The weather wasn't exaclty what some would call perfect. THe sky overhead had lost it's blue and was a layer of greys and almost black, the clouds looking as if they might burst at any given moment. It eas cold, not unbearably cold, but a wintery cold. Few people were outside, and Jenna was one of those few.

Jen wandered aimlessly along the lake's shore, kicking a little pebble into the water every now and then, watching the ripples flow as the pebble hit it's surface. She was wearing a thick jacket and beanie, and even so she was still a little cold. Despite the fact that it wasn't all that nice outside she hadn't really wanted to stay couped up in the castle all day. She'd been bored out of her mind. But now that she was outside, she was just as bored and cold.

Aimless.

Felicity's walk was aimless. It was cold outside, but she had convinced herself that it was positively stuffy in the common room due to the fire and she had to get some fresh air before she could even start on the large pile of homework awaiting her. In truth, the common room was cozily warm and since she hadn't grabbed a very heavy cloak, she was probably going to catch a cold. But she hadn't felt like homework at ALL...not that she ever did.

As she made her way toward the lake, she spotted an older girl from her House standing near it' shores. She couldn't remember ever having had a lengthy conversation with the girl, but there was no time like the present!

"You look bored," she declared as she drew level with the other girl, not bothering with a greeting, "Me, too. I don't think we've met, aside from being in the same house and all. I'm Felicity, Felicity Sanders." And she stretched out her hand in greeting, a smile on her face.

Jenna was bored. No doubt about that. What was the point of being outside. She was miserable and cold. She might as well be miserable and warm. She could find planty of things to do inside. Maybe. At least she was getting fresh air and not stuck inside the stuffy common room doing pointless homework. She was reasoning with herself, debating whether to go inside or just stay outside, despite the cold.

She jumped at the sound of another voice. Who was that? As Jenna turned around she recognized the girl, though she'd never really talked to her before. They were in the same house, she knew that much. "I am bored. And I'm cold too. But I got bored just sitting around in the common room. . . I'm Jenna Wright." She introduced herself with a smile. She took the girls hand, shaking it.

Felicity could not help beaming that she was not the only one who found the common room boring (at least when most of the other people in her year were using it for homework).

"It's definitely dreary in there," Felicity stated, although some might argue that the ominous clouds overhead counted more for 'dreary' than a blazing fire and comfy chairs, "I just can't understand how people can do homework for so long, can you? My friend has spent two hours on it already and she's written eight inches more than she should!"

For Felicity, every minute spent completing boring assignments was a waste of time. Her essays were always at least five inches short because of the fact that she lost interest halfway through. She was very good about practicing spells and such, mostly because she didn't view it as homework so much as fun. She did realize after she spoke, however, that Jenna might also be someone who exceeded the homework limits and spent two hours or more on homework. She bit her lip, hoping she hadn't accidentally offended someone again.

Jenna laughed. It certainly seemed like they had quite a few things in common already. She looked up at the sky, which was growing more and more ominous by the moment. Most people would disagree with her about this kind of weather. She loved it, she loved the cold, the rain, the snow. Most people would completely disagree with that idea.

"I have no idea how people manage it. I'm pretty bad about my homework. I usually have to cram it all in the night before it's due. It's just so boring! And I can always find a million better things to do rather than sitting inside doing pointless homework." Jenna laughed. She hated homework. She always managed to scrape by, making things up as she went along hoping that she was getting at least something right. Miracurously enough, Jenna had rather good grades.

Finally, a kindred spirit! Felicity was delighted that Jenna seemed to share her view on the uselessness of homework. Usually nobody understood that Felicity could not seem to take a few minutes out of her day to complete an essay - "It's not as if you have anything better to do," they would say. But in her opinion, amost anything was better than homework. Oh, the torture devised by teachers!

"Me too," she agreed quickly, "I don't know how I keep scraping by in some classes..." In fact, she felt that her Potions grade was probably not scraping by at the moment, but she wasn't particularly worried. "But in any case, I'm not looking forward to next year...N.E.W.T.s!" She gave a small groan at the thought, then glanced over at Jenna. "You're a seventh year, right?" she asked. She was fairly sure that she was, but it was always good to double check. She had once gone on a long rant aobut the evils of O.W.L.s to a very tall boy who had turned out to be in his second year, and she was afraid she had permanently scarred him.

Jenna was glad that Felicity seemd to share her thoughts on the absolute torture of homework. Most of the people she knew were goody-two-shoes who wouldn't dare to skimp out on homework. But homework was just a way of remembering what was said in class, she could remember that without homework, so what was the point in doing it.

"You're a sixth year then? YEa, I'm a seventh. I'm sooo excited for N.E.W.T.s!" She said with thick sarcasm. It was going to be awful. SHe might actually have to study, and that owuld just be boring. "It's going to be dreadful. Tests like that are even worse than homework. And I'm actually going to have to study. That's a ton of wasted hours"

Felicity sighed in sympathy as Jenna confirmed that she was, indeed, a seventh year. She couldn't imagine how she was going to do it: actually sit and read, finish her essays (maybe), and on top of all that, have to sit through exams!

"Well, I suppose it's all for the best," she said, slightly doubtfully, "What do you want to do after school, anyway?"

Felicity was still completely unsure of what career path she wanted to take, and these days, there weren't many that were safe anymore. Her parents didn't want her to work at all when she was finished with school, they wanted her to stay home. Her mother had insisted that they had enough money that she wouldn't have to work, but Felicity did wnat to - she just didn't know what on earth she wanted to do. So she listened for Jenna's answer in hopes it might give her an idea.

Jenna wanted to groan at the thought of all the hours of studying and test taking she was going to have to do. She could imagine how awful it was going to be.

"Honestly? I have no idea. I think maybe I'm just gonna skip the work for a couple of years and just travel. I want to see the world before I settle down. But who knows?"

Jenna had spent hours thinking about the future lay in store for her. What could there possibly be that Jenna would love to do? Really there wasn't much that suited her. She needed something that wasn't an office job, that much she knew for sure. Narrowing that down, there wasn't much left to do. Traveling sounded good for now, maybe she'd discover something that she enjoyed while she was out exploring the world.

Felicity nodded as she listened to Jenna's plans (or lack thereof, depending on how you viewed it). Traveling sounded like great fun - she knew that she would love to see the world, as well. The only traveling she had done was going with her family to Italy and France, and that was only because her father had business connections there. It would be great to just leave - maybe, if one left Britian, one would be able to leave the darkness that had spread over the nation.

"Traveling sounds like it would be fun," she mused, "And I bet it'll be easier to decide what to do after you've had more experience, right? I don't know what I want to do, either. I know we're supposed to have a general idea, but, geez...I'm not even sixteen yet." She tilted her head before adding quickly, "I almost am, though." And the prospect of her birthday was a happy one indeed.

Jenna couldn't even wrap her mind around the idea that she was going to be out on her own after the term was over. She was done. For one thing, she couldn't imagine not coing back to Hogwarts, even though things seemed to be on a steep spiral downward. For another, she was going to be completely alone in a huge world that she really didn't know anything about. It completely terriefied her that in just a couple of months she would be fully responsible for herself and living on her own.

"Yea. I don't think I'm quite ready to settle down yet. I'm only seventeen, I'm not really ready to have a career, you know? I think my parents will want me to go back home and live with them for a while. They're muggles, so they expect another level of education. But I don't think I could do that either. And traveling will be great. I'll get to see everything as it really it is. There's so much more to life than just school and grades, and I want to see that." Jenna didn't really know why she was telling Felicity all of this, but she felt like she needed to tell someone. Everyone expected her to get out of school and find this great job and just settle down. But she didn't want that.

Felicity had once listened to a friend tell her about the muggle story of Peter Pan. At the time she had scoffed at the thought of children who didn't want to grow up, but now that she was a sixth year, she couldn't imagine ever coming to Hogwarts and having it be her last year there. She wondered if Jenna was scared at the prospect - she felt that when it was her turn to be in her seventh year, she very much would be. And she completely agreed with Jenna about not wanting to have a career right off the bat.

"I think we're going to be good friends," she declared. "You wouldn't believe how many people think I'm crazy for thinking the exact same thing as you. Are you...I mean, do you wish you could stay here longer?" Felicity turned and looked toward the castle wistfully. "I know I would if it was my last year. It's so...it's...home."

Although Felicity loved going home to the big house she shared with her two brothers and her parents, Hogwarts had a claim on her heart that was just as great as the one her house had.