Let It Burn (Serafina)

Okay come on, Matthew, focus, Matthew thought to himself, reaching into his bag and pulling out another piece of parchment. The middle courtyard was all but empty for the moment – most students were in class. Matthew was supposed to be in class, but he’d played sick, and was now sitting in his usual corner. Or, maybe he really was sick. He just couldn’t be sure anymore, with thoughts of Ari flooding his mind at every moment. Really, it wasn’t enough for her to annoy him while he was with her – now, she had to annoy him when he wasn’t with her, too. Ever since he’d asked her to the dance, he’d had this problem. And for some reason, simply pushing her out of his head wasn’t as easy as he wished it was. Shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts, Matthew  leaned back against the wall and lifted his wand to the parchment, tapping it in four or five places. Instantly, fire sprung to life with each tap, eating several small holes into the paper.

Working with fire was all about control and understanding. With no interruptions, the fire Matthew had lit would inevitably eat it’s way through the paper. Eventually, the tiny holes would merge, and so would the fire, and the flames would then work together to devour whatever was left, only subsiding when it ran out of food. It was ironic actually – fire was the only thing that nourished itself with no end goal, other than to cease existing when it was finished. With no interruptions, it would eat what it wanted and turn the rest to ash – time after time after time. Again and again. Predictable, but virtually unstoppable. But, that was where Matthew came in. The nature of fire was to breathe and devour. It needed air and sustenance, or it would die. And if Matthew wanted to keep it from destroying the parchment, he would have to fuel it with magic instead. Matthew could feed the flame himself, and it would burn only from what he gave to it, so long as he continued to provide. But if he forgot to fuel even one part of the fire manually, or ran out of energy to do it, the flames would move onto the next convenient source – the parchment.

Matthew had started out only setting one flame to a piece of paper, and had spent months learning how to really control it. Now, one flame was easy. But to control five at one time, and prevent each hole from spreading, was much more difficult, and required a great deal of concentration. Matthew focused intensely on the paper, on the flames – until they reminded them of Ari’s hair, and her face popped into his mind, and by the time he’d managed to push it out, he’d already lost control of two flames entirely. With a frustrated sigh, he stopped trying, holding the parchment by one corner and letting the fire eat away at it until it was gone. Then, he reached into his bag yet again to try once more, because god damn it, he was going to get a grip on this shit. But – wait, was he seriously out of parchment already? He’d gone through that much? Failed that many times?

Refusing to admit defeat, Matthew looked up just as one of the classrooms nearby let out. A bunch of people swarmed out, the last a dark-haired girl that he recognized, but had never taken the time to speak to. Ugh, what was her name? Sabrina? Probably. ”Hey, Sabrina!” he called from where he was sitting. ”Yeah, you, with the dark hair, whatever your name is – come here!” He really needed to work on his people skills. When the girl finally responded and approached him, Matthew continued. ”Do you have any extra parchment I can use? I ran out. I really need it.”

Sera had been in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which had recently turned into her favourite class. For someone that looked so girly, the girl was actually quite fierce with a wand. The girl loved physical things like running, swimming and hiking and at Durmstrang, there was a mountain chain she could run and hike on along with the beach. That was probably the thing she missed most about having left Norway for the second time. The girl was unable to be as active at Hogwarts as she was at Durmstrang and she found it started to take a toll on her. She didn't feel as energised and she was losing all of her muscle tone which gave her the idea to go for a run around the Black Lake after class ended.

The girl currently wore her regular school robes, however under it she wore the skirt instead of the pants, which showed off the perfect tan she'd achieved this past year. She had athletic clothing in her bag and now that class was out, she found her way out the door and into the Middle Courtyard. However, she paused when she heard someone calling Sabrina. She assumed maybe they were calling for someone else, but when they described her, she grimaced a bit and turned, looking to see if maybe anyone else around her had dark hair. "Serafina," the girl said walking over to where the boy was seated. She empahsized the last part of her name to make sure the boy knew that he had completely butchered it. Extra parchment? Why the fuck did he need that? "Maybe," she shrugged,"but why do you need it." The girl refused to give her shit out to just anyone for free, even if she didn't need it.

Looking at the boy, she tried to see if she recognised him but sadly she didn't. Well she knew he was one of the Slytherin Prefects, meaning he was older than her, but that was it. She wouldn't lie, he was pretty cute, but usually the cute ones were either gay or really weird. Finally, she decided to offer him a smile. Sera didn't know what to do or even say next as she had already introduced herself, or well corrected him on who he thought she was. Eventually, after a bit of awkward silence, she decided to study him. Her blue eyes studied his face, his features the colour of his eyes and the colour of his hair. She studied his clothes and his belongings and tried to figure out what exactly he had been doing before she'd arrived.

"Do you mind if I take a seat?" she said, her Norwegian accent coming out a bit stronger than she'd hoped for. She shuffled her feet a bit before finally taking a seat, not waiting for the boy - Prefect, whoever he was - to answer. If he was going to be using her parchment then he'd better know damned well that he had to deal with her company because she wanted to watch him do whatever, unless it was History of Magic homework then fuck that.

The girl took a little too long to turn around when Matthew called her, so either she was rude and was blatantly ignoring him, or he’d gotten her name wrong. The latter was probably more likely, because Matthew was shit at names. But eventually, she seemed to get the hint and turned around, backtracking. As she did, Matthew’s eyes landed on her face, just to be sure whether or not he knew her. And the answer was no and yes, just like he’d expected. At Hogwarts, you kind of knew everybody, but didn’t actually know them. He’d seen her before, being that she was only a year below him and some of their classes crossed, but aside from that he was sure he’d never spoken to her. Oh, her name was Serafina. ”Hey, at least I was close,” Matthew pointed out with a grin, shrugging.

Why did he need it? ”Why do you need to know why I need it?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. How had he really managed to pick the most difficult person to ask for parchment. ”Most people would just say yes and then move on with their lives.” But not Sabrina, apparently. He raised his eyes to the girl’s face again, vaguely aware that he found her somewhat pretty – something that he could actually accept because the thought didn’t come with all of the confusion that it did when it was Ari. Though, it did spur a bit of bitter acceptance in his stomach, because it was proof that he’d definitely changed, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Anyway, the girl wasn’t giving in, so Matthew finally replied. ”I’m gonna set it on fire,” he told her bluntly, meeting her gaze.

Okay, this was definitely not what he’d wanted to happen. She was asking to join him, and Matthew opened his mouth to say no, but then decided it was too rude and instead it came out, ”Why? It was actually unusual for Matthew to be so adverse to company – he was usually pretty friendly.But she didn’t wait for his approval anyway and was already lowering herself to the ground. And she still hadn’t given him any parchment. Waiting for her to get settled, Matthew lifted his wand, drawing a bored fiery squiggle in the air and letting it hang there for a minute before allowing it to die. ”Comfortable? Matthew asked sarcastically as she took her good old time, but then did his best to put his sour mood behind him. ”I’m Matthew, by the way,” he told her, giving her a smile, hoping that if he was nice and introduced himself she would cough over the parchment.

Serafina didn't know who exactly this guy was or why he thought he could talk to her or even attempt to talk to her when he didn't even know her name. He wasn't even a pretty boy, not like Corvin anyways. His eyes were nice and blue like hers and Corvin's but that was it, other than that he was plain, boring and probably a creep in a boy's body. What possessed Serafina to actually go over and sit by him and even talk to him? She didn't know but it was a stupid idea and stupid ideas like that would get her killed in the future. "Close but not close enough," the girl stated, trying to get a handle on who this boy was and why her parchment was necessary. However, the boys grin was enough to cause a slight smirk on her face as well.

"Because it's my parchment," the girl snapped. Did she really need to remind him that he should be honoured for her giving up some of her own damn parchment for him? Certainly he could at least answer a few simple questions. "Well I'm not exactly most people," the girl added, feeling a bit insulted by this boy. "I'm better than most people." A hell of a lot better if she say so herself. She could feel him looking at her and when she looked back up at him the feelings of him looking at her were correct and she blushed a little. She was sure why, after all this was a plain, random boy that she knew nothing about. He's going to what? "Why would you do something like that? Fire is dangerous," the girl stated, trying to get him to understand that his actions weren't safe. What if he set Hogwarts on fire? Then she'd have no clothes or bed or school unless she went home or even back to Norway. On better thought, maybe he should set Hogwarts on fire.

She saw his mouth open but her bottom had already planted itself onto the soft, plush grass. "Why not?" If the boy would dance around questions, then so would she. If he wanted to set her parchment on fire, then in Serafina's opinion she was entitled to front row seats. Usually, Serafina didn't treat people like she was treating Matthew so her attitude shocked her but he was different and for some reason, it entitled him to see the horrible side of her. She watched in a kind of wonderment as he drew something in the air with with wand and it made a fire squiggley that hung there before disappearing. "That's pretty cool, how'd you do that?" The girl had sort of wondered aloud which wasn't good because she didn't want fire boy to know that she was interested in how he created whatever that air fire thing was. "Of course I am," she replied as sarcastically as she could manage. Such a gentleman for asking, she thought sarcastically again. "Nice to meet you,Matthew," she returned his smile and reluctantly handing him one piece of parchment.

Just based on the way she reacted when he got her name wrong, Matthew could tell that this girl was going to be full of herself. But for some reason, it didn’t really bother him. Probably because he’d spent most of the year so far hanging out with Ari – and he was pretty sure nobody could think more highly of themselves than Ari did. After years of putting up with it, Matthew had finally learned that letting it offend you was pointless. Some people were just like that. Hell, Matthew was like that, depending on the day. But as she spoke, it became clear that while Ari would probably beat anyone in a competition of conceitedness, this girl’s bitchiness may take the cake. The way she said that she was better than most people – it was something that Ari would say, but Ari would say it as though she was simply helpfully informing you of a fact. This girl said it as though anyone who dared not to notice her was a complete idiot.

But still, Matthew didn’t find that it made him dislike her. Not necessarily – not yet. ”Join the club,” Matthew deadpanned in response. Because really, didn’t everyone think they were better than everyone else? Just, most people didn’t say it out loud like this girl did. ”Regardless, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal to just let me have a piece of parchment without interrogating me first.” Sabrina was obviously one of those people who had to make a big deal out of even the smallest things. And she was also one of those people who were afraid of fire, or at least who didn’t like it, and Matthew raised an eyebrow at her. ”I thought you just said you weren’t like most people,” he replied with a grin. ”Most people think fire is dangerous – but it isn’t, if you know what you’re doing. Which, luckily, I do.”

Matthew just shrugged when she answered his question with another question. ”You don’t like fire – you don’t know me. If you stay, I might ask you for more parchment, which you seem dreadfully attached to…” Matthew replied, a grin on his face. ”There are plenty of reasons why not.” But Matthew’s smirk faded into a more easygoing smile when Serafina commented on his fire-writing. ”Magic,” he responded, glancing over at her. He had no idea if she’d get it – to purebloods, magic was just reality. And he had no idea whether she was pureblood or halfblood like him, or muggleborn or anything. ”And it’s nice to meet you, too, Serafina,” he replied, dragging out her correct name for emphasis. ”If that’s what you like to be called. It’s a bit long. Do you use the whole thing?” Not that Matthew could talk, as he used his whole name when it could easily be shortened.

And finally the girl handed over his parchment, ”Thanks!” he said earnestly, grabbing it and instantly lifting his wand, this time only tapping it three times, instead of five or six. Taking a breath, he allowed the fire to burn small holes in the paper before stopping them, holding them in place. It was much easier with only three, and he would add another later when he was sure he could manage it. For now, he looked over at Serafina again. ”You’re a year below me, right? A fourth year?” he asked, glancing back down at the paper every few seconds. This would actually be good practice for him. Matthew should know how to control fire while concentrating partially on other things, like a simple conversation. And even speaking to this girl was less distracting than thinking about Ari. ”Where are you from?” he added, noting her accent, which was definitely not british like his.

Club? "Well then if there's a club, I'm definitely the Queen Leader of it." She smiled, flashing her teeth to the boy. They were white and perfectly straight because as a child, she hated her teeth and begged her father to take care of them. Since he was a wizard, he cast a spell on them and they were straight and forever white. Technically, if she didn't want to then she wouldn't even have to care for them, but not caring for your teeth was disgusting. So she cared for them. It was a fact that Serafina knew she was better than everyone else, but today was the first time she admitted it. The girl was absolutely gorgeous. A Hogwarts model, with her tanned skin, long hair, perfect teeth and blue eyes. She couldn't believe Matthew was still going on about the stupid parchment and why it was such a big deal to her, couldn't he just understand it was? "I'm not like most people," Serafina said, "but fire kills people." The girls voice cracked a bit and her heart rate sped up. That was when it happened.

She was back in that house, her eyes burning of smoke, her lungs feebly trying to intake fresh oxygen and failing. The scream, the smell of burning wood, the crying. Next thing she knew, her father had scooped her up and her mother had collapsed, the flames engulfed the woman with the hurt ankle and her father took her outside before running back in to try to save her mother. She remembered the feeling of the cool grass after the scorching heat that now grew, towering red in the black of the night. There was sirens and blackness, then she felt something, a mask on her face as she was lifted into an ambulance, her father on a stretcher beside her, her mother nowhere within sight. It was the night that changed her future, her destiny. It was the night she lost her mother and her whole world crashed in.

The flashback ended abruptly, throwing her back into reality where she was sitting next to Matthew, her breath coming heavy, fast as tears threatened to stream down her face. "Right," she nodded, not knowing where the conversation had been left off just yet. Finally, getting a grasp, she turned back to him, "Maybe that's all the better reason to stay." She was honestly a bit glad to see his smile as it helped to calm her down. For years after the fire she had dreams about it and constant flashbacks, and even now she had issues from the fire occasionally. There was a burn mark on her thigh from where a flame had licked her years before. "Very punny," the girl replied, not at all intrigued by his answer. "And thanks," she replied, smiling a bit at the emphasis he put on her name. "I mean, Matthew's pretty long, do you go by Matt?" She made a great point, "I occasionally go by Sera." Occasionally.

"Yeah, you're welcome," she said as he took the paper and to her, he seemed just a bit too excited. She watched him closely as he tapped the paper and flames appear. She however, didn't think too much of the flames as one flashback for today was more than enough. "Yeah, that's correct," she said, still focusing on the flames but not the fire. She pretended that it was magic fire, that it wouldn't consume and burn and kill like regular fire and for the most part, it worked. She was glad to see him paying attention to the fire because if he wouldn't pay attention then she'd have to and she'd just use a water charm and never give him parchment again. "Norway," she replied, realising that her accent was still thick. She had just grown so used to it and so used to being in the United Kingdom that she never really noticed her accent unless it was pointed out.

The queen leader of it. Was she proud to consider herself the queen leader of the conceited club? Though, in a way, Matthew was kind of intrigued by how honest she was. Most people thought they were better than everyone else, but most people wouldn't admit it. Saying something like that out loud could make people not like you, and most people who were full of themselves wanted everyone to like them. But right away, he got the feeling that Serafina didn't need anyone else's approval to think highly of herself. Which was actually kind of cool, though he was sure it could still get annoying eventually. Matthew glanced up at her when she pointed out that fire was a killer, and was about to tell her that it only was if people were stupid with it - but luckily, he caught the look in her face first, and fell silent. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere, and Matthew watched her expression morph a few times before she finally seemed to come back around. And when she did, her breath came in gasps.

What the hell had even just happened? Matthew's brow furrowed in confusion, but softened a bit at the frightened expression on the girl's face. "Hey, you okay?" he asked, his voice calm. "Fire can kill people," Matthew said slowly, his voice cautious because it was obvious that the girl in front of him had some issue with fire. And judging by her voice, and the look on her face, it hadn't been very good. "But that's all the more reason to know how to handle it." Which was a very true statement. Not only could Matthew set fires - he knew how to stop them. Maybe that would make her feel better about the parchment he was burning. "That's what I'm doing now," he told her, giving Serafina a reassuring smile. "I'm keeping it from spreading, see - here, watch." Returning his concentration completely to the parchment, Matthew let one of the flames burn a bit farther into the paper, and after a moment, he'd created a smiley face. Which made it a bit harder to keep it from spreading while talking, but it was still doable.

Matthew smiled more widely at her joke, but shook his head instantly when she asked about his name. "No, I go by Matthew - except with my family - but it isn't as long as Serafina, which obviously needs to be shortened. So Sera it is!" Matthew told her brightly. Ollie and the rest of his family actually called him Matty, but Matthew didn't really understand it because Matty took just as long to say as Matthew. She was from Norway. "I wouldn't have guessed," Matthew replied, shrugging. Because he wasn't very good at accents. "I know Irish and Scottish accents - that's about it. Yours is pretty cool, though!" Matthew told her. "You went to Durmstrang then. Do you like Hogwarts?" he asked her, his gaze flickering down to the parchment to be sure it wasn't burning to a crisp. It was interesting, that talking to Sera almost made it easier to focus - probably because Ari wasn't flashing through his head every second. "I know Hogwarts is way different. My brother Ollie went to Dursmstrang for half a term last year." Matthew was surprised to find that his voice wasn't imbued with bitterness - maybe he was finally over how Ollie had abandoned him.

For once, Serafina was actually terrified of what someone thought of her. It wasn't because she suddenly lost all pride in herself. It was because her and Matthew, for the most part, seemed to be getting along and she was pretty sure the anxiety she'd just experienced with her flashback ruined that. After all, he loved fire and she didn't. The worst part was that she flipped out which was quite embarrassing. Who in their right mind wanted to be friends with someone who flipped out every time they played with fire? It was reasonable, yes, but not for Matthew. Fire was his hobby and his friends couldn't hate his hobby, it would never work. Sera sat up straight, her arms resting across her lap as she focused on the wall across the yard. She would stay like that until he spoke; mainly because it kept her calm. Her mind ignored the fire and the flashback. Her breathing returned to normal and had Matthew not noticed, well now he had no reason to notice anything different. However, with her luck, he DID notice and he was trying to figure out how to get away from the beautiful freak.

He had noticed. The expression on his face had told her that he was confused and probably believed she WAS a freak. It didn't help Serafina's case that tears still threatened to spill from her eyes, but she refused. She was stronger than her emotions. She nodded at his question and slightly turned to look at him. She no longer saw the confusion that had previously been written on his face. In fact, now there seemed to be concern, his face soft, his voice calm. She nodded again. She was in no state to argue with him, especially not about the killing factors of fire. She knew it'd be impossible to tell him why she didn't like fire, not only because it hurt to talk about but because it was personal and she was a closed person. She nodded a third time, his voice seeming to soothe her more and she wondered if he wanted to grow up and be a hypnotizing person because if so, he'd be really good at it. For some reason, she actually trusted him. Serafina trusted the guy she'd JUST met today. As he told her to watch, she did exactly as he said, scooting a bit closer, but not invading his personal space. Sitting closer to Matthew made her feel better, but she didn't want to get TOO close to him and scare him away. When she saw the smiley face form, she gave him a small smile.

Sera smiled at his words. She didn't mind him calling her Sera. Some people she hated for them to shorten her name but Matthew was different for some reason. It wasn't that she liked him, because she didn't, it was that in her mind they'd become good friends. She'd finally have a second friend! It had taken her four years to become friends with Sinead and now she would have Matthew too! She couldn't tell if he was joking or if he was sincere about not having guessed Norway but form looking at him for a moment, she decided he was sincere. Norwegian people had different accents and if a person had never heard the accent before they'd be confused and unable to place it so she couldn't blame Matthew. It wasn't like Durmstrang transfers were popular at Hogwarts. She nodded, Hogwarts was incredibly different, not quite as pretty but pretty in it's own way. She'd gotten used to it even though it had taken quite a while. She wondered if his brother had told him about Durmstrang and really described it's beauty or not. "Hogwarts lacks a mountain chain," she finally spoke, her voice quieter than before; less confident.

Sera didn't seem so sure of herself now, despite her display when she'd first joined him. She'd definitely seemed like the completely self-centered, conceited type that was too proud to admit that she had any flaws - but Matthew was well aware that even that type of person had their insecurities. Ari was always the type to think she was the best - it had taken Matthew four years to find out that her parents were virtually nonexistent and five to get her to talk to him about it. Everybody had things that they didn't want others to know about, and if you knew somebody long enough, you'd find out what it was eventually. But with Sera, it seemed like Matthew had somehow managed to skip the knowing her for years part in a matter of moments by somehow striking the heart of her insecurity a few minutes after meeting her. Which in a way wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She was afraid of fire. Something bad had happened to her. In a way, it was a good thing he'd found out straight away, considering Matthew's fire obsession. He'd know to be careful around her in the future. And maybe it wasn't a coincidence, that fire was her downfall and his strength. Maybe he could help her.

Still, even Matthew - for all the tact that he lacked - knew better than to ask. Because Sera looked to be on the verge of tears, and he didn't want to make it worse. Her fear seemed to fade a bit though, after a few moments, and Matthew smiled at her when she scooted closer to him to look at the fire. "I'm just practicing," he informed her without being asked. "It helps me think," he added, looking back at the parchment. "And it's not as easy as it looks, by the way." Since she didn't say anything, Matthew just assumed that calling her Sera would be fine - not that it would matter if it wasn't. He was too lazy to use her whole name. He glanced over at her for a moment, because she'd hardly said anything, but Matthew wasn't too phased by it. He'd made friends with Arwen, after all, and she was the quietest person ever when he'd first met her. And he had a feeling that Sera wasn't normally quiet, since she hadn't been at first. So there was no need to push her.

When she did speak, Matthew laughed. "Thanks, I was really interested in the Norwegian landscape. That's exactly why I was asking," he responded sarcastically, smiling. "How come you transferred?" Matthew asked her curiously. Maybe she'd decided to be part of some stupid exchange program too, like his brother, and abandoned some innocent little sibling like Ollie had. But for some reason, Matthew doubted it. Figuring that it was probably best to ask a bunch of simple questions, he continued on. "So, you're Serafina, not Sabrina. You come from Norway, which has plenty of mountains. What else? Do you have siblings? Do you like Gryffindor?" Hopefully he was right and she was in Gryffindor, at least. "You know, we're technically enemies," he added. "Slytherin and Gryffindor aren't supposed to get along." Matthew had never cared much about what house people were in, though. Some people seemed to think Slytherin was bad, but Matthew was a prime example that you didn't have to be evil to be in Slytherin. Ambition wasn't always a bad thing.

If there was ever a time where Serafina did not feel herself, it was now. There was very little uncertainty in her life very little fear until fire was involved. Sera tried to pull herself back together, it took everything within her in order to return to her normal self. Slowly, the Gryffindor became herself again, reganing her certainty, her flawlessness. After all, she was the best, she was the Gryffindor goddess, the Queen of Hogwarts and if she were a fearful person she could not be the Queen could she? With that as a thought, she pushed her fears away and the moment of fear was gone, replaced by something new, something seemingly more dangerous, more curious. No one knew about the situation with her mother, no one. Sera refused to tell Matthew as well though he may have an idea that something happened causing her unusual reaction towards the substance that was forever hungry. It was a good thing though. If they were to have gotten to know each other and then he had brought the fire in to play then Serafina may have not stayed. However, she learned about his fire habits before knowing anything else about him and for some reason she actually liked that. She actually felt like maybe for once, fire wasn't a bad thing.

The moment of fear had passed almost as quickly as it had begun and for that, Serafina was thankful. Her slight smile had painted itself back across her face and Matthew's smile made it grow even larger. All of her fear had died down now as she stared intently at the flame and listened to him speak. He was practising. She wasn't sure how he'd gotten into this form of art or why but it sort of seemed cool now and it captivated her. She nodded in understanding. She understood what it meant for things to help one think. Eventually, she realised just how close she had been sitting to Matthew and blushing, she slid back a little. She, like everyone else, had her own thing that helped her think. Sera's thinking came while she hiked, she enjoyed hiking and observing nature. She did so quite often on the mountains at Durmstrang. There wasn't much concentration that came with hiking but it still helped her think mainly because she had to clear her head in order to fully appreciate the beauty of nature. She nodded once again, sure that it wasn't as easy as it looked. Though, Matthew did make it look easy especially since he was able to talk to her and control the fire at the same time.

"Yeah, no problem," she said sarcastically in response to him. She too, let out a laugh and she watched his laughter turn into a smile, a pretty good looking smile. "My father's job," Sera said, with a small shrug, "he was uhm relocated, I think that's the word." She was still a bit rusty on her English and she was sure he could tell by her accent anyways but she didn't care. She tried and besides, her accent was hot - like her. Though his accent was kind of hot too and it was probably because it wasn't Norwegian. Norwegian boys sounded like her and to her it was obviously normal sounding which was why Sera enjoyed Hogwarts to an extent. There were a multitude of accent and she could sit in their corridors and listen to five different accents in one given day. "Pretty much," she said smiling lightly as he talked and asked more questions. She wondered if he was actually curious or just making small talk after realising that she wouldn't be leaving him anytime soon. "I'm an only child and Gryffindor is alright I guess, I mean lions are cool." To her the Houses all seemed the same, there wasn't really anything special that she did at least. She shrugged, "Oh well, doesn't make a difference to me, unless of course you want to hate me."