Boredom and books [open]

Zane finished his classes and decided he needed some fresh air. He loved the cool air and today was perfectly in line with it. He put on his favorite red hoodie and jeans and headed out to the lawns. The wind was picking up, so he pulled the hood up over his head and wandered. It had been a crazy week, what with Erixon coming back and his run in with De'Ath, the teacher not the reaper. He didn't want to lose his spot on the team and he never wanted to speak with his charms teacher again. He saw a tree nearby and he grinned, he loved climbing trees as a kid. He took off running and then jumped as he got closer swinging his body up and clinging to the bare branch.

From up here he could see everything the grounds had to offer. The Willow, which no one messed with, the lake and even the pitch. In the middle of the grass he could see a shadow, it seemed like a person or possibly a ghost. Which even as he thought it, he realized how ridiculous a shadow being a ghost would be. He figured it must be a student and he had spent most of the day alone he could use some company. He dropped down and landed with a thud. He pulled his hood down and walked towards the spot on the grass.

As he approached he could make out her face, she was a beautiful girl but he had not one clue who she was. She was not wearing her robes, so he didn't even know what house she was in. He heard her speak and realized that he had just creepily strode up behind this girl and she must be extremely confused. He really didn't think this through "Oh hi. I was..." Then he took notice of her book, he had read it cover to cover. "Oh did you get to the Alihotsy portion, definitely worth the read" It was awkward but no more awkward then sneaking up on someone while wearing a hood.

Even in the bitter cold, the sun was blinding, at least for the girl seated in front of him. He wondered how he must look right now, the sun blasting over his back, making it difficult for her to see him. He must look like an angel or something, the thought made him chuckle inside. As she asked him about the first sentence he formed, he could feel his cheeks go red. He had no real explanation for what he was doing, he had gotten caught up and now he was standing over top of her, which was extremely creepy. So he took a step back and spoke about her book.

Her face seemed to light up at the mention, he had a feeling herbology was her favorite class, she must be in Hufflepuff he thought. He smiled as she laughed, it was genuine and good spirited. His father always told him you could learn a lot about a person by their laugh. A good laugh is hard to find he would say, that’s how he fell in love with his mother. He shook that thought as soon as it came, he was trying to enjoy himself. “Of all the defenses I have read, definitely my favorite” He had quite literally laughed when he had read the chapter himself, irony for what the subject covered.

After a quick second she was standing and had turned slightly, he gladly turned with her feeling the sun on the side of his face as opposed to his back. She introduced herself and held her hand out, he quickly followed suit. “Nice to meet you Kitty. The name is Zane but my friends call me O.C.” He let her hand and go and pulled his hood down and rolled sleeves up on the sweatshirt. The sun was making it quite warm out here, a notion he was enjoying. “So what brings you out here Miss Kitty?”

He couldn’t help but agree about the venomous tentacula, dangerous son of a bitch even for a plant. He found himself laughing when she made the gesture about the teeth. She was quirky and seemed to really enjoy the dangerous plants, most girls he knew still preferred to discuss roses even when they held no magical ability especially no murderous abilities. It was like talking to one of the guys, with boobs. Though to be fair one of the guys in his room had boobs but not the fun kind. It took a beat to realize that he was now thinking about one of his roommates moobs instead of the sentence that Kitty had just begun.

He smiled as he caught up and realized she was talking about his nickname. He had never thought about it that way but he realized it was different. Sensible and flowing just as well if not better. “It’s short for O’Callahan, my last name. My youngest cousin couldn’t say my first name so she called me OC, it was all she could say then, after that it stuck. Even my mother doesn’t call me Zane.” At this point only professors and a handful of classmates called him anything but OC.

He enjoyed her reasoning, it was a tad bit warmer than it had been in previous weeks and it seemed the worst of the snowfall had passed at this point. Still not warm but definitely nice enough to soak up some sun. He laughed and smirked. “Yes actually, typically I scream boo and enjoy the yelling and sometimes when im lucky, crying.” He winked at her and spun around looking out over the lake. “Honestly it’s been a long day of classes and now I’m just excited to do nothing and enjoy this scenery. Though added company is definitely a plus” He grinned and turned to face her again. This felt like the beginning of quite the friendship.

Running his hands through his hair he smiled sincerely. “Well thank you. I quite like Kitty, it’s different and definitely less formal.” He had heard it done before, maybe not with Katherine but in all reality there was no better way to shorten Katherine. Kath or Kathy sounded like an old woman. Kat is barely better, Kitty gives that youthful feel to it and playful at the same time. He really did get a kick out of her name. When he had first got to Hogwarts people gave him a hard time about his name, asking if he was from California, which was hilarious to him. He had grown up in the north east but since he went by OC everyone assumed he was a surf bum with no brains.

He couldn’t help but laugh as she snapped her fingers and spoke. She played right along with what he had said, something he really appreciated. “Well that would be fantastic. On Thursday I have double potions and then Transfiguration with Slytherin , so I could really use the good laugh that day.” Thursday really was going to be one of the worst days of the year and he could use some fun, not that causing people to cry actually made him smile but the idea itself was amusing.

“I grew up outdoors, camping and everything that goes with it. I’ve spent so much time in that castle my dreams have consisted of the intricacies of my bedroom ceiling” he wished that he was kidding but he had that dream two weeks ago. He grinned, a walk sounded pretty good right now. “I hear nowhere is beautiful this time of year” He laughed with her and looked out to the grounds. “Lead the way m’lady” he held his arm out pointing towards nowhere. He smiled to himself and took the first steps on this walk.

Zane continued to laugh with his goofy grin plastered on his face. He walked with Kitty across the lawn. The day was beautiful and the sun was shining brighter than it had in months. It had been a long week of classes and Quidditch practice and awkward interactions with weird creepy teachers. Now he was going to enjoy the sun, the free time and the company at his side. Though he quickly realized that all he knew about this young girl was that she was Kitty. Everything else was a complete mystery.

He was not one for secrets except for those few major ones that all people have. So he held no objection to suggesting a game. A game that could be fun but usually was played amongst closer friends. He shrugged to himself and just figured he'd say it. "So since we know literally nothing about each other. Did you wanna play a game? Twenty questions. Could be fun and its easy, so we can still relax" he smiled at her while they walked. The lawn was incredibly long and that was good because they two would probably need it.

Quiet, empty the way he preferred the grounds. Even after six years he was pretty sure he hadn’t seen the entirety of it. This seemed as good a day as any other. He saw the Willow coming up, a fascinating tree. Such power and anger for such a typical object. The muggle side of his family would lose their minds if they saw the willow on their front lawn start swinging at them as they went to their car. He smiled as he thought of the idea of his Aunt Michelle running from her 8ft willow right next to her driveway, she would lose her mind. Literally.

He laughed as she mentioned their love of the vicious plant life and returned her smile. “That’s exactly it. All questions must be yes or no. Any additional details can be given but don’t have to be.” It was nice to feel so relaxed with someone again, the Quidditch team was really giving him a hard time. He was knew and had taken over for one of their favorite/best players and he just couldn’t keep up. He wasn’t terrible but he wasn’t Mikael either.

He felt her bump him and he turned to follow her eyes as they got closer to the Whopping Willow. He laughed as he watched the bird continuously avoid the tree, and could imagine a great number of Quidditch players who would be so cocky to think they could do the same. “Speaking of vicious plants. I’ve never seen this bird. Impressive. Lots of confidence in that one” He clapped for the bird, which actually seem to piss the tree off more. “Looks like the Willow has quite the ego. Anyway I’ll go first, Hufflepuff?” he had gotten the feeling from her and it was usually the best way to start.

Zane laughed at her description of his game. “Yes I guess you could say that.” He took her next question in stride. “I’ve never played more than twenty questions, most people aren’t that interesting. But you, you seem worth more than twenty questions to get to know” He smiled at her as they walked along. He had all day to get to know her and he was pretty sure there was no end to this lawn anyway. He grinned at her slyly and put his hands in the base of his pocket with most of his hand still sticking out.

He laughed as she described the bird zipping through, it was a daredevil bird and he had a lot of respect for him. “A bit of cockiness never hurt anyone” he laughed as the bird continued to make a fool of the dangerous tree. His clapping seemed to have only enticed the bird to get riskier and riskier, making the tree angrier.

She nodded at his guess, that she was a Hufflepuff and he smiled at her. “No actually. I knew you weren’t in my house and you are too sweet to be Slytherin.” He paused, he had no reason to assume she wasn’t Gryffindor, in that moment he realized the plants had pushed him over the edge. “Perhaps it was the love for plant life that put me over the edge” he laughed softly and his grin grew wide as she guessed incorrectly. “No ma’am, Ravenclaw. It’s the look right. I don’t look like all the other intellects that make up my house” he was being sarcastic, there were assumptions made about every house. Ravenclaw was the smart house and most didn’t think OC fit in. He did but he wasn’t a school brain, he had common sense and wit. “Okay my turn. Kitty are you an only child?” He liked to get random in this game and it was the first question to pop into his head.