Seeking Solitude [Open]

Morgana walked out of the castle, feeling once again the now familiar feeling of wanting to be alone creeping in her stomach. She really did like Hogwarts, but she really needed her space and it wasn't easy to get all the time. Sure, she could wander the castle aimlessly, but she felt the need for fresh air.

So she walked along the lake until she came to the edge of the forest. She had yet to walk in there. And she didn't want to. Not because she was frightened, she didn't see the point of being frightened, but she didn't want to cause any point-deductions from her house. So she simply walked over to the outskirts of the forest, sitting down in the shadows of the very first tree.

She leaned her head against the trunk of the tree, closing her eyes. She listened in on the sounds and buzzing that was the sign of life in the woods. She sat like that for a long time when she suddenly heard something slithering along the floor of the forest. Her eyes opened and landed on the most vivid green color she had ever seen in her life.

Her heart started pumping in excitement when the thin, long, poisonous green snake, slithered towards her. It looked as though it was meaning to attack her, but Morgana smiled softly and started talking to the snake. For normal people, it would sound like a weird hissing and probably make people feel confused and maybe even scared. But Morgana only heard them as words.

"I mean you no harm," Morgana simply said, and the snake instantly stopped. She gave a smile. "I'm Morgana." The snake hissed, but what Morgana heard was: "It's not usssual for me to meet sssomeone who talksss back." Morgana smiled at the sharp s'es the snake made.

"I haven't met a snake for a long time myself," Morgana stated. She reached out a hand. "You look cold," she said softly. The snake eyed her closely, but a small nod and the snake slithered closer and onto Morgana's hand, up her arm and laid himself around Morgana's neck. "I don't think I've seen a kind such as yours before," Morgana said. "I am not a usssual sssnake. I am a Viridisss Vipera," the snake replied. Morgana looked at the snake, where it was hanging in front of her, all its weight around her neck.

"And what would you have me call you?" Morgana asked softly. "Caelesss," the snake whispered. "Caeles," Morgana tasted the name, "I like it. What does it mean?" The snake made a smug noise. Morgana raised an eyebrow. "Celessstial, dweller in heaven-" he started. Morgana basically knew what he was going to say next. "-God." Morgana sniggered. "Having high thoughts of oneself are we?" she asked jokingly.

The snake made a hissing sound which Morgana could only understand as laughter. "When you always stay this close to the earth, why not exaggerate?" the snake asked. Morgana let out a joyous laughter and continued on in her conversation, not having any idea that someone might be listening in.

Ryland had been lurking around in the edge of the forest with not an actual reason in mind; he merely wanted some time off the castle's walls. When he was walking farther from the castle, he spotted a girl about to be attacked by a snake. His instincts told him to run and help, but the girl spoke and the animal calmed it's defensive pose.

Surprised by what he had just seen, he stopped and narrowed his eyes. Maybe he had mistaken the animal for simply a branch. However, even though he tried his best to think it was his mistake, he decided it was best to come closer and make sure.

To his surprise, he found the girl sitting under a tree's shadow with a giant snake around her neck and she seemed to be talking to it. Unable to believe what he was seeing, he came closer, but accidentally stepped over a small branch which snapped with the pressure of his weight.

Morgana and Caeles were ripped out of their conversation when a twig behind them broke. The snake hissed, offensive again, and Morgana got to her feet. Caeles slipped further from her neck ready to attack. Morgana turned around, spotting a guy who couldn't be much older than her. A year, two at max. And he was a Gryffindor. For a quarter of a second, Morgana figured; why stop the snake?

And then she frowned at herself. "Relax," she said to the snake, in the language the guy didn't understand, "I'll protect you." Caeles relaxed against her shoulders, once again returning to simply sharing her warmth.

Morgana returned her attention to the Gryffindor. For another brief moment, she wondered whether to be nice or not to him. She decided to simply be herself. "Hello," she said calmly, "I don't think we've met."

She knew she'd not given him the best impression, least of all to a Gryffindor, but she was fed up with feeling uncomfortable with being who she was, so she just didn't care what others meant anymore.

Auden was yet again exploring. She had to get out of her dorm room. Auden figured a walk around the forest would be nice. She spotted two people. It was Ryland and that familiar Slytherin girl. Auden decided she might as well say hi.

" Um hello Ryland and girl I don't know." Auden said hoping she didn't sound too weird. She turned towards the girl and noticed the snake. " That's a cool snake. I don't believe we've met. I'm Auden." She said.

As soon as the snake prepared to attack, Ryland brought up his wand defensively. However, soon after, the girl seemed to have spoken to once again, calming the snake. Ryland's dark eyes widened with curiosity and surprise.
"Ryland Marcotte." he introduced himself simply, "How did you do that?" he asked, pointing at the snake with his wamd, not in an aggressive way though.

Upon seeing Auden approach them, he smiled her way and turned back to the girl, ready to learn her name amd her interesting talents.

Morgana looked at the Gryffindor's wand, but she didn't feel threatened. Not that she expected a fellow student to hex her either, but still. She gave a stiff, but friendly smile when he introduced himself. And just when she was about to reply, a Ravenclaw walked over. Her tolerance for the snake and the light tone her voice had surprised Morgana a bit, though not visibly so.

Morgana gave a nod and looked between the two of them. "I'm Morgana Gaunt," she said softly, "And as for how I can do what I did... I'm a parselmouth," she said, wondering what kind of reaction she'd get from them at that. If they even knew what that meant. For all she knew, one or both of them could be muggle-born, and the language wasn't the first students were taught to know about. It was pretty much a dead language, and only a handful of people who could speak it, including herself and her father.

The girl's name was Morgana, Auden said to herself. She seemed very stiff and a bit angry, wait no, more like strong willed and didn't show her emotions. Auden's Grandfather was like that.

Auden didn't mind the snake. Her little brother Matt rescued an injured garden snake a while back and decided to keep it as a pet, so Auden was used to snakes. Auden also didn't really pay attention to her being a parselmouth.

"Nice to meet you Morgana. Are you named after King Arthur's half sister? Also it's pretty cool you're a parcelmouth." Auden said. She was babbling away and it was pretty weird for her to do that, since she only does that around people she's comfortable with.

Addie was walking on the grounds when she saw three students on the outskirts of the forest. Lips pursed, she tromped over to the in a hurry. "Students are not permitted in or near the forest." she turned her her to look at the three students before hearing a sharp 's' sound. Looking at the young Slytherin she saw a snake around her, parselmouth are we? She smirked. Her granddaughter Ella was a parselmouth and she enjoyed the sound of it."Now I want to see the three of you back at the castle immediately and 20 points from each of your Houses. Next time, it'll be more and you'll serve a detention." She watched them, not leaving til they were all gone. "Leave the snake."

"I'm sorry Professor," Ryland looked at the woman who had taught him Divination last term or so, "But the rules only indicate that we're not allowed in the forest." Glancing around, he noticed a good ten or so feet between him and the entrance to the forbidden grounds. "As you can very well see, we are nowhere inside the forest."
He made sure to show the distance between the three of them, Auden, Morgana and himself, to the woman whom he had never really liked.

Morgana shrugged at Auden's question. "I suppose so. Even though that one is actually called Morgan le Fey, I suppose Morgana is derived from it. After all, my father's name is Mordred," she said softly.

She looked up as a professor came walking over with an absolutely gleeful look. Morgana looked warily at the woman, not liking the way her eyes glinted, and then she frowned in annoyance when the woman took 20 points from Slytherin. For what? Leaning against a tree? She was about to retort when Ryland spoke up. Morgana let her mind collect itself for a second, and she knew that if she talked back to the teacher, the woman would probably hand her a detention or something, but right now, she didn't care.

"We're only sitting near the forest. We're not inside it. I made sure not to walk inside the forest because I know it's against the rules. I hope you understand that," she said, her voice soft and reasonable, but she knew that if the professor decided to be difficult, she'd be difficult. And there was probably nothing Morgana could do about that. Other than being extremely angry.

Auden watched while Morgana and Ryland explained themselves to the Professor. Auden was too scared of that woman to explain herself. There was something off about that woman, Auden thought to herself.

Selene brushed a strand of brown hair away from her face in an attempt to see her path better. It had been a while since she had been out in the forest alone and today had proven to be successful as she felt renewed. Her happiness was interrupted however when she spotted another professor and three students talking by the edge of the forest. She didn't know who this professor was, but she had an idea. From the little bits of conversation, Selene could tell the students had gotten in trouble.

Setting twigs and leaves aside, Selene pulled out her wand and quickly transformed a piece of wood into a bucket full of green slime and headed towards them.
"Is everything okay, Professor?" She addressed the woman. Her brown eyes turned to look at the kids, which she instantly recognized as Ryland, Auden and Morgana.

Morgana looked up and saw her Head of House coming towards them. When she asked the Divination professor if everything was okay, she wanted to shout that it certainly was not okay. The professor was basically misusing her powers just to see students suffer from point deductions. She couldn't understand how the headmistress could hire such a woman. Not that, during these times, there were many professors to choose between. She wanted to growl in annoyance, but she kept quiet, wondering what professor Umbridge would say and she was ready to object.