feed the birds, a galleon a bag {Open}

[Mei Carmine]

Mei made her way rather slowly towards the Owlery. She was somewhat tired really, and she wasn't entirely sure why. Regardless, she held in her hand a letter to be sent to her parents just letting them know that the kids at school were mean to her. Not actually what she was writing but there were so many people in the school who were infected now and she was one of them. Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully, she had also been a werewolf for a while now and was rather used to her... position in society. It just so happened that being registered also meant that everyone knew exactly who she was and what she was. She sometimes wondered whether she would have been better to refuse her mother and remain hidden from the eyes of the ministry. She touched the tattoo on her inner wrist before shrugging the thoughts away. What was done was done. There was no point in getting upset about it. She hadn't harmed anyone so she was perfectly fine.

She reached the tower and whistled for her owl. A Greater Sooty Owl named Froggy for reasons still unknown to her. She'd been eleven when she had bought the bird and, for some reason, had thought he looked like a frog. Her parents had attempted to dissuade her from naming the bird after another animal but nothing had stopped her. He was her owl and she would name him whatever she wanted. Now, she slightly regretted having called him Froggy but he seemed to love the name and even seemed to hop places. It might have been in her mind but she didn't much care.

"Hey Froggy. How are things going?"

The owl began pecking at her hands and hopping around in a circle. Apparently he had smelled the owl treats in her pockets.
"Alright, fine! I don't see why you can't just hunt like all the other birds. These things are expensive and I'm not that wealthy."
Froggy payed no attention to her and simply swallowed down the treat in something like one mouthful.

[Louis Weasley]

The thing about prefects meeting was that it could go on painfully long. Too long that sometimes Louis’ legs were asleep by the time it ended that it took him a while to finally get up from his seat, something of which Louis never appreciated at all. In fact, if he was given the option to skip the meeting, Louis would have gladly ditched the excruciating process of the whole thing. Today’s meeting, it was no different than the last and Louis doubted it would make much difference in the future. The ever long speech about upholding the tradition, the speech about what a privileged it was to be part of the small group that was bestowed with the opportunity made by the Hufflepuff’s over enthusiastic fifth year prefect nearly sent even the Head Boy to sleep. Luckily however, he was politely (though there was nothing polite about the childish coughs calling the prefect a loser) stopped by the Head Boy before the matter escalate, leaving Louis feeling relieved. If it had gone on, who knows how long the boy could talk. Still, as meeting goes, nothing was ever interesting, listening to people talked endless and making reports was not something of which Louis was ever good at. Which was why, despite having little feeling in either of his legs, Louis was the first out the door when the meeting was adjourned. There was somewhere else that he had to go to.

Of course, five years at Hogwarts was more than enough for Louis to learn of the few shortcuts there was to get to where he was heading, after a couple of cuts through an unused classroom and other rooms, Louis finally found himself standing at the bottom of the staircase leading up to the owlery, though he didn’t climb up the stairs right away. Instead, Louis stood at the bottom of the staircase, going through his pockets, trying to find something before he finally found an almost crumpled letter stuffed in his back pocket. Relieved that he had not lost the letter, Louis started to climb the stairs one by one, surely enough, it would have been easier to call for his owl to the common room, but, there are days where Louis never really mind the climb. However, when Louis got on top of the staircase, he realized that he was not alone there. In fact, someone else had beaten him to the place. “Froggy?” Louis blurted out without thinking as he heard the girl spoke to an owl. It was a strange name for a bird, but...

ooc; crashed ;D

[Mei Carmine]

Mei just about screamed when she heard a voice behind her. As it happened, she jumped and allowed a slight scream to escape her lips before clamping her hand over her mouth and spotting the student who had just entered the Owlery. She thought she recognised him as one of the Weasleys but those without red hair were harder to place than those with it. She let out the breath she had caught with a small smile.
"I'm sorry, you just startled me a little." She replied after a moment, "Yes, Froggy... Don't you think he looks like a frog?"

She touched the owl and turned him towards the student with a smile.
"Look at him, and he hops like a frog too."
She stopped speaking for a moment and then turned to face the boy with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Well, actually, I was young when I called him that. He probably would have been better suited with the name Smoky but when I saw him he just seemed more like a frog than a bird. I'm Mei by the way... I think we have a few classes together actually."

She stopped speaking knowing that she had just about rattled off her whole life story without a thought for anything. She turned back to the bird who was now hopping around in a circle, flapping his wings as though waiting for yet another owl treat. Mei pulled a face at him with a strong hint of annoyance. She really could not afford to buy all these owl treats for him. He hunted for food sometimes but he always reckoned that Mei would come by and give him owl treats. Basically, she had spoiled the bird so it was her own fault that she was going broke.

[Louis Weasley]

Needless to say, it wasn’t the kind of reaction that Louis was expecting. The last thing he wanted to do was to startle someone and scare them at any rate; still, as it had happened even if it wasn’t his intention, he couldn’t help but felt slightly guilty over it. “I’m sorry,” Louis blurted out quickly, not knowing what else was there for him to say except for an apology. Perhaps it wasn’t the best consolation one could afford, but for as long as he could remember, Louis had always made the effort to apologize if it was his error in judgment that had caused anyone any trouble. “Didn’t mean to startle you,” He added, unable to help himself to look rather apologetic. Though, he soon learned that his concerned was almost wasted, the girl was startled indeed, but she was far more forgiving that Louis would have expected, even going as far as introducing her owl to him and how it got its name from. Amused, Louis kept listening to the girl as she spoke, it wasn’t unusual for him to run into a number type of people, but, he had always found it easier to be around those who wouldn’t mind saying more than just a few words at a time. His mind raced as he listened to the girl, wondering as to where he had seen her before. But, the only thing Louis could remember was that he had seen her around before, most probably in a class.

“Hmm... It kinda does look like a frog,” Louis replied thoughtfully as he starred at the owl. Even when he was trying to recall the name of the girl, he hadn’t failed to listen to a single word that the girl had spoken. Surely enough, the girl ended up even saving him the trouble of asking what her name was. It was funny, how Louis could remember anything from the History book but not someone for his own class. Mei. A short and simple name, it was amazing how Louis couldn’t even remember that name. But, as soon as the girl introduced herself, Louis began to remember where he had seen her before. It was true, they had some classes before and if he was right, she was one of those Hufflepuff girls he’d walked passed every now and then. “I’m Louis Weasley,” Louis replied in turn, introducing himself, half expecting Mei not knowing who he was as well. It wouldn’t be strange, with a dozen or so Weasleys running around the school and half of those happened to be on the field playing Quidditch, it was incredible how people never seemed to confuse them. Then again, it wasn’t hard to tell these days as Louis and his siblings mostly have lighter hair, blonds to be exact. Louis himself happened to have strawberry blond hair, a strange hair colour for a boy, at least he thought so.

Louis was about to open his mouth again to speak when he noticed Mei was having some trouble with her owl. It wasn’t a strange sight as Louis himself had the trouble with his very own owl before. It was, however, his own fault as he had forgotten to feed the creature the day before. Surely enough, owls could fend for themselves, but it never stopped them from wanting some attention from their owner and Louis was on the loosing end when he ended up being pecked half to death by Merlin. He quickly searched through his pocket, pulling out an extra bag of treats from his left jeans pocket and hand it out for Mei to reach. “Here,” He said simply. “I’ve got some extra,” He added, of course, after the incident, Louis had always made a mental note to always carry around some bird seed. It wasn’t all too heavy and having an extra bag or two always help if his owl showed up with a letter.

ooc; lateness... sorry

[Mei Carmine]

Mei waved away his apology with her hand and a smile. It wasn't his fault at all, she just should have been paying attention to something other than her owl. She had once apologised for everything that ever happened. She still did on occasion feeling as though anything that happened around her might have somehow been her fault. She wasn't certain why but some things just made her nervous and she apologised when that was the case. Perhaps she was just insane which would, in reality, explain a lot. She only hoped that her insanity extended to making her a lot smarter than she was. Able to see things that others couldn't in the ways of spells and potions. It would certainly be an interesting and fun profession.

She had, at least, guessed right when she'd thought he was a Weasley. Louis his name was. She thought that he was also a Prefect or something which seemed to ring a bell. She smiled happily, regardless, when he agreed that her owl looked like a frog. So, perhaps, she was not entirely insane. This was a good sign. She wondered what it was like being a part of such a large and, to some extent, prestigious family. The Weasleys and Potters were known throughout the world as the ones who had fought through everything to ensure that He Who Must Not Be Named had been defeated. Even twenty years after his defeat her mother had instilled in her a certain fear for the Dark Wizard.
"Thank you for saying so, my mother tried to convince me that it was not the best name for a bird. Most people would call him Sooty, Smoky or something similar but I insisted upon Froggy. My little brother thinks it's just hilarious."

He offered her some more owl treats and she found herself blushing slightly.
"Oh thank you so much but it's quite alright, he's getting a little fat anyway. I need to stop feeding him..."
The reply trailed off as he held out a bag for her to take. However, at the comment about his weight Froggy took a little angry nip at her hand causing her to pull it away from the bird with an annoyed expression on her face. He then turned his gaze to Louis, eying the bag of treats in his hand as though it was about to fly away. Before he could swoop the boy Mei took them hesitantly.
"Um... Thanks he's a little unruly. Kind of like a little brother really... Or someone just as annoying."

Her brother wasn't annoying per say, but it was certainly difficult for her to be here so far away from him with him being a muggle. It had been a little upsetting for her mother but she knew that their mother loved them both no matter how much magic they displayed. It was just that she had always wanted to spend her time at the school with her brother...
"I probably should have trained him better but he's just... I don't know... It's like he's in his toddler years and won't take no for an answer."

ooc: it's cool, not to worry ^.^

[Louis Weasley]

Louis grinned as he listened to Mei explaining further about the owl and her family’s reaction when it came to its name. It was a strange name indeed and Louis, if he hadn’t been polite enough not to point it out, he would have agreed, there are other names that would better suit an owl. But, it was never his business about what Mei chose to name her owl, therefore Louis felt that it was not necessary for him to share his opinion about the name. Instead, he decided that perhaps it was not the name that mattered; it was how it came to be. “At least you had a choice on what to name yours,” Louis said thoughtfully. His thoughts wandered off to his own owl and how it came to be in his possession. “I got mine for my birthday present from my Uncle Charlie” Louis began, sharing a bit of a story of how he had ended up with his own in the first place, it was not at all interesting, nonetheless, he figured that it wasn’t such a bad idea to talk about it either, “And he already started to call it ‘Merlin’,” He added, thinking back to the time the small owl was handed to him when he was eleven, “Of course, by the time it reached me and the owl wouldn’t respond to any other name,” He continued. “So, I’m stuck with an owl named after a famous wizard,” Louis added, chuckling slightly. True, there was a time when he had hated the time, but as time passed; he began not to care about it too much.

“I wouldn’t know,” Louis said simply, still not going back on his offer on the treat, leaving his hand outstretched. However, he wasn’t left hanging too long as Mei changed her mind as soon as her owl started to act up again. Grinning, Louis watched as Mei took the treat from his hand before her owl even managed to beat her to it. There was no owl for as long as Louis could remember that would pass on a treat, at least none of which Louis had encountered in the past. In the same time, Louis was relieved that he wasn’t left with his hand outstretched a minute longer as he was getting tired from it that as soon as Mei took it off his hands, Louis retract his right hand and shove it into his pocket. Still, he was amused and Louis controlled himself from laughing at the sight and allowed a few moments to pass before he opened his mouth to speak again. “I’m the youngest, you see,” He said plainly, though he was sure that Mei would have already figured out about his family after she learned about his name or at least remembered that he had two older sisters. “The closest to younger brothers I’ve ever had were Albus and Hugo,” He added, remembering the two, Albus who was a year younger than him and Hugo who happened to be in his third year. “Though, technically they’re my cousins,” He continued, scratching his nose with his free hand.

“Toddler years?” Louis asked stupidly as he was a little confused. But, he quickly bounced back and realized that Mei was no longer talking about her owl and had changed the topic to her younger brother. “Uh... Kids?” Louis stated, unsure of what he could say. Louis was by far the last person anyone should ask any opinion or insight about handling young children. Being the youngest of three and basically had been looked after by his older siblings, Louis believed that he was probably the source of every problem they had when he was a child. When it came to cousins on the other hand, they are always close to Louis’ own age that he couldn’t even remember looking after anyone younger, not that he ever did in the first place. He had never really needed to look after any of his cousins; Rose, Albus, Hugo, and Lily had always been better at taking care of their own problems. Well, Rose being Rose had always hated him pestering around anyway.

ooc; blerrghh... i'm getting worse...

[Mei Carmine]

Mei realised a little belatedly that she was talking far too quickly for him to keep up. She was a little nervous and, naturally, she tended to speak a lot quicker and without really thinking in those situations. It was weird to hear him talk about his family whom she had actually read a little about. When she thought about it everything he had mentioned just seemed a world away to her. It was like when her father talked about the muggle wars. She couldn't even comprehend a time when there was so much hatred in the world. Even during the years of the Cold War when the muggles saw so many things that weren't even there. She supposed that, in some respects, the years between the wizarding wars against He Who Must Not be Named was similar to those times. Regardless, to hear him speak so candidly about a family she had grown up knowing of as the heroes who had saved them it was extremely different.

She turned an owl treat over in her hands thoughtfully and then handed it to Froggy. He again ate it in a couple of bites before glaring at the next treat in her hand. She sighed and handed him one before hiding the rest in her hands. It seemed to fool him as he began hopping around in circles again. She also understood, at that point, that Louis was slightly confused as to where her mind had been traveling over the intervening moments. She nodded with an apologetic smile.
"Yes, sorry. I have a younger brother and I just think Froggy reminds me of him sometimes... My brother used to act a little possessive when he was younger. He won't be coming here... But..." She trailed off and looked away for a moment, "Dad reckons he's going to wind up doing heaps in the muggle world though."

She wasn't embarrassed... It was more that she got defensive over her little brother when people seemed to scoff at the fact that he was a muggle and she the sister of one. She just felt that the muggles were really quite ingenious but most of the wizarding folk failed to notice it. Louis seemed to be the type who wouldn't mock her in any way or ask too many questions. It was just a little disheartening to her sometimes. Half blood and half breed. It was not necessarily a good combination. She couldn't help but feel a little like she had let her mother down being the only child with magic and yet failing at that... Being a werewolf. She supposed it could have been worse, she could have been locked up for attacking someone. Froggy was still spinning around as though trying to chase his tail.

ooc: it's fine your posts are great! I had Mei talking too quickly which I only realised just now >.> Silly Mei and my silly posts.

[Louis Weasley]

It was not a habit of Louis to talk too much about his family. One being there was nothing he could talk about that people hadn’t known about and the other being he had always preferred to talk about something else. But, on those rare occasions, Louis would talk about a few things about his Uncles and Aunts since despite having their name written down in history, there was very little truth about them that people are aware of. Like for example, his family had strong hatred towards the werewolf community which was not even true in the first place. True, his father was attacked by a werewolf, but just because one decided that lunching on someone’s face was a thrill, that doesn’t mean the rest would. Of course, the rest of which Louis could think about was only the late Remus Lupin, someone he had only known by name and through stories and tales shared during Christmas and those rare dinners at his grandparents. Still, Louis wasn’t the kind that would hold a grudge over things. His dad certainly hadn’t taught him that. “That must be nice,” Louis blurted out, commenting on the fact that Mei had a little brother. “I mean, I like I said, I am the youngest,” He added, clarifying what he had meant, or at least was trying to. “It’s just that it must have been nice to have a younger brother,” He continued to try to explain. It was not one of Louis’ habits to stumble on his words, but, there was little that he could relate to on the subject.

However, at the mention of Mei’s younger brother not coming to Hogwarts, Louis’ couldn’t help from arching an eyebrow, surprised. “He’s a Squib?” Louis asked curiously. It wasn’t a good idea to pry, in fact, it could be considered as rude, but it was rare for Louis to talk to someone who had any relation to a squib, he had gotten used to the whole idea of muggleborns as one of his Aunt was one, but, a Squib, that was new. “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry,” Louis said when he realized that his getting an answer to his question was not the top priority. “I was just curious,” He added, explaining himself. It wouldn’t be a surprised to Louis if Mei ended up feeling rather crossed at his insensitivity; it was just that sometimes Louis does have that tendency to speak without thinking through of what was said. Half of it, of course, had come out rather offensive even when he hadn’t meant it to sound so.

ooc; shortage... >.<

[Mei Carmine]

She smiled as he mentioned that it was probably nice to have a little brother. It was, for the most part he was easy to boss around. Not that she usually did that. He just tended to be so pleased when she came home that if she even mentioned that she needed something he would run away and find it. For the most part anyway. He was also always asking her what she was learning and what kinds of things she did at the school unable to comprehend the concept of witchcraft being learned. For a while, the two of them just assumed that their mother just knew the things she knew without having to actually learn it despite her telling them numerous times about her escapades in Hogwarts. They had just found the entire concept of a school where people actually learned magic was extremely fanciful.

When he asked whether her brother was a squib she got a little fidgety and twisted her hands a little around one another.
"Well... No, not really. He's just a muggle. Dad's a muggle but Mum's a witch so... There was a fifty-fifty chance of us being magical I suppose. But that's all just fine." She replied with a hint of annoyance in her tone quickly masked by an informative one.
She didn't know why she had suddenly started talking about her whole life story. It wasn't something she usually did... Unless she was just trying to make polite or otherwise conversation.
"But sorry! You probably don't want to know about my whole life story and I'm preventing you from posting a letter also. I guess it's just one of those times when I prattle on about whatever comes to mind."

She laughed a little nervously. Rolling her eyes a little at her own stupidity as she looked down towards the ground. She wouldn't be surprised if she woke up in the morning to hear tales of how she was practically a nutcase who spoke nonsense to a relative stranger. Sure, she knew him, but it hardly seemed normal to speak so candidly like this to someone she'd just met in the owlery. Then again, she'd heard that the Owlery was often the best place to meet people.

[Louis Weasley]

Louis regretted asking the question as soon as he had blurted out, even more when he noticed that he was making Mei uncomfortable. But, he was relieved to hear her answer his question despite being troubled and there Louis was ready for her to storm out of the Owlery. He listened to her explanation attentively. So, she was a half-blood, he thought privately in his mind. It wasn’t a strange thing to have half-bloods these days, even his cousins are, but, it was not common to have half-bloods having brothers and sisters that aren’t magical. Maybe it was the whole fifty-fifty chances as Mei herself said it. “Ah... I see,” Louis said as he nodded, showing that he understood what Mei was telling him. Having a sibling that was not magical was a hard concept for Louis to grasp, but, he supposed that it was not a bad thing. At least there will never be moments where you would run out of stories to tell or having the other said; oh, I’ve done that in my Third Year. Of course, having the same last name of a couple of famous and known prankster that had walked the hallways of Hogwarts before him does not help his case at all.

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Louis said quickly, dismissing Mei’s assumption. He truly did not mind hearing her stories; at least it wasn’t such a bad morning where he ended up being drenched over by Peeves or being pooped on by one of the birds. “But, hang on,” Louis added, pulling out the letter he had from his back pocket. If Mei hadn’t reminded him, he would have probably left the Owlery forgetting to mail the letter home and that would be the first. Louis craned his neck around, searching for Merlin, but for some reason, the creature had hidden itself, at last, Louis scanned the place once again before finally whistling. It did the trick, within seconds Merlin flew and landed on his right shoulder. “So I need to call first now?” Louis asked playfully. He pulled the other bag of treats he had left on him and held his left palm high enough for Merlin to nibble on the treats. “Right, where was I?” Louis said, turning his attention back to Mei when Merlin finished the last bit of the treat that was on Louis’ palm. “You’re not preventing me from anything,” Louis stated as he carefully tried to tie the letter to Merlin with one hand.

“I just had to wait for this guy to come down,” Louis spoke again when he was done. It was amazing how many tricks you could pick up after five years, especially having to deal with an owl such as Merlin. “Turns out, all I had to do was call,” He added, grinning. “Have you sent yours?” Louis asked in turn, it couldn’t be that Mei was up in the Owlery simply because she loved the view.


ooc; late again, sorry...