Misadventures in the grounds. (Tag: Alexandra)

Matthieu walked out in the sun, broom on his shoulder. The open air of the quad seemed like as good of a place as any to mount up and take off. Tossing the broom out, he called to it to rise up, and dove at it, trying to get a running takeoff. Next thing he knew, he was face first in the dirt. He jumped up, and looked around, hoping nobody saw his massive failure.

Alex was enjoying the sunshine, with a good apple and a good book in hand - the day couldn't be better. She was enjoying herself, enjoying the warm feel of the sun on her face. She knew that she'd get more spots, and that her mum'd be mad, but at this moment, she didn't care.

Somewhere in the distance, Alex heard a thud. Turning around, she saw an older boy - clearly not from Hogwarts, Beauxbaton it must be - jumping up and down, with a bit of dirt in his hair and on his clothes. She saw a broomstick with him and laughed.

Mathieu heard laughing, and looked around. 'I could have sworn that it was empty when I came out here,' he thought to himself. He picked up his stuff and walked over. "Hello," he said aloud. "Name's Matthieu." He held out his hand. "Never could get the hang of that takeoff maneuver." he joked.

Alex blushed, feeling guilty for laughing at Matthieu. She stuck out her own hand and shook, feigning confidence - inside, she was freaking out - she was terrible at meeting new friends. "Alexandra," she said. She looked at his broomstick. "I can't do it either," she said shrugging. "Pretty embarrasing, considering I'm on Ravenclaw's quidditch team. How do you like Hogwarts?" she asked, clasping her hands behind her back and rocking to and fro on her feet.

"You play too? What position?" he said, now fully interested in this new person. "As for the school, it takes some getting used to. I've already been lost many times." He shook his head. "The food is a bit ... heavier, you know? The Beauxbaton food is lighter."

"Chaser," she said smiling. Matthieu had changed topics several times already - she sensed that he was someone very... active, explosive even. At least, that's what her first impression of him was. "What position are you?" she asked politely. Her mother had always taught her never to make the conversation all about herself.

She nodded as he talked about the food at Hogwarts being heavy. She didn't know what the food at Beauxbaton was like, but she figured it would be lighter - Alex found that at home, all the food she ate was a lot lighter in her stomach than at Hogwarts, which was probably why she never ate that much during the school term, and seemed to lose weight, until she went back home for the holidays again.

"I play keeper," Matthieu said, "but sometimes I sub as chaser. I want to play on the French National team someday." He stiffened after he said this. "I actually didn't mean to say that. Forget I mentioned it."

Alex was confused, and debated whether or not to pursue Matthieu's comment. She settled with just complimenting him once before moving on and changing the topic. "That's a fantastic goal," she said, smiling. Not dream, because dream implied fantasy, but goal, because it was something she was sure he could achieve. "What's Beauxbaton like? My sisters went there, but I've never been myself."

Glad for the change of topic, he smiled. "Well, the school is a bit more colorful, and I would go so far as to say, newer than Hogwarts." He smiled at the thought of it. "It's positively lovely this time of year. There are always beautiful never melting ice sculptures, and wood nymphs to serenade us as we eat." "But the best part has to be the food. I'm sure I mentioned that already though."

Alex nodded, "you did," she said shrugging, "But that's okay. I agree, actually." She sighed at looked down at her feet. "Beauxbaton sounds lovely - it sounds really... beautiful." Alex had often thought that it was because Beauxbaton was so pretty that all the Beauxbaton students were pretty, and envied her sisters - had she attended the French school, Alex was sure that she would have been pretty too. But this was not something she had told anyone, ever. She knew that if she ever spoke her thoughts outloud, she'd be told she was wrong.