Exploring and Sketching PV Matilde O’Fionnagan Finished

Outfit:

Reducio

Orange t-shirt, light blue jean shorts, purple converse, hair down

Matilde sat on her bed in her dorm, looking out the window. She was trying to work on her charms homework but she just couldn’t seem to focus. It was such a beautiful day. The girl realized that in the four full days since she’d gotten here she’d only been outside, what, once? Twice? That must have been a new record. Maybe she could just go explore for a bit. I can do this later, she thought, putting down her homework and grabbing her school bag. She stuffed her homework and a book in the bag, and headed outside.

Matilde found the courtyard to be quite interesting. Like the rest of the castle, everything looked ancient. She especially liked the beautiful fountain in the center. She walked over to it, dipping her fingers into the cool water. She looked around. There were many other students in the courtyard, it seemed a popular place to be after class.

Matilde noticed a girl sitting on the ground, pencil and paper in hand, looking intently back and forth between the fountain and her paper. Was she drawing? Painting was one of Matilde’s many hobbies, and she wasn’t bad at drawing either. Should she try to talk to the girl? Though she had previously had a few conversations with other students, she hadn’t started any of them. But she didn’t want to disturb her, she was clearly deep in the middle of what she was doing. No, Matilde was sure she wouldn’t mind. Everyone was trying to make friends right now. Now was her chance. Mustering up all her courage, she walked over to the girl. She looked over her shoulder at the sketchbook.

“Wow, that’s really good!”

Kaitlyn Connor wrote: 18 Jan 2024, 15:42

Time: Reducio Monday, September 5th, 2011	Tag: Reducio @Matilde O’Fionnagan
Outfit: Reducio a light blue tank top, a black skirt, and black flat sandals. Hair tied back in a ponytail. She's wearing tulip earrings in Slytherin green and silver that she made.	Notes: Reducio Speech: #3CB371 Thoughts: italics

Katie frowned a little, comparing her drawing to the fountain before her. She leaned sideways in both directions, her frown deepening. No, no, no. That wasn’t right. She got the architecture correct but drew the shadows wrong. That wouldn’t do. Thankful for using a pencil, she erased the errant lines. And the shadows, too, for that matter. It took her a little to erase it correctly, not wanting to smudge what she had already done.

‘Now to perfect the lighting. Am I sitting too close? Maybe I should’ve sat near the doorway to the castle? Or maybe from where I entered?’ She thought to herself. She was comfortable sitting on the ground, too. She didn’t want to move, at least not yet. With a short sigh, she started to draw other portions of the fountain, promising to return to the shading later.

While trying to decide, Katie didn’t notice that a girl had approached her. She nearly jumped in surprise when that girl praised her work. Her face flushed. Katie was not shy with her drawings, knowing she typically did a good job on them. However, she liked to take her time with them. She’d instead take hours than rush to make it faster. Plus, it gave her that much of an excuse to stay outside.

Rather, the flush was for not noticing the girl and, from surprise, that she’d even want to talk to her. “H-hi,” she stammered, looking over at the girl. “Thanks,” she responded shyly. She turned her sketchpad so the girl could see it more clearly. “Um, I’m drawing the fountain. It’s not done yet,” she admitted.

The drawing girl flushed, looking a bit startled when Matilde complemented her. Matilde instantly regretted saying anything. She wasn’t this shy most of the time, she just didn’t have a lot of experience making friends, especially friends from magical families. She’d known most of her current friends for as long as she could remember. Most of her friends were muggles. She’d only ever had one wizard friend before Hogwarts, her best friend Phelan.

Feeling awkward standing over the girl like that, Matilde sat down beside her. Should she have asked if she could sit? She didn’t know. Not sure what else to do, she began to talk.

“I like to draw too. I mean, I mostly do paintings, but drawing is fun too. What do you like to draw most? I like painting nature. I draw and paint my pets a lot. Do you have any pets? I do. I live on a sheep farm.” Realizing she was rambling, Matilde shut her mouth quickly. She had a habit of blabbering when she was nervous. This wasn’t going how she’d hoped at all. She realized she hadn’t even introduced herself.

“Sorry. My name is Matilde, by the way. Or, um, Tilly. I don’t really mind either.” She laughed nervously, hoping the girl didn’t think she was annoying.

Time: Reducio Monday, September 5th, 2023	Tag: Reducio @Matilde O’Fionnagan
Outfit: Reducio a light blue tank top, a black skirt, and black flat sandals. Hair tied back in a ponytail. She's wearing tulip earrings in Slytherin green and silver that she made.	Notes: Reducio Speech: #3CB371 Thoughts: italics

Katie smiled, as the girl joined her on the ground. She was feeling a little awkward having to look up from her position. It made her neck hurt slightly. Despite the girl not asking if she could join, she was happy the girl did. She needed to make friends, and her shyness did not help.

As the girl began to talk again, Katie pushed a piece of her brunette hair behind her ear. She smiled shyly as the girl rambled before she quickly stopped talking. “Feel free to ramble if you want. I don’t mind it,” she responded quietly. “I find painting nice too, but I don’t do it often. Um. I like to draw scenes and nature, but I do have some of people and animals. Yes, my family has a pet back home. An orange cat named Snowbell,” she responded. Her smile grew wider at the sound of a sheep farm. “You live on a sheep farm? That’s awesome. What’s that like?” She asked curiously.

Katie giggled quietly at Matilde’s introduction. “It’s nice to meet you, Tilly. I’m Kaitlyn, or you can call me Katie,” she smiled at Tilly. She could tell that this girl was interesting, despite barely talking to her so far.

Matilde smiled gratefully when Katie said she didn’t mind her rambling.

Katie told her about her cat, Snowbell. Matilde thought that was a very cute name.“I’ve always wanted a cat! We can’t have one, unfortunately, because my grandfather is allergic. He and my grandmother live with us.”

She laughed as Katie’s eyes widened when she admitted she lived on a sheep farm. “I love it. Such a stereotype, I know. Irish girl who lives on a farm.We have… thirty sheep I think? My brother and I named them all. We sell wool to wizarding cloth makers. I think some of it even ends up at Madam Malkin’s! We also have an owl, dog, donkey, and a few chickens. It’s a bit chaotic, really… but I’m used to it.” She laughed. Matilde thought about what she could ask Katie. “Are you from England?” She asked, guessing by Katie’s accent.

Kaitlyn seemed kind of shy, but Matilde didn’t mind. She could relate. Though she considered herself an extrovert, she was often shy around people she didn’t know. She wondered if she and Katie had anything else in common. What house was she in? She didn’t think she was a Hufflepuff, she hadn’t seen her around the common room. It didn’t really matter what house she was in though, Matilde supposed, they could still be friends.

Time: Reducio Monday, September 5th, 2023	Tag: Reducio @Matilde O’Fionnagan
Outfit: Reducio a light blue tank top, a black skirt, and black flat sandals. Hair tied back in a ponytail. She's wearing tulip earrings in Slytherin green and silver that she made.	Notes: Reducio Speech: #3CB371 Thoughts: italics Redford, England is fictional.

Katie gave Tilly a shy smile, at the Hufflepuff’s thoughts of owning a cat. “I’m sorry to hear that your grandfather’s allergic to cats. I enjoyed playing around with Snowbell. But, I understand the allergies, too. One of my muggle friends was not able to come to my home, unless we really cleaned everything very well. Even then, I had to eventually just go to her house so she wouldn’t be impacted … and make sure I wore nothing with cat hair,” she sympathsized.

Hearing the number of sheep Tilly’s family’s sheep farm had made her giggle. “Thirty? And you named all thirty? You must have had a special way to identify every one of those thirty. But, that’s cool that you sell the wool to wizarding cloth makers! It sounds very rewarding.” She giggled even more, as Tilly described extra pets. “Merlin, you have a lot, but I’m glad you enjoyed taking care of them,” she smiled.

Katie nodded to Tilly’s question. “I’m from Redford, England. It’s a suburb of London,” she confirmed. After a few moments, she realized that she never told Tilly her house. “Oh, um, I’m in Slytherin. What house are you in?” She asked, curious.

Katie confirmed that she was from England. Matilde had never heard of Redford, she had never been anywhere in London outside of Diagon Alley and Kings Cross Station. Realizing that she hadn’t told Katie where her farm was, she said, “I’m from Athenry, Ireland. It’s a really small town, very close to Galway.” She thought for a second. “I spend a lot of time in Galway too, because that’s where my father works, so I kind of consider myself a Galway girl as well,” she giggled. “But the farm is my home.”

The girl asked Matilde what house she was in, revealing that she was a Slytherin. “I’m in Hufflepuff!” Matilde replied cheerfully. She was beginning to get used to her new house, and was filled with delight every time she said it, though she was still a bit adjusting to the surprise. She had assumed upon coming to Hogwarts that she would be in Ravenclaw, like most of her family.

Matilde could feel herself warming up to Katie a bit. Much to her relief, some of her initial nerves were fading away. Maybe making new friends wasn’t such a big deal, after all. She wanted to find out if they had anything else in common. “What else do you like to do in your free time? Besides drawing, I mean?”

Time: Reducio Monday, September 5th, 2023	Tag: Reducio @Matilde O’Fionnagan
Outfit: Reducio a light blue tank top, a black skirt, and black flat sandals. Hair tied back in a ponytail. She's wearing tulip earrings in Slytherin green and silver that she made.	Notes: Reducio Speech: #3CB371 Thoughts: italics Redford, England is fictional.

Being so close to London, Kaitlyn often traveled into the city with the friends she made at St. Ann’s. There were plenty of spots she regularly visited. She smiled to Tilly, as she talked about where she was from. “Awesome. I’m glad you were able to explore Galway. It sounds similar to my experience in London. But, I never really considered myself a city girl, but I’m surprisingly fine with traveling into the city, when needed,” she mused with a shrug. She giggled when Tilly mentioned her family’s farm. “I think that sounds awesome. I think I’d love to live on a farm like that. It sounds like you really love all the animals,” she continued.

Kaitlyn personally didn’t care about house rivalries or how other members of her house treated the other students. She had nothing against Hufflepuff students. She smiled brightly to hear that Tilly was a Hufflepuff. “I can see that; you’re very nice and hard-working,” she replied with a smile.

Katie couldn’t help but to giggle at Tilly’s question. “How long do you have for me to list them out?” She chuckled. “I say that because I have such a long list. So, other than drawing, I like to bake, dance, run, read, learn, practice yoga, and meditate,” she responded with a smile. She realized for a while now that she was feeling more comfortable around Tilly, and it showed the most in her speech. “What do you like to do in your free time?” She asked with a friendly smile.

Reducio

That's perfectly fine! Feel free to take your time. I honestly don't mind.

Matilde laughed at Katie’s reaction to her farm. She really did love it, and loved to talk about it, too. “When I grow up, I want to take care of the farm just like my mom and my grandmother,” she said, then feeling like she was talking too much about herself, she decided to change the subject.

Matilde grinned at Katie’s long list of hobbies. “That’s me too. I like to Irish dance, read, sew, write, hike, and play the cello.” She counted hers off on her fingers. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to split my time between them, do you have that problem?”

She contemplated Katie’s responses. They did have sort of a lot in common. “Have you been doing yoga for a long time? I’ve done it a bit, you know, for dance, but I’ve always wanted to do more.” That reminded her of something else Katie had said. “What kind of dance do you do?” She asked, remembering dancing had been on Katie’s list.

It was definitely getting easier to talk to Katie, Matilde was beginning to really like her. Maybe this year wouldn’t be as hard as she had thought, if she’d already found someone she wanted to be friends with in the first week.