No Glass Finished

[quote]Marla Quinlan was furious. There was nothing that she'd love to do more than bang her head on a wall until she exploded with anger. She should be happy. Happy that she was away at Hogwarts from the mess that she called a family. But all she could dwell on was how they kept her magic a secret.

With nothing else to do but sulk, Marla wandered around the castle while pondering on her vengeful thoughts. She decided to use her free time to explore Hogwarts. After all, she'd only been here for two days, might as well get used to the place she'll be staying at for ten months of the year.

While walking around, Marla found a few stairs leading up the fifth floor to who knows where. And with her curiosity (and while in a magical school, who could resist?) she hopped up the steps, eager to see what would be this high in the tower. Possibly a secret room? A classroom? What if it was a cool club? But before the girl was nearly halfway up the stairs, it started to smell horrendous. That was the most simple way to put it. Like those carnivals where you ride horses and you smell the horse... Well, you get it. The stench eroded all of Marla's wild fantasies of what could be up the staircase, but that didn't mean that she was going to stop.

Eventually, the girl made it up the stairs. Out of breath, Marla leaned on her knees and caught her breath (which was much more challenging when you're trying to keep the smell of bird poop and dirty hay out of your nose), before looking at her surroundings. It was a tower filled to the brim with owls. Hay was scattered along the floors of the tower, and there were little compartments for the owls. It would be charming, really, if it didn't smell like death. Once done looking around the supposed owlery, Marla noticed a girl in the middle of the room. She had beautiful brown hair that looked soft to the touch and eyes that matched. Hesitant to speak, Marla opened her mouth and then faltered. This was her first time ever genuinely "encountering" someone at Hogwarts. For her whole life, Marla was... Not the most popular girl in school. She wasn't very good at socializing, and Hogwarts was a chance at a new start. She didn't want to mess it up.

"Um, hello." The girl eventually said, walking over to the student. "What're you doing in here...?" She asked, peering over the girl's shoulder to see a piece of parchment in her hands. What a stupid question, the only reason someone would be in this dump was if they were sending a letter... With the exception of Marla. Though, now she did wish that she brought something to write with. She really wanted to write to her uncle, tell him about how amazing Hogwarts was... But at least she'd possibly get to meet someone new. Marla waited for the tall girl's response, crossing her fingers that she would be friendly.

With her eyes scanning the perches, which were far above her, she noticed one owl, which seemed to sleep, but it was heavenly beautiful. Normally, Meenauh could say that she didn't like owls in general. But how could one find an owl with that attitude? So she decided to look for the most beautiful at least.

At the moment she made the eye contact with the owl, she heard heavy panting and noticed with the corner of her eye a girl entering the owlery. Considering the time spent on looking for a proper owl, she couldn't break the eye contact not to show disrespect to that owl and receive authorisation for using its services. 

Meenauh waited for the girl to recover from the climbing, expecting questions. Once the question was asked, Meenauh gave it a thought, hoping the pause won't be awkward, while trying not to break the eye contact with the owl. And it finally seemed to understand what it was expected to do. As the bird started to descend, Meenauh finally spoke:

"I'm sorry for the pause, but I had to finish my telepathic request to that owl. One shouldn't break eye contact with an owl when asking for something," and then she remembered the question, "Oh, and to answer your question — I need to send a letter. I doubt someone would deliberately come here for a different reason," hinting at the aromas and cleanliness of the place, "Though I can't deny the view from here is amazing."

If the hat would think twice before sorting herself to Gryffindor, Meenauh would enjoy the same view from a cosy and warm common room of bronze and blue. But no, she had only this place. Maybe only bird lovers could get to Ravenclaw and if you hesitated for a second, you were screwed.

Meenauh took an envelope out of her bag, folded the parchment to fit the envelope, put the hand back into the bag in a search of a thick string, extracted it, and firmly tied it around the letter. Once it was done, she handed it to the owl, which gave it a surprised glance and refused. Meenauh stared at the letter herself for a couple of seconds, then quickly wrote the address and handed the letter back: 

"Here you are. I don't know how you read that anyway, magic bird."

The owl grabbed the envelope, screeched and launched itself into the closest glassless window. Meenauh turned to the girl to take a better look at her: she was pale, though she could tell whether from the recent climbing or naturally; contrast red hair waved and shone like a fluorescent light in the pretty dim owlery, despite the morning sun; her eyes colour couldn't be read easily because of her hair's glare or maybe they were just reflecting the sun like gold. The girl's colours fit perfectly the house she was from — the red and gold. But her eyes were tense and striking as if with lightning. As if something really frustrated her that morning.

"And what about you?" she addressed the fellow Gryffindor, "Sending a message as well?"

[quote]Raising a brow as the stranger spoke, Marla was a bit curious on what the student meant by 'telepathic'. She'd never sent anything to an owl and wasn't exactly sure how to do it. Maybe the Gryffindor would do well by watching and learning? Even if she tried her absolute hardest though, even in the simplest of situations, Marla wouldn't (and couldn't) sit still. She'd find some way to twitch or fidget. Tap her foot, drum hands on a desk, hum... Even in an abyss of nothing, she could probably find a way to occupy herself.

"Oh, and to answer your question — I need to send a letter. I doubt someone would deliberately come here for a different reason," The girl explained. That was pretty obvious. Nobody would come to this dump with an ulterior motive... Unless they were super determined. Which probably wasn't the case. Long story short: it smelled nearly like pure hell in this room.
"Huh, I assumed that. Smells a bit like poo and old people." She stated, scrunching up her nose with a grimace.
"Though I can't deny the view from here is amazing." Marla couldn't agree more, the view was stunning. A clear view of the pine trees and the lake lightly dusted with the autumn fog... The sight could probably melt someone's eyes, as if it were too beautiful to be seen. Which, now that she thought about it, was ridiculous. Why would something be created so gorgeous just to never be seen? Not that appearance matters, but beauty is created to be seen... It would be a curse to turn something like that away from the world. No matter, it was a stupid thought. Especially because Marla could clearly see the view of the outside from the owlery. The Gryffindor jumped when she heard the crumpling of paper, so deep into her thoughts that she forgot there was another person in the room.

"Here you are. I don't know how you read that anyway, magic bird." The student said, which made Marla laugh.
"I suppose they are, huh? A magical school with magical birds. It seems very fitting." She laughed even harder, imagining a small, spotty brown owl with a wand tucked into its wing. And a witch hat. Oh, how she wished that there was a magic school for birds now. Hysterical it would be, but also quite interesting. The owl then let out a loud screech as the student launched out of the owlery, officially on its mailing mission.
"And what about you? Sending a message as well?" Marla pondered for a moment. It would seem very strange if she was up in the smelly owl tower or whatever it was called for no reason. Then again, she didn't know it would smell so horrid, or that it was an Owlery in the first place.
"I wish," Marla let out a sigh, her eyes glued to the fantastic view of the outside,"Don't really have anyone to send an owl to, though.. Or anything written. Actually, I didn't know this place existed until I just ran up those stairs, so.." An awkward, but truthful and alright explanation. At least she spilled the words out of her mouth without sounding like an idiot and stumbling on them. That would've been much worse.
"So, who was your letter to? Your parents?" She asked, despite being extremely nervous to be conversing with someone.

The girl's laughter was so bright, genuine, shimmering and illuminescent that Meenauh felt like it was brightening the surroundings more than the sun did. It was the same gold and scarlet.

The uplifting moment faded away as the girl answered the question about the reason for visiting the owlery. Not because of her unfamiliarity with the castle locations (it was not likely anyone could be familiar with the magic castle on the third day of school), but because of her empty hands. Her empty relationship matrix. Was she an orphan? Was it that she had no friends to send a note to? Suddenly, Meenauh's heart dropped on to the ground as she was listening to the girl speaking.

The red beauty's question stopped the growing sorrow inside her and Meenauh took a moment to get back into the conversation:

"Yes, my parents," she made a pause to watch whether the girl's face would give out a hint about her parental status and then continued, "A few days have passed since the sorting ceremony and they're still patiently waiting for a note from me."

Meenauh put the quill back to her bag and fully turned to the girl:

"Were you just wandering around on your own? Are you the explorer type of person?"

[quote]As the brunette mentioned her parents in response to Marla's question, her eyes glistened with a whirlwind of sadness and anger. She couldn't really call her parents, well, parents. Hell, Marla's mother left when she was one. The girl in front of her was a lucky one. When the brunette with gorgeous eyes mentioned that her parents were itching for a letter, it twisted her stomach a little. The girl seemed very nice, and Marla felt bad that she had so much envy towards her. So much, that it could drive one mad. Marla could only hope that one day, one of her parents would be the slightest bit interested in her life.

"That's quite nice. I'm not sure if my parents would like to hear from me. Might send a little something to my uncle though." She added, a smile tugging at her lips. Despite being in the worst mood ever, Marla couldn't help but crack a grin when she thought about her uncle. He was the reason she was even at Hogwarts. Who wouldn't love someone for that? Hogwarts was absolutely spectacular, and she wouldn't like to be anywhere more than there.

"Were you just wandering around on your own? Are you the explorer type of person?" The fellow Gryffindor asked.

"Well, I guess I'm an explorer. I've had not a lot to do lately and being in a ginormous magical castle for ten months, well... Who wouldn't explore this place?" She questioned, turning her head to take a peek at the view again, a look of bliss plastered to her face.
"Oh! I'm Marla by the way. And you?" She introduced, offering a hand to the seemingly nice girl.

The girl admitted that she was the explorer type indeed and rhetorically asked whether there was anyone who wouldn't want to explore the castle. And then she introduced herself.

Meenauh glanced at the girl's offered hand, which was also kind of pale and almost glittering in the sun. And she grasped the hand:

"Nice to meet you, Marla. My name is Meenauh. Like 'me' and 'now'," she answered while shaking the hand, "Based on the recent number of times I had to introduce myself during these couple of days I can clearly see my parents didn't perform any tests on how easy it would be to pronounce my name."

She sadly smiled, clearly understanding her name was never an issue because she actually didn't interact much with anyone except her parents, so the issue came up only once she found herself in the castle among other wizarding children.

"Also, I remember my mother telling me that once in a few years someone resurrects The Explorers Club, or called something like that. So I think you could ask around to find one and join," she hesitated for a moment as if thinking whether she should share any personal information, but the warming aura of the tiny sun in front of her made it clear it was safe, "I'm an explorer myself, but of a different type. More of..." she stopped and gave it a thought, "looking for answers rather than places."

[quote]The pretty Gryffindor took Marla's hand, introducing herself as Meenauh. The girl couldn't help but smile again. That name was so cool. Marla had always been very insecure about her name and jealous of others'. Names defined people. Meenauh was so out there and beautiful. Marla was.. Well... There wasn't really a lot to it. And so, that's why the young Gryffindor attempted to have a bigger personality. If the name was boring, she'd make herself interesting.
"Based on the recent number of times I had to introduce myself during these couple of days I can clearly see my parents didn't perform any tests on how easy it would be to pronounce my name." Meenauh said, snapping Marla out of her thoughts. She let out a small laugh at this, and fiddled with her hands.
"Meenauh?" She said aloud, wondering if she said it correctly, "It's not that hard to say. And its quite a pretty name too." Marla gave the brunette a smile, and noticed that there was a sadness in her eyes. She didn't want to say anything, it wasn't her business, but she couldn't help but worry.

"Also, I remember my mother telling me that once in a few years someone resurrects The Explorers Club, or called something like that. So I think you could ask around to find one and join," She had suggested, which Marla's eyes lit up to. An explorer club sounded absolutely amazing. Being able to lurk the halls with other curious minds... And she'd have an opportunity to make friends! It was a two in one.
"That sounds really cool. Maybe you could join with me. If you wanted, of course. But that sounds really cool. I mean, who wouldn't want to explore a gigantic magical castle? The possibilities are endless, really." Marla gushed about her excitement for Hogwarts with such enthusiasm that she might've been glowing. It was almost as if her hair had turned a more vibrant, cheerful red, and her eyes were now more yellow than brown.

"I'm an explorer myself, but of a different type. More of..." Meenauh paused, most likely gathering her thoughts, "looking for answers rather than places."
Meenauh did seem like one to have a thirst for knowledge. So far, Marla quite liked the girl, despite knowing her for only ten minutes or so. She was logical, and quite smart, but had a homey-ish presence.
"That's super cool. So you kind of go on quests for knowledge?"

Meenauh watched Marla giggling again and complimenting her name.

"Really?" a wondering surprise popped up in her head. She never considered her name a pretty one. A rare — yes. Well, not rare, but unique, probably. She never performed thorough tests, but she never met a single person with that name, never read about it anywhere or heard. And she tried both the muggle and wizarding ways of searching. And while there was no existing evidence of another person with the name, she considered it unique. She also believed her parents just made it up, which was quite okay from her own point of view.

Thinking about the ways of searching, Meenauh suddenly came up with an idea of creating some wizarding analogue of the muggle's Internet. That was some virtual space, which muggles mostly used to instantly converse with each other, sharing pictures of each other and, what was the most important, they searched for answers to their questions, addressing to books no longer. She made another mental note about this brilliant idea to, again, develop it in future. After all thousands of other ideas in hero mental notebook.

After the mention of The Explorer's Club, Marla's eyes lit up and she even suggested joining it together.

"Well, I'm afraid wandering around the castle would take away the precious time one could spend over reading a book or practising," she scratched the back of her head with the mention of quests for knowledge, "Maybe I could found my own exploring club. But some kind of a Reseach Club, which people would visit to discuss stuff, and study, and practice, and, well, research stuff. That's where people would go to if they'd want to find answers and other students would help them," Meenauh shivered to the bones as she was proclaiming her idea out loud. More people to help her with her own questions. And maybe more people to research the Hat issue.

[quote]As Meenauh mentioned having precious reading time being taken away, Marla felt an excited twinge in her gut. She liked to read? The young Gryffindor felt a smile tugging at her lips, and she was beaming from head to toe. She felt a bunch of questions pop into her head that she was about to bombard the poor brunette with, but restrained herself, deciding on only one question.
"Really? I absolutely love reading. What type of books d'you fancy?" She asked, hoping that Meenauh at least read some type of fiction. Marla grew up reading throughout the days of her childhood, and it definitely holds a special place in her heart. Surprisingly, she even met the son of one of her favorite authors, Marie Yorke. Marla was painting in the abandoned toilets when she met Emile Yorke and recognized the name immediately. The subject of family seemed a bit sensitive for the boy, but she was so excited to actually meet someone who was related to an author that the girl adored. Maybe Meenauh liked the author? Or at least horror books? Only time would tell.

"Maybe I could found my own exploring club. But some kind of a Reseach Club, which people would visit to discuss stuff, and study, and practice, and, well, research stuff. That's where people would go to if they'd want to find answers and other students would help them," As Meenauh explained her club more and more, Marla couldn't help but feel even more captivated by the idea of the club. Not only would it help so many people, but it looked fun too. Who wouldn't like learning about anything and everything in their free time, and using it to help others? It was an ideal transaction if you had a thirst for knowledge. Which Marla, in fact, did have one.
"That sounds amazing. If you ever do make that club, please owl me or something of the sorts. I'd love to join." She (only slightly) begged, with a small smile on her face.