Chandelier Skies ;; open

[Gwenyth Ferre]

Gwenyth had woken up particularly early for a Saturday morning, normal students probably would have still been sleeping. Others, upperclassmen, might be waking up early in order to get some homework done. She fit into neither of these categories, for she had already finished all of her homework for the week. As she walked around the castle, she couldn't help but take a peek out of one of the ornate windows that were littered sporadically throughout the castle. It wasn't until then that she noticed the sort of day that was waiting for her outside. As she peered through the stone frame, she saw that it was the sort of the day that she lived for. The sky was a breathtaking shade of grey; rain was coming down in a slight drizzle. Patches of silver sunlight burst through the clouds in places, falling down gracefully on the misty world below.

The fifth year quickly made her way to the massive, heavy doors that would lead her to the outside world. She pushed the doors open and stepped out onto the grounds, as she took in her surroundings. All was quiet. Everything was absolutely still. Gwenyth's breath caught up in her chest and was taken away by the stunning beauty of the grounds. The sunlight caught the few rain droplets and the mist, turning them into liquid gold. The grass was wet with dew, it clung to the leaves and rocks and dirt. The trees were still sleeping... there wasn't even the slightest breeze. The only noise was that of a few morning birds chirping in the distance. Despite the weather, Gwenyth felt comfortably warm. Se took her time as she strolled through the grounds, making a couple laps around the lake. There was no reason to hurry, she had no time constraints this morning.

She heard the gentle flapping of wings overhead, knowing that it probably belonged to an owl, she still looked up anyways. There was a beautiful, tawny brown owl making its way back to the Owlery. She didn't have the best eyesight in all of the world but she was fairly certain that the owl was returning from its adventure empty handed. She could only assume that it probably belonged to the school. She only then remembered that she had a letter from her mother upstairs simply waiting to be replied to. She tucked a stringy strand of hair behind her ear as she promised herself that she'd write back later on that day. What else was she going to do anyways?

As there was not really a sun for her to try and decipher the current time by, she felt a little annoyed with herself for not wearing her watch. Her father had given her one when she was twelve and she rarely ever wore it. As the lap she was taking came to a close she sat down at the edge of the lake. She took off her shoes and dipped her feet into the cool water, her eyes watching the surface as though expecting to see one of the Giant Squid's tentacles rip through.

[aiden]

Ned Stebbins was covered in mud.

This was not an unusual look for him -in fact, he wore it well- but Ned couldn't help but feel less than enthusiastic as he struggled up the grassy knoll, spitting out a mouthful of grass as he went. The front of his yellow-and-white striped shirt was smeared with thick brown soil, compliments of two Slytherin fifth years that had chased him down right outside of the Forbidden Forest, and as he rubbed an itch on his face, he wiped a stripe of black dirt across his bony cheek.

Ned Stebbins had never been popular with the Slytherins...or rather, he had always been too popular with the Slytherins. Over the course of his Hogwarts career he had become their favorite punching bag, and while Ned could run abnormally fast, not even he could beat the well-aimed jinxes they shot at him from every angle. Just yesterday a third year girl had locked his legs together outside of the Great Hall, and Ned had been forced to hop all the way to his Herbology class, enormous bag of books in tow.

Panting as he reached the top of the hill, Ned tugged up the overlarge shoulder of his Hogwarts robe and prepared to continue his trek when he spotted Gewnyth Ferre. Freezing, Ned squinted his eyes, slapped his dirty palm against his forehead, and then realized who he was looking at.

"Hey! Hey Gwyn! Hey! Gwenyth! Gwenyth!"

Ned waved his free arm above his head absurdly, took a giant step forward, and tripped on a rock. In a sudden tangle of limbs he went flying, and Ned's face made contact with the ground several times before he reached the bottom of the hill, covered in grass and cringing from new bruises.

"Hey Gwenyth."

Shyly, Ned peered out from under his cloak (which had flown up over his head during his fall) and smiled goofishly.

"Did...did you hear me? I was waving at you. Did you see?"