Charlie once read a story about a guy who had a huge tree. The tree was enormous, but it was too gnarled and twisted for good timber. It didn't bear fruit and rocks grew in its roots. It was too  big and old to be unrooted and too thick and twisted to be chopped down. It was a useless tree.

Then again, what's wrong with being useless? Charlie contemplated this as he sat under such a tree mentioned in the story, looking over the steep bank that spilled into the school ground's lake. The water was dark, the glassy surface slightly broken up by a gentle wind making little ripples that gently lapped up on the loamy side of the bank. Charlie was busying himself with setting up his little tea kettle. The beaten old red and black ordeal got filled with water from a canteen in preparation for the afternoon's tea ritual.  He looked over at what he'd grasped on his way out from the common room. Hmm, Golden Yunan. Oh, but this was good stuff. He grinned in preparation as he  whispered the little charm that ignited the coals in his little wire oven.

He was about to settle himself down for a bit of a nap in the useless tree's shade when he saw movement a little further ahead. One eye opened, he craned his neck up  a bit for a good look and jumped up when he saw who it was. "Hoy Sophie!" He called, grinning. "Come on over, I got too much to eat, eh?"

Sophie had always been a busy person, lots of energy required constant moving. She went a million miles an hour, all in to whatever she was doing - whether it was working in her father's studio or for S.A.W.S. her whole self had to be involved. It was why classes like History of Magic were so hard for her (and why all her notes had doodles in them) she hated sitting still. Her mind was constantly jumping ahead to the next thing while she kept her fingers busy with the current thing. That was how her current side project had really started; with S.A.W.S. hanging in the balance and Sophie not yet being able to put herself on either side of the argument at the moment she needed something to do with her time. The thing she had decided to do was learn to perfume; it seemed like an interesting past time. It let her spend time with the interesting specimen known Professor Vaillancourt (whom Sophie was still completely taken with), it also gave her a reason to wander around picking things.

It was how she spent most of her lunch breaks and free periods anymore; any excuse to be away from the castle (and by proxy away from people). She was going to get an O in Potions. She was determined. She would not settle for an E, and she'd throw herself in the lake if she got an A. She wasn't so amazing with Charms or Transfiguration, but if there was one thing she knew she had to know for the sake of family pride it was Potions... well, and Divination technically. It'd be pretty ridiculous to be a Seer who was utter shit at Tarot and tea leaves. Her brain was following those sorts of thoughts throughout her brain when she heard a familiar voice, Charlie.

She found herself smiling in spite of how she was still being a bit avoid-y when it came to her peers. Raising her hand to wave, the yellowing petals of an asphodel blossom danced in the slight spring breeze. She had found a cluster of the plant growing wide just off the path on her walk the day before and thought the Professor might like to have it. Looking back at the clump then to Charlie she decided - despite not being particularly hungry, that she'd at least go say hi. It seemed like ages since she'd talked to him proper, "Well aren't you cozy curled up in the shade? I don't suppose you're technically supposed to be serving out a detention and snuck off for some tea and a dozer," her tone was teasing as she tucked her legs and seated herself, bag leaning against an upturned root.