Wings of Horses

Horses were not part of Marie-Laure's life experience. She'd always lived in the city with the occasional summer holidays spent in Greece with her father. The very first horses she'd ever had close contact with weren't the usual variety she considered normal but rather the winged horses of Beauxbatons who had transported her to the school. These horses fascinated the Belgian girl and she would often go down to the stables just to visit them.

This day was no different to any of the other times she'd gone down to see them. The witch smiled as she revelled in the solitude. No-one but herself and the horses. She sighed as she reached up a hand to stroke the long nose of one. "Let me tell you a secret," she whispered. "Sometimes I..." she paused as she strained her ears. Marie-Laure turned. "Who's here? Come out and show yourself."

Charon walked down to  the stables slowly, and pretty loudly he assumed, but when someone seemed surprised he was there, he was actually a bit surprised too. Charon was a bit like Marie-Laure, he'd grown up in the city, but magical creatures in general fascinated him, so here he was. "It's just me Sylvian." Charon said softly. "No need to hex me." He chuckled gently. He mostly knew Marie-Laure from quidditch. She was a fast Montagnard chaser who'd gotten the upper hand on him more than once. Though, he wasn't particularly bothered by this, quidditch was just a game. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?" He asked curiously.

She held out empty hands palms up. "No wand in my hands. It's in my pocket so you're safe for now." It was on the Quidditch pitch he was at risk but not from her wand. Marie-Laure knew she was a competent chaser. The fact that she'd managed to get a number of goals past Charon Winthrop was proof.

Marie-Laure reached up to pat the horse again before giving him a reply. "I was visiting the horses. I don't get much of a chance back home to see animals." Her owl didn't count since he tended to spend a lot of time in a tree on the street outside her family's tailoring business. She glanced behind Charon to see if there was anyone else she hadn't realised was there before returning her focus back to him. "You know I could ask you the same thing."

Charon's lack of expression became a smile. "A mix of the same reasons you did and an interest in horses." He shrugged, he'd always found horses fascinating, let alone winged ones. "You can call me Charon by the way." He smiled again. "We haven't had a proper introduction I don't think. You're in my charms class though, right?" He asked curiously, he was pretty sure she was. Charon had begun to run his fingers through a different horses mane. "You're a pretty good chaser by the way." He said before slipping a small sugar cube from his pocket to feed it to the horse.

"Charon," she repeated. "Certainly and you can call me Marie-Laure. Calling everyone by their last names sounds too English to me anyway." The few English customers she'd seen in her father's shop and an English girl at her old school had influenced her in a way that she considered their attitudes as typical of all English.

"Yes I am along with other classes. We are in the same year after all." She stepped sidewards as the horse bumped her in the cheek and almost missed hearing the complement Charon threw her way. "I know," she replied with complete honesty. It wasn't boasting. She just knew she was good. "Not bad for someone who has only been playing since the beginning of first year. You must be a reasonably decent keeper yourself considering how many more goals Cerisier seems to make than Montagnard." This year she hoped Annaleise had improved enough to change that trend.