Paetyn was in a super duper hurry. He had it on good word that Peeves was throwing paint-filled balloons at anyone that walked down the fourth floor corridor and he just had to see it. It wasn’t often the first year had a chance to see any sort of prank not directed at himself. He was already in the dungeons when he passed by a fellow firstie who told him all about it, and decided that if he ran fast enough, he could go put his books down and still make it before all the fun and action died out.

He quickened his pace and scurried as fast as he could to the common room, where he promptly ran to his room. He threw his books down unceremoniously on the bed and just as quickly ran right back out. The rooms were stifling hot, despite the chill that permeated the rest of the dungeons. Eli had a nice sheen of sweat on his forehead when he finally made it to the common room and he reached up to wipe it away with the back of his hand.

As he moved his hand to his face, Paetyn’s vision was obscured for one quick second, but that quick second could mean a lot. In Quidditch, if a seeker took his eyes away from the game for even a second, it could cost the game (Paetyn was glad he was remembering something from classes at least). Paetyn’s mistake could have been even more costly. In the single moment when he couldn’t see anything except for the ground in front of him, Paetyn ran smack into something very solid, causing his hand to ricochet and smack him directly in the head. Ouch.

Classes were over for the day, now she could get back to what she was good at. Studying. Studying animals to be more specific. Ever since she found that rare book on unicorns in the library she had started expanding her search and that search had yielded much. Flipping a page as she read she crosses confidently through the common room, heading for the girl's dormitories.

That was, Moira headed for the girl's dormitories until something smacked right into her. The size of it managed to knock the breath out of her and she barely managed to hold onto the book, but she lost her place. It wasn't a big deal but it was a tad annoying. Glancing at the thing, a first year boy she had seen around, that had run into her she started to move back. "Um, Sorry." Apology said, she started to open the book and continue on her way again.

"OOOPH!" Paetyn said through the fabric of the girl's shirt upon impact. Thankfully he was a good foot shorter than she was and they didn't smack skulls; that would have been bad, very bad indeed. After disentangling himself from her, he looked up at her, pretty much mesmerized by her girlish charm. Actually, she didn’t have much charm at all, being all anti-social and trying to walk away and junk, but that didn’t matter to Paetyn, he thought she was interesting. Not very many people would apologize for someone else walking into them, and even fewer would pick right back up where they left off before the incident and scurry on their way.

Her behavior was definitely not the norm for the older witches and wizards of Hogwarts, even the gentle Hufflepuffs, and that caught Paetyn’s attention. “Uh, no, it’s my fault!” He said quickly, stepping directly in the girl’s path to keep her from scurrying off. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have been in such a hurry. I’ll try better next time. I’m Paetyn, Paetyn Harper, and I’m a first year.” and I’m a first year??? he thought, DUH, of course he’s a first year that was obvious. 

“Anyway, who are you?” He asked as kindly as possible in his annoying squeaky prepubescent voice. He had practically already forgotten about the pesky poltergeist he was so hurriedly pursuing.

Moira had just found her spot in the book again... and the boy wasn't leaving her alone. He deliberately blocked her path and continued to talk... and talk. Eyebrows lowering fractionally in irritation was the only sign she gave away at his insistence on having a conversation. She didn't want a conversation, she wanted to go read and be left completely alone. Apparently he hadn't observed much or he'd have known that by now like most of the other Hufflepuffs.

Maybe he would go away if she gave him as little as possible in the way of conversation. "Moira." There was no reason to give him her last name or even do the... social etiquette that everyone else seemed to know so well. Hi, how are you. Glad you're doing well. All of that was meaningless and a waste of time to her. She had studying to do, after all. Standing still with her book open Moira stared at this Paetyn child, waiting and willing for him to move and go on about his way.

Moria. The girl’s name was Moria. Maybe it was like those American muggles like Cher and Madonna and she didn’t have a last name. Paetyn knew all about American muggle music, his mum listened to it all the time. It drove Paetyn quite batty. “Moria. I like it. It’s a pretty name.” He said, still making sure he was blocking her way.

“What year are you? Because I’m pretty sure you’re not a second year, and you’re certainly not a first year, so how long have you been here?” He asked, peppering her with questions. “Do you ever get used to crawling around to get in here? Do you like your classes? Have you ever been eaten by the giant squid?” He asked, firing off question after question.

Paetyn could tell that the girl just wanted to be left alone, but surely that meant that everyone except for Paetyn should leave her alone. Everyone loved him, and surely he could bring her out of her shell. Now that he started, it was like a hunt, he wouldn’t stop until he caught his prey. 

So much for that theory. If anything he continued to talk more, and asked questions faster than she could even consider answering any of them. Only one thing for her to do then. "Moira McBoid, fourth year, and the squid doesn't bother me." With those answered, and she was rather generous for answering those two, she began to move forward and push past him. "Excuse me, I have a lot to do."

While part of Moira was hopeful he would take that very not so subtle hint leave another part of her cringed at the possibility and likelihood that it would do the opposite... make him pursue her even more. Why did this have to happen to her? She minded her own business, didn't bother anyone and still she was now being pestered by one of the first years. Moira briefly wondered how this could get any worse.

Paetyn let out an involuntary shudder when she mentioned the squid. His list of things worse than a giant man-eating fish was rather short, and included mostly other giant man-eating things and broccoli. Giant man-eating broccoli topped the list, for sure. So she did have a last name, good. Now Paetyn could go to the library and find old yearbooks and see what she looked like as a first year… hmm… that made him sound kinda stalkerish… oh well!

“Ooh, what ya gotta go do? Is it some kind of older more advanced magic? Are you a spy? Mind if I tag along?” He asked, allowing her to maneuver around him, but still advancing beside her at a rapid pace. “I’m real small, so I won’t be in the way. And I might not look like it, but I’m pretty strong, I can carry your books and stuff for you if you want. I don’t mind.” He said, looking up at his fellow Huffler hopefully.

“Do you like magic?” He asked her, “My parents are non-magic folk, and I’m not very good at it, but it’s pretty fun. Especially when you get to blow things up. OOOH! Are you going to go blow stuff up? Can I PLEASE come with you?” at this point he was jumping up and down in his excitement. She just couldn’t say no, Paetyn was turning on his full charm, giving the big puppy dog eyes and everything.

On a good note, he didn't grab her or try to keep her from moving again. On a bad note, he was following her and continued to assault her with questions. She ignored most questions, didn't have a choice for the most part anyway as he spouted them so fast it was amazing she could keep up with them all. It wasn't really any surprise to her that he got excited at the idea of blowing stuff up. Typical male first year student.

Since he obviously wasn't going away Moira decided to tell the honest truth. About what she was doing. Turning to face him she started. "No, I'm not going to blow anything up and I'm not practicing magic. I have to study. I have to read a bunch of books and take lots of notes, I'm sure you wouldn't find that at all fascinating." The whole spy thing and carrying her books she wasn't going to deign with a response because really it was all kind of silly.

So she was a studious student? That was kinda cool; Paetyn could use a smart friend. He needed someone to help him with his homework, because he wasn’t exactly the most focused student. He was kinda bummed that she didn’t want to blow stuff up, because blowing up stuff was pretty freaking awesome. “You want some help? I’m a pretty good studier.” He said with a super huge smile on his face. “I can hold the book and quiz you or somethin’,” He said, really hoping she would give in and just let him help.

He really just wanted to help, honest. He thought Moria was pretty awesome and any chance to help her Paetyn was going to jump at. The small Hufflepuff had formed an infatuation with the elder girl in just the few seconds that they had been together and he would do pretty much anything she wanted him to. As long as she didn’t ask him to do anything super bad, or ask him to leave her alone… because he wouldn’t do anything like that.

“So what ya studying? Because I like animals and plants and spells and stuff, but I don’t really like reading about history, mainly because it happened like a kajillion years ago and it’s really boring.” He said, “Except for wars and stuff, I like reading about that because it talks about people getting their heads blown off and awesome stuff like that!” The young boy was waving his hands in the air pantomiming someone’s head exploding.

It was around now that Moira finally began to understand the futility of trying to get him to go away and leave her alone. He couldn't stick around with her all the time, and maybe this would be a one time event, so she'd take her solitude then. Shaking her head Moira began to walk again. "It's not really for school." Stopping at the entrance to the girl's dormitories she pushed the book into Paetyn's hands. "Wait here." Knowing he would have followed her inside, and that would have been a nightmare, she had given him something to do.

Going inside she went to where her bed was and pulled out a couple notebooks, two quills, and a bottle of ink. That would be enough more than likely. Pausing and giving it another thought she grabbed two more books, one a kind of beginner's guide to creatures and habitats, before she went back out. Putting the other two books on top of her first rather large one, he had offered after all, she started to go outside. "Come on then." It was a little chilly, true, but it wasn't the cold of winter quite yet. Besides, with plenty of sunlight left it would be a shame to waste it.

Paetyn was eager to help. When she handed him the book and scurried away, he was tempted to follow her, just to see if she needed help, but he figured that she would have asked if she did, and besides, he didn’t want to push her too far. He bounced on his feet, toe to heel, toe to heel, impatiently waiting for her to come back, and when she did, his smile grew.

He followed her out of the common room, having to work extra hard to keep up. His legs simply weren’t as long as her legs were. He wasn’t exactly sure where they were going, but he didn’t really care. “You want me to hold those?” He asked, reaching up and taking the stuff out of her hands without waiting for a reply. The stuff was heavier than it looked, but Paetyn was NOT going to complain. He was a man, well, a little man anyway, and he was going to treat the lady like she deserved to be treated.

-END-
[Scene will continue by the lake]