Meeting New People (Lucas)

Amelie had only been at Beauxbatons for a couple of days, but already she had fallen in love with the beautiful palace and the grounds surrounding it. That wasn't to say she hadn't been getting lost constantly, because she had. She'd been spending all of her free time exploring the place and today was no exception. After breakfast, she went out to the grounds to find it was surprisingly warm for September. She'd thought summer had passed, but today the sun was shining and the air suddenly more humid. She walked along the pathway, followed closely by her little kitten Cecille, passed the gardens which she had discovered yesterday, until she came to a cool fountain. Maybe she should stop here, since she'd got an interesting-looking book from the library the day before, and it was a nice place to sit in the sunshine and read.

After taking a seat on the side of the fountain, she glanced down to examine the words on a little plaque thing. The Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel Fountain. It didn't ring a bell. She was almost certain that her sister had never mentioned this fountain before, and she had never heard of the people on the plaque, who it was named after. She would have to research them later in the library. She liked the library a lot. Once she'd finished exploring the palace and the grounds, she could see herself spending a lot more time in there. She'd been quite impressed by the huge variety of books in there. Would it be possible to read every single one of those thousands of books before she graduated? Probably not, but it was definitely worth a try.

She took the book out from her bag. It was about a futuristic dystopian society and it looked really cool. So cool she was really, really desperate to read it. But Cecille was wanting her attention, climbing all over her and trying to be noticed, so Amelie ended up putting the book away to play with her kitten. Her little baby, more like. Cecille was becoming quite spoiled, perhaps she should be less like she was with the creature. The kitten had managed to climb up to her head when she decided to leap off. But what the girl hadn't realised was that someone else was here by the fountain, and her cat was going to land on him.

Lucas has found it to be heaven here so far. No one had picked on him. At least not yet but he knew that if he gave it time they would. He was free here though. This place was vast and it was amazing and beautiful beyond his wildest imagination. A castle? He was in awe. He never thought that he'd ever be staying in a castle. It saddened him that he would have to go back to the orphanage when the school wasn't open. He cringed at the thought.

Wandering around he stepped outside to a beautiful garden. Was there nothing about this place that wasn't wondrous? He climbed stairs to tops of the walls and looked out at the area beyond the grounds. It was like he was living in a fairy tale. Walking back down he made his way to another garden where there was a fountain. Looking at it's beauty he sat down on the pools edge.

Not knowing that someone else was there he started to hum to himself a little tune that he had heard one day when he was walking through his hometown. He loved music and well to be honest he loved a lot of things but a lot of things didn't love him back. People being the main subject of that. He had no idea why people were mean to him. Sure he didn't stand up to himself but he was scared to. Afraid that if he did that he would be beat worse then he already was.

Sitting there he absentmindedly ran his hands through the water of the pool; feeling the coolness of the water as his fingers made tracks in it. He was broken out of his thoughts by something hitting him in the head. Thinking that it had started; the bullying; he jerked up and started pleading. "P-please s-stop" he pleaded before realizing the thing that had hit him was a cat and that the person who owned the cat was sitting on the other site of the fountain looking at him like he was an idiot.

As soon as she heard someone shout behind her, she turned around with a gasp. "Cecille, stop it!" she cried, but to no success. That silly cat. Adorable and precious, but silly. Cecille was only playing, of course, but to anyone else it might look like she was viciously attacking the boy sitting there. Hopefully the kitten couldn't hurt him - her claws weren't sharp and she was only a little baby. Hopefully a harmless little baby. Amelie wasn't sure what to do, but after half a second her reflexes kicked in and she lunged forward to try and grab the cat. It took a lot of time and effort - Cecille seemed to have found a great nesting place on the innocent boy's head - but eventually she managed to grab her and pull her away, onto her lap. "Bad baby," she scolded her, scowling. While deep down she knew that this wasn't going to help the kitten behave better in the slightest, when she talked in the usual affectionate tone, she felt as though it was necessary to tell her off in front of the poor boy.

Oh yes, the poor boy. She'd almost forgotten about him. "I'm sorry," she sighed, as she remembered the odd reaction she'd received from him. "Are you allergic to cats or something?" Of course, in her innocent, animal-loving mind, Amelie could never imagine that maybe his distress was caused by something else, like him being afraid or anything. That would be quite frankly ridiculous.

"I'm Amelie," she beamed. Clearly she'd got off on the wrong foot with him after her cat had jumped on his head, but she wanted to move on from that, make a good second impression. "I'm a first year, are you?" She didn't recognise him, unless perhaps she'd seen him in the corridors a couple of times, so she had no idea whether he was older than her or not. For all she knew, he could be a really short seventh year. Feeling Cecille wriggle under her hold, she turned down to look at the cat, stroking her fur gently in the hope that she'd calm down and not freak out this boy even more. Luckily enough, the creature fell asleep curled up in her lap. All of this exciting adventure must have been very tiring, Amelie supposed.

Lucas had no idea of what to make of the girl and the cat who now was acting completely harmless and he was sure the cat was. It wasn't very big and he figured that it wanted to just play but it scared him to death for a second. He hated that he was so jumpy but people had made him that way and he wasn't sure if that would ever change.

Standing off he dried his hand on his shirt and scratched his head. "N-no I'm n-not actually. Your c-cat ju-just s-scared me a b-bit." he managed to get out. He probably sounded like an idiot but he couldn't help it. People made him that way.

He watched the cat closely as it curled up and fell asleep on the girl. "M-My n-name is Lu-Lucas and y-yes I am a f-first year. W-what a-are you d-doing h-here" he asked as he stood there staring down at his feet.

Amelie smiled sympathetically. "Yes, I imagine it must have been a big shock," she said earnestly. "But honestly, she meant no harm - she's just very playful and excitable." The kitten changed a lot. Looking at her now, fast asleep, she looked angelic, like the most peaceful and gentle cat in the world. But when she was awake, it was a totally different story. It didn't matter. Amelie was sure she could train her to behave a little better. After all, she was only a kitten, there was plenty of time, and she didn't need to rush anything. Right now she was happy with Cecille just being her best friend. Because although people could be mean or horrible or whatever, Cecille would always have her back.

Aha! He was a first-year, indeed. "Very nice to meet you, Lucas!" she grinned. "So maybe we could be friends? I mean, since we're both new, and alone. I only have one friend so far. But he's a bit weird. I mean, he communicates through a puppet." Not that she didn't like Fabien, he was great. It only sunk in then that Beauxbatons had changed her a lot already. Suddenly she was much more forward and confident, less shy and willing to approach new people straight away. Or apologise profoundly for her cat misbehaving. "Why am I here?" she repeated, a little confused. "I guess... I was exploring. And I wanted to see what the plaque said. Now I know, but I suppose I just like the fountain. I was trying to read - it didn't work."

This girl seemed harmless but Lucas had learned long ago that it didn't mean anything. There were plenty of people out there who seemed nice but you couldn't judge a book by its cover anymore than you could trust a bear to not maul you to death. The prospect of making a new friend really was enticing though and he honestly had nothing to lose. What was the worst that could happen? It wasn't like there was anything new anyone could do to him that would surprise him.

He figured he might as well jump off the cliff now then later. "N-nice to m-meet you as w-well" he said shyly. He never was good at meeting new people even though he would like to. Lucas was a gentle person and was pretty awesome once you got to know him but no one ever let him get that far. He listened to the girl and looked at the fountain that she was talking about. "It's a b-beautiful p-place isn't i-it?" he asked her as she finished talking.

The boy's stammer was something she'd never come across before, other than in a book. But if she remembered correctly, a lot of people had a stammer if they were anxious, or not accustomed to being around people, or had been through emotional trauma. Amelie hoped that it wasn't her fault, and he was nervous because of her. Maybe it was the trauma of the cat jumping on his head, but she really didn't want to come across as scary or mean to people, potential friends, and that could be the case here. She smiled, trying to seem reassuring and friendly. Because she wanted to be his friend.

"Yeah, really amazing," she agreed, nodding her head. She lived in the countryside, miles away from here, and while when she'd first moved there, she'd thought the scenery was incredible, it had nothing on this place. Along with the beautiful sparkly castle, this place had acres of grounds, with pretty fountains and gardens and all the rest of it. "I think the grounds are the best part," she added. "Especially when it starts to get dark. Like, at sunset." She'd looked out of her window at sunset on the second day of school, and the beautiful view had been bewildering. "So how's school been for you so far? Classes and stuff?"

Lucas listening to the girl as he wiped the seat and sat down again. This time he kpt everything in his sight; including the cat. He was glad that she liked the place just as much as he did. The way she sounded made it seem like she wouldn't be a bad person.

"I l-like the s-sunset a-and the s-stars at n-night" he said and he cleared his throat. Lucas thought about her next comment for a few seconds before answering. "I g-guess they have b-been ok. I haven't r-really t-talked to anyone. I t-tend to s-stay a-away from p-people. I-it's usually the b-best for m-me" he said sadly.