She shivered under the autumn air. An involuntary action as her fingers clasped round cotton, tugging the cardigan that bit more around her body to savour warmth. The cold had never been attractive to the girl, more so something that she endlessly wished to pass by that bit sooner. Of course, there was something beautiful about the passing of any season, perhaps autumn more so than most. The rich abundance of flaming hues clinging desperately to their branches, only to fall softly to the ground where they would soon wither away, only to be born the following year. Emily likened the desperation of leaves to be much like her own attitudes to winter. Clawing at the lesser of two evils, autumn, to remain rather than face a period of times in which she couldn’t even dare to go outside without countless layers. She stood out more in winter too. The girl had never been pale; they’d always been a bronzed tint to her skin, only highlighted by her foreign stay in Spain over the term. The contrast was stark. To be so frolicking in a country where at times you pined for coolness, only to return and gain too much for liking.

Maybe it was cooler than it needed to be. She remained by the lake after all and there was more moisture in the air here than anywhere else in the school. Ah, science. Given her return to the magical world Emily felt very odd about even hinting towards an affair of chemical reactions and formulas. Always adamant that she’d accept science over magic, to suddenly be stripped off the ability to clean up a spillage with a flick of a wand had been rather illuminating for the girl, though not particularly for the grandest reasons. He’d changed. Her attitudes at least, from the time in which she’d left London, through first term and returning home, had changed in that way. Had her parents seen a change in their daughter, she wondered? Certainly she’d seen within them. Her mum had cut her hair, shorter and darker. Emily wouldn’t have recognised her.

The girl lingered on that fact for a moment as she walked beside the lake, finding it mildly traumatic to do so. Something as simple as a haircut made her realise just how far from home she was when she came to Hogwarts, how much she missed. The Jacobs family had, and will, always be close, yet Emily wasn’t even in the position where she could have done something typical with her mum, scour magazines for haircut ideas. Not that her mother would have ever approached her to do so. Emily favoured brains over beauty, even though she herself had the potential for both. Yet she was a rational girl, she was a Ravenclaw surely? Every minus had a plus, and though silently she pined once more for a family (the brunette wondered whether this feeling would be repeated every term), she was a stubborn yet determined little girl. It came as no surprise that she’d already clued up on the basics of the teachings for the term, pouring a portion of her break solely dedicated to revision and so was confident that she’d fare well this year, all in a bigger picture that spelled success. There was nothing better than achieving, though unfortunately sometimes she had to quell her nosey actions, hinting towards knowing what others had gotten on an essay or a quiz. She’d confided in Jasper last term that she was competitive to a fault.

That Hufflepuff. Just one of the people she had gotten to know. Emily hadn’t seen anyone she knew quite yet, possibly they were in the Great Hall. It was the day after Halloween, surely there was a mass of tasty treats left or perhaps not. The House Elves had a habit of magic food delicious. Any girl’s nightmare. Her eyes flickered towards the lake, the distant sound of a raindrop. Watching the waters mirrored surface she paused, watching the circled ripples fading out before quickly looking up at the sky. If there was a rainfall, she hoped it would pass by quickly. Bar the cold, she’d always found something relaxing in being surrounded by nature. It offered a sense of comfort beaten only by the companionship of a friend.