Quote:
Originally Posted by
keepmeclose22 
Austin walked down the familiar hallway. It had been his favorite hiding place last term, although he didn't actually plan for it. The statue had just been the place he ended up after walking around for a while. When one sat next to it, one could easily become invisible. Not actually invisible, but no one even cared to take a second glance at you. Heck, no one even took a first glance. But that didn't matter to second-year Austin. No, he had loved the solitude it gave.
Now, Austin was in his third year, and had a whole new set of problems. He had gotten into a fight and detention within the first week of school. Thinking about it just reminded him of how much his arms still hurt from it. Hopefully he didn't have to go back to detention any time soon. Or... if he did, it would be a punishment that didn't involve using is arms for hours on end. Returning his thoughts back to the statue, he ran his hand along he stone. It had been an entire summer, and it looked as though the statue hadn't changed one bit. He assumed there would be cobwebs, or at least look older. But it looked like his favorite hiding spot hadn't changed much.
He took a deep breath, and sat where he had sat last year. He was a lot taller so sitting in a way where no one could see him was awkward. He couldn't pull his knees up to his chest for too long, for it gave him awful cramps in his legs. He resorted to crossing his legs and leaning his head against his stone friend. He thought about Ophelia, and what she was doing now. Maybe she was getting a good nap in before class, or maybe she was grabbing a snack. But all he could focus on was what he was going to say to her if he saw her. They hadn't seen much of each other since that first day in Professor Tanner's office. He wanted to talk to her then, but she had run out, ready to go make her apologies. What would he say to her? He would want to apologize himself, hoping she would understand that his anger got the better of him. Maybe she would bring up the fact that he sent her mother a letter, hoping he could change things. Her parents couldn't take her out of Hogwarts, she had to get her magic lessons somehow. Unless her parents planned on teaching her, which he highly doubted. If her sisters got wind of what happened, they would never let her forget. Where was Ophelia Clark now?
The kid was on a completely casual, not so secret mission to find her friend. The twelve year old missed King Blue Eyes, even though the last time they had met had been a complete disaster of epic proportions. And Ophelia was barely putting on the dramatic. However, that didn't mean that they could still have a supertacular friendship.... right? The blonde had even brought a plastic baggy full of gummy bears as a peace offering, though the candy was old and the Ravenclaw ended up eating half on the way.
It was funny though, because the statue was actually one of the LAST places she looked. Even though this exact spot was where she found him last year, and even where she planned on hiding if things ever got rough around Hogwarts. Or if she needed a quiet place to sketch. Which reminded her, she still had a drawing of an alien coming out of a mom's stomach to show Austin. The second year had made it over the summer as kind of a commemoration of his little sister but never finished it. maybe King Blue Eyes could help, give the baby-alien some kind of terrifying face or something. Maybe it would be therapeutic?
"Coming in hot!" And with that, she placed her owl backpack --Ophelia only traveled in style-- down on the ground and sat next to Austin, smiling and waiting for him to say something. Yeah, he should say something, right? She was younger, and therefore less experienced at making up with friends. And she was the cuter of the two, so it was totally hits turn. Except fr the concept of gummy bears. That was her terrain.
"I have some candy if you want. It's kind of old though. Still good! I ate like half of it!" And in response, Ophelia popped a red gummy bear into her mouth and chewed. "And I have something for you if you wanna destroy it or something!" So much for letting him talk first. Or not talking with candy in your mouth. Except the candy was against one of her cheeks, so it wasn't like he could see it. Reaching into her backpack, she found the paper and tore it out of her sketchbook with a tiny kee-yah for effect, handing the drawing of the strange faceless alien baby to King Blue Eyes.