Hiking on Holiday PV closed

April 2018 during Easter Holiday Break
Highlands to Mountains in Killin, Scotland

Her dad brought loads of unique muggle items back to their house on a regular basis. After all, his parents had no idea he had married a witch and had magical children. When her grandparents visited, it was the most challenging times because no magic could be used anywhere and the kids had to keep it under wraps. Her mum unfortunately had to use a memory charm once to make them forget about some gnomes running around and wrecking havoc in the backyard, but that was the only incident they've had to date. "Oh, wait a minute. Ansley, take a picture of us" She flung the camera over to Ansley and gave Elena a half hug, grinning wide for the camera. "I'm making a collage with all of my friends, too." She spoke quickly through gritted teeth.

Rora let out a horrified gasp. Her maternal instinct kicked in and she immediately wanted to soothe the little creature, even though it had no risk of actually being hurt in this process as no one likely had milk on them. "Oh no! I definitely don't want to find that out. It looks so snuggly... erm, despite all of the prickley spikey things and whatnot." Peering down, the knarl was so beautiful. She was sure they had knarl quills at home and made a mental note to interrogate her mother to understand what the quill harvesting process looked like. If it wasn't humane, Rora would protest and rid the house of all of them. We will not support any type of animal cruelty, whether it's magical or not. "I think we should name him Gerald!" Ansley was clearly very excited by this recommendation and chimed in. "Oooh, I love when people give their pets old, regal-sounding human names. I think we should call the next creature we see Eugenia or Winston."

The mountains were now within sight of them and they continued forward. Because it was still bright out, the hills and ridges looked like they were dancing with one another. As soon as your eye caught the end of one mountain, another one rose even higher behind it. A knot in the pit of her stomach formed and she had an uneasy feeling about this. "We need to be careful here. It seems like there could be some ferocious animals that we wouldn't want to cross in these mountains." Her voice changed and had a slight quiver of doubt at the end. Rora and Ansley had absolutely no magic or wands. Elena was forbidden to use magic outside of Hogwarts. They would be screwed if anything actually tried to hurt them and that was just starting to set in as a realization for Rora. "What do you two think about skipping the mountains and just going to the lake instead?" Rora tried to keep her breath steady and calm, hiding the fact that she was indeed very scared.

Word Count: 486 | Featuring @Elena Jangleton

Elena mustered up a genuine and ear-to-ear smile for the curious Muggle item that could somehow produce pictures out of it's interior wrapping her arm around Rora as Ansley snapped a shot of the two friends. These were memories worth having that they would look back on and laugh about. "Look, you can sorta see the knarl in the background too." The brunette said giggling a bit as she gestured at the photograph where the back of the spiky little creature could be seen intently nibbling on it's flowers completely oblivious to the humans or if it had sensed them, it had probably assumed that they were no threat to itself or it's meal. Speaking of said creature, Rora took this chance to christen the knarl with a name, Gerald to be more specfic as the three of them gazed on in wonder as the little creature happily munched away. It seemed so innocent, so carefree, it was one of the more friendlier species that they would run into up here.

"Looks like Gerald's right at home with his flowers." Elena said grinning. That said, the urge to continue and see what else they could run into was a hard one to put aside so leaving the knarl to his flowery buisness, they traveled further in as the mountains loomed out, a very imposing structure indeed. It was at this point Rora stated a warning and Elena nodded her understanding. It was normal given that the general atmosphere and climate of higher landscapes tended to be different designed for more aggresive creatures but still, Elena reckoned as long as they kept together and weren't too reckless, they would be alright. Rora it appeared still wasn't convinced about the whole endeavor into the mountains, it appeared as they stopped juggling the fact if they really wanted to kick it up a notch and actually explore the mountain-side full aware that not everything up there would be as cute and cuddly as Gerald the knarl.

If there was one flaw that Elena Jangleton had, it was her curiosity that often got her into trouble though it was moreso out of eagerness and this came to light now. "Rora, c'monn." She said perhaps a bit pleadingly nodding her head towards the mountains which almost seemed to beckon to them invitingly. "We don't even have to stay long, just a peek and we'll be out. In and out, that's it." That couldn't be so bad, could it? The Gryffindor was just naturally curious to see the high-rise landscapes that bordered the Accola residence and it would truley be the crime of the century if they just passed it by without as much as a fleeting glance. As long as they were quiet and didn't kick up too much chatter, the brunette reckoned not even a moke would be able to hear them for miles on end.

"What do you think, Ansley?"

April 2018 during Easter Holiday Break
Mountains in Killin, Scotland

Ansley and Rora joined in to laugh with Elena over the photo. "Best make sure mum doesn't see, Rora. I cannot imagine how long you'd be grounded for this one!" A grin flashed across Ansley's face as she prodded Rora in the side. Rora tapped her pointer finger on her chin, scheming behind the scenes. "Ugh, I would be livid if I got grounded again. At this point, I may as well have bars on my windows like Calan and Finlay had during their third year." Snapping back to the reality, she pivoted her glance to Elena. "Let's just say you brought your "pet hedgehog" with you to our place during holiday. Mum will never second guess you." She gave Elena a very dramatic wink. It was true. Rose Accola loved Elena and thought she was a wonderful, high quality friend to her two girls.

The peer pressure was mounting on Rora and her people pleasing side started to show. It was obvious Elena wanted to keep going. Worst case scenario, we're about to die and Elena can fend it off with some fancy spell she learned at school. Rora proceeded to ignore the fact that Elena wasn't allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts but, ya know, sometimes people can break rules and ask for forgiveness later. "You are such a pansy, Rora! We didn't trek all this way and invite Elena to stay with us to just watch Gerald eat flowers and go home! I want to see some more creatures." Well, it was decided. This would obviously have to be one of those times where asking for forgiveness is done after the fact.

She sassily flipped her hair over her shoulder and wheeled around, so her back was to Ansley. "Pansy my arse!" Rora cringed slightly as she said the word 'arse', paranoid that a howler from her mum would pop out of thin air and scold her for using that word. She gritted her teeth and hesitantly took some steps toward the mountains, trying to act cool, calm and collected. There's no way she'd let Ansley embarrass her like that in front of their friend.

Unsure of how much time had passed, they had made their way into the mountainous terrain and a faint dirt path was weaving its way up the cliff. Rora knew from the map in her bag that this path would actually lead right back down to the lake, through the forest and back to her house. A series of rocks clamored behind her and she spun around to see Ansley on the ground with a bloody knee. "Oh merlin! Ansley are you ok?" Rora rushed back over and whipped out a magical first aid kit from her bag. Always gotta be prepared. Ansley hastily took the kit, applied the magical remedy and watched as her the blood disappeared and a bandage wrapped itself around her leg. "All good! Surprised I got the first battle scar. I was betting it'd be you, Miss Clara Clutz!" Ansley giggled, pointing playfully at Rora who stuck her tongue out in return.

Word Count: 516 | Featuring @Elena Jangleton

She smiled at the mention of their mother. The brunette knew the elder woman well, she'd been a friendly face from day one and wouldn't hear a word against the brunette. It was a far cry from her own mother, stoic and rigid so it was a nice change of pace but still, she very much doubted that bringing Gerald back home would be a very wise course of action. "Still, I don't think she'd appreciate Gerald here nibbling up all the plants in your garden." That, and it would be more than clear evidence that they had snuck out up here and Elena far too well first-hand what the wrath of a mother could do if their rules were not followed. In a way, she almost shuddered at the thought but reckoned as long as they made it back than no one would be any the wiser. So, far nothing too crazy had happened and that was a good thing.

She laughed as the two began feuding with each other slightly. "Alright, alright, knock it off, you two. You'll scare off all the animals if you keep going at it." Well, not all of them because if she knew anything about the mountains, they were home to more tougher species but that was the excting part about it as they began their trek into the rough terrain leaving behind the grassy terrain. There was a feeling of nervousness that surrounded Elena as she glanced around, it had been the farthest they had dared to venture but for now at least, nothin had popped out. It wasn't like the creatures of the grasslands who preferred to keep their distance, these guys liked to inspect intruders up close and personal and Merlin forbid they angered any of them. It was one of the few reasons why they would have to be on their toes in order to prevent from being turned into a late evening snack.

Clearly, keeping on their toes was something that Ansley took too literally perhaps, Elena's head turning just as Ansley took a tumble, courtesy of a clump of rather large rocks that they had happened upon. It was steep up here and diffcult to find solid footing so that made the walk all the more diffcult. "You alright?" She asked, a hint of concern in her voice as she made her way over to the two, it didn't seem like anything too bad silently relieved it was only something relatively minor and she hadn't been gobbled up by a hippogriff or something. "We've got to watch where we step up here, the trail isn't exactly very walkable." Well, technically it was but as they got higher up, it got more rougher and diffcult so that was something to take into account.

As the trio gathered themselves again, Elena's head shot up swearing she heard steps or something moving, it was easy to pick up since the stone beneath their feet did little to muffle sound but as far as she could tell, there was nothing near them. "You guys hear that?" She said whispering to Rora and Ansley as the steps came again but again, nothing that she could see. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her or maybe the animals up here was just really good at not being discovered. Neither option was one that the brunette preferred sincerely hoping they weren't about to get waylaid by a pack of coyotes or something.