ᴄʟᴏᴜᴅs ᴏғ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴs CLOSED

Magical slugs. They didn't strike Scott as a particularly interesting subject, in fact, the boy had gone to great lengths in order to postpone this dreaded visit for a long while. Books of any kind were not his favourite thing in the world. But now he had no more excuses, and a herbology essay to write.

The library was dazzling, huge and labyrinthic. To say the least, Scott felt out of place- he'd usually stick to his obligatory reading and the books he'd gotten before the beginning of term. But those slugs, he could find little to anything about them anywhere. No doubt, Scott imagined, that was because they were dead boring and the author of his textbooks had thought so too.

There were some other students sitting about, as well. Reading by themselves, or chatting away quietly with each other- and when he turned a corner to enter the aisle for magical creatures, he almost strode head first into a smaller girl stood peacefully with a book of her own.

"Oh, I apologize! I almost walked right into you. Nearly invisible, how quiet you are. Dangerous! Although I suppose this is the library.. but I don't like being quiet even here, though. You might be able to tell.. Sorry. What are you reading? I should learn to be more aware of my environment, everyone says.."

Pausing his rambling, he noticed how the girl was small, yet had a thing about her which made him a tad uneasy. Maybe he'd startled her, and that's why she seemed that way.

"..Any how, I'm Scott Alexander." He reached his hand forward, and smiled as he began to forget all about those magical slugs.

And won't you look at that? An excuse.

Swimming in thoughts of the book's content one didn't notice a taller physique nearly crashing into her as legs took a step back in surprise, blue vision jolted up to an unfamiliar figure. Robe was decorated with red streaks, a lion's crest engraved on one side; Gryffindor. Voice rambled, started apologizing to the Hufflepuff, he seemed to be one of those with a chattier nature.

Scanning one's figure, he was quite tall for his age, hair light, face was somewhat delicate. Uniquely-coloured orbs observed her with curiosity as one asked the girl what she was reading. She didn't know where the boy came from, he appeared out of nowhere to be exact, a kind smile made his face appear manlier as the bigger hand stretched out towards her with confidence.

A rather confused expression crawled its way on paler face, eyebrows still somewhat serious, as slim hand reached unsurely, one squeezed it with lightning speed, making the Hufflepuff shift steps in surprise as a second of silence passed between the pair. Baby blue then looked back up towards him, soft glossy lips spoke, voice still had a slight tone of hesitation due to the boy's fast-appearing presence:
"...Ophelia."

Hand then pulled away gently as orbs focused back on her book, remembering one asked her about its contents. She didn't know why he wanted to know so badly, deciding to let him have a peek anyway, it shouldn't do any harm after all. Holding the book in one hand, she turned it towards him, revealing pages with inked writing, the illustration of Ukrainian Ironbelly stood out to any inquisitive eyes.

The Hufflepuff girl, Ophelia, didn't seem much like talking. But he was handed the book she'd been browsing, with her page turned to front. He accepted it happily.
It seemed old, but maybe that was simply because it seemed hand-written and not typed.. and then there was a picture, or rather an illustration, which caught his eye immediately with excitement.

"Oh, dragons!" Admittedly, much more exciting than slugs. "..But I won't pretend to be able to read that cursive, so you'll have to tell me what kind. It looks terrifying. They all do, honestly, but this one in particular. How big is it? You know, dragons are the one thing I can't draw whatsoever. Well, I can't really draw anything good but my dragons are especially bad. Or so I've been told."

Scott laughed, and studied the girl just a bit further. Her hair looked different, What was it about it? And was is possible she just really wanted him to leave? Could be so. She seemed very reluctant in everything she did, but then he reminded himself she must be a first year. They're all sort of like that.

"Do you like it? Hope I wasn't being offensive, terrifying things can be great, too. Just look at Moffy! I mean.. Professor Griffith. He's the professor or Care of Magical Creatures. Scary guy. Oh! Bet you'll love that class, if you like this." Scott handed the book back with a smile.

A talker he was indeed, but one managed to catch all the words his lips spilt, mentioning many things about dragons, drawing and then about a class Ophelia knew she would enjoy. The boy's expression was kind, his laugh was somewhat sweet really, while the girl's face would appear unchanged but lips did curl into a tiny, tiny smile as she listened to his rambling with a pinch of tiredness.

Perhaps his voice worked as caffeine, as much as her body needed sleep, she somehow felt more awake when listening to the bubbly Gryffindor. She let out a calming sigh as soft lips answered slowly:
"It's a Ukranian Ironbelly."

Baby blue glimmered again when saying the words, gaze then switched back towards the handed book as slim hands held it firmly in their grip. Focusing back to Scott, blue vision scanned the boy again, people could certainly call him an attractive individual but Ophelia never gave such things longer thought as the tomboy was used to male company. He would make a great model though, his physique would be great for her anatomy practice, she could really use someone for her drawings.

The Hufflepuff drew a lot, yes, wanted to improve, but one's lips wouldn't dare asking random people to sit on a chair for an hour or so while one would be drawing poses in her black notepad.

“Ukrainian Ironbelly..” Scott reflected, “Ukrainian Ironbelly.. I’ve heard of it. You don’t say very much, do you? Doesn’t matter, is it very dangerous?”

He leaned forward a bit to look over the back of the book again, to see the illustration in its horrid realism. It looked dangerous, and a bit familiar. He’d seen very few dragons in his life, but hadn’t gone without those classic field trips.

“Are dangerous creatures like this one your favourites? I know they’re mine. I have to write an essay on slugs of all things now, for Professor Davis.. They’re far from both dangerous and interesting. Well, I don’t know. You should correct me if I’m wrong, because I suspect you know more about.. these things. Still, I can’t wait for a class in Care of Magical Creatures when we get to learn about the fun ones. Who knows? Maybe the Ukrainian Ironbelly will be part. Or maybe that’s a beast.. it’s a XXXXX on the Misitry of Magic classification scale, though, that I know! “Known wizard killer”.. Scary thing, indeed.”

The Ministry of Magic classification was the one thing he knew he’d studied well last year, so while he might not know much about the dragons themselves he took some pride in being able to contribute with this.

The boy seemed interested in dragons indeed as he gave more questions than responses, piling them one after another then answering half of them on his own. An interesting fellow he was, one then start complaining of an assignment about slugs, sure they might not weight six tonnes or breathe melting plasma but they did have pretty unique abilities of their own.

He then got excited about dragons again, switching the topic rather quickly as he asked if Ukranian Ironbelly was her favourite. She nodded as the boy continued speaking about their classification scale, his orbs shimmered with excitement as he mentioned his love for the winged creatures.

"Yeah, they are considered impossible to train or to domesticate by the Ministry of Magic. I think that is not a bad thing though, they are free, plus, wouldn't one feel blessed if a dragon would choose to be by their side."
Face appeared unchanged, eyebrows still somewhat frowning, but anyone notice baby blue glimmering as the girl clearly wanted to be that certain individual. Creatures did always seem to take an easier liking to the Hufflepuff, perhaps such goal would not be so hard to achieve but dragons were different than most creatures after all. Heart longed to see such creature, even death wouldn't be as tragic if that wish would be fulfilled, touching the unbreakable scales, petting the boiling snout, observing such greatness up close.

The Griffyndor appeared to show a liking to them as well, ears were glad to hear people had similar interests as the girl then failed to notice her notepad was sticking out of her robe, falling out when one changed her posture. Pages of drawings opened and as if they planned this encounter, they flicked to a specific page where a majestic dragon was drawn with ink, some pencil lines visible from an erased sketch behind it.

Scott smiled and walked to stand next to her instead, leaning his back against the shelves in a reflective manner. "A dragon by my side.." He repeated, and nodded slowly. "Blessed, yes, to say the least. I'd feel honoured. Or chosen, something like that. Though bearing in mind I feel "chosen" when a bird doesn't fly away as I approach it, that might not mean too much." He scoffed, and crossed his arms. Ophelia didn't just seem to like dragons, she appeared to love them. It was all pretty great, he thought, and he suddenly wished he felt as strongly about something remotely school-related. He couldn't go on and on about potions, for instance. . Not that Ophelia was going on and on, per say, but she seemed invested. That he was conversing with a future top Care of Magical Creatures student didn't escape him.

"And maybe you're right about it being free, as well." He figured, "When I think about it- I, too, would like to say I am impossible to train or domesticate. Or rather, my mother would.. it might be partially why I'm still not researching my slugs and- oh! Hey, what's this?"

On the floor now was a notebook. It had fallen out of the girl's robes as she shifted from one foot to the other, and it laid with its pages open and turned to their faces, as Scott picked it up.

"Is this yours? Well, yeah, of course it's yours.. I meant did you make this? Because it's real nice! Is it another Ukrainian Ironbelly? Or another kind? Either way, here's someone who can draw dragons, apparently.. I'm jealous." Scott laughed, but then as to not be mistaken as mean he added a sincere It's really good, and gave it back to Ophelia.

As soon as her possession hit the ground, baby blue followed its movement quite fast, but those weren't the only orbs which caught a glimpse of the black notebook. Both figures crouched down to pick it up as the Gryffindor appeared to get luckier, hand grabbed her artwork as chartreuse vision observed what one appeared to like as he asked the Hufflepuff if the drawings were her doing. Head nodded gently, she never knew how to take compliments really, lips mumbled a quick "Thanks." to the bubbly boy. He was quite of a sweet person one would say, the girl couldn't help but wonder how he started such a long conversation with her. He did mention slugs earlier, perhaps he was trying to find a distraction from work?

Ophelia always spent a larger amount of time with a person before determining their intentions and such, one didn't judge others if she heard gossip or stereotypes but preferred making an opinion of her own. Whatever his reasons were, he was being nice, for now, pale hand fixed her silky locks behind her ear as slightly tinted lips continued speaking.
"Dragons have a unique physique but once you figure out how it works in different poses it is quite pleasing to draw. I'm kinda working on sharpening my human anatomy at the moment though."

One had knowledge of drawing humans, but practice always made it better and better, that could be said for art in general, the girl did show artistic talent at a young age but that alone wasn't enough, it was her passion for drawing which made her the artist she is today.

Head came back from thoughts as blue gaze focused back on the figure in front of her.

"Human anatomy?" Big words. When Scott drew he basically just put the lines.. where he wanted the lines. Though he supposed he could understand just from the brief study he got of her notebook, that this girl prioritised the detail in her work more than he did.

"Is that difficult? I mean, you're an anatomical human. It's not like you see a dragon in the mirror every morning, but still, you manage that perfectly! Well, what do I know? I just draw what I like and then I barely look at it again. How do you even "sharpen" things like that?"
He was honestly wondering, and so he lowered his eyebrows curiously. His mother would sometimes draw people, he remembered. She'd drawn him as a baby, for instance, and the product was still hung in their library.. maybe that was her, studying human anatomy as well. Though now she wouldn't do that as often anymore, which made him wonder in turn, if she'd turned to studying dragons anatomy, like Ophelia had, instead.

But he didn't think so.

"Very well, once you figure it out you'll have to tell me. I'd love to be able to draw something good, I don't have enough bragging rights at the moment. It's the price you pay at this place when you're not a very good flyer."