Distant Splashes and Chirping Birds PV Closed

Alma had been looking for Marcia for quite some time, wanting to show her the large tome she was clutching to her chest. Her father had sent it to her this morning, proudly announcing it to be his magnum opus. Seeing as he'd said that about his last three books about plants and their magical properties, she didn't think much of it. The tome, aptly named Malvado's Herbal Encyclopedia for Your Magical Home and Garden did look quite wonderful though, with its elaborate drawings, moving of course, that showed each herb listed in the book, growing and withering in the span of a single minute.

Alma was fascinated and she wasn't even too interested in plants. She liked being able recognising plants and their properties, whether they could heal a cold or kill someone within minutes, but mainly, she liked plants because they looked pretty. And so Alma had written her father, thanking him for the book and praising his brilliance (the men in the family enjoyed being the center of attention) before hoisting the large book up and carrying it into the Slytherin Dorm to find Marcia. Only that her friend hadn't been there. Nor had she been in the library.

After asking a few students and even a couple of professors, she finally found someone that pointed Alma into the direction of the lake. She'd been suspicious at first, recalling the girl's fear of the deep water, but then remembered that Marcia had spent her time there before on the hunt for special herbs and flowers.

So Alma made her way to the lake and, after a bit of walking down alongside the shore, found her friend sitting in the grass, weaving an intricate flower crown. Alma was immediately impressed. She never had been one with great coordination for these kinds of things. She'd nearly maim herself while cooking (she wore gloves during Potions class for a reason), she'd destroy any fabric when sewing and she'd absolutely obliterate flowers when she'd try and weave it into anything even resembling a wreath.

Alma sat down in front of Marcia, taking great care to not get the book wet, despite the protecive charms on it and simply contented herself with watching Marcia work on her little project.

The Hogwarts Grounds reminded Edric of home. The Scottish Highlands and the Welsh Highlands were kind of alike, really. High mountains, the odd forest or lake and green fields to the horizon... even the animals were familiar to him if one discounted the giant squid, the unicorns and other the rare magical creatures that were supposed to live in the Forbidden Forest.

He enjoyed walking around the lake especially since he'd never seen one this big before. They'd been at at the sea a few times, both in Britain and Germany, but salt water and sea breeze where a completel differwnt thing than he calm waters of Hogwarts' Great Lake. Harry had told hom that there were Merepeople living on the bottom of the lake, but he still wasn't sure if he'd been pulling his leg or not.

There were many students out and about today as the weather was nice for a Scottish spring, or so he'd been told my his classmates. So Edric wasn't surprised when he recognized the forms of two Slytherin girls lying beside each other on the grass as Alma and Marcia.

For a moment he debated on whether or not he should go and say hi, but in the end his want for some companionship won out over the side of him that thought he could be intruding on their meeting.

"Hey," he announced when he was close enough to get their attention and then dropped down to lie in the grass as well, enjoying the warm feeling of the sun on his face.

It had been quite a while since the blonde had gotten out of the castle. Studying kept her cooped up inside as she hadn't found a good spot on the Grounds. Her study space in the Ravenclaw dorm was untidy, though she knew where everything was. A bit of parchment, pots of ink and her quills were all shoved into her messenger bag while her books were packed away in her trunk, ready for her to grab them before heading off to classes. The special quill that Sebastian gave her was wrapped in a handkerchief and tucked away inside a separate, smaller pocket of her bag. His gift had quickly become one of her most prized possessions and she carried it everywhere, despite using her old blue quill for classes, wanting to use up all of her ink that she had stocked up on at the beginning of the year. The self-inking quill would come in handy when it was time to buy more school supplies, saving her pocket money for her Chocolate Frog cards collection.

Wandering down towards the lake, Dymphna reminisced about the time she had gone swimming with two of her friends. That had been a long time ago now, when the lake had been chilly and she had felt less beaten down by the amount of homework. Keeping busy was kind of her thing. She preferred it over being bored but it was hard to keep up with friendships with the amount of studying she was doing. Despite promising to meet at the fireplace in the Small Hall, she and Reid had hardly even seen one another. Bloom was busy elsewhere. Who even knew what Ben was up to these days? It seemed that the only person she was able to keep in frequent contact with were her family and the Hufflepuff Prefect who she had become owl pals with. 

It wasn't that she had any trouble socializing or meeting new people which is exactly what the day had in store for her as she had come across a group of Slytherin, hanging out in the grass. One of them was even making a flower crown? Dymphna liked to press flowers and herbs into her books to use for later but she wasn't that skilled. She only pretended to be, hoping that no one saw how she had messed up in Herbology a few weeks ago. "Nice weather," she commented once she had gotten closer to the group. It was such a cliche way to start but better than nothing. "I'm Dymph," the nickname rolling off her tongue easily by now.

OOC: I'm so sorry I totally forgot about it   I appologize for the delay.

She was in thoughts, letting her fingers weave the flowers for her, when she noticed a muffled bump beside her, preceded by a shy greeting. Marcia was taken off-guard by the sudden appearance of Edric, and nearly jumped when she faced Alma sitting right before her. When had she come? 

"Edric," she breashed, eyes wide opened, before she turned back to Alma. "Alma, when ... how ... hello?" Although she really tried to form a sentence, she couldn't form any sensible speech. Irritated she looked at her work in her hands and wondered, how she could get so deep into thoughts, that she hadn't noticed anyone come. How unlike of her. 

With eyes on Alma she tried again to speak. "Since when are you here?" Finally a full sentence, she thought with relieve.  She didn't get an answer yet, though, when another girl approached them. A small girl with blond hair, who Marcia never had seen before.  The blue on her robes revealed her to be a Ravenclaw. 

Marcia felt embarred that she had been surprised by the others, making her blush, so she was thankfull that the unknown girl had chosen to come to them. "Dymph, what an odd name." She immediately  pinched her eyes and shook her head when she realised what she just had said. "No, I'm sorry, I don't want to be rude. I'm Marcia. I love the weather! So much nicer than sitting all day in the groomy dungeon." She shared a shy smile and hoped, she hadn't offended Dymph when she had talked before she had thought.