With the beginning of the year a week underway, classes had held up way too much of Fynn's time for his liking; he wanted to be outside, lost somewhere in the gardens of the school. It still amazed him that in the middle of this dry, arid desert was this lush little jungle of green. He'd waited patiently all week to get outside and explore. It was hard to sit in class for so long when the sun was shining and the breeze played the pleasant tease. However, he'd promised his dad and himself to put a good amount of effort into his studies and he had yet to break a promise in his short eleven years.
But Saturday had never been a day for reading, so Fynn made his way outside, dressed in a simple pair of brown shorts and a blue t-shirt and his oldest trainers to search and investigate the surroundings of the school. It seemed that there were a lot of possibilities for climbing trees and certainly some vegetation different than that of Scotland.
The maze constructed of hedges was certainly interesting and Fynn wandered through it for close to an hour before stopping to rest at a fountain he had found. He just hoped he could find his way out again. A large oak tree jutted out from the maze and caught Fynn's eye. Grinning in triumph, he proceeded to make his way up the lower branches.
He stopped about half-way up and had sucked in a quick breadth. The view from where he sat looked like nothing he had ever seen before, even in his wildest dreams. The maze seemed to stretch on forever in one direction and the imposing face of the school stared back at him from the other. He hoped that by the time he graduated, he knew every inch of the grounds.
After viewing his fill of the grounds and making a mental picture for a map, Fynn began his descent. He was quick and sure-footed, having a lot of practice from back home, but as he neared the bottom, an unexpected shout startled him, causing his foot to slip from the branch he was using for support. It was only about an eight-foot fall, but landing on his bum from that height left a stinging sensation all over. "What're yeh playin' at?" He called, rubbing his sore cheeks.
0Finely MacGregortime for a grand adventure0Finely MacGregor15
I prefer mine a little less exciting
by Holly Greer
It was still early in the year and the weather was just beautiful. Had she been home, she would have spent an hour or so riding Wendy, then taken a quick dip in the pool before just sunning herself in a lounge chair. Unfortunately, those activities - three of her favorites, in fact - were not available at Sonora. So she made do.
That adaptability was likely what got the elitist Hollywood girl put in Pecari in the first place.
First, she spent an hour or so riding a broom she'd borrowed from the Quidditch shed. It wasn't nearly as satisfying an experience as having some thousand odd pounds of horse under one's self, but it was better than nothing. After almost a year, she was even starting to get confident enough to try simple acrobatics, which made it a little more interesting.
Once she put the broom away, she showered and changed into her bathing suit (today, she picked the pink one-piece with a little skirt). Then, she collected her lounge chair (collapsible for easy storage and travel), and headed out to the Gardens, where there was a stream and a small pond that was almost as good as having a pool to sun beside.
Unfortunately, as she was passing by one particularly imposing oak tree, her flip flop got caught on a root and she tripped. Burdened by the lounge chair, she fell heavily and with a loud shriek.
Fortunately, she wasn't badly hurt. She got a scrap on one hand and her knee was a little banged up but not bleeding. Less fortuitously, she wasn't alone. "What're yeh playing at?" someone asked, not sounding very happy at all.
Holly got back up on her feet and looked toward the voice even as she dusted herself as free of dirt as she could get. There was a boy at the foot of the oak that looked like he'd just taken a pretty nasty spill himself.
"I'm not playing at anything," she told him. Wiggling the offending flip flop in the air in front of her, so he could see the problem, she added, "I knew I should have worn the sandals." She grimaced slightly. "I just didn't want to get them dirty."\r\n\r\n
1Holly GreerI prefer mine a little less exciting123Holly Greer05
As the stinging sensation eased over his entire body, Fynn tried gingerly to stand up. Finding himself able to do so, he turned his attention on the girl who had shouted and scared him. Apparently he hadn't been the only one to take a fall. Why she was waving a flip flop at him didn't really answer his question, but he supposed she had tripped and had been startled as well.
"Sorry, hadn't meant to sound like ahn eejit." He apoligized, with his Scottish brogue shining through, not wanting to make enemies his first few days of school. Fynn was generally an easy going guy, but it was hard to ask politely what was going on when your entire backside was bruised. Plus his father said he had inherited the MacGregor family temper, a force to be reckoned with. But that, like his brogue, was something he was working on.
Quickly taking in her appearance so as not to seem like he was staring, Fynn was flabbergasted as to why she had a swimsuit on, though it looked like her fall hadn't left any permanent damage. Summer was pretty much over, at least in his eyes, when school started, that was it. However, knowing better than to just up and ask such questions, Fynn offered a smile.
"I'm Fynn, can I give yeh a hand carryin' yer chair?" Ever the gentleman, Fynn had always been brought up to give a lady a hand when it looked like she needed it. His Aunt Aideen had drilled those kinds of manners into his head.
0Finley MacGregorwhat's the fun then?0Finley MacGregor05
It's more peaceful and relaxing that way
by Holly Greer
She was going to need to wash at least her hands in the stream once she got there. The dirt was not coming off very easily. She was glad she'd landed on her hands and knees because skin cleaned off and dried much faster and easier than bathing suit material. And since her knees had landed more on the chair than on the path, even those weren't really dirty. That was fortunate because the stream water was freezing, even this early in the season.
The boy drew her attention again with an apology and she smiled at him. He had a cute accent. Used to Raoul's tendency to intersperse his conversations with French words, it took her a moment to realize that this boy, Fynn, was actually speaking English. After a few seconds delay while she worked out what he'd said, she smiled even more sweetly than before, a sudden rush of gratefulness and instant friendship for the chivalrous boy fueling the expression, and stepped away from the folded lounge chair.
"Yes, please," she accepted his offer. "Thank you. There's a stream and a pond not too far from here that I like to sit beside on nice days, but its terribly awkward carrying the chair all that way. I really ought to learn one of those levitation spells so I can just have it float behind me."
Belatedly realizing that she had committed an unforgivable lapse in her manners, she quickly added. "My name is Holly, by the way. Holly Thistle, of the Hollywood Thistles." It hardly mattered to her that the Hollywood Thistles consisted only of herself, or that Thistle wasn't actually her name. These were both facts she did her very best to never acknowledge. What mattered was that Holly Thistle sounded ever so much better than Holly Greer. "I'm a second year Pecari."
1Holly GreerIt's more peaceful and relaxing that way123Holly Greer05
"Grand." Fynn grinned and easily whipped the chair over his shoulder, easily falling into step beside Holly. He'd hit a growth spurt over the summer and was quite tall for an eleven-year-old. But everybody in his family was tall. His eldest brother, Brody was only 16 and only a couple of inches shorter than their dad. Aengus always said they'd all inherit his length. Perfect for rugby, broad of shoulder and tall. Fynn was disappointed to find that magical school didn't have rugby. Heck, the United States hardly had rugby, he was going to miss all of the good action.
"Nice teh meet yeh Holly, 'sa pretty name. I'm a Pecari too, jest stahted though." Fynn's grin widened, if that was even possible, it nearly spilt his face in two. He was however, extremely happy to find somebody else in his house. He had met Marina at the welcome feast, but hadn't really had a chance to meet anybody else. "'s nice to meet semebodahy from theh same house."
Things had been so hectic and he had been so glad to get outside that his roommates had mostly still been sleeping when he'd stolen out of the room to enjoy the sunshine. He had always been an early riser, he like to get up early and enjoy the quiet before everybody else was up. It was when he and his aunt had their best discussions, plus he got to help her husband, Gerard on the farm.
"Hollywood, yeah? Must be ahn excitin' place teh live. Busy too, eh?" Fynn knew very little about the States, mostly from what he'd seen on television, but he did know that Hollywood was where all the movies were made, so therefore assumed it would be an interesting place to live. "I'm from Scotland, if yeh hadn't already guessed." He didn't know if people recognized his accent as Scottish or not, but he certainly didn't want them to think he was British.
0Finley MacGregorsounds kind of boring though0Finley MacGregor05
That's okay. I don't do well with stress.
by Holly Greer
Holly stepped aside to let the younger boy pick up her chair and heft it easily over his shoulder. Had she not been a girl who was accustomed to having everyone do everything for her, she might have been jealous. Instead, she just smiled warmly at him and led him in the right direction to where her stream and pond were. "Thank you," she told him, both in response to the compliment to her name and the carrying of the chair.
"There aren't very many of us Pecaris in my year. I'm the only girl - which, let me tell you, I don't mind at all. Sharing a room was one of the things I was most worried about before coming here - and I think there's only Raoul and one of the Cooper boys in the boys' room. It looked like a few more turned brown this year, but I haven't spoken to any of the other new first years yet." Neither did she really have any plans to do so, but she supposed it was likely unavoidable over the next six years.
"Hollywood is wonderful," she continued, smiling in wistful fondness for her home. Second year or not, she still felt a homesick whenever she thought about it. Especially this early in the year, the separation from her parents, sister (half-sister, really, but she didn't think of Molly like that), half-brother, and Wendy (her horse) was still fresh.
"Definitely busy," she agreed with a nod of emphasis. "My mother is an actress. My dad is the District Attorney. And my step-mother owns a catering company. So, there's always something happening. A new movie, a new case, a new party contract." She rolled her eyes in the exaggerated way only teen-aged girls from California could pull off properly. "And Mom's divorced again, so there's also the dating drama." She reminded herself to write to Danny to see if anything came of that Henry guy. The new school year had come at a very bad time. If that relationship was going to get serious, Holly should be home to make sure he was good for her mother (which is to say, to see if he spoiled Holly properly - new boyfriends tended to give out a lot of gifts). Why couldn't Sonora be closer and with more chances to go home?
She imagined it had to be a lot worse for Finley, though, who had come much farther. Owls from California took less than a day to make it to Arizona. If she wrote to her half-brother, she would usually get Danny's reply the very next day; sometimes even the same day if she sent it early enough. "Was it a terribly long trip here from Scotland? I though the wagon ride from California took forever and that's just a couple states away."
She looked around and realized they'd arrived. "Oh! Right here!" They had reached her favorite sunbathing spot. "This is where I was trying to get to. Isn't it lovely?" A burbling stream came out from between a break in the hedges and fed into a small quiet pond with very pretty lily pads and a colorful array of flowers on its banks. If one looked into the water, small schools of fish could be seen swimming around. "You can set down the chair anywhere."
1Holly GreerThat's okay. I don't do well with stress.123Holly Greer05
"Huh," Fynn replied to her housemates comment. "Think I've like tree or four other guys in my year, couple-tree girls. Not too sure though." Fynn didn't mind one way or another. There was nothing wrong with having guys or girls as friends. He had always wondered why his mates at home were so terrified of girls. It's not like they bit or anything. He had also grown up in a family of four boys, so any other kind of attention other than the 'I'm-going-to-beat-the-crap-outa-you' kind was okay with him. "I'm used teh sharing a room, got tree brothehs." That hadn't been something remotely bothersome to him, but he could understand why people wouldn't like it. He didn't always like it, but Casey wasn't that big of a pain.
"Wow, exiting life you live there." An actress, a lawyer, Hollywood, sounded like a movie right there. Fynn wasn't so sure he could live such a complicated kind of life. There had always just been the four boys, his mum and dad, and Aunt Aideen most of the time. She did only live down the road with her husband. His mum's death had been the biggest shock of his life, the biggest disruption. He couldn't imagine anything like the life Holly had just described.
"'s jest me Da and me brothehs at home. Me mum passed away couple a years ago. Da's an officer of the Magical Law Enforcement Office in the Ministry." He thought his dad's job was cool and kind of wanted to follow in his footsteps.
"Oh no," Fynn began to answer he question about his trip overseas. "Me Da, he apparated me over to a friend of his that lives in Colorado who dropped meh off at one of theh checkpoints where I got on one of theh wagons. Theh wagon ride was the longest part. But it was kind of cool though." He had never done any other kind of magical travel other than the floo network. He lived in a pretty muggle community so brooms were out of the question for the most part.
"Ah sure." Fynn said as Holly announced they had arrived at the spot. He opened her chair and set it in a sunny patch near the water. Her little hide-away was rather nice, green with the stream and lilypads. There was a tall maple on the other side that looked like a good climb, but that would mean getting wet to get there. "So ah, enjoy your relaxin'" Fynn said rather oddly. He wasn't sure if Holly wanted to relax in peace, or if she minded if he stayed.
0Finley MacGregorit's what I do de-stress0Finley MacGregor05
Then we should get along swimmingly
by Holly Greer
Holly sat down and laid back in the chair with a happy sigh of contentment. Finley had chosen a fine spot for it, and she had an excellent amount of sun and a perfectly fabulous view of the stream and pond that did not require her to crane her neck at all. Her attention was drawn back to the Scottish boy when he awkwardly told her to enjoy her relaxing and looked as though he wasn't sure whether he should stay or go now that he'd done the chivalrous thing of bringing her chair this far.
She made a vague inviting gesture. "I've only the one chair, but if you don't mind grass or rocks, you're welcome to stay." She kicked off her flip flops and stretched out on the chair for the best sun exposure to her already golden-tanned skin. A paler line around her ankle showed where she normally wore an anklet, though it wasn't there today. "If Danny is visiting - he's my half-brother on my mother's side - he'll usually sit by the pool with me." Danny usually just spent the time reading or otherwise ignoring her, but it was less lonely and more pleasant when he was there anyway.
"These brothers you mentioned," she continued, going back to an earlier point in the conversation to make sure he felt welcome should he decide he did want to stay. By asking a question, in fact, she was hoping that politeness would force him to stick around and keep her company. "Are they older or younger than you? Is anyone else magical?" Then, with no small amount of pride, she offered, "I am a pureblooded muggleborn: I am the only witch in my whole family."
1Holly GreerThen we should get along swimmingly123Holly Greer05
"Grand." Fynn smiled as Holly said he could stay. A little afternoon nap would be a nice reprieve for a while anyway. There was still so much of the grounds he had yet to see and explore. He figured it would take all year, but best to get a headstart while the weather was still good. So taking a seat in the soft grass near Holly's chair, Fynn laced his fingers together and leaned back to rest his head on them.
The sky was a gorgeous blue with white puffy clouds in all kinds of shapes drifing slowly across the horizon. Closing his eyes against the sushine, Fynn relished in the warmth on his face. He could see why Holly came here to relax. Between the sun, the light breeze and the gurgle of the stream, he would be asleep in minutes.
"Right, my whole family is magical. Both me parents, Da was muggleborm and Mum a pureblood. I've two older brothers, Brody, he's 16, Connor, he's 14 and one younger brother, Casey he's 9." Wondering at her contradictory statement of being a pureblood muggleborn, he just figured she was confused.
"A pureblood comes from an all wizarding family." He offered, wondering if she knew the difference. Some muggleborns didn't. His mum had explained it to him in addition to telling him that blood had nothing to do with the caliber of you magical abilities. Everything took practice no matter your background, it all took hard work. Magic genes go in and out of families, picking those who deserve them to come out. Thinking about his mum like that made him a little whistfull, so he changed the subject.
"So how are classes here?" So far they'd been pretty good for him, but he was curious to find out how hard they got and what other kinds of interesting things they would learn.
just don't go shattering my happy illusions
by Holly Greer
She blinked at him in obvious confusion as he randomly told her that a pureblood came from an all wizarding family. Of course they did. And a pureblood muggleborn came from an all muggle family. This was obvious. She shook her head and decided he must just be trying to be helpful since she was a pureblood muggleborn. He simply didn't realize Chelsea and Anabel had explained all of this to her already. It was kind of sweet, really.
Though, she was pretty sure, Fynn wasn't a pureblood himself. He'd said his father was a muggleborn, so that was two grandparents who were muggle and two grandparents who were magical, and that did not meet Chelsea's definition of pure. They had to all be the same. He was nice to her, though, so she wasn't going to hold it against him.
As he brought up classes, Holly rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Some of them are all right," she granted, trying to be positive for the new kid. "Charms is fascinating, and Transfiguration is usually pretty cool as long as we don't have to get too close to any toads or anything." She had no objection to turning toads into nicer things. The problem came when they tried to hop on top of her before she had a chance to do so. And she certainly didn't really have any interest in making there be more nasty toads in the world.
"Care of Magical Creatures is also usually pretty good. Some the creatures can be a little disgusting, but I heard that in fifth year, we get to go to a flying horse ranch, and that will be awesome. Horses are the best animals in the world. I have a white mare named Wendy at home." Her expression briefly turned sad, "I miss her as much as I do my family." More really, during times of high stress. And Professor Flatt was already making this year stressful. It did not bode well at all.
She drew in a deep breath and let it go, trying to recapture calm and equanimity. Best not to mention DADA, potions, or History if she wanted to keep it. "In third year, you get to pick electives: Ancient Runes or Muggle Studies. There used to be Divinations, too, but the teacher for that switched her job to become the guidance councilor." She smiled as she said the last two words with no small amount of happy relief. "She's really nice. I've already been in to talk to her once." It did not even occur to Holly that most people would not so easily volunteer this information.
"I'm only a second year, though, so I don't really know what Ancient Runes or Muggle Studies is like. I overheard Saul talking about it though." She stopped, because she feared he might think this meant she might be friends with the crazy older boy. "You can't help but overhear Saul," she told Fynn quickly, so as to reverse any mistaken impressions. "He's around the Commons a lot and he talks, all the time, about everything, to anybody. Anyway, he seemed to think it was a fun class."
She wasn't entirely sure how much she should trust the fifth year boy's opinion, but it was the only one she had to go on, and he was a prefect now, so she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. She did, however, feel the need to qualify her source, "But then I also heard him debating with himself whether the moon was made out of American cheese or Swiss cheese before he came to the sudden epiphany that it was actually made of mozzarella, so I wouldn't necessarily believe everything Saul says. Prefect or not."
Realizing how crazy that sounded, Holly added, "Sonora has some pretty strange people in it."\r\n\r\n
1Holly Greerjust don't go shattering my happy illusions123Holly Greer05
Unsure as to whether or not Holly actually understood what she was talking about, Fynn decided to let it pass without much notice. Never in his life had he heard of a pureblood muggleborn, they were just muggleborns. If any hardcore purebloods ever heard that, they'd have a fit! But it didn't matter to him, so he let it slide and resolved not to bring it up again. He knew he was of mixed blood, which didn't bother him at all, he liked it that way. His da's parents now knew a little about he wizarding world after having to send their only son to wizarding school, but it was cool to have different things to do at the respective houses.
Listening as Holly answered his question, he rolled onto his side to face her, propping his head in his hand. He knew it was just her opinion of the classes and that he'd have to experience them for himself to get a good feel, but it was fun to see what other people thought. He couldn't wait for Care of Magical Creatures, that really sounded like a class he would like, but Transfiguration sounded hard and Charms seemed pretty useful. Neither Ancient Runes nor Muggle Studies seemed very interesting. Ancient Runes sounded hard and he'd grown up in a mostly muggle community, so that didn't jump out at him either. He was glad Divinations was gone, that had no attraction at all.
The more Holly talked about this Saul guy, the more Fynn kind of wanted to meet him, sounded like an interesting person to be sure. Fynn liked different kinds of people, especially those that were a little bit crazy, they always made for a good time. Nodding in agreement to her statement about the people at Sonora, Fynn laughed to himself. Any wizarding community or school was certainly going to have a wide variety of people and that made life more interesting.
"I 'spose I'll have teh wait and find out for meself which ones I like. Not too excited about Transfiguration, sounds hard. But Creatures sounds good, like we'd see some interesting things. Potions won't be easy, but it may be fun. I'm not allowed in the kitchen at home, I tend ter make a mess." He laughed, thinking of the multiple times Aunt Aideen had kicked him out of the kitchen for spilling or throwing something.
0Fynn MacGregorI'll try hard not to0Fynn MacGregor05
Then we'll have a beautiful friendship
by Holly Greer
Holly nodded in reluctant agreement that her opinions were not everyone's opinions (though they should be, as she had far superior taste than most of her classmates) and that he would indeed have to see for himself which classes he liked best.
"My stepmother, Courtney, she's a fantastic cook. She sometimes lets me help her make cookies, but usually she sends me out of the kitchen, too. She owns a catering company," Holly added importantly, though Courtney rarely cooked personally for that anymore. She had an army of chefs that did the cooking now and Courtney just handled the business end of it.
Something Fynn said early suddenly struck her and she asked in interest, "Did your father ever remarry?" Not that she'd asked a lot of people, but most of her friends here still had both their parents - and they were even still married! - so she'd met very few other people at Sonora who had step parents. Until this moment, she hadn't realized how much she missed not being the only one with a re-marriage in her family.
1Holly GreerThen we'll have a beautiful friendship123Holly Greer05
Shaking his head in repsonse to Holly's question about his father, he half-shurgged as well. "S'only been two years, don't suppose he's ready yet. Me mum was sick for a long time." Fynn missed his mother terribly and hadn't even bothered to think about what would happen if his father found someone new. He knew it wouldn't happen for a while, and he didn't care to think in advance about it; he'd deal with it when the situation rose. "Me Aunt, she takes care of us for the most part. Just lives down theh road a bit.
"My oldest brother, Brody, he helps me da too. But he's back at school and it's just me little brother, Casey at home with me da for now." Brody helped out a lot. He'd always been a little bit of a rebel, but once their mum had passed away, he settled right down into trying to be the second adult of the house. He had taken really good care of Fynn and Casey through the whole disaster. Without much interest of dwelling on such a sore subject, Fynn rolled back to his previous position facing the sky and closed his eyes so that they didn't betray the little storm of emotions welling up.
But now that the subject had been brought up, he was a little curious, as it seemed like Holly had some experience with that kind of situation. "What's it like having a step-parent?" He was genuinely curious, even though it meant staying with an uncomfortable discussion topic.
Holly's disappointment that Fynn did not also have a step-parent was short lived as he explained about his mother's illness and that it had only been two years since she died. She gave him a sympathetic look, though she couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like for one of her parents to be gone forever. Even the ex-step-fathers that she never saw anymore were around someplace and if she really wanted to see them again, she could probably find them.
In Michael's case, she just had to go to the movie theater.
Eager to stop thinking along that train of thought, she latched onto Fynn's question immediately. "My mom and dad got divorced when I was just a baby," she told him, "so I can't remember them ever getting along. My first step parent was Danny's dad, but I can't really remember that because I was, like, one when Mom got remarried and that one lasted maybe a month. Danny wasn't even born yet. She got married lots of times since then."
Holly shrugged. The upheaval on her mother's side was something that she'd just had to get used to. "Step-dads come and step-dads go. They're good for a lot of presents, but we - me and Danny and my oldest half-brother Luke - don't expect them to stay very long. Danny says its because Mom's an actress, but Luke's Dad is a director and he can't keep a wife much better than Mom can keep a husband."
She took a deep breath and looked toward the peaceful stream and pond. "Then there's Courtney. Daddy got remarried when I was about four. I can almost remember the wedding. Courtney looked beautiful. Mom was going through a really bad divorce at the time, so I started living with Daddy and Courtney all time. I think it's sort of like how other people are with their two normal parents, except I've got Mom, too. I think of Molly as my real sister, not just a half-sibling, like I do with Danny and Luke on Mom's side. I've even called Courtney 'Mommy' a couple times, but usually I don't because that would get confusing."
She shrugged and looked back at Fynn. "It's not like she's taking mom's place or anything. They are totally different people, but I'm glad I have both of them. I mean, I love my mom, but she's always busy or going away or something, and Courtney's always there and she's a great step-mom. I love her so much. And her and Daddy have been married for eight years." Holly gave Fynn a look that showed her complete amazement at this particular feat. "They're obviously meant for each other."\r\n\r\n