The Snowman in the Courtyard PV Alyssea Brown Finished

interacting with @Simon Tilia

Christmas holidays were finally coming up and it was quite a serious affair at Hogwarts. Though it could be argued that decorating the gigantic castle for one holiday that hardly anyone stayed on the grounds for was pointless, in the days leading up to Christmas, it was a great relief to see.

The number of classes was beginning to dwindle coming up to the holidays. If she had chosen to stay back, it'd be two weeks of routine-less wandering, if that was even a word. But since her brother was also due to come home, she figured it would be nice to visit home.

For now, she was still here in Hogwarts and there was plenty of spare time to waste. Alyssea settled by a window in the corridors, taking a history book from her backpack. She pulled her scarf over her mouth to warm herself up as she read. Even after a few years back in England, she would never get used to the nose-biting temperatures.

As she read, people passed and occasionally, she would look up to see who it was. If they noticed her, she would often give a smile. If not, she'd return to her book.

Then, the footsteps halted and a voice came. "History is not appreciated by many of the First Years."

Alyssea put her hand in the book as her bookmark and folded the text over it. When she looked up, it was one of her Ravenclaw classmates from her History of Magic class.

Simon Tilia. He's hard to miss when he's the only other person (among a few others) who genuinely enjoys the class rather than avoids the teacher's gaze when he picks on people to answer his questions. But Alyssea's never had the chance to talk to him in class.

Simon smiled. "Sorry, I could not help noticing the cover of your book. What are you reading?"

"Oh!" Alyssea turned the cover over to show him, but kept her grip on the open page. "It's The Decline of Pagan Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. People keep saying Bagshot is a good historian, and I'm starting to see why."

There wasn't much thought put into picking the book out when she saw it in the library's history section. It looked interesting enough.

"You're Simon, right?" Alyssea asked. "It's nice to properly talk to you. Are you interested in history, by any chance?"

"Oh! It's The Decline of Pagan Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. People keep saying Bagshot is a good historian, and I'm starting to see why. You're Simon, right?"

"That's right. And I know that your name is Alyssea. From class." Simon smiled politely.

Alyssea was someone you noticed, especially during History class. When most students leaned back in their chairs out of boredom or rested their heads in their hands, half asleep half awake, Alyssea usually leaned forward over the desk with her quill constantly moving over her parchment. Every time he finished writing down a note, the only scratching that could be heard was usually coming from Alyssea's desk. He admired her for it. Simon always appreciated people with special interests or passions.

"It's nice to properly talk to you. Are you interested in history, by any chance?"

"Yes, I am, in fact. I haven't red much of Bagshot, though, except for the book in our literature list. Did you know that she was close to the Dumbledore family? She lived in Godric's Hollow, same as the Dumbledores, from what I've read. That is some interesting family history right there. But I'm more interested in the big events. How nations were formed, how cultures were shaped and how the modern society can be explained by historical events..."

Simon could not remember Alyssea ever looking at him in class, but now that she did he realized how piercing her eyes were. She had this really clever and concentrated look in her eyes, as if she took all the interest that she previously had in that book and placed it in him instead. He almost felt naked but managed to not get uncomfortable by her extraordinary charisma. Rather he was intrigued by it.

"... I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown

interacting with @Simon Tilia

Alyssea did not know that Bathilda Bagshot was close with the Dumbledore family. She shook her head and her eyes widened as Simon went off. She always imagined historians to be far-away people from centuries ago, most likely passed by this point. She never thought the connection would be so close.

Alyssea chuckled. "Wow, what a small world we live in. Even the Potters lived in Godric's Hollow."

Simon continued. "But I'm more interested in the big events. How nations were formed, how cultures were shaped and how the modern society can be explained by historical events..."

Ah, he was more of an action-packed history kid. No shame in that. In fact, wars often made for a good story and do more character development for the world than changing presidents constantly. Of course, that's not to say the Industrial Revolution didn't give the world a glow-up (or rather, glow-down with the amount of climate change going on) with the technological advancements it introduced.

Would he also be interested in politics? Alyssea's brother had told her about a time he attended a conference and pretended to represent a country. Model United Nations? He would often tell Alyssea about what new facts he found about the country he was representing over the fire-call. It was an eye-opening experience for both of them, even if Alyssea hated politics.

Simon paused. "... I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

Alyssea shook her head. "Of course not. It's not like I'm doing much, anyway." She smiled. "Do you need to be anywhere? I wouldn't imagine you were looking for me."

Way to sound like a narcissist, she thought. She didn't mean to sound as if she wanted to get rid of him either. In all honestly, she was trying to be polite; if he needed to go, there was no reason for her to keep him for longer than he needs to be.

"Of course not. It's not like I'm doing much, anyway." Alyssea smiled. "Do you need to be anywhere? I wouldn't imagine you were looking for me."

Simon blushed a little. "Well, no, I didn't", he said, stumbling over the words as he was not sure what to say exactly. "I was actually heading to the library to read a bit of history myself, in lack of better things to do." He smiled.

Girls were sometimes confusing. His mother, who was a Professor in Sociology, always said that interviewing people was a fine art and that you rarely understood the meaning behind the words unless you asked the other person to explain themselves, to elaborate, or to clarify. This was not an interview, however, so asking Alyssea to clarify herself would be inappropriate. No, he was all on his own to decipher what she actually meant and he had to do that fast. Do I need to be somewhere? Was that a polite way of asking him to leave her in peace? 'I wouldn't imagine you were looking for me'. What did that even mean? Was she implying that she thought of him as some kind of stalker, or maybe she wished that someone was looking for her and wanted company.

A scene from a movie that he had been watching with his parents was playing in his head. It was a romance, and when the male character was too shy and hesitant, the female character – the classical strong independent woman – had bluntly said: 'Are you gonna ask me out or what?'.

In the blink of an eye, he decided to not be that hesitant guy:

"... Would you like to join me?"

Wait? What?

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown

interacting with @Simon Tilia

Simon's face flushed and Alyssea thinks she's overlooked another meaning in her words. Did it get weird fast? Does he think she's weird? She mentally shook away the thought. Whatever. She can't undo the damage.

He shook his head at her question. "I was actually heading to the library to read a bit of history myself, in lack of better things to do."

Somehow, she could imagine him doing that. Alyssea wasn't one to stereotype, but look, Ravenclaw values intelligence. And with intelligence came curiosity for information. While others would argue and say Ravenclaw were the equivalent of STEM kids back in Muggle Britain, Alyssea wouldn't agree. Intelligence wasn't just science; it was everything. The love for learning anything and everything in the world. Who said social science wasn't a science? There's science in the name for a reason.

Going to the library during free time just to read history books? That was a very Ravenclaw thing to do in Alyssea's mind. Usually, people go to the library to do homework or research for assignments. There would be the occasional bookworm reading something from the fiction section, but hardly any recreational non-fiction readers.

"... Would you like to join me?"

Alyssea snapped out of her thoughts. What?

Now, there wasn't anything wrong with the statement. But see, it's not every day you get asked if you want to go to the library to read history books with someone, okay? It's not considered a normal hangout, per se.

Remembering she had to reply, Alyssea cleared her throat and sat up straight. "I..." She paused. What was she supposed to say? Yes?

(Can you blame her? Meeting a person with the same interest in history is a rare thing.)

"I suppose if you don't mind."

She took a glance down at the book page and then closed it. She took one last glance outside the window and whispered, not intending for Simon to explicitly hear and-or respond. "It's starting to snow."

"I..." Alyssea paused for a moment. "I suppose if you don't mind."

"No, of course not", said Simon and smiled. Why the library, you clumsy fool?

He was curious to get to know Alyssea better, especially since they seemed to share some mutual interests. Since she was out her all by herself, while most students were hanging out together somewhere in the castle, Simon thought this was a good opportunity to do so. But now that the question had been asked, he realized that perhaps he was not saving her from some 'involuntary loneliness'. Maybe he was the one who appeared lonely and forcing his company on her. He knew that Alyssea had friends and she was probably more popular than he was. And why the goddamn library?

"Or... If you like, we could, like, go somewhere and explore the castle. As you've probably noticed, there are a lot of historical artifacts around, but most students tend to just pass them without even noticing them or bother to read what's on the plates. Besides, I got the advice from an older student that paying attention to the surroundings is a good way of discovering new shortcuts and secrets around the castle. There are still so many places and corridors I haven't visited..."

As they walked along the corridor, Simon noticed that it had begun to snow again outside the windows. The light was almost blinding as the courtyard was almost completely white. But then he noticed something weird. Something big and white was moving out there. Hovering over the snow covered ground.

"Hang on", said Simon and put his hand on Alyssea's arm to stop her. "What's that?" He nodded in the direction of the white figure in the courtyard.

It was a snow man, levitating a couple of feet above the ground. It had a grey hat, twigs as arms and a big carrot for a nose.

Interacting with @Alyssea Brown

interacting with @Simon Tilia

Alyssea listened as Simon rambled on. They walked through the corridors to the library, she took his advice and admired her surroundings.

When she first arrived at Hogwarts, she couldn't stop looking at the portraits all around the castle. Even though she expected them to move and interact with her, it didn't mean she was nonchalant the first time she spoke with them. Heck, sometimes it still catches her off guard now. She'll be reading down the hallway and one of the sweet portrait ladies will remind her to watch where she was going.

Then, Simon tapped her on the shoulder. "What's that?"

She turned to the direction he was pointing and, despite having perfectly clear vision, she squinted. At first, she couldn't make out the shape with the snow blinding her. But once she saw the orange nose, she knew.

A snowman!

"Come on! Let's have a look!"

She ran out into the courtyard and saw it in its entirety. The figure looked a bit bare, but it was probably the lack of a neckpiece. The snowman had twig arms, a carrot nose, and rock buttons. Think Olaf, but bigger.

She pulled her scarf closer to her neck. The cold never stopped biting at her skin, even if it was not well exposed. Perhaps it was her skin not being thick enough for the English cold. Guess that's what happens when you're born in the Pacific continent with mild temperatures and low humidity.

The snowman looked odd without a scarf itself; with the grey hat, it felt lopsided.

"I feel like the snowman could do with a scarf. It's pretty cold nowadays." She chuckled. "I always thought snow would be like fluffy. It wasn't until I moved to France for a bit that I got to experience a European winter. It's bloody cold in these parts."

But she held on to her scarf. The last thing she needed was a runny nose and a bad cough, especially with the holidays coming up.

"Come on! Let's have a look!", said Alyssea and ran out into the courtyard.

Simon followed her. The courtyard had not been properly shoveled, so they had to go out in the deep snow, reaching above their ankles, to get to the snowman. Simon did his best to step in Alyssea's foot prints before she halted and he departed from her tracks to stand beside her in the snow.

"I feel like the snowman could do with a scarf. It's pretty cold nowadays", said Alyssea and chuckled.

"Yes, but I'm not giving him mine", said Simon jokingly and pulled his Ravenclaw scarf tighter around his neck. "Sorry, Mr. Snowman!"

"I always thought snow would be like fluffy. It wasn't until I moved to France for a bit that I got to experience a European winter. It's bloody cold in these parts."

"Really? You've lived in France? Where are you from, originally?", asked Simon.

He was always curious about other countries and cultures, an interest he had inherited from his parents. After all, his mother was from Norway, teaching Sociology and had been doing field work in South America, and his father worked at the Ministry with international co-operation.

With his attention now turned towards Alyssea, he did not notice how the arms of the levitating snowman twitched a little, with its black eyes, big carrot nose and smile made out of little rocks turned towards them. Simon had supposed that the levitating snow man was part of the Christmas decoration, probably enchanted by Professor Fresnel or one of the other teachers.

@Alyssea Brown

interacting with @Simon Tilia

"Really? You've lived in France?" Simon asked.

Alyssea nodded. "Yep. When I was about seven or eight. Wasn't a long stay, though, probably just a few months."

She remembers that time just as she joined the new academic year in Europe. She had previously stayed in Asia for a couple of years so she was ready for the cold, especially with the coats she bought. But with the constant moving around, she never fully acclimatised. She never inherited her parents' thick skin (literally, not mentally).

"Where are you from, originally?"

"Where I was born or my ethnicity?" Alyssea teased. "I was born in Australia but I'm English through and through. Parents were born in England but they were in Australia by the time they had me."

She turned to Simon. "What about you?"

Sometimes she wonders what her life have been like if everything stayed put just like everybody else. If there wasn't any moving between continents, would she have turned out differently? She probably wouldn't even be here at Hogwarts, but at least her brother would be close.

She took another look at the snowman and watched as it moved to face them. Alyssea grinned. Was this guy the little snowman companion of the castle courtyard? Or was this someone working on their charms homework?

"Wonder what spell that is," she mumbled to herself.