Locked Out

Marie-Laure returned to Beauxbatons feeling much more certain about the school and what was expected of her. She was on a Quidditch team despite not having known anything about it before her very first shopping trip to Amethyst Alley. She was also in a club about Quidditch. She had a wand and learnt a few rudimentary spells. Hopefully they would be a little more interesting this year.

No longer was she the new kid to magic. She knew something about it and this year she was determined to do some investigation and learn a question which had been plaguing her for a year. Right now only one thing was blocking her from her goal. The library doors were locked. She looked down at the watch she'd bought in a strange little shop she'd found in Whisper Alley. No. She wasn't too early. It just wasn't open.

The second year slumped against the wall next to the library doors. "What's the point of having opening hours if the library isn't even open at those times?" she complained as she crossed her arms and a scowl appeared across her face. This was going to set back her research.

It was a new year and Payton was glad to be back in school. Quidditch and his friends were here and he was happy to pick back up from last year. Though he had fun over the summer, Payton was ready for school. It couldn't have came any sooner. His house was so crowded, it was sometimes annoying and it was good to get away from it. But mostly he enjoyed spending time with his family and was kind of sad when him and Sawyer had to leave for school again.

Payton thought it would be a good idea to stop by the library and say hello, he was there a lot after all, always studying for tests and classes. It would be good to see familiar faces and he was sure they would want to see him after a summer. Summer was a long time to be away from someone and it would be nice to just pop up and ask how someone was doing.

As he approsched the library, he noticed Marie-Laure, a fellow quidditch player, sitting in front of the library doors. He assumed that the library was closed and she was waiting for it to open. But it should have been open at the time, it always was. Why were they late at opening the doors? It must be something important or they just forgot.

"Hello, Sylvian. How was your summer?" This was one of the first times he had spoke to the girl. It was a good chance to get to know each other a little better, they were on the quidditch team together after all. To come to think of it, Payton never really talked to anyone on the quidditch team except Osmund a few times.

Time was ticking and so far the only person to arrive was a third year. One she didn't mind too much though. Marie-Laure looked up at her teammate and her facial expression changed from a scowl to a smile. "Hi Johnson," she replied. "It was good even though I went to Greece again for a couple of weeks." As lovely as holidays with her father were she did sometimes wish he'd take her somewhere different. It was like Greece held some sort of special connection for him which Marie-Laure did not get. "What was yours like?"

She stood and tapped the wall with the back of her heel. This may be a good time to get to know a teammate outside of practice but Marie-Laure was impatient to get in and do some research before all the homework started piling up. Where was that librarian?

"My summer was....busy. So many people. Got to practice some quidditch a bit." Though he had no one to practice with, Sawyer busy with Finlay and both not knowing quidditch, it turned out well. Though he couldn't practice catching, he practiced his speed. "Greece sounds fun, I'd like to go. What did you do there?" Greece sounded like a blast and Payton always wanted to trvel the world and see what it had to offer.

"So, excited for quidditch?" That was basically all he knew what the girl and he didn't know what else to say. "What else do you like to do? Like hobbies?" It seemed like a good way to get to know her a bit.

Marie-Laure felt a stab of jealousy at his getting to fit in some quidditch practice. That was something she could not do. There was no place for her to go where she would not been seen by muggles. She shrugged. Greece and fun weren't synonymous in her book. It was just a place they visited every year. "Walked, swam, rode a bicyle, visited friends. The usual stuff."

He touched on the one thing which she'd found a passion for and a smile brightened her face as she nodded. "I've been looking forward to it all summer. I may not have been able to fly anywhere but I was able to get some friends to play a little basketball. It may not be the same but it does help with catching, throwing and scoring." There was also the bouncing but Marie-Laure seriously doubted she'd get the ball movements of basket ball confused with a quaffle. It was so different. Hobbies was a difficult question to be thrown at her. "Riding my bike and shopping neither of which I can do here." No bikes and she still couldn't see what this village everyone talked about for at least another year. "What are your hobbies?"

Payton always wanted to travel, but with his large family, that was hard to do. It was hard to pick a place to visit and it was hard to get everyone to want to go. "I think it sounds fun, I want to go someday." Payton alwasys did dream big and had big goals. "The world needs explored, at least by me. I haven't been out of France since I was young."

"I live in a farm house away from people, so I have a bit of privacy. If you want, you could always come by and we could practice quidditch." Hobbies? Payton didn't really have any hobbies at were exciting. "I like to read, study, play quidditch, and hang out with my family. Pretty boring."

Marie-Laure interpreted his words as him saying he never went anywhere. That did make sense as to why he would want to go to Greece. "Well if you do ever go make sure you don't go ten thousand times. It gets very dull after a while." Something she'd told her father a million and one times but it was the one thing he refused to let her have her own way.

She perked up a little at his invitation. "Do you really mean it? If you do and your parents don't mind I'm sure my dad would let me." A chance to play Quidditch outside the school term was not one she was going to pass up if she could help it. Marie-Laure shook her head at his self-assessment. "If it's what you enjoy then it can't be boring. You should do the things you like and not worry about whether someone else thinks it's boring."

"If it gets dull, I'll only go once then." Greece did sound like a fun place to visit, maybe he'd go there someday with Sawyer. 'I think Sawyer would enjoy going to there with me. We do just about everything together, or we used to." The subject of him and his brother was difficult to talk about. He wasn't sure what the relationship was like anymore.

"Of course! I'm sure my dad won't mind at all, he's usually nice about these things. I"m sure he'll understand." Playing quidditch together would be fun and a great chance to practice. "My personality is plain, I like it like that though."

"That's the wisest course of action," Marie-Laure replied. "That way you get to see more of the world because you go to other places." She had her own life mapped out in that way. Places to see before she died and that list did not include Greece. "Going with a friend is better than on your own." She wasn't sure who she would go with now that she'd more or less lost contact with her muggle friends. This stupid magic business had ruined her life.

She shrugged. "It's only plain because you believe it is plain. That sort of thing is all dependant on how you or others see you. Not facts. If you can't test it against facts then you can't claim that to be a fact." And if she confused him with her words she was not sorry. It was stupid how people claim something to be fact which was only a matter of opinion.