Dinner With a Touch of Mischief PV Astra Norrick

Interacting with @Axyen Dragonclaw
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

Astra bounded up the steps from the dungeon to the ground floor of the castle. Digon's pictures were held tightly in both hands, the precious things they were. She didn't want to leave Axyen wondering why she was taking so long.

Oh, crap, I forgot to change my shoes. She quickly dashed back downstairs and tugged on socks and her gray sneakers.

When she reached the hall, she found Axyen and Arnold waiting on her, the latter seeming rather impatient. "Aw, Axyen, you didn't have to wait on me," she said, pushing her frizzy hair out of her face. She held up the envelope. "Got the pictures. Where would you like to sit?"

After Axyen pointed out a spot, Astra would sit down with him and Arnold, pulling out an older picture of the male Swedish Short-Snout dragon, one from when he was about six months old. She explained this to Axyen as she showed him the picture of Digon and his clutchmates. The next one had Aunt Seren in it when Digon ventured close to the wards around the edge of the preserve, near her house. Astra would then pull out the most recent picture, featuring Digon blasting out a column of blue flame onto the mountainside.

"He's so majestic, isn't he?" she asked, her breath vanished all over again as she looked at how much he'd grown from the little hatchling she'd seen come into this world.

Time seemed to go by fast for Axyen, especially since he was trying to get Arnold to calm down. "Arnold, I said calm down!" Axyen said, but the Pygmy Puff seemed to simply ignore Axyen and continue spinning around in circles around him, to Axyen's slight annoyance. "Arnold, I said quit it. Now." Axyen said, but it appeared Arnold continued to ignore Axyen, and the last thing Axyen needs is a Pygmy Puff trying to cause trouble in the Great Hall. Axyen pulled out his wand. "Rictusempra." Axyen muttered, moving his wand perfectly as the Pygmy stopped and began laughing(by 'laughing' it was a ton of squeaking), Arnold began rolling around quickly trying to get the tickling to stop(around 5 seconds after the spell had hit Arnold.), Axyen picked up Arnold with one arm(struggling slightly) and Axyen then said "Finite Incantatem.", pointing it at Arnold and doing the wand movement, this spell felt harder to do, maybe because Axyen had only learned it recently, he made sure the spell hit Arnold, releasing Arnold from the spell. "Now behave." Axyen said, putting his wand in his robes. Arnold was looking at Axyen, but did behave, perhaps the tickling got it all out of Arnold's system after all.

Astra has entered the Great Hall, hopefully she didn't see the fiasco that just occured. Astra said that Axyen didn't have to wait on her. "Oh, it didn't feel too long." Axyen said, looking towards Arnold. "Someone kept me busy, and gave me a bit of spell practice as well." Axyen said. It was honestly incredible how loyal, yet rebellious Arnold could be. Axyen turned his attention to the envelope in Astra's hand, which had Axyen excited to see the picture of the dragon. Axyen looked at it, it shot out a flame of brilliant light blue. 'He's so majestic, isn't he?' Astra asked Axyen, in which Axyen responded "Yeah, he is..." Axyen was truly amazed, maybe one day he would get to see a dragon for himself. "Does he have a name?" Axyen asked, still looking at the photo in awe, this felt like the first time he saw the picture of a dragon, a real dragon, although he might've seen one in a book before, he couldn't quite tell, he had 100% seen drawings of them, but a real picture of dragon breathing brilliant light blue fire felt unreal to Axyen. The dragon looked better than Axyen could've ever imagined, "Have you got to visit him again?" Axyen asked, he knew Astra visited him while he was hatching, but he wondered if she got to see him in person twice. Axyen was so focused about seeing what the dragon looked like, he hadn't even realized he found a seat somewhere, it was was not his unusual spot in Great Hall, Axyen looked backwards near the ground to find Arnold resting, trying to listen to the conversation above the loud chatters that the Great Hall always seemed to have, no matter what.

Mentioning

@Astra Norrick

Interacting with @Axyen Dragonclaw
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

Astra found herself chuckling at the rebellious purple Pygmy Puff. He had a lot of personality and seemed to love Axyen a lot, despite how naughty he apparently was at times. "Mischievous little guy, in't he?" she said to Axyen over the roar of conversation in the Great Hall. Oi, so loud. I'm gonna get a headache, aren't I?

She was happy she could share the pictures of Digon with him, seeing the Hufflepuff's awed reaction. "Don't laugh," she said in response to Axyen's question, "but his name is Digon. Aunt Seren named him that because when we went to visit them, my best friend's little brother kept mixing up 'dinosaur' and 'dragon' because he loves dinosaurs. So he called them 'di-gons.' Aunt Seren decided that she'd name Short-Snout 6 'Digon' for us." The small grin on her face grew bigger as she thought back to that trip. Had it really only been four days? It seemed like they had done and learned and seen so much in that tiny amount of time. Oi, it's been two years! At that time Roderick had just gotten his acceptance letter to Hogwarts and Arien was... five? She and Renelle, nine? It feels like yesterday.

A sigh escaped Astra's lips as Axyen asked if she'd been able to visit him again. "No, since he's in Slovakia. My parents are usually very busy so it takes a lot of planning for a trip like that, even with magic. Of course, when my brother and I are older we can go without them, but that's not for the next few years."

Her stomach rumbled. She hadn't had much to eat that day, busy doing homework. She quickly plated some food and handed Axyen the envelope of pictures. "There should be more Digon pictures, as well as one of a Ukrainian Ironbelly. His name is Sasha, and he's quite friendly. He likes to say hello to the visitors." Biting down into the buttered roll, she glanced down at Arnold, the little Puff just sitting there and gazing up at the pair. "Hey, what do Pygmy Puffs eat?" She was very curious on this, as she had never really interacted with one until today.

Axyen laughed slightly when Astra said 'Mischievous little guy, isn't he?' Axyen nodded in response, sometimes Arnold just caused a lot of stress when knocking things over. Thankfully Arnold never did that in the Library, the worse thing that could happen to Axyen is a lifetime ban from that place. Axyen put on a straight face, and already was holding in a laugh when Astra warned him to not laugh. Just keep a straight face. Just keep a straight- Axyen was struggling not to laugh, but looked like he was listening with not any signal of a smile, although he was unusually stiff. Axyen finally learned the dragon's name 'Digon' the first thought that came to Axyen's head was Digon like 'Diagon Alley'? Axyen no longer needed to hold in his laughter, the name didn't seem so bad. He went on to learn how her friend's little brother mixed the words 'dinosaur' and 'dragon' and started saying 'Digon' which was how the dragon got its name. "Aw, that's adorbale!" Axyen said, imagining a tiny kid's voice saying 'Digon'.

Axyen heard a sigh after having asked if Astra ever planned to visit the dragon again. That might've been the wrong thing to ask at this time... Axyen thought to himself, based on that disappointed sigh alone Axyen already knew what the answer was. Still, Astra gave Axyen an exact reason why. The trip would need quite a bit of planning, even with magic, and Astra and her brother can't go themselves, not until they're older anyways. "Ah, I see..." Axyen said in a slightly quieter tone, it was a lot more hard to hear over the yelling of children in the Great Hall.

Axyen was handed an envelope of photos of Digon, but there was also a Ukrainian Ironbelly named 'Sasha'. Axyen once again felt his mouth drop slightly, this lightened up the mood for Axyen. The Ukrainian Ironbelly was a metal-like grey, its wings looked huge. Axyen saw drawings in books before, though it was always pretty obvious that they were drawings, this was something on a whole different level. Axyen saw in the corner of his eye that Arnold was looking up and around at different things, from people to the floating candles. Astra asked Axyen what Pygmy Puff likes to eat. "Well, just about anything does the trick actually." Axyen said smiling. "Food-wise they are pretty low maintenance." Axyen said. "However, despite that, I still buy my Pygmy Puff treats." Axyen explained.

Axyen took one final look at the envelope before passing it back to Astra and began placing food on his own plate. "So did you sign up for any sports?" Axyen decided to ask.

Mentioning

@Astra Norrick

Interacting with @Axyen Dragonclaw
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

Astra wasn't exactly worried about Axyen laughing, usually people expected majestic names for dragons, and Digon was, well, a nonsense word made up by an overly excited and rather spastic five year old. She was happy that he found it cute, though, a reaction to the name she'd only seen on Aunt Seren (who decided that would be his name). She was a Hufflepuff, Astra thought.

She watched as Axyen's expressions shifted with each picture, all positive. His reaction to Sasha was almost a silent version of her reaction to seeing the Ironbelly in person. She turned her attention to Arnold, where the purple Puff was just looking at anything and everything with his cute little eyes blinking and his button nose pointed up into the air.

"Just about anything does the trick, really," Axyen explained with a smile. He seemed to be happy to share his Pygmy Puff knowledge. A laugh bubbled up as the boy said he still gave Arnold treats.

"So you spoil him, huh?" Astra said, then, remembering she had just met Axyen today and this could be considered offensive, she added, "Kidding. I'm sure he deserves the treats for being a loyal pal."

She accepted the envelope and slipped it into her skirt pocket, taking a bite of mashed potatoes. Swallowing before she answered Axyen's question about sports, she said, "I want to play Quidditch. All my family members on my dad's side except my dad were first string players, but Dad was reserve Chaser. Right now, Slytherin's Quidditch team is full, but I'm going to try out for Seeker as soon as a position opens up. How about you, are you in any sports?" She continued eating, occasionally glancing over at Axyen as he spoke.

Axyen laughed a little bit as Astra joked about Axyen spoiling Arnold, and commented that she is sure he deserves the treats for being so loyal. She wasn't wrong, Arnold can be mischievous and tries to pull off pranks, but every time Axyen was sad, upset, mad, Arnold always helped him out. "Yeah, he is a wonderful friend to me." Axyen said, smiling slightly. Astra took back the envelope before taking a bite of mashed potatoes, once she was done with that, she replied saying that the sport she wanted to play in was Quidditch. A sport Axyen could never find himself playing, it made him too nervous. Astra explained that her father's side of the family except her father played as first-string players. Her father is a reserve Chaser, and Axyen learned that the Slytherin Quidditch Team was full, the more Axyen thought about it, the more Axyen realized he barely knew much about what was going on with the other houses, he knew everything that was happening with the house of Hufflepuff, but he never paid much attention. Astra explained that she is planning on playing as a Seeker as soon as the position opens up. "That sounds great!" Axyen said, imagining himself on a broom, then falling off. Astra asked Axyen if he is in any sports. "Well, like I mentioned earlier, I am a part of the dueling team for Hufflepuff." Axyen said, finally starting to eat a bit of his food.

Axyen decided to think of another topic. "You know, I think History of Magic is one of the most interesting classes." Axyen said. "There are so many cool historical events such as the Soap Blizzard and whatnot, I just wonder how far back it all goes..." Axyen said, he had a ton of questions. How did Azkaban come to be? Who was the first wizard, or when did magic first appear? Axyen felt like those were good questions, but were there any answers for them? He knew there had to be something about Azkaban, he just needed to look hard enough. "Hey, you know about Hogsmeade, right?" Axyen asked, eating a bit more of his food after asking the question while waiting for a response. Axyen remember he sneaked over to Hogsmeade in his first year, and he planned on doing it again this year. This year however, he was going to visit the Forbidden Forest, Axyen was mostly drawn in by its darkness, it could leave some good ideas for his journal. Although, he didn't really want to tell anybody he was planning on going, getting caught entering the Forest would be a terrible thing for Axyen.

Arnold continued looking around, but then started to listen to Axyen's and Astra's conversation, trying to understand what they might be talking about. It was unlikely the Purple Pygmy Puff could understand what was going on, as if you look hard enough, it had a look of confusion, but still seemed interested in the conversation anyways. Arnold stayed in his spot, not moving, almost as if moving might make the conversation harder to hear. Axyen noticed this in the corner of his eye, but didn't really mind at all. The Pygmy Puff was curious and Axyen found curiosity to be one of the best traits anybody could have, as long as they didn't overdo it.

Mentioning

@Astra Norrick

Interacting with @Axyen Dragonclaw
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

"That's cool," Astra said in regards to Axyen's dueling. "You must know a lot of good spells. Dueling seems like such an interesting sport."

Astra didn't have the same view as Axyen on History of Magic, mostly on account of her dad being such a history buff. "It's interesting to think about where everything came from, but sometimes it can be a drag when learning about well known events," Astra commented. "I tend to favor subjects that relate to the present world, like Astronomy. Of course, History of Magic is a good and necessary subject and it's great that you like it." She was thankful when he changed the subject to Hogsmeade, not sure what else she could say on the subject of history without further dissing it.

Astra kept a straight face, knowing full well she had a fake slip in her dorm, the one good thing Roderick had done since she arrived at Hogwarts. He was avoiding her mostly, as was to be expected, and she felt their relationship was more strained than it used to be after Rod's two years at the school. She didn't quite know what to do about this but she knew she wanted to become closer with her brother again. "Yeah, I know about Hogsmeade. My brother is old enough to go this year," she answered, deciding against telling about the slip. Maybe we could meet up there every once in a while.

"You like DADA, right?" she asked, remembering their conversation in the study room. "What do you want to be when you grow up? An auror or something like that?"

Axyen listened to Astra as she commented on how Axyen must know quite a few good spells. Axyen silently nodded, he only knew one spell ahead of his year, however his spells were all good and useful in their own way. Astra commented once more on how dueling seemed like an interesting sport. "It is." Axyen said, he didn't have his first duel yet, but knew he'd enjoy and was still nervous for it. He didn't know when it may happen, but the moment it did happen, he should know a lot more spells to use.

Axyen listened to Astra as she said History of Magic can be a bit of a drag, something Axyen respectfully disagreed with, but it wouldn't do any good trying to ramble on about that, after all, everybody had their own tastes. Axyen quickly learned something about Astra, which was that she liked to learn about subjects that seem to relate with present-day subjects, something Axyen understood, he did favor Defense Against the Dark Arts over History of Magic.

Axyen was about to talk about how he went there, because it seemed like a cool hangout place while he was there. "I-" Axyen hesitated, looking down for a few second, and then he quickly found the quickest coverup sentence he could think of. "Wonder what it's like, I read a thing or two on it, shame you have to be a third year to visit." Axyen said. Astra said that she knew about Hogsmeade. Dumb question Axyen, I am sure everybody knows about Hogsmeade. Axyen said to himself, as he listened to Astra mention that her brother is old enough to go to Hogsmeade. Lucky. Axyen thought to himself, it must've been nice to be able to freely enter Hogsmeade.

Astra asked Axyen if he liked Defense Against the Dark Arts, Axyen nodded, confirming that he did indeed enjoy Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Astra asked Axyen what he was planning to be when he was older. "Uh..." Axyen paused for a good half a minute. "Maybe a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." Axyen replied. "Or a Magizoologist, maybe a professional duelist... or an Auror." It was more clear that Axyen had just about zero(0) clue what he job he truly wanted. "Umm... what do you want to be?" Axyen swiftly added, slightly embarrassed that he was yet to find out what he wanted to do as a future career. He was deep in thought, but was focusing just enough to listen to Astra and to notice Arnold moving around in circles, and not really doing much.

Axyen ate a bit more of his food thinking. "Hey, what elective courses do you plan to take?" Axyen asked, after chewing some of his food, Axyen felt that he already knew what classes he wanted to take, it was always decided from the start. It was all of the elective classes, though he was worried he would be made fun of slightly for it, so he kept it to himself mostly (So far), not that anybody ever brought the topic up with him anyways.

Mentioning

@Astra Norrick

Interacting with @Axyen Dragonclaw
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

Astra nodded along with Axyen's answer, though it seemed a bit fishy, kind of like when Roderick used to lie to their dad. "A real shame," she answered, sighing and propping her chin up on her elbow. She would have to be very careful in the village to not be seen by that older year she'd met on her first night.

Astra listened with intrigue as Axyen rambled about what jobs he might want to do, really showing his interests. He obviously liked DADA enough to maybe teach it one day, had an interest in magical creatures, and really did enjoy dueling. "Those are all really cool jobs." She didn't hesitate with her answer when Axyen returned her question. "I want to become an Unspeakable in the Space Chamber. Or a professional Quidditch player, if I like the sport."

She shrugged when he asked what electives she planned to take. "I dunno. I haven't really thought that far ahead. Probably care of magical creatures and study of ancient runes. Maybe everything." She was almost finished with her meal. "How about you?"

Astra noticed a key lime pie sitting in front of her and she eagerly cut a slice as Axyen answered. She munched happily, her tastebuds relishing in the citrusy glory of lime. "What types of food do you like, Axyen?" she would ask after his response. "Like Thai, Japanese, Mexican, all that?"