A Hand, If You Would ((JONNNNN/ Open))

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

The weather was growing increasingly cold but Taylor didn't mind. She would much rather study out here for right now instead of dealing with the chaos that currently was the Gryffindor common room with all the squealing girls talking about their Christmas dates and the gifts they wanted to get their sweet hearts and the older students who were packing up to finally go home for break and making a mess of things in the process. So, she made her way outside with her satchel at her side and walked towards a clearing near the edge of the lake. Sitting down, she opened up her book and, ratty as it was, several pages flew out from a small gust of wind and into the lake itself.

Taylor reached but wasn't able to grab them in time. She shut her book and quickly stood up, trying to figure out if she could retrieve them before they got completely soaked but it was unlikely at this point. It was then that Taylor realized she had left her wand up stairs in her other coat. Sighing, she looked around to see if anyone in the immediate area could give her a hand because she didn't want to submerge any part of herself in the icy water in order to save the study material. 

[WILLIAM ASHDOWN]

It was a huge gust of wind that nearly knocked William off his feet as he ventured out of the great doors that led from the entrance hall of Hogwarts to the courtyard. William stopped in his tracks and contemplated going back inside where it was warm, but he decided against it and continued outside. The Ravenclaw common room was full of students again now term had resumed, and they were all louder than usual as they talked about their Christmas, what kind of presents they had received and other annoying conversations that were both too loud for the common room and far too irritating for William to endure. He slammed his book shut pointedly and decided to study outside, where it was colder, but hopefully quieter.

Walking around towards the lake - a common place for students to study in the summer months especially, and William was no different - he spotted that there was an older blonde girl on the bank already, but she was standing up and looking around for some reason. William pulled the collar up on his cloak further to protect from the wind and walked quickly over to her. Looking to the right, he noticed that there were several pages floating around in the lake, which he guessed had come from the girls book, which lay on the floor. William smiled at her and nodded towards the lake. "I guess these are yours?" He didn't wait for a reply, but whipped out his wand and summoned them to him. He used a charm that produced a hairdryer-like gust to dry them out, and he handed them to the pretty blonde. "One of the downsides of studying outside, I guess." He sat himself down and propped himself up against a Beech tree, opening his own book and hoping that the pages were more secure.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor honestly didn't have time for this. As a seventh year, academics were her priority and to have to fish out these notes and rewrite them would be an absolute pain. Then when would she have time to head over to the three broom sticks for a relaxing butterbeer?

But, much to her surprise, a savior of sorts appeared just in time. She watched him, gratefully, as he saved her notes and dried them off, handing them back to her with some casual small talk that she almost didn't notice just out of the shock of this convenience.

"One of the downsides of studying outside, I guess."

He looked familiar in that she knew he wasn't in her year or her house, but she had definitely seen him a few times over the years at the school but never had a reason to actually start a conversation. She supposed this was as good a time as any, especially since he was making himself comfortable in a spot near her.

"Better than listening to the little tots talk about how excited they are to go home for break," she replied, cringing at the high pitched first years that had driven her outside to begin with. It wasn't that she completely disliked them, especially since she could relate to how they felt, but her patience had been growing thinner and thinner with the youngest students as the deadlines for tests and essays grew closer and closer. "Thanks, by the way," she said, sincerely, "That would've been a hell of a pain to have to try to salvage if you hadn't come along."

[WILLIAM ASHDOWN]

William looked to the left as he summoned the pages from the lake, holding them tentatively as the sodden pages leaked through his fingers, seeing that the pretty blonde Gryffindor was looking at him with a grateful expression on her face. Quickly, William dried them off and handed them back to the girl, before walking over to his favourite tree and sat down, leaning against it. It was a lovely old Beech, and he had almost worn a William-sized mark into the wood through using it more often than he used his own common room for reading.

Looking up when the girl spoke, he laughed and nodded at her words. "Yeah." William said, closing his book on his thumb to keep his place - he considered it to be rude to speak to someone whilst doing something else, especially as engrossing as reading. "When I see them, hear them or even smell them, I think to myself...I was never that annoying, small or loud!" William said, nodding down to the grass on his left, inviting the girl to join him. "Don't worry about it. I could never see pages destroyed in any way, I'm far too attached to books." He smiled, holding up his book to prove a point. "I assume you don't have you wand? Or did you forget to use it?" he grinned again.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

Taylor took the invitation and sat down near William, glancing over her freshly dried pages to ensure their legibility. Not that Taylor had great handwriting, but it was certainly better than them being drenched in lake water as they were just seconds ago.

"When I see them, hear them or even smell them, I think to myself... I was never that annoying, small or loud!"

Taylor was glad that this guy shared the sentiment. She thought back to her shy eleven year old self who didn't know much about her new life at school (or as a werewolf, for that matter) and how she was never rowdy until she grew into her teens and started having some what of a social life. Still, she kept those occurances to time- appropriate places and being loud in the dorm when a 7th year was trying to study was not one of them.

"I assume you don't have your wand? Or did you forget to use it?"

Taylor rolled her eyes good naturedly at the boy when he made those comments.

"I'll have you know," she said, pretending to be offended, [/b]"I was taught to live independently of magic so sometimes I find it best to leave my wand in my room. Or maybe I just forgot it. Either way, I don't appreciate your sass, Mr..."[/b] she left her sentence hanging so that he would introduce himself, her mouth failing her and twisting into a smile so that it became clear that she wasn't offended at all.

[WILLIAM ASHDOWN]

The girl took his offer and sat down next to him, flicking through her now dry pages, no doubt attempting to decipher if they were still readable, which they seemed to be from the vague glance he gave them. When William gave his own views on the first years being generally annoying, he saw the girl give a small nod of agreement, no doubt thinking the same things he was. Yes, William was awkward and shy when he first arrived - to a certain extent he still is - and he was no doubt, at times, loud and annoying to the students in the older years, but...surely he wasn't that obnoxious?

William grinned at the girl when he asked her, in a sarcastic way, whether she had lost her wand, or simply forgotten to use it. He knew he was joking, he just hoped that she did too. Luckily, it sounded like she had caught the joke, and not let it fly by her outstretched hands. She pretended to be offended and rolled her eyes, and William was glad at the opportunity to laugh and joke, something he hadn't done for a while. "I assume you're either...well, quite odd for a born witch, or you're a muggleborn?" William said, before adding: "Don't worry, I'm one too. You're safe from pureblood idiocy here." He smiled weakly at the girl, hoping he hadn't hit a nerve. "And my name is William. William Ashdown. Yours?" He said, extending his hand for her to shake.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

"I assume you're either... well, quite odd for a born with, or you're a muggle born? Don't worry, I'm one too. You're safe from pureblood idiocy here. And my name is William. William Ashdown. Yours?"

Taylor reached out and shook the boy's hand after he made his introduction. He seemed nice enough and she figured the two actually would've made decent friends if they had known each other earlier in their respective school careers.

"I'm neither," she replied,"I'm actually a half blood. Mum's a muggle and Dad's a wizard, but my Mum really stressed on a muggle upbringing, just in case school didn't work out for me or if I didn't actually turn out to be a witch."

Taylor thought back to her childhood and then to the awful period of time when her mother, too overwhelmed with the idea of having a werewolf daughter, took her brother and left the family when Taylor was just a first year at school. The whirlwind of change from being bitten, being accepted and being motherless and brotherless all within six months had taken a huge toll on her, which was why she had been so shy as a first year. The memories were bitter, especially since she hadn't seen her mother and brother since, so perhaps it would've been best to not have this conversation and bring up these things from her past. But she pushed those thoughts away.

"Oh, and I'm Taylor Hollow, by the way. Glad to meet you, William."

[WILLIAM ASHDOWN]

William shook the girls hand and introduced himself, feeling weirdly at ease around her. She looked to be older than him, and a Gryffindor to boot, she he supposed he could relax. However, William’s bad upbringing and bad experiences with other matters relating to emotions and feelings had turned him distrustful. Still, he didn’t want to scare off the new person, so he decided to attempt to hide that side of him as much as he could.

William raised his eyebrows as the girl told him that she was not, in fact, a muggleborn, but rather a half blood. “Ah.” William said, nodding along. He could certainly appreciate parents that were strict on a muggle upbringing, although he resented and rebelled against it as much as he could. He still had as much knowledge about the muggle way of life as any true muggle teenager, which made Muggle Studies class quite simple. “I apologise.” He said, smiling slightly. He wanted to ask further questions about her family, to get a comparison, but he held back – he had only just met her, after all.

“Nice to meet you too, Taylor.” William smiled and looked out across the rippling but calm water of the Black Lake. “You look like you’re around my year. Sixth or seventh?” He cleared his throat. “Do you have any idea what you’re going to pursue as a career when you leave Hogwarts? Or are you completely nonplussed like me.” He laughed at his hopelessness.

[TAYLOR HOLLOW]

It had been a while since Taylor had interacted with a student his age without actually knowing the person. She was used to her friend group which comprised of people that she had known for quite some time. She was more used to meeting little tots who were running around the grounds, awkwardly attempting to help them on their way to whichever class they were late to.

This was a lovely change.

"I'm a seventh year, actually. Making the final stretch before I'm off into the real world with the rest of the adults." Taylor almost frowned at that word. Adult. That wasn't something she wanted to be, especially with all the responsibilities.

"I'm hopefully headed towards the potions route. I'm actually looking for a job at an apothecary during break right now, actually," she replied. She left out the fact that it was going to be incredibly difficult for her to actually maintain a career with her lycanthropy and she would likely end up having to work over qualified at various part time jobs. She didn't want to think about that, so she turned the conversation back to him. "Nonplussed, huh? I'm sure you've got some sort of interest by now."