March 20, 1973
It was another typical day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Breakfast was had, classes were attended to, lunch was had, and more classes and done. There was nothing out of the ordinary that took place, beyond the usual preternatural happenings. Ceithlinn had elected to join him for the day, being particularly affectionate the entire time, before parting ways at the Courtyard while he wandered toward the lake.
Along the way he cast his eyes to the ground, stooping down now and again to pick up rocks. Liam didn’t just pick up any rock. They had to meet the three criteria of flatness, smoothness, and heaviness. They also needed to be the size of his palm with a smooth rounded edge on one side. All of this was important because it determined how the rock would travel through both air and water. Therefore, once a rock was picked up, he’d look it over, assessing it with the big three and then moving further with the final criteria. If it failed his standards, the rock was discarded, and he continued onward.
Luckily, Liam kept a fair selection in his trunk. Therefore this was merely a formality and added to the gathering pile. One could never run out of perfectly good stones. At one point, he stopped, closed his eyes, and felt the breeze on his face. The air was still a bit cool, but more than tolerable for an outing. The boy didn’t see the need to screen out the outside world; there was little, if any outside interference that could be a disturbance, much less a hindrance. He remained motionless, soaking up the wind and sun, and then continued onward.
Last year, Seanathair Keller and Grandmother Clara told him of a few choice locations where he could skip rocks without being bothered. The first place they had mentioned was more than adequate for skipping. He would have gone to that location but there was always some passerby wanting to talk. While he didn’t mind listening and having meaningful conversations, Liam wasn’t great at small talk. Those conversations always felt awkward. People expect the same rote answer, and taking them off guard, while fun to watch their heads proverbially explode, got old.
And so, following the advice of his grandparents, Liam walked along the shore, a bit further than usual to a location where he assumed no one would find him. Once there he put his forefinger in his mouth, lifted it in the air, and tested the wind. Gathering its direction and strength, the Ravenclaw stared out over the water a moment, taking a calm, silent breath, took out a rock, and made his first toss. It skipped several times before sinking into the water. He tossed another one, watching at it skipped several as well before sinking and nodded to himself.
It was a fine day for skipping rocks…
It was a fine day to be thirteen.
OOC:
1. Grandfather
