Amaris sat staring at the book in front of her, the same page had been open for nearly twenty minutes now. Her focus kept shifting to the golden light filtering through the swaying branches outside the window and how it played across the table. She glanced up at Steffan again, he was reading leisurely.
In hindsight, she could admit that her plan had been reckless and she was trying to be patient. Turning her gaze back to the window, she could glimpse blue sky. Her knee bounced under the table. She'd never been good at patience.
"Is this all you do?" She said abruptly. The other three looked at her, startled, "All day, every day you just sit and read? I mean, you guys must read more than Hermione!"
"Same can be said for all Ravenclaws," Matt said with a shrug, "she's only a nerd by Gryffindor standards."
"And Gryffindors set a rather low bar," Steffan added, still looking at his page.
"Okay," Amaris said slightly offended, "well as a Gryffindor, I think we've done enough reading for one day."
"What else is there to do?" Asked Kim, chewing at the sleeve of her cardigan.
"Anything!" Amaris said, throwing open her arms, "We could play cards or, I don't know, go outside. It's such a wonderful day."
"The thing is-" Steffan began.
Amaris cut him off, jumping up and packing her bag, "No excuses. I don't care if you were researching a spell, bring the book and then you can practice it outside." Then she began tugging the others out of her seats, too. "I think you all need the fresh air."
"The thing is," Steffan started again, "is that we come here so that we don't draw attention to ourselves."
"Don't worry, I know a place no one will spot us," Then Amaris began dragging all of them out of the library.
The castle grounds were mostly deserted, anyway. The few students that did dot the slopes down to the Forbidden Forest or the banks of the Black Lack paid them little attention. Amaris led them towards the shore, across the glistening grassy slopes that reflected the golden rays of the Spring sun floating over the Forbidden Forest.
She stopped in front of the willow tree, its benches once again heavy with leaves. After grinning at her friends, Amaris darted behind the green curtain, disappearing from view. The others followed her, lifting their arms to protect their faces from the branches.
They found themselves in a cosy circle that was completely secluded from the outside world. Surrounded by a barrier of ever-shifting leaves that hung down from the twisted branches of the tree high above and brushed against the ground. It was broken only on the side of the lake, giving them a view across the dark water that lapped gently at a bank a few meters from the trunk of the tree. The light filtering through the leaves danced across the ground with the shift of the branches in the wind. The sounds from the school seemed muffled and in the cosy, timeless atmosphere of this place, it would be easy to forget the outside world existed at all.
Amaris had already climbed up the tree's rough bark and was sitting on a branch with her back to the trunk. Her eyes were closed and she looked to be in absolute bliss.
"It's beautiful here," Kim said.
Steffan waved his wand over a raised tree root, cleaning it, before he sat down, "It's peaceful," he said, "secluded."
"Yeah, I've never seen anyone come here," Amaris said.
"I wonder why when it's so nice here," Matt said as he attempted to climb up after Amaris. He got pretty close but his arms weren't quite long enough to reach a decent handhold, his legs kicked comically in the air for a few seconds before he thumped back to the ground.
YOU ARE READING
The Outcasts Of Hogwarts
Fanfiction"I know you know what I am, Professor Lupin. Our kind can always recognise one of their own" "Yes, but there's something different about you. Something I can't understand" There's a new student at Hogwarts when Harry returns for his third year. She...
