Before a step into the garden would be taken further, the vines behind her grew rapidly and shut closed the only way back through one of the Beauxbatons garden's many rectangular sections. She's been taking a walk to enjoy the clean air and green plants, and fresh buds beginning to flower. Most students knew the gardens had a habit of changing suddenly, just as the passage back to the main path did. A topiary could be heard through the tall, thick hedges, shifting its position to stand obnoxiously where once the path was open.

This, of course, did not surprise Lili. She was fully aware of garden's tendencies. If one could stand to watch long enough from one of the chateau's balconies, the sections would spin and change shape completely, often with little warning and sometimes with little planning. It could be said that the Gardens of Beauxbatons never appeared the same way twice, and it was for this reason that students would be lost to the plants - both intentionally and unintentionally. They were a grand place to hide when one didn't wish to go back into the palace. They were a bad place to go without thinking, as pathways once open would sometimes close very suddenly. Maps of the gardens were impossible to make, as bushes and trees would never remain the same long enough to craft one.

Looming overhead, a large tree swung its branches about, delighted to be given more room to stretch itself. With this, Lili moved on through the path that lay before her, listening to the trickle of water from a nearby fountain. The fountains were one of the few things that would stay the same, never moving from their position implanted into the stony foundation of brick and rock. The sculptures, however, were a mischievous bunch that would move and mock passing students, sometimes spraying them with water. Lili silently thanked the powers that be for the fact that she was on the other side of the hedges, unseen by the living ornaments.

After crossing through three of the garden's sections and passing through a small maze, Lili finally made it back out to the main path. The Academy was still visible in the distance, as was the small lake down the path's incline at which sculptures of past headmasters and headmistresses gazed over the crystalline waters. It was gorgeous in this valley, and often it reminded her of home. Perhaps, with that little mishap out of the way, she'd go to the lake. She had plenty of downtime for now, and she doubted anyone was looking for her yet.

Words: 437

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made by MISSO on THE INTERNETS

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Era had always been the sort of student who liked the curious and constantly shifting gardens very much, though she knew at the same time that her habits regarding them were a little on the odd side. How many students would have dared to climb the trees that moved and danced around? How many would even think to climb the trees at a place so serene and elegant as this? She didn't know; all she knew for sure was that she had never seen anyone else up in the branches.

She herself, of course, did climb the trees on a regular basis. She thought she might go mad if she couldn't. The exertion of climbing up to a high perch calmed her, and the literal perspective she got from being above everything else cleared her head and helped her get some figurative perspective on life, too. Of course, she felt it necessary to request permission from the trees, since it seemed clear that they had opinions on the matter themselves, but she had developed something like friendships with some of the best climbing trees by now; so long as she remembered to say "s'il te plaît" and "merci" at the appropriate times, and remained alert to any indications that the tree would like her to get down now, she was generally fine, and in fact she was injured doing it less often than with ordinary trees that did not require her to come to such understandings.

From high in the branches of a particularly beautiful and sturdy tree, Era could see a long way across the grounds of the school. She saw the gardens spread out below her in all their vivacious, dancing beauty, and in one direction the fine and solidly elegant walls of the château that housed the school, while in another a path wound its way down to the lake like a trailing streamer that the garden only bothered to keep hold of one end of. On the end in the garden, though, was a moderately short and finely-built girl with a ribbon tied in her cropped blonde hair.

As difficult as it was to recognize individuals from such an angle, Era thought she might know who the girl was. Lili Zwingli was a year ahead of her in studies, and a vastly different sort of person from Era, starting with their birth: those rather silly individuals who cared about such things had made it common knowledge that Lili was a pureblood witch raised like a princess, whereas Era was at least three-quarters Muggle by blood (though she was certainly a witch through and through as far as magical ability was concerned) and had grown up in a humbler style by far. Come to think of it, that probably explained why Lili was walking down the path and Era was in a tree.

The Albanian girl considered staying where she was and letting Lili go on her way without interruption, but in a way she felt that that might be rude, and she was starting to feel ready for human company again. Instead, she dropped quietly to the ground, spoke a few words of gratitude to the tree for letting her spend some time in its branches, and then set off down the path herself.

Walking quickly but not hurriedly, she caught up to the other girl on the path to the lake. It was Lili, indeed. Era wouldn't want to intrude, so if Lili wanted privacy she would gladly give it to her, but she thought she might as well offer a conversation. "Bonjour, Mlle. Zwingli," she greeted the older girl politely, and left it at that.

made by MISSO

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[attr="class","alltext"]It was still all too easy for Minh Quân to lose his way in the Academy, even after years of attendance. It was getting ridiculous — he swore he had been down this path before, but he had forgotten it so easily. Maybe it was time to get a map from one of the school officials, or time to draw one himself with large red marks to tell him where he shouldn't go. Places like the Garden, ones that were always changing, were at the very top of that list. His ba would laugh now if he could see Minh running around cluelessly like this. It was not very cool at all, his father would say. 

Minh's town had been small, and in what was considered rural area. But then again, much of Vietnam seemed so simple compared to France. And Beauxbatons itself was larger than any school Minh had ever attended. So it was no surprise that there was always something new to discover.

It didn't seem so much like "discovering" when he was seeing the same row of bushes for the sixth time, though. "Aw, come on!"

He was growing irritated now. Normally, he wouldn't fuss — it was fun to go about and to look at all the different things he'd encounter when he found himself straying from his usual routes. But he'd never been lost quite so badly before. Luckily, there was no class he needed to be at today, but it was still concerning. Magic had quite a way of tossing him about when he least expected it, and today the Gardens seemed to have picked him as their target. He shouldn't have gone in here alone; he already had the tendency of letting his mind wander when it should not, and he knew it well. The plants seemed to know this, and apparently they found it amusing. The bushes and smaller trees had started swatting their limbs playfully at him, and the foliage liked curling around his ankles when he stopped to consider his surroundings. It would have been cute had he not been so preoccupied with escaping.

He was starting to get hungry, too. His little bag of bean sprouts had run out within the first ten minutes in the Gardens. He would consider screaming for help, but that felt somewhat undignified.

It was just his luck that at that moment, he spotted a figure rounding the corner of the maze. Thank God! He rushed after them, making his way around a few more twists and turns. The path was straight, and he was soon out on the main path.

Finally, he was out of that mess! He might as well introduce himself to the girl who had helped him get out of there, while he had the chance. She seemed preoccupied with someone else already, but it couldn't hurt to join the conversation. And if they wanted, he could always apologise and leave.

He didn't recognise the two right away, although the faces were somewhat familiar. Minh had made it his business to get to know as many of the people in his house as quickly as possible, and there were few people that he couldn't identify at least by appearance. Perhaps they weren't in Sureau, then. That was perfectly all right with him; he liked getting to know people from the other houses.

"Hello!" Minh Quân shouted to the pair, making his way over to them. Then, as an afterthought (because it was always good to practice his French): "Bonjour, mesdames!"

As long as he was here, there was no better time to make a few new friends!

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