The Beautiful Garden

Hyun-Ki had heard of Hogsmeade, said to be one of the only all wizard villages in existence. This made him curious and soon, he left to see for himself. What he saw was amazing. People dressed extravagantly, in robed and pointed hats, of all shapes and colors. He had never seen so many people like this before, and his first thought was a convention. He had of course been to several before and there were the occasional "wizards" and whatnot. But that's not what really caught his eye.

As he made his way further into the village, he found the garden. It was more than he had though, plants he had never seen, flowers of every color of the rainbow scattered along the ground. To think that so much beauty existed hidden away from the normal people. There were several benches all over, if you wanted and so he did. He sat on a bench in front of a patch of the most unusual flowers he could find. They were red, with a lime green center. Further back there seemed to be some sort of fly trap that was snapping around wildly at seemingly nothing.

He had brought along his sketch pad as he normally did, along with the assortment of colored pencils and began to draw what he saw. He started in the background, with the snapping plant and closer to the flowers directly in front of him. It was then he noticed two people stopping near the large plant to talk, and decided to draw them in, eyeing them carefully to get their image perfect, paying attention to nothing else around him.

Her footsteps crunched against the snow, but Savannah paid the snow no heed. She skipped through Hogsmeade with a child-like innocence, the hems of her robes fluttering slightly in the wind.

Her dragon was safely at home, away from the cold of winter. But her thoughts never left the tiny animal, even as she stepped into the garden. Her eyes scanned the flowers, amazed at how the snow around didn't seem to affect them.

"Beautiful," she murmured, grinning around. "Just - oh look, a person." And with that, the Gryffindor made her way toward the older boy, peering over his shoulder. "What - ooh, that's pretty."

Hyun-Ki had been so wrapped up in his drawing, that he almost didn't notice the voice from behind him. He was startled and lifted his hand from the pad before he slipped and caused the drawing to mess up. Turning his head, he saw a younger girl, possibly two or three years below him and gave a warm smile. He didn't mind the company, in fact she was one of the only people he had met so far at the school.

Sitting back against the bench, he held his pad out and eyed the garden, letting his head cock to the side. "Do you think so? I don't think I can truly capture the beauty of the garden, but I did my best." His voice had a thick accent, having not spent much time in the country, though he was adept in speaking English. With another faint smile, he closed the sketch pad and set it in his lap, before turning back to her and holding out his hand to shake hers. "My name is Hyun-Ki. It's nice to meet you."

"Sorry," she winced, taking a small step back. She hadn't meant to make the older boy accidentally ruin his drawing. After all, it was so pretty...

And she did like pretty things.

Smiling back at the boy, relieved that she wasn't going to get yelled at. "I think you can," she breathed, watching her breath puff out around and for a moment found herself distracted before giving her head a small shake. "Your drawings amazing." She stressed, nodding firmly as if that made all his doubts ago.

Shaking his hand, she grinned, "That's a cool name. Mine's Savannah Lerran. Nice to meet you too."

He pulled his hand back from the girl and waved his hand toward the seat beside him on the bench. "Feel free to sit down, I don't mind the company."

When she complimented his name, he could only laugh and shake his head. "You might think so, but in Korea it's fairly common truthfully." His eyes watched her closely, noticing how she began only slightly distracted at her breath, which made him smile again. Some how he could tell she was going to be an odd one, but that was fine by him.

"Savannah? Honestly, I think you have a nicer name than I do." It was nice to have someone to talk to, he had felt fairly outcast since he had gotten there. Mostly because of the year he was in and coming in when school had already begun. On top of that, he was a muggleborn, which didn't make some people happy, but he was determined to stay positive regardless. "Been at the school for a while?" He asked, his eyes cast up to meet hers.

"Good," she grinned, plopping down beside him. "You really can't know enough people." A year ago, she might not have been so inclined to believe that, but everything was going right in her life. And she really didn't have a negative thing to say. Maybe Ava had been wrong the whole time (he protested the very idea). Maybe she hadn't actually been the cause of all the turmoil in the lives of the people around her.

Now that she thought about it, everyone's life was difficult one way or another. No one had it easy.

"Ooh, Korea," the third year's eyes widened. "I've never been there. What's it like?" Leaning towards him, her grin widened, "Tell me everything. I really wanna know what it's like. I only really spend time in Britain, Azorat and France." But now that Chris was in Canada, did that mean she'd have to go all the way there to visit him? The idea was inviting.

"Aww, that's too nice," she gave her head a small shake, her already red cheeks reddening from his compliment. "But thank you." Glancing towards Hogwarts, she nodded, returning her gaze back to him, "Yep. Third year Gryffindor at your service."

"No, I suppose you can't, can you?" The girl was a nice pace for him, happy and energetic, which were usually the people he tended to hang around. Even though she was younger than him, he couldn't help but like her already. Especially the way she reacted when he mentioned tha the was from Korea.

He thought about what he could tell her about Seoul that would interest her, as it wasn't really all too exciting for him. "Well, where to start. I grew up in Seoul, South Korea. It's a pretty big city, largest in all of South Korea actually. Over ten million people, so it's pretty crowded. My favorite place would have to be Insadong, it's the cultural art market of Seoul. I spent most of my time wandering through there when I was younger."

He missed home, he hadn't gone to the district in a very long time it seemed, and he was eager to return whenever he was able. He decided to change the subject of Seoul, as it only made him want to return, so he cleared his throat and smiled again. "So this is your third year here? You must know where everything is, and who's who huh? Maybe you can show me around sometime, help me get to know everything?"

"Yep," she nodded, her happy mood after getting her hands on an actual dragon only enhanced by Honey's words of encouragement.

As he began to speak of Korea (specifically the one in the south), the younger girl nodded along to his words, her blue eyes shining with unbridled curiousity. "I know what it's like to grow up in a crowded place. I grew up in London, and it's always crazy there." She gave her head a small shake, laughing softly. "We don't have anything cool like art markets here." Savannah pouted. "That sounds like so much fun."

She shrugged. "Yes, yes, no and yes." Tilting her head, a small frown flitted across her rosy face, "Well, I don't know where everything is. Hogwarts is huge. There are secret passageways that no one's actually been through in recent history. So while I can't show you everything about our school, I can show you the main ones. I always wanted to make a map of Hogwarts," she added whimsically, thinking back to uttering that ambition to Juliet the first time they'd met. Had it already been two years? Merlin, it didn't feel like it.

"It'd be helpful, especially to the first years and new students. I don't know why I never actually made it." She scrunched up her face, trying to answer the question now running through her head.

Listening to her intently, Hyun nodded at several things she said, his brow raising in curiosity when she mentioned secret passages. He shouldn't have been surprised by it, after all it was an old school. "Yeah, the market was one of my favorite places. Seoul is an amazing place to an outsider I'm sure. Even I'm amazed by it sometimes."

When she mentioned making a map, he got an idea. A map really would be helpful to new students, and they could even make several copies and sell them for a tidy profit. "Why don't you make one now? You can walk around and show me the places people need to know about, and I can draw it out?" Her idea was a good one, and with an actual drawing of the map, how could it go wrong?

Not only would it be a fine way of learning the easier ways of getting around the castle, but by selling or handing out the maps, he could get to meet some of the students and learn who was who, who he should be around and who to avoid. Of course, he never really wanted to avoid anyone.

"Hmmm.." she hummed, rocking slightly from side to side. And then her blue eyes lit up, "You could take me! Wouldn't that be cool? You'd get to go back, I'd get to visit a foreign country...it'd be perfect."

She clapped her hands together, grinning from ear to ear.

"Merlin," Savannah breathed, "That idea...it's amazing. You - You're a genius." Squealing, the Gryffindor bounced in her seat.

"Well, I'm not sure if I'd just be able to flat out take you there, but if you ever care to visit I'm sure something could be arranged." The girl was rather energetic, and it made him smile seeing someone who didn't care to be gloomy.

When the grin spread across her face, it was contagious, causing him to grin as well. He knew immediately that she liked his idea, and he couldn't wait to begin working on it. "A genius? Well, I wouldn't say that. I just happen to have good ideas from time to time is all." The compliment she paid him made him blush faintly, and his hand reached back to rub the back of his head.

"I can find a way. We could Floo ourselves there, and I have money." She shrugged. Money had never been a problem with her. Oh the things that came with being the daughter of a high ranking Ministry official. "It'll be totally perfect." She grinned, clapping her hands together.

"Psh," she shook her head, her face still bright with awe, "You're a genius." Her nod was swift, as if she believed that just her thinking that it was true made it so.

She did.

"Well, I suppose money does help you get there." He nodded and chuckled, tapping his fingers along the sketch pad in his lap, listening to what she said about him being a genius again. It was a for-your-information kind of answer, and judging on her voice it sounded like she really did believe it was true.

"Maybe I pay a little more attention to detail, or maybe I just happen to know a bit about business." Both were true. He had learned a lot about how to sell things from his father, and on many occasions it had come in handy. Several of his friends teased and joked about how he could sell a Bible to an athiest. Which, for all he knew could have been true.

"I'll need to walk around the castle to get a full outline for it, then we can work on getting the hallways and the like." He nodded and turned his attention to the castle, eyeing it closely.

"Money seems to make the world go round." Savannah gave another little shrug, a small frown marring her features as she thought back to the shopkeeper in Knockturn Alley. "And some people want it so much that they'll practically swindle it out of you."

She gave her a head a shake, "Hyun, just take the compliment." Looking up at him, her eyes sparkled with amusement and laughter. What was with people who wouldn't take the nice words given? It was like they only wanted to see the worst in themselves.

"We could do it now." She suggested, jumping up to her feet, grinning down at the boy.

"Money does indeed, doesn't it?" He smiled and turned his attention back to the girl and noticed the expression on her face when she mentioned being swindled out of money. "Well, that's why it pays to watch for those types of people. If you know business well enough, you'll know who to trust and who not to trust." That was true enough, he had learnt that many times from people that his father had done business with on more than one occasion.

A laugh found it's way up his throat when she told him to take the compliment. It wasn't that he wasn't happy she said it, or that he didn't think it was true. He just had a way of changing it to make it more realistic. "Yes ma'am." He said with a grin and pressed the sketch pad under his arm, ready to get up.

However, she had already jumped to her feet before he did, and was ready to go. Now? It was going to get dark soon, but there was time enough to get it done. "Well, I'm glad to see you're so eager to get started. Let's go ahead."

(Ack! I can't believe I forgot about this! So sorry. )

"I guess it's a good thing, though." Savannah tilted her head, humming softly. "Without money, we'd just be like animals, wouldn't we?" Rolling her shoulders back, she listened to the voices in her head for a moment, nodding slightly as she repeated them.

"What makes us so different from animals, anyway? I'm sure they can talk as well. Is it the clothes? Is that what makes us think we're so better?"

She shrugged, pouting slightly, "I guess so, but I needed those gloves. And he knew it."

clapping her hands together, she grinned. "Alrightie." And with that, she skipped out of the garden, pausing just outside to wait for the older boy.