Squids and Strangers PV Ruby C. Closed

A girl of average height with brown hair in a plait down her back, pretty blue eyes, and a skin tone that was a variation of white was walking outside, pleased to be "free" out here. The air with which she carried herself radiated intelligence and something strong like power, passion, or ambition. There was also a sense of confidence about her. It was not haughty or being full of herself, but it was confidence. She was analytical and calculating, and made mental notes that she would write down later of most of the students in the area.

The chill didn't bother her in the slightest, quite the opposite, in fact. She enjoyed it and made no attempt to make herself warmer. The gentle breeze pulled a strand of hair out of her plait and it fluttered beside her face. The sun had a positive effect on her mood, Ruby had to admit it. It made her feel happier, more at peace, and gave her the thought that her life was pretty good. She was almost willing to stop analyzing, calculating, and being detached from everyone else and her emotions. Maybe taking a break for a few hours wouldn't hurt…

As Ruby moved in the direction of the Great Lake, feeling the need to be closer to the water, her attention was drawn to a girl that she assumed was around her age. A fellow first year then, and maybe a possible friend. The girl seemed to be very focused on something in the lake, and she was creeping around it, grinning, and leaping about. If Ruby got rid of the partial disdain she felt from watching this behavior, she had to admit that it looked like fun, whatever the girl was doing.

The girl's robes were laying on the ground, and as she neared them, she saw that they were from Gryffindor. Another Gryffindor then, and she might be a pureblood. My parents would approve of that.

Ruby was less concerned about what they thought than what she thought. The girl was clearly having fun, and Ruby wanted some friends, especially ones she could have lots of fun with. She watched the girl's hair color change and was initially shocked, knowing that it wasn't just because of the lighting. A metamorphagus then? Interesting. Very interesting.

When Ruby was about to speak, as that was what she had decided she would do, she saw a glimpse of the giant squid and smiled. They saw it a lot from the Slytherin common room, and seeing animals always made Ruby a little happier.

Ruby was close enough to the girl now to speak to her, but not close enough that she would freak her out. Now, how to begin speaking…

"Hey!" she called. "Are you looking for the giant squid? It went that way." Ruby's tone was light, friendly, and playful, and pointed in the direction it had been moving. If the girl wasn't looking for it, then that was a shame, but there were only so many things in these murky waters that would be of interest to an eleven-year-old.

Eris’ eyes turned around towards the fellow student, dark brown eyes narrowing and crinkling. Seeing another student in front of her, Eris paused her adventure to study the girl. She seemed taller than Eris, but looked new. Maybe she was a first year or a third year. Not that Eris knew everyone in her grade, but she did feel that she would have noticed a slytherin girl, as the two houses shared a good many classes together. She carried herself with such dignity that Eris had to study the girl, watching the expressions of confidence and calculation on her pale face. Eris wasn’t very good at reading facial expressions, but in the faint moments that she saw the brunette’s face, there was a multitude of emotions. First calculation and coolness that was strange for a girl not yet in her teenage years, then the formation of a light smile and a playful expression that Eris recognized from her own childhood and days spent at the park.

It was the smile of a potential playmate, not the scorned smile of someone judgmental. Eris grinned widely again, brushing a hand through her hair to check if the shade had turned back to an inconspicuous color of red. It seemed that everyone at the school had various shades of red or orange hair, and Eris was disgruntled with that fact. Still, any color hair was better than yellow hair. Her hair was now orange again and half a thought had it turning pink, which seemed a lot more cool and appropriate than dull orange, especially when greeting someone who could be a potential friend.

Hearing the words “hey” come out of another human’s mouth seemed beautiful to Eris, who had been so alone. Her friends seemed so busy and bothered, and everyone had the traumas of last year to deal with. Eris had never been able to relax and just enjoy herself, yet, staring at the girl who was plainly offering friendship. Friendship and time to go back to imagining childhood and the way things had been before masked figures and everything else annoying. Turning her face towards the girl completely, Eris let out a little curse under her breath.

Nothing bad, just a small cuss that the girl had picked up from Max Avery. Turning back to the squid with squinting eyes, Eris looked back at the water and saw the telltale signs of ripples on the water, but no squid. It was like the squid was taunting the small girl, which made Eris groan and roll her eyes, before her eyes flashed back to the slytherin.

Letting her hands drop down to her sides, Eris sighed. It didn’t seem like a sigh that was actually monotonous, rather it seemed like a joking motion. Tucking her hands into the pockets of her shorts, Eris laughed and reached down to pick up her wand and robes. Throwing her robes on over the shorts and tank top, Eris threw her hands back inside the pockets of her robes. She might not have been all that cold, but it was best to keep her hands warm from the chill.

“The squid is hiding from me. I was attempting to find it, but it seems my skills at being a spy aren’t as good as they used to be.”

As the other girl's eyes crinkled and an examination of the Slytherin seemed to take place, Ruby waited patiently, watching the girl back, careful not to let the friendly feelings she was experiencing slip away. Since the Gryffindor was alone, she might be able to use another friend too! Why would Ruby want to get rid of that opportunity?

The girl's hair changed colors again: first to orange, then to pink. Since it had originally started with red and then gone to yellow before orange, it reminded Ruby of a sunset or sunrise. Such beautiful things that nature provided humans with deserved to be appreciated, and Ruby did just that by watching them most days. She appreciated the colors and the blend of them as they transitioned to different shades. Some of them were breathtakingly stunning, and there were no words to describe them, and sometimes the colors seemed like pastels – peaceful pastel skies coexisting with clouds.

Ruby glanced up at the sky. There were small wisps of clouds that drifted by every now and again, but apart from that, the sky currently seemed to be never-ending, clear, and bright blue. Blue as far as the eye could see. Shades were slightly different in different areas, definitely, but for the most part, it was the same brilliant light blue. The sun shone down, its rays unrestricted and able to beat down on the land below it. Ruby definitely had a secret fondness for and appreciation of colors. There were so many different shades, pretty much endless possible combinations, and it interested her to think that no human saw these colors as the exact same shade that another human saw.

Back to the Gryffindor. Ruby absolutely needed more friends, but mainly friends in general. She hadn't really talked to many people here yet, and she wanted fun, laughter, and memories to be had and shared with someone else. Friendship was an interesting and complex subject in itself, but Ruby was more focused on forming friendships rather than the science of it at the present moment. She really hoped she and the girl could be friends.

When the girl sighed and laughed, Ruby couldn't help but to smile. She watched the girl put her robes back on, and Ruby's gaze was pulled back to the lake by movement on the surface – the squid again. Ruby laughed when the girl made a comment on it.

"I guess you'll just have to brush up on your squid-watching skills then," she joked. "Might I join you in your quest?" she added as an afterthought in a fake formal voice, before cracking a grin and looking at the Gryffindor hopefully.

The world seemed a lot brighter, and the smile on Eris’ face grew tenfold at the promise and invite at a game. The formal tone the girl used took Eris back to her childhood of playing princesses with Bella, a fact that had the smile draining off of Eris’ face for a moment, as she recalled the frilly pink dresses of childhood and orders to play maid for her sister, dressing Bella up in the most expensive fabrics they could find. Most of the time that tended to be just blankets and towels that were old enough to be ripped with holes, or had been ripped up by the two girls and hidden away so their mum wouldn’t find the ripped up clothing and yell at them. Their mother had always been one for strange moods.

Jane Elcan was strange, even when she wasn’t an Elcan. Eris had done some research into her mother’s line, and it was one of pain and sadness. Apparently Jane’s brother had died in her first year at Hogwarts during the battle of Hogwarts, but that was all that Eris could find about the Rowles. Besides for the evident and ever present news about Jane and her imprisonment of Luca Fawley and the missing daughter who was not at Hogwarts. Eris’ squib sister, Bella. Eris felt a pang of sadness at the reminder of her sister, but couldn’t help but wonder how her thoughts had gotten so off track.

Maybe that was why people detested her so. She was absent minded and strangely focused on the past. Even now, she was ruining her chances to have a new friend by zoning off and thinking of the past. Eris snapped out of her reverie in a moment, and easily cracked a grin again, forcing thoughts of her missing sister away and into the dregs of her brain.

Whatever that meant.

Clearing her throat with an over-the-top fake cough, Eris tilted her chin upwards, as to look more pompous and regal. She was no longer just a spy, she was the master of spies, taking on a new apprentice and teaching her in the ways of spies. The mission to find the squid was now a matter for both girls to solve, and they would solve it together. Eris would get a glimpse at the squid, and maybe a new friend as well.

Depending on what the squid did. The last time she had seen the squid, it had sprayed water and Kaegen and Eris while they were playing in the shallows of the water. Then Kaegen had ran away on all fours and she had followed after him, trying to crab walk through the hallways of Hogwarts to get the children to stop laughing at her newfound friend. It seemed, after that experience, that the squid had the power to make or break friendships. Maybe it was a magic squid. Eris wouldn’t have been surprised, considering that almost everything in the castle was magic. Even the food magically appeared on the table each morning. Where did that food come from?

“My good lady, you may join me in the quest to find the giant squid.” Eris joked, before venturing forward into the shallows of the water. Not even stopping to roll up her robes, the child splashed into the shallow water, letting the frigid chill overcome her.

“Soon it will be frozen, for the winter. What will the squid do?” She muttered,turning to the new friend. “The squid shall freeze in the winter. Maybe our mission has to turn from one of spying to one of saving!” Eris knew that the school would probably save the squid, as it had been fine last year, but she figured the other girl might not have known. Dropping the act for a second, she stage whispered.

“The squid will be fine. Last year it survived under the ice or whatever, it’s magic like the rest of the castle.”

While the other girl seemed to be thinking, Ruby's own thoughts drifted to the other Gryffindor first year she had met. They had started off the same way she started off with anyone – strangers, with Ruby analyzing the other girl. An exchange of names had followed, and they had a decent conversation that was going pretty well. They seemed to be getting along fine and Ruby was starting to warm up to her when a comment had been made, one that was somewhat offensive to the Slytherin house and Ruby, and Ruby didn't take kindly to that. Ruby had pointed out that the girl didn't know anything about her and that it wasn't her weakness, and then the girl had welled up with fury and walked away. Okay, maybe Ruby had been a little cold, but she thought the whole thing was really stupid, and now she had a possible enemy.

If she didn't have two close cousins that were Gryffindors, as well as other relatives, Ruby would have probably developed a hatred for Gryffindors, based off of that girl and her parents. But she loved those cousins far too much to ever hate an entire house because of a couple of people who messed up. She didn't know enough Gryffindors anyway. Besides, the girl standing in front of her seemed like a great friend and Ruby hoped she could be friends with her. Wait… I don't even know her name…

When Ruby's gaze flicked back up to this girl, she saw that her face had fallen and she looked sad, with a distant look in her eyes. Ruby opened her mouth to ask if she was okay, but then the girl was grinning again and coughed in a fake way, perfect for playing. She was delighted when the girl accepted her request. If she hadn't, Ruby didn't know what she would have done.

The girl waded into the water again, ignoring her robes getting wet. Ruby wanted to follow her and didn't want to be left out even though she knew the water would probably be really cold, so she quickly slipped off her shoes and socks and made sure nothing would get wet. She waded in after the girl, with a small intake of breath as the cold hit her, but she quickly adjusted to the temperature.

"I thank you dearly for accepting my request to assist you. Might I inquire as to what your name is before we commence the quest?" Ruby couldn't help but to start laughing after she replied. It was hard to keep a straight face when speaking like that without practice.

Ruby quickly got concerned when the girl talked about the squid freezing, as that was something she had been wondering about as she watched the squid from the Slytherin common room some days. This anxiety was dispelled as quickly as it began when the girl told her that the squid would actually be fine, and it was just part of the game. Ruby nodded. "So, we must find and rescue the squid!"

She focused on the currents of the water, staring down as if sheer will alone could make the squid show his ugly form. Glaring down at the water, Eris opened her eyes to the point where tears almost started to water in her eyes, as she peered down into the water. Was it worth diving into? Eris didn't really know how to swim, but she could float. Maybe the squid would save her from drowning in the frigid waters. Even though she had refused to feel any sort of chill in her body or admit to one, Eris had to admit that the water lapping around her robes was discouraging and quite annoying when she was trying to focus.

Perhaps going into the water with her robes on had been a brash choice, but weren't most choices Eris made rash and impulsive? Turning to see that the other girl had taken off her shoes and socks, Eris was glad she had already yanked off her shoes and socks when deciding to go outside. Eris was a strange girl, and one of her favorite things to do was to walk barefoot around the school and pretend to be a spy. It had become a fun game of sorts, walking around without shoes to clomp on stone and alert the masses that she was coming. At night it was even easier to stay hidden when nobody could see the tracks of mud and dirt from shoes sneaking back into the castle at night. Plus, shoes were hard to walk in. Heels were insane! Rhea had given Eris high heels to walk in during the disaster of a Blossom Ball in their first year, and she had fallen down a million stairs before giving up and chucking them into a corner of the corridors.

Speaking of, Eris couldn't help but wonder about the whereabouts of Rhea's blue heels. She had never recovered them after the ballroom fire. All she had wanted was to dance with Max Avery! For no reason other than friendship, of course. Anything else would have been cootie inducing, and even though cooties weren't real according to Max and Phae, who were two of the smartest people Eris knew, Eris still wasn't buying it. Cooties had to be real, because there was no other reason for the gross red spots on teenager's faces. What were they called? Pimples. Maybe the world refused to see it as cooties, but Eris knew the truth. Cooties were real, and they were dangerous.

The amused smile on Eris' face faded away as the other girl demanded to know her name, still in the playful tone. Praying the girl wasn't a pureblood, Eris peeled her eyes away from the water and offered a little lifting laugh of her own, remarking on how absurd the words sounded coming out of the mouth of a fellow student instead of an elf or faerie.

"I'm Eris Fawley, and who might you be, my good lady?" Eris asked, praying that the brunette wouldn't know who the Fawleys were and about the drama of the Rowle line. Yet, most pureblood seemed to know, and it was likely that this girl was a pureblood. Everyone seemed to be a pureblood lately.

Ruby stared at the water for a bit longer, watching the gentle movement of it and the sparkling of the sunlight as it hit the water. She assumed the giant squid would show itself several more times, and calculated that it would probably be soon. She wondered if she should tell the other girl this, but realized that the Gryffindor was watching the lake anyway. Surely the girl wouldn't miss it if it happened to surface now, even if she had before.

Now that she was adjusted to the temperature, Ruby liked the feel of the water gently swirling around her feet. There was something very peaceful about it, and she made a mental note to take her shoes off more often. Before she came to Hogwarts, she wandered around barefoot almost all the time, whenever she was allowed to and wasn't going out in public somewhere. Since she was always around others here and that qualified as public, Ruby had kept her shoes on when she was walking around. Maybe now that she was beginning to ease up a little bit and make a few friends, she could traipse around barefoot. At first, the thought had seemed absurd to her, but now, she was starting to like the idea of it.

Her thoughts were interrupted – not in a bad way – by the girl speaking. Oh. She was a Fawley. Interesting… Well, although Ruby was a pureblood herself and had most definitely heard of the Fawleys, Eris only really needed to know her first name. There was no harm in leaving out something that hadn't specifically been asked for, after all. “I'm Ruby,” Ruby replied with a smile, not pressing any questions about Eris's last name or changing her opinion of her. The Gryffindor was still a person, and Ruby could still possibly play with her. No name could change that, and Ruby wouldn't give up a perfectly good playmate for it, or deliberately make Eris uncomfortable.

All the teasing formality was getting a little hard, and Ruby just wanted to play and hopefully make a new friend. “So, where and how do we begin our quest?” she inquired, walking to a spot slightly to their right to get a better view of the lake.

The water was cold and grew rapidly colder by the moment. The chill sloshed around Eris' legs, as the black fabric of her voluminous robes floated around her, looking eerily similar to the tentacles of the squid the two girls were adamant upon finding.

Letting loose a breath Eris hadn't known she was holding in, her shoulders slumped forward and her attention finally turned away from the murky waters of the Black Lake to the brunette next to her. Staring at the lines of her face and the way they reflected off the water, Eris searched for any dishonesty in the Slytherin's eyes, or the telltale spark of pureblood interest, shock, or the gleam in the eyes when someone was considering the merits of using Eris for her name and her riches.

There was nothing besides the eyes of another child. Maybe it was just the nativity and innocence that Eris tried to hard to cling onto, but she forgot about the cunning of Slytherins. Maybe she should have asked about the girl's blood purity, but Eris had never truly kept her head or remembered what she was supposed to say when she was cornered by the excitement of new situations.

Clenching and unclenching her fists, which was a nervous habit the angry girl had picked up remarkably fast from watching too many superhero movies, Eris's feet dug into the sand at the bottom of the lake, toes digging into the rocks. As the other girl introduced herself, Eris thought. Had she ever heard of a Ruby? None of her friends had mentioned a Ruby, so she must have been a first year, as Eris seemed to know most of the second years and the gossip they liked to spread.

That was fine. Although, Eris did feel a little sheepish for hanging out with someone younger than her. Wasn't it bad to do that? Weren't second years supposed to be all big, strong, and mighty? What a load of horsecrap. Horse crap was a new curse word Eris had learned over the summer from Nym the house-elf, who hadn't meant to say the word and had punished herself after, but the damage still stayed.

It was such a cool word, too. Horse-crap, horse-crap, horse-crap! Saying the word, even in her head, made Eris feel grown up like she was finally growing into her twelve-year-old body and life. It was crazy that she was already 12, wasn't it? Thoughts turning away from curse words and back to squids and Ruby, Eris' lips turnt upwards into a bright smile, as the little child jumped upwards in the water, watching the ripples and splashes made in wake of her leap.

"Maybe if we jump around enough, we can get the squid to poke its head out, Like a distraction or something!"

Ruby glanced down at their feet and her eyes settled on Eris's robes. She watched them swirl around the Gryffindor's feet. They were mesmerizing, in a way, and she was content to stare at them for a moment. She looked back up to see Eris staring back at her, and Ruby met the other girl's eyes.

Of course she knew who Eris was now, and she was certainly surprised, but she only let a glimmer of recognition show in her eyes. Don't judge her. Don't judge her because of her family and because she's a Gryffindor. You have started to leave out your last name most of the time because you don't want people to judge you because of your family before the people even know you properly. You're starting to like your own family less and less as the year goes on. There are good Gryffindors too, remember that. Not all of them are worth hating. Think of your cousins, and you're even starting to like Cleo Cabello – maybe. So don't judge her for all of this, Ruby thought to herself.

Ruby had also completely misjudged Eris's year, which she was not pleased about. She had never done that before now. Sometimes, Elena Jones felt like a second year to her, but that was as close as Ruby actually got to misjudging someone's year so far. Even height or body shape didn't normally throw her off. What had happened? She made a mental note to study more about the topic to avoid making the same mistake again. She could not run around making incorrect assumptions and analyses – she just couldn't let that happen. Even though she now knew Eris's age because of who the Gryffindor was, and Eris would never need to know that Ruby thought she was a first year, it made her slightly disappointed in herself.

Ruby hoped that Eris didn't mind her being a first year. Personally, she didn't think it mattered and didn't see why it should get in the way of friendships, but she knew that many older kids – even ones just in the year above – looked down on the younger ones. Maybe they wanted to have a feeling of superiority to help with the insecurities they were bound to have, but Ruby really didn't understand the point in it. Seriously – it wasn't like a year really mattered. The second years had more experience, and that was all there was to it. First years could benefit by learning from them, and second years could make new friends and maybe have someone to be a role model for.

Coming back to Eris and her name, the thought of using Eris for selfish purposes crossed Ruby's mind very, very briefly once, and was then gone. Pureblood allies could benefit her and her family, but Ruby wanted friends, not a tense relationship and no real trust. She didn't need more money either, there was plenty of that at her own home. No, all she really wanted was a playmate and hopefully a friend – at the very least, an acquaintance – and had no intent of using Eris in any way. Ruby debated telling Eris her own last name, but decided against it. If the Gryffindor asked, Ruby would definitely tell her, but there was no real need to mention it yet.

Ruby watched as Eris began to jump up and down. The sight of it made her smile, and she responded to the girl's words by beginning with a shrug. “Yeah, I suppose we could try that.” She then grinned and joined Eris in the splashing, completely ignoring the stares that they got from other nearby students.

The act of jumping and splashing. Such a simple thing, yet it managed to bring Ruby joy and pleasure. It was a bit childish, sure, but she was so bored with the seriousness that seemed to haunt the members of the school. Even simple laughter and chatter was too idle for Ruby, in some ways. That was why the splashing was nice, especially when she was doing it with someone else. She wasn't lonely when she was playing with someone else, even though sometimes she felt like her soul was lonely and forever wandering. She was an adventurer and mischief-maker, often surrounded by friends, sure, but nevertheless, sometimes she still felt lonely. She had definitely begun to settle in at Hogwarts and was comfortable here and in the house of Slytherin, but she wanted to find more people that meant something to her. She wanted people she could spend time with, trust, and hang out with – friends or good friends in general. Yes, she had plenty of time left still, but why wait when she intended to seize all the opportunities she got?