flowers in the courtyard

Lena wanted to go for a jog after she ate her secret brunch, so she did. The air was crisp, which made the Uchitel feel a little better than absolutely, terrible annoyed. She always felt like that nowadays when she wasn't eating candy or in class reciting facts out of a textbook.

Wearing a pair of shorts - the first pair she had worn since the summer - and a t-shirt displaying one of her old favourites: Mumford & Sons. As she ran on the pavement, she swore she saw a familiar head of hair as she jogged by. She took a couple of steps back and paused to investigate the face. Yes indeed. That was definitely her.

"Yo!" she chuckled, standing next to her friend. She then looked up dreamily at the sky, "good day, huh?"

Lena nodded in assent and flopped down on the grass beside the other girl. "It is wonderfully, wonderfully teh-rific!" the Uchitel agreed, her face relaxed in a euphoric sigh. Merlin, everything seemed fluffy lately.

"I'm just peachy!" she announced, chuckling. She then fell on the ground, stuck in a fit of laughter.

"Of course I'm in a wonderful mood!" Lena exclaimed, sighing euphorically once more, "I mean... look at this day! It's beautiful!" She stared at the flowers, partly to prove her point, and partly just so she could pick a variegate tulip and placed it gently on Anya's head.

"History of Magic!" she exclaimed, a little too high pitched even for her, "I mean... it's such an exciting subject! History is amazing!"

"I like tulips," Lena sighed, watching her friend place it in her hair. She looked at it again, and her smile grew even wider. "This tulip," she muttered, "means that you have beautiful eyes..." She looked up at her friend, tilting her head to observe her eyes. "Yeah. You do have nice eyes."

Lena rolled her eyes. "Of course it is!" she proclaimed, almost singing, "it's a wonderful subject! So much art an love!"

"I don't like you, Anya," Lena groaned, rolling her eyes, "I love you." And it was true. She was one of the only two people in the world that she truly loved. Sure, she loved Alex, and Patricia... but the fear of them changing to monsters was always imminent, always possible. With Anya, it was different. Sure, her family was overbearing, but she wasn't influenced by them. Merlin hope it'll stay that way.

"It's just that... the Professor's cool," she began, her enthusiasm finally falling because that was a lie, "aaand..." She took a deep breath, and leaned into Anya's ear, "for the first time since ever, I got to talk to him again." She quickly backed out, and rested her head comfortably on her friend's shoulders. "I admit it: I miss him."

Lena laughed. "Noooo..." she chuckled, "where did you get that idea from?" She remembered that Eva was clueless about it as well, and began explaining to her the same way she did. "It was one of my brother's favourites, but I got hooked too," she explained.

Essie was frustrated that she couldn't find out the information about Nearly Headless Nick which she needed to complete her assigment, she had gone up to the library but the librarian said all copies on his history had been taken out, so she decided she would try and find a Gryffindor to ask, surely they would know

As she walked out into the Clock Tower Courtyard she saw two older students sitting on the grass having a conversation, they didn't have their house robes on so she wasn't sure what house they were in. Essie then walked up to them

"Um hello, sorry to interupt you but I was wondering are either of you in Gryffindor by any chance" Essie asked despartely hoping they were

Lena felt an arm being slung around her shoulders, and she responded with slinging her right arm around Anya's. "I'm sure I'll never forget, because I do love you," she grinned, agreeing with her best friend, who she saw every day.

When Lena saw Anya jump up and own with excitement, she decided to let all of her elation go by screaming up and down with her, tears rushing out of her face. "Do you have any idea how happy I am about this?" she gasped, trying to talk as she cried. Her happiness was great, and it was overpowering everything else. She wipe her tears from her face as they stopped, but she still couldn't help but sniffle. "No need to apologize," she nodded.

"No offense," Lena sighed, her eyes still puffy from the crying, "but you have a crappy family. But what should I know? I have a crappy family too!"

Lena then turned to the young first year. "No, and I'm not in the Gryffindor equivalent either," she replied, "but like she said, I might be able to help you. What do you need help in, huh?"

Essie was kind of disappointed that the girls were from Durmstrang, which meant they probably wouldn't know. But one of them said she might, Essie knew it was a long shot but it was worth a try

"Well what I need to know is when the Gryffindor Ghost Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington died" Essie said quickly pulling out her notepad just in case the girl knew the answer

Lena snorted. "Oh puh-lease," she laughed, rolling her eyes with a huge grin on her face, "I'm pretty ah-mae-zing too, y'know." She chuckled lightly, the huge grin never fading from her face.

"I-I know!" she grinned, and she hummed quietly as quietly as she could as Anya whispered in her ear, "I have no idea how happy I am for myself, as selfish as it may sound." She continued to hold her best friend tightly, feeling as if she'd never let go.

Too soon, though, Anya did let go, and Lena wondered why. She then listened to Anya go on about how she was going to celebrate the event, and Lena smiled, chuckling a little. "I suggest you don't do it in our dorm just in case you break anything," she remarked, "why can't we celebrate by decorating the school with flowers or throwing confetti on people instead?"

Lena nodded when she listened to Anya's speech. Lena's family weren't crappy in the matter of their beliefs - they had given up pureblood supremacy long ago - but it was the fact that they never seem to be there for their children and if their children had an advantage that they do not have, like Lena's illusioning abilities, they tend to throw them under the bus. "I'm going to love my children no matter what they are: pretty, annoying, ugly, freaky... I will love them as long as they are of my flesh and blood, or if I consider them so." Her thoughts immediately shifted towards Rosie.

"Opposites attract, right?" she asked, a smirk on her face, "that principle doesn't just apply to romance and science. It applies to friendship too. Especially in one like ours."

Lena rolled her eyes at Anya before blinking at the girl's question. So... that was it? No difficult question? Just a question on someone's date of death? "Oh," she replied, sounding slightly disappointed, "that would be the thirty-first of October fourteen ninety-two."

Essie was surprized the girl seemed to know this question quite well, almost as though she was expecting a different question. Essie then pulled quickly jolted down the information in her notepad and placed it back into her bag

"Oh thandk you so much" Essie said gratefully

Lena snorted, "I thought these things went without mentioning, Anyaschka." She then chuckled playfully to show Anya she knew she was merely joking.

The Uchitel nodded, a small smile forming on her face. "I know," she whispered, "but it's just that I have such little cause to be happy nowadays that everytime that I do feel happy for myself, I instantly feel selfish.

"Whoever said you were a klutz?" she asked, tilting her head, "I was talking about me." She then firmly nodded. "Oh yes," she agreed, "everyone should know the chances of Durmstrang's Best Ever Couple getting back together are getting higher by the year."

The blonde firmly nodded again, and pretended to get a notepad out of her head. "Do you have any specific ideas?" she asked, looking up at her friend.

Lena rolled her eyes. "I will not let my children be clumsy and let them tug their girl - or boyfriends down the stairs and let them have a big bruise on their forehead like I did!" she flailed, waving her arms around out of panic.

"Kayla!" she announce, gasping. She hadn't seen her for a long time save for classes and even then they barely talked. She then chuckled slightly when Anya swore; she couldn't help it. "Well... Kait and I are closest in terms of personality, I suppose," she replied, pursing her lips in uncertainty. That statement was true in third year, but what about now? So much has happened that lines that were once clear were blurred.

She chuckled when Anya put an arm around her and did the same thing. "Aww, thank you!" she replied in a flattering tone, "you're my only favourite!"

Lena rolled her eyes and snorted quietly at Anya's statement. "I'm not exactly Einstein, you know," she remarked.

Lena sighed. "Yeah. I have Frodo, Patricia, you, Lora, Kait, Dyl... hell, even Charles," she muttered, twiddling her thumbs, "but I'm not sad about that. I'm not sad at all, actually. I'm scared. I'm scared that all of you will be taken from me. Maybe you'll change, maybe you'll... I don't know, get tired of me..."

The blonde snorted, rolling her eyes and trying to neaten her hair as the breeze blew by. "Oh. So... even if the two of us aren't together they'll throw confetti everytime we come in?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Crinkling her nose, she added, "I hate, hate rice. Except when it's in sushi. That's nice." She chuckled. "Rice is nice."

Lena pursed her lips, trying to remember what lilacs meant. "Generally, lilacs mean beauty and pride," she elaborated, "and purple lilacs mean the first signs of love." She nodded firmly. "So we can definitely use lilacs in our decorations!

"I am still not having clumsy children!" she exclaimed, taking steps back and forth out of agitation, "and if I do, I'll make sure they're not clumsy!"

Shrugging her shoulders, Lena agreed. "I know we're so similar, because we're pretty damn close. But... I don't know, I haven't been feeling close with anyone except for you and Tess, and I haven't seen her since the summer," she mused aloud, her tone taking a negative turn. She then laughed, agreeing with Anya's statement. "Of course!" she agreed, "but that's what makes us such good friends!"

Lena purse her lips for a second. "I do?" she replied, hesitantly, "I'm not smart; I'm only the product of the influences that surround me."

"Yes," Lena repeated, a monotone taking over what was already a dismal tone, "Charles and I may be called friends." She tried to not mention how they became friends again, but she was talking to Anya, out of all people, so she gave up hiding. "We owled each other after his father was killed, we argued and became friends." She shrugged her shoulders.

The blonde received Anya's hug without any objection, and raised an eyebrow when she had tried to compare her to things that she really didn't care about. "Why am I not the Elspeth to your Kella? Or the Holmes to your Watson?" She blinked. "I don't jump of bridges; I jump off fjords." She laughed. "I know what you mean, dear Anyaschka."

"Carnations, huh?" she repeated, "depends what colour it is. Generally, they mean devoted love. Pink carnations" - she sighed - "mean a devoted love, or that you'll never forget someone. Light red carnations would mean that your heart aches for someone, while a darker red means alas for my heart!" She chuckled slightly. "A solid coloured carnation means 'yes', while a purple one means capriciousness, a striped one, really, means no, and finally, white carnations mean innocence, while yellow ones mean rejection."

Lena grinned. "Tess is wonderful!" she agreed.

The blonde nodded. "Well, those situations make us better friends," she mused, trailing her palm across her face to wipe off some sweat.

"Why can't I just teach you everything I know?" she huffed, though it was in an amused tone.

Lena burst into a howl of laughter, as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Frankly, it was. She paused to respond to her friend. "Condolences?" she echoed, shaking her head profusely, "you should be sending bricks to him. I mean, Chuck and I did, all the down there in Hell. That bastard's done more harm than good in his sorry life." She pursed her lips, imagining that scene in her head and immediately began to laugh again. After all, Charles would miss half - if not more - of his bricks.

"You're more Watson, and I'm more Holmes, duh!" flailed the Uchitel, "I mean... I love murder mysteries - like Holmes! I also love the art of deduction - not seduction" - Le still laughed over that joke - "And I love murder mysteries! Except when the answers are already there, of course." She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

Grinning, Lena eagerly responded, "I got most of my knowledge as a child. From my sister. Not Vanka, Heidi. Heidi loved Herbology." Child. The word rang in Lena's head, and she took a deep breath. Rosie. She exhaled loudly, trying to let it slip.

"If that were true we wouldn't have to go to school anymore," Lena mused, a smirk curling upon her lips, "the Professors can just shove all of that information in our minds, right?"