The clicking sound of a camera was heard as a mermaid swam back under the lake. However, it wasn’t fast enough to escape the frame. Kiki smiled, pleased with herself. That will be a good one for the book. She realized recently she had been lacking on getting more of the scenery around Hogwarts this year. Sure, it didn’t change much to her, but one day, she would miss this place and every little thing about it. The more pictures she had in her mind, the better.

As she placed the camera next to her on the blanket which she sat, she continued to stare out at the lake. Kiki still had her ups and downs with missing the muggle world while she was here, but it was getting better. She had Caleb, and that Isabella girl seemed like a nice person too. It was still difficult. The things she truly loved to do felt like they couldn’t be a part of her life here. She sighed, and tried to take her mind off of feeling so down. Kiki focused on the lake in front of her. It was a very beautiful blue, which she found to be wonderful.

Singing always helped the young Hufflepuff. It was soothing for the music lover. When dancing wasn’t an option because there was no music, then she would make the music herself. With the lake as her inspiration, she began to sing a song from the muggle world that she always heard her mother sing. “Dark blue, dark blue, have you ever felt alone in a crowded room when I’m here with you?” She shifted positions so she was laying on her blanket now. Kiki took the scrapbook and markers she had brought with her, and she began hand drawing some more things into the album. She hated her drawings at times, but she felt they were needed. The curly haired girl believed that they couldn’t be too bad since Caleb had taken an interest in them, but still didn’t think they were as great as he made them out to be.

Her singing continued as she found a blank page that would be the home to her mermaid picture. “I said the world could be burning, burning down.” Kiki illustrated elaborate fish with scales that she filled in with various colors as her song went on. “Dark blue, dark blue, have you ever felt alone in a crowded room? Well, I’m here with you.” The page began to fill with many fish that swam across the pages accompanied by starfish, and crabs. Her voice grew slightly louder as she lost herself in what she was doing. “I said the world could be burning ‘til there’s nothing left but dark blue.”

Had she known that there was an audience to her singing, she may have not grown to such a loud volume. Kiki certainly wouldn’t have stopped. She was not shy and she had a lot of confidence in her singing voice. However, it was just considerate to not be so loud to disturb people, or so she was told. Still, we’re outside. Isn’t this where we’re allowed to use our outside voices? Nevertheless, the girl figured she should say something. “Sorry! I didn’t see you there!”

@ezekiel

Zeke had been walking along aimlessly when he heard a small voice, a short distance away. As he made his way towards it, the voice seemed to rise ever so slightly. He noticed a girl, about his age singing to herself, Ezekiel cocked his head to one side as he listened closely to her and a small smile played around his lips. The Gryffindor continued to listen to her and his smile grew before the girl stopped singing, obviously now aware of his presence. "No need to apologise." He said, going over to her side. "You have a lovely voice." He continued earnestly. Zeke stood near the girl for a few moments before lowering himself into a sitting position, a small distance away from her so he didn't appear overly friendly. "My sister sings too, she mainly likes country songs though." He told the girl.


Ezekiel turned his attention away from her and his curious blue gaze fell on a sketchpad on the floor beside her, he tilted his head to the right a little so he could match the angle the pad lay, "That's a really good piece of artwork. Did you do it?" He asked conversationally. He was about to continue his small talk when he realised he'd forgotten the most crucial part of talking to a new person. "Forgive me, I got a little carried away. My name is Ezekiel, Ezekiel Fehu." He introduced, offering the girl his hand.

The song she sang was one of her favorites, although, she rather preferred singing the chorus only. The verses themselves were a little sad as they talked more about a powerful storm that caused a nasty flood. However, the chorus sent a positive message. It reminded her in the times she felt alone, she had people that were there with her. She was always looking to expand that and make even more friends. It was just part of who Kiki was. She was one to never know a stranger. This boy would be no exception.

As the boy came closer, she recognized she knew the boy. Sure, she didn’t know his name, but the two were in the same year so they had had classes together. He was a Gryffindor, if she remembered correctly, and here he was, commenting her singing. Typical Gryffindor to be brave enough to just jump right into a conversation. She liked that in people. In fact, she wished more Hufflepuff students would do that. Kiki smiled at the boy when he complimented her voice. “Thank you so much.” The Hufflepuff knew she had a good voice, but she was not arrogant about it. Rather, she was just confident in her ability.

He sat next to her and continued on talking about his sister and how she liked to sing country music. Kiki couldn’t help but to make a slightly disgusted face. “I hate country music, but to each their own I guess. I’m sure she sings lovely. It requires a certain voice to sing country.” Kiki wondered if she could sing country songs. She probably could but would never want to. “Do you like country music,” she asked the boy, hoping she hadn’t just offended him.

She watched as the boy looked down to her drawings. Kiki was not as confident in this ability as she was her singing, so her first instinct was to hide them. However, she didn’t as the Gryffindor was already gazing upon them. Like Caleb, he complimented her artwork. She gave a smile and a blush this time, as she just wasn’t sure she could agree with him. “Yes, I did it. They are just little sketches I do for my scrapbook when I don’t feel like I have anything to decorate the pages with, so they aren’t that great.” It was the truth. She had seen others that could do way better that would put her doodles to shame. “But they’ll do for the scrapbook, of course.”

Showing a bit of a confidence himself, the boy extended his hand and introduced myself. Kiki couldn’t help but be impressed by his manners. She took the boy’s hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you, Ezekiel. I’m Kiki Barlow.” Hmm, I wonder if he goes by his full name or not. Maybe he goes by Zeek? She debated asking him if she could call him that, but it almost sounded rude. The Hufflepuff decided she would get to know him better before springing a nickname upon him. “So what brings you out here, Ezekiel?”

Ezekiel shook Kiki's hand and smiled, chuckling about her reaction to country all the while, "It's not the worst but it's not the best. I have a rather eclectic taste when it comes to music, kind of hard in the muggle world though. A majority of the songs are the same, just different words and stuff." He said, grimacing a little.

Kiki explained about her drawings and he went to pick them up, "May I? He asked politely, gesturing to the scrapbook. "It looks interesting." He let his gaze wander to the camera in her hands, "You're a very creative one, aren't you?" He stated, but making it sound like a question and not a potentially rude assumption, "Photography, drawing and singing." He said, "What else do you like to do?" He asked, before replying to the question she asked him, "I like to go for walks sometimes. The lake is lovely and the scenery as a whole is too." He said thoughtfully, "Also feel free to call me Zeke, it's mainly teachers, and Ruby - when I'm in trouble - who calls me Ezekiel." He said with a grin.

One thing Kiki realized that she could appreciate about Ezekiel was his honesty. When she had asked if he liked country music, he gave her a sincere answer instead of just conforming to her opinion on the matter. Despite respecting him being real with her and giving a rather well thought out answer, Kiki still wasn’t changing her mind on how she felt about the genre. She did smile though when he commented on his music taste. It always made her happy to know someone else liked a bit of variety. “I like a lot of different types of music too, to be honest. What types do you like the most?” The Gryffindor also commented on difficulty in finding variety in the muggle world. “Hm, I suppose that’s true. Although, sometimes I find a lot of good muggle artists. In fact, I think my favorites are muggle artists. Are you muggleborn, then?” She knew that he may not be just because of something like that. Kiki herself wasn’t even muggleborn.

Surprise overtook Kiki. The Hufflepuff had never been asked to see her scrapbook. Of course, she didn’t mind showing it to people, but it usually required her thrusting the album upon someone. Even with Caleb, she had rather forced him to see it when he had informed her that he didn’t know what a scrapbook was. “S-sure,” she said as she handed the boy her book. It wasn’t nerves that caused her to stutter. No, that wasn’t Kiki at all. Instead, it was just the shock that someone was taking an interest in what she was doing. Trying to shake the disbelief away, she turned to the boy to explain the book. “I make one for every school year. It’s just filled with stuff from this school year. Like here,” she flipped to the page where there was a picture of Caleb blocking a shot Isabella had made towards one of the Quidditch hoops, “this was our first game against Slytherin this year. I didn’t take this though since I was playing. Our head of house takes the Quidditch pictures for me, so they aren’t as good, but I am just glad I have someone to take them.” She smiled the whole time she discussed Quidditch as it was probably her favorite thing about the magical world.

Red filling Kiki’s cheeks. She couldn’t help but to feel that she was being examined as she watched the Gryffindor’s eyes flash to her camera and comment on her more artistic interests. The fifteen-year-old certainly didn’t mind; the attention wasn’t bad, but it was just something she wasn’t used to. Usually, the only time she had been the focus of anyone’s attention was when she was performing or out on the field as a chaser. She tried to hide her embarrassment by looking away and refusing to meet Ezekiel’s eyes. It wasn’t like her to suddenly become shy. She cleared her throat, in hopes that would help her get some confidence back. “Uhm, well I do hip hop dancing, but that is kind of hard to do here, of course. And I act and play basketball… also, kind of hard to do here,” she said with a smile and looked at the boy. Confident that her face had returned to a normal color, she felt she could meet the boys’ eyes again. “What about you? What do you like to do?” She always found it way more fun to learn more about people than to discuss herself.

Ezekiel explained that he had been out for a walk and that she could call him Zeke. “Oh good, I was going to say you look more like a Zeke than an Ezekiel,” she said with a chuckle. Zeke had explained that only teachers and someone named Ruby called him by his full name. “Is Ruby your sister? That sounds like something sisters would do.” She thought about her siblings and how she would tease them since she is the oldest. She did often break out the middle name on her little sister Shayna, but not really with her youngest sibling Ty.

Ezekiel thought about her question of his favourite genre of music. "Hm, I quite like Pop and Rock but I also like Classical, except that's only really when I'm studying and need something to focus with." When Kiki asked if he was muggleborn, he shook his head, "Nah. I'm a halfblood, my mum is a muggle but she's quite into listening to music. She used to sing muggle lullabies to us when we were younger." He explained, referring to himself and his two sisters.


When Kiki handed Zeke the scrapbook he began to paw through it, being careful not to damage it at all. He smiled as he looked at all the pictures and the sketches. He glanced up at Kiki as she started to turn the pages to find something and he wore a small smile. When she got to the page she'd been looking for, he turned his attention back to it and tilted his head to the side, listening as she spoke, "You play?" He asked, when she said about the professor taking pictures, "I don't really watch the matches at school, what position do you play?"
Zeke continued to look through the pictures when Kiki finished talking about the Quidditch picture, the boy was so caught up in admiring her handiwork that he failed to notice that the Hufflepuff beside him had started blushing and was looking away. When she started to say that she danced, he finally turned his attention back to he face and saw she was looking away from him whilst she spoke.


Zeke smiled when Kiki eventually turned back to him, before thinking his answer over. "I like to draw myself, but I'm not the best, I'm still working on it and every morning I go for a jog - I like to exercise, it keeps me busy and such, y'know? One of my favourite hobbies though, is torturing Ruby mercilessly." He said with a grin, his grin widened to one of amusement when Kiki said he looked more like a Zeke, when she asked about Ruby he nodded and smiled, "Yeah, she is. Ruby is the year below me, she's only 15 and a Ravenclaw. You may have seen her around, the red hair is hard to miss." he fished in his pocket and pulled out his wallet, he opened it to reveal a family picture, where he had his arm draped around her shoulder and Iris between them with their parents resting their hands on the shoulders of both him and Ruby. "That's her." He said offering Kiki the photograph. "She's normally around Isabella and Cecilia too." He explained

As the Gryffindor listed off his favorite styles of music, Kiki gave an approving smile. While he hadn’t listed every style she loved, he had listed a couple of her favorites, particularly for singing. “You have a good taste. I enjoy pop and rock as well. I also like folk sometimes. It is fun to sing. Then, I like hip-hop, but that’s more because I like to dance to it.” As Ezekiel shared about his family, Kiki’s eye widened a bit with surprise. “No way! Same with my family. Dad’s a wizard and mom’s a muggle. She always encouraged us to explore anything creative and artsy because she is an art therapist.” Kiki thought about how probably a lot of her appreciation for the performing arts was due to her mother. Perhaps that was why she never really fit well in the magical world. Most of her interests and personality had been shaped by her muggle mother. Hmm, perhaps I should become an art therapist. The Hufflepuff had to keep herself from laughing out loud at the thought. Sure, she appreciated music and acting, but the painting and drawing part were always a little bit more boring to her.

The curly-haired girl was surprised to see the genuine interest the Gryffindor had shown in her scrapbook as he looked at the pages. Sure, Caleb had looked interested, but that was after the shock of Kiki forcing it upon him to look at the pictures she had of him in there. Kiki watched Ezekiel’s face for changing expressions as the photos and momentos flew by. When they passed the Quidditch ones, he asked if she played. It took her back a bit. It was usually common knowledge to people that she was on the Hufflepuff team, but when he explained that he didn’t come to too many games, she understood. The fifth year frowned at this as she loved the flying sport and seriously thought the boy was missing out. “Yes, I play. I’m one of the chasers for Hufflepuff. You should come watch. Not to be arrogant, but we’re pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. No offense to the Gryffindor team, of course,” she smiled. She shared this information proudly. Kiki still believed the reason she was approached by Isabella the other day was because the Slytherin thought

Ezekiel began to tell the fifteen-year-old some of his hobbies and she listened with interest. If he was a good artist and was just being modest like she believed he was, then maybe she could task him with adding some artwork to her scrapbook. She wasn’t terrible at it, but she would prefer someone who was a little better. “I’m sure you’re better at drawing than I am. If you were up for it, I wouldn’t mind someone with a little more talent than I doing some of the artwork in my album,” she said giving a charming smile that verged on the edge of flirting. Her fellow fifth year also stated he had an interest in jogging and exercising. “I have never really done jogging for exercise. I guess I always stuck more with dancing for a workout. Have you ever tried dancing?” Kiki was always eager to show someone some dance moves and try to teach them. Part of her wondered if she wasn’t bound to a magical school if she would teach classes to dancers younger than her.

If the last one of his hobbies didn’t confirm that this Ruby girl was his sister, then Ezekiel flat out telling Kiki did. She laughed at his words. “You and Ruby sound like me and my younger sister Shayna. Although, I actually get along with my brother Ty, and he is younger than both of us.” Kiki thought about Ty a lot more than she used to. The boy would be turning eleven this year, and they would finally figure out if he was magic or not. Their father believed he was, but Kiki didn’t think he would be. She hoped she was wrong, as it would be nice to have him around, but she didn’t want him to have the same struggles of fitting in that she had. Her thoughts were interrupted by seeing Zeke handing her a photo of his sister. “Wow, I can see why she is called Ruby. Her hair is gorgeous!” He shared who she hung out with, and Kiki nodded. “Now that you mention it, I probably have seen Ruby. I know Isabella, and I quite like her. She’s a good chaser,” Kiki added not really having a reason to. “Uhm sorry,” she said with a little blush. “I didn’t mean to keep talking about Quidditch. It’s just, it is kind of my favorite thing about the magical world.” She thought it better to leave out the part that it was the only thing she did well in the magical world.

Ezekiel smiled brightly at Kiki, "You'll have to show me some dance moves at some point. If you want to of course." He said conversationally, "Muggle women are always really creative, more than the men anyway. I prefer drawing and such more than typical guy things." He admitted with a shrug, "Our house is decorated with loads of drawings that either I've done, Ruby has done or our mum has done. There's a few drawings by Iris to, but hers are more scribbles. But at three you can't really draw proper things. If that makes sense." He said with a small smile.


"Now I know that you play I might have to." He replied in a slightly flirtatious manner, he hadn't really meant to but sometimes he would flirt unintentionally, he hoped Kiki wouldn't be scared off by his remark though. "Quidditch isn't really my thing, it's probably an interesting sport but I'm not too fond of heights. I'll watch, but the idea of flying - big no no." He said, "When is your next match because I'll come along and see." He said with a genuine smile.


When Kiki said that she believed him to be better at drawing then her he quirked an eyebrow and shrugged, "I don't think I am but I will draw in your scrapbook for you if you want. Have you got a pencil, I can show you a sketch?" He offered, "Dancing is really good exercise." He pointed out with a smile. When Kiki asked if he danced he laughed a little and shook his head, "Depends. I don't do hip-hop and stuff like you do, but when we were younger Ruby used to love like ballroom dancing type stuff, and I was always her partner so I've learnt because of Ruby." He said, rolling his eyes but wearing a fond smile. "It was the same with Iris but because she was so much younger she used to toddle up to me and look up at me with this big blue eyes and a cute little smile and hold her arms up. That always meant she wanted a cuddle and a dance, so what I used to do was hug her and then help her stand on my foot - one of hers on one of mine, and she used to put her arms around my waist and I had to hold her and then dance around, she used to love it and thought she was dancing." He told Kiki with a positively adoring smile before he lowered his head sadly. "I miss her, everyday." He admitted quietly, starting to run his fingers through his hair in a motion of distress.


He snapped out of his upset when Kiki said about Ruby's hair and nodded, "She is pretty. But it means boys chase her and I don't like that." He said with a smirk, "Iris was the same, she was like a mini version of Ruby." He said, pointing to the other girl in the photo. "She has a temper to match her hair does Ruby." He laughed, "I think you'd get on with her. I'll introduce you to her sometime." He offered, he laughed when Kiki apologised for going back to Quidditch, "Don't worry about it. It's fine." He said reassuringly.

Kiki could hardly believe the Gryffindor had agreed to letting her teach him. Caleb would never have let her teach him some dance moves. In fact, she couldn’t really think of one friend that would let her do that. “Yay! Of course! I would love to.” She almost jumped up right then and there to teach him, but with her scrapbook stuff about and no music, she calmed herself. “Uhm, maybe not right now. Some other time though,” she said with a laugh. As she settled back down, Kiki listened to Zeke talk about his home and how the house was decorated. He mentioned a girl named Iris, which was new to her. By the sounds of it, it was another sister. “Your whole family sounds incredibly talented. My mom would love that,” she said smiling.

A sort of crimson flooded the girl’s face. Kiki had no issues standing in front of a crowd and performing. She had never been one to feel shy or embarrassed, but this boy was causing her to feel it for the first time. It wasn’t as painful as she thought it would be. Is he… is he flirting with me? The Hufflepuff looked Zeke over. She decided she wouldn’t mind if he was; he was sort of attractive after all. She made a mental note to maybe ask Caleb if the boy was flirting with her. Although, maybe I am over analyzing it and should talk to a girl about it. Maybe Isabella? Regardless, she tried her hand at flirting back, just in case he was.

“I would certainly enjoy it if you did come,” she said with a smile, although, she was sure she just came across as her friendly self. Kiki was a little disappointed to hear that Ezekiel was not a Quidditch fan, but understood when he told her it was due a fear of heights. “Well, if you ever wanted to conquer your fear or give flying a try, I wouldn’t mind helping you with that either.” That time, she did sound a bit flirtatious. “Actually, I think we’re done for the year,” she said with mixed emotions. She was sad the season was over, but it did mean she got to go home and enjoy spending her time doing all of her favorite non-magical things. “But there is always next year,” she said in hopes that the boy would not completely forget her over the summer.

Zeke seemed to be completely modest about his artistic ability. Still he offered to draw in her scrapbook, so she handed him the album and a pencil from her bag. Kiki flipped through the pages trying to find one where she would want a drawing. “Oh here,” she said as she landed on a page of a Hogsmeade trip she had taken. “Feel free to draw whatever you want on here. I just think it needs something more on this page.”

The two continued conversing, and she thoroughly enjoyed that she could talk to someone about dancing. When the Gryffindor informed her that he had done ballroom dancing, her eyes looked upon him with admiration. “That’s actually really cool, Zeke. We do a lesson on ballroom dancing every year just for fun in my hip hop class back home, so I know a little, but not too much.” Kiki listened as Zeke continued on talking about his sister Ruby and Iris, who Kiki had gathered was another sister. He spoke with such fondness of her and how little she was. It was kind of cute to hear him talk about her. When Zeke shared that he missed Iris, Kiki tilted her head in confusion. Did he just miss her because he was at school and it had been a while since he had seen her?

Before she could ask, Zeke had moved on to talking about Ruby and how boys flocked to her. Kiki laughed as she figured she would possibly be the same way of Shayna if the two were around each other more. “Well, good thing Ruby has you around to look out for her,” Kiki teased. Kiki caught that her fellow fifth year had referenced his other sister in past tense before he moved on to more about Ruby. “I would love to meet her. I like meeting new people. And I promise I won’t judge her for liking country music,” Kiki said laughing.

After a bit, she stopped laughing and decided to ask the question that was now on her mind. “Zeke, if you don’t mind me asking, did something happen to Iris? You said you missed her and you said ‘she was’ the same as Ruby, like she isn’t around anymore.” The Hufflepuff hoped she wasn’t prying too much, but she figured she would ask so she could understand approach the subject of Iris more delicately in the future.

Ezekiel couldn't help but laugh at Kiki's enthusiasm at teaching him to dance, "Maybe I've made a mistake. Bet you're going to have a field day aren't you?" He stated with a fond smile. Kiki's compliment about his family caused him to smile again, "Maybe you can come and visit over the Summer, you'll be able to see what it's like that way." He said in a friendly manner, hoping he didn't sound like he was pushing too much, he was genuinely just comfortable with being her friend even if he did feel a fondness for her.


Zeke smirked a little when Kiki offered to help him get over his fear of heights, "Shall I just hold onto you tightly?" He asked, continuing to sound incredibly flirtatious. "I think this season is over, but I'll come along to the Hufflepuff matches from September." He promised, giving her a genuine smile. He took the pencil from Kiki and slid her scrapbook onto his knee, he took in the page and decided to theme it more like Hogsmeade and started to sketch a pig in the corner to refer to the Hogs Head pub. He poked his tongue through his lips and bit on it in concentration as he began to draw the best he could, each line delicately done in small brush-like strokes.


Through his sketching he continued to speak to Kiki and laughed a little when she said about knowing a little bit of ballroom dancing, "I can show you that one day if you were interested." He offered, glancing up at her for a brief second before turning back to his drawing. Zeke chuckled a little when the Hufflepuff said that it was lucky Ruby had him to look out for her, "I don't think she sees it like that. She probably hates it more than anything." He smirked again, proud that he could keep some boys at bay. He started to laugh when Kiki promised not to judge Ruby if she met her - when she met her, "I'll introduce you some time. I think she's going to be at the end of year ball, if she is I'll introduce you to her there."


Ezekiel finished his sketch and placed the pencil down when Kiki asked about Iris, he kept his gaze on the book, trying to pull it off as if he was just checking his sketch, when in actuality he was trying to hide how upset he was, not at Kiki - definitely not, but he hadn't spoken about Iris out loud to anyone except Ruby yet, saying what happened would make it all the more real, but if he and Kiki were going to continue to be friends he thought it only fair to tell her. He sighed heavily and gave a sad smile. "She died, over Easter. It was a freak accident involving Death Eaters that hadn't been caught, or had been caught but were set free. It shouldn't have happened, obviously, but it did and now I miss her every day. I'll never see my baby sister grow up, she'll never go to Hogwarts, she'll never go to school. She was taken far too young. She'd only really just started being able to form full coherant sentences." He bit on his lip and looked away from Kiki, trying to control his emotions, he didn't want to look weak in front of her.