It wasn't as if this had been the first time Skylar had been up to the Ravenclaw Tower. And honestly? She had no reason to be up here now; Noah was graduated and she was lost and confused. Not lost, because after over five years in the castle, she knew her way around, thank you very much. But she was lost in the sense that she had no idea what she was doing.

She hadn't meant to audition for the play this year, and somehow she found herself doing that, landing herself a role as Uncle Henry. She was supposed to be cutting back on classes and focusing on things that interested her to simplify her career choices. And yet, instead, she found herself adding more classes to her schedule; because alchemy and wandlore totally sounded interesting to the sixth year.

So the slytherin captain found herself wandering up to the Ravenclaw tower, in hopes for some wisdom from big brother. And it was kind of silly, because big brother wasn't there. She had no way to enter the common room, without a Ravenclaw and it would be fruitless to want to anyway, since she didn't have a reason. But maybe.... being just outside, would be enough to somehow clarify her thoughts about anything and everything. Personal and non-personal. How did some people just KNOW what they wanted to do and yet herself? A top student in most of her classes and skilled quidditch player, was completely lost?

Ravenclaw was without a doubt the only place for Garreth. No matter how much his father insisted there had to be some mistake and that he belonged in Gryffindor like his mother. There was no denying the fact that the eagle's nest was his home and the lion's den could never take its place. However, despite his convictions, there was one thing that Garreth envied the lions for: Their 'commute'. What a nightmare it was to trudge up all these stairs every single time he needed to visit the common room! Especially on days such as this one! He'd spent every second of his free time searching the castle and the grounds, and was only just now returning. He hoped to see a familiar face once he got to the common room, but he wasn't optimistic. This was just not his week. First he'd lost a library book, and now this!

Huffing and puffing, but not Hufflepuffing, the boy dragged his tired frame up the stairs, lost in his thoughts and doing everything he could to direct his focus away from how mentally and physically exhausted he was. His tall and slender frame could easily give off the impression that he was in good shape, but the heavy breathing would immediately betray that idea. He did recently find out he was pretty good at playing catch, but that wasn't going to help him with these infernal steps.

Oh no.

Garreth inhaled sharply as he suddenly became acutely aware that he was no longer alone. Someone had totally heard how out of shape he was! How embarrassing. He turned his head towards the shape he'd seen out of the corner of his eye to spot Skylar standing by the entrance to the common room. The Slytherin Quidditch Captain! Now it was even more embarrassing since the person who heard him was practically a professional athlete.

"Erm.. Hey there." he spoke more to break the silence than anything else. He didn't know Skylar very well. In fact, he barely knew her name, but if there was one thing Garreth was good at it was faking confidence. And he certainly had plenty of experience turning embarrassing first encounters into lasting friendships. "Admiring the knocker?" he gestured towards the door.

Well of course she couldn't linger out here forever without being caught, but Skylar hadn't anticipated someone to come along so quickly. She turned at the 'erm', half expecting it to be Ethan Dixon, because well, the hesitations sounded like something the older Ravenclaw would say but instead it was Ethan's roommate. Or at least the captain was almost positive that it was his roommate ... Gerald? Gerry? Garrett? Eh, one of those G names.

Admiring the knocker? Why, yes, Mr G named Ravenclaw, she was. She was actually hoping to glean wisdom from it too, but of course her stubbornness wasn't about to admit lack of confidence. At least not to someone she barely knew. Ethan or Apollo or Vivian or Hattie were some of the few she'd be able to trust with with her self-conscious issues. Or Noah, but as she stared up at the bronze knocker, she was painstakingly reminded that she was the only Diggory at Hogwarts this year.

"Hey. I was just ... thinking of my brother." She bit her lip. It was partial truth. She was thinking of him, but because she needed his guidance. "You maybe knew him? He graduated last year. Noah.... Noah Diggory." No need to mention that he was a Ravenclaw, right?

It was a struggle to not let out an audible sigh of relief at the realization that Skylar wasn't about to pick on him about the heavy breathing from his long journey up the stairs. But Garreth was quite used to holding back in front of people he didn't know so well, and managed to suppress it. As he silently recovered from the workout, his mind began to wander from the initial shock of embarrassment to a more curious tone. Why was the Slytherin Captain up here? It was rare to see anyone but Ravenclaws bothering to make the journey up to the tower despite the fantastic view from the windows. At least, Garreth had seen very few non-eagle students up there.

Thinking of her brother? The boy gave a sympathetic nod of his head as she explained herself. She looked a little uncomfortable, and for a moment, Garreth thought something terrible had happened that made her reluctant to talk about it. He'd graduated? Oh no, that was terrible. How awful it must feel to have to leave Hogwarts and never come back. For oneself and the friends one leaves behind. "Oh, yeah, I knew Noah." he smiled after a short moment of searching his memory. Glad to have found some common ground between him and the slightly intimidating Slytherin, he shuffled on his feet and looked decidedly more comfortable "Well, I didn't really know know him, but I saw him around the common room a lot, and we had the occasional chat. He seemed nice." Admittedly, it wasn't much to go on, but it was something.

"I guess you must really miss him." he blurted out, regretting it almost instantly. What a stupid question. Of course she did.

Nah, Skylar was way to preoccupied with her own thoughts to pick on him or even really notice the breathing of the older Ravenclaw. Sorry? And his answer about her brother actually made a lot of sense, considering they were Ravenclaws and she gathered that the house was probably the least social of the four houses. So while they may have knew of each other, getting close to one another, wasn't really their style. No, they were hyper focused on other aspects rather than conversations.

"Yea, he was kind of my sounding board. I just... i feel lost. Confused." Strange to admit that to a complete stranger, wasn't it? "I just ... it's weird. Without him here. When he's just, even though we've been in different houses, he's always just been there. And now... he's not." Okay, that sounded way too pathetic. By Merlin, she was SIXTEEN, not SIX.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, for unloading all that on you. You probably just want to go study or something..." Cause that was what Ravenclaws did, right?

Garreth couldn't help but frown slightly at the tone of Skylar's voice. The way she spoke reminded him of an unpleasant, but very familiar feeling he'd wrestled with a lot before. He listened intently as she spoke, nodding sympathetically at her explanation of what she was going through. Her situation reminded him a lot of what it had been like for him after Azura left Hogwarts.

It occurred to Garreth that he hadn't known many Slytherins during his time at Hogwarts so far, but the impression he'd gotten from those he did know made this interaction with Skylar slightly surprising. He'd never known anyone from her house to be quite so open, especially with someone they barely knew. Of course, as soon as he'd had that thought, she apologized for 'unloading' on him. Oh no, no. That just wouldn't do. The boy shook his head quickly at her apology and letting a slight smile appear on his face at her remark.

"No, that's fine, don't worry about it. I understand." he tried to reassure her that she genuinely wasn't bothering him. The remark about studying hadn't bothered him either, even if it was a bit of a stereotype. Some of them were in Ravenclaw because they were witty, you know! Not Garreth, of course, he was practically the living embodiment of the stereotypical Ravenclaw.. But she didn't know that! In any case, here was a fellow student who clearly had a lot on her mind, and a lot of weight on her shoulders. Maybe Garreth could help?

"If Noah were here now.. Is there something you'd need his help for?"