“Thank you, good sir.” Mysti said, taking the seat that had been offered.

Aaron. That was the name of the Gryffindor of her year. And Shade was the older one. Sometimes it took her a bit of time to remember names.  So many people at this school. But it always helped her remember names when they were attractive.

“I’ve got a few ideas, but it’s hard to pick, so I’ll let time help me decide. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” Mysti said, giving Shade a smile. She locked eyes with him for a moment, then glanced down at the art in his book, admiring it. “And nothing wrong with being an artist either.”

When Figaro started talking about becoming a Healer, it was a bit of a surprise for Mysti.  It hadn’t quite been what she’d expect, but still a good choice. He was a pretty caring person once you got around the bit of the mischievous side.
“I’m sure you’d be a good healer. My mum’s one, so if you have any questions, I could probably ask her.”

The younger Gryffindor seemed to have had enough of the talk of the future.  Aaron broke into the conversation with a new thought.  Flying. Mysti could tell he had an adventurous spirit, and was interested to see where his thought would be going.  Considering they were on the quidditch pitch, flying was something easily thought of. 

“Nope, not at all. Absolute tragedy of a flyer.” Mysti said with a look of humour on her face.  Since she’d just flown up where they were sitting, they obviously knew she could fly. So she decided to have a laugh.

"She's rubbish," Figaro agreed with a straight face.  "It's sad, really.  When she says 'up', brooms straight up and flee from her horrid grasp."

Figaro himself was making no move to find a broom and go for a fly.  They'd had their quidditch match yesterday against Ravenclaw - their last of the season - and the last thing Figaro wanted to do right now was get on a broom in the frigid air. 
His mind was flying far away from the responsibilities of school, quidditch and career and towards the wonderland that was spring holiday.  It was weeks away, but he looked very forward to a week off from classes. 

Aaron smirked at Fig's wisecrack and jumped down a step.  "Oh really?" he said, cocking his head.  "Looks like you need a strong individual to help you learn."  He puffed out his chest and struck a ridiculous super hero pose.

"Come on," he said, starting towards the locker rooms, "get your brooms, and we'll see who's the worst flyer."  Aaron was in a good mood, and he wasn't going to waste it indoors.

"I'll pass," Shade told the others as he reopened his sketchbook and resumed drawing the outline of the castle. He may not have any plans for the future, but he simply wanted to finish his drawing and go back inside the castle.  "You guys have fun." he commented as he made a couple more strokes to the roof and then started shading the turrets in.[1]

1.	Dreadfully short, sorry

"Aw, tough luck, Doyle..." Figaro grinned when he and his mates were too lazy to join him for a fly.  "Dreams crushed."

Now that they seemed to be committed to an afternoon of dedicated lethargy, Figaro hugged his arms closer to his body, and nudged his scarf up higher to his ears. 

"That new Creatures professor Donovan? Heard she's a werewolf.  What do you reckon?"  He didn't seem savage with the rumor, but more matter-of-fact.  Figaro's track record with werewolves wasn't exactly stellar, but it had mostly to do with him not understanding the crap they had to deal with.  He found humor where he really wasn't qualified to. 

"Seems a bit mad, a creature teaching Creatures? Would that make her overqualified, then?"

"Ha ha," said Aaron sarcastically.  He was sour.

The Gryffindor decided he really was going to waste his good mood inside, and turned on his heel, intending to leave the other students alone on the stands.  He could hear some kidney pie calling his name from inside the castle.  Plus a mountain of homework, but Aaron ignored the latter.

Fig was making some stupid joke about the new Creatures Professor as he disappeared from view on the other side of the pitch.

“Sorry, Doyle.” Mysti said as the younger Gryffindor decided to walk off.

It looked as though Shade and Figaro weren’t interested in whatever it was that Aaron had in mind.  And then Aaron decided he wasn’t interested in them.  Mysti decided to stay with the two remaining boys.  She also assumed that after their quidditch match yesterday, Fig didn’t want to fly much, and that’s how Mysti was feeling now after her few laps.

“Donovan? She seems to know her stuff. At least we’ll probably get to learn more about werewolves.” Mysti laughed a little. Even if the new teacher was a werewolf, the headmistress would know and they’d be safe. A lot of werewolves knew how to take care of themselves these days.

Mysti took in a breath as she watched Shade continue on his drawing. It was rather mesmerizing watching someone draw. But not wanting to feel or look too awkward, she turned to the best conversation continuer: the weather.

“I’m so ready for there to be more days like this.  I don’t usually mind rain, but there’s just been so much of it lately. And not the best for playing quidditch in.” And that was very true. Especially when mixed with the cold weather as well.

Shade finally closed his notebook and stashed his pen in his coat pocket.  "I've heard about the new prof.  She might be really good at the job, maybe have a lot of knowledge about magical creatures and such." he stated.  He was beginning to get rather bored again and shy of traipsing off to go bug his sister, he had no clue how to cure it. 

"Now that I think about it, being an artist might be right up my alley, I mean I think I'm okay at it." he said to no one in particular.  "Could be a good in-between job until I find something better."

When he closed his sketchbook, Mysti looked up at him while he talked.  She nodded along with what Shade was saying. It made her happy that people weren’t caring too much about the fact that professor Donovan was a werewolf. All werewolves weren’t bad, and it’s good that people were staring to realize this instead of being so prejudiced.

“I’m sure there’s a good market for it. Lots of businesses need artwork for their buildings. My mum works at St. Mungo’s and they like having things in the rooms to give patients something to look at.”

It did seem like there was a lack of people interested in art these days. Mysti enjoyed seeing someone interested in different things than the norm.