It was always the small things Laurel missed about her home in Ottery St Catchpole the most. Of course, some of the things she missed she had anticipated and was fairly obvious. Her parents for one and their home. It was the things like the smell of varnish on the floor mixed with the scent of baking bread which she longed for most when she had spare time and brought on the home sickness. Whilst she was at Hogwarts, she couldn't just go off and lie in a bale of hay. It just wasn't practical, and there was a distinct lack of hay around Hogwarts for the most part. Those things usually didn't bother Laurel though. There was nearly always something else going on at school to distract her from that kind of negative thoughts.

She shifted slightly from her position sitting cross legged on the grass to lean forward slightly. Gently she plucked a stem from the ground and raised it to her nose. Rella fell backwards so that she was lying down, staring the empty skies. There wasn't a cloud insight which was a minor disappointment for Laurel. No cloud gazing today. The scent of the thin blade of grass was comforting to her. It reminded her of the daytime, days with plenty of sun and light, her kind of days. The sky above her was grey and the light was already drawing in. She unconsciously felt inside her pocket to find the comforting smoothness of one of the candles she always kept on her. It was obvious that night would not truly fall for some time yet but she was already beginning to feel uncomfortable. Shivers were travelling up her spine at the mere thought of the encroaching darkness.

Rella sat up again, bringing her knees right up against her cheek in a tight ball. She squeezed her eyes shut and attempted to slow her breathing. Her eyes flickered open eventually as something alarmingly obvious hit her. It wasn’t dark yet, it was just her imagination getting carried away with itself as normal. A faint smile tugged at her lips, a smile which made Laurel look incredibly weary. Even though she had now registered that it was still light she had to keep on reassuring herself inside her head. Rella shook her head at herself before letting the now crushed blade of grass fall to the ground.

Laurel's eyes went to look at the sky, apparently ignoring the person who was talking to her. She wasn't ignoring Jake though. After all, just because she wasn't looking directly and the person speaking to her and her face appeared completely blank didn't mean she wasn't taking in the words he said. Jake's words were short and brief; he obviously wasn't a chatterbox or anything close. Laurel was tempted to sigh but kept the sound within her. It would seem rather rude after all. The conversation looked like it wouldn't last long if her assumption about him was correct. She was a fairly quiet person too for the most part. Listening was her preferred art over speaking.

At a slight rustling sound, she tore her eyes away from the darkening skies and back to look down at the ground. His cat had returned, but this time with a prize between its claws. The cat obviously hadn't done all the work though. One of Jake's arrows was lodged deep in its body. "At least the arrow went to some use," she commented lightly, turning her head to look at him now. A small smile was dancing across her lips in amusement. There was nothing really funny about the situation but for now Laurel was enjoying herself for some peculiar reason. Well, for no reason at all in truth. She was just trying to savour the moment, even if there was nothing particularly special about it. Rella had come to the conclusion not too long ago now, that she spent far too much time worrying about the negative aspects of her life and that probably wasn’t the healthiest thing she could be doing.