Welcome to Gaia! ::

There is an enormous, flat expanse of green grass from the castle to the forest, the gamekeeper's hut and the Black Lake. The lawns seem to maintain themselves to careful, manicured perfection during the spring and summer but become brown, drab and mostly dead during the winter months. They magicked, however, to cut themselves.

Nicole enjoyed a breath of fresh morning air as she strolled contentedly along the lawns with her best friend, Tobias. They walked in relative silence, simply enjoying each other’s company and the break from classes. It was Saturday morning, and the sky was blue but for a few puffy, white clouds scattered across their view. It was a peaceful day, though there was a bit of a cool breeze which mussed up the hair a little. The sun shone brightly above them. The brilliant colours of the autumn leaves fallen on the ground and blowing about made for an enjoyable and interesting stroll. Nicole’s olive green corduroys and thin beige sweater protected her from the briskness of the fall day as she and Toby sauntered along.

“I love autumn,” Nicole said, breaking the comfortable silence. “There are so many beautiful things. There are all the pretty colours in the trees, and then just the fact that it’s the perfect temperature outside. You don’t need to wear a heavy coat, nor do you need to wear shorts or a skirt for fear of being too hot. A sweater and pants will do just fine. It’s wonderful, really.”

When Nicole heard this comment, she froze in mid-step. Looking around quickly, she made sure there was nobody around before turning to her friend and hissing, “Tobias! What did I tell you about that! Never bring that up unless I tell you! You are SO lucky nobody was around to hear.” Nicole grumbled a small epithet and continued walking. “And I do not look good in a skirt.”

Nicole sighed and thought for a moment as they walked. Why does he always act like I’m normal? Nobody in their right mind falls in love with a teacher. Whoops! Nicole noticed her slip immediately and was quite glad she had not said it aloud. Toby would never let her hear the end of it if she did. Like! she quickly amended. I like him. I think he’s cute. I do not love him… Do I? Nicole sighed aloud once again. She was certain Toby knew what she was thinking about. He always did, because she never failed to second-guess herself when this topic came up. Nicole decided she might as well just come out and say it. It would at least spur some interesting conversation if nothing else. “Why the hell am I so weird? I know it’s not normal to like a teacher. It’s just that smile, those eyes, the way he laughs and looks so natural and… well, so hot.” Her eyes became less focussed as she gazed into the distance and thought about the man. “Don’t you just love it when he smiles?” she said softly to herself with a grin of her own. Then she remembered that Toby was still walking along with her. She quickly regained her composure. “Whoops. Disregard that last comment, if you will.”

Nicole looked over at Toby. “Now, now. You know my answer to that. His smile is the bestest. And you know you’re the one I unload on all the time. There is no one else. You are the one person I feel I can trust.” She meant this very sincerely. Toby was her best friend, and had been ever since they met on the train to Hogwarts. They had hit it off rather quickly, considering Toby’s shyness and Nicole’s hesitance at meeting a new boy the first day of school. Luckily, they had become best friends, and Nicole considered it one of the best things that had ever happened to her. “And what’s with the long face all of a sudden?”

“I think it’s Wednesday, against Gryffindor. I’m sure we’ll lose again. We’re just not very good.” Nicole paused. “But, of course, I shouldn’t be thinking that way. I have to be mentally prepared. It’s probably my fault we’re doing so badly anyway, because I always assume we’re going to lose. You can’t win if you’ve already beaten yourself...” She trailed off into silence once again. I wish I were better at Quidditch. Then maybe we wouldn’t lose so much. And then there would be the added plus that Professor Monaghan would see me and perhaps think I have talent... Nicole enjoyed that thought for a moment, then dismissed it as completely implausible. Nah, he barely knows my name. Nicole had seen her favourite professor at almost all of the games that she played against Hufflepuff. In fact, she could not remember a time that she didn’t see his handsome features looking out at her from the crowd. Well, she liked to think he was looking at her, but in all fairness, that was probably not the case. He was most likely simply looking at someone behind her or to the side of her. Too bad he never notices me... Nicole sighed. I guess I’m just invisible.

“Um... I think I may have seen him around... But you’re really the only Hufflepuff I know other than a few on your Quidditch team....” Nicole thought for a moment. Toby had been saying things like this rather often now, talking about when he saw this boy or that. Though this was the first time he had mentioned anything personal about one of them, Nicole had already begun to get a little suspicious. Especially since Toby rarely mentioned girls, and if he did it was not in a way that denoted attraction to them. She thought back to all the comments about boys hastily covered up with a “Uh, not that I would know” or “Er, just thought maybe you’d think he’s attractive... No other reason...” It was rather suspicious. Nicole had been getting the idea for some time that maybe not all was as it seemed. Especially after Tobias’ latest comment. She decided to pursue this train of thought aloud. “Um... Toby... I need to ask you something... You see, I... Well...” Nicole fumbled for the right words. She didn’t want to accidentally offend him whether she was right or not. “Um, I’ve been noticing that you say things like that—you know, you, like, talk about a boy—more frequently now than ever... And I guess I was just wondering whether... You know, whether you were gay.” Nicole cringed at her directness. She hadn’t meant to really say the word. She’d meant to say something along the lines of, “whether you like boys” or something equally or, preferably, less direct. Well, at least it’s out now, Nicole thought tentatively. She could not bear to look at her friend after such an open, personal question, so she simply held her breath and stared at the ground in front of her as she awaited an answer.

Nicole blinked. “Oh. Oh man. I’m sorry. I must sound really stupid now.” She felt her face become red hot with an awkward blush. “I feel terrible. Oh man. Please don’t be mad at me! I mean, it’s not like it’s really obvious, if it makes you feel better. Well, obviously it's not obvious, because you're not gay. Certainly nobody else would think that. It’s probably just me and my paranoid mind. Not that it would be a bad thing! It’d just be like a secret you’d kept from me, and you know how I’m always paranoid about secrets. But I mean... Crap, I’m just talking myself into a box right now. My point is, I wouldn’t mind if you were gay. Not that you are! ...Dammit, I’ll just shut up.” Nicole once more had her foot in her mouth. Why do you talk about things like that?? she chastised herself. You know you’ll just screw up! Next time, just don’t even bring it up! Nicole felt terrible. How could she think something like that of her friend? She knew he would tell her something like that, so why would she assume he was keeping a secret from her? Nicole sighed. It was simply an issue of keeping her mouth shut when she thought she should open it.