Sure as the Dawn

[Lachlan Moore]

It was the first sunny morning the students of hogwarts could in enjoy in quite some time, it was sunny, still very cold but regress the feeling of warming sun shine was enough to boot most spirits. The great lake glittered in the morning light and all the grounds trees were still, all that is except the whomping willow of course, for not a breath of wind blew.

The sun had not been in the sky long and most of the students of hogwarts were still asleep, warm and snug in their beds. The house elves had prepared the first of the mornings food and the few soles that were awake seemed to be in the great hall enjoying what was on offer.

Being a Saturday morning students were allowed to do just about whatever they wished. There were no classes and it was only the poor soles serving time in detention that would have anywhere they needed to be today. As for Lachlan, well he chose to be on the cool green grass that covered the banks of the great lake. He seemed to be the only one outside this early in the morning and truth be told he was enjoying the solitude.

Lachlan was a tall lad, 6 foot and still growing. He was fairly well muscled but had a lean look to him like someone had stretched a slightly smaller person out. His hair was dark brown and his eyes lively and hazel. Lachlan always had a carefree look to him, his hair always looked a bit windswept from time on his broom of ruffled in the absence of a comb. He wasn’t a messy guy, or unclean in anyway just a little scruffy. Lochs clothing probably didn’t help his appearance, his robes were second hand and a bit faded out, however today Loch had relinquished his robes in favour of a pair of blue jeans and a hand knitted jumper of burgundy that his grandmother had made him for his 16th birthday.

Lachlan planned on flying today, maybe he would find Heather later and see if she wanted to play a bit of Quidditch, but for now his was happy to do not a whole lot at all. Loch simply lay upon his back on the cool green grass, his hands behind his head and watched the sky turn from yellow to blue. In seemed most people prefer the evening, but for Loch dawn was the best time, who knew what the day could bring.

[Kellie Whitmore]

Kellie loved the weekends. Although she liked her classes, she had a bit of a problem with having a set schedule that she had to follow. It got so tedious, always having to be in a certain place at a certain time, over and over and over again. Life should never be a monotony; it was meant to be an adventure. Of course, being only 16, Kellie mostly experienced adventure through books. But she hoped one day to travel to distant lands, exploring and meeting people and having adventures. As the end of her sixth year began creeping closer and closer, she was constantly thinking about her future career path and what would bring her the most adventure and satisfaction.

But all of that would have to wait for another day. It was Saturday, the sun was shining, the weather was starting to be warm, and she was looking forward to having the day to herself.

On a day like this, it was always a good idea to stake out one's territory early. Most of the kids would be out there by noon, wanting to play or lay out on the grass. The brave ones would probably even swim. But Kellie... she just wanted to read. So she went down to the kitchens and persuaded the house elves to make her a picnic basket filled with pastries, sandwiches, drinks, and other snacks. Then she took the basket and headed out to the tree in front of the lake.

But when she got there, someone was already there, lying back in the grass. He was in her year, but a Hufflepuff, and, if she remembered correctly, he was on the Hufflepuff quidditch team.

"Hi," she said, tucking a lock of her flaming red hair behind one ear. "Mind if I sit here?"

[Lachlan Moore]

Lachlan’s mind was on far away things as he stared lazily at the clouds letting the morning sun warm his face, completely oblivious to all that surrounded him Loch was given quite a start at the sound of a gentle voice. The young man sat up quickly turning his head toward his new company. Blinking from the brightness Loch allowed his eyes to settle upon the girl; standing before him picnic basket in hand.

Lachlan recognized her immediately as a sixth year Ravenclaw, her flaming red hair made her hard to miss, but she was also very pretty, and it was for that quality that he recognized her most. Loch was certain he had had a class with her at some stage, and thought that perhaps it was Potions. Other than that Loch hadn’t had much to do with her and felt awful that he couldn’t remember her name, was it Katie? Or maybe it was Kathy? Mentally kicking himself he nodded with an awaked smile. “Um, yeah, of course, make yourself comfortable” Loch wasn’t overly confidant with girls, he never had been. He always found himself getting nerves and being at a loss for words. Loch was quite delighted that this pretty Ravenclaw had decided to sit by him but he was sure that he was about to drive her away with his awkwardness.

Perhaps if Lachlan had known that he and Kellie shared a passion for adventure, he would have felt more at ease. Although while Kellie found hers in the pages of books and in the hopes of exploring distant lands Lachlan found his upon the Quidditch field and on stormy nights working upon his fathers fishing trawler, (one of the perks of being muggle born in his opinion.) maybe they had more in common than Loch assumed.

Loch leaned forward resting his forearm upon his now raised knee, he watched Kellie and wondered what had brought her out this early in the day. Wanting to engage her in some kind of conversation Loch continued. “I think we have a class together, I’m Loch” Lachlan wasn’t sure if Kellie knew his name but he was certain they’d never been formally introduced and so took a bit of initiative, not a normal thing for him to do.

[Kellie Whitmore]

As the boy opened his eyes to look at her, she regarded him with interest. She didn't know him well enough to know his name, but she also recognized him immediately from one of her classes. He was probably in double potions with her; that seemed somewhat familiar. At any rate, he seemed nice enough, as she would expect from a Hufflepuff. After all, Kristen, one of her closest friends, was also in Hufflepuff.

Squinting against the early morning sunlight, she sat down in the cool grass next to him and set her book and her picnic basket down beside her. Extending her hand to him, she replied, "Yes, I think we're in potions. I'm Kellie... nice to meet you, Loch."

She nodded toward the picnic basket and added, her cheeks flushing a pale pink, "I'm pretty much planning on sitting here all day," she said. "I even packed a snack. Do you want anything? I think the house elves added a couple of butterbeers..."

[Lachlan Moore]

Loch watched Kellie as she lay down her basket, and a book he had only just noticed on the grass beside him, before she then lowered herself to the grass as well. He wasn’t wondering why she was here so early in the morning anymore, but he did wonder what it was she was reading.

Loch grasped Kellie’s hand firmly in greeting when she offered it to shake, but hopefully not tightly enough to cause any discomfort on Kellie’s behalf. He felt annoyed at himself when she introduced herself, how could he have forgotten the name Kellie? “nice to meet you too, Kellie” he responded with a genuine smile. So far things didn’t seem to be going to badly.

When Kellie offered him a butter beer he nodded and smiled “umm, yeah that would be nice, thanks” braking eye contact he glanced around for a moment before his gaze fell upon her book, eager to carry on the conversation he nodded toward it “What are you reading?” loch himself wasn’t a big reader, he read for school of course but rarely for pleasure, unless it was on a topic him found particularly interesting (such as Quidditch).

Looking at Kellie Lachlan imagined that she was probably quite a big reader, she was a Ravenclaw after all and had said that she planned on being here in this spot all day and with nothing but a picnic basket and a book he couldn’t imagine what else she would be up to, but still he found it hard to believe anyone could just sit and read all day long, that must be a heck of a book she had.

[Kellie Whitmore]

Kellie opened her basket and took out two butterbeers. As she peered inside, she saw that it was a magical basket that was bigger than it seemed on the outside, and it had probably been charmed to keep in from getting heavy as well. It was filled with much more food than she could possibly need, even if she did sit out here all day like she planned. The house elves had really outdone themselves, and she would have to go and give them a thank you later. It didn't matter to Kellie that they were servants; she thought everyone deserved to know that their actions were appreciated.

She handed one of the butterbeers to Lachlan, then popped the cap of her own bottle.It seemed a little odd to be drinking butterbeer so early, but what was the harm in it? She took a long sip from the bottle, enjoying the smnooth, buttery, andn slightly sweet taste of the drink as it flowed past her lips.

"Oh, the book?" she said, turning her attention to Lachlan again. She set the bottle down and picked up her book. "It's called The Two Towers," she explained. "It's part of this amazing trilogy called the Lord of the Rings. Have you ever heard of it?"

[Lachlan Moore]

“Thanks ”Lachlan said as he took the drink from Kellies hand. He twisted off the metal cap of his own bottle and listened to it releases a little hiss. Keeping hold of the cap in one hand Loch took a short swig, it was cool and he felt immediately refreshed. It had been early when he rose this morning and hadn’t bothered to have a big breakfast.

Fidgeting was a bad habit of Lachlan’s, he didn’t normal do it though, usually only before a big game or an important test, but he was doing it now, flipping the cap from the butter beer through the fingers of his left hand. Kellie made him a little nervous, in a good way but it took away from the confidence he usually felt in himself.

He let the butter beer hang lazily from his hand as Kellie picked up her book. “Yeah, I have actually, my little sister Katie’s only thirteen but she loves ‘em. I’m a muggle born so we have a fair bit of Muggle literature at our house.” Loch considered asking Kellie if she had a muggle parent or parents herself, after all it was unusual for a witch or wizard to be reading a book written by a muggle but he thought better of it, after all it was a sensitive topic with some and she would no doubt share the information if she wanted to.

Loch looked down to see if Kellie was far into the book “Are you enjoying it?” he asked “I suppose you must be if you got up this early to read it…”

[Kellie Whitmore]

Kellie’s cheeks began to turn a pale shade of pink as she held the book in her hands. Kellie was the kind of girl who could read books over and over and over again and still find the same sense of surprise and wonder within the pages. She had read the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy at least 4 times. She wondered if he would think she was strange for re-reading books multiple times. After all, there were so many out there that she had not read. But sometimes it was hard to get her hands on muggle books, since she was the only person in her family who loved to read. Her mother was never very interested in books, and so Kellie had to buy them whenever she saved up a little money.

Being a halfblood, she had always sort of felt like she was caught between two worlds. The muggle world was actually just as magical to her as the wizarding world. Muggles dreamed of magic and told wonderful stories of dragons and princesses and fairies and unicorns. The wizarding world took magic for granted, and viewed it as a right, not a privilege.

“My mum’s a muggle,” she replied. “But I’m sort of the family oddball. My mum and sisters are much more at home looking in a mirror than in a book.”

Taking another sip of her drink, she gave him an appraising look. He seemed to be a little bit shy, and she couldn’t imagine why. “It’s a good book. I’ve read it 3 or 4 times already. I swear it gets better each time.”

[Lachlan Moore]

Lachlan considered Kellie for a moment, she didn’t strike him as an odd ball, admitably it was maybe a little strange to spend so much time reading the same series books but if she still enjoyed them there wasn’t any harm in it. “Better a book than a mirror in my opinion, I can’t imagine anyone taking away much from a reflection. Do you have many sisters?”

It’s easy to understand how one could feel trapped between the magical world and the muggle one. Loch always felt removed from his family while away at school and over the holidays when he was back at the little old cottage by the ocean it was almost like the magical world didn’t exist at all.

Taking another few gulps of his butter beer he set the now half empty bottle down beside him. Kellie wasn’t like most of the other girls he had met, like Kellies sisters most came across a little ‘prissy’ or sometimes harsh, she didn’t really strike him as either, her tempter more expected from a fellow Hufflepuff (not to say Hufflepuff girls aren’t prissy and silly as the rest, he knew for a fact they mostly are).

“Well they must be good for you to have read them so many times, what is it that you enjoy so much about it?” Loch looked upon the book in her hands with interest. It was more interesting to him to find out what had captivated Kellie so much about the tale then what was in the story itself.

[Kellie Whitmore]

Kellie's smile was wry as he asked about her sisters. Chances were, he had never crossed paths with Kelsey or Katrina. They were both Slytherins, and as such, unlikely to ever speak with a Hufflepuff. She was definitely not Slytherin material, and she was secretly proud of that fact. Part of her wished she had really broken the chain and gotten sorted into Gryffindor. Their mother might not have cared, but her sisters would never have known what to do with her if that had happened.

"Well, let's see. I've got one older sister, Keira. She's married and works in the bakery in Hogsmeade. Then there's Kelsey; she's a year younger than I am. Katrina is thirteen. And no... before you ask, I don't know what my mother was thinking when she decided to give us all 'K' names." She rolled her eyes at this. "Anyway, they are all--or were, in Keira's case--in Slytherin. I'm the only Ravenclaw. I'm also the only redhead. See what I mean? Oddball."

She paused to take another drink from her bottle, and looked at him with interest. She had been known to sit at quidditch games with her nose in a book, but she seemed to remember that he was a good player. That topic of conversation would probably bring him out a little more, and she made a mental note to ask him about it.

But first, he had asked her about the book, and it was very difficult to contain her enthusiasm about reading. One might even say that reading was to her what quidditch was to him. "I don't even know if I can describe what's so incredible about it. It's just such an amazing adventure, with tales of bravery and heroic sacrifices and battle scenes. My favorite character is Eowyn... she's this beautiful princess, but she's also a warrior who wants to fight for her country, and she's in love with this guy named Aragorn... but he loves an elf princess named Arwen..." She sighed a sort of dreamy sigh. "I guess it's hard to explain, but I always get swept away by the characters, and I imagine myself in their place. Does that sound crazy?"

[Lachlan Moore]

Lachlan looked right into Kellie’s eyes, his gaze not wavering in the slightest. He might not have been great with girls but he was a confidant person, he never doubted who he was. “I think that maybe oddball is the wrong word, different maybe but there’s nothing wrong with that.” Loch smiled warmly “I’ve never met any of your sisters but I’ll admit you don’t sound much like them I can’t imagine you with blonde hair, or being in Slytherin anyway…. Perhaps you’re the milkman’s daughter…” it was a bad joke but he wanted to get a smile out of her, Kellie seemed a little discouraged with being so different from the rest of her family.

No one could help but smile at hearing Kellie describe her favorite books; Lachlan loved her passion for them. Daring heroics and bravery, Loch could see the appeal, and truthfully the thought he understood her desire to be part of it. A beautiful princess, a warrior with the courage to fight for the home she loves. And as much as he could understand longing for such things he found it hard to comprehend how she could just read about it. “No it doesn’t sound crazy at all… Only, I don’t understand how you can read about the adventures of your Eowyn while missing out on your own… Have you ever thought of going off on your own adventure?” a silly question perhaps for someone surrounded by all the wonders that the magical world had to offer. Lachlan couldn’t imagine that she hadn’t. Granted there is only so much a sixteen-year-old underage witch or wizard can do, but still even hogwarts itself was a vessel for adventure.

Lachlan ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be so bold.” Sadly it was one of Lachlan’s shortcomings. Loch had always had a bit of a problem with keeping his thoughts to himself and being far too blunt.

Kellie and Lachlan hadn’t been sitting below the tree long but already the sun was beginning to warm the greens and a few more students were coming out on to the grounds. Kellie wasn’t getting much reading done and he wasn’t in solitude but Loch felt he was beginning to know a little about the Ravenclaw girl and he wasn’t regretting the mornings turn of events at all.

[Kellie Whitmore]

Maybe it was true that Kellie was substituting a real-life adventure for the ones in books. She had never really thought of it that way before, but she supposed it was true. The trouble was that, at age 16, she still felt like she was waiting for her life to really start. She had to finish school first, and decide what she wanted to do with her life. One thing was certain, however. She could never settle for the kind of life her older sister lived. Keira wasn't happy, and it was clear to everyone who knew her. She was lonely and bored and unfulfilled, and although Kellie didn't have the courage to ask her about it, she suspected that her sister did not love her husband, either.

And then there was Kelsey, who was so desperate to be popular and special that she hung around a girl who treated her like... well, like a minion. If she ever outlived her usefulness to Brenda, Kelsey would surely be tossed aside like yesterday's parchment paper.

Kellie couldn't live like that. She couldn't let anyone tell her how to be or what to do, and she could never settle for a safe, comfortable life. No, one day... she would have her adventures. Until then, she would read about them.

"I will one day. After I'm finished school. I figure, I'm still young and I don't want to experience too much too soon, you know? I want to learn and be ready for whatever life hands me. And really... being at Hogwarts is enough of an adventure for now. Like I said, my mum's a muggle, and my dad... he was a wizard, but he died when I was pretty young, so we didn't really grow up with a lot of magic in the house. So all of this is as new to me as it is to you. Do you ever just wake up in the morning and look around and think, wow.... I'm actually sleeping in a castle?"

[Lachlan Moore]

It would stand to reason that Lachlan’s problem was quite the opposite to Kellies. He never waited for much at all, too busy just doing to stop and think much about what his plans were for the future. If it was true that Kellie hid in books then it was probably true for him that he hid in the present, rarely ever stopping to look at what was ahead.

Loch could help but give a laugh, “every morning.” He said in absolute honesty. Reaching inside his robes he pulled out his wand. Like his robes Lachlan’s wand was second hand, however it fit him perfectly. “Its this that gets me the most” he said holding it in his fingers between both hands, “who’d ever have thought we could do magic.”

“What is it that you have planned for when you finish school? For a career I mean.” Talk of the future had gotten him wondering. Lachlan himself wasn’t sure of what he was going to do when he left school. It was always understood in his family that the oldest son takes on the families finishing business; it had been the way of his family for years. However although Lachlan had a passion for the ocean fishing would hardly be a challenge for him once he could use magic out of school, all he would need to do is perform a summoning charm. But he always found it interesting to know what others had planned

((ooc: sorry its so short, I was struggling to think of what to say))

[Kellie Whitmore]

“It is pretty incredible when you think about it,” Kellie agreed. “All those things that everyone thinks aren’t real, like magic, and dragons and unicorns… They are real, they’re just hidden. I always love to read stories about those things… To muggles, they’re just fantasies and dreams. There’s a wizard in this book… His name is Gandalf. I always picture him looking a lot like Professor Dumbledore. You know, with the long white hair and beard and robes… But who would have ever thought we would be like that? I read this book called The Wizard of Oz, and there was a witch in that book, and she was really ugly and evil. When I first found out that my older sister was a witch, I was really scared, because I thought she’d turn all ugly like that. But she didn’t, of course…. It seems silly now to think of it.”

She giggled, realizing that she had been kind of babbling. But she couldn’t help it. Every day, even when the routine seemed to set in and everything seemed to drag on forever, all she had to do was think about magic and how incredible it all was, and she felt the thrill go through her again.

“Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is, to a certain extent, every day is kind of an adventure.”