As usual Jenna was outside, even though the weather was far from ideal, what with the usual gray skies and soft winds. Still, being outside appealed far more to Jenna rather than being cooped up inside. She mosied along, occasionally watching some of the of the students, amused by their actions. She grinned, breathing in deeply, taking in the fresh air. The castle beautiful, and she loved it, but nothing beat the spring air.

Jenna paused to look around, in hope of finding a familiar face. But with no luck she shrugged and continued on her She thought of all the things she really should be doing... studying being one of them. But she couldn't be bothered with it all. Jenna was the type of person who would spend all day outside, and, given the chance, would sleep outside too. At times, she find found herself rather claustrophobic if she spent too much indoors, even though Hogwarts was huge, the walls were confining for Jenna. It felt so good to be outside.

Jenna stopped at her favorite tree. It was an old, rather tall tree and she often spent many afternoons studying under the tree. She smiled and plopped down, leaning against the tree trunk and pulling her legs into an indian style sitting position. It was a gorgeous day... well relatively gorgeous.

April despised being indoors for a long period of time. It didn't suit her well, and anyways, it looked to be nice outside. Well, nice by Hogwarts standards. The skies were a bit gray, but she could tell it was warm outside, considering the common room had emptied itself. April changed into long, knee-length Muggle shrots and a tank top, pocketed her wand, and headed outdoors.

She had a place in mind... a familiar spot, where she normally read, or maybe slept. She had brought no distraction today, so she supposed she may take a nap. She headed towards the old tree, a bit away from the Lake, but still close enough to feel a slight breeze. She happily skipped towards it.

When she got close enough, however, she could see her spot had been taken. Occupied. She didn't recognize the student, but then again, there were hundreds of kids at Hogwarts she didn't know. April walked steadily towards the tree, still, not breaking her stride.

When she reached the trree, she noticed it was a girl. She was relaxing. Perhaps the girl enjoyed the tree normally as April did, just at seperate times. She smiled slightly.

"I'm sorry, not to be bothersome, butI often sit here too. Mind if I was to join you?" she asked politely, standing awkwardly in front of the girl, whose eyes were closed. She hoped she had been awake.

Jenna was resting her eyes. She had fallen into a state of semi-conciousness. She was neither awake nor asleep. Perhaps you could zoned out or even in another world. Naturally Jenna was daydreaming, something she spent most of her time doing, much to the dislike of her teachers and parents. But Jenna found a daydream world much more interesting than reality.

Being lost to reality it was quite a shock to Jenna to be brought back to reality. She jumped slightly, hearing the sound of another voice, but she hoped that the girl didn't notice. She looked up at the girl, squinting slightly as her eyes adjusted to the light.

"Oh... Hello!" Jenna said with a grin. "I'm sorry, you just made me jump, I definitely zoned out!" She laughed. "Of course you can join me!" She scooted over some to give April some more room.

Jenna was honestly glad that April had approached her. Things tended to be a whole lot more interesting if there was someone there to at least talk to. "I'm Jenna by the way."

April smiled happily as Jenna scooted over to give her a space to lean against the tree. She had indeed been asleep, or 'zoned out', as she had said. April felt a little awkward now that she knew this, but didn't show it. She smiled politely to Jenna and sat on the hard Earth, twirling strands of her hair.

"It's nice to meet you, especially since we share the delight of this nice...tree." She laughed nervously. "I'm April, if you didn't know. A bit new here."

She leaned against the tree and breathed a short sigh of relief, looking out over the ground slowly with her eyes. It was nice to take i nthe view from such a spot. It also wasn't uncommon for April to have company; there were often people here with her.

"I haven't seen you around, but then again, I'm new... What house are you in, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's nice to meetcha too! Yea... I come down here a lot, this is honeslty one of my favorite places on the whole grounds. Just sitting underneath an old tree and relaxing.... it's nice. Of course, sitting in it isn't so bad either. . . New huh? Do you like it so far? If you need help finding anything or really just anything... Just lemme know and I would be glad to help you."

Jenna smiled and rested her head against the tree. She looked out over the grounds, watching the students pass by. She loved people watching "I'm a Hufflepuff... seventh year. How about yourself?"

April thought that Jenn was very nice. Of course, being a Hufflepluff thoroughly explaned that, and an older student, of course. April couldn't deny that she had outstanding manners though, and was definately very chipper. April smiled at her, watching the people too. She had to agree with Jenna... this was a nice spot to relax, and perhaps, gaze at people.

"I'm in Slytherin, 5th year." She waited to judge Jenna's reaction, but continued speaking. "Thanks for all the help, but I think I've got it covered. No trouble as of yet... except that damn trick staircase. But everyone... well, mostly everyone... has been very nice and everything. Have you gone here your whole life?"

Jenna smiled, "Well that's good. Well just in case, you can always ask me." She was, of course, just being herself. Jenna loved to be around people, to help people. Part of it was the big sister in her kicking in, she always felt the need to take care of people, mainly because that's what she had had to do. After her siblings had been born she'd grown up and learned to care of not only herself, but them as well.

"Yup. I've been here since day one of my first year and loved every minute of it. Well... almost every minute." Jenna grinned. She loved Hogwarts, it was like a second home to her. It was going to be weird not coming back, at this point she really didn't want her seventh year to end. But all good things have to end.

April sighed, looking at the girl. She almost envied all her time at Hogwarts, and had wished now that she had come earlier. She had been homeschooled, so now it was sad that she was just arriving and made friends very late.

"I was home schooled before coming here. But it's such a beautiful place, I wish I had come earlier."

She knew Jenna probably felt the same way she knew she would at her seventh year; not wanting to go home, and never coming back. It would be sad even to leave for the summer holidays, if she even did. She knew it was possible to stay.

"Do you play any quidditch, at all?" she asked, trying to see what her and Jenna may possibly have in common.

"I'm muggleborn, so homeschool was out of the question." She smiled at April. To her, homeschool would pretty suck. She loved the freedoms that she got at Hogwarts that she'd never have at home. But April probably could've had a lot more personal attention allowing her to learn more. Still, she had some sympathy for April. It must be hard coming from homeschool to Hogwarts, and then not being able to experience the full Hogwarts experience.

"Pretty much I'll play any sport. I love them all, muggle and wizard!" Jenna laughed, "But I definitely love quidditch! What about you?"

April smiled, glad Jenn ana dher had atleast something in common, which would make for easy conversation. April loved quidditch talk, and found herself even a bit eager to hear about these Muggle sports, though she didn't know uch about anything Muggle.

"Yes, I play quidditch. I'm the Slytherin house team Seeker. I play a bit of Chaser too, actually, but I'm much more fond of Seeking. what position do you play? Or do you just watch? I like to watch too, of course, but I enjoy playing to spectating."

"I'm not really a team player, so I'll play any position. I like them all!" Jenna laughed, "But you're the team seeker huh? That's pretty awesome. I thought about trying out for the team, but then ... well i just didn;t. I prefer to play quidditch for fun I guess."

Jenna smiled, glad that there was some common ground between her and April. Jen was really the athletic type. She'd tried every sport growing up, but her all time favorite had been soccer, which, she supposed, was quite similar to quidditch.

April smiled, suddenly proud about being the team Seeker. It was in her nature to brag of course, she tended to be that type of person. Sometimes, it could be obnoxious, but hey, that's who she was. Here, she decided to let it end at that and not push it. It was important to give a good first impression; well that's what her mother always told her.

"We should fly together sometime. That would be fun, I'm sure." April smiled in response, then changed subjects casually.

"So, what Muggle sports do you play? I don't really know of any, not really being familar with the Muggle world, but I'd love to hear about what sports you play. You might have to tell me the rules though..."

Jen nodded, "Most definitely. It's actually been a while since I've done that so that would be fun. I'll have to be sure to go to the games now." She smiled, she liked watching some sports almost as much as she liked playing them. Quidditch was one sport that she absolutely loved to watch.

"My favorite sport is soccer, which is really quite similar to quidditch, except that we can't fly and there's only one ball, which would really be the quaffle. Oh and we kick the ball rather than throw it. .. but other than that it's quite similar."

April sighed, trying to remember if she'd ever seen a game of this soccer. She could vaguely remember children kicking a ball somewhere in London sometime... or perhaps when they drove through the smaller counties.

"I think I remember seeing kids play once or twice. Hardly seems fun compared to quidditch. It's a shame the Muggles can't fly; thier games would be so much more interesting."

"Are you Half-blood or muggleborn? You seem to know quite a bit about Muggle sports, so I just assumed..."

Jenna laughed. "That is true. Flying has a tendancy to make things much more interesting. But they can get pretty intense without the flying. Lucky me, I've got the best of both worlds.

"I'm muggleborn. THe only witch in my entire family actually. So that was a nice surpise." She grinned. "It's hard though, not being able to share it with my family."

"I sort of expected. Could tell. That's pretty interesting, growing up with Muggles. You must truly get the best of both worlds, though I don't really understand Muggles or thier quircky inventions so much."

She took a second to look over the girl. she certainly didn't seem like a Muggle in any way at all. She looked like a normal witch; April supposed thier was no physicaly difference between blood types. She was nice enough, of course, and probably was a better witch than April by now anyways, being so far along in her education.

"So, you didn't tell them that you're a witch? Or, you just feel disconnected because they can't reall expierence all the things you go through?"

Jenna smiled and nodded. "I really do. I get to experience it all." In truth, Jen was glad that she was muggleborn. With that she was able to understand both worlds, something quite a few witches and wizards didn't. She felt like she gained from having come from a muggle background.

"I guess it's more that they don't understand, I can't show them my magic and they can't relate to a lot of my experiences. They just don't get it. Which is hard with my brothers and sisters and even friends. But it's worth it in the end." Jen had never really thought about the gap between her and her family. She had realized it, but generally just didn't think about it. At times it upset her, knowing that she was part of a world that no one in her family could ever experience.

April nodded, trying to understand the girl's pain. It wasn't something she'd ever have to go through, or her children either. They would be introduced into the wizarding world as a baby. April would be sure to show them the Muggle world, however, so they wouldn't have to be as curious and nosy as she was to all the Muggleborns.

"I can hardly imagine living in such a way. I was born into a wizarding family, of course, being Pureblood, so I never experienced such a hard transition. It must be very difficult for you, not being able to share with your friends or family members..." April trailed off.

"So, when did you realize you could do magic? At a young age, or when you got your Hogwarts letter?"

Jenna shrugged, "I guess I'm used to it. When I go home it's like I'm not a witch, I'm just one of them. It could be worse. My siblings still love me.... Or at least they pretend they do" Jenna added the last part jokingly. The fact of the matter was that her time at Hogwarts rarely came up, she shared experiences and whatnot, but really when she was home she was part of the family.

"I honestly had no idea that magic existed. I read about it in fantasy books and which that a magical world existed. Funny things happened to me that I didn't understand. But when I got my lettter.... Everything just clicked." She looked over at April, grinning. She loved that she was a witch, that she could go to Hogwarts and learn about magic. A world in which she had thought only existed in books and imagination.

"Wow. That's so amazing. I've never been through the expierence. I had my first wand at age 8. I could fly from the moment I could walk, I'm pretty sure. I always wondered what it would be like to grow up in a Muggle family, not that I put a lot of mind too it. I do enjoy being Pureblood of course. It has it's kicks."

April was fascinated by Jenna's world. It was nosy of her, but maybe a bit more on the curious side this time. She couldn't imagine being introduced to the wizarding world so late in her life. Hoe had she adjusted? Had she fit in? Had she been a slower learner than everyone else?

"Did you find it... dificult, to fit in here? Did you learn maybe... slower than the other kids? Not to doubt your intelligience, of course."

Jenna had obviously wondered what it must be like to grow up in a wizarding family. Did they do things differently? Which had an obvious answer. But Jenna was always curious on how wizarding families functioned verses muggle families.

"Gosh. I never even thought about being able to do magic before school. To be honest I've always wondered what it would've been like to of grown up in the wizarding world...."

"I don't think I learned slower than anyone else. A lot of the kids were new to magic when we started in our first year, so I wasn't alone. I'd never held a wand before but we were all learning new things so I didn't think it was too difficult I gues... I dunno. I'd never really thought about it before...." Jenna trailed off, a contemplative look coming across her face as she thought back to her first year.

"Fascinating..." Arpil replied. She honestly couldn't imagine not being ahead when she started svhool. Of course, she had been homeschooled. But even starting now, she was a bit ahead. She didn't know if that had anything to do with being homeschooled or being pureblood. Maybe she was just intelligient.

"And, to answer your sort of... thought. I think it must be alot different to grow up as a wizard. What you said about... not being able to share expierences... and not holding a wand. Well, I share my memories and stories all the time. I was thrown into life as a witch as a very young girl. My sister hurt me a curse when she was 10 by accident. I still have the scar."

She pointed to the elbow, where a small pink gash was there. Shehad kept it because she had liked the way it looked. She was thinking of magick-ing it off very soon though.

"I grew up with people all knowing I was pureblood, and knew what house I would be in if I did come here. I knew all about the history and the spells and classes and everything... I guess it sort of got to my head a bit," she admitted.

Jenna nodded. April had good points. Growing up in the magical world was very different. You weren't thrown into some dream only to realize that it actually was reality. But even so, she couldn't imagine having a childhood any different from her own.

Jenna looked and scar and laughed slightly, "I don't even know what would happen in my house if everyone had a wand... It would be a battlefield at times I bet. Things are already crazy enough as they are!" She could just imagine the twins. Oh gosh that would go down well. She almost laughed out loud at the thought of that. It would be interesting, needless to say.

"Yea... I know a lot of the history now... But when I first came here I still wasn't sure if I was dreaming and if Hogwarts really existed. Lucky for me, I wasn't going crazy! Or at least.... I don't think I'm crazy!"

Laughing, April leaned over and pinched Jenna lightly.

"Did you wake up from your dream?" she asked playfully, waving a hand in front of Jenna's face. "How many fingers do I have up?" she laughed obnoxiously and dropped her hand back to the ground, leaning back against the tree.

"Yeah, my house was a bit of a battlefield at times. Me and my older sister are a lot different, in every way, so we tended to fight. Well, we still do. And with wands, it gets a bit dangerous. It really is horrible to get grounded from your wand..."

april contemplated for a moment. "Yes, I suppose I do know the history quite well. I love history though, so that may be why. I ever have a good idea on Muggle history as well! I know much about thier kings and queens and the like. It was interesting to learn about. Oh, and learning about the witch hunts fro mthe Muggle point of view was indeed fascinating."

Jen couldn't help but laugh. "I think I woke up from dream. But you never know! This could all be a dream. You could be a dream....But then again... I did feel that pinch. So yes. I did wake up!" Jen poked her tongue out at April and laughed.

"I never even thought about being grounded from my wand. Jeez! That would just plain suck. That would be like, the worst punishment ever!"

Jen had never even thought about being seperated from her wand. Granted, during the summers she hadn't been able to use it. But it wasn't like magic had been taken away from her. Still, even those summers without magic had sucked.

"History is pretty interesting! I love it. But honestly, I'm not a history fanatic. I prefer to learn about magic. There's too much history in the world to know it all. Still, it is rather fascinating I suppose."

April laughed. Not everyone liked hsitory, after all. She had to admit, learning about magic was originallly the greatest thing ever. It was fascinating to learn all the types of spells, and all the things she could do with her wand if she just practiced and put he rmind to it. The first spell she had cast on purpose... that had been a life dream.

"Yes, well, of course I love to learn about magic. What's better, you know? Speaking of, what's your favorite subject here at Hogwarts. I get a lot of mixed answer."

Jen's answer was immediate and straight up. "Charms. No doubt. But I don't mind herbology or transfiguration either. But charms is by far my favorite. What about you?" Jenna pretty much loved every class. Though there a few that she wouldn't mind doing without, like potions or history of magic. She thought back to her first lessons, how curious she'd been and also how nervous. She'd always been worried that a spell would go horribly wrong. Luckily that had never happened, although that had had her fair share of messed up spells. To this day she was still eager to learn something new.

April nodded. She hated Herbology. the two girls had different ambitions, it seemed. But, no matter. She enjoyed Charms and was very good at Transfiguration, though she found th subject dull and sort of useless. She had a feeling Jenna wouldn't like her favorite subjects, but oh well, not everyone was alike.

"Well, Charms isn't bad. Ironically, I hate Herbology..." she trailed off and chuckled. "I'm decent at Transfiguration, so I don't have a major issue with it. But my favorite subject is Potions. My mom, who tutored me in Potions, says I should teach it right now. I'm not sure... but I do love it. And, as I told you, I love History of Magic. Anything else is sort of well... annoying."

"What about ambitions. I don't really take you for a Ministry girl..."

"Ah yea. I'm not a big fan of potions, actually. I don't hate it, but I'm really not that great at it. I prefer to use my wand." In truth, Jen really sucked at Potions. Some potions she could actually manage to make decently, but for the most part, it just didn't work out so well. "I like planting, and learning about plants, so I guess that makes Herbology a fun subject for me, but not many people like that class."

Jen thought about April's question. It was a good one that had been coming up more and more lately. At the moment she really didn't know the answer. She shrugged. "I don't know. You're right, I'm not really the ministry type. I would consider being an auror, but I'm not sure that I have it in me. I think I could deal with being a Healer, actually I'd really like that. But teaching wouldn't be too bad either."

April nodded her head. It seemed like her and Jenna had a few things in common afterall. This wasn't surprising though. Even with different houses and interests, one could still be ambitious for the same types of things.

"That's interesting. I could see you being a teacher, too. I'm thinking of perhaps teaching, or like you said, becoming an Auror. I'm not really interested in a lot of things, so I sort of... catch something on a whim and go for it."

April thought hard for a moment.

"After all, I'm not sure I would make a good teacher. I'd probably be a little too uptight and mean to the students for that... too harsh," April said, trailing off absently.

"Yea, teaching would be fun. I think I have the patience for it, and it would mean that I'd be back at Hogwarts. I dunno. I guess I'll just have to think on it. I have some time yet, I'm like that too. If something appeals to me at the time, I'll go for it. I don't really think things through all that much. But sometimes that turns out to be a good thing." Jen shrugged and thought about what April had said.

"I think you could be good at either of those. Besides, some students need a harsh teacher, so that's not all bad. And I think you could make a good auror too. You never know until you try I suppose...."

"Well, I'm definately going to be traveling a little after I graduate. I want to see other cultures and such, so I might be studying around the world for awhile. I'd really love to see American culture, especially. I have the money enough for that. My father says I have no need to get a job but... I'm an independant woman. I'm not going to mooch off daddy my whole life, of course." April seemed satisfied with her thought porcess here.

Smiling, she brought out her wand. She twirled it in the air and brought a pebble over to her by levitation. It was fun to do such things. She wanted to start attempting nonverbal magic. She placed the pebble on the ground and stared at it. She was attempting to concentrate. She had no doubt Jenna would ask her what she was doing. The pebble didn't budge.

Jenna nodded. "That sounds amazing. I'd love to do that, of course I'd have to save some money first. I'd really like to go to a few places in Europe and then maybe go around America or something. I just want to travel and experience the different cultures. I think that would be so much fun. There's so much to learn."

Jen had always wanted to see the world, she knew that she could learn so much from the people she'd meet. The world was a big place, however, and she'd certainly have to save up before she ever got the chance to go. She watched as April stared intently at the pebble. Looking at April quizically, she wondered if she should ask what she was doing. She thought it might be a good idea to keep quiet, but her curiousity got the better of her. "Whatcha doin?"

April gave Jenna a swift look, sweeping her eyes over her face for a second, and then looked back at the pebble. She stared even harder, whispering the incantation in her head, but the pebble didn't float. Damn it.

"I'm trying to do nonverbal magic..." April said, pointing the wand harder at the pebble and practically screaming the spell in her brain. It was giving her a headache. She couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

"We're not supposed to start until next year, I think... but I wanted to get a leg up. Not working, as you can see."

Jenna watched, curiously. She waited for an answer, half wondering of April had gone mad. Of course she didn't think April had, but it was still a bit strange. Not many people would sit there and stare intently at a pebble. But even so Jenna kept her mouth, she didn't want to pierce the silence, seeing that April seemed to be concentrating quite hard.

Of course when April gave an explanation, it made sense. "Oooh! Right. Yea that is hard. I havn't quite got the hang of it yet, but I'm working on it. Just keep practicing, you'll get" Jen said encouragingly.

April took the girl's words carefully to mind, and then concentrated again. She was getting a headache fro mthe screaming incantiation in her head, but she ignored it. Finally, after several minutes of strained work, it moved.

"Yes!" she screamed, watching it hover in midair for a few seconds. When she exclaimed, however, it fell back to the ground.

"Damn it. Well, you saw, didn't you?" she said proudly, kicking the pebble away from her, not willing to try again. At least ti had worked. That had been the first time it had ever worked, even if only for a few well lived seconds.

Jenna watched as the peblle floated a few inches off of the ground, she grinned and looked April, who seemed ecstatic. She was glad April had gotten it. It was nice just to make a small accomplishment every now and then. If Jen actually sat down and practiced, she could be really good. But, she didn't

"See? I tol you you'd get it! Just a little more practice and it'll be a breeze!" She laughed. "You'll be better than me, that's for sure."

April enjoyed the compliment from Jenna. She knew it would be wise to stay away from her Slytherin trait of bragging, however, as this girl was older and probaly still more expierenced than her. She would have to keep that in mind. One of her goals at Hogwarts was to learn to keep her mouth shut more often and not get in so much trouble because of it.

"Thanks, I try really hard. I like to be good at things," she said sheepishly, putting her wand in her pocket.

"So, you're a 7th year. Are you nervous about exams? I've never really taken any exams at all, and I have to take O.W.L.s, so I'm a bit nerve wracked."

Jenna nodded, "Well I'd say that that's a pretty good goal." She smiled at April. Jenna liked to be good at things too, but sometimes she just didn't have thwe will. Of course, when Jenna wanted something, she went for it and got it. She was persistant, and determined, almost to a fault. She'd been known to take things too far. But when someone told her that she wouldn't be able to do something, well she was just going to do everything in her power to disprove them.

"I am so nervous it's not even funny. I'm a terrbile test taker. I can study for hours and know absolutely everything and still fail. Nerves get the best of me sometimes. But dont worry, O.W.L.s aren't so bad. Just make you sure you know you're stuff."

April could relate. She didn't know for sure if she was a bad test taker, because she hadn't taken many formal tests, ever. Exams weren't very common in homeschool, and when she did, she usually cheated. How rebellious of her. Well, now, it wouldn't be helping her to get all O's, which her parents expected of her. And she was that she wouldn't be able to cheat here. Too magically gaurded around here.

"i don't have much expierence with formal tests. I'm just going to study a lot and hope for the best. Hopefully I don't freeze up. How did you do on your O.W.L.s?"

She had a feeling that Jenna hadn't failed, but maybe she hadn't done as well as she should have. She could tell she was intelligient but if she was bad at test taking... that was the hard part.