The tourist (Char and Haley)

Haley walked through her garden when she heard the normal buzzing from the tourists that had come to see the castle. She always went to the backside of it, wanting to be left alone. It was no fun having tourists come to the house, but it was a deal her parents had made with the government to let them keep the house, even though it had been in Haley's family ever since Helga Hufflepuff had lived in it herself.

Haley sighed and sat down next to the pond she so dearly loved. She took of her shoes and her stockings, her feet dipping into the water, making rings in it. She watched them as they went from being strong to weaker and weaker until they all but vanished. She bit her lip. Why were things never constant?

She heard some sounds from the tourist groups, but they weren't allowed over here. Not that people hadn't tried to come here. It happened on several occasions that the tourists would slip away from their guide and then walk the places that were off limits. Of course, this had made Haley mostly angry, but she had once made friends with two people who did that. But that was ten years ago or something, and she hadn't seen them since then.

This day was a special day, though. Every 17th a month, this house would be open to tourists, but only from the magical side. Muggles didn't get to come here this day. Only witches and wizards, and though Haley found that to be a bit cool, she also thought it was a bit creepy. She trusted strangers as far as she could throw them, but she trusted magical strangers even less. They had too much power.

So, when Haley heard footsteps behind her, she jumped up to her feet and turned on the spot, her eyes landing on a shape that moved closer and closer.

Charlotte had hoped that she would be able to come to Caerphilly Castle with Cobalt when they had their next days off together and the day that it was open just happened to co-incide with one of those days, so she and Cobalt had both decided to come and visit the home of Helga Hufflepuff and many other important magical figures.

Then she remembered that it was in fact Haley's house and she wondered if she would be around today, so she had decided to break from Cobalt, leaving him sipping some coffee in the gardens while she went off to search for Haley, he seemed glad that she was going to find her friend, after all Charlotte really didn't have many friends who were also girls.

Spotting Haley in the distance she quickened her pace and eventually caught up with her, smiling broadly she waved as she came close;

"Hey there Haley!" she grinned "It's nice to see you again, I remembered you lived here and thought I'd try to find you. Looks like I did."

Haley looked on as her eyes saw that it was a very known shape running towards her, and when Charlotte yelled to her, greeting her, Haley felt her face burst into a big smile. She skipped over to Charlotte and gave her a big hug; just seeing her made Haley's summer much better.

"Hey Char," she said happily, breaking from the hug, still grinning like mad. She then looked around. "Man the guards on these tours really suck," she said with a sigh, "But oh well, I'm really glad to see you here! Are you here with the other tourists by the way?"

Charlotte grinned happily when she was hugged tightly by Haley, she had missed her and at once they had been really close, she was one of the only people who knew about her heart condition and she was still one of the only people she would trust enough to tell about it. Returning the hug Charlotte laughed lightly.

"Yeah I guess they really do, but it always helps if you morph into one of their friends." she grinned, with a small wink "Then they don't mind you wandering around. Yeah I came with Cobalt, he wanted to see the castle with me so."

Placing her hands in her dress pockets she asked; "So how's your summer been so far? As boring as mine?"