Is this spot taken? Pv Lizzie Callaghan Closed

@Henry Knight

Some would call the redhead crazy for even considering going outside on a day like January 11. Winters at Hogwarts were known to be cold, with a bit of wind to make things even colder, but that didn't seem to defer the girl. Having grown up in Dublin, she'd had her fair share of chilly winters, maybe even enough to think she was unaffected by the cold. It was highly unlikely, though, that she thought that way, considering the clothing she was wearing. Bundled up in very comfy-looking sweatpants, a hoodie, a Gryffindor scarf, and a beanie, she could be even overdressed for the weather. Who knows? Not her, obviously.

Too focused on getting to her destination, Lizzie very nearly bumped into a couple of kids before she was even out of the castle. One of those incidents nearly ended in her dropping her precious sketchbook. After that, she made a point to keep an eye out for moving obstacles, otherwise known as other students. Merlin help her if her precious fell on the ground and got dirt on it.

She caught a glance of her reflection in a window and grimaced. Her outfit looked like she'd taken a random piece of clothing from random people in her house. It didn't match at all. She'd never been good at picking outfits anyways, but this one was a whole new level of not-matching. Oh well. It was too late for her to go back to her dorm and change. With a sigh, she looked away and forced herself to continue on. The walk from the Gryffindor tower to the grounds always seemed impossibly long, even though it really wasn't, it was just alot of stairs.

Finally, she made it out. It felt like it had been ages since she'd left the common room. That, or she was feeling extra dramatic that day because she had a mismatching outfit and still had homework to do. She just felt off that day. That feeling only worsened when she approached her favorite place to sit, only to find someone already there.

A boy, about her age, wearing muggle clothes with a violin raised to his shoulder, stood under her tree. Although he was sorta facing in her direction, he had not reacted to her presence yet, so Lizzie could only assume he was too lost in his music to notice her. The music he was playing sounded really nice, and she was stuck between interrupting him and letting him finish the piece he was playing.

She stood there, just listening for a few seconds, but in the end, she spoke. "Hi! You're really good at violin." She didn't feel like attacking him for taking her spot just yet. Maybe he would just continue to play and she could just sit on the other side of the tree and draw. Or they would talk and she could make a new friend, that is if she could hold herself back from throwing shade about how he was at her spot.

outfit, sketchbook

@Henry Knight

Lizzie watched as the boy's eyes snapped open and he took the violin off of his shoulder. She couldn't help but notice that he had really pretty eyes, both irises a distinct blue-grey. There was no way she wouldn't have noticed eventually, as he suddenly froze, and stared at her, unspeaking. Panicked thoughts took over her mind. Was he upset? Was she the one who killed him in his past life? If reincarnation even existed? Did he recognize her from somewhere? Did she have something on her face? She hoped she hadn't scared him in any way. Back when she went to muggle school, her friends had told her that she'd intimidated them with how much she talked. Hopefully, that wasn't the case with this guy.

She opened her mouth to apologize for interrupting him, but quickly shut it as she noticed him taking a couple of breaths. Was he going to say something?

Yes. Yes, he was, she found out mere seconds later. Taken aback by his words, Lizzie violently shook her head. "No, no, it's fine, you don't need to move, I, uh..." she trailed off, not really wanting to tell him that he was indeed in her spot, after how he'd reacted. She felt even worse about interrupting him now, but he seemed to not mind too much, or at least that's what his second statement told her.

"Nice to meet you Henry," she started with a small smile. "I'm Lizzie, first year Gryffindor. What house are you in?" As she finished talking, she stood there for an awkward second before sitting down next to him, putting her sketchbook gently on the ground beside her. "Sorry for disturbing you, also," she added, feeling like the statement was empty without an excuse, but not having an excuse to give.

@Henry Knight

To be honest, although Lizzie had heard the stereotype that Slytherins were "evil" and "mean", she never really believed it. The thing was, how could she possibly believe a whole house of kids were evil? They're kids, just like her! And if they were mean towards other students, she couldn't really blame them, considering how their house is stereotyped and how they're almost expected to act as their stereotype portrays them to be. She also didn't understand what was "evil" about being ambitious. Her understanding of the word was that it meant they had goals, and they wanted to reach them. It was like Gryffindor's trait of being determined, but more specific. Wow, she'd really turned a simple statement into an entire rant. Who knew she'd have such strong feelings about the Slytherin stereotype.

Since she was having her first conversation with Henry, she didn't want to scare him away with how passionately she could rant about random topics and opted to stay quiet, in hopes he'd change the topic and she wouldn't end up ranting to him about stereotypes. A couple of minutes of silence passed, and Lizzie's self-control was reaching its limits. Then finally, Henry spoke. An audible sigh of relief passed through Lizzie's mouth. Thank Merlin.

"Oh, uh, this is actually my sketchbook. I was gonna see if I could get a decent sketch of the castle," she answered and hesitantly picked the object in question up. She was a little shy about showing others her work, especially since recently she'd been practicing drawing people and discovered she was not good at it. Practice makes perfect, right? Glancing over at Henry, she noticed he was rather awkwardly holding his violin, almost as if he wanted to play, but didn't at the same time. Maybe he could play while she drew, if he was comfortable with that, of course. She always thought it was relaxing to listen to music while she did anything.

As she opened to a blank page in her sketchbook, she said, "I'm gonna start sketching now, I'm not sure how good I am at holding a conversation while I'm working, so if I stop responding to you..." she trailed off with a small laugh and pulled a pencil out of her pocket. If he didn't mind playing while she was there, it would give him the chance to play, and if not, she would figure out if she could talk and work at the same time.

@Henry Knight

Lizzie absentmindedly nodded as she started to sketch out the basic shapes of the castle. She sorta knew that someone was talking, but she didn't realize they were talking to her. The second time Henry spoke, her brain still didn't quite process what was being said to her and that a response was needed. She figured the Slytherin was either talking to himself or another student. Her brain apparently was still not registering the words.

The third time he spoke, though, she actually comprehended what was being said. Alarmed that he might've been trying to talk to her all those other times he'd spoken, she abruptly looked up from her drawing, and at Henry. "Sorry, apparently I cannot draw and understand what's going on around me," she bashfully apologized. "The music's really relaxing actually, I think it's making me feel more creative than I usually do." she added with a laugh and a smile. To be honest, she had sorta tuned out the music, but it was nice having background noise so it wasn't completely silent.

As the boy brought his violin back up to his shoulder and started playing again, Lizzie actually listened to what he was playing. An unfamiliar but pretty melody reached her ears, and as she went back to her drawing, she made a point to keep listening and not tune it out.