An Encounter with a Few

Today was supposed to have been a slightly chilly, average day with an overcast sky and a slight breeze.  Instead, it was pouring outside with dark, angry thunderclouds hovering over the castle.  Now and then, a streak of orange lightning would snap down like a whip from the celestial dome above, striking randomly but never coming close to the castle.  At least the charms on the castle were working fine.  Orange lightning was the second most dangerous lightning and hottest after purple, with each bolt being 500,000 times hotter than the surface of the sun.  Or at least that was what Cassandra believed, if her memory favored her to remember correctly.  She turned to go back inside, knowing that she was probably breaking a few rules when a part of her tugged at her and told her to stay put.  

So Cassandra stayed there, thinking about what had happened to her over the last few days.  First thing's first, a student blood status check.  There were mostly muggle-borns in the castle so far by her count, unfortunate really but she supposed that was to be expected due to the lack of generational wizards and witches being born.  Next, a classes check.  She'd been to no classes so far, so that was out.  After that another check except this time fo-?

Something caught her eye at the far end of the bridge.  A girl soaked from head to toe was dragging something very large and heavy behind her.  Now who on earth would be out in this weather and what was that object?  Cassandra had half a mind to find out.

This thread is open to Morgan Gaunt, as well as possibly Maya Winchester and anyone else who'd like to join.

Morgana had no idea what on earth she was doing, but she was certainly dragging something heavy behind her. She sighed. Why on earth had she gotten herself into this predicament? Oh right, professor Henley had found it okay to tell Morgana to get the bag outside and pull it inside, a part of her detention, probably. She sighed, and pulled once more on the large bag she was holding. She was sure it had to be dead plants in it, but she didn't really feel like checking.

She reached the Stone Bridge, and she saw a silhouette of a girl. Judging by height and body-build it would be a first year or a second year. But when Morgana got closer, she quickly saw that it was a first year. A blonde one she had never seen before. Gryffindor as well, obviously. She looked on as the girl watched her, obviously curious about the sack she was pulling. Morgana raised an eyebrow, putting on a pleasant, but obviously fake smile.

"Mind getting out of my way?" she asked monotonously.

Maya liked to venture outside daily and today was no different. As she approached a nearby window she moaned at the weather she was greeted with. She jumped as a wave of roaring thunder clapped loudly overhead. Maya hated thunder and lightning with a passion and was instantly brought to the memories of when she used to hide in her brother's bed, feeling protected wrapped under his sheets. Telling herself to buck up and be more independent she determinedly set off through the grounds. Realising a heavy downpour was on its way she took the less scenic route of the stone bridge and it appeared as if she wasn't the only one.

Blocking her path were two students. Her eyes rested on the younger one, roughly her age, Maya guessed and the other one she only recognised when she was a few feet away. Maya registered her wet appearance and thought it odd that Morgana was carrying a heavy looking bag. What student would volunteer to go out in that rain, Maya silently questioned.

"Need a hand?" Maya asked cocking an eyebrow, making her presence known. Trying not to laugh at the state Morgana appeared to be in. She looked disheveled and unimpressed with her surroundings, then adding her soaked features into the mix she definitely looked not be trifled with today. She stood silently, glaring at the Gryffindor. Maya thought that if it was here, she would have moved a long time ago.

Cassandra glared back at the older girl.  Obviously by the way she walked and talked she was Slytherin.  Those stuck up rich people with all their vaults full of Galleons.  Cassandra wasn't exactly poor herself, but that didn't matter right now.  She tilted her head and smiled at the girl, about to reply, when another girl came up behind the first one.  Why were there so many people outside today?  And in this weather?  Obviously the newcomer knew the older girl, so they were both probably Slytherins.  Hmph.  At least Slytherin had mostly purebloods... that was the only good thing about those backstabbing snakes.  She smiled at both of them.

"Hi.  My name is Cassandra, and sure, of cruse I'll move out of your way, I'm sorry." What did she think Cassandra was going to do, jinx her and steal her lunch money?  Noticing for the first time that the object she was dragging was a bag filled with some sort of plant, she assumed that the girl had detention with the Herbology professor and that this was her task she'd been sent to do.  ALthough why the other Slytherin girl was here was a mystery.

Morgana instantly recognized the voice coming from behind her. "Maya," she said, calmly, a bit more pleasantly, but she wasn't in a very good mood, and not even a friend could help her at that moment. "It's all right. It's not as heavy as it looks. But thanks nonetheless," she said calmly.

The Gryffindor in front of her said she'd move and was rather friendly in her tone, but Morgana could easily tell that the girl was anything but pleased. What had she expected? Their houses weren't directly friendly at one another. But Morgana felt a gut-feeling drive her to sigh. "Thanks," she said morbidly, though she was trying to be a bit less cranky.

She pushed herself past the girl and stopped, looking back at them. "What are you guys doing here anyway?" she asked, her curiosity getting the best of her, "And as for you-" she said, looking at the Gryffindor "-my name is Morgana Gaunt."

"Hey Morgana," Maya replied in greeting, noting her seemingly forced calm expression. Threading carefully, she replied lightly. "No bother, you just looked to be struggling." Maya made no move to help the girl though.

Maya watched the tense exchange between the two girls and wondered if they knew one another.

Her question was answered when Morgana suddenly turned on her heel and introduced herself.
Maya shrugged, not wanting to give an excuse. She could walk where she wanted and she was bored, she didn't need an excuse. "I'm Maya by the way," she directed at the Gryffindor. "What are you doing her, if you don't mind me asking?" She questioned the girl, eyeing up her heavy luggage.

Cassandra watched the older Slytherin, Morgana was it?, pause, and wondered if Morgana would answer Maya's question, or ignore it. She herself could probably answer that for Morgana, but Cassandra knew that if a Slytherin didn't want to do something, there was a very little chance you could force them to do it.

Cassandra smiled at Morgana and tilted her head.  "I'm here to study the weather, the stars, and such.  The lightning is very rare actually.  Orange, not white.  Very interesting.  I hope we get purple soon."  Cassandra knew that she was talking about something that they probably weren't interested in and wouldn't have any use for, but the subject of weather probably wasn't a very tense one.  

"May I ask, for a more specific reason why you are here?" she directed this question towards Maya, and then added, "I'm naturally curious about everything."  she smiled slightly, but her eyes bored holes into Maya, staring at her, head slightly tilted.

Morgana shrugged at Maya. "Detention, really," she said calmly, "Professor Henley has set me off to throw away some dead plants." She gave the bag a slight tug, wrapping it up tighter so the rain wouldn't pour into the sack; she didn't need it to get heavier, even though it was fairly light. She then looked back at Cassandra as the girl started talking.

Lightning, huh? she thought to herself. She didn't know much about the weather, but she had heard stories about lightning from other people, speaking of orange and purple lightning. She hadn't found it interesting, but she remembered stuff like that easily. And she supposed that, seeing the orange lightning now, it was rather fascinating after all. "I see," she said, "Well, I'd rather not be struck by it, but I can see that there is no danger of that here. I suppose the protection spells that have been cast around Hogwarts had to hold protection against the weather as well. No wonder really." She had read a lot about how Hogwarts was protected, so she pretty much already knew all this, but she supposed it might be interesting to others if they didn't know.

She then looked back at Maya as Cassandra asked the Slytherin a question that Morgana hadn't gotten the answer of. Not that she cared a lot. After all, boredom was a known phenomenon to most people. Not to mention the fact that people liked to stand out in the rain.

Maya stared at the girl, slightly gaping when she had rambled on about the weather. Maya had never been interested in lightning, she avoided it at all costs. She thought Cassandra was being slightly overenthustiastic about the weather, but as she glanced up at the thunderous sky she supposed that it held some attraction. "Why, what do the different colours mean?" Maya couldn't help inquire, she had always thought that lightning was just lightning.

Maya sighed frustrated, that was the second time she was asked what she was doing here. Could she not just go for a walk without being questioned on the motivation, she thought angrily.

Trying not to vent her anger on the inquisitive Gryffindor she replied sarcastically. "I felt like a walk in the beautiful weather." As she said this another loud clap of thunder roared up ahead and Maya jumped in fright. Attempting to cover how scared she was, she continued on in an overly light hearted manner. "See? Hard to resist."

"And what did you get that for, this time?" Maya questioned, smirking slightly. Morgana seemed to attract trouble, she recalled that recently she had lost 20 house points due to being too close to the forbidden forest. Although, in fairness to her it sounded as if she didn't deserve that.

At least they were safe in here, she thought comfortingly to herself as another bolt of orange light appeared in response to Morgana's explanation. She visibly relaxed, as there clearly wasn't as much to fear as she had first anticipated. She should really do some research of her own she thought moodily to herself. She wasn't keen on other people informing her of information she should already be aware of.

Cassandra smiled at Maya.  "Well, since the lightning is orange, it means that when it strikes, each bolt is about 500,000 times hotter than the surface of the sun.  With purple lightning, it means that each bolt at it's hottest point when it strikes down is about 4 times that heat.  Purple lightning is created because some atoms will make colors when excited. In gas excitations it is specific atoms, present as a vapor or a gas, which have their electrons raised into higher energy levels by a variety of excitations; light is then emitted when the excess energy is released as photons. This is in contrast to incandescence which can occur when any substance is heated. Examples include electrical excitations as in arcs, sparks, lightning, neon tubes, and sodium and mercury-vapor lamps; chemical excitation as in the chemists' flame test for sodium and a few other elements (also utilized in pyrotechnic devices); and high-energy particles as in the northern and southern auroral displays.  THis includes Aurora Borealis, and lightning.  Particularly, purple lightning appears when it is very hot and charged, and it is very rare.  Today we're seeing orange lightning, which is very beautiful and very dangerous."

Cassandra giggled to herself.  She'd sort of been rambling before, and now...well, she was already fairly certain that Maya wasn't interested in lightning and was only trying to be polite.  Morgana might be, however, as Cassandra had caught a glimpse or some true interest in the subject, not at first, but a little later.  Frowning and remembering Maya's jump just now, she realized that the girl was probably afraid of thunder and lightning, and wondered even more now why she was outside now, during a storm.

Morgana looked bored, like she wanted to get inside before she got any more wet, and Cassandra didn't blame her.  She probably already knew everything about lightning and Hogwarts and all the charms and glamours that were cast upon the castle.  After all, she was a Second Year and probably had read several books on the subjects for class or something like that.  And Morgana probably didn't want to stay here and chitchat about how she had gotten her detention with Maya either.  Cassandra winced when she remembered how Maya had smirked.  The girls obviously had a history between them.

Morgana looked at Maya when the girl asked what the colors meant. Morgana knew much about lightning, but she didn't feel interested enough to learn as much about it as Cassandra obviously had. She listened to what the girl said, though, and placed it in a corner of her mind, from where she could drag it forth if she needed it. One could never know when information on lightning might just be relevant.

Morgana noticed how Maya jumped at another bolt and wondered what it would be like to feel afraid of something as simple as the weather. She envied people their emotions, she remembered that she'd have more of them when she was a first year and younger. Now... Everything changed about her. She looked back up at the sky, wondering if she could harness the electricity of a purple lightning and use it for magical purposes. Her father would know that. Might be she should send him an owl.

She sighed. "Really, detention isn't so bad. I saw a very special plant during a detention. It was most interesting." She remembered how beautiful the plant had been. But even so, she probably should keep the detentions low. She then frowned. "But this isn't really a detention. It's just me doing work for the professor. Which is basically the same as a detention, just for no reason other than being on the wrong place at the wrong time. She simply saw me and asked me to do her a favor," she said with a shrug, "Only the concept is the same as a detention: do something for the professor."

When Cassandra smiled eagerly at her, Maya knew that she had a fascination with lightning. She stood there politely taking in the information, glancing at Morgana at one stage seeing if she was bored. By the end of the Gryffindor's incessant rambling Maya's mouth was slightly gaping. "Wow, you sure know your stuff." Was all she managed to say. "Where did you learn all that?" Maya presumed a book, but it was quite impressive that she could recite it all without pausing. Although, her head didn't need to be filled with more scary information on lighting, she thought, aghast.

She stared defiantly at Cassandra, as she noticed her jump, until she looked away. She didn't want anyone questioning her on her fear of thunder and lightning.

"Really? That's cool." Maya commented, she had started to become interested in plants ever since her first Herbology lesson where she found out that they could do more than just look pretty. "Do you take Herbology?" She inquired, wondering why the professor even wanted her help. Extra credit maybe? Hardly, Morgana didn't really seem the type to suck up to professors.

Obviously Morgana took Herbology, if she was doing detention work for the Herbology professor after going to detention for something that probably happened during a class. Cassandra supposed that Professor Henley was it? could have caught her in the corridors doing something, but that was unlikely. Remembering Maya's question about where she had learned about lightning, Cassandra responded eagerly. She was glad that the other girl wasn't annoyed at her confusing rambling.

"Well, I learned a little bit from a lecture about Natural Disasters when I was younger, but mostly from research. I had to do a report on Lightning and Thunderstorms when I was seven. I still remember some stuff." she smiled at Morgana and Maya.

Then strangely Cassandra noticed Maya staring at her like, oh, you wanna piece of me? and Cassandra was like, um, what's your problem? That was a sudden personality-mood switch and she was really confused. Realizing that the girl probably thought Cassandra was going to comment upon her fear of storms and thunder, Cassandra didn't quite know what to do. If she said not to worry, everyone was afraid of soemthing. But that would be pretty much like blurting out Maya's fear to the world, which currently consisted of three people. Morgana might already know though...