Defrosting pv

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Speech -- Thoughts

"I wish winter would last forever."

Pam threw the words out into the open, revelling in the rush of satisfaction it gave her. She knew quite a few people who would gift her a punch in the guts if they heard her say that, but Pam truly, honestly wished it were true. To see this snowy view throughout the year? Oh God yes. Count me in.

The Great Lake was pretty. Pam didn't come there often; it was only the second time. It wasn't high on her list of favourite places in Hogwarts, what with the Astronomy Tower and the Library. And the kitchen. But the lake had a calming vibe which she only found in her dorm room. Hogwarts was always loud and rushed, she could hardly catch a break.

She closed the book in her hands. School had been hectic the last two weeks, and this was the first time in a while she had gotten time to read up. She tilted her head, her attention getting stuck on the snow sparkling under the sun. Winter truly provided some of the best sights ever.

She turned away from the lake to glance at the people walking about. It was much less than the people she normally saw in the courtyard in the mornings. Her eyes drifted to a girl who was walking pretty close to her. It seemed that she hadn't noticed her yet.

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Interacting with: @Charlotte Winfield

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Pre-Winter Break

Lottie watched as her boots made little prints in the untouched snow, powdering sinking into the rubber soles. Something ached inside of her, low and sharp. Maybe it was the cold. She liked to imagine that it was the cold. It was easier than whatever the truth was.

She continued down the lakefront, admiring the little cracks and splinters in the icy surface that settled over the water. She wondered how the squid was doing, and made a mental note to try and spot it later that evening when she was back in the dormitory. The Slytherin common room had been terribly cold the past few days, even with the fireplace that offered a small relief to the other occupants.

Coming back to reality, Lottie glanced back towards the castle and caught sight of an unfamiliar face, carrying along a book in her hands. Lottie immediately clocked that the younger girl was a first year. A year ago, she would have brushed this assessment off as a simple fact, but having lived through her both mystifying and terrifying first year, she felt a small pang of sympathy.

She had found herself prone to fits of uncontrollable impulses with her newfound confidence, a perk of no longer being the youngest of the bunch at Hogwarts. Many of those impulses had leaned towards the more conversational kind.

So, with the grace of a wingless sparrow, Lottie made her way over to the girl and stated awkwardly, "It's cold out."

@Pamela Graham

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Speech -- Thoughts

Pam looked up, startled and saw it was the same girl she had noticed before. She blinked at her in confusion, glancing around to see if someone else had magically shown up in the five seconds that she had taken her eyes off the girl. She saw no-one (obviously) and then turned back to the girl.

"Uh...me?" She asked uncertainly, pointing at herself, because why would a random student, that too someone who seemed to be older than her, say that it's cold?

She stood up, quickly closing her book, "Er, yes it's cold." She said, narrowly stopping herself from adding a because it's winter at the end of her sentence, because that was a pretty obvious observation.

Pam frowned as she eyed th girl properly. She was pretty and Pam had a feeling she had seen her somewhere before. But no matter how much she thought about it, she absolutely could not place her.

She flashed the girl a tentative smile, wondering where exactly she had seen her before and then said, "Can I help you?" Afterwards, she wondered if saying that had been a bad idea, since it would be rather awkward if she had just come to chat. Well, Pam was no stranger to awkwardness.

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Interacting with: @Charlotte Winfield

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Pre-Winter Break

Lottie resisted the urge to drop her head into her hands. She blamed her slowly deteriorating communication skills on the improper nature of Hogwarts softening her up. She flipped through the rulebook of communicative etiquette in her head and found that none of the rules and regulations of idle party chit-chat her mother had sternly taught her as a child applied to talking to others her age.

She clasped her hands behind her back, chewing at her bottom lip slowly before making a conscious effort to stop the fidgeting. She allowed the other girl to talk for a moment, running through the easiest ways to remove herself from the conversation that she had started.

Reminding herself that wordlessly walking away would be highly inappropriate, she replied, "I just, er- thought..." She cleared her throat, tucking a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "I haven't seen you before." It was a lame excuse, one that reeked of caution. She vowed at that moment to never be the one to start a conversation again.

She glanced back out at the Great Lake, watching as a group of first years attempted to stand on top of the fresh ice despite their friend's pleas. It was juvenile and stupid and made her want to puke or cry or something of the sort. She quickly looked back to the girl, hesitantly sticking out a hand. "I'm Lottie."

@Pamela Graham

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Speech -- Thoughts

Pam couldn't help but giggle. It was a reflex action. What to do when things get awkward? Laugh. It was stupid and kiddish, but seemed to be good at breaking the ice. "I have seen you somewhere before though." she told her softly, "Although, I can't really place you."

She glanced down at the hand she was offered, and quickly thanked her lucky stars that it was winter and her hands were not sweaty. "I'm Pam." She replied, accepting the handshake, "Are you....out for a walk?" Pam was not good at conversations, but she knew her stuff. Her father had made her like a five-pointer for starting conversations before she had come here. Age, class, the weather, hobbies and..... I can't remember what the last one was... Pam pouted to herself before turning to look at the girl in front of her. She was fidgety, Pam noted, probably feeling more than a little awkward. Truth be told, Pam was feeling a little awkward too. Glancing down at herself, she found a speck of snow on her pants, presumably from how she had been sitting on the ground earlier, and she took to brushing it off herself as the waited for the girl (Lottie, was it?) to answer her question.

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Interacting with: @Charlotte Winfield

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Pre-Winter Break

Lottie's thumb rubbed tense circles into her knuckle, and attempted very unsubtly to calm her whirring mind. Lucky for her, Pamela seemed to at least have some idea how to reel the situation back in from its wonky start. She would admit to a bit of guilt at having never so much as brushed past the girl in the halls, though she easily attributed this to the overflowing numbers of students that she was in a constant rush to avoid.

At the question, Lottie nodded with a bit of relief at the shift in conversation to the more generic talking point. She decided firmly to avoid discussing her somewhat crippling anxiety that had led her on the walk in the first place, instead falling to the simpler answer. "I wanted to see the lake. It isn't usually so... frozen." She glanced back over at the powdery surface of the lake, watching as two first years attempted to walk across it.

When she looked back to Pamela, she tilted her head slightly. "You're a first year, yes?" She imagined she knew the answer, but that sort of small talk was the kind her mother had nailed into her brain years ago. She attempted to lighten her expression to a friendly smile.

@Pamela Graham

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Speech -- Thoughts

Pam found herself glancing back to look at the large water body, covered with a solid, seemingly sturdy layer of ice, and she remembered the day she had gone ice skating. It had been a lot of fun, and she had been glad that the ice was suitable enough for it. She had heard that the ice was pretty safe, and that the lake always froze during the winters.

"Is it colder this year?" She asked the girl, "I had heard that the Great Lake was always frozen during these months." She played with the book in her hands, tucking it under her arm as she fidgeted on her spot. She wondered if this girl— no, Lottie, liked to skate. Pam hadn't met a lot of good skaters. She had however seen some on the ice when she had come last time.

The girl was attempting to make easy conversation and Pam smiled. She nodded her head, replying, "I am a first year. Which year are you in?" She scanned her, thinking for a while before adding, "Which house are you in? I don't think you're a Hufflepuff, because I've definitely never seen you in the common room." Then again, she wasn't knowing for noticing a lot of things. Specifically people. It would be rather embarassing if she's actually a Hufflepuff.

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Interacting with: @Charlotte Winfield

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Pre-Winter Break

Lottie's gaze trailed out to the wide expanse of ice coated with a thin layer of dusty snow, reflecting the gentle sunlight brilliantly. She had only a year of experience with the Hogwarts winter, but this year was indeed a fine replica of last year, the rolling white hills and wiry pine trees coated with frost. She exhaled, a bit dreamily, and watched as a plume of white curled past her lips and disappeared into the air. "Yes, I suppose it is. I just mean to say that it's still so strange, how quickly it all turns to ice. I didn't grow up around water."

She didn't grow up around much, really. Despite the beauty of her home in the hills, all trees and flowers and winding man-made paths trailing off into the distance, she didn't have much experience with the world outside of the Winfield property. Though London was not too great of a shift from Cambridge, the number of things Lottie could see from her bedroom window was definitely much larger.

Turning back to Pamela, Lottie paused a moment, nearly answering with her previous year before managing, "Second year. Er- second year Slytherin," Her fingers found their way to the pearl earing at her lobe, twisting it mindlessly and turning the skin below an ugly red. "Though I still hardly know what that means. The Sorting Hat has a way of confusing its victims, doesn't it?" Lottie paused, cocking her head. "Or is it a 'he'? I'm not entirely sure how one identifies a talking hat..."

@Pamela Graham

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Speech -- Thoughts

"There wasn't a lot of water where I grew up either." Pam agreed. "It's actually pretty hot there, specially during summers, but winters are nice." She wrapped her arms around her as a particularly cold wind blew, ruffling her clothes.

"It's pretty polluted there, if I do say so myself." She remarked, "Winters more than the summers." She stopped her trail of words, and turned to Lottie, "Lottie is a nickname right?" She asked curiously, "What's your full name?"

The word 'lottie' reminded her of lotte choco pies. Pam missed the muggle sweets a lot sometimes. Maybe she could ask her dad to send some food via her owl next time she wrote to him. Oh, now I'm feeling hungry. She wondered if she could sneak down to the kitchens and get some food. Maybe. Or she could steal some snacks from her roommate. That worked too.

A Slytherin! Pam's mind flashed to Amelia and she smiled, "I have a close friend in Slytherin."

"The Sorting hat is weird." She agreed, "I had expected it to place me in Ravenclaw, but here we are. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed. But I like Hufflepuff a lot now." Pam blinked at the gender question. She had never thought about it, but it seemed pretty valid, "Well, it sure sounds male, right?"

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Interacting with: @Charlotte Winfield
Mentioning: @Amelia Garnett

Reducio

Sorry this is so latee