"Care to make a donation, Miss?"

Raine Almasy dropped several pound coins into the charity bucket held out by the blonde muggle woman who had addressed her as she was crossing Trafalgar Square. Better to be rid of all that heavy muggle money. The weather this morning was cloudy and grey, a light drizzle coming in with a breeze from the north. It was warm drizzle, an odd sensation for anyone used to the colder months.

As soon as the rain hit, the Gryffindor made a quick dash up the steps to the National Gallery, turning around to look out towards the square once she'd hit the landing. Even for a weekday, the city was crawling with tourists.

People jostled and rushed past her into the Museum-- today would be even busier, one would assume. The Van Gogh exhibition was in town for a few weeks. Papa had apparated her into Diagon Alley and given her the usual talk about getting home on time, watching out for suspicious characters, etcetera. Raine waited another second to catch her breath before spinning around and heading in to the Gallery.

In her hurry, she hadn't noticed a tall muggle man heading in her direction, "Hey!" she exclaimed, taking a step back just before they collided, and bumping into someone else instead. Raine turned to apologize but stopped herself, recognizing the boy she'd crashed into: "Krause," she said in a surprised tone.

All freckles and red hair (not that she was one to speak), Kirby Krause was a familiar face. He'd known her sister at least, another Ravenclaw. They had been together in some extracurricular club. Art society, was it? Or Music? She could never remember, but she smiled at him politely anyway: "What brings you to London-- are you here for the exhibition as well?"

Today was a special day for Kirby Krause. Here he was at the National Gallery- though that wasn't the special part, as he'd been there before- to see an exhibition dedicated to the greatest artist of all time: Vincent Van Gogh. Glancing outside, he noticed that he had just missed the rain- a bit of good fortune on what was promising to be a great day. The skinny Ravenclaw had just been consulting a map when he felt someone bump into him, causing him to stumble backwards a bit, then heard someone address him by his surname. This prompted him to finally look up from his map. Grey eyes travelled down the height difference (two inches shy of a foot) to discover messy red hair (not unlike his own) and a familiar face.

"Sanya" immediately jumped to mind, though his head quickly corrected itself before he could say it and make an ass of himself. No, Sanya Almasy was dead, and though the two weren't especially close, this fact stung his heart. Kirby liked Sanya; they were in the same house and year, and he knew her to be a wonderful musician. To die so young was indeed a tragedy if there ever was one...

The redhead let the thought end there, because today was going to be a day to appreciate his favourite artist with a distinct lack of melancholy. He gave the surviving Almasy sister- Raine- a small smile and greeted her as she did him, "Almasy." She probably knew Alison, his stepsister, who was also a sixth year Gryffindor. "Yeah, I'm here for the exhibition. I'm a huge fan of Van Gogh. And you?" Kirby could be classified as a Van Gogh fanboy, if there was such a thing. The manic passion with which the Dutchman must have created with was inspiring to the young artist. Sometimes he wondered if Van Gogh was a wizard- the swirls, patterns, and textures of his paintings were nothing short of magical to Kirby. He made a mental note to look into that.

There was something disconcerting about meeting classmates unexpectedly, especially in muggle areas. It reminded one almost immediately of school-- which wasn't too long away -- and then of everything that Hogwarts entailed. Lessons, new robes, books, exams, spells, essays. Raine felt like she'd been struck in the gut by a pang of wistfulness and dread.

Kirby Krause was polite in his own way; she only barely noticed the flash of recognition in his eyes and managed to keep herself from wondering who he'd seen first, her or Sanya. A fan Van Gogh? It must have been the Art Appreciation society then, she thought idly as he spoke.

Her smile turned sardonic at his question: "I wouldn't call myself a fan but for a man whose paintings don't move, his work is fascinating." Other adjectives sprang to mind but stayed there unspoken. There was more to Van Gogh than she could possibly articulate... the worlds within his frames looked bigger and more magical than the one outside.

Raine indicated towards the Gallery entrance, past a crowd of muggles streaming by: "It's getting rather busy out here," she commented: "Would you like to join me? I used to attend these things with Sanya but, um, it's been a solitary habit lately."

That, she realized, was the closest she had gotten to referencing her sister in a month, without being bothered by it. She felt rather proud of herself, childishly.