A time for contemplation [open]

[Remus Lupin]

Remus had been in a contemplative mood all day. He couldn't find anywhere quiet enough to just have a few moments peace, without someone disturbing him. The last few days had given him a lot to think about. His blossoming relationship with Jaimi, the things they'd learned about each other. Not to mention, the plan he was formulating that he would need his fellow marauders to complete. Yes, he definitely needed a little breathing space.

Remus decided to head out to the lake. It was the end of the school day, and he liked to sit by the lake, while he watched the giant quid occasionally lift a tentacle above the water. He sat himself down and leaned against a tree, his legs out stretched, and his hands clasped together on his lap, as he gazed out across the vast area of water.

He was soon lost in thought, unaware if anyone was approaching.

[Rachel White]

Rachel checked her bag to make sure she had her book with her. Smiling as she zipped up the bag and slid her arm through the second shoulder strap. She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her robes and set off down the corridor. She eventually made her way outside and set off across the lawns.

She wandered along it's edge in search of some shade underneath one of the trees. Unfortunately all the trees seemed to have noisy groups underneath them, so on she walked until she found a tree with a young Gryfinndor leaning against it's trunk. She stopped and looked at him for a moment, he seemed to be absorbed in his thoughts and she decided he wouldn't mind if she sat down in the tree's shadow as long as it wasn't too close to him.

So sit down she did, and pulling the book out of her bag as she did so crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her knees. She flicked through the fairly heavy book until she found the page that she had left off on.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus eventually was aware of someone nearby. It was the sound of pages being turned that filtered to his consciousness and he turned in the direction of the sound. He looked at the girl, she was a Hufflepuff. He smiled at her. "Hello. What's that you're reading?" He nodded is head toward the book, and reached out his hand to pick up a blade of grass, which he twisted idly between his fingers.

"I'm Remus by the way. I don't think we've met before?" He smiled casually.

[Rachel White]

Rachel looked up from her book as the boy spoke, and she smiled back at him. He had a nice smile, he seemed fairly relaxed, if thoughtful and his genuinely open body language suggested that she wouldn't feel judged within the next thirty seconds.

She held the book up to show him the cover. The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Homes by A C Doyle

"It's a muggle book, my Mum gave it to me this summer." she said closing it on her finger and taking in the cover herself. It was a beautiful book, bound in black leather with the letters stamped in it in gold. She ran her fingers reverently over the cover, Ravenclaw she was not, but she could still appreciate a well bound book. Besides, when she read she did it for enjoyment purposes, reading should be a hobby not a necessity for passing exams.

"No we haven't," she said confirming the sentence that was half question half statement as she reopened her book. "I'm Rachel." it was a simple fact, her name, and was said as such a thing should be said, to the point, no elaboration, no flamboyant tone of voice, just fact, how she normally said it.

[Remus Lupin]

He looked at the book with interest and nodded his approval. My favourite Sherlock Holmes book, is The Hound of the Baskervilles." He admired the book, and the care in which she handled it. He hated to see books being thrown about, dog eared or bent so that the spine broke. He added in a distant voice, as he gazed out across the lake. "I love to read. The places you're transported to, the complexities of the characters. The way you can get so absorbed in a book, so that you forget the world around you and the problems it holds."

Remus sighed heavily and smiled as he turned to look at her again. "Pleased to meet you Rachel. " He didn't want to disturb her reading too much, so he stayed silent, and waited to see if she was willing to talk more.

[Rachel White]

"You just interested in Sherlock Holmes or have you grown up reading muggle books?" she asked curiously, she knew she was one of three muggle borns in her year, with only a smattering of half bloods and found herself wondering if this trend continued in lower years. While at Primary school statistics had been her favourite part of maths.

She paused in her reading to listen to him talk and glanced up at him he was gazing across the lake with a dreamy expression on his face, and she couldn't help but smile in slight amusement. "I know what you mean." she said with a sigh. "It's impossible to feel alone when you are reading a book." The thought made her smile. "So," she said closing the book and leaning back on her hand to talk to him properly, deciding that although she would like to get to the end of this particular mystery that Remus was worth taking the time out to talk to.

"What year are you in?" she asked, basics first was the best way to go about it.

[Remus Lupin]

He smiled at her first question. "No, I like lots of muggles books. I'm a half blood, so I was introduced to novels from both worlds." He told her, as he turned slightly to look at her. "I like Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Dickens A Tale of Two Cities." He smiled. "To name a few."

He smiled as she engaged him in conversation and turned his body fully to face her, his legs crossed Indian style in front of him. "I'm a third year. How about you?"

[Rachel White]

"Nice one, so you've actually heard of Babbity Rabbity then. A girl in my year was obsessed when we started." she said with a laugh. "I've read The Hobbit, but not Moby Dick I'll get my mum to find me a copy." She slid the book back into her back to allow herself not to be distracted by it.

"I'm a sixth year." she said, another fact, short and to the point. "I'll be seventeen in December. You?" She looked out across the lake for a moment and saw the tentacles of the giant squid drifting lazily about in the sun and gave a small shudder.

Amazing and awesome as some students may have found it, it had always given her the creeps. Mainly due to the fact that her trip across the lake in her first year had been more eventful than most.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus laughed. "Oh yes, I've heard of Babbity Rabbity. My dad used to read it to me, when I was little." He smiled. "You should. It's an amazing book, of how one man will stop at nothing to get his revenge." He nodded as she spoke, and he quite liked the fact that she spoke bluntly.

"I'm thirteen. I'll be fourteen in March." He also caught sight of the giant squid, and smiled. "So do you have any favourite subjects Rachel?" He scratched the side of his nose, wrinkling it as he ddid so. "Mine is Defence Against the Dark Arts."

[Rachel White]

"I'm sure there's a copy in the library somewhere." she said with a smile, pleased by his enthusiasm for books. It was a dying passion unfortunately.

"Well, I quite enjoy charms, but I'm not especially good at it." she said, tacking the fact on the end like an old habit. "In fact I'm not particularly good at anything, least of all ancient runes, why I chose it I can never remember." she exclaimed with a sigh, her answers becoming slightly more animated the more she saw that Remus wasn't likely to judge her for them. She'd always seen it as a bit of a curse that she didn't seem able to excel at anything no matter how hard she tried, but have skills ranging around average at nearly everything. "What ones did you chose?"

[Remus Lupin]

He smiled as she spoke and nodded his head slightly. Glad that she would look for the book. "I like charms, and I am reasonably good at it." He didn't mean that to sound like he was being big headed, and he hoped she wouldn't take it that way. "I'm sure you are good a most of the subjects here you know. Maybe you put too much pressure on yourself?" he offered kindly.

He understood at how she couldn't make head nor tail of Ancient Runes. He'd decided to drop it and do Divination instead. "I chose Divination, Arithmancy and Care of Magical creatures."

[Rachel White]

Rachel nodded politely when he said he was good at charms, and though slightly jealous of the fact knew he wasn't trying to show off. "I'm really not, I barely scraped Acceptables for the whole of last year." she said, it didn't upset her, it wasn't as if she had failed, and she wasn't exactly jealous of those who did better than her. She was who she was and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"I'm not putting pressure on myself, sometimes I think I'm too relaxed, and studying isn't exactly my favourite past time, I prefer reading for pleasure." she paused for a moment to take in the smoothness of the water now that the giant squid had sunk into the depths of the lake and stopped disturbing the surface.

"Good choice, Mine were Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Divination. I managed to get an E in that one, see lots of doom and gloom in the future, pretend to be all ethereal about it and viola." she said with a small smile.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus listened to her, as she told him of how she really wasn't that good at the subjects at school. He smiled when she told him about her results in Divination. "Well it looks like you are good at something after all." He stretched out on the grass, laying down, so his head rested in his hand. "I know what you mean about studying. I would much rather read for pleasure, but I feel I owe it to my parents, to try and do well." He didn't want to say that he felt he owed it to professor Dumbledore, as he'd gone to such trouble on his behalf.

"If you like, I could help you with some of the subjects?" He offered kindly. "What is it you want to do, when you leave Hogwarts?"

[Rachel White]

"But I'm only pretending to be good at it, so it doesn't count." she said with a quiet laugh.

She thought about the offer of help for a moment, briefly glancing over the 'how embarrassing getting help from someone younger than you' before deciding that thinking like that would get her nowhere.

"O.k. We'll have to synch our diaries." she said with a smile. "I don't really know what I want to do any more."she said slowly. "When I was younger I wanted to work with lions on my local safari park, but I have a lot more options now. I do want to go back and get some muggle qualifications though. You?"

[Remus Lupin]

Remus grinned when she took him up on his offer of help. "That's great!" He nodded his head about them syncing their diaries. He looked surprised at her childhood dream of working with lions. "Really? I would have thought you would have chosen something less dangerous and physical." He said with a smile.

He shrugged his shoulders, when she asked him of his plans after school. "Oh I suppose I'd like to become an Auror." The truth was, he would be happy if he could get any work, once he'd finished at Hogwarts, but he just added. "I want to try and do some good, and I think working for the Ministry would be good." He smiled sheepishly. "That sounds so juvenile to you I suppose?"

He looked over at the lake again and spoke. "Have you considered working with animals in general? You know like a Vet or something?"