The Right Moment (Open)

[Sajan Kailas]

Sajan sat at a table in the Great Hall. A stack of school books lay on the table in front of him. One was even open. He had fully intended to spend his free time studying, even going so far as pulling out his books and beginning to read. But, as usual, he was distracted. He just couldn't stay with the words on the page. After reading the first paragraph three times, he had just about given up.

And now he watched as a small, blue speckled bird walked across his open book. He reached out a finger and gently stroked the bird's head. It was the bird his mother had given him last year. Sajan named him Okie. He had briefly thought about giving the bird to Rikki but the right moment never arose. He sighed. It never seemed to be the right moment.

[Poppet]

"What a pretty bird... Sajan."

Interrupted a little voice as Poppet came over to the table holding her Arithmacy book to her chest. Usually Poppet was very out going and tried to make friends with everyone, but she and Sajan hadn't really talked much in the past even if they were in some of the same classes.

"What kind is it?"

She was trying for a conversation but then she realized he had that book open for a reason. He might have been studying. If he seemed bothered she would leave him alone but if he was looking for a distraction maybe she would get to know her housemate and make a new friend in the process.

[Sajan Kailas]

Sajan jumped as he heard a voice near him. He turned to see Poppet standing near him. Here was a perfect example. He was always so caught up in his own thoughts...in adventures...in classes (or non-attendance of)...in Rikki...that he had barely gotten to know anyone in his same year or even his same house. He shook his head to clear it but smiled.

"It's a jobberknoll. My mum got me it last year. His name is Okie."

Sajan moved over a little bit to make room in case she wanted to sit down.

"You can pet him, if you like. He doesn't bite. I promise."

[Poppet]

"Okie is so pretty. Your mom made a good choice."

Poppet said as she reached out and gently pet the litte bird, even set to scratching under the feathers at the back of the bird's neck the way her owl liked to be scratched. A little pink puff came rolling from beneath Poppet's curls and down her arm before wandering about the bird all curious.

"That's Bubbles, my pigmypuff from last year. Professor Gryvon let me keep him over the summer."

[Sajan Kailas]

Sajan laughed at the pygmypuff that came rolling down Poppet's arm. "That's a nice looking puff. My sister, Rani, used to have a blue one. I think she lost it or something but she's never really been into pets and animals and things like that. So I'm not really surprised." Sajan laughed. "I've never really been into puffs. I tend to go for slightly more dangerous animals. Drives my mum nuts. I almost caught a jarvey once!"

[Poppet]

“Lost? Hope it is off playing with others somewhere…”

The thought of a pygmypuff that had may have been lost and starved to death was just too tragic for Poppet to even acknowledge.

“Jarveys are such rude little things. I don’t know how you would be able to keep up the conversation. You should try the hills out by the Shrieking Shack. There are wild Nifflers out there. I almost caught one this summer but mum made me take it back where I got it. She was just mad because it bit her hand, only because it was after her wedding ring. They like gold. You know what would be lots of fun? To catch a bunch of them and let them loose in the new DADA professor’s office. I don’t like him very much. Do you? He always acts like he is preparing us for some great battle. The dark times are so over already...”

This was fun, talking to Sajan, he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by talking about things and his interest in dangerous creatures only served to make for all the more interesting conversation. Most people around here just wanted to talk about school work all the time and that got boring.

[Sajan Kailas]

"Well, Rani said it was lost. I've tried looking for it but can't find it."

Sajan laughed. "Yeah, me and my brother, Dev, used to go exploring all the time. We never actually found anything good. That jarvey I almost caught wasn't probably actually a jarvey. Dev said it was just an overgrown weasel. But I think he was just jealous that he didn't see it first.

You know what would be better? Catching a bunch of nifflers and setting them loose in the Slytherin common room. Now that would be fun!"

Sajan shook his head. "We go through so many different professors here it's getting hard to keep track of them all. Like the new potions professor last year. And then this year it's DADA and Astronomy. It's almost like there is something bad happening or about to happen or something...I don't know. Things just feel odd sometimes. But I kind of used to skip class a lot so I've probably missed something."

Sajan shook his head again. He really hadn't thought about all the recent changes lately. Honestly, he had been so preoccupied with Rikki lately or at least with his thoughts of Rikki, that he had been devoted very little time to his surroundings.

[Poppet]

"Oh! We could too. If we knew the password."

What Sajan started as a joke, Poppet was now thinking over as a serious course of action. They could do it. The Slytherin's would never see it coming.

"Any plans this Hogsmeade weekend? We could scour the hills. If we stop by my place I could get some proper nets for catching them and a good box to keep them in till we are ready to let them out."

Yes, she was born and raised in Hogsmeade so it was like getting to go home on the weekends as opposed to visiting a little town near the school. She liked that though, it helped keep her from getting homesick.

"Well I think Lochlan went to help train ministry Aurors and well after the Prophet attacked Morcerf's character... I guess I could see why he has to go but he never bit anyone. That's just not fair."

Even if he scared her, she liked Morcerf, he was nice.

[Sajan Kailas]

Setting a niffler loose in the Slytherin common room was near suicide. Sajan was pretty certain that some of those Slytherins were pretty emotionally unstable. But still...it would be exciting! And many of them deserved it.

"Since we don't know the password...what we really need is an insider. Someone who's so great at this sort of thing that it doesn't matter who the victims are."

Of course Sajan was thinking of Christian. He couldn't help but remember the pixie prank last year. Plus, he couldn't help but notice that it didn't seem to matter to Christian which house the victims were in. Everything was a big joke to him.

[Poppet]

"True... maybe I could ask Tommy or follow him when he heads back to the dorms and listen in for the password but I am not very good at being stealthy."

Poppet was still in a bit of a clumsy stage where when she was really trying to be quiet or graceful she'd trip and crash and burst that bubble. As for Tommy she shrugged, he was the only Slytherin who was nice to her but she didn't know if he would be up for helping out or not. She didn't know him well enough to presume.