First time for everything PV Ruby Cazares

Ruby was a pureblood and had grown up in a magical household hearing tales of Hogwarts. She was glad that she could finally go to the famous school, but what she was more thrilled about was the fact that now she could really learn magic – as she was being taught by professors and becoming fully able to use spells (after all, books could only teach you so much). Of course, she fully intended to find ways to go above and beyond her actual schoolwork, but she had decided that maybe she would relax a bit her first year while she was adjusting to the school and then take every opportunity she got in her second year and above.

She had just emerged from the library, and she was weighed down by the new books she was borrowing. Pausing for a second to adjust herself to the real world outside of books, she made her normal analyses on everyone around her. Ruby was constantly calculating, observing, and analyzing everything and everyone she was around or passed. She had a great memory to go with it, too, so she could remember for a long time afterwards. She had recently made a habit of filling notebooks with all her observations and everything that had happened or that she learned. There were pages and pages of her sketches of random students she had seen, things people had been doing, and all that she had found out. Ruby relished knowledge. She had a deep, deep desire to learn everything she could and gain new knowledge in general, and her observations and analyses were a way that she could start to satisfy parts of that need.

Seeing a person could tell you so much about them, if you knew what to look for. Their interactions with people and how they treated them, facial expressions, body language, posture, what they looked at and did, the way they dressed and the conditions and cleanliness of their clothes, and how they portrayed themselves were all important things that Ruby paid attention to. Her own posture was perfectly straight – something that she had noticed that other people rarely seemed to have nowadays. She had a certain aura, presence, air, whatever you wanted to call it, that spoke of sharp intelligence, confidence, sophistication, and stronger things like passion, power, ambition, and determination. This blended together to create a kind of fire that showed in a number of ways. One of these places that it showed was in her light blue eyes, but that was normally masked by the cool calculation that came with her careful observation of everyone and the lack of emotion that she normally showed. It had taken her years to be able to keep her face so perfectly neutral, but she had been forced to manage it. She didn't trust people much anymore, either, especially when she knew how manipulative and self-serving they could be. Even so, she let the mask of apathy slide quite often, if only to make people think that she felt a certain way about them.

Most of the time, Ruby wasn't nearly as intense as she may have seemed to be from these descriptions. However, she held a lot of power inside her, even if she didn't know it yet and even if she didn't know how to use it. She was still human, and she was still a child that enjoyed fun, games, imagination, mischief, friendship, and more, even if she could seem to be very serious. After another glance around her and a small sigh, Ruby continued to walk through the corridors. Her movements were smooth, graceful, and fluid, with an elegance and sophistication linked to them. This was something that she had noticed in only a few students and exclusively those of fellow pureblood/wealthy families.

Before long, she reached a point where it was particularly crowded. There was a girl that caught her eye, one that was sitting down in an archway and seemed to be drawing much of the scene around them. Curious about finding a student that shared a passion for drawing as well as observing surrounding people, Ruby made her way over to this girl, weaving effortlessly through the crowd. She paused, realizing that she wouldn't have been noticed yet, as she had unintentionally approached from a blind spot. “Hello,” Ruby said politely and simply, keeping her tone neutral but her face friendly. After all, she wanted to make the girl comfortable, not scare her away.

Ruby watched the girl's face, noting the way the girl looked at her. Ruby's looks had certainly been absorbed by the Gryffindor, but it interested her slightly that there was no analytical shine in the girl's eyes that Ruby found often accompanied observations of a person. Maybe this young artist in front of her was merely that, then – just an artist. That was still fine, of course…

The girl's conflicted thoughts showed slightly on her face, and that didn't go unnoticed by Ruby. What was this girl troubled by? What was causing this conflict? The girl hadn't appeared to be too pleased with Ruby – had she done something wrong? Slightly puzzled, Ruby's mind drifted away with her thoughts. This lack of concentration on reality was instantly halted when she realized that the girl was drawing her. It was very realistic and had the kind of detail that Ruby herself had worked to perfect for years, and had succeeded at thanks to lots of practicing.

Ruby was about to say something related to the drawing when the girl started speaking, introducing herself by stating her name. Although it was tempting to use the formality of proper names, Roni had specifically stated that she preferred to be called something different. “My name is Ruby Cazares. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Turner – er… Roni. Thank you for the compliment.” Ruby decided to respond to Roni's words first, but she was a little annoyed that she had made a mistake so quickly. She sat down near Roni, at an angle where she could still see the drawing. “I'm assuming you draw a lot – the level of skill and detail you have incorporated into that is quite impressive. I, too, frequently draw – it's nice to meet another with a shared passion.”

Ruby acknowledged Roni's first comment with a small nod of the head. “Okay, thank you. I'll probably just use whatever's easiest at the time, but I might stick to "Miss Turner" or, more simply, "Turner" for a little while, just because I'm used to that. It's a habit formed from formalities and repetition, ya know?” she said with a smile. “Although, I have found that while some people still use those forms of addressing fellow students here, many instantly use first names. I suppose it's just the differences in the ways we were brought up.”

Ruby waited while Roni spoke, watching the way the Gryffindor reacted and her body language/expressions. Raising an eyebrow, Ruby commented, “I mean no harm by saying this, but you must be upset quite a lot if you've practiced enough to get your drawings to be that realistic. I know that that talent doesn't exactly come overnight. Although, you did say that you've been practicing from a young age. If you did it a lot when you were younger, then I suppose you could get to the same stage.” Ruby considered this for a moment, and then looked at Roni for confirmation. Which one was it?

When Roni asked her to draw something, Ruby raised an eyebrow again. “I haven't shown my drawings to that many people, but I suppose I could…” Roni's reasons had been valid enough, so the Slytherin accepted the pencils and paper. She paused for a minute while she considered what she should draw. There were so many possibilities! Every time Ruby looked at a blank sheet of paper suitable for drawing, she saw opportunities. What could she fill this page with?

Glancing around her, Ruby decided that she didn't particularly feel like drawing the things near them. It would have to be something she produced completely from her mind, then. She could draw animals, a scene, a landscape, people… a small smile crossed her face as she chose to do something she had done many times, but in different ways. She'd draw three of her cousins. Those boys were practically like older brothers to her, and she had spent a lot of time with them over the years. In some ways, they were probably the faces that were most familiar to her. They were expressive, too!

After rotating the paper so it was horizontal, Ruby began instantly, outlining the boys and going by height order. First, one of the Gryffindors. Next to him, the other one – ever so slightly shorter. Finally, the Ravenclaw, positioned between them but in front of the other two so that the Gryffindors were just behind him. One of the Gryffindors had an elbow resting on the Ravenclaw's shoulder, and the Ravenclaw's arms were folded. Now that the outline had been quickly completed, Ruby could start to fill in some details. Her hand darted across the paper as the boys she knew so well started to form on the page. She was onto their expressions… well, they were bold, loyal troublemakers, so two of them wore smirks and the other had a softer smile, one that used his teeth and didn't seem quite as mocking. Their eyes and mouths captured so much joy, love, and fun, but also implied a mischievous nature without seeming mean.

When Ruby decided that she had probably finished, a fully-formed drawing sat on the page – one that was incredibly realistic and conveyed emotion. All the detail that someone might want in a realistic drawing was there. She had used her finger to do some smudging to make the shading smoother, as well. Years and years and years of practicing frequently had got her to this point, and her drawing looked like it could have been part of a photograph. She was quite pleased with it, so she handed the paper and pencils back to Roni. “Like I said, I also draw a lot,” she commented with a smirk. This smirk was one that would probably seem vaguely familiar to Roni, now – if she was paying attention. This was because it looked very, very similar to the ones on the page. The years that she had been around the boys had caused her to pick up quite a few of their mannerisms, especially because she had been young.

“These are my three favorite cousins – they're older than us, but they're the ones I've spent the most time with. We've been around each other a lot, growing up, and we're basically closer than siblings. I'm not sure if you recognize the boys at the back a little bit – they're Gryffindors, too,” she explained, accompanying her last comment with a small gesture at the Gryffindor crest on Roni's robes.