Re: The Student Seating Area

[Violet Lockwood]

Violet heard someone coming up behind her, but paid them no attention, figuring it was just someone coming to look at the books she was sitting by. Instead, she blinked as a guy's hand put a piece of parchment in her lap. looking up, she smiled at Walden's upside down face. "Hi, Walden Macnair." She looked back down at the paper again, and immediately started laughing. "Merlin, Walden Macnair. I can't read this." She was still laughing as she turned around to face him, looking up quickly as she found herself face to face with his belly button. "Care to stick around to translate?"

[Walden Macnair]

Macnair laughed and sat down next to her so she didn't have to crane her neck to look up at him, "Is my writing really that bad?" He studied it, easily able to read it. Then again he was used to it, and he did press somewhat hard on his parchments and the few little holes attested. "Surely you can re-translate my translation." He smirked at her and picked up the page, "Well the first one is Marsh Saxifrage. That's spelt S-A-X-I-F-R-A-G-E."

[Violet Lockwood]

"Yes," she managed between laughs, "it sort of is." She turned her chair back toward the table, scooting up next to him and looking at the page as he read it. "The purpose of a translation, Walden Macnair, is to be able to read what you've translated. I think you're doing this on purpose. You enjoy my suffering, you sadist." She poked her tongue out at him and looked at the paper, realizing that if she really stared at it, she could read it just fine. Not that she'd tell him that. It was fun making him try and explain himself and read it to her. "Oh thank you because I'm rotten at spelling." She rolled her eyes, obviously being sarcastic. "Continue?"

[Walden Macnair]

He shook his head, "I don't enjoy your suffering, I just like to challenge you and push you to new levels. Now that I've spelt that word to you I'm sure you can read a little of it, at least every other word." He nudged her shoulder with his own. "Come on Emily, if you are so certain you can spell then I'm sure you can read."

[Violet Lockwood]

"Oh, I don't believe that for a second," she laughed, glancing at him before looking back at the page, smirking. "You're probably one of those kinky types aren't you? Tying people up or something. You like watching me try and muddle through this don't you?" She was still laughing, brushing the joke off as nothing more than that. She groaned under her breath when he nudged her and told her she could read. "Fine." She shoved him back with her shoulder, and focused on the paper. "The Marsh Saxifrage known as Moronreisc? What the hell is that word? in Irish is also a protected species under the European Unions Habitats directive, Merlin you write terrible r's, Walden Macnair, and on the National Botonic Gardens red list of critically endangered species." She sighed and looked over at him. "Fine, it's not so horrible once I concentrate on your bloody letters," she laughed once again.

[Walden Macnair]

"Well that would be an Irish word and my Rs cannot be that bad if you can recognise them." He laughed, leaning in to read his words over her shoulder. "See you're fine, and they do look rather bloody in that ink. When I'm done writing the smudges on my hands look like I've murdered someone." He pointed down the page to the last one, "Also that last one there, the Irish name was so strange. See the second part is spelt G-H-A-B-H-L-A-C-H. I'm not sure you you pronounce it."

[Violet Lockwood]

"Gab-latch, gahh-blach, gah-blah-ach, bloody hell." She stopped attempting to pronounce it and laughed again instead. She continued reading in her head, falling silent as her eyes skimmed the page. She had to stop every once in a while and really look, but she found that she was indeed able to read his writing. "Walden Macnair, who taught you how to write? Because I really ought to write them a letter to complain, but then they'd write back, and I don't think I'd be willing to sit and attempt to decode it like this." She turned and grinned at him, her eyes wandering over his face as she waited for an answer. He had freckles she'd never really noticed before.

[Walden Macnair]

Macnair shook his head, "My father taught me to write, and trust me his writing makes mine look neat and elegant. If he had written gah-blah-ach then you would have thought it said glare-blech-blobby." His father's writing looked like someone spilt an ink bottle then traced their fingers around to make some shapes. He looked back at her, wondering what she was looking at so intently and waiting to see if she had something she would like to comment on.

[Violet Lockwood]

Violet smiled at him, a true genuine happy little smile, because he had just shared something else small about himself with her, and just as before, it felt special and privileged. She noticed that he had noticed that she was staring. "You have freckles." She left her explanation at that, turning her eyes back to the paper and finishing reading the rest of it.

[Walden Macnair]

He pulled a face as she looked away, leaning back in to keep looking with her. "I know, they get a lot darker in the summer." He reached into his bag and pulled out the little book, opening it to the pages he had translated. "See here are the originals. This is the glyph for gah-blah-ach."

[Violet Lockwood]

"I figured you knew, but I didn't know. But now I know so I wanted to let you know that I know. You know?" She smiled to herself, amused with the overuse of the word. She leaned over to look at the original, checking out the glyph he pointed at. "Just as confusing in it's original state. But thanks for translating this for me. It helps out unbelievably, you have no idea."

[Walden Macnair]

He stiffled a laugh at her overuse and slid the book between them, "See this line here," he pointed down the page to another paragraph, "It says 'The- I think that says Killarney, I regonise it from an Irish glyph map I was looking at- fern - some latin name I think - was one of the most sought-after plants in Victorian times. The over-enthusiasm of Victorian horticulturalists contributed to its decline.'"

[Violet Lockwood]

Violet listened interestedly as he explained. "So if it was used so much back then, is it hard to get a hold of today? And did it say anything about what it was used for? I was looking at a potion yesterday that called for some kind of fern, and I think it might be really similar to that one. How hard do you think this would be to find?"

[Walden Macnair]

"To find the recipe or the the fern itself? The fern is hard to find but I think there are still cultivations in the botanical gardens and I'm certain that if you studied the plant further there would be a way to find wild ones still." He read further down the page and nodded, "Here it says 'They were originally used for heavy sleeping draughts but newer more prolific ingredients were found to replace them'."

[Violet Lockwood]

"The fern," she clarified, nodding as he went on. "Maybe I'll check into that, I'd like to use it for the project I have to do for Slughorn. I think there may be a way to alter an old sleeping draught potion I found, so that it's more of a pain-stop potion instead. I wonder how hard it would be to find wild. Wouldn't it be something if there happened to be some growing out in the Forbidden Forest?" She laughed a little, but knew that she'd probably check all over the forest anyway, just in case.

[Walden Macnair]

He looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well there are all sorts of different climates and usually ferns are a forest thing right? I have no idea about the potions, not really my field of experimentation." He wouldn't mind looking around the forest, there were always interesting things in there and before Hagrid had started teaching it he had found Care of Magical Creatures fascinating.

[Violet Lockwood]

"Well I'll handle the potions bit myself, so no worries that you don't know anything about it. It's my project, anyway." She looked at him with a little smile. "If you'd like to tag along when I go wandering the forest though, you're welcome to. I've got some diagrams and other things of this fern in another book I think, this one's thankfully in English, so I should be able to hopefully find some if there's any in the forest at all. It seems possible, at least I hope so." She looked at him in anticipation, hoping he would like to come along, just because he was nice company and the forest made her feel even lonelier than usual simply because of how big it was.

[Walden Macnair]

Macnair nodded, "Sure, let me know when you're going and I'll come with you. I've always enjoyed the forest, it's a nice way to get away from the castle." And it provided a convenient apparition point for going to meetings, once you got outside the castle boundaries at least. "So you're working on pain potions for your project then? Sounds practical."

[Violet Lockwood]

"Cool." Violet grinned and sat back comfortably in her chair. "Yeah. Seemed like a good idea since it's something I'd probably use a lot. You may or may not know this about me, but I am very good at ending up injured." She gave him a serious look, narrowing her eyes. "Potentially the very best."

[Walden Macnair]

Macnair raised his eyebrows again, a movement that was becoming very familiar while he was in her company. "Really? Well I feel suitably warned. Though I would rather you not injure yourself while you're with me, or at all but that seems too much to ask." He was rather handy with a healing spell but he wasn't about to say that lest she feel more comfortable damaging herself with him.

[Violet Lockwood]

Vi shrugged yet again. "I make no promises. I like to keep things fresh, exciting. I can promise however that you won't get bored if you're with me. So the forest should be fun. Roots have a particular fondness for introducing me to the ground in which they grow." She laughed, amused with herself. "So yes. Making pain stopping potions seems very logical for someone who would use it as often as I would."

[Walden Macnair]

Macnair shook his head with amusement, "Maybe try to watch where you're walking? I find that helps with wayward roots and branches." He shook his head and stood up, offering her a hand, "Well I'm headed back to the common room now that I have the book I need. Are you staying here?"

[Violet Lockwood]

"Watching or not, they seem to trick me and trip me." She shrugged, laughing a little. "I might walk back with you, if you don't mind?" She grabbed her book and stood up, kicking the chair back into its place under the table. "Unless you just prefer walking the halls alone. Or if I embarrass you. Then again, if I embarrass you, that's an even better reason for me to insist on walking back with you."

[Walden Macnair]

He shrugged, "I don't think you would embarrass me that much, it's not that far to the dungeons after all. And no that was not a challenge." He gave her a stern look before picking up his bag and slipping the books in it. "After you Emily." He smirked and followed her out and back down to the common room.

[Violet Lockwood]

"Oh, but trust me, I'm taking it as a challenge. You'll regret letting me come back with you." She grinned at him, ignoring the stern look, for it did not concern her. Heading toward the door, she slipped quickly through before Walden, and maneuvered her foot behind her, doing her best to trip him in the doorway before darting off, little plots of embarrassment forming in her head with every step. It was a much longer walk to the dungeons than he thought, and Violet was going to have fun with it.

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