Old Exploration

[bella]

Isabella Swan walked across the grounds, making her way smoothly toward the lake – it was her favorite part of the whole castle. She found it most peaceful and was able to get a decent amount of work done there. However, for today, she was strictly on a recreational day. She was so happy to be back and couldn’t wait to take in all the views once more.

She easily located her favorite tree to sit under and leaned back up against the bark facing the glittering pool of water. Of course being her first few days back, she’d yet seen the giant squid. She loved to sit and watch the first year’s fascination with the random tentacles popping up.

Setting her pink purse against her side, she unzipped the top and her little white rat’s head peaked over the side. Mipsy was her pride and joy, although most girls were at first always wry of her pet. Although, Bella found her to be the cutest thing. She was pure white with a little pink nose and beady red eyes. She was well trained enough not to run away when Bella took her outside the dormitory though sometimes she had to cast her back to her palm.

Bella leaned back up against the tree and breathed in deeply. “It’s good to be back, eh Mipsy?” she said quietly. The rat looked up, blinked a few times, and then crawled over the edge of her purse to sit on the grass. She began cleaning her mini whiskers. Bella laughed to herself and drifted back into her own world.

[foxyfoxychibi]

Kole Wulfe slipped away from the many people wandering around Hogwarts and headed outside with her owl, Chubs the Noble, swooping protectively around her head. Kole sighed as she lightly clutched a book at her side and gently pushed her glasses up from the tip of her nose back to where they belonged. Her mind was still whirling with the warning her Aunt Alice had given her before she left.

“Be especially careful this year my little witch… There are rumors of a Dark Lord rising on the horizon, one who is murdering Muggleborns like you and me.” Alice murmured as she lightly clutched at her niece’s shoulders. She looking deep into Kole’s eyes, searching for even a hint of recognition in them whiles her own were filled with concerned. Kole nodded before grabbing up her things and heading onto the train.

Kole sighed as she remembered the scene, wondering why her aunt had been so sure to make sure she had heard and registered the warning. After all, Hogwarts was the safest place ever wasn’t it? There was nowhere safer for her to be, especially during dark times. Considering that Aunt Alice should worrying about her own safety, not that of Kole.

Suddenly, as she approached the lake and a tree she had always preferred to sit under while reading, Kole noticed that there was someone else under it. Something in her mind caused her to register the person as Isabella Swan, a 6th year Hufflepuff. Kole didn’t quite feel she could stand the company of others at that time, so she turned slightly away and started to head for a comfortable tree near the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

[bella]

“Mipsy, what do you think of that girl over there? She’s quite the bookworm, isn’t she?” Bella laughed to herself, having seen the seventh year Ravenclaw a few times last year. She never seemed to be with anyone, quite the opposite from herself. Bella – unless not wanting it – could always be found in the company of another. Now, of course Bella hadn’t been expecting Mipsy to answer her question, but normally she would at least hear a scuttle. “Mipsy?”

Bella leaned up and glanced around the grass around her – no Mipsy. She pulled her purse up into her lap and filled through her belongings – no Mipsy. “Oh crap…” Her heart began racing, she couldn’t loose her! Where had she gone? Normally Bella could keep tabs on her quite well, but…

Slinging her opened purse into her shoulder, Bella stood up and scanned the grass around her with a scrutinizing gaze. “Mipsy…” she growled, where had that darn rat gone? She looked out farther, knowing she would never see a rodent amongst such grass grounds. But then… “Oh my God, Mipsy!” She’d seen a fleeting glance of her rat headed straight for the seventh year. Now, it wasn’t the student she was concerned with – it was the owl swooping around her.

Instantly Bella began to run after Mipsy, preying she would get to her before the rat-eater did.

[foxyfoxychibi]

Kole sighed, and was about to open her book as to attempt the skill of reading and walking at the same time, when she heard a soft scuttle in the grass near her feet. She glanced down, expecting to see some kind of creature that was going to be used in a Care of Magical Creatures class. Instead Kole caught sight of one of the creatures she had never quite been fond of.

Kole screamed in fear, her book falling to the ground with a thud as she fell backwards and scuttled backwards. Kole screeched repeatedly, wide eyed and tearing up as she continued to back up in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

Personally she would always blame her brother Devon for her fear of rats and mice, after all it had been him who had put a rather large rat in her bed one especially frightening Halloween night. And it surely hadn’t helped that Devon had made it look there was a dead body in her bed. Kole had screamed and wouldn’t sleep in her own bed for the following week, Devon had ended up grounded for two weeks and having t clean up the set up for his prank.

Chubs seemed to catch attention of Kole’s sudden fear and swooped downwards to see what was wrong. With a predatorily screech Chubs the Noble caught sight of the little white rat. Kole squeaked, realizing the little creature of evil was most likely the pet of some student.

“CHUBS!! NO!” she ordered in an uncharacteristically loud tone of voice for her. Chubs obeyed, swooping away from the rat at the last precious moment and landing instead on Kole’s shoulder with a loving squawk.

[bella]

“Oh my God, stop! Stop! Stop!” Bella screamed rather rudely as the predator began swooping down on her rat. It shocked her when it actually listened to her, until she recalled hearing another’s screams as she’d yelled. Before even considering the damage it would do to her clothes, Bella leaped forward and with a thunderous thump landed belly down on the grass holding a squealing Mipsy in her grasp. “Oh, ow…” she groaned, rolling over onto her back clutching Mipsy to her chest.

Her stomach hurt like heck as she breathed in, trying to do so normally although well aware she looked ridiculous. In cruel rat humor, Mipsy somehow managed to escape her grasp and took haven back inside her purse. “Stupid rat…” she muttered, wiping her face off.

It was then she recalled the other girl and her cries. Bella dragged herself into a seated position on the ground and gave a weak smile. “Well, sorry about that…” How embarrassing. Bella could feel her face going bright red. “Um, is that your owl?” Of course it’s her owl you dork! Bella ran a hand through her hair and tried to pull out the few twigs and blades of grass now covering it. Just perfect… She sunk deep in a pool of remorse.

[foxyfoxychibi]

Kole felt so embarrassed for throw such a fit over such a little thing like someone’s rat. She wiped the small rivers of tears streaming down her cheeks away and sat up, and then the hiccups started to come.

“ I-I’m fine I j-“ her sentence was interrupted with a sharp hiccup, followed by two more “ I just don’t like-” another hiccup “ Don’t like rats!” she finally got out before four more rib racking hiccups pushed forward.

Kole blushed and tried to apologize for Chubs nearly killing Bella’s rat, but between hiccups and a slight amount of nervous stuttering it most likely didn’t sound very convincing. Her blush worsened as she considered how stupid she must look and she snatched up her book.

“Sorry!” Kole was able to give out before two more hiccups came and she rushed blindly towards the Forbidden Forest, her glasses slipping down her nose and falling off as she ran.

[bella]

Bella blinked a few times, somewhere between trying not to laugh at the poor girl for being so scared of Mipsy and feeling embarrassed for her – I mean, at the current moment in time, Bella had enough embarrassment to go around. She could feel the heat radiating of her face from blushing so badly. She’d about to consol the seventh year, I mean, rats aren’t that bad, but she disappeared too suddenly that before Bella had decided what she was going to say, she was gone.

“Mipsy, look at all the trouble you’ve done,” she scowled to her purse where her rat kept a safe distance away from her. Angrily, Bella swept up her purse and pulled herself up off the grass. “Oh, that’s just great.” She had a nice big grass stain on her jeans now. Too frustrated to fix it, she slung her purse and ran after the girl.

“Hey, wait up!” she called, wanting to at least apologize for ruining…well, whatever she’d been doing. She couldn’t tell if the girl hadn’t heard or was choosing to purposefully ignore her as she ran ever hurriedly into the woods. Bella ran just a little bit harder and pulled up beside the girl huffing. “Hey…I’m sorry about…that…” Bella sucked in air, trying to regain a normal pace for talking. “I didn’t meant to scare you…Mipsy just kind’a got away from me. I normally keep her close, so, um…well, stuff like this doesn’t happen…” Bring on the blush…

[foxyfoxychibi]

Kole gave two nervous hiccups, but somehow couldn't help but laugh at the same time. Bella seemed to be embarrassed to, so maybe she didn't look like to much of a dork after all. Kole pulled her pocket watch free from inside cloak, just enough so she could hear the gentle ticking.

Tick! Tock!
Tick! Tock!

Only two ticks later and already Kole could feel herself calming down, as well as her hiccups stopping. With a calm smile Kole looked at Bella, only to see that everything was blurry!
Dammit! My glasses!, she mentally yelped, but decided first she needed to explain herself to the 6th year Hufflepuff before her.

“ It’s okay,” she said laughing slightly, realizing the sight the two of them must be “ I’m just a bit afraid of rats you see… And Chubs was just trying to protect me…” she murmured apologetically.

[bella]

“Chubs?” Bella laughed, “That’s a cute name.” She’d replied before ever really thinking about it and then her gaze landed on the little clock she’d pulled out. “Um, what are you doing with that?” she asked stupidly, point lazily at it.

She’d about to continue when her purse wiggled around. Quickly Bella pulled the small pink purse of her shoulder and held it against her chest in something of a hug to keep Mipsy from moving around too much. “I am sorry about it, I didn’t mean for her to get away.” Mipsy was persistence and began moving about furiously. “Um, I know you’re…listen, I’m really sorry but would you mind if I pulled her out for just a second? You don’t have to look…”

Mipsy began squeaking madly like she was scared of something and then it donned on her that Bella was probably suffocating the poor thing. Unthinkingly, she unzipped her purse wildly and let her rat breath. The little white head poked out and gave a realized squeak. Bella’s eyes widened, “Oh! Sorry, sorry!” She tried shoving Mipsy back into her bag unsuccessfully.

[foxyfoxychibi]

Kole took a deep breath and started to put her pocket watch away just as Bella pointed to it.

“ Oh it’s just my pocket watch, I-“ she stopped as a little pink nose popped out of Bella’s purse, her eyes widening slowly out of both fear and surprise at the fact that through the blurriness she could see the little pink rat nose “ I-it’s okay, I can’t really see Mipsy to well right now anyways… I kind of lost my glasses while running…” she admitted bashfully. Now I’m sure she’s thinks I’m a dork…, Kole thought angstily with a sigh.

“ Could you maybe help me find them?” she asked timidly, lightly clutching at the book she held in her hands. She could feel another blush slowly rising on her cheeks as she asked, it was so uncommon for her to ask for help. Usually Kole would just work through it and figure things out on her own, but she guessed secretly that this worked into her plan of letting loose this year.

Smiling at her own realization Kole started a bit blindly back the way she came, tripping over a tree root on her way. She let loose a very feminine ‘Eep’ as she fell to the ground with a not-so-feminine thud.

“ Bloody hell…” she muttered as she started to sit up and brushed the dirt and such off of her uniform front.

[bella]

She didn’t get much information on the pocket watch, but at least it was alright to let Mipsy out for a little while. However much trouble she could cause at times, she stilled loved the little rodent to death. “What do you mean you can’t s”- Oh, glasses… She realized as the seventh year spoke it aloud. “Um, yeah, sure.” It was the least she could do.

About to turn back around and look for them, she heard a ‘thump’ and realized she’d fallen. “Oh, are you alright?!” But she was already pulling herself up. “Here, let me help…” She grabbed her wrist and guided her back up to her feet and solid ground.

“I guess not being able to see could be a problem, huh?” she joked rather humorously though unintended. “Um, here, let’s see…” Bella tried peering about but didn’t see anything on the ground. “Um…” She walked a little ways and still, nothing. “Uh, do you know where you dropped them exactly…?”

[foxyfoxychibi]

“Not really… I suspect I dropped them right before entering the forest.” Kole’s eyes widened “Oh my god, we’re in the Forbidden Forest! We’ve gotta get out! Now!” she squeaked nervously, but not quite nervous enough to start hiccupping again.

Kole grabbed Bella’s wrist with her free hand and started to pull her along as she tried to maneuver through the trees and back to where they wouldn’t be in the forest. Just as they got out of the forest Kole brought her foot down with a very oh-shit-I-just-broke-my-glasses like crunch. Thank Merlin’s silky blue night shorts Kole was a witch, otherwise she would be royally screwed.

With a sigh Kole reached down and retrieved her glasses from the ground. Tenderly she slipped the broken glasses back up onto her face, and while murmuring a spell pointed her lovely 11 ¼ inch redwood wand with an Ashwinder fang core. Kole smiled as the world suddenly became a lot clearer to her.

“Sorry about that… Pulling you through the forest that is, sorry if you got a scrapes.” She murmured timidly, and then with a small yip she realized something “Oh my, I just realized something! You and I were never properly introduced were we!” she coughed and smiled before sticking out her hand in greeting “I’m Kole Wulfe, a seventh year Ravenclaw.”

[bella]

Through all the bustle, she hadn’t even realize she’d never caught the girl name. When she brought it up, Bella felt like an even bigger dork. Her foster mother would be ashamed of the manner’s she hadn’t shown.

“Oh, sorry! Um, Isabella Swan. But if you ever call me that, you’d better learn to sleep with your eyes open. It’s Bella.” She grinned, laughing some. “The last person to call me Isabella was in the Hospital Wing for a weak. Let’s just say sometimes I’m not always good about following school rules…”

Mipsy gave another squeak and tried to jump out of Bella’s purse again. “Mipsy, calm down! I don’t know what’s gotten into you, my goodness!” Finally aggravated, she shoved the rat’s head back into her purse and zipped it shut. “That’ll teach you,” she scowled.

[foxyfoxychibi]

Kole gave a gentle laugh.

“ Well Miss I- I mean Bella, I am quite glad it was you and not some rude little Slytherin who nearly gave me a heart attack with their rat.” She said gently and gave a light curtsies “ And please give my most sincerest apologies to Dear Mipsy, it’s not their fault I’m terrified of ‘em.” She said in her most lady like tone of voice before motioning up to the skies “ Oh yes, and Madam Chubs also sends her apologies to both you and Mipsy.”

Somehow, though only Merlin knows how, Kole was able to get all of this out without a single stutter or blush. She, to say the least, was quite proud of herself.

“ Now excuse me if I’m being to forward Bella, but would you perhaps like to be friends?” she asked, taking quite a leap considering her usual state on people and how to act around them .

“ I mean I would understand if you don’t want to and al, I’m sure you have plenty of friends and acquaintances…
In fact, I know you do since I’ve seen you walk around the castle with your friends… But I would surely like to be your friend since you seem to be so kind and you do have so many friends and maybe you could help me come out of my shell a bit and make new friends…
Not that I would want you to think I’m using you or anything, but I do realize I don’t really have any friends and I’m sure that must seem terrible seeing as I’m a seventh year and all and my Aunt Alice is always saying I need to make friends and asking me why I never bring anyone over during holidays or visiting anyone-” realizing she was rambling Kole blushed and stopped with her constant chatter “Oh, bloody hell. Sorry, I ramble a bit sometimes.” She admitted with a sigh.

[bella]

“It’s quite alright,” Bella answer, giving a mock little bow. She’s about to joke when Kole turned quite serious on her. She kept from giving a small little likeable giggle as she continued. It was easy to tell she wasn’t very good in social skills, which would certainly explain her distance form other girls when she’d seen her about.

“Kole, I’d love to be friends,” she grinned, “And don’t ever worrying about being too forward. I of all people know what’s it’s like to be like that sometimes… This one time, oh my goodness, I was so embarrassed! This boy, it was back in like Third Year, anyways! I really liked him and apparently he and his friends though it’d be funny to make a fool of me for it. I mean, I knew he and I would never work out, but oh he was cute! He started flirting with me and I totally feel for it! Of course, it was about the time I’d been about to own up to liking him forever when it friends popped up with big grins and barrel of laughter. Ugh! I’ve never talked to them since. He was so…”

Bella looked up and gave a weak smile. “Oh wow, um… You really didn’t need to know about that.” She gave a giggle. “Well, I guess we both have a bit of a rambling problem, wouldn’t you say…?”