A Breath of City Air (FoY)

[Keagan Gerislynn]

Having just arrived on the Alley the night before, Keagan had only had time to get settled in her room at the Leaky Cauldron before resting up for the following day. She didn't get much sleep though; the new experience of having a room to herself in an inn was of such a combination of spooky and exciting that falling asleep, and staying that way, was difficult.

Regardless, or maybe as a result of her restlessness, Keagan was up bright and early going about her daily routine, and set to hit the town by mid-morning. Her hair pulled into two neat french braids along the side of her head, the Gryffindor was clad in an emerald green sweater over a long sleeved t-shirt, dark chocolate color cords, and a comfortable pair of heeled boots that would keep her ankles dry. Wrapped around her neck, of course, was a scarf proclaiming her house colors, a necessary component of an outfit on any wintery day.

Keag departed from the pub just in time for the first snowfall of the day. Stepping into the middle of the somewhat busy avenue, Keagan slowly spun around, her arms extended, as the white flurries descended softly upon her and settled themselves on her head and shoulders.

[Celina Jedynak]

Emerald was wide eyed and scared out of her life. Running through the streets with a mad crup behind her. She really shouldn't have antagonized him with her tail in his face. Yea, Emerald was screwed. She ran around the the buildings and dived into the opening into Diagon alley and around the corner of the Leaky Cauldron. It was quick, and before she knew what exactly she was doing she was launching herself into the arms of someone she thought was signaling to her that she was safe. Anything to get away from the crup.

Celina ran after Emerald. A block behind her cat, she wondered where in bloody hell she could be going. But then it hit her, wherever the most people were to help her. So much for having an anti-social cat. As she entered into Diagon, Celina looked around. She should have never let Emerald outside of the apartments for fresh air. If Alfonz knew she was out and about, she'd be in trouble. She sighed and lifted the hood she wore on her robes over her head so that no one could see who she was. That's all she needed, to be recognized by someone who knew her brother.

Hooded, and clutching her robes tightly around herself to keep warm, she ran around the building calling lightly, "Emerald! Em! Where did you go?!" That was when she saw her. Leaping, Emerald had leaped into the arms of another. Or at least she was leaping....Celina gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh! Emerald! No...!"

[Keagan Gerislynn]

Keag's spin was just slowing to a stop when she blinked her eyes open and looked up at the clear sky. It was just then when the cat came flying at her, claws extended and a frightened look on it's face. Before she knew it, the cat was latched onto her chest, clinging for dear life as Keagan struggled to stay on her feet as the force catapulted her backwards and into a total stranger.

She spun, bewildered, to look at the man, a plea in her eyes. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, avoiding eye contact and rushing in the opposite direction, her free arm wrapped around the cat.

"What's going on?" the Lioness muttered, looking down into the cat's frightened face.

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina ran up to the girl who had caught her cat, shooing away the crup as she did so. "Get outta here you bloody creature! Be gone if you can't be nice!" Celina's eyes were just as wide as her cat's, though one could not tell with her hood up. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry....so sorry," Celina kept repeating herself to the girl as she gently tried to remove Emerald who was attached to the blond's chest still.

"She was scared off by the crup....he wasn't as nice as she thought....it was so horrible...I'm not even supposed to be out...." Celina was rambling on and on softly, trying not to impose and trying to explain. What a morning.

[Keagan Gerislynn]

Keagan winced as the cat tightened its grip on her as the girl attempted to pull her off, but the cat soon relaxed enough once realizing the intruder's identity.

"Oh! No big deal at all. I just got spooked, you know?" It wasn't every day a strange cat popped out of nowhere and decided your chest looked comfortable. "Where aren't you supposed to be out?" It didn't occur to Keagan that maybe the girl had a good reason for staying away from the festival. After all, the American's family wasn't really all that protective.

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina took Emerald back into her arm's and cooed her. "It's alright, Em. He's gone." Celina put Emerald's forehead up to her own, both faces somewhat engulfed in the navy blue robes. "I'm not allowed to be out because my brother knows not of where I am," Celina said calmly and softly. She doubted anyone would recognize her voice, but she had to just make sure.

"How are you doing? Did she scratch you or anything?" Celina's head rose, the morning sun's light reflected off of the paler girl's face into the robe. Making it a bit more visible of who the blond Gryffindor was speaking to.

[Keagan Gerislynn]

"I suppose that's understandable, especially in these times," Keagan replied, smiling as she once again basked in the crisp, cool air.

"I'm wonderful. Her claws barely grazed my skin through all the layers I'm wearing." It was then that Keagan caught a glimpse of the girl's face. It wasn't a face she recognized, but as a prefect, she had gotten fairly good at guessing ages.

"Are you a student?"

[Celina Jedynak]

Celina shied away, holding Emerald closer to her. "....Y...yes," Celina said shyly. Any more information and Celina would have rather been walking. Looking around, she felt herself annoyed at how paranoid her brother had made her become only spending such little time with him. Not to mention, with all the publicity that had happened recently, Celina and Alfonz both agreed with each other to lay low. "Are you?" Celina asked, almost thinking that she should know the blond that stood in front of her.

Actually, hadn't she seen her before for something? Celina was sure...but just not sure where.

[Keagan Gerislynn]

"Hogwarts?" she asked, readjusting the scarf around her neck; it was starting to itch.

The alley was already starting to pick up on activity, so it wasn't long before Keagan could feel people bumping against her and brushing past as they bustled along it, looking for this or that perfect gift or just enjoying the activities available this Yuletide. To avoid it, Keagan slowly let herself begin to drift toward the safety of the buildings, not so quickly as to end her conversation with the girl she was speaking to, though.

"Yeah, me, too. A seventh year at Hogwarts, actually. And house prefect."

[Celina Jedynak]

As the girl mentioned Hogwarts, it really shouldn't have surprised Celina as much as it had. She nodded her head and smiled, though her hood still covered whatever emotion she displayed on her face. Emerald seemed very content in Celina's arms and as the crowd gently pushed the two girls over to the building, Celina felt safe enough to remove her hood. It seemed as if she was in good company, after all, and not to mention everyone else was too busy with what they were doing to notice the youngest Jedynak.

"Oh, really?" Celina responded to the girl's information about being a prefect. Celina knew the girl had seemed familiar! Writing the articles for the paper on the Prefects, she had to get to know all of them, at least by face so that she could find them when it was there turn to be interviewed. But better yet, it also clicked to Celina why this girl looked so familiar. "You're also on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team!" The girl who stood in front of her was the Prefect that Drew had mentioned to her in her interview with him. He believed that she was a very admirable and respectable Prefect. Or so, that was what Celina gathered from her interview with the older Raven.

And on top of that, Celina almost kicked herself for not remembering that she was on the quidditch team, especially Felicity's. She must have been losing her touch when it came to making sure her details were known. Celina smiled at the older girl, secretly glad that Alfonz never checked the details of her quidditch stories.

[Keagan Gerislynn]

((I'm trying to figure out why Drew and his writer like me so much xD))

"Captain," Keagan replied proudly, puffing out her chest and grinning ridiculously. "I'm really proud of our team this year; they're really putting their all into the game."

Now that the girl had removed her hood, she looked more familiar to the Gryffindor. Of course, since she wasn't a part of the Gryffindor house, Keag didn't know her name, but she knew she'd seen her somewhere before. She looked at her curiously as she tried to put her finger on it. "Are you a friend of Felicity's?" That seemed the most likely thing. This girl looked the same age as the 5th year Gryffindor and everything.

[Celina Jedynak]

(( I've heard many good things OOC about you, Shouldn't be a surprise. lol ))

Captain?! Celina wanted to hit her forehead for that instant realization. Of course she was the captain, no wonder Celina felt as if she knew her. She really was losing her touch. "Felicity? Yes, we're friends." Celina nodded brightly. She missed her Gryffindor friend dearly, and she was happy to be talking about her, even if only for a moment. "She's a great player, isn't she?" Celina smiled, a dimple on her cheek appearing.

"You're teams been doing very well, this year," Celina said. She was still bias toward her own house team, but she couldn't deny the other teams their own glory. Celina, however, debated saying anything about the games between their two houses, but then decided against it. No, reason to bring up bad times. Especially, when in the future she would need to interview the prefect before her.

[Keagan Gerislynn]

"Wonderful player. The talent on my team this year is quite surprising. We have very few veterans on there, really, in relation to some of the other house teams."

"Do you play?" Keagan couldn't remember if she'd seen the girl up on a broom or not. Besides, she could be an alternate; it wasn't like the Gryffindor went to all of the other house's practices. She'd been studying, remember?

[Celina Jedynak]

"Oh, no..." Celina shook her head a bit to much at this question and she nervously laughed. She was afraid to fly, even though recently she'd been getting on a broom to do so. Afraid of heights, she still hadn't gone as high as she knew she'd have to with her brother. And most of all, she was afraid of fast rides with the unfortunate risk of falling. Nope, she didn't fly, not at all. "But my brother does...he actually plays....but he doesn't know that I don't." Her voice was almost that of a whispered secret.

Celina looked around. It could have been humiliating if anyone knew her told her family, so she checked to make sure. Looking back at the blond, she smiled and relaxed a bit. "So, after school, what are you going to do with yourself? Are you going to do anything with Quidditch?" Not many people did Celina found, but it was a good question to ask anyways.

Why did it suddenly feel like she was in an interview?

[Keagan Gerislynn]

"No?" Keagan asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl. Perhaps Ravenclaw didn't operate quite the same way Gryffindor did - sometimes it seemed to the Quidditch captain that every student in the House wanted to play for the house team.

"Oh, don't worry," the Lioness answered in response to the confidence, lowering her voice to that of a secret as well. "I won't tell him."

Glancing around the alley, Keagan wondered who the Ravenclaw was looking for. She didn't ask, though.

"Actually, I'm not planning on anything to do with Quidditch, unless you consider tending to game injuries. I want to be a Healer, if my marks come through this term. I've been playing a lot of catch up and had to pretty much beg for admittance into the classes my OWLs didn't qualify me for."