Peace, Interrupted PV Novalie Moon

Novalie noticed Marco furrowing his eyebrows slightly and followed his gaze toward the lake. He then admitted that he had originally planned to read but was open to other ideas. Of course, Novalie had a flood of them, from tracking down the mysterious caviar merchant to taking a swim in the Great Lake and seeing who could hold their breath the longest!

But.. reading?

She’d already learned that smart people often had hobbies that, to her, seemed far more boring than exciting. That’s when she noticed the book in his hand. Tilting her head, she leaned forward a bit, trying to glance at the cover, though in truth, she wasn’t particularly interested in what it was about.

“You wanted to read?”, she asked, her tone neutral, neither accusing nor intrigued. Just stating a fact.

“I mean.. we could do that.”, she added, with a shrug.

Reading wasn’t exactly Novalie’s idea of fun - it was honestly one of the most boring and frustrating things she could imagine. Still, she wasn’t about to dismiss what Marco wanted. After all, being a good friend meant trying and doing new things, even if those things were.. reading.

As she glanced around, she noticed beautiful wildflowers peeking through the grass. An idea bloomed in her mind and she started to smile again, taking a seat beneath the tree she had fallen from earlier. She patted the spot right beside her and looked up at him.

“I know it sounds weird, but I'm not much of a reader myself. You could read aloud though and I’ll listen, okay?”, she suggested.
Pointing to the flowers surrounding them, she added, “And while you read, I’ll make us some flower crowns. I'm really good at making those! How about it?”

Novalie realized that Marco had just smiled at her for the first time. It was brief, but it was there, and she thought it suited him well.
Why hadn’t he smiled more since they met?
He probably wasn’t the type to smile often, but that was a shame, really. He looked so much more carefree when he did and in that moment, Novalie decided to make it her mission to get him to smile more - at least around her. She had no idea if he smiled more with his other friends, but she'd make sure he did with her.

When he sat beside the redhead and set the book down on the grass, he suggested helping her with the flower crowns while reading.

“You can do that? Reading and making flower crowns at the same time?”, she asked surprised.
“Wow…”, she breathed, genuine admiration in her voice, “People call that multitasking, right? You must be really talented at making flower crowns to do both!”

Grinning, she plucked a few flowers from the patch around her, placing them between them,“I’ll make one for you and you can make one for me, alright?”

With that, she began braiding the flowers with nimble fingers, her movements quick and practiced. Back home, she would often find her way to an overgrown garden near some abandoned buildings, spending hours weaving crowns, necklaces, and rings out of wildflowers and twigs. It was no surprise that she now worked with ease, her skill showing in every twist of the stems.

As she worked, she glanced at the book Marco had placed down.
“Is that Potions?”, she asked.

Novalie chuckled when she noticed Marco suddenly realizing he had forgotten to start reading. Her eyes drifted to the flower crown he was making and to her surprise, he was doing a pretty good job for a first-timer.

As he explained why he had chosen to read a book about Potions, the redhead nodded thoughtfully.
"That's really ambitious.", she said with a smile, continuing to add more flowers to her own crown, "Sometimes I wish I could be like that too - smart and ambitious, I mean."

She chuckled again, her tone lighthearted and without a trace of self-pity. In her mind, everyone had their strengths, and being top of the class simply wasn’t hers. Flying, on the other hand, was a different story. Despite not always following instructions, the school broom seemed to like her well enough. It had been one of the first to fly into her hand on command and, more importantly, it hadn’t let her fall off yet.

If she could just stop getting distracted all the time, she might even be at the top of the class. But to Novalie, that was something she didn’t see herself achieving anytime soon. She was certain that Marco, on the other hand, would undoubtedly become one of the brightest wizards at Hogwarts and she was happy to call him her friend.
Even though they literally just met.

"Oh, wait.", she said, noticing how Marco was holding his crown.
Setting her own down on the grass, she gently placed her hand over his to guide him, "It’s best if you hold it here or it might fall apart when you try to shape it into a circle."

Her touch was light, but there was a genuine warmth in her gesture,as if teaching him how to braid flowers was as important to her as any school grade might be to others.

Even though Novalie wasn’t the best at reading social cues, she sensed something off after her comment about being smart and ambitious. She’d expected Marco to agree, maybe take pride in his abilities, but instead, he fell .. silent.
Was he doubting himself? Or was there something else bothering him?

Tilting her head slightly, she decided to address something simpler first.

“No need to thank me.”, she said with a soft smile, releasing his hands as soon as he held the crown the way she had guided him, “I’m not even sure this is the ‘right’ way to do it. It’s just my way. You might come up with an even better idea someday, something faster or easier.”

Picking up her own crown, she resumed decorating it with flowers, leaves and twigs, trying to craft something a fairy might wear.
”I’ve made more crowns than I can count.”, she added with a grin, thinking back to her quiet moments in those overgrown, abandoned gardens where she would sit for hours, weaving flower after flower. It was one of the few things that calmed her, giving her restless energy a rare sense of stillness. It was just something about flowers.. that made her calm down.

“But I don’t think I could ever master it.”, she continued, “I always do something a little different each time. Whether it’s the flowers I use, the twigs or the size, I’m always changing something. One of my friends’ parents once told me that you never stop learning and I think they’re right. Wouldn’t it be boring if you could master and know something completely? There’d be nothing new to discover - you’d just keep repeating the same thing over and over again. That’d be nuts.”

By the time she finished talking, her crown was complete - a delicate, beautiful thing woven with care. But Marco’s earlier silence still tugged at the back of her mind...

“Tell you what!”, she said brightly, placing her finished crown on his head, her eyes sparkling with mischief, “I’ve got a real fun challenge for us! Every time I put a crown on your head, no matter where or when, you have to forget whatever you’re doing and follow me on some kind of adventure I get to decide. Think of the crown as a button in your mind that turns off all your thoughts! That's a rule!”

Grinning, the redhead pointed at the crown he was holding, “In exchange, you get to do the same with me. Put a crown on my head, and I’ll do anything you want. What do you say? Are you in or are you chicken?”

The moment Marco accepted her challenge, Novalie’s face lit up with pure excitement.
She could already see the adventures unfolding before them: searching for hidden treasures in the Forbidden Forest, sneaking off to Hogsmeade for magical treats or even skating on the frozen Great Lake in winter with nothing but their normal shoes!

And who knew - maybe they’d run into Caviar again.
Marco might even find the spider so endearing after all, he’d decide to adopt him! Novalie grinned to herself at the thought. To speed things along, she entertained the idea of sneaking a spider or two into Marco’s next flower crown.
Yes - actually, that was a brilliant idea!

“Perfect!”, the redhead exclaimed, springing to her feet and clapping the dirt from her robes.
The book lay forgotten on the grass and her mind buzzed with a whirlwind of plans. She had new crowns to make - lots of them! Enough to last through winter, when colorful flowers were scarce. And spiders, of course. She needed to figure out a way to gather some and, well.. convince them to reproduce.
That part was a bit fuzzy, but she’d sort it out.

“You keep that one for now.”, she said, pointing at the crown perched on Marco’s head with a big grin, “This time, I’m not dragging you along, sadly. I’ve decided I have something important to do. But!”
She leaned in with a playful wink, “I’ll find you soon, okay? Be prepared!”

With that, Novalie spun around and darted off, her robe fluttering behind her until she disappeared from sight. Her mission was clear and in her mind, Marco wouldn’t know what hit him. The girl couldn’t wait to surprise him with her plans, certain that her antics would help him stop overthinking and embrace all the fun this place had to offer.

Novalie leaves the thread.