Looks like I'm off to a good start! I thought I could publish the second chapter now so people could get a better look into my OC's life.
Cassia4U: Thank you for the review! I'm happy to hear that you liked the start of my story. I try to space out the paragraphs, but they don't want to stay that way when I save the document.
Just a cool every day life.
It was the end of the school day for most of the seventh year students. Many of them were on their way to the library or their common rooms to study. Other students (mainly Hufflepuffs) were going to the Quidditch arena to practice. The match with Slytherin was only a day away. Hence why they needed the practice they could get. Lily looked at the list of homework she had written down in her magical calendar. 'I need to practice my charms with Lupin, but that's not until tomorrow. I have to finish up my paper for the herbology though. Last is my essay for muggle studies' thought the female. She had decided to take muggle studies in order to qualify for more jobs. Telling an employee that you were a muggle borne in a conflicted era like this was not a smart thing. Taking muggle studies and get a good grade there was a much better (and less dangerous) option in her opinion.
The redhead decided to go to the library in order to get her homework done. James was working on the charms homework with Peter, so she decided to take a time-out for herself. The library was rather silent apart from the few coughs or whispering among those who were working there. Most of the room was well-lit apart from the restricted section at the far north end of the room. She liked this part of the castle quite a lot apart from the quietness. Large bookshelves filled the room while the air smelled faintly of parchment. It was to be expected since this was a library filled with several thousand books and documents.
Her bright green eyes looked at the book she was supposed to get. 'From oaks to orchids: a European study by Monica Bach' said her handwriting. She then walked towards the grand shelves that were in the herbology section. Many of the books were a bit old or a bit worn-down. 'There it is!' thought the girl when she saw the book she looked for. It was medium sized with a colourful cover. Her hand pulled the book out of the shelf before she went towards the study area. She found an unoccupied table and started to read her book. 'Where was I…oh. I need to choose ten orchids that are supposed to be threatened in Spain plus their reason for that' remembered Lily.
She turned up her book and scanned the different tables for information. Her eyes widened a bit. There were at least FIVE different orchid types that were threatened in just the southern regions! 'I better get cracking. The essay is due on Wednesday afterall' decided the female. A part of her felt a bit dreadful. All the NEWT classes required quite a bit of work. She had gotten fantastic results on her last exams with no grades lower than E. Which was a feat considering that her timetable consisted of charms, herbology, transfiguration, potions, defense against the dark arts, muggle studies, astronomy plus ancient runes. Her bright green eyes scanned the pages for information. It was the fifth one on her list, so the task was half done. 'The Andalucia orchid is usually found in the Malaga province. The flower is in bloom from late April to late August. It is easy to recognize due to the vibrant golden yellow hue. The Andalucia orchid tends to shine in the sunlight. Each petal has a very thin deep orange stripe, making the flower look like the sun itself. Many Spanish wizards in old times used it in antidotes for nocturnal creatures. The reason for this was that nocturnal animals hated the plant. Especially bats and olws' read the text.
"Hey Lily. Reading about your namesake?" whispered a voice. She looked up and saw James standing in front of her with a smile. "No. I'm reading about the Andalucia orchid" replied the redhead with a somewhat dry voice. She preferred to not be disturbed while working. However, the teenager found herself liking his company a bit more. He had been a bit less annoying lately. Last time the girl had checked, he had only let eight (ten if the aguamenti charm counted) younger students become the target of his mischief. "You're working on that task huh? Why did you choose that one? I think the Rioja orchid had a more interesting reason" informed the male. She raised an auburn eyebrow in surprise.
"Have you already finished your paper?" muttered Lily in slight disbelief. "Not yet. I just finished the first third until Peter needed help with his charms. I came back here to hand in a book I had borrowed. Needed some repetition of the sixth year transfiguration spells" admitted the hazel-eyed guy. He pulled up a somewhat thick book named 'Transforming and transfiguration: Foolproof advices for all levels'. "Hey! That was the book that I used too!" whispered the female. "Exactly. I thought if it was good enough for our top student, it should be good enough for me. Sirius found it a great help too" told the guy with a skinny grin. She could not believe it. Had James Potter borrowed a book to improve his spells? Spells that were not for a test, exam or course work? 'I can't believe it. Merlin…the world must be going under' thought the redhead as she shook her head. "Nice to see you Lily. Keep up the hard work. I better get back to Peter. I hope he does not spray water on Sirius or one of the girls. I'm not sure who will dislike it the most" muttered the raven-haired male. There was a sparkle in his eyes.
A small laughter escaped her mouth when she imagined the chubby boy being chased down by a mob of angry girls. "I'll keep up the work. Make sure Peter doesn't get beaten up by the girls or Sirius" replied the girl. He nodded before he disappeared behind one of the nearby shelves, leaving the library. Lily then continued with her work on the herbology paper while she mused over the orchid he had told her about. Curiosity got her, and she decided to look it up in the book. Pale fingers turned a couple pages in the search for the answer.
'Pretty sure it was…here it is' thought the female as she saw the headline that read 'Rioja'. 'The Rioja orchid is usually found near Granada. It is in bloom from early April to early October. It is easily identified by its pink petals that are golden near the stigma. The Rioja orchid is highly prized among Spanish and Portuguese witches. Flowers as well as sap from this plant are often used in perfume or dried to use as burning incense' said the text. 'Hm…maybe I should take a small break' decided the redhead. She got up from the chair as quiet as possible. The girl then stretched her body a little bit. Sitting still for so long was not good for her body. Lily went over to the window to see how Hufflepuff was doing at the Quidditch training court.
Cobalt blue eyes scanned the court. She gripped onto her bat a bit harder as she noticed a bludger that was on its way towards one of the chasers. Mathilda pulled the broom handle a bit while she stretched her right arm backwards. CLAAANG! The bat connected with the top of the bludger. Said bludger was snet straight towards the west end of the court. One of the chasers gave the female a grateful look. "Let's call it an end shall we!?" shouted the captain. He brushed some brown hair away from his face. Everyone flied down at the ground. The keeper used a spell in order to get the bludgers and the snitch back.
"Good job everyone. I think we should be prepared to face Slytherin on Saturday" told the guy with a satisfied smile. "I just hope they don't crush us" told one of the chasers. She had a grim look at her face. "They won't. We just have to do our best. That's what Hufflepuff is all about right?" told the male brunette. "YEAH!" shouted the entire team while they did a fist pump. The keeper appeared with the snitch and bludgers. "I got the tools here captain" told the guy. "Great job, thanks for getting them. Let's take a good shower and remember to get in bed early" stated the guy. Everyone nodded as they left the court after a minute. Mathilda entered the locker room with the seeker plus one of the chasers. The room was not that big since there were not so many female Quidditch players. On the other hand, it was probably cleaner than the male locker room. Not to mention that it probably smelled a bit nicer.
"I'm a bit nervous to be honest…I know that Slytherin is quite good" muttered the youngest female. "Don't worry Connie. I'm sure we'll give those snakes a run for their money" laughed the chaser. She put on a cornflower blue sweater after drying herself. The oldest female put on a golden yellow sweater before she removed the hair elastic. She did not like to wear her hair that tight unless she had to. All of the girls then left the locker room as they headed for the Hufflepuff bathroom. It was better to shower there than in the locker room since the showers there were magical. "Goldie! How was the training!?" called a voice from behind. The red-blonde hair girl turned around to see her best female friend.
"Silver! Nice to see you" replied the girl with a smile at her face. "Silver" was a nickname that she had given to her best friend Alice Henderson. They had met each other during their first year at Hogwarts and had been best friends ever since that. Both of them were Scottish (they were living near Aberdeen and Dundee respectively), had a witch mother plus a muggle father. Not to mention that they both had a brother too. But their interests were not that similar. The Hufflepuff was into games such as Quidditch or wizard chess. But her friend however preferred reading or taking photographs. Her grandparents had actually bought her a small, magic camera for her 16th birthday.
"So, are you guys ready to reduce Slytherin into canned tune?" inquired the other female. She corrected her blue and black striped tie. "I hope so…we're just going to do our best. How far did you get on your homework?" inquired the older female. "I managed to finish my divination homework. Afterwards, I started on my essay in muggle studies. When are we going to practice on our charms?" replied Alice. The duo entered the Hufflepuff common room. Since it was not in a tower, it had a somewhat cozy atmosphere. There were deep golden sofas near the fireplace while the room itself smelled faintly like cinnamon.
"I thought we could practice on them on Saturday evening. I need an hour or two to calm down after the match. But knowing you, you've probably mastered those two spells by then" laughed Mathilda. Her friend was actually one of the best in their class at charms. "I don't think so. However, I think I may be able to give you a hand if you need" replied the younger girl. "How is your brother Nicolas by the way? I heard that the Gryffindor trouble quartet managed to slime him" inquired the older female as she sat down in a sofa. "He's doing all right. One of them actually removed some of the slime. Sadly, he smelt like rotten fish for the rest of the day" said the ashy blonde girl. The teenager pulled her face. She had ran into her brother when she was on her way to the astronomy lesson. The girl noticed the smell, and asked him what was going on. Nicolas told her what had happened, which made her angry. She usually did not mind what the quartet was up to. Especially if it was not dangerous, humiliating or maybe even both. "I think I'll go to bed soon. Maybe you should go back to the Ravenclaw tower before it gets dark" told the red-blonde girl. Her friend glanced up at the magic watch. It was already 09:30 PM! "I better get back to the common room. See you tomorrow Goldie" muttered the younger female. "See you!" told her friend and followed her to the exit. Her friend smiled before she left the Hufflepuff common room.
The sky outside was quite dark plus that the lights had been dimmed a little bit. A part of her felt a bit shaky. She REALLY did not liked to be in dark rooms. 'Calm down Alice. It's just up a couple of stairs before you get there' told the Ravenclaw to herself as she tried to control her nerves. She then walked towards the Ravenclaw common room a minute later. Her heart beat at a higher rate than earlier while her nerves were tense. First up was the staircase that went to the second floor. The girl walked onto it while she held on the rail.
A sound that reminded her of two stones moving was heard when the staircase moved. 'Only two more to go then. Fingers crossed!' thought the female as she walked off the staircase. She then tried to enter the next when she noticed that it had turned away from its usual place. It went to a corridor on the south-west side instead of the south-east side. "MERLIN…!" swore Alice as she rolled her eyes. The girl was fully aware of that the staircases moved to their own accord sometimes since she was a seventh year student. But this was quite a bad timing for them to do so. She turned her head to see if there was anyone around here that could help her. Ice blue eyes looked around in the small corridor. There was nobody there. 'Great. I'm stuck. Or at least I'm stuck until someone comes around to help me' thought the ash blonde female. A sour expression formed at her face.
"Well hello there fair maiden" called a voice from behind. She spun around and saw a ghost standing behind her. "GYAAAH!" screamed the blonde in fear. 'Wait a minute…I'm at Hogwarts. Ghosts are normal' remembered the female. "Sorry for screaming at you. I'm a bit lost. You surprised me" told the Ravenclaw. Her mind tried to remember the name of the ghost who now had a thoughtful look at his face. The only thing she knew was that it was not Peeves. It was not the ghost from Gryffindor or Slytherin either. "Try to go down that set of stairs over there before you go up the ones next to the medieval monk painting. That should help you out" advised the ghost as he pointed out the stairs. "Thanks. Have a nice evening!" replied the girl with a smile. She then jogged towards the set of stairs that were right ahead of her.
The stairs did not move, so Annie went straight towards the ones next to the medieval monks. 'Thank Merlin that the ghost was there to help me out. Wonder what I would have to do if not' thought the female. Most of the professors would not be happy to show seventh-year students to their rooms at this hour. 'Wait a second…I'm almost 18 now! I could just use a spell or some transfiguration stuff that would make me fly or able to jump really far!' remembered the ash-blonde girl while doing a mental face palm.
Ice blue eyes looked up. The student realized that the stairs were not moving. The girl went further into the hallway before she reached the eagle door knocker. She positioned herself straight in front of it while preparing her mind for the riddle. "What travels around the world but stays in a corner?" inquired the bird. The Ravenclaw closed her eyes, her mind churning. "Time?" guessed the female. "No" replied the door knocker. Alice tried to think of a possible answer. 'Hm…travels the world but stays in a corner. Wait a minute' thought the female. "Can it be a stamp?" suggested the girl. "Correct" told the knocker as it opened up the door. The girl went inside and headed straight for the bathroom.