Peace and Happiness Closed

He was becoming quite accustomed to his wizarding camera. He knew the basics of photography from his Aunt Maggie's boyfriend/fiance and had taken to lots of research from various books about the topic and asked lots of questions from Caretaker Greer who used to be a photographer herself.

He was headed to the Great Lake that morning in hopes to capture some shots of Herman, the giant squid that lived within its waters. Would he be lucky? Most likely not. Herman seemed to be so illusive that he was practically a myth to some students although Simon knew him to be quite real. Being scooped up into his tentacles during a broom race would do that to you.

He saw a girl up ahead and was going to ask if she had seen any sight of him but saw she was reading. Reading was often an activity that one wanted to focus on and required some thought for comprehension so he remained polite and approached the lake's edge quite quietly.

Almost to her, she closed the book and began to look around at her surroundings. It seemed she was appreciating the splendor that the Scottish Highlands held before them that evening and it made Simon smile. Sometimes others were so wrapped up in themselves that they didn't see what was around them and it seemed this girl was appreciate of the beauty of nature around her. Simon loved it as well and didn't get to appreciate it as much as he'd like - being a dhampir and avoiding harsh sun most of the time.

"I've heard nightingales have an astonishingly rich repertoire and are able to produce over 1000 different sounds," he spoke in a whisper, now at the girl's side.

"Well, sort of," he admitted hesitantly. He wasn't sure if she was upset by it and he certainly didn't want her to be. "I was coming to the lake to see if I could get a photo of Herman, the giant squid," and he showed his wizarding camera as if he needed some sort of proof. "You were reading so I was trying to be quiet so not to disturb you, and then I saw you become interested in something and was curious as to what it was. Birds are pretty amazing. Think about it....flying without a broom. I think if I could become an animagus, some sort of bird of flight would be something amazing."

Hopefully she wasn't bothered by him because he was talking quite a lot. "I'm Simon," he said as he tested the waters to see how she felt and flashed her a friendly smile. "Simon Kincaid, one of those super social Hufflepuffs of the school. Always been a pretty talkative person. My Aunt Maggie says I would go no more than fifteen seconds sometimes without talking when I was even three years old. She's gotten quite used to it now. Probably blocks me out half of the time, but I won't hold it against her. "

@Simon Kincaid

"Pleasure to meet you Menia Calin," he repeated the name. The first name was one he hadn't heard before but that wasn't uncommon here. Back in London his class had been full of boys named Jack, Oliver, Dylan, Harry, and so forth and the girls were Charlotte, Olivia, Emily, Lily, Isabelle. Very common names. However, since attending Hogwarts he had met some students with the most unusual and most beautiful names: AngelFyre, Menia, Axyen.

"Awhile back ago I had a conversation with another on what our spirit animals would be. She perfectly chose a wolf and I chose a dove. I think it was the right choice. If one were able, I could see me choosing that as my animagus. Think you'll ever plan on getting that ability? I'm a bit envious of it because it's pretty awesome; not one I'm able to achieve, I'm afraid."

The limitations sometimes placed upon him in the wizarding world were frustrating but he didn't dwell on them. Just knowing it existed and that he was able to be included in it in some way was fascinating enough. He loved this world of magic. It had brought him so much wonder as well as so many different new friends he wouldn't have met otherwise.

Simon found it quite awesome that she planned to become an animagus. It was a pretty big feat even for a wizard though but Menia was a Ravenclaw and if anyone could have the intellect and drive to do difficult things it was them. He applauded them for that and found that many of his close friends, including his best friend, were Ravenclaws.

The girl said how wonderful magic was and Simon noticed her focus wasn't really on the bird anymore, nor was it on him. She was looking up to the sky and he wondered what she was thinking about - the clouds? Looking for more birds? Thinking of an animagus form she might take on that held flight? It seemed rude to ask, so he wouldn't.

"Being an animagus sounds pretty cool and I'm envious of those that get it. I wouldn't care if I was a giraffe! How many people can say they can turn into an animal? Sadly, I shall never achieve such a means. That's not in the cards for me. My abilities are quite restricting as a dhampir."

Yes, for maybe perhaps the first time in his lifetime, Simon just came right out with it.

He sort of understood her point but it was quite a long-shot to think he could be the first dhampir to do something when it was pretty much shown that dhampirs couldn't achieve something. Even magic had limitations. Still, kinda a cool thought to think maybe he wasn't as limited.

At least he didn't have his heart set on such a thing anyway and it really wasn't in his plans as he got older. He liked how encouraging Menia was and it reminded him much of his fellow Hufflepuffs.

He looked over to Menia, trying to gather what she might be thinking of but she seemed to be one of those people that maybe perhaps you couldn't figure out what they were thinking about and that was okay. "So tell me, looking back on nearly an entire year of Hogwarts thus far, what would you rate it? Are we a 1 out of 10 school? A nine out of ten school?" He was curious. He figured Ravenclaws would probably rate it pretty highly but it wasn't certain.

It wasn't like you could easily decide your wizarding school anyway since it was all mostly done by location on where you lived, but still. Again, always good to get someone else's perspective.