suppose we all have to appreciate our mother earth a bit more, not only when everything is covered by snow and we cannot see the colors anymore.” as Beatrice talked, she scribbled a little flower in her book before looking at Simon to see if he was all set. Then she gently took one of the flowers out of the vase and laid it in between them. It was a beautiful lilac one, a yellow center gently mixing into the petals. The stem was a dark-ish green and strong, small leafs spreading across it. Morning Glory. Usually Beatrice saw these flowers growing in vines but someone had apparently just picked a couple and placed them in this vase. She really wondered where the elf's had gotten flowers like these at this time of year. However way they did, Beatrice was quite grateful because it would be an awesome object to sketch.

Looking up at Simon, as he made a joke and asked her a question at the same time, Beatrice couldn't help but grin. „I do get it, yes.” she laughed before continuing on with his question. „I can't really tell when art came into my live. I feel like it has always been a part of me. This may sound odd but the way I feel about art is hard to describe. I enjoy the peace it brings me, whether it is looking at art or drawing, painting and sketching my own little masterpieces,” she took a breath, playing with the quill in her hands, „Art is all around us and we don't even realize it. It's a passion and it is a form of living, something my Grandfather always used to tell me. It's so much more than colors on a piece of paper, you know?” she smiled before clearing her throat and trying to relax her body. „So, should we start with some sketching?”

"Sure! I must warn you though that my drawings usually end up looking less of a 14 year old and more of a - " he paused to think, " - a six year old's. I was going to say four but I do think my skills are slightly, ever so slightly, more elevated than that."

Simon looked at the flowers that were in front of him and grabbed a pencil from the art supplies before coming over to some paper. They were rather beautiful flowers and he didn't feel he was going to do them much justice, but he really wanted to get better at this. Maybe someday he could be brave enough to go so far as to paint AngelFyre's portrait and not be embarrassed to show her the final product. That was his main goal here; well, that and learning something new. It was always good to learn something new and expand your knowledge set.

Three flowers were clearly visible in the front and were not blocked by any others so he began by attempting to do an outline of them, perhaps pressing a little harder than he should on the pencil. He would make the smallest bit of line, look up, and continue this process until when he finished, he had the result of three jaggity blobs on his paper.

"Think someone is ever a hopeless cause at art?" He was going to need some assistance. "I might be that person."

English | French Word Count: 344

Interacting with: @Simon Kincaid Mentioning:

Beatrice chuckled at Simons words and looked to him with glint in her eyes. „Trust me, no one is actually bad at art. Your art is an expression of human emotion and intent and there is no such thing as 'ugly', in art. Art styles are so vast and change so often, whatever you draw could be perceived as ugly by you and as the most beautiful thing by the next person. Just draw with the intention of telling a story.“ This was most definitely easier said than done and Beatrice was quite aware of that, however, she was positive that Simon would be able to produce something he would like in the end. Although this lesson was really more about techniques rather than producing something you believe is perfect or pretty already. Skill takes time too and Beatrice would be lying if she said that she was satisfied with everything she did. „Also, not every art style is for everyone. Maybe you love painting but hate doing simple sketching. We will see.“ With that, Beatrice started sketching too, fully falling into a trance of flowers and pencil strokes.

When Simon spoke again, Beatrice looked up and at his paper. Three blobs looked back at her and Beatrice's gaze switched from the Paper to Simon and back to the paper. „I don't think it's bad for your first try, there is no such thing as a hopeless cause.“ She smiled gently and thought about some advice she could give him. She chewed on her lip before clearing her throat. „Look at shapes.. See the middle of this particular flower for example. It is technically just a circle, so, draw a circle. Then you go to the petals. Technically just an oval shape. Then draw the stem. Now you just draw the outlines, some leafs and there you go, pretty flower. Maybe add some details once you feel comfortable drawing the basics and you have it.“ While telling him what to do, Beatrice traced over her own drawing, hoping what she was saying made sense.

"Shapes and outlines first...." he paraphrased what she had just said and began to go over what he had previously done, using colors that sort of covered up the old ones since he went darker. Immediately he began to see better results and he stole a glance up to his professor and gave a smile.

"Sometimes I think it's a bit more difficult for me to draw pictures of things like flowers as opposed to other subjects. It wasn't as if we had a lot of nature in London to begin with and then here at Hogwarts- I'm not outside all that often. Save the hardship of those sunny days for broom racing practice."

As he continued, it began to look less elementary-ish and he was quite astounded at the progress. All he needed to get started was someone to encourage to help him and some good advice. He was thankful to Beatrice for that. "I hope to be able to draw something for my girlfriend someday." He wasn't looking to be the next famous artist in museums of Paris or anything like that.

"So tell me, Beatrice...." he paused for a moment as he worked on the shape of a petal, "if you are my art professor, then what can I be of yours? How might I return this favor? I haven't all that many talents - but I can play the piano, play the guitar, ice skate, skateboard, broom race.... I like reading and learning enough that I could be a study buddy. What are your thoughts?"