Outdoor Study PV | E. Cunningham Closed

The footsteps began to pound louder until Koko could almost sense a creature making its way towards her. She discarded the math work, whipped out her wand, and aimed it at the other being, shouting the word:

"Steleus!"

The Sneezing Hex. She had no regret until she realised that she had just hexed a Ravenclaw boy. "Oh my God. I am so sorry! A-are you alright?" she asked once his sneezes had subsided. She'd only hexed one person so far, and that had been out of self-defence. This time... she had just been paranoid and honestly had no excuse. She brushed a stray strand of caramel-coloured hair out of her face. "This is a terrible way to meet someone. I am extremely sorry..." Koko rushed the words out of her mouth, moving towards the boy.

"W-who even are you?" Koko whispered to the other child. A Ravenclaw... Perhaps he could help with the math. She turned and bent to pick up the paper. "A Ravenclaw, no doubt. Since you're probably smart enough, would you mind helping me with this?" Only a Slytherin such as herself would have little enough tact to ask for help from someone they had just hexed. She giggled awkwardly. Well... Hopefully he would say yes.

"I'm Eldridge. Eldridge Cunningham."

The boy introduced himself and accepted Koko's apology. The Slytherin would seem to melt with relief. She hopefully wouldn't get in too much trouble for hexing a fellow student...

"A mudblood?" Her tone turned spiteful, until the child said that he might help her. That changed her disdain towards mudbloods greatly. Perhaps they weren't that bad. Koko flashed a small smile at Eldridge before she said, "Thanks."

She scooted over to provide more room. "Yes, here is fine. Make yourself comfortable." So he knew how to solve radical expressions? Koko had thought that that was a skill one would learn in Third Year, or their Eighth Grade. That would mean that this boy was really a nerd, like Koko herself had been. Not so much anymore; she kept up an O average, but she didn't go out of her way to study. She didn't have the time.

"My name's Koko. Anyways, these are some radical expressions. If you could help me figure out what to do with them, I'd definitely owe you." Not that she wanted to be in debt to someone. No, no, no. She was honestly hoping that he didn't know how to do them now. Of course, none of that would show through her facial expression. She still smiled, though it looked much more strained than befoer. "Thank you for helping, and once more, I am so sorry about the hex."

"Oh, I'm sorry to have tired you."

She was, but she also didn't want to go inside just yet. "It would be nice to answer a riddle to get into our common room." It would be, but instead of that, they had a password. At least their password didn't change very much; it was rumoured that the one Gryffindor painting enjoyed changing it up.

"I mean, you can leave if you would like." She would leave, too. It wasn't worth much to stay out here if someone else wasn't there to accompany you. Koko glanced sideways at the Ravenclaw and muttered a hasty thanks. She might even follow him... It would be interesting to try and solve a Ravenclaw riddle...

But no, she wasn't about to get a detention. It was almost ten o'clock anyway; they were almost out past curfew. Koko stood up and brushed the dust off of her robes with a hardly-stifled yawn. "I-I think I'll go as well." She shot a small smile at Eldridge, trying to make up for her sudden rudeness earlier. "Really, though, have a good night. It would be interesting to see you again."

Koko gazed out across the grounds, finally admiring it for all of the nature. It was dark now, and trekking back to school could be difficult, but she would make it. She turned and left the area, saying goodbye to the Ravenclaw. Well... This had certainly been interesting...