Discovering New Places

As Ryland had grown tired of seeing red everywhere in his dorm, he decided it was time to take some fresh air and figure out how to move about the castle. After multiple attempts at getting from on side to the other via the multiple staircases, bridges and hallways, he realized the castle was just way too complex for him right now so he just let his feet walk him wherever they felt like taking him.

As he walked, he thought about how kind people in here where. They were nothing like the boys he'd lived with in the orphanage. His short life with his dad had summarized itself into a ten-minute long memory as he realized he did not remember much, other than the smell of his kitchen and small things that Ryland was most likely not going to remember in five years.

His thoughts had occupied most of his mind, so he felt a small wave of panic run through him as he was unable to recognize where he was. It was a forest-like type of surrounding, but it wasn't the Forest that Professor Vega talked about. Nearby, a small hut sat silently waiting for something, or so Ryland thought.
He wanted to knock inside and figure out what secrets the small hut could reveal, so he waited patiently to see if something moved inside when he was suddenly startled by the sound of leaves crunching close behind him.

Rebecca walked around the grounds, feeling bored. She was a bit tired of doing homework and decided to have a break. Her mother had told her about the grounds of Hogwarts and about some abandoned hut used by a half giant. Rebecca wanted to explore that place; it seemed very interesting. Maybe she could find a mystery!
Giggling at the thought, she found the hut just at the edge of the forest. Surprisingly, there was already another student there, outside the hut's door. Looking more closely, Rebecca saw that it was Ryland. She didn't know him well, but she had met him once on her first day. He was very nice to her.
"Hi Ryland," she said in a cheerful mood. "Exploring the grounds?"

Her gray eyes looked up at the sky as she walked, without taking notice of where she was going. Lucy loved looking up at the clouds and remember her mother. She liked to remember her smell, vanilla and baby powder. She liked to remember the color of her eyes, silver as the moonlight, and her touch, soft and playful. It seemed to have happened only yesterday when Phoenix, her mother and herself were out living in New York, with summer visits from Wade and aunt Katelynne, but she knew those times were long gone. Her mother, Andromeda, was now dead. Her father, Phoenix, was in Cheshire writing and working on some spell he'd been trying to invent. Aunt Katelynne was nowhere to be seen. But Wade was here at Hogwarts, and that brought a smile to her pink lips.

Suddenly, Lucy became aware of her surroundings and she realized it wasn't where she had begun. Scared, she looked around and found a small hut, which she had heard used to be Hagrid's back in the days, and recognized Ryland's tall frame. Brushing away some tears that had fallen from her eyes, she walked towards him and hugged him tightly, taking in the calming effect he had on her. "Hello, Ry." she said as she let go.
Upon noticing another girl, Lucy smiled at her and hugged her too. "Hi. I'm Lucy Malfoy. I work with Ryland at Honeydukes." she explained as soon as she let go. "What brings you guys to Hagrid's hut?"

Rebecca didn't hear Ryland's response as another girl walked up to him and hugged him. She felt a bit uncomfortable... Is that his girlfriend? the question started spinning in her head. She had already thought that it was Emmalynne but she didn't know. Pushing the thought away, she listened to the girl talk.
"I'm Rebecca," she answered, surprised by her shy tone. "My mum told me about the hut and that a half giant lived in it. I wanted to explore."
Then, without hesitation and with a grin on her face, Rebecca rushed forward and opened the door. If it was abandoned, nobody should be there. She looked back at Lucy and Ryland and then went inside, wanting dearly to explore.

Ryland was about to respond Rebecca when Lucy appeared and he couldn't do anything else but smile. "Hi Lucie." he said as he hugged her back almost as tightly as she had. He liked that she always greeted him with a hug, it seemed like something a sister would do. After Lucy let go, he turned to Rebecca and answered her question. "I was just trying to see if I could learn how to move around the castle, but I ended up here by mistake." he admitted to the girls. "I got lost." he smiled shyly as he looked at them, thinking they probably knew the place better than he did.

"A half giant?" he asked in surprise at Rebecca's comment. "That's impossible!" His green eyes, however, looked down as he realized how ridiculous it sounded, considering they were all magical. Noticing Rebecca walking up to the door and opening it without hesitation, he turned around and worried about something popping out and yelling at them to go away. A few seconds of worry passed before he looked at Lucy and nodded, signaling that he'd follow Rebecca.

Once inside the hut, his eyes widened in awe. "Woah." he murmured as he took in his surroundings. Everything looked dirty and unkempt, but homely and warm at the same time. It was almost as if he was intruding in someone's home. "We shouldn't be here..." he said as he stayed by the door frame, waiting for someone to leave so he could follow.

"It's abandoned," Rebecca pointed out.
She looked around. It certainly looked abandoned. In the corner she saw a massive bed, all dusty. On another side, she found a fireplace. There were a few shelves with dusty pots and pans. As she reached out to see how dusty the pots were, she accidentally dropped it on the floor. A loud CLUNK echoed around the room. Guiltily, Rebecca put the pot back in its place.
Slowly, she bent over to look at the fireplace.

Seeing as Rebecca had very at ease with being in the hut, Ryland decide to trust her and glanced over at Lucy to see what she was thinking of this situation. He smiled at her, a way of telling her he was going to follow Rebecca's lead. "Tout va bien" he said to Lucy, not realizing the probabilities of her speaking french were very slim. Either way, he was sure she had an idea of what he meant. Walking up to Rebecca, he asked to both girl's, "Why did this Hagrid leave his home?"

Rebecca noticed that the fireplace was very dusty. She started to move around the hut, seeing that everything was dusty. She started to open random cupboards, expecting to find something disgusting but instead she found dishes, plates, cutlery and cups. There were a few spiderwebs in the corners of the cupboards. Rebecca was just closing a cupboard when she heard Ryland's question.

"He died, I guess," she shrugged. "He lived here years and years ago, in the time when Tom Riddle first entered Hogwarts."

She was about to walk over to take a closer look at the bed when she felt her foot hit something and she fell flat on the ground.

"AH!" she yelled.

Rebecca had luckily shielded her face with her arms. She rolled over to see what she tripped over. It was a pot, half hidden from under the table! Grimly, she stood up, holding on to the table as her foot started to hurt. Rebecca limped over to the pot and picked it up.

"What's this doing here?" she muttered as she put it in a cupboard.

"Who's Tom Riddle?" Ryland asked as Rebecca moved over to the bed, inspecting it. However, he did not receive an answer because the girl suddenly came down to the floor. Ryland hurried to her side but he was too late and she had already gotten up by herself.

As he had not done anything to help her, he stood awkwardly in front of her, watching her put the pot away in the cupboard. "He seemed to be very disorganized."
After a few seconds, he asked her, "Are you okay, Rebecca?"

"I'm fine," answered Rebecca, trying to hide her pain. She reached down and rubbed her ankle. Looking around, she found a chair and sat down, still carefully rubbing it. Then she realized that she had left Ryland's question unanswered.

"Tom Riddle," she said, unable to explain it. "Lord Voldemort? Harry Potter? Second wizarding war?"

She realized that she was just saying random names. He's probably a muggle-born! Rebecca though. How could she put the whole story in words?

"Tom Riddle," Rebecca said again, wondering where to begin. "Well, it began a few years before the second wizarding war. Tom Riddle was the cause of the war, actually. He went to Hogwarts like any other student. When he left Hogwarts, he became... immersed in the Dark Arts and recruited an army of old school friends. They called themselves the Death Eaters. They started a campaign of terror- they killed muggles and muggle-borns for just the fun of it. Then, Tom Riddle or Voldemort, heard half of a prophecy referring to a single being with the power to destroy him. It turned out to be Harry Potter. The whole second wizarding war ended when Harry Potter killed Tom Riddle..." she hesitated. "Are you a muggle-born?"

She stood up, her ankle no longer hurt.

Sydney ran into the hut to find ryland and Rebecca already in there. "Hey guys. What goes on?" She fluffed up her hair and fixed her new belly button ring that no one knew she had

Lucy had kept silent in order to not disturb Rebecca's storytelling, but when she asked if Ryland was a muggle-born, she waited anxiously for his answer. She had never thought of that; she had never really payed attention to blood purity until now. Would their friendship change because of that? Because she was a pureblood and he wasn't? Uncle Draco would have never allowed it, but what would Phoenix, her father, say?

Her thoughts interrupted by the ungraceful arrival of Sydney Hale, Lucy turned to look at Ryland instead. She noticed the way his dark curls went off into every direction, and a slight sparkle in his green eyes, the pink tint on his cheeks. Unsure of why she was paying attention to such things, she turned to Rebecca, and noticed her appearance instead. She noticed her long, brown hair and her big, dark eyes. Rebecca had an air of security around her that was different from Lucy's own confidence and much more different than Ryland's awkwardness.

Rebecca stretched her ankle one last time and looked up. Silence washed over them. She had no idea what to say. Suddenly, she saw a blonde Ravenclaw enter the hut. Rebecca was pretty sure she met this girl once so she tried to remember her name... Shiny? Connie? Minnie? Ginny? Whitney? Then it hit her. Sydney!

The Gryffindor watched Sydney fluff her hair. To herself, Rebecca thought that Sydney was full of herself. But she decided to keep that to herself. She suddenly saw Lucy look at her. Rebecca flashed her a smile.

"So..." she said, wondering what to say. "Did you guys know that Hagrid grew a dragon in here?"

“A dragon? For real? That is so totally cool.” She saw the 2 girls eye her and wondered if there was something wrong with her. She slightly patted it back down from fluffing it up earlier. She looked at Ryland and asked, “What kind of dragon?” She had a slight fascination with the creatures. They were just so interesting and magnificent things.

"I think my mum told me it was a Norwegian Ridgeback," Rebecca answered thoughtfully. "Or was it the Common Welsh Green?"

She shrugged and looked around. She looked out of the window and saw what looked like a pumpkin patch. She grinned, imagining how many pumpkins grew there for Halloween. Rebecca then turned around and looked at everyone. Then she grinned.

"He hid his giant brother in the woods once!" Rebecca said. "He was huge!"

“A giant? Are you kidding me?” She laughed at the outrageous thought of anyone trying to hide a giant. It was almost impossible to do so. She looked at the group and saw no one was laughing with her, so she immediately stopped. “How did he do it?”

"It's no joke," Rebecca replied when Sydney laughed.

Of course it wasn't. Her mother had told her many fascinating stories about the time of Harry Potter. Rebecca loves hearing them.

"Easy," she said when the Ravenclaw asked her how. "He tied his brother deep in the forest where students wouldn't think of going. It was a bit hard because it was against the giant's will. Hagrid had only brought his brother to show everyone how harmless giants were. Anyway, then Hagrid started visiting his brother, called Grawp, and tried to teach him English. How he kept him under control, I have no idea."

She stopped, wondering how you do keep control of a giant.

Rebecca began to blur out names and phrases Ryland didn't recognize. The dark-haired boy simply shook his head and listened as Rebecca explained. "Death Eaters? Why did they choose that name?" he asked as she finished. "I'm guessing this Harry Potter is pretty famous then?" After hearing Rebecca's question, and feeling Lucy's gaze on him, he was ready to answer the girls, however another person seemed to have been interested in the small hut as he heard footsteps coming and as he turned around he realized it was the girl he'd met in the hallway.

Ryland smiled at her, but he suddenly didn't feel as comfortable enough to share his heritage. Acting as if he hadn't heard the question, he turned to Rebecca and listened to her speak. Dragons! Ryland thought. The possibility of such creatures was to be expected after his study of merpeople in his Care of Magical Creatures class, but it was still hard for him to collect all of this newly found information.

Noticing the other girl, whose name he couldn't remember yet, looking at him, he shrugged as he had no idea what to answer. "How many types of dragons are there?" he suddenly asked upon hearing Rebecca say the names of some.

At the thought of Hagrid hiding his brother, Ryland wondered why there would ever be a need to hide him, however his question was answered shortly after he thought of it as Rebecca said he was doing it to prove they weren't harmful.

Sydney thought about the types of dragons she knew of. There were to many to count. “I have no idea. There are so many different types. My favorite is the Hungarian horntail. Its feisty, like me.” She giggled and smiled.

Rebecca shrugged at Ryland's question about the Death Eaters. But she knew the next question.

"Very," she said. "He had survived the killing curse when he was a baby. Then he defeated the greatest dark wizard of all time. That makes him pretty famous."

As she was about to answer the question about dragons, she realized that Sydney already got there. She smiled, letting her talk. She probably talked too much herself. She also noticed how Ryland avoided the question about being a muggle-born. Probably doesn't want to talk about it, Rebecca though to herself. Better not bother him about it.

"I like the Chinese Fireball," she grinned, looking at Sydney. "Because fireballs are red. And red means Gryffindor!"

She did a kind of twirl.

Ryland nodded in amusement as Rebecca explained a bit more about Harry Potter. Could it be possible to avoid death? He wondered. At the sound of the other girl's name, Ryland listened, then politely asked, "I'm very sorry, but I can't remember your name. Would you mind telling me again?"
His cheeks suddenly turned pink with embarrassment and he wished he had never said anything. "I'm sorry."

"Chinese Fireball." Ryland repeated to himself, then when Rebecca twirled, he smiled. Turning to Lucy, he said. "I'm supposed to go to someone's home for vacation, and I was wondering if you and Wade would like to have me over for a few weeks? Just until Madame Torres finds a semi-permanent home for me." He was not the sort of boy to talk about his problems out loud, but he knew Lucy, nor anyone in this hut, would judge him for being an orphan.

"Her name's Sydney," Rebecca replied and smiled when Ryland blushed. "It's ok, everyone forgets names once in a while."

As the boy turned to Lucy, Rebecca turned around too, wanting to poke around some more. Maybe I'll uncover a huge mystery! she grinned again and went over to look at the bed. She bent down and looked under it. Just some dust on the ground. Sighing, Rebecca sat down on the bed, coughing from all the dust.

Sydney blushed and felt bad that he couldnt remember her name. But she smiled when Rebecca told him. It was probably just a minor slip. no biggie. "Sydney. like Becca said." She smiled and giggled slightly.

Lucy smiled as Rebecca talked, something about that girl seemed very calming despite her energy. Trying to keep up with the conversation, Lucy tied up her hair into a bun and looked around. When Ryland admitted to not remembering Sydney Hale's name, Lucy smiled a little. Maybe it would show Sydney that not everything revolved around her.

Turning to Ryland, she answered him. "Yes, that's fine with me. Phoenix will most likely agree, and I'm sure he'd love to have a Gryffindor over." she smiled and walked over to Rebecca, who seemed to be looking for a mystery. "Did you know he also owned and acromantula?" she asked her.

"Yea!" Rebecca answered, trying not to show off. "My mum told me it was bigger than a muggle car!"

She grinned and then heard Sydney giggle. She rolled her eyes. Everyone knew that Sydney was a big flirt. The boys were oblivious to that fact, but every girl knew it. She sighed and looked out the window again, seeing the pumpkin patch.