Sitting Under a Tree

Theresa skipped out of the castle and towards the lake. Despite her previous bad luck, she was in a good mood. She had a great book and was planning on getting some fresh air at the lake. It was always nicer then in a stuffy library or in her dorm with Lil Tom. She sat down at the edge of the water and hummed quietly as she opened her book. She flipped through the first few pages before she began to read.

Alex spotted Theresa reading a book by the lake she had been looking for her she wanted to see how her petition to help the animals in the lake was going. "hello theresa" she greeted the girl "do you mind if I sit with you for a while?" she asked her "I was just wondeing how your petition was going? Do you have a lot of signitures" she asked her.

Theresa smiled when she heard a familiar voice. She looked up and saw Alexandra "of course" she said, gesturing for her to sit down. She closed her book and put it on the grass. "There was a few things I had to do but the petition is back on track, we have Shelby, Lauren, Hilary, you, Cassi, Violet and Mary" she said cheerfully. "I have got enough things worked out and the dive will be any day now, once everyone is prepared, the sooner the better" she said.

"thats good I really wanted to find you to let you know that violet had to leave hogwarts her dad got a job over in america" she said sitting down "oh and before I forget it was really nice what you did for shelby in your detition friends before points I doubt that some of the others would do that" she said

"Oh, was she excited about it?" Theresa asked curiously. She thought it was a shame that she never got a chance to talk to violent much, she seemed nice.
She blushed when she heard what Alexandra said next "you heard about that then, it seems that quite a lot of people have" she said before shrugging. "I don't think points are as important as friends" she said.

"I agree with you there" she said "Violet wasn't that excited about going but she didn't have a choice so she had to leave it's been kind of quiet without her yeah everybody does seem to know I guess news travels fast" she smiled "anyway I should go I've got stuff to do let me know about the dive if I don't see you before then" she said standing up. With a quick wave to Theresa she hurried off into the castle.

"You will be able to send her letters, owl mail is much faster then muggle mail which is good" Theresa said. She wondered how so many people knew about the detention so quickly but just pushed it to the back of her mind, it didn't matter.
"Alright, I will owl you, it should be any day now" she said as she waved at the girl. She smiled as she returned to her book.

Harmony decided to wander out toward the lake for some reading. It was the only peaceful place she could really find around the school grounds. She very well couldn't read in her dorm or even the library because the other kids always found their way there. She jumped slightly when she heard voices; she had wandered down near two others. A Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff it looked like.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," she said, backing up slightly. "I didn't realize you were here. That's what I get for being a little bit of a space case today."

Theresa looked up when she heard a new voice and smiled when she saw the girl she remembered briefly as Harmony. The lake was sure extra popular today, not that she minded, it was usually nice to talk to people when they passed or stopped next to her. "Hey, no worries, you didn't disturb anything" she said.

Harmony smiled over at Theresa, tentatively taking a seat next to her at the lake's edge. She didn't know Theresa very well, but she did know that she was a very nice and kind girl. She wondered if she would be able to get to know her a little better. It was a bit of a personal goal of hers.

"What are you reading?" She asked, noticing the book in her hands.

Theresa looked down at her books "Fantastic beasts and where to find them" she said. She looked back at Harmony "can never get enough of books like this" she said, thinking that it was best to just say that, enough people thought she was crazy when it came to those types of things. "What brings you to the lake then?" she asked.

Harmony held up her own small books.

"Herbology books," she stated quietly. "I thought it would be prudent to read these books while outside. The library is occasionally packed, and Vita tends to jump on me whenever I'm reading in my dorm. I thought that out here, near Herbology at it's finest, would be the best place to read them."

She blinked slightly. "Ah...Vita is my little white cat, in case you didn't know. Sorry to leave no explanation on that." She laughed slightly.

"Sounds good, I know what you mean about the library, some times it gets too crowded" Theresa said. She laughed a little at the thought of the white kitten "cute, better then Lil Tom, he is my little black and white kitten, last time he was near one of my books, he shreaded it" she said.

Harmony's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh no," she said frowning slightly. "I hope it wasn't a precious book that you liked. Vita knows not to mess with my books. Though, she had no problems shredding my curtains."

She laughed slightly. "I don't usually get any reading done simply because she liked to jump on my stomach when I'm lying down in bed. It's like she commands me to be petted, which is rather cute, so I can't deny her the head scratching."

"Just a book on dragon breeding" Theresa said, shrugging. She actually had a few books on that topic so didn't mind too much about it. "I think I prefer the way your kitten tries to get attention, a lot less messy" she said, laughing. "Shredding curtains though, sounds like a fun kitten" she said.

Harmony grinned. A dragon book, eh? She wondered if Theresa liked dragons as much as she did. She and Reina had talked about them a lot since Reina's own brother dealt with dragons.

"Vita's...one of a kind," Harmony finally said, laughing. "Her name means Soul or Life, and trust me, she has plenty of that. They were my favorite curtains though, so I'll have to get some new ones soon."

"One of a kind is one way to describe a pet like that" Theresa joked. "Shasta will probably be the same" she said thoughtfully, mostly to herself then the other girl. "How did Vita tear youe curtains, were you away or something?" she asked, smiling at the thought of a cute, little white kitten jumping at curtains.

Harmony grumbled slightly.

"Vita was just mad at me for not coming up and playing with her," she admitted. "I left a magically filling food dish and water dish for her of course, but cats need love and support. When I got up to the room, she was dive-bombing my curtains by jumping up onto my bed, and then landing on the curtains. They were in shreds. Needless to say, I've been up visiting her every day instead of only spending nights with her."

Theresa smiled "Vita still sounds like the cutest" she said. "Shelby does this thing with Lil Tom when he is being bad, she taps his nose, it is strange but it actually works" she said before laughing. "Well, except when he tried to bite her finger which was funny" she said.

"So what are you doing in Herbology?" She asked, she hd dropped Herbology after the first lesson and wondered what everyone was so stressed about.

"We are studying and working with Devil's Snare again," Harmony said, peering through her books slightly before looking back over at Theresa. "He wants us to be wrapped by the Snare to experience it. I've been wrapped by my Flitterbloom in my garden before, but it is relatively harmless. The Devil's Snare isn't fully grown though, thank goodness."

"It probably wouldn't be allowed in the class room if it was fully grown" Theresa said, imagining all the damage it could cause. Still, even a little one could cause some damamge but who was she to question the Herbology Professor's methods when she didn't even take the subject. "Sounds painful" she commented, wincing slightly at the thought.

"Hm...not really," Harmony said, tilting her head slightly. "Well, if you struggle it is quite painful. The Devil's Snare counts on it's victims to panic and when they do, it constricts harder. Reina had to use the Lumos spell to ward off the Snare, while I just relaxed. It eventually let me go. Of course, I've worked with such things, but Reina's brother grows some Devil's Snare, so she's been around it as well."

"Sounds fun" Theresa said, wondering if it was really a good thing that she quit Herbology. "Reina's brother grows Devil's Snare? wow, I didn't know it was safe enough to grow really" she said. She had always thought that Devil's snare was like a wild plant or something, not a plant that people could grow intentionaly.

Harmony nodded.

"It can be grown of course. Some Herbologists like to study it as they grow it." She answered. "However, there are also risks in growing it like getting ensnared for example and possibly not being able to free yourself. Not a very happy way to go."

She grimaced slightly. "Ah well. Such is the life of a witch or wizard, no?"

Theresa winced at the thought "no, it wouldn't be but I guess that everything has it's dangers" she said. "If I had to go anyway though, being with a creature would be best, that is when you know your life was worth living right till the end, not that there is anything wrong with plants though, they are cool" she said, hoping she didn't offend her. "Anyway, I at least want to live for the first time I fail my apparations test" she said cheerfully.