This thread is a continuation of http://absitomen.com/index.php?topic=11766.0



Moira glanced up at the sky as she walked along, and as she did there were a few students who passed her... odd glances. It was to be expected though. Normally she walked alone and didn't talk to anybody or even acknowledge them aside from getting out of their way. This time, however, she had picked up a bit of a tail who went by the name Paetyn Harper. He had taken it upon himself to not leave her alone, so instead of wasting time trying to make him go away, she put him to work. The small first year was obviously struggling to keep up with all the added weight of three books and her supplies but to the kid's credit he didn't complain about it.

Finally reaching her favorite tree she sat on the ground beneath it and waited for Paetyn to put her stuff down. Once he had she took the smallest book, a guide to identifying basic creatures and their habitats, and handed it to him. "If you really want to help me study, I need you to learn that book first." Maybe, just maybe, that would keep him occupied for a little while. Drawing the other two books to her she opened them both, picked up one of her notebooks and began to cross reference certain material.

By the time the unorthodox couple made it to the grounds, Paetyn’s forehead was shiny with sweat. He barely felt the chill that permeated the air, but by the time his body cooled off from the exertion, he was sure to freeze. The sunlight was extraordinarily bright and Paetyn had to squint as it rebounded off the surface of the lake. In just a few short weeks the lake would be frozen over, and snow fights would dominate the landscape. The first year boy wondered if there would ever be a time that the Hogwarts grounds weren’t the center of attention.

He settled himself comfortably under the branches of the tree and went to work trying to catch his breath. His tirade of questions stopped while he carried the items to the lake, mainly because he was too focused on the labor to have a chance, or the extra oxygen to spare. They would, of course, start back as soon as he felt comfortable and relaxed, and when he was sure he wouldn’t scare the pretty lady sitting beside him off.

He took the book gratefully from her and nodded to her with pride when she gave him a task. He would read the book in its entirety and memorize every word, and he’d do it really fast too, that way he could really be of help to her. He turned the first couple of pages and his excitement started building again. The book was just filled with so many awesome things! “Ooooh look at this!” He said, turning the book in her direction, pointing at a particularly cool looking illustration, “That’s a – Well… I’m not really sure what it is yet, but it sure does look awesome, don’t it?” He said, grinning ear to ear.

The trip from the Hufflepuff common room to her tree not far from the lake was very nice. Nice and /quiet/. Occasionally she'd glance imperceptibly at the boy to make sure the strain from all that wasn't too much for him to handle. Moira might not like company, for the most part, but that didn't mean she was cruel. Still, giving him his sense of boyish pride she let him carry it the whole way.

Actually, she had managed to get one whole paragraph written before he started talking again. She considered that a huge achievement considering his general running of his mouth. Without looking up at the picture he was showing her and continuing with her notes she explained, "That's a bowtruckle. If you would continue to read instead of talk you'd learn it's kind of a tree guardian." Moira could practically feel his excitement as it was growing. Quite possibly this would not be the best study time she had hoped for. In fact, if Harper was going to make a habit of this, her studies would definitely be cutting into her sleep time.

Properly chastised, Paetyn turned the book back around and began reading about the before mentioned bowtruckle. It really was quite interesting, the way a bowtruckle could blend in extraordinarily well with its surroundings. A couple more times he looked up, making excited exclamations of… well… excitement. He managed to not call out to Moria again though, that is, until he came across a picture of a wicked awesome picture of a horse with wings.

He really wasn’t sure how it was even possible for a horse to have wings. I mean, wasn’t their body’s sheer size too much to support the equine’s weight? The book didn’t really explain much about them, and the older Hufflepuff looked like she knew a whole bunch, so he turned the book back around to face the girl and started poking her in the arm to get her attention. “Hey, Moria, how can a horsey fly?” He asked. “I mean, I’ve heard of a horsefly, but I’ve never thought it was literal.” He said, laughing at his own joke.

Moira continued to work in silence for as long as she was permitted. Really the differences between the two books were astounding, though the basics were all correct. It was a shame she couldn't go study the creature and learn for herself the specifics, since it seemed different habitats created different personalities and social structures. Based off the two books, those in the forest habitat were far more peaceful than those in the prairies, though maybe it was because there was more protection and places to hide in the forest. On the prairies all they could do was run.

Giving a soft sigh, grateful for having gotten four pages down she looked over and listened to him ask his questions. Eyes brightening, as it was finally something she knew better than anything, she shook her head. "That's because you're assuming they'd be the same as a bird's wings. The wings on the Winged Horses are much stronger structurally, much like the hippogriff and griffon wings. They are also much larger so they can collect more air beneath them to keep them up in the sky."

Okay, so Paetyn could see where they could stay afloat, even though he had no clue what a hippogriff was (hopefully it didn’t look like a hippo!), but he still had questions. He always had questions. “Okay, so they can fly, but horses poop a whole bunch, I know they do because my grandpa had horses and they always went poopie everywhere. So I guess my question is, do they poop on everyone when they fly? I mean, I like horses, and a flying one would be bloody brilliant, but I don’t think I’d wanna get pooped on by a flying horse.” He said, putting his book down beside him and looking to the sky nervously, as if a winged horse would actually be flying above him.

“Can we actually see some of these animals they talk about here? I think it’d be wicked awesome. I like animals, my mum never would let me have pets growing up and I always wanted one. Do you think we could go find us a pet? Ya think they’d let me keep one in the castle? What if I promise to teach it to behave?” He was practically bouncing up and down in his elation. Hogwarts was a place where he didn’t have parents, and they didn’t mind if he had pets, unlike his strict mother and father.

All pretenses of reading forgotten, Paetyn stood up and walked to the edge of the lake, peering into its depths. Maybe he was looking for an aquatic friend to play with, suddenly the giant squid didn’t seem so mean, and maybe it just wanted a friend. Paetyn was good at being friends, he had already made a new one in no time at all! 

That question answered, he began asking questions that weren't really all that important, so she answered a simple, "No." and resumed her cross reference notes. Then he continued to ask questions and part of it made her pause. "Paetyn, most creatures in these books are wild for good reasons, I'm not sure taking them into the castle to be pets is such a great idea...."  Moira should have saved her breath because at this point he obviously wasn't listening. If she had made some sort of 'monster' by showing him that book she knew she would end up regretting it.

In fact, he dropped everything and walked right towards the lake's edge. "Paetyn, be careful, you don't want to fall into the water." Glancing down Moira finished the last paragraph she was on. He was way too excited and she doubted there would be time to get more of this project down. Setting down her quill she looked up and froze. Where was Paetyn?

The first thing Paetyn realized was that he was very cold; the second thing he realized was that he couldn’t breathe. Neither was a very good sign. He had been very careful on the bank of the lake, taking extra care not to venture too far over the edge of the small cliff in his attempt to see a creature of the dark lagoon, but when Moria started talking to him about being careful, he turned just a little too quickly and he slipped off the edge and plunged into the lake, barely making a splash.

His wizard robes were very good at keeping you warm, thick and comfy, but when you can’t swim and you’re in a lake with unfathomable depths, they were a hindrance, and Paetyn struggled futilely to reach the surface, though he wasn’t even sure which way was up. All he could think about were the kappas and the grindylowes he was sure were just waiting to snatch him up and make him a watery corpse in the depths of their cold wet home. Plus, weren’t there merpeople in the lake?

His lungs were screaming for oxygen and his head finally surfaced, though instead of yelling out for Moria like he should have, he sucked in as much oxygen as his lungs would allow and plunged back under. Hopefully the sound of him splashing would be enough to alert her to his danger, if his silence hadn’t already. His body was in agony from the cold, and his mind still reeled with all the unlikely possibilities of his death. Maybe the giant squid, whom he’d been thinking about just minutes before, would come out and eat him, or maybe some other underwater creature would stab him with their stabby things.

One thing was certain, Moria had created a monster with her books, because now all Paetyn could see was death from every angle, and though he should have been worried about the cold penetrating his very bones, or perhaps the lack of oxygen to his brain, all he could think about were the creepy-crawlies he saw in that blasted book of hers.

Jumping to her feet Moira looked around to see if maybe he had run off to see something, but he was nowhere in sight and she hadn't looked down that long. That meant...  hearing splashing she started running towards the edge of the lake, stripping off her robes so she was just in the clothes beneath them so that her robes wouldn't drag her down. The air was freezing compared to how warm she had been before and she was breathing fast hoping she would make it in time.

Noting the darker spot as she reached the edge of the cliff she dove down into the water right next to it. The cold was a shock to her entire body and immediately it cried out in pain. Moira had to push that away though, right now, that didn't matter. All that mattered was getting Paetyn back to safety. She swam down further and further until she finally felt his robe she grabbed hold of it and pulled him towards her. Wrapping her arm around his waist and trying to avoid his weakly flailing arms she began to swim up again.

It was slower going and her lungs were screaming now for oxygen but Moira stubbornly continued to kick at the water, even as the air she had left escaped her lungs. When her head surfaced the air was a welcome thing to her lungs, but more cold air after the freezing water provided still another shock. Keeping Paetyn close and his head above the water she started swimming to where the could climb out easily.

Paetyn was only semiconscious when Moria pulled him from the lake. For a moment, he was terrified that she was a sea creature trying to kill him, but when they broke the surface of the lake, Paetyn stopped struggling. When they reached the bank, Paetyn started coughing up water and phlegm. He muttered incoherencies in between gulps of fresh air, talking about how he almost got eaten by the squid and how if Moria hadn’t gotten there in time he’d have been Paetyn on a Plate.

His teeth were chattering and he was shivering violently from the cold. His robes were dripping with the wet of the lake and clumps of seaweed clung to his clothes. His lips were turning cyanotic. One thing was for sure, if he didn’t get into a warm bath soon, Moria’s efforts to save him would have been for naught, because he would die from hypothermia. “Th-thank y-you,” He managed to stutter out, sound barely audible over the loudness of his chattering teeth. Though he was freezing, he managed to grab onto Moria in a tight hug, trying to convey through emotions what he couldn’t through words.

Moira hauled them both out of the water and coughed some. She was shivering too bad to yell at him, and he was obviously too cold and frightened from the ordeal to need yelling at. So, instead she hugged him back and pointed him towards the castle. "Hot bath, hot food. Hurry, go now." Nudging him along the way she went to retrieve her robe and pulled it on, watching him to make sure he got inside safely. The more she moved the more difficult it was to do so, in fact she was mostly numb by now. It also seemed a good idea to go to bed early. Now early, in fact.

Mumbling quietly to herself she returned to her train and used the levitation charm to transport all her books along with her, that way she wouldn't get anything wet. All her stuff gathered Moira trudged along towards the common room and her dorm. She trudged her way to her nice warm bed and were she would slip out of all her sopping wet clothes and slide under the covers of her nice... warm... bed.



End