Nerissa had become quite fond of the moonlight; after she’d spent an evening lying in the evening’s chilled grass once, it had became part of the daily routine to sneak out of the school to join the plant life. She found contentment in being left alone with the trees and the grass - an emotion that Nerissa Hatts did not experience often. There was silence at that late hour, due to the fact that every other student had returned to their dormitories, as they had been ordered to by their superiors. Nerissa was just small enough to slip out of view when necessary, and so, dodging the sharp, watchful eyes of Ravenclaw’s prefect was simple enough – so long as Nerissa remembered to hide her brilliant hair beneath a hat.
“You’ve grown, haven’t you?” the young Ravenclaw spoke softly to the grass that she caressed with one small, open palm. The air was warm and still in a way that it had not yet been that year – so warm, in fact, that small beads of sweat had begun to form at her hairline. Assuming that the prefects had not yet finished with their night rounds, Nerissa decided to keep her hair tucked away from view beneath the dull fabric of the beanie she’d chosen – but the thing had become an irritant as the summer weather began to seep into her skin. In an attempt to ignore this aggravation, Nerissa extended a pale finger, and with a gentle touch, she began to trace the edges of a near blade of grass. With a pair of caring, round eyes- which matched the moon in both shape and size- she examined the thin creature, as though it were possible for her to read its nonexistent mind. “Good,” she stated; apparently, she had received an answer from the grass, and was satisfied. She cared for the plant life about her in a way that a mother cared for her children – and it was clear by the small smile that her lips had formed at that moment.
The short moment of peace was truly the quiet before the storm – a storm which, had Nerissa known would occur in advance, would most likely have found a way to avoid...
The silence was shattered by a distant scream, which woke Nerissa so very violently from her moment of tranquility. “Help!” a young voice cried desperately, causing Nerissa to sit upward hastily with an expression of panic upon her freckled face. Within the time span of three seconds she had climbed to her feat and had stumbled forward a few feet. “Hello?” Nerissa called, only just managing to spit the simple word from her mouth. It was astonishing that the child had managed to speak at all with her lips trembling in such a way…