((OPEN!!!!!))
Zepha was late, which really wasn't as of late. She had managed to lose her since of time in the last two weeks. Normally this hadn't been to big of an issue but today was graduation, the most important day of her Hogwarts career.
She was hiking up her gown while running along the path to the lake. Underneath her gown she had on a simple white dress and white heels. Her hair, which had recently grown to her shouldurs, was wrapped into small bannana curls. Her bright green eyes were sparkling with excitment to finally be done, but also with the worry of not making it on time.
Finally she could see the small clearing next to the lake which was decorated ribbons of many different colrors. Her eyes glnaced over the different sections decorated for the houses. There were green and white ribbons drapped over the chairs for the Slytherins, red and gold for the Gryfindors, yellow and black for the Hufflepuffs, and finally she saw the blue and white section which is where she would be seated.
She ran up to where the graduates were lining up and stood at the end where her fellow W's were at. She dropped her gown down and let it drape over her feet, smoothing out the wrinkles and fiddling with her hair. Its finally here she thought the day I've been waiting for.
The music started and she began to walk down the isle, her smile beaming. After all of the struggles she'd been through she'd finally made it and this was her time.
Linvy wasn't graduating but came to watch. She was free this whole time so decided to come and have a look.
It was filled with students from all four houses.
She snuk into a seat that wasn't attended to she made herself comfortable.
Some people looked sad but happy but Linvy had no emotions as she has no one close graduating.
She looked up and saw a person walking up the isle. She hoped she wasn't sitting in her seat. But she didn't care she was happy to she people finally graduating.
Last to years she missed it and now finally she saw it, she was relieved.
The graduates marched down the isle in a typical Hogwarts fashion, finally settling into their seats. For the next hour different teachers got up and gave speeches of how sad they were to see the kids leaving, and how they would be missed.
Zepha did everything she could to not sleep through it. She wasn't getting any awards, or wasn't going to be recognized for her outstanding wizardry skills. All she wanted was her diploma so she could leave for good. She didn't know what the future held for her, but there was a promising apartment for sale in Hogsmead.
Finally they started anouncing names. She waited anxiously untill hers was called "Zepha West" she finally heard and practically ran up to the podium to get her diploma.
Finally I'm done she thought as she joined the other grads in throwing their hats in the air. She exited out with the others and instantly threw off her robe. She was ready to go have fun.
Linvy wanted one day to finally be able to graduate.
She had seen enough she wanted to talk to someone.
She looked at the other Ravenclaws and saw a girl she might've seen around.
She stood up and rushed over to her.Hey, I'm Linvy" she told the older girl. "How does it feel to graduate?" she asked hopefully waiting for a positive response.
"Amazing" she said dreamily, "Its like i've been chained to something for the last seven years and now I'm unhooked and free." once she heard the words she winced, that probably wasn't the answer the girl was looking for. She mumbled for a second then "Its sad though too, I'm... err well I'll miss it.", Or miss the local bar she thought.
She looked at the girl, Linvy, and smiled. She looked so happy and full of hope. "Well Linvy, I'm Zepha." she said smiling. "Its nice to meet you." she looked around the girl and recognized no one else. She wanted to celebrate her graduating but had no one to celebrate with.
"So listen, I realize we just met and all but, I was gonna go down to hogsmead and celebrate. Wanna come with?" she gave the girl a huge smile, hoping that it would help her make up her mind.
Linvy was excited.
"Yeah! Sure! i have free classes the whole day, i can come," Linvy was surprised. Linvy thinks that maybe she's made a friend.
She hadn't celebrated with people older than her except her parent a few friends.
Some Ravenclaws were cheering in the background. They headed to Hogsmead. Three Hufflepuff girls followed. Linvy hoped they'd have a great time.
"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" she started walking down the path following the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs.
Zepha looked the girl up and down. Originally she was planning on heading to the bar and drinking the night away, but she wasn't sure if Linvy was old enough for that, and she really didn't want to be a bad influence. But that was where everyone else was going and Linvy would be doing the same one day.
How old was Linvy anyway? "So what year are you now" she said as she followed the other kids to the bar. She didn't have to drink if she didn't want to.
On the way Linvy replied to her question, "Year 3" she said.
She was excited it was her first time being here and she thought it was great.
They headed towards the bar.
The Hufflepuff girls had gone in there.
And Linvy followed hoping this was the right bar.
She entered in the doorway and looked at the surroundings in the room.
She was impressed.
Zepha smiled down at Linvy "Fun year for sure." she said, realizing the girl was only 13. As they walked into the bar Zepha knew that she was going to watch this girl as if she was her little sister. She could see the excitement in Linvys eyes and was glad she'd brought her.
She went up to the bar and ordered two sodas, one for her and one for Linvy. She walked back and handed her the drink. "Here you go Linvy.
"Thanks" Linvy said taking a sip or two.
She really enjoyed being with Zepha.
She looked around, there were some weird looking people around.
She wanted to come back and have more of the soda, it was yum.
"Um, Zepha, can i have a butterbeer, i mean my cousin is in year four said he was allowed?"
She hoped she wasn't bothering Zepha by asking stupid questions. She was annoyed sometimes when people kept asking her.
She loved this place she was so coming back here, maybe with Zepha again, yeah that would be fun.
Zepha couldn't help but get a huge grin, this girl was totally amusing and kept suprising her. She could have one, but just one. She was only 13 after all. "Okay sure" she said to her smiling as she took her coke and traded it for a butter beer.
"Okay, so tell me what you do for fun?" Zepha asked once she returned to the table.
The butterbeer was how she imagined it, maybe better.
She was so getting one of these again.
She sculled the whole bottle and had a huge moustache of butter beer.
Zepha was definitely her new best friend!
Linvy thought about Zepha question and replied with, "I like hanging with friends, and oh this butterbeer is yum!
I like spells and things, speaking of which i need help with my charms homework i thought maybe you could help me because your in year seven and done this before so is that alright?"
Zepha laughed as she watched Linvy down her butterbeer, her eyes full of excitement. "Easy there, don't get sick!" she said, trying to have a serious voice but with a laughing one instead.
"Oh thats typical." Zepha replied to her hanging with friends. "But I'm not sure you'd want my help. I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to charms. Or any other subject for that matter." she said serriously.
"It's alright. So what i have to do is practice "Wingardium Leviousa, is that right? How said it?"
She was waiting for an answer.
Maybe something was wrong.
Maybe she had to do something with her hand.
Everything she did lately was wrong.
She had dumped her ex-friend Trent and he was the only one who help with her homework.
Maybe Zepha would know him. She decided to ask.
"Do you know Trent?". Linvy was kind of missing him, just a bit.
Linvy sighed she wished Zepha could help a lot. But she didn't want to shove all her problems onto Zepha, she was nice and right ow better than her other friends. They'd never taken her to the bar, the only place she wanted to go. Her problems were gonna be hard to solve. Really Hard.
Zepha gave her a sly smile. She wouldn't know if that was the right answer if it was spelled out on the wall in front of her. "I really, really don't know." she said smiling. "Honestly, I haven't a clue. I breezed by my classes doing what I had to do to get by. I'm not proud of it but whatever it takes right?"
A huge grin creeped onto Zee's face when she heard Trents name. Yeah she knew him, he was that cute, awkward kid she'd hung out with at the lake. "Yeah I know him. Nice guy. You two friends?" Zepha asked Linvy.
Maybe everything wasn't that bad.
Zepha did know Trent this was a miracle.
"Let's just say ex-friends for a while, has he talked about about me?"
She was curious. Sometimes curiosity gets the better of her.
Time to tell Zepha the truth, but fist Linvy wanted to see what Zepha had to say about him.
Zepha could sense there was something more behind that ex-friends of Linvy's. She wasn't one to push but she figured she'd find out anyway.
"Well no, I really don't think he has. I've only talked to him once though. He's really shy so its not like I ever got more than two words out of him at a time." she said, remembering her conversation with Trent, which was like pulling teeth to get him to talk.
"So why are you 'ex-friends', you both seeml like pretty nice kids." she said curriously.
Linvy's face dropped she was expecting more from Trent.
But Linvy acted as if she hadn't been that down about it.
Linvy became serious and tried to remember the last time they talked.
She was pretty sure it was about a year ago.
"Trent and i had a fight about...a year ago." She started,"I think we were arguing about whose house was better. And then he got angry and i stormed off and we never talked since." She had told Zepha all she could remember after all it was a year ago.
Linvy sipped the last bit of her butterbeer and took her and Zepha glasses to the bar.
Trent and Linvy had done so much together. Trent was her best friend and helped her through tough times but now it is a tough time but between them instead.
Maybe she could steer Zepha off this topic and talk about how Trent and her became friends. Yeah, that would make her feel better. After all it was better than talking depressing, right?
Linvy took her place at the table. Maybe she was being stupid. Maybe she should apologise and tell him that she wanted to become friends again.
But this was all in her mind and Linvy had to tell someone. Anyone. Zepha was the only one there and before Linvy said something, she had to plan how she was going to say this. And properly.
Zepha let it click, Trent had mentioned something about ex-ravenclaws that he'd been friends with. But even so there had to me more to the story.. a fight about houses seemed something simple to lose such a good friendship over.
"Oh well, I could put a good word in for you I guess." if that was ther real reason, which she doubted, then it should be easy to mend a friendship like theirs.
Linvy decided to say something about how they met.
"So we met like this. He bumped into me on the Hogwarts Express and we sat in the same compartment and chatted we had a lot in common."
That was all she could think of.
But at lest she tried stiring them off topic, right?
"Okay thats a start" Zepha said with a sigh. She needed to take Linvy back to the problem if they ever wanted a solution. "Maybe you could purposley bump into him again. Try and mend it that way."
Zepha was currious how serrious their fight was. If it was a bad one then there was no way Trent would agree to a meeting with her. "If he won't come to you, then you have to change his mind." that probably wasn't the best advice she had on her plate, but she was intoxicated.
Linvy kept thinking.
All the ideas Zepha was giving her were good but not good enough.
She couldn't just bump into him again that would look stupid!
And he'd probably hate her more.
So she decided how she was going to do it.
Then she remembered.
She remembered that when she was in year two, they'd gotten their timetables for this year and they had a subject next door to each other.
But Linvy had never seen Trent because she ran as fast as she could so she wouldn't have to see him. Maybe she could pack up her books slowly and walk slowly til they met.
And chatted.
"I've got it!" Linvy said.
She explained it all to Zepha and asked her what she thought.
Zepha could tell that Linvy was thinking. She leaned back in her chair and let her. This problem was apparently important to Linvy and Zepha was willing to help her fix it. She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and waited for a response.
"What have you got?" Zepha said, currious of Linvy's plan. She hoped it was good, she hated seeing people unhappy with eachother.
Linvy told her everything that she had told herself.
She hoped this plan would work other wise she was dead.
And never have a friend any more.
And besides Zepha was leaving. So she'd have no one else to talk to next year.
That was tough.
And so was her life if she doesn't stitch it back together in time.
Zepha smiled, that sounded like a decent plan. "I think that'll work." she smiled at Linvy, "You have just gotta sorta plan out what you'll say. You don't want to stick your foot in your mouth." Zepha knew this was important she'd done it so many times before.
Zepha knew what it was like to not have any friends, and she didn't want that for Linvy or Trent. She'd been there and it was plain miserable, left you with a sense of self hatred almost.
Linvy had thought a bit. She thought and this was the conclusion.
"Zepha, how does this sound?," she asked,"Oh, hi Trent, you know i was thinking that maybe we could be friends again. its been hard for me and i think maybe you too. It would be great if we could get back together again. How's that?"
She hoped Zepha approved. or else she'd have to go back to the drawing board.
Zepha nodded, that wasn't too bad. "Thats a good start, but maybe you should ask him to talk first so that you know you get his attention." she didn't want Linvy to talk first and then ramble on to where Trent wouldn't undrstand.
"And try to be easy, take some of the blame. And look him in the eyes, that alays makes for a killer appology." she said smiling, "But most of all, make sure you let him know that you mean it. And be yourself." that was the best advice Zepha could give her.
Linvy approved of Zepha criticism. After all she was older and knew lots of more things than just her, at only 13 years of age.
But after that scenario she had nothing.
She was hopeless.
So she decided that she'd ask Zepha this.
"Can you show me what you say? OK I'll be Trent and you can be me, OK go ahead."She was ready and was about to store all the info in her head.
Maybe this would help.
Zepha paused. She didn't know how to 'pretend' to be Trent. She didn't know anything about him and Linvy's relationship. And besides, this wouldn't do her anygood anyway. But Linvy asked her too and she really didn't want to be rude and say no so she thought she'd give it a shot.
"Uh, okay here goes. 'Uh, Linvy what are you, uh doing here?'" she asked, struggling with the exsersize.
Linvy thought of the first thing she could do.
"Um...Oh hey, Trent" she said with a grin on her face as if it were the real thing.
"Haven't seen you in a while, huh?" she asked Zepha(Trent).
She was quite happy she'd thought of something so say to steer off what Zepha had asked.
This was getting good. She hoped Zepha asked her an easy thing otherwise she'd get stuck and she was practising as if it were the real thing.
"Yeah, I guess not" she said as Trent, kinda getting the hang of this. Wonder why she thought in her head. Serriously was a fight about house enough to end a friend ship that obviously meant so much to Linvy.
Linvy hadn't known what to say!
She was stuck. Hopefully Zepha would say something to help her out a bit.
She pretended she had her books out and put her imaginary books under her arm.
This is tough she thought, real tough.