The Perfect Mix (Jarlath)

Alana smiled as the ripples of water flowed away from the place where her rock pierced the surface. The afternoon sun glittered on the darkness that was the lake of Hogwarts, and she couldn't help but feel calm.. bliss. Because she had grown to like the school she now called her second home, but she still missed Ireland. And Hogwarts, well it seemed to be the mixture of both. Especially here, at the edge of the lake with a dark and forbidden forest behind her. Yes, she liked it here so far.

As she leaned to rest her back against a large, cool boulder her hair fanned out around her shoulders and she watched. The castle in the distance looked abandoned, though the tiny ant-sized people moving around out the front told her otherwise. But her bliss was not interrupted. Not yet anyway, and for that she was thankful.

It was quite strange how different Hogwarts was from Wolfclaw, Jarlath pondered as he ran along the path that led around the Black Lake. He had started to do that as an exercise since they arrived here because he found himself enjoying the climate which was so much like the Irish one even more than the one in Czechia. The air seemed to smell like his clan's home and it immediately had made him feel at home. Pushing off the soft ground, Jarlath leapt over a large rock, sliding a few steps in the mud before he could start running again. The pounding of his feet was in perfect synch with his heartbeat, a steady and calm sound which just drove him on.

From afar, he spied someone familiar and a smile slipped onto his face as he got closer. Alana was one of the few people beside his own family he actually felt comfortable with, as she was quite unlike most girls, much calmer and more mature which he appreciated. Skidding to a halt in front of her, Jarlath shot her an amused smirk and tipped his head. "Enjoying the milder climate?" he asked her.

Alana heard the heavy pounding of quick footsteps as she relaxed against her perch. Though she was sure that she was not in any danger, it didn’t keep her from tensing slightly in preparation for the odd chance that she was. It was drilled into them from day one of their training as children; complete safety does not exist, no matter how much a sense of security one thought they had. They always needed to be ready, even if they thought there was nobody around.

She did not move her gaze from the water, as the steps approached. This person was running, of that she was sure, but were they simply exercising or were they running from something. Though she held no weapon other than her wand, Alana felt sure that she was not in any significant danger. When a familiar voice rang out in the otherwise silent area of the grounds, her lips lifted into a peaceful smile. “The climate is perfect, but it’s the sense of home that I can’t help but adore,” she answered without looking up, her muscles significantly relaxing now that she knew it was Jarlath who had been running, “have you been training?”

Letting his eyes gaze over the meadows surrounding the old castle as he listened to the young woman's words, Jarlath could not help but agree. "You're right. I was thinking just the same. It reminds me a lot of the place we grew up, back in Ireland. It's strange that I would feel more at home here than at the school I already spent a whole year at." he pondered thoughtfully before simply shrugging it off. He would enjoy the time they stayed at Hogwarts as much as he could and it seemed that his schoolmate did not think much different.
"Just some running to keep in shape. That I can enjoy the scenery is just an added plus." Jarlath walked closer to Alana and leaned against the boulder beside her. "How are you liking Hogwarts so far?" he asked, referring to the castle and students more than the scenery.

“I think that our school is not meant to be like home, you know? They want to keep us on our toes all of the time. We’re supposed to be afraid when we venture into new places, and rely on nobody,” Alana’s answer fell from her lips as if it were practiced, but really she just believed it. Wolfclaw was not a place that one was supposed to feel cosy and relaxed.

When she felt Jarlath’s presence closer to her than before, she smiled slightly but kept her gaze on the lake. She didn’t need to look at someone to talk to them unless they outranked her. “I quite enjoy a run in the forest. Or animated mannequins in this clearing I found in there. Today, I’ll admit that I’ve been particularly lazy,” she said, before trailing her gaze to look at the Emperor's face. “The castle is majestic. The students, however, are weak. They’re too trusting. If they spent a day in Czechia, I don’t know how many of them would survive it.”