Two Friends [Kat]

[hohum]

Unfortunately, it was still cold outside. Lucinda was never fond of the cold, and she huddled deeper into her winter cloak, bearing the Gryffindor crest upon the right breast. She rubbed her hands together, which were already covered in scarlet and gold gloves, getting the friction to heat her hands up. An icy blast of wind scoured her face, and she bent low to avoid it. It was days like this when she wished that she had listened to her gut and stayed back in the warm confines of the Gryffindor Common Room. Her only motivation for coming into Hogsmeade with the rest of the students of Hogwarts was a certain Hufflepuff by the name of Kathie Caldwell.

Lucinda got a message from Kat, saying that she wanted to meet up in Hogsmeade. Because they were in different Houses, they usually only saw each other during classes. They weren’t allowed in the different Common Rooms, and although the Library was a nice place to meet up, they both wanted somewhere out in the open where they weren’t forced to whisper and be concerned for others. Hogsmeade was the right place for this, and Lucinda knew it. Therefore, she trudged happily through the snow, looking up to scan the grounds for this particular girl.

A light snow drift began overhead, falling upon the ground. Great, snow, she thought, shaking some of the fallen flakes off her black cloak. What I wouldn’t do for a nice butterbeer right about now… She mentally concluded that once she found Kat, they were going to head into Three Broomsticks and grab some of those warm, delicious drinks. Nothing like a good butterbeer to thaw you up on a cold day.

Lucinda looked up again to find Kat, peering over the heads of the other excited students.[/size]

[Kathie Caldwell]

Kathie felt the cold and freezing wind on her face and felt her body shivering. On that day it was so cold that she had even felt the need to use three big and really hot sweaters under her school robes. Despite the fact that she was completely cold, her hands almost hurt from the cold even thought she was hearing her yellow and black gloves, a small smile appeared on her face. She was going to meet Lucinda, her best friend... And it wasn't the cold weather that would stop her.

She looked around on the small village, trying to find any glint of the red and gold robes from Lucinda, but she wasn't really having good luck at that, when she finally thought she had spotted something. Looking closely, she smiled for herself when she recognized the gryffindor girl and started walking carefully, hiding herself from her friends sight.

Kathie had, for at least two times, to hide herself behind the crows of the other students while Lucinda was scanning for her, but now that she had crossed the few meters until she reach Lucinda, she felt a grin appearing on her face.

"Hello Lucinda!" She shouted cheerfully behind her, smiling amused.

[hohum]

Lucinda felt a presence nearby, but she supposed that it was just some of the other students from the crowd. She did wish Kathie would hurry up. A nice wind blew right into her face again, making her eyes water. She rubbed at them fiercely, getting the tears away and looking around. Nope, no sign of her.

Then, out of nowhere, a cheerful ‘HELLO LUCINDA’ caught her off guard. She gasped and whirled around, wand in hand. Sure enough, there was Kathie Caldwell. Her Hufflepuff friend was windswept and clearly cold, but she held a happy disposition anyway. Lucinda scowled at her. “How can you possibly be so cheerful in this dreadful weather?” she asked. It was supposed to clear up and get warmer as the afternoon went on, and Lucinda was counting on this to make her day.

Lucinda put her wand back in her pocket, huddling against another gust of wind. She smiled despite herself. “You were hiding from me, weren’t you?” she asked, teasing. “Should’ve known. Wanna go grab some butterbeers at Three Broomsticks? It’s awfully freezing out here.” She shivered in emphasis, crossing her arms to hold in the escaping body heat.

Lucinda headed up the slope anyway, knowing that Kat would follow anyway. Even if she was so cheerful, she was cold and Lucinda knew it. So butterbeers sounded like a delightful option at the moment.[/size]

[Kathie Caldwell]

Kathie laughed when she saw Lucinda turning around for her with her wand raised. She did it. She had played a little prank on Lucinda and it actually had been so funny. She laughed more at Lucinda's scowl and smiled brightly.

"I don't know neither... But apparently the sorting hat had know that when he put me at Hufflepuff. But perhaps is because... today I can actually enjoy a good time with a particular Gryffindor friend. You know.. She is tall, has black hair..." She teased. "... I believe her name is Lucinda Chaplin. Do you know her?" She asked sticking her tongue.

She saw the smile on Lucinda's face and grinned when she heard her next question.

“You were hiding from me, weren’t you? Should’ve known. Wanna go grab some butterbeers at Three Broomsticks? It’s awfully freezing out here.”

Kathie nodded grinning. "Of course I was... It was rather difficult, though, I even needed to hide myself too near of a group of Slytherins." She joked.

She smiled at the perspective of drinking an warm and awesome butterbeer prepared by Madam Rosmerta. Then, perhaps, she could start to get a little more warmer.

"Ok, I really need to drink something hot." She said excited.

[hohum]

Kathie laughed hard at her little stunt and its effects, and Lucinda just joined in with her, smiling all the same. Kathie answer Lucinda's bitter question with an open hearted smile, joking around and sticking her tongue out at her. Lucinda just chuckled as they trudged their way through crowds of annoying kids towards Three Broomsticks.

"And to think I got out of my nice warm bed in order to venture out into the cold wilderness with a certain Hufflepuff. You know, blonde hair? Likes to scare people out of their minds? I think her name is Kathie Caldwell, but I can't be sure either...maybe I should just go back to bed." This time it was Lucinda's turn to stick out her tongue.

As they neared the pub in which the most delicious and warm butterbeers were sold, Kathie told of her hard work in hiding from Lucinda. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Slytherins, you say? Nasty..."

They finally reached the overcrowded Three Broomsticks, but Lucinda was thankful for the blast of warm air she was subjected to when they entered. Lucinda shoved her way through, for there was no better way to get to the counter. She turned to Kat.

"I'll get us the drinks," she called over the raucous. "You go find us a table." With that, Lucinda went her separate way, continuing to shove her way to the counter. There, a man stood there, taking the demands from a bunch of snobby Ravenclaws. He didn't look like the guy that was normally here, but perhaps the owner had hired someone new to help out. Lucinda waited patiently, figuring to make the man's day by having a suitable customer.

He finally got around to her and she just smiled brightly. "Sorry 'bout that, miss," he apologized, smiling back. "What can I get you?"

"No worries," Lucinda said. "Can I have two butterbeers, please?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out some coins. The man reached into the counter and pulled out two mugs, filling them with the delicious golden liquid. Lucinda thought she would just drink it all before they reached the table. As the man poured, he examined Lucinda. Scrutinized, was what he did.

"You look oddly familiar," he commented, finishing with one mug and going on to the next. "Hm...but where have I seen you? What's your name, child?"
"Lucinda Chaplin, sir," she said, the smile never leaving her face. She wondered where the man had seen her but all the same, he perked up at her name,
"Ah, yes! Kade Chaplin's daughter!" he exclaimed, completing the order. "I heard about his disappearance. I'm so sorry. Here, these are on the house. For you and....?"
"My friend, Kathie Caldwell," Lucinda said. He nodded, muttering Kat's last name under his breath before waving goodbye to her. Lucinda was momentarily stunned by all this, but she found it alright because most people reacted that way when she told them who she was.

She scanned the tops of heads, looking for Kat and their table. She spotted her all the way in the back corner with a table to themselves. Couldn't have picked a better spot, she though as she headed in that direction.[/size]

[Kathie Caldwell]

Kathie and Lucinda walked calmly to the Three Broomsticks laughing and smiling despite the cold weather. It was good to being able to hang around with Lucinda, without being at classes or the Library.

"And to think I got out of my nice warm bed in order to venture out into the cold wilderness with a certain Hufflepuff. You know, blonde hair? Likes to scare people out of their minds? I think her name is Kathie Caldwell, but I can't be sure either...maybe I should just go back to bed."

She watched amused when, this time, it was her friend sticking her tongue at her and laughed. When they finally reached the pub, Kathie was gone to find a free table while Lucinda was gone to grab their butterbeers.

She passed a group of sixth years and finally found a table in the back corner. She took a seat and waited for Lucinda. When she saw her friend arriving with the drinks she smiled.

"You know that if you don't let me pay the drinks then I will force you to come with me at honeydunks and eat at least ten chocolate frogs, don't you?" She said grinning.

[hohum]

Kathie claimed that she was going have to pay for the drinks, otherwise they were going straight to Honeydukes and she was going to buy at least ten chocolate frogs. Lucinda shoved the butterbeer across the table and smiled at the thought.

“As tempting as that sounds, you don’t have to pay for anything,” she said, taking the empty seat beside her Hufflepuff friend. “The bartender gave them to me for free. It was really odd.” She sipped her warm butterbeer, letting the warmth fill her right up. It was a wonderful sensation, being ice cold and being relieved of it with one sip of something warm. She enjoyed the sensation before continuing.

“He seemed so busy, so I had to wait a bit,” she continued. “Odd thing is, he said he recognized me. When I told him my name, he claimed to know me for my father’s daughter. The oddest thing is that nobody can identify me so quickly according to my looks, because I look like my mom, not my dad.” She shrugged, taking another sip of butterbeer. She looked up at the counter, where the bartender was scanning the room. He saw her looking at him and he smiled. She smiled back, but it wasn't her happy one - it was just a forced one. She quickly turned her head back to Kat.

“Then I told him who you were, and he seemed entranced by the information.” Her eyebrows furrowed as she shook her head. “Really odd, these people are. It’s probably because my dad and your grandpa was in the paper a time ago. What do you reckon?” She looked around to see if anybody was watching them. Nobody was, of course. They were all busy with their lives, happily chatting and eating with friends, like she was doing with Kat.

She was glad that she got out of bed for this. She and Kat hadn’t had a lot of alone time in a very long time. They were usually caught up in homework. Not today. Today was going to be dedicated to catching up and just relaxing with her.[/size]

[Kathie Caldwell]

“As tempting as that sounds, you don’t have to pay for anything. The bartender gave them to me for free. It was really odd.” Lucinda answered her.

Kathie heard interested her history and then laughed slightly amused. She glanced at the bartender intrigued and shrugged her shoulders. She drunk a little of her butterbeer and smiled at her, one strange theory crossing her mind.

"Humm... Perhaps you just make the poor man fall in love for you. Miss Chaplin, that wasn't a pretty thing to do... "She joked, pretending to make a stern look but failing miserably." But it could be also very good... I mean, free butterbeers every time you came here. You're so lucky."

She tried to maintain a serious expression but started laughing, again. When she was back to normal.

"Yes, it was probably because of the news." She assured."But hopefully now everything is fine and we don't need to talk about sad things. " She said cheerfully. "And I still want to pay our chocolate frogs." [/color]

[hohum]

Lucinda, upon taking a sip of the warm golden liquid, choked and burst out laughing at Kat’s theory. She laughed so hard that many heads turned in their direction, looking at them curiously. She ignored them as she tried to compose herself. She usually never laughed this hard unless she was with James. Their relationship was building, stronger than ever.

“Oh yes,” she said, panting and composing herself now. The crowd eventually turned back to their original tasks. “Because I’m such the loveable type. Not to mention gorgeous.” She flipped her hair back in emphasis and giggled. “I could live with the free butterbeers, though.” She winked and took a large swig of her own, draining about half of it.

“I agree. Optimistic minds. It’s still a bit weird. It was like he saw me before. You should have seen the way he looked at me.” She shuddered. “Creepy. Oh well. Hopefully he’ll get fired and the old guy will come back. I always liked him.”[/size]

[Kathie Caldwell]

Kathie shocked her head smiling and glanced again at the man. He was staring at them, and now she had to admit that it was odd. Not really wanting to make wonder even more at the men's behavior, so she didn't mentioned it.

"OK, then it was a bit odd... But who really cares. I doubt we will see him again." She smiled softly. "And I bet there are already so many poor souls at Hogwarts that have fallen for your never ending enchants. If I didn't know that the majority of boys are just a bunch of gits, then I would almost feel sorry for them." She joked, but her eyes sparkling at the mention of the word 'gits'.

Yes, because some of them are really annoying. She added for herself, thinking in a particular person.

[hohum]

The wind outside howled, shaking the glass of the windows. A large gust of wind blew the snow from the roof all over a bunch of running passerby. They looked like Slytherins, but she couldn't be sure. The sun was out now, surprisingly. She hoped it would warm up by the time they went to leave.

Kat moved her own gaze toward the man, but Lucinda kept her own down, looking absently at the empty mug in her hands. Apparently he was looking at them, for Kat's head went down in the same fashion her's did when she looked up at him. Kat shook her head. She made a comment about boys, which made Lucinda chuckle.

"A bunch of gits, indeed," Lucinda said, smiling. "Their nothing but a load of trouble, if you ask me. My brother, a prime example. I'll have to introduce you two sometime. Carlisle likes to bug me, but he isn't as bad as James." She winked, and noticed that Kat's eyes sparkled at the mention of the 'gits.' A wide grin spread across Lucinda's face.

"Anyone in particular?" she asked, still grinning. She shifted position on the wooden chair she sat on. She unrolled her scarf that was so tightly wrapped around her neck. She was thawing out, and removed her heavy traveling cloak as well, draping it over the back of the chair.[/size]

[Kathie Caldwell]

"Anyone in particular?" Lucinda asked grinning

Kathie gasped and felt her head bolting at the thought of that. Yes, there was anyone in particular. There was a just completely git, obnoxious and egocentric boy.

"Seth Reynard..." She said slowly annoyed. "Just, let's not wast our time to talk about him." She added quickly.

Staring back at Lucinda, after a few moments, she also grinned remembering her last comment about his brother and an certain James. Kat pretended a innocent face and replayed:

"I do honestly need to meet your brother, then I could help you making a prank against him... And what James are you talking about? Why he is such a git? " She finished hiding her amused smile.

[hohum]

Annoyance masked over Kathie's usually cheerful expression. Lucinda was only teasing, but Kat clearly did have a particular boy in mind. She mentioned one named Seth Reynard. Lucinda hadn't the slighest idea whom this Seth person was, but it was obvious that he thoroughly annoyed her. It was almost unbelievable to think that there was someone out there whom Kat hated. She seemed to dislike some, but never to an extent.

"Seth Reynard, huh?" she said, scratching her chin. "You've interested me. Tell me, what's he like?" She wanted to know more about this Reynard character. Nobody messed with Kat without Lucinda. She would set this freak straight. She started grinning just at the thought. She became excited as she imagined what they could do to this stupid boy. Kat's inquiry broke her trance.

"Carlisle isn't easily tricked, but with an accomplice," she began. "He's been taught by the master." She rolled her eyes. "James Potter, is his name. We've been best friends since birth, no lie. 'Git' might not be the correct description. Annoying, pestering little prankster might do, though. He's been pulling pranks on everyone since he could walk. I'm his favorite target. I've gotten used to it, considering our friendship. He's in Gryffindor too - no shocker there. Although he is pretty cute when he's angry or shocked, especially when I pull a good prank on him." She winked.[/size]

[Kathie Caldwell]

"Seth Reynard, huh? You've interested me. Tell me, what's he like?"

Kathie breathed deeply and drunk another sip of her drink, trying to focus her thoughts and explain her source of annoyance toward Seth Reynard. The ban of my existence, she added for herself.

"He's just some annoying, self centered and arrogant git that I, unfortunately, had the misfortune to meet when I was still a child." She said scolding at her memory. " He particularly enjoys to annoy me when I have the cruel fate of having to deal with him in some of my grands pureblood meetings. We declared each other war." She completed.

Kathie laughed at Lucinda's answer. The she was talking about James Potter... She had already heard something about him, though she never had the opportunity to meet him. Deciding to change the topic of their talk to that Mr. Potter, she grinned suddenly.

"Humm... I guess I already heard something about him." She said smiling. "Though I had never meet him."[/color]

[hohum]

By the looks of it, this Seth Reynard was the bane of Kat’s existence. Lucinda couldn’t help but to be curious nonetheless. As Kat told the tale, she realized what a pain he might turn out to be. She listened with an expression of polite interest. That could be taken as sarcastically or literally, but either way worked. She tilted her head to the side as Kat completed her explanation.

“Not the nicest of fellows, is he?” she asked, looking down into her empty mug. She traced the rim of the glass with her finger absently. “And a declaration of war? I’m definitely going to have to meet this man. I’ll show hum war…” She winked and listened to Kat’s change of subject. Clearly this man irritated her enough to the point where she didn’t even want to speak about him.

“Yeah, James is quite the character. Definitely not as bad as this Seth. I’ll have to introduce you two! You’ll definitely like him. He’s really fun, even though his pranks can get a bit extreme. He’s also smart, even though he sucks at homework. Our parents always said we were the perfect pair.” She laughed as memories began to appear. The pranks they pulled, the many times she had hit him because of the ones he pulled on her, how much trouble they had gotten in and how many times she had to bail him out.[/size]