A Bit Of Grass

Raven was tired of coming upon trees the other students had 'claimed'. Walking along the grounds with Loki at his heels he stopped a bit away from the Lake. Taking out a bone he found in the dungeons of all places, he threw it to have Loki fetch. Sitting down in the grass, he soon spread out and lay down, looking up at the clouds.
Until Loki dropped the bone on his face of course. Rubbing drool off his face and sitting up, Raven threw the bone as far as he could. As he watched his Crup frolicking and getting distracted by birds, he began to think maybe Irene had been right. Maybe all Hades needed was some exercise to unleash his pent up energy. Then the demon dog wouldn't be so violent. It would still be mean tempered, but hopefully too tired to act on its' desires.
Seeing Loki distracted, Raven lay back down and shut his eyes for a quick nap between classes.

Jasmeet was roaming the castle, stepping outside, she walked towards the Lake. As she walked, she saw three girls talking to each other, animatedly, before she came to a stop. She could see Raven’s crup ahead and laying beside him, she saw a peaceful looking Raven. The sun was attacking his eyes; she walked over and stood over him to give him some shade. Guessing that Raven had heard her, she saw him open his eyes, before he smiled. She smiled back at him, “Care I join?”

When the sunlight behind his eyes went black he opened his eyes and smiled seeing Jas blocking the sun. "Hey, Jas. Pull up a piece of grass! I was wondering when I'd see you. I knew the Purge wouldn't have you scared."
Sitting up, he sat cross legged and patted the earth beside him. Canting his head he grinned bigger when she sat down. "Hey, Jas? What is an....aw, crud. I forget what the word is."

Jasmeet plopped herself beside Raven, “Hey Rave, I see that you finally let Loki out,” the crup heard his name and started towards her, stopping before her and urging her to pat him, which she did too willingly, “Poor thing needed his walk.”

Smiling up at Rave, she tilted her head, “I wonder if that word is anatidephobia,” further continuing to justify herself when shock crossed his face, “Dixie owled me not to believe you”

Crossing his arms, Raven pouted. Dixie would do something like that, wouldn't she! "Yeah," he grumbled. "That was the word. I have it on good authority though, that that is Dixie's fear."
Sighing, he looked at Jas. "She played me didn't she?" He frowned. "I'll get her though, I'll find something!"

She looked at the boy before her, grinning she said, "Well I'll leave that between you and Dixie. However, I don't know what that word means. It's got me thinking as well. I wonder if there's any dictionary in the Library, but I don't want to leave this sun," she babbled, moving from one decision to another.

She could feel Rave's eyes on her, just as she had stared at him a second ago.

"There's a solution to that Jas," Raven grinned. He lay back on the grass, hands linked behind his head. "We enjoy the sun and go to the library later. Besides, I sent a letter off to mom asking her what it meant. I'm sure she'll know. She know odd bits of trivia and stuff that's not very useful. Usually. Except in situations like this."

Watching Rave laying back, she did the same. The grass underneath her was soft and cool under her skin. Smiling to herself, she thought about her mother at his mentioning of his own. She missed her, that was true, but Hogwarts was just like home.

"Oh, you're mum is so cute, my mum hasn't been herself since father died, she was reluctant to send me here too, but then she saw way," she thought of the memory, pleased that her mum had allowed her to come.

Raven was quiet but then softly hmmmed. So Jas' mom didn't want to send her here either. That was something he didn't know. "I didn't know that. My mom....She didn't want me to come to Hogwarts either. I think she was afraid I'd turn out like dad...."
Seeing Loki sprawled by Jas, he smiled. "You seem to be a natural with animals, you know? Ever considered working with them before?"

Jasmeet wiped a tear that had suddenly come to her eyes, "Oh, I've got two parrots back home, Zig and Zag but no I've never considered that." She noticed the mention of Rave's dad, but didn't want to push the subject any further until he wasn't ready to tell her.

"Yeah, she was scared to let me go alone, thought that I would be taken away from her like father was. But after a few days, she told me that I could come, she wanted me to have my own experiences and said she couldn't protect me forever. And I'm proud of her," she said.

"That's cool," he stated and he meant it. He chuckled. "Must be where you get your Gryffindor courage from, huh, Jas?"
He grinned over at her. "So, Zig and Zag?That's cute too."
His mom had two cats before named Rebel and Outlaw. He figured that was why she named her parrots Zig and Zag. You have a pair and sometimes names like that just clicked.

"Yeah, father always said that. That I had gotten the brains from him and the courage from my mother. Apparently, she was the one who had proposed to my father," she chuckled.

At the mention of his mother, she turned to look at him, "I would love to meet your mother, she seems like a nice woman."

"Yeah, she is." Raven smiled fondly. " She's really smart and knows lots of different things. I think that's because she's done many different things and gone to quite a few places."
Reaching out and tweaking Loki's ear he grinned when the Crup licked his hand.
"What about you, Jas? Ever been anywhere exciting?"

"Oh me? Well I lived in Australia before I moved here. Father passed away and I guess mum felt trapped there, so we came here. Father used to do lots of travelling, I went to Dubai, Austria and India," she smiled, another tear threatening to fall.

She let go of Loki, and looked up towards the distant, I still love you dad, miss you.

Raven didn't know what to do when girls or anyone really, started to get emotional. So he didn't say anything. The only thing he could think of to say, was, "Austria sounds nice. Well, it looks nice, in pictures and stuff. I like the old architecture."
He shut up and just stared up at the sky too. He pointed up at one of the clouds. "That one looks like a dragon."

She smiled at him, he was always like this, didn't push the subject. She looked up at where he was pointing, "Well, that one there looks like Raven," she said cheekily.

Loki came running from Raven to her, and she took him into her arms, hugging him close to her.

Canting his head, Raven huffed. "Does not! Wait..." It did if you moved your head a bit. He stuck his tongue out at her. He pointed at another cloud. "That one looks a bit like Mebsuta, Lawr's monkey."
Raven wondered if there was a spell one could use to change the shape of clouds. That would be neat party trick.

She smiled at him, "I love Lawr's monkey," pointing at another cloud, "And that one there, looks exactly like Hades, the new reborn Dark Lord," Jasmeet giggled.

"Did you travel, Rave? Had you always known that you were a wizard? How did you meet Lawr? Have you always been friends?” she curiously asked, swamping him with questions.

Raven stared at her then chuckled. "Slow down, Jas. Lemme see, the travel thing....not so much. And yeah, my parents knew I'd be a wizard. My mum was a witch and was a wizard, remember? As for Lawr, I've always known him. His mum and mine were best friends growing up. I thought it was awesome when he got his letter for Hogwarts too."
It really had been incredible that neither one of them had displayed magic in front of the other all those years. Still, it was incredible and very fortunate that Lawr was a wizard too.

Alycia wandered around the lawn. She stopped pausing for a moment and just fell backwards laying down on the ground. Her arms were spread wide beside her. A small smile on her face as she stared up at the sky. She just wanted to be lazy and do absolutely nothing today.

Looking over Raven saw a Ravenclaw girl sprawl on the grass near them. She kind of looked familiar. His eyes lit up recalling she was the one from the library. The one who hadn't laughed at him for being interested in mythology and had even listened to him tell her a tale from it.
"Jas, you're going to make Loki soft if you keep that up."

"Oh sorry Raven," she let go of Loki, following Raven's eyes, she saw that he was staring at a Ravenclaw girl sprawled on the grass near them.

She punched Raven, "Earth to Rave," she said smiling, "You know her?" signalling at the girl. She had seen the girl around, but hadn't met her properly. She turned to look at Loki, who was looking up at her.

"Ow..."Raven pouted, but nodded. Why did everyone like to hit him? "Yeah, she nearly fell on me in the library. I was sitting on the floor, so it's my fault. Her name's Alycia, I think." He pulled on Loki's forked tail and grinned when he tried to nip him.

She laughed at him, "Rave, Loki doesn't like you," she placed out her hand for Loki to lick.

She could see the image before her, Raven sitting on the floor, and Alycia falling on top. So much for Will being the chick magnet, she was sitting with another one. Funny, how both her best friends weren't Nick's, she had them for herself.

Raven pouted. "What do you mean. He likes me just fine. Just not when I tweak his tail. So there." He stuck his tongue out at Jas. "So, did you always know you were a witch?"
He was curious and she never told him that before she asked him all those questions at once. "Did you know anyone else who was a witch or wizard?"