Who Knew Water Was Wet?

Briony walked into the clearing surrounding the lake and she took off her shoes and socks to paddle her feet in the water, she listened to the silence around her and let a smile play across her face. All she could hear was the gentle rustling of leaves in the forest and she began to feel relaxed, Briony had been worried about beginning her job at Hogwarts but now she was looking forward to it.

She heard a loud crunch behind her and she turned her head to look at what it was.

"Hello?"

(OOC: Then you post your arrival after this )

The lake had always been one of Naomi's favourite places to visit and ponder before term started. The rippling surface, deep waters and serene landscape cleared her mind like nothing else could; it was almost a religious experience for her, a ritual she never failed to miss before her sanctuary was overrun by Ravenclaws and loud-mouthed brats.
But when she approached the familiar shoreline, Naomi paused when she saw that someone - and someone awfully familiar, at that - was already there.
"Deputy Headmistress!" she fumbled over her entrance, unprepared for the possibility of someone else in the sacred waters. "How ... unexpected! With the new school term just a few days away, I would have expected someone of your caliber to be preparing for classes. It's your first year as Dueling Professor, is it not?"

Briony jerked her head around sharply when she heard a voice, she wondered who it might be but as she turned around she saw that it was Naomi, the new Librarian that she had hired. Remembering with a fondness how polite the lady was she welcomed her with a smile, standing from her seat on the floor to address her laughing slightly.

"It appears you have caught me unawares Naomi, I was taking a break, looking at some beautiful scenery and getting some peace before I become surrounded with screaming squabbling children."

Briony wrinkled her nose at the thought of it, she nodded at Naomi before sitting back down in her spot and placing her feet back in the water, wondering if she would join her, to be sure she patted the ground next to her in a gesture for her to sit there.

"What are you doing here, so far from your books?"

Naomi smiled at the new Professor, moving forward at the invitation and seating herself gingerly on the cold ground beside her. Although they had met only a few times - Naomi rarely attending the weekly staff meetings, despite her new status in the esteemed castle - they were on surprisingly good terms, and having seen the younger woman in action, Naomi already had a healthy respect for the well-learnt witch.

"Well, I can't live every hour in silence, can I?" Naomi spoke softly, her eyes trailing the distant shore as she let the sounds of nature wash through her. "In any case ... the memories I hold here are precious to me ... "

Shaking herself from the sudden relapse into the past, Naomi glanced to one side, catching the thoughtful look on Briony's usually hidden face.

"Is something troubling you? You look pale."

Briony smiled as Naomi sat next to her she liked to be in company, she preferred not to be alone when she could help it she lay down on the grass and gazed up at the stars above her. Listening to her talk she thought that even though she was nice, she was too open, even from that general statement Briony now knew that she had a past that she could exploit should she choose to.

Briony looked wide eyed at her when she said she was pale, she was quite alright, maybe it was just the moonlight or may be she was colder than usual today. She never felt it.

"I feel alright, besides my hands, they're always so cold."

She touched Naomi's hand with her ice cool one and smiled gently at her.

"I see, the silence of books proves too much sometimes even to the most frequent of readers. Are you anxious for term to begin?"

Naomi tensed, just a little, when Briony's cold, cold hand touched hers. Some instinct she didn't know she had whispered to her, but the trusting woman ignored it stubbornly. The Briony she'd seen thus far had been nothing but courteous to her. None the less, Naomi couldn't hold back the nearly imperceivable shiver.

"Term ... perhaps. Children are loud, and I've only ever seen the Library at peace. I ... couldn't really imagine what it could be like, overrun with adolescent drama. The only teenager I've ever known was my sister ... yet with hundreds of them soon to arrive, I must admit, the thought overwhelms me."

Realising with a faint blush that she had revealed more than she intended, Naomi rushed to return the conversation to the mysterious Deupty.

"Enough of me, talking like there's no end. What of yourself? Are you nervous to be teaching for the first time?"

Briony smiled delicately as she listened to Naomi's worries about the start of term. They were similar to her own and having never really attended Hogwarts before she wasn't as sure of her footing as other Professors who had doubtless been there before. She could understand what Naomi was saying about the lack of interaction with teenagers, she was an only child and at school she never really mixed. They thought of her as different, well, she was.

"I completely understand, I myself have never been to Hogwarts so it has taken me a while to gain my bearings...I am not so nervous, the students will behave or they will be punished. If they continue to do so they will be expelled."

Briony smiled once more, trying to seem a little nicer after her harsh statement.

"I am looking forward to teaching, it is my duty to help young people defend themselves, they all need that skill and I am proud to help them. I do envy you however, as a lover of literature I would love to be surrounded by it all day."

Naomi glanced at Briony sharply at the somewhat harsh comment, but let it slide. After all, she could quite definitely empathize; if any of those students ... and she meant any, tried to harm her books ...

Still, it was a relief to know that she was not the only apprehensive newcomer in the large and prestigious school.

"Well, you are welcome to visit my Library any time, you know that Briony," Naomi smiled kindly. "Everyone is." But if they leave so much as a single smudge ...

Leaning forward to trail one fingertip through the water - pulling her loose sleeves back so they didn't grow damp as well, Naomi adressed the other witch curiously.

"I haven't seen much of the castle, nor of it's inhabitants. But I'm curious ... is it true that creatures ... centaurs, werewolves, vampires even, live in the Forest?"

"You will no doubt see me in there, but don't judge me on the books I will lease."

Briony grinned at the thought of her ruining one of the library books, she could imagine that her life wouldn't be worth living if she ruined one of them, but she could understand she was the exact same about her books at home. She didn't lend them to anyone for fear they would dog ear the pages or tear the dust jacket! She shivered at the thought.

"There are in fact werewolves in there, I don't know about vampires and there is currently a Centaur in the employ of Hogwarts. Cain Valerian he teaches Divination."

Briony smiled, they sure did have an eclectic mix of Professors at the school. She wondered if it was like that for every wizarding school or they were just lenient in their admissions.

"I would love to walk in there one night, meet some of the creatures, the wild centaurs perhaps even stargaze with them. It would be an honour. Would you walk with me?"

Naomi wondered at the wide array of creatures and persons Hogwarts had in their employ ... knowing, now, that the coming year would quite definitely be one to remember.

But the thought, the thought of actually standing in a herd of the reclusive, knowledgable beings, of watching the future pass above them, of standing in a shadowy grove with nothing but starlight and the reflections in their all-seeing eyes ...

"I would be beyond honoured, if you would allow me to accompany you on such a venture," Naomi raised her eyes to the glimpse of sky that could be seen above - imaging what it would be like to gaze as such, and read what was to come. "Although I would be relying on your skill with a wand to keep the less savoury creatures at bay," Naomi added as she laughed. "I'm afraid my own talents lie elsewhere."

Briony smiled and she waited a while thinking about what to say before she said it, she knew that she was skilled with wand but in terms of strategy she knew that two eyes were better than one. She looked up at the stars now and she could tell the basics of the heavens from here, she had been friends once with a centaur and he had told her how to predict.

"See, Mars is bright tonight." Briony smiled

"I am sure that your skills will also be needed, one can never talk straight to a centaur one must always speak in riddles, your skills could be used there you never know." Briony stroked her chin in thought "I think all the creatures in the Forbidden Forest are tame, we will have no problems...maybe I can see some Thestrals."

Naomi smiled at the well-known centaur phrase - coined by the Savior, Potter, in one of his interviews - and sighed at the thought of learning more than simple omens or tricks of light.

"I suppose ... although my diplomacy never was as sharp as it could have been. Here's a riddle, if you would so indulge me?" Naomi cleared her throat and sat a little straighter; this she had learned from one of her mother's old books. "Three lives have I, Gentle enough to soothe the skin, Light enough to caress the sky, Hard enough to crack rocks. What am I?"

She smiled as she waited for the other witch to answer.

Briony's face dropped when she heard the riddle, she was useless at them but she thought about the solution anyway, she tried to think of everything it could be. Gentle enough to soothe skin? Light enough to caress the sky? Hard enough to crack rocks? She frowned she had no idea what this could be, she supposed that it could be something to do with strength, force or something like that but she couldn't be sure.

She decided to give it a little more thought, what was strong? Fire? Yes that was strong but it was no means light and it irritated not soothed skin. Air? That was strong but then again that made up the sky in a way so it couldn't be that. Water? Yes. Water could be the answer.

"I don't know to be sure, but is it water?" Briony asked "Since you gave me a riddle I shall give you one. A box without hinges, key or lid yet golden treasure inside is hid, what am I?"

Naomi laughed shortly and clapped when Briony answered correctly, congratulating the woman for the admittedly hard puzzle.

Only to wince as she was given her own in turn.

"Something that is a golden treasure ... well, that could be many things - galleons, gold itself, jewellery ... or perhaps ..." Unbidden, text flashed before her eyes; the memory of an old novel the ex-Ravenclaw had read in her youth. A popular novel, by Muggle standards, that had been modified before sold to the Wizarding public as a fictional piece of artwork. And holding in it the answer to that very riddle. "The answer would that that which contains a yellow yolk; an egg," Naomi beamed at Briony in triumph, standing and brushing the seat of her thin robes gently, loosing the strands of grass that had clung to her.

"Briony, as delightful as this conversation has been - it had been some time since I have engaged in such stimulating company - I'm afraid the silence calls to me. I have yet to complete the stock-take," the procrastinator confessed, laughing gently and smiling down at her fellow professor. "I will hold you to that walk through the Forest once term begins, Briony."

Briony smiled as she was congratulated on her wisdom in solving the puzzle, she also grinned while Naomi pondered upon her own riddle but she too clapped when she got the right answer after much deliberation. She wondered what she was doing as she got up but then it became apparent that she was leaving, Briony understood that and nodded in her direction.

"Well done, that was a hard one. It has been a pleasure Naomi and I will hold you to that walk with me. When term begins. Good luck with the stock take."

Briony smiled at her and dipped her feet back in the lake, looking around at the emptiness once more.