Nightmares {TAG: anyone! :)}

Belle nodded. "Mm-hmm. Seems like a lot of us get tied to this place, in some way." She glanced at Miranda again, her brow furrowing when she saw the look on her face. Of course, she had no idea that Tony had been her fiance. Like Dean, she had lost contact with most of her Hogwarts friends. "Are you getting cold?" she asked, interpreting Miranda's reaction as something to do with swimming in the lake earlier, not as her fighting to keep control of her emotions. "Maybe we should step inside so you can warm up better."

Miranda smiled slightly at Belle's suggestion. "No, it's not that." She glanced around the lawn. "Weather doesn't bother me." She chuckled. "Animals don't care what the weather's like, and they need help at all times of year and day. I once had to tend a thestral at one in the morning in the dead of winter. I thought I was going to freeze and be stuck in the forest till spring! Sitka railed on me for days for going out on my own. Of course...he's the one who had my frostbite..."
She grinned mischievously as she glanced back up at the castle.

Belle smiled. "You're lucky. I'm a wimp when it comes to the cold. You'll see once winter rolls around. My mother always said I was like a plant in that sense. I prefer to watch the snow fall from inside, with a fire nearby and a cup of tea in my hands." She gave a little laugh. "Thestrals? Oh, I had forgotten they were here," she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I remember seeing them in one Care of Magical Creatures class. Well, technically, I couldn't really see them, but it was interesting nevertheless. Is it true that people can ride them? Or is that just a rumor?"

Miranda laughed lightly. "You learn to do what you have to do. I used to loathe the cold." It was true. When she had been a student here, she had curled in a ball by the common room fire every day. It was funny how much people could change given the right circumstances. "It is possible for people to ride them, but it's not a comfortable thing by all accounts. Professor Dumbledore sometimes uses them for certain journeys. I'm sure it's especially disconcerting for those who can't see them. Could you imagine flying on an invisible creature?!" She shuddered.

"Ugh. I don't even want to think about that," Belle said, hating to even picture it. Having it seem like there was nothing between you and the ground fifty feet below you didn't sound like a very pleasing thing to experience. "Maybe I'll just stick with Floo powder," she joked, laughing a bit. "Although I think I like walks a bit more than I used to. Hogsmeade looks really pretty when Christmas time rolls around."

Miranda laughed. "I swear by floo powder! My dad was a bit of an....air head growing up. And since I was under-aged, I used Floo powder to get to Diagon Alley and the train each year. As well as visit a friend or two during the holidays." Her eyes twinkled. "Papa didn't always know about those trips though..."
She pulled a stray strand of hair behind her ears. The sun's rays were stretching across the lawn now, rising ever higher in the sky. The beauty of the school never ceased to amaze her.
"Hmm?"
Hogsmeade looks really pretty when Christmas time rolls around.
"Oh yes, it's quite beautiful. Do you live down in the village? Or here in the castle?"

"Ooo, a rule-breaker, I see," Belle teased, laughing afterwards. Of course, Belle had done her share of sneaking around a bit during her school years, even if it was a bit less than others. "Down in the village," she replied. "I've got an apartment that I keep over the summer. But my parents insist that I visit them often, so even when school's out, I'm not there much. But my parents and I thought I should get a place close to the school in case I was ever needed for some reason."

Miranda laughed then drawled sarcastically, "Oh yes, I was definitely the trouble maker..." She rolled her eyes, still smiling. It was nice to be able to talk to another woman. She had been alone for so long. Well, she had Sitka. But sometimes you just need another woman in your life.
"Oo where do your parents live?"

"Not too far from Diagon Alley, actually," Belle replied. "My parents did a lot of their shopping there, so they would let me tag along and point out all the shops I would go to when I started school. It was pretty exciting." She gave a little grin at the memory. She had practically known which stores to go to by the time she had gotten her letter from Hogwarts. "My family's pureblood all the way through, so I was raised immersed in the 'total wizarding' way of life, you could say. It was good and all, but I feel like it's left me a little ignorant of Muggle stuff. I had no idea what a telephone was and the idea of pictures actually standing still totally boggled my mind." She laughed.

Miranda laughed. "I was the same way. I knew hardly anything about muggles!"
It was in a way how she and Tony had met. She had needed help assimilating into the muggle world when she had graduated. He had teased her endlessly for her ignorance. She smiled softly to herself. It had been a running joke between them for years. He had taught her so much about the non-magical world. She owed him all of her knowledge on the matter.
"A....a dear friend of mine helped me learn about the non-magic world when I graduated. I wanted to start something new. It was hard but he was very supportive."
She stared out across the sunlit waters, the sadness of years etched in her face.

"Well, better late than never," Belle said, not noticing the sadness in her friend's eyes. "I had Dean to help me out. He was like a walking textbook when it came to that kind of thing. I'm still surprised I didn't annoy him to death with all my questions." She laughed at the memory: following Dean around, chattering nonstop about the things she wanted to know about the Muggle world. Heck, even now, she still peppered him with questions whenever they popped into her head. But he was always patient with her, always taking time to answer them. He was a good friend that way.

Miranda's eyes hardened. Dean...Dean had never been patient with HER. They had fought and fought and fought.
"Well at least he can get along with some people..." She muttered under her breath.
He had always snapped at her for her ignorance. Hence, their tense relationship.
Diplomatically she said slowly, "He always was knowledgeable about the muggle world."

Belle noticed that Miranda's voice had gotten a little tense. Did she and Dean have issues? Belle did forget that she was one of the few friends that Dean had. He could be pretty snarky to those he wasn't close with, something she had gotten onto him before. She thought it sad though that her two best friend didn't get along. Maybe I should change that sometime, she thought, not even thinking about how an idea like that could go really wrong really fast. "He's interesting that way," Belle said, trying to think of some way to change the topic without making it too obvious. "He practically prefers the Muggle way of living. He said he was working on a motorcycle back at his father's garage. Have you ever ridden one before? I've heard they're almost like broomsticks, except they're a little more harder to operate."

Miranda snorted. "Oh he definitely prefers the Muggle life. Which is why I'm so surprised he's here of all places... He always despised the ignorance of wizards and didn't hesitate to vocalize his distaste." She frowned, lost in her irritation. Of course, it didn't help she had just seen the irritating little man the day before. She hurriedly tuned back into Belle's words.
"Motorcycle? mm..yes, a couple of times. Years ago." Tony had dragged her onto one behind him when they had first met. It had been the scariest, most exhilarating ride of her life. "I don't actually know how to operate it. Dean showed me once in...his garage several years ago. It was his pride and joy."

Ouch. It sounds like they have fought in the past. Belle bit her lip, trying to steer the conversation away from Dean. "He certainly does like to speak his mind," she said, smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress. "He's stubborn that way." She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. "I don't really know either. It all seems so mysterious to me. All those buttons and where to keep your feet and stuff. It's baffling to me most of the time. At least here, we only have to worry about getting hit by a broomstick is during a Quidditch match." She chuckled. "Do you like watching Quidditch? It always amazes me how professional the kids are during those games. Some of them can fly like experts."

Miranda sighed wearily. He had spoken his mind throughout her and Tony's entire relationship.
She shrugged. "I really gave up caring how they worked." She suddenly grinned, a blissful twinkle in her eyes as she remembered riding around London on the back of Tony's motorcycle. "I just remember the joy of the ride."
Quidditch. She hadn't really kept up with any quidditch growing up.
"I love watching the students play, but I never really followed the larger tournaments. It just didn't interest me. A...a friend of mine was really into it though, so I'd go to a game or two with him. But our students really are talented aren't they?" She grinned from ear to ear.

"They do seem like fun, if a trusted person is behind the wheel," Belle said. "Knowing me though, I'd probably end up falling off somehow. I'm clumsy that way around Muggle things. I usually end up breaking them somehow." She gave a little laugh. "I find myself preferring the student matches these days. I can't keep track of all the international teams and stuff. I went to one Quidditch World Cup match when I was...ten, I think. I remember enjoying the gift stands more than the actual match." She laughed again, remembering her parents' exasperation as she pulled them from one stand to the next, admiring all the goodies on sale.

Miranda laughed heartily, imagining her friend on the back of a motorcycle. "They ARE tricky devils."
"I never made it to the World Cup. Like I said, my dad was a bit...off. He didn't quite get us tickets." She shrugged. "I didn't mind so much though. He always had some weird experiment going on at home, so I was never truly bored. That particular summer, he had been trying to give a chair wings. It didn't quite work." She laughed "Not for lack of trying though."
The kittens began getting antsy again, pouncing and rolling on one another. She smiled down at them lovingly, stroking them mother's fur. She could only hope she got loving homes for all of them.

"Ooo, experiments? Was he an inventor or something?" Belle had met a couple of people like that in her lifetime. She always found them exciting, and always full of interesting stories to tell. Unique people like that always caught her attention. "Hmm, I guess a chair with wings could be useful," she mused, thinking about such an object for a moment. "It'd be handy if you were watching a play and somebody tall was sitting in front of you. The chair could just take you up and a bit, and boom! Perfect view." She laughed.

Miranda laughed. "Oohh he wanted to be." Her eyes twinkled in the sunlight. "He would tinker with anything he could get his hands on. Always trying to make ordinary things not so ordinary. A flying chair now...never did find the logic behind that one. " She smiled warmly. "Of course, I was ridiculously embarrassed when I was a child. Every kid just wants to be normal right? And my dad was anything but that. But I love him oddities and all. Even if you can't stand your parents, you somehow end up back with them, right?" She sighed. "But poor Miss Moonblood...I don't know what to do about that."

"Well, there can be pleasure to find in ordinary things," Belle said, shrugging a little. "Books are pretty ordinary objects, yet they inspire and move so many people with the stories they contain." She paused for a moment. "Oh God, I just sounded like a complete dork there," she said, blushing as she laughed. Belle was always a bookworm, through and through, something her friends and family always liked pointing out. "That's true enough. I know my parents and I had our little fights now and then when I was growing up, but I can't imagine living without them." She sighed at the mention of Evaine. "You and me both," she said, looking up at the sky. "I'm not sure what we can do to help her without overstepping our boundaries, or making things worse. The last thing we want is for things to get more violent for her at home because we stepped in to help her."

Books. While Miranda didn't mind a good book or two, she wasn't much of a reader herself. She preferred to be out and living what was found in books. She laughed with her friend. "You can never sound like a dork when you talk about something you're passionate about." She paused and bit her lip thoughtfully. "Then again....maybe that's when we sound the dorkiest." She laughed even louder.
"It breaks my heart knowing that she has to return to that. She can't be a child with that to deal with. And you're right, intervening could just make things worse." She loosed a deep sigh. "The ministry should have some way to protect witches and wizards in situations like that."

[Edit: I think She, Belle, and Dean, all need to run into each other. it could be a really amusing interaction! ]

Belle laughed again. " I get that way whenever I talk about plants too. Nobody else in my family knows that much about them, so when I get on a roll and just start babbling on and on, they start looking at me like I'm talking in a different language. It looks pretty hilarious." She giggled, remembering how she had started listing off the healing properties of plants found in the Amazon at a Christmas dinner party and the weird looks her family members had given her. She had felt embarrassed at the time, but it was amusing now that she looked back on it. "I know, right?" she said, agreeing with Miranda's statement. "I mean, I know there are big old important issues that the Ministry has to deal with, but they have to pay attention to some of the smaller problems too, or they're just going to escalate into something huge."

((Ooo, yes, that would be interesting. And poor Belle has no idea about the tension between them. XD))

Miranda grinned, enjoying her friend's enthusiasm. She hadn't had many friends in her life lately. So, there was no one to 'babble' to.
"It's funny how our passions can amplify our normal natures. And THAT is something I would love to see!" she added with a grin.
She continued to play with the kittens with her hands, listening carefully to Belle's words.
"They just need to find a way to help the individuals in the wizarding world. I'm sure they'd be able to form a committee or something, if not a department. Even just a Child services something would go a long way."

{Definitely!! Maybe that'll be how Belle finds out about Miranda's fiance. We'll have to get Mr. Dean in on the plottage for this! ;P]

Belle nodded in agreement, knowing exactly what Miranda was talking about. "Did your family encourage your animal-loving ways? Or did they have a rougher time adjusting to it? I've heard about some teachers here who's parents were appalled at the idea of teaching a certain subject. I guess they wanted them to be something a little more distinguished, like a member in the Ministry of Magic or something." Luckily for Belle, her parents hadn't been that way. They had supported her in her decision to become a teacher. "Maybe we should send a letter to the Minister or something and suggest the idea," she said. "It couldn't hurt to try."