⋄ greenhouses

@❛ ? » timothée lee。⁰⁶ "More strawberries tomorrow sounds like a deal, so long as we get to hang out again!" Mirabelle winked playfully, gently petting the bunny's little head. She was more than happy to share her snack as well as her time. This Timothée was quite delightful. She had seen him on campus before but hadn't officially met him, what with being in different houses as well as different years. While she didn't know every seventh year in the university, she had a pretty decent handle on most of them. If she didn't know a name, she at least knew a face.

Belle, eh? Most people preferred calling her Mira, really only her parents and her friend Nari called her Belle. Not that she minded, not at all. It was actually refreshing, having another person call her that. When he complimented her, her cheeks heated up and she broke out into a wide grin, "You're quite beautiful yourself, Timothée. I quite like your freckles, I wish I could pull those off." At his invitation to set up a playdate with his pet, she nodded her head excitedly, "I'd like that quite a bit." She squealed softly at the way the tiny creature nuzzled her hand and she was more than happy to oblige.

"I don't have any pets of my own, so it's quite nice to have a chat with such an adorable creature." She shifted so that she was sitting on her bottom, knowing she had created a run in her tights but not really minding, "You're- a sixth year, right?"

@❛ ? » mirabelle morgenstern。⁰⁷ There was a degree of comfort which radiated from her amiable smile. While Timothée was often apologetic for troubling others, her reassurance seemed to efficiently ease his mind. Perhaps it was her effortless extroverted charm which made it rather easy to socialise. After all, he had seen her around the area a few times, though he never dared to approach her. It was ever his preference to observe before making a move. "I'll get you some more strawberries tomorrow, is that— okay?" With a soft, French lilt in his voice, he asked, allowing their eyes to make contact as he introduced himself.

"I'm Timothée, It's nice to meet you. I've heard most nicknames in the book so you may call me whatever you like." A nervous laugh sounded from his lips, as he turned his gaze back to Nala, nibbling blissfully on the strawberry with a reddened mouth. "I like Belle, actually." He paused then to look back at her, offering a benign compliment, from his often unfiltered sincerity. "It suits you. You're— beautiful." Though, as soon as the words left his mouth, he realised he may have come off as flirtatious and changed the subject with a light stammer. "I-I can let you play with her sometime, if you like. She seems to like you." He could tell his precious bunny did, from the way she nudged her head against Mirabelle's hand, asking for pets.

@❛ ? » timothée lee。⁰⁶ Mirabelle was absolutely enchanted by the little creature. How could something so small hold her heart so tightly already? It was hardly fair, especially since this was surely someone else's pet! Still, though, she would share her sweet treat with the small creature until their owner hopefully came by to retrieve them. "My name is Mirabelle." She continued softly to the small one, now daring to a fingertip over the bunny's soft head.

Ever the unaware, she jumped as someone knelt beside her. She quickly recovered with a smile though, turning to the student that she recognized as a Gryffindor from the tie he wore. She waved her unoccupied hand at his apology, "No need to be sorry. It was a delight to meet such a cutie pie." Her lips spread to smile with all of her teeth, showing off her pearly whites. She noticed the blush crawling up the young man's neck but decided not to comment on it.

"She's quite beautiful." Mirabelle complimented the bunny, holding out one more strawberry for her, "I'm Mirabelle, by the way! Mirabelle Morgenstern. You can call me Mira, though." She paused for a moment, considering, "Or Belle, I guess, although most people prefer Mira."

@❛ ? » mirabelle morgenstern。⁰⁷ Between the gruelling workload of various lectures, Timothée found repose at a spot near the greenhouses, serene enough for his reading, unfrequented by most. Though, sporadically, groups of Hufflepuffs would saunter down the path into the greenhouses, conversing excitedly amongst themselves. Such instances were needed for him to hydrate between studies, between elaborate daydreams and fiction writing. Thus, they did not vex him in the slightest. What did agitate him was how easily he could utterly lose himself in his novels. He found that without the blessing of alarms, he could get absorbed for hours on end, miss lectures or even lose Nala, his most precious companion.

She was a dainty little thing, a brown-ish Netherland dwarf bunny who he named after his childhood crush, the Lion King's Nala. It wasn't abnormal of her to hop around, active and quite playful but somehow, she seemed to snooze on his lap more often than not, when he was reading. Ten minutes may have passed before he sensed the loss of warmth from her furry body. Nearly immediately, the panic set in and Timothée began whipping his head around, frantically studying his surroundings for a small, enthusiastic ball of fur. "Nala?" In a moment, his book was on the bench and he was bent down, looking for his companion. "viens ici, ma chérie" What followed was a string of kissing noises, likely making a fool of his image until he found her at last, nibbling on a strawberry from the palm of a blonde student he had seen around often.

Sheepishly, and with relief flooding his chest, the Gryffindor knelt beside her, petting the head of his bunny with a gentle palm. "I'm sorry, this is my bunny. It's not like her to go to strangers." A cordial smile, he offered to her, hoping she wouldn't notice the shame in his reddened ears. "I think she must have gotten hungry."

@❛ ? » timothée lee。⁰⁶ Mirabelle sat on a bench just outside of the greenhouses, one leg crossed over the other comfortably with a book in her lap. Nothing for class, simply a fiction book to read for pleasure in order to unwind. It was one of her favorite activities, to sit under the warm sun with a book and a snack. That’s exactly what she was doing, a small container of halved strawberries to her right that she popped into every now and then. To say today was a good day was an understatement.

Out of the corner of her eye, though, a curious thing appeared. An amorphous blob of fur until she took her eyes off the page and focused on the animal. And oh my goodness, was that not the cutest bunny she had ever seen? Mirabelle gave a soft squeal, sliding her bookmark into place in her book before going to kneel on the ground. To hell if her tights ripped, she didn’t care. She wanted to know this little creature.

“Don’t be afraid.” Mirabelle whispered softly, deciding to offer one of her strawberry halves as a gift, “Here, wouldn’t you love to be friends?” She continued to speak softly to the bunny, as if they could understand her.