Come one, come all, you're just in time

[Beau Hopkins]

The day was young, the sun was bright, and there was music to be heard. Music trickled across the grounds , filtering through the wind and leaves. The source wasn't hard to spot, a boy of sixteen sitting under a large tree just on the bank of the lake. Guitar in hand, he strummed lightly, not playing anything in particular but chords. His strumming pattern was off, not anything memorable or special at all.

Beau's brow furrowed as he switched from an Em chord to a G chord, continuing his strumming all the while. It wasn't tricky, and he had been playing for years, but his guitar felt a bit different in his hands. A little foreign, and not at all secure. He stopped the reverberating strings with his hand, and thus stopped the music. He leaned back against the tree, closed his eyes and tried to think of what was wrong. The guitar was fine, he had just tuned it last night, but it just didn't feel right. He wasn't usually the type of guy to base his actions on feelings, but when it came to his guitar he was puzzled. He shrugged his shoulders, set the guitar against the tree and shed his shirt, deciding that maybe a swim would help him out a bit. He kicked off his shoes and socks and dove into the lake.

The water was cool, but not cold, a perfect temperature to just clear his head. He swam out a bit further and just floated around, not bothering to keep track of his things, figuring that they must be safe enough on the shore. Who would be interested in them, anyway? An hour or so passed and a peculiar sound reached the boys ears, the soft sounds of music. His ears perked immediately and he looked towards the shore, spotting someone holding his guitar. He felt a little jealous that someone else would be able to produce the sounds he was struggling with, but merely tried to shrug his shoulders as he swam towards the shore.

( Open )

[Josh York]

A bit of fresh air would do Josh good. In a few short days, his world had been knocked a little off kilter but it made a huge difference to Josh. He felt as though a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders, but he wasn't quite sure if he was ready for the rest of the world to know. He trusted Derrick wouldn't break his promise and he knew he wouldn't break the one he'd made to the other boy. It had felt surprisingly good when Josh had shared his story with someone else, especially someone who understood so well. But now that he had, Josh had to trust another person to keep the secret. That was something that was exceptionally difficult for the boy.

As he wandered the grounds, Josh found himself drawn toward the lake. It had been quite a while since Josh had last ventured down here and he missed it. The lake had it's own unique beauty, despite the ghastly creature that resided in it. When Josh reached the shore, he noticed something sitting on the edge. He raised an eyebrow, looking around him to see if it's owner was anywhere nearby. Who would leave a perfectly good guitar lying around? With a frown, Josh stepped toward it and picked it up, resting it on his knee as he plucked gently at the strings. It was after he began playing that he heard the splashes.

Looking out to the lake, Josh noticed a bobbing head drifting toward him. He also noticed a t-shirt, shoes and socks sitting on the ground that he hadn't seen before. Josh assume the figure was the guitar owner and was now returning to shore when they saw Josh.
"Is this yours?" the Hufflepuff boy asked the boy who swam toward him. He rested the guitar against the tree again, his hands slipping gently into the pockets of his jeans and he took a step back.

[Beau Hopkins]

The pang of jealousy swelled in the boy's chest as he heard the music reach him. Why couldn't he be doing that right about now? He didn't understand it, music was the only thing that usually made any sense to him and now it wasn't working. He reached the shore in a few seconds and stood up, making his way toward the boy. " Yeah, it is... you play I see? " He shook himself off a bit so he was decently dry and put his shirt back on although leaving off the shoes and socks. The cool grass felt nice after a long swim. He eyed his guitar, leaving it where it was for the time being, as he wondered who this kid was.

He supposed he would have to introduce himself first in order to find out. " I'm Beau. Who're you? " He hadn't meant to be so direct, but he couldn't really remember the last time he had had to introduce himself to anyone. The boy standing opposite of him looked about the same age, and familiar, too. Beau figured they might have some classes together or something like that.

[Josh York]

"Oh, I'm Josh," he introduced himself, flashing a friendly smile at the boy, "That's a nice guitar you have, there." He nodded in the direction of the instrument he'd left against the tree. As he looked at the boy, he realized he seemed oddly familiar. Probably another Hufflepuff he'd never spoken to and really should have. This whole anti-social thing was really starting to bite Josh in the ass.

"You're in Hufflepuff, aren't you?" he asked the boy, taking a wild guess. He wasn't wearing school robes so Josh couldn't tell for sure. But something told him he was right.

[Beau Hopkins]

Beau stood, a bit awkwardly at first, but relaxed slightly as Josh commented on his guitar. " Oh, yeah. It's decent I suppose, got it a couple years back for Christmas. How long've you been playing for? " His assumption that the other guy even played guitar at all could have been wrong, but then again he didn't supposed a beginner could strum some strings and manage to make them sound decently good. Beau had been playing for years now, which was another reason why the whole ' music drought ' thing was upsetting him. It was second nature to him in most cases.

Beau brushed his wet hair out of his eyes as he nodded his reply that he was indeed in Hufflepuff. " Yeah. Sixth year at that. So I take it you are, too? " Beau was certain that Josh wasn't in his year at least, and he didn't look any younger than him, so that left him to decided that he must be a seventh year. Beau flopped himself down on the ground next to the tree, making the decision that he might as well sit. Not only that, but he was yearning to play something on his guitar. Anything would've been nice at that point.

He reached for his guitar and set it resting lightly on his knee. The sixteen year old strummed gently on the guitar, not quite music yet. He let out a small sigh and shrugged his shoulders, playing with the guitar pick in his hand.

[Josh York]

"I've been playing for ages," Josh confessed, looking down shyly as he kicked at the ground, "Guitar, piano. My um...my mum taught me." Josh had never really had any formal lessons on musical instruments and had been self-taught, as well as a few tips from his adoptive mother. He practiced on his own a lot which made him so good at it, but he would never take credit for it. Josh was way too shy to take the credit.

"Hufflepuff, yeah," he answered when Beau snapped him back into reality with his question, "Seventh year." Josh watched the boy sit down and pick up the guitar again. He seemed frustrated as he strummed and Josh slowly stepped toward him, sitting in the grass across from the boy so he wasn't towering over his housemate as he spoke.
"Having a bit of trouble?" he questioned, searching for a reason behind the obvious frustration.

[Beau Hopkins]

Beau nodded his head shortly. It wasn't too shocking to find a musician amongst his peers, there was a lot of untapped talent within the walls of Hogwarts. He did find it impressive that the older boy played piano as well seeing as how he had only really taught himself guitar. He would have liked to pick up more instruments but it came down to the fact that his parents couldn't afford them. " Yeah? Sounds fantastic... any other instrumental talents? " He was curious, as he always was when it came to music and those who played it.

He lowered his chin down, staring hard at the frets on the guitar, thinking that if he looked long enough he would figure out how to... do something with it. " A bit of trouble... yeah. I can't... figure out what's wrong. " Beau paused, struggling with the words he didn't want to say. " I'm thinking it's more of a me thing rather than the guitar. " He admitted this with an almost dismissive shrug of the shoulders although it pained him to say such things. He was glad that Josh was also a musician, though, because then he might understand where he was getting at.