Ways and Means.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Dear Dad,
Thanks for everyone's best wishes, they mean allot. Things have been so hectic here, I'm almost finding it hard to cope. The Quidditch (yes, you did spell it right) team has a few new players, and therefore we're working extra hard to make sure everyone is up to scratch. I mean, I don't mind, but it does put allot of stress on my life. Other than that, school is fine. The Professors are okay, with one or two that are above the rest, but mainly they're just, well - teachers.

All of my friends are good too. Tianne, Seth and Ryan all got to school okay, and we've been spending time hanging out as usual. To answer Jamie's question, no, Ryan and myself are not an 'item' anymore. So tell him to keep his nose out of my text messages on my mobile at home. And tell Jamie his birthday present was great. Speaking of which, my birthday was great. The group organised a surprise party at school, and it was a blast. We had a real riot, although I have to admit I missed you three as well.

I guess I better finish this up then. Tell Jamie and Ellie I said hello, and make sure he doesn't get into my room too often. Thanks again, Dad.

Love you all lots,
Matty (:
xox

It was short, sharp, and sweet. Matty had put some effort into it, but she wasn't about to spend an hour writing a three-page long letter about nothing. For there was honestly nothing worth going into detail, with her father, step brother and mother. Things were just... average, so there really was no reason to complain, nor boast about her life. Thats just how it was. The Hufflepuff had experienced the same amount of pressure to wards the beginning to last year too. However Quidditch was more of an issue this year. She had admitted to one other that she was disappointed about not being able to play Chaser, for Keeper had to be positioned, but it was no big deal. A team was a team, and their defense was just as needed as their attack.

Lately Matty had been taking out a fair bit of time to herself, as she had noticed allot of other teenagers doing so. As more cold weather approached, many resorted into the Common Room or Library, making it difficult to concentrate on whatever one was doing. So many times, the girl has taken refuge in the Kitchens (alike a fellow house mate, Josh York) or out on the grounds somewhere. This afternoon, Matty had found a new place to do her work, which in this case, was replying to a few letters she had received over the past couple of days. There was a cool breeze wafting through the courtyard, and considering where she was, so Matty dressed accordingly to the weather. She settled on white converses, purple skinny jeans, a white singlet, a black modern cardigan, and a cream and gray woolen beanie, complete with ear flaps. Her hair was straight, and it fell upon her shoulders, while her bangs hung out. The beanie had been a present from Jamie, for her birthday.

Matty pushed up the sleeves to her cardigan, before sealing the envelope. The teenager stood, picking up the other two letters in her hand, before whistling for her Owl, who was perched in a tree in the Courtyard. Her lush green eyes watched Zeal as he immediately flew to her, and landed on her outstretched forearm. Matty let him take one of the letters in his beak, before attaching the other two to each foot. The girl stroked his wing gently, before the bird flew off, disappearing within a few seconds. Matty smiled, before crossing the other side of the bridge, which hung near the Courtyard. As he leaned upon the old railing, the teenager took in the grounds, and the setting sun. There wouldn't be more than an hour until it would be dark, and she would probably have to start heading back to her Common Room. The Professors were so strict about Curfew these days, and Matty didn't really want to get points from Hufflepuff, considering she had already had her fair share in the past years. Mostly from breaking curfew, too. But for the moment the girl was happy just standing, watching, and waiting.

Bridge - 1
Bridge - 2
Closed for Beau (:

[Beau Hopkins]

It didn't add up. How on earth could winter almost be here already? Summer had passed by quickly, the holidays ending before Beau could even think about the fall. And then, of course, autumn followed. Fall was one of Beau's favorite seasons, it was beautiful with the colors changing and everything preparing for the long winter ahead. He had always been a self described nature boy, so it was no surprise that Beau would be outside one afternoon.

The day had passed by quickly enough, classes droning on. No matter how hard the boy had tried to pay attention, he just couldn't focus. Beau was easily distracted when it came to his lessons. He did farely well on exams and tests, but in class he couldn't never pay attention. Usually, if the classroom had windows, he would end up staring out of them in a daze until the bell rang to signal the end of class. The only one that could really hold his interest was Care of Magical Creatures. Animals, nature and music. Three things that Beau loved the most.

He made a mental note to drop by the Ravenclaw table the next morning and talk to his sister for a few moments, he hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her in the lessons that day. They were supposed to hang out sometime soon, but Beau had left the castle immediantly after lessons were over, dropping in to the Hufflepuff dorms and quickly changing into an old pair of jeans with rips in the knees, an old muggle dark red band t-shirt with a picture of the Fab Four on it.

Growing up in England, Beau had been able to indulge himself into the wonderful music scene of the U.K. He was into new music, punk rock and alternative as well as indie folk rock. He was also interested in old music, expressed by his Beatles shirt.

Beau pulled his hoodie tighter around himself as he felt the cool breeze sweep around him. He started to make his way back onto the bridge to go back to the courtyard when he started whistling. It was, you guessed it, a Beatles song. Blackbird, one of Beau's favorites. He was oblivious to the person standing close by leaning up against the railing of the old bridge.

[Matilda Wentworth]

As much as Beau was oblivious to Matty, the teenager was oblivious to him. Her attention remained fixed on the setting sun, watching the array of colours burst at the edges of the scene. If only she had her painting gear, it would be pretty cool to try and capture sometime as beautiful as this. After a few more minutes to gazing, the realisation of another noise slowly sunk into Matty. She turned on her heal, looking in the direction of the whistling noise. It took the girl a moment to realise that it was a guy, and she noted that he looked somewhat familiar. In fact, she was pretty certain he was from her house. Bob? Brian? Beau? It was something along those lines.

When he neared her, Matty began to get the feeling that she knew the tune he was whistling. The girl was quite familiar with some wizard bands, but mostly she took much pleasure in listening to muggle bands. Little did she know, but Matty was into rather the same genre as Beau was. That being indie, alternative, punk and rock, etc. She was happy listening to anything, excluding a couple of more hardcore styles, and country. Country was a definite no-no. Once he was a few meters away, seemingly in his owl world, the girl recognised his shirt. Thats when it clicked. "That tune's... thats, The Beatles, right?" she said all of a sudden, sticking her hands into her pockets, and leaning her back onto the railing. Matty flashed the boy a smile, assuming he was about her age.

[Beau Hopkins]

Beau zipped his hoodie up a little bit more as he walked along, he could feel the traces of a light breeze starting to sneak up on him. He kept his eyes out to the sun setting in the sky, his hand reaching out and touching the railing of the old bridge. The song appeared to be fitting for his mood, calm, reminiscent of the past, but also hopeful. He liked the song, and always had, just as he had always liked the Beatles. Beau was glad for his heritage, his mother being muggle born and his father being a pureblood.

It made it easier for him to be involved in both the muggle world and the magical world when it came to things such as music. There were also other advantages to living partially in the wizarding world and partially in the muggle world. Technology was always different from the muggle side of things, always updating, getting smaller and smaller and better and better as things went along. He also liked some wizarding gadgets that were made, some even made by his father's company.

Beau's whistling, as well as his thoughts about muggle technology vs. wizarding gadgets, stopped when he finally looked up to see someone standing a could of feet before him. Had she heard him whistling? Of course she had, just his luck. Beau didn't whistle poorly, but when it came to musical things he was sometimes shy. He hadn't a clue why, but he was. In fact, he was actually kind of good at it. Singing, playing guitar, even something as small as whistling.

He cleared his throat and tipped his head in a small nod to the girl. " Blackbird, yeh. You a fan? " He asked curiously, surprised by how easily the words had come to him. They weren't much, but to someone who didn't talk much as it was, it was good enough. He recognized the girl from classes and such... What was her name? He could only guess.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty smiled in reply to the boy tipping his head to her. She gave him a small nod when he asked her about being a fan of the band. "Yeah, definitely. The guitar in it is really beautiful." the girl said honestly, recalling the song to be among her favorites by The Beatles. She loved their peaceful tracks such as the one the boy had been whistling, and also their more upbeat ones like 'Twist and Shout'. "Besides The Beatles, what kind of music are you into?" she then asked him, wondering if he was mostly into the older things. She highly doubted it, but it was something she was curious about. Matty didn't often talk about Muggle Music in Hogwarts, as allot of the people had never even heard of lots of Common Bands. Excluding a previous Hufflepuff, who had acquired a Magical Ipod a few years ago, and the girl had even had the chance to borrow it now and then.

The girl took a step forward, extending her hand to him. "You're Beau, right? I'm Matty Wentworth, I think we're in the same class 'n' all that." the girl said, her green eyes glancing up to his own, and the teenager smiling somewhat immediately. It was amazing how you could go to Hogwarts for so long, and not even notice half a dozen people in your house. The girl was usually so caught up in everything else, that she never properly went around making sure that she knew everyone in her house, not matter how long they'd been there. She guessed Beau was one of those people, or he was a transfer. Either way, it was never too late to get to know your fellow Badgers.

[Beau Hopkins]

It was obvious to Beau that this girl was at least a little into fashion. Her purple jeans and gray beanie were both good indicators of this. Beau really wasn't sure if he would recognize fashion if it walked right in front of him, but he was constantly reminded of his own fashion or lack therof, by his sisters. So he could tell that the girl was into that sort of thing, but then again he also thought there was more to her if she not only knew Blackbird but also thought the guitar part in blackbird was ' beautiful. ' He wasn't opposed to getting to know her, either. " Yeah, it is. I can actually kinda play it. " He mentioned to her.

" Yeah, I'm Beau. " He confirmed to the girl, his hand reaching up and shaking hers. His lips curled up into a small smile as he dropped his hand back to his side and answered her previous question. " Lots of things. Indie pop, folk, alternative, rock. You? " He poised the question back to her curiously. He cast another look out to the sky before his eyes went back to Matty.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty smiled back at the boy. "Really? Thats pretty awesome." she said honestly. Her mind was weighing up whether to be surprised about him being able to kind of play Blackbird. She knew there was allot of people in Hogwarts that had musical talents. From singing, playing the piano, guitar, drums even the harp, odds are someone could play it. Matty couldn't play an instrument that well, besides the occasional piano, and she had always wanted to learn guitar. She was a fair singer, but practically no one knew about that. She just kept it to herself, for her forte was mostly sports, hence the Captain Badge that remained in her dorm.

She nodded when he confirmed his name, and also returned her hand back to her pocket. At the sight of his smile, Matty's widened a little bit more, also due to his answer. Oh, the coincidences. "Everything, really. I'd hafta say I'm into indie, acoustic and punk at the moment, though." the girl said, finding her hands weaving themselves together all of a sudden, and shoving them back into her pockets. "Where abouts are you from?" she then asked him, trying to keep the conversation rolling. Not only was it cool that Beau actually knew about different genres like that, but he just seemed pretty chill.

[Beau Hopkins]

By saying he could ' kinda play it ' he supposed ' kinda ' was the opporative word there. Beau could play about half the song, his playing was a bit dodgy, but not totally undecipherable. " Yeah, I play guitar. Mostly in my spare time. " He said in an off-handed fashion. Really, Beau played guitar all of the time when he wasn't in lessons or being pestered by his sister. " D'you play any instruments? " He asked Matty in a curious manner. He knew a lot of people were talented musically at Hogwarts, his own sister could play the piano fairly well. Beau took a second to review his talents. He was mostly into playing guitar, though he did like to sing sometimes.

" Everything? Hm. So are you one of the kind of person who considers the sound of raindrops to be music? " He asked, curious and teasing but not intending to offend her in any way. He did, however, find it rather coincidental that they were both pretty much into the same music scenes. " Oh, London. You? "

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty kept her attention on Beau as he spoke about playing the guitar. "Maybe I'll get to hear you sometime," she said casually. The Hufflepuff was aware that a good majority of people were shy about showing off their talents, such as singing or playing an instrument, and she respected that. However her comment wasn't really a request to hear him, more or a comment, considering they were in the same house and all, the girl thought perhaps she might stumble upon him playing from time to time. It was bound to happen, right? When the boy asked her a question, she shook her head slightly. "Not really. I used to play piano as a kid and sing a bit. I'm more into sports and drawing. I guess I appreciate music, rather than play it." she admitted.

Matty giggled slightly at his question before replying. "Well duh. Raindrops-on-a-tin-roof is like, only the best genre ever." the girl replied, rolling her eyes dramatically. The grin on her face showed that she wasn't actually serious. "Come to think of it, maybe not everything. I'm not fond of country music." Matty said, reminding herself that it was probably the only kind of music she didn't enjoy that much. The girl then nodded in reply to his answer. "London, too. But more near Old London, than the city center though." she replied, before glancing out to the setting sun. "So what brought you out here this arvo?" Matty questioned, her smile still painted across her features.

[Beau Hopkins]

It was Beau's instinct to shy away from the suggestion that Matty might hear him play. He supposed it wasn't a comment that was supposed to mean too much, but he felt the strange urge to be over analytical. He nodded his head slowly as he responded, " Yeah, maybe. " He guessed it was likely for her to hear him play sometime, all she would have to do would be to find him outside of lessons. Although on the rare occassion, like today, he would be found outside just hanging around. Music can be exhausting in the greatest of ways at times. " Sports and drawing? I'm not so good at either. " He said with a soft laugh.

Matty's giggle caused Beau's small smile to widen into a partial grin that brightened his face. " Oh, I have to agree with you... Country is okay. I can't stand rap, though. I dunno what they're even saying most of the time. " Rap and country, among some other genres, were ones that Beau didn't enjoy the most. " Yeah? That's pretty cool. You must live just around the bend, then. " He offered with another smile before answering her other question. " Just decided to get out for a while and think. You? "

[Matilda Wentworth]

The girl wasn't really surprised with his reply to her comment, and so her face bore no sign of disappointment or anything. She simply kept the friendly smile on her face and gave him a small understanding nod. "Well, you can always be taught how to play a sport. I'd say music is something a little more complex," Matty added, giving him a small wink. She wouldn't have admitted just how good she was at sports, for the teen wasn't a fan of bragging like that, but she thought of it as everyone has their own talents. Music might've been Beau's, and sport's her own.

The girl listened to what he said about Country and Rap, nodding after the boy had finished, noticing his grin. "Defiantly. I guess some Hip Hop is alright, but Rap is crap in that way." she said, before adding "I don't think I'm much into Screamo or Hardcore, either." the girl said, her forehead creasing into a small frown. "I guess I do," she replied, smiling again now. "My dad owns a restaurant in London called King Tide, so I hangout in London a fair bit when I'm at home." Matty added with a casual shrug. The girl nodded again in reply to what the Huffle boy said. "I just had to finish off a couple of letters to people back home." she stated, before backing up to the bridge railing. Matty placed her hands on either side of it, before jumping up and seating herself, a small smirk on her face.

[Beau Hopkins]

He smiled kindly at the thought, and it did make sense. But then again, it wasn't like Beau could be a professional quidditch player. He didn't have that kind of skill or talent. " I think it's more of a talent thing. Anyone can be taught to do something. But it takes talent and drive to keep doing it and getting better. " He mentioned, thinking that he could be taught how to do a sport just as well as Matty could be taught music, but it took talent to take it further.

" Screamo is just... too loud for me. Some metal is okay, it depends, but just screaming? It's a bit much. " It seemed like the two of them shared a lot of the same music interests, and Beau didn't mind talking about music. He would rather talk about music than... well, just about anything. " Ever listened to Bright Eyes? " He asked curiously before Matty told him about her dad's restaurant. " Cool name. " He told her with a small smile. " Is it cool, your dad having his own restaurant and all? " He asked, watching as she jumped up onto the railing. " Don't fall. " He said, noticing the girl's smirk.

[Matilda Wentworth]

The girl listened to what he said with her full attention. He had a very good point. She smiled in reply. "Thats true. Talent and practice combine are the keys to getting anywhere with your passion." she stated. Quidditch had just come naturally to her, and as guessed music came naturally for Beau. However she had been attracted to music throughout her youth, and thats what got her so involved. She had seen a couple of bands live, and often went to youth music gigs when she hung out at home, so that was pretty swell. "Have you been to any concerts?" she asked, her eyes showing sparks of curiosity,

"Yeah. I can hardly ever understand the lyrics in screamo, and thats half of what makes a song brilliant." Matty commented. "Can't say I have, they're a band, I'm assuming?" she asked in return. "Cool name." Matty returned his smile with a grin. "Is it cool, your dad having his own restaurant and all?" The girl paused for a moment before replying. "I think it's pretty cool. Seeing just how the kitchens work, watching all the different kinds of customers - the good and the bad - even working there sometimes is alright. Plus it's a nice place in town." Matty answered. She looked back when he commented on her falling. "I won't fall, as long as you don't push me." she teased, the smirk still on her face as she glanced back momentarily.