When You Said Hi I Forgot My Dang Name (Cecelia)

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Being at Hogwarts was a breathtaking experience. Ramsey wanted to spend all of her free time exploring the grounds and the castles and talking to all of the students. She had only been there a few short hours now and she could already sense the house rivalries that the school clearly had and she wanted to speak to some of the students from each of the houses, to see how different they all were from one another. Hogwarts was much smaller than her own school so the idea wasn't an impossible one. Talking to new people excited Ramsey so as she set out to adventure around the castle, she had an extra skip in her step.

Ramsey found herself outside in the still fairly warm fall air; it was still September after all. She looked around and decided that she must be in the courtyard just outside the main doors. It was a fairly nice place to be. There were some students sitting under trees reading and she recognized some of her Beauxbatons friends and gave a little wave. She continued on her way happily until she bumped into a lone brunette. "Oh, excusez-moi," she blurted out apologetically. "I am zo zorry, I was not watching where I was going!"

@cecelia

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Cecelia had actually eaten breakfast that morning. She had promised herself when she put her name in the Goblet that she would do something, that she would rescue herself, and she wasn’t fond of the idea of passing out and having to go to the hospital wing again. In addition to eating, Cecelia was starting to spend some time outside again. She was looking too pale, and if she did get chosen as the Hogwarts Champion, she didn’t want to look like she was a ghost in front of all of those people. Walking outside was much less exciting when you were all on your own, though, so Cecelia ended up meandering around the grounds, looking for someone that she knew. There was a group of Beauxbatons students, a few of whom she recognized from her earlier years, but none of whom she would have called friends.

The Gryffindor girl wasn’t really paying attention because she was so focused on finding a familiar face on the grounds, so when someone bumped into her, Cecelia wasn’t all that surprised. She turned towards where she had been bumped, and her mind went blank. The girl was beautiful. It took Cece a solid three seconds to realize she was being apologized to, and she threw a careless smile back onto her face. “C’est pas une problème.” She said with a smile. "Bonjour." Cecelia couldn’t remember her own dang name, but that wasn’t a problem. Nothing a problem with the angel girl around.

@ramsey

Translations:
It's not a problem.
Hello.

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Ramsey cursed herself silently just as the person she bumped into was about to turn around. Leave it to her to make a fool of herself on the first official day she was at Hogwarts! She winced instinctively at the embarrassement she felt but when the person turned around, a girl, Ramsey felt herself floored by the beauty of the brunette that stood in front of her. A brunette. Ramsey always had had a thing for brunettes, but she had never seen any brunette as breathtaking as this one. And... was she speaking French? Did Ramsey just hit the jackpot or something?

"Oh!" Ramsey exclaimed in delight with a bright smile. "Tu parle français!?" She asked, doing a small little jump of excitement in place. Ramsey had not been expecting to see any Hogwarts student that knew how to speak French. Let alone so flawlessly. This girl seemed to even have the accent down. There was no way she was from Britain. "I can speak English, too, if you would prefer to speak in that?" Ramsey offered up with a polite smile.

@cecelia

translation:
"You speak French!?"

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Cecelia smiled at the other girl’s delighted smile when she spoke French. It was strange to see someone so happy over something so simple. She wished she could find happiness like that. She also wished that she could find her voice, because she felt like she was about to start stuttering incomprehensibly. Cece took a moment to collect her thoughts, beginning to speak in English as per the other girl’s lead. “Yes, I’m French.” The Gryffindor said proudly. “I actually used to attend Beauxbatons, but I don’t think I ever saw you there?” Cecelia was certain she hadn’t – she never would have forgotten such a pretty face. “I – uh – welcome to Hogwarts! I’m so sorry that I was in your way.” She hadn’t talked this much at once for a long time, since before Bay died, Cecelia realized. She needed to shut up so that she didn’t seem overeager, but it was too difficult to stop the flow of words from her mouth. “Have you entered in the Goblet of Fire yet?” God, that was such a weird question to ask. At least her mortification was enough that Cecelia finally managed to shut her nervous mouth.

@ramsey

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The brunette seemed to go along with the language change and went on to say that she was, indeed, French. Just as Ramsey suspected! She was far too good at that accent not to be. She then mentioned that she used to actually attend Beauxbatons and Ram's eyebrows rose in interest and surprise. "Really?" She exclaimed. "Wow. We must have always been in opposite ends of the school. When did you leave?" She asked, her head tilting slightly to the side in curiosity.

"Oh, don't worry about it at all!" Ramsey assured her, waving a hand to gesture it was no big deal. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking. This school is beautiful!" "And obviously not the only thing that's beautiful..." She thought to herself but smiled at the girl as she did so. The brunette asked if Ramsey had yet to add her name into the Goblet and Ramsey's smile widened as she nodded excitedly. "Just this morning!" She responded proudly. "Are you entering?" She asked.

@cecelia

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Cecelia nodded quickly when the other girl asked if she had really attended Beauxbatons. She couldn’t really believe it sometimes, either – so much had changed since then. “I left just after third year ended.” Cece replied when she was asked about her departure. “And then I came here, and learned English, and…yeah.” She finished lamely. “It’s kind of weird, seeing all these people who knew me when I was eleven years old coming back and seeing me all grown up, and me seeing them…” She laughed. “Some of these people I wouldn’t even recognize if they hadn’t told me who they were!” It was a real blast from the past, to say the least, but Cecelia was floored to find there were a few new faces, too, like this one.

“Yeah, I am.” Cece said when the conversation came back around to the Goblet. “It’s kind of a family thing. I think my sister would kill me if I didn’t.” Hopefully the Beauxbatons girl didn’t realize just how serious Cecelia was being when she said that. “I’m Cecelia Rousseau, by the way. It’s so nice to meet you.”

@ramsey

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Ramsey nodded along to the brunette's explanation for when she had left Beauxbatons. "Interesting," she said, wondering why one's family would uproot them from school in such a way. "If you don't mind my asking, why did you move schools?" She asked. Ramsey rarely had a filter, and would more often than not just say what was on her mind before really thinking it through. Such was the case with her asking the brunette that question. Who was Ramsey to know whether or not this girl wanted to talk about it? It just simply didn't occur to Ramsey sometimes that there were things others didn't feel comfortable talking about.

Ram raised an eyebrow when the girl, who introduced herself as 'Cecelia,' said it was a "family thing" to enter the Goblet of Fire. Cecelia. That was a pretty name. "I'm Ramsey Naidoo. It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Cecelia," she grinned at the brunette. "So, what do mean... 'it's a family thing?'" She asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. Ramsey found herself wanting to know everything she could about this Hogwarts student...

@cecelia

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Cecelia paused when the Beauxbatons girl asked her why she had moved schools. Honestly, Cecelia had never bothered to ask – even then she knew that her parents were immutable when it came to things like that, and questioning them would have just gotten her into trouble. She and her sisters were supposed to be the perfect children – seen and not heard. Cecelia had taken that to heart, especially when it came to the move. She just shrugged. “It was time for a change of pace, I guess.” She said casually. She’d have to ask Desi if she had known anything about it. Cecelia licked her lips. Now was not a good time to think about her elder sister.

The Gryffindor girl smiled when the Beauxbatons girl introduced herself. Ramsey. That was a cool name – Cece didn’t think she’d ever heard of anyone named Ramsey before. “My older sister has always been adamant that we prove our worth.” Cecelia said, less than pleased that the conversation had made its way back around to Desirae. “She would have been…angry, to say the least, if I hadn’t entered.” Cecelia bit her lip, trying to find a way to move the conversation away from her sadistic sister. “What about you? Any reason you got chosen as a part of the Beauxbatons delegation?” She knew that all of the foreign students had to put their names in the Goblet – that was why they were there – but maybe Ramsey had some sort of special skill that made her well suited to the Tournament.

@ramsey

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Ramsey raised an eyebrow at the girl's response in curiosity but she had no reason to not believe her so she shrugged. "Hm. Odd we never saw one another around. I would have remembered if I had met you..." she said, wiggling her index finger at the brunette.

Ramsey found herself extremely curious about this girl now. She wanted to ask why Cecelia's sister would be so angry if she didn't enter the tournament. But there was just something about her demeanor in the way she spoke about her sister that told Ramsey maybe that was for a different conversation a different day. And Ramsey hoped there would be many different days she would run into this brunette. "Wow..." she said instead, nodding slowly. "I've never had any siblings. I've always been... an only child." That seemed like a mutual thing to say. And it was a good segue into answering the question Cecelia asked her next. Ramsey grinned. "I guess I wanted to see if I could prove myself in a competition like that," she said. "I don't think there's a good chance of me winning, but I figured, 'why not?'" She shrugged again, smiling at Cecelia. "And... my dad is the Minister for Magic in Africa... so I guess some people kind of expected me to." She shrugged once more, not really minding that some people out there likely expected her to enter. Ramsey was a pretty open and happy individual, and didn't really mind when she was expected to do stuff. It made her feel good, if anything. Ramsey just liked to be thought of.

@cecelia

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Cecelia couldn't help but smile at the other girl's wiggling index finger. "I think I would have remembered, too." You didn't forget people like this girl, even if it had been quite a few years. Cecelia didn't often forget people, period - she had remembered Chantal, after all.

"I could never imagine being an only child." Cecelia said, slightly envious. How much easier would her life be if Desirae was out of the picture? At least she didn't have to mention Braelynn to Ramsey - that was a disaster waiting to happen, when they spoke in the future. Cecelia was determined that there would be another conversation, hopefully one with less melancholy of a subject matter, as far as Cecelia was concerned. Moving into talking about the Triwizard Tournament was easier, so the Gryffindor girl listened intently for something to spin into a conversation. Luckily for her, though, no spinning was necessary - the topic of conversation all but laid itself at her feet. "I don't think I have much of a chance, either. You should see how many people from Hogwarts are entering." Her house especially had a lot of eager volunteers. Gryffindors and their bravery. At least Beauxbatons had a smaller delegation and thus more of a chance, from a purely statistical lens. Of course, all of the students in the Beauxbatons delegation were theoretically talented enough to win the nomination, whereas Cecelia was sure some of the Hogwarts kids would never in their wildest dreams win. The Gryffindor girl sputtered a little, however, when Ramsey said that her father was the Minister of Magic in Africa. Wow. That was a lot of pressure, she'd imagine. "Wow." Cecelia said, repeating her internal monologue. "How'd you end up at Beauxbatons, not Uagadou?" Cecelia asked. If Ramsey's dad was the Minister in Africa, Cecelia would've imagined the other girl would go to the African school.

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Ramsey found herself shrugging casually. "It's not terrible, I suppose," she said, thinking back to how nice it was to just have she nad her parents sometimes. Never having to share their attention with anyone else or worrying about her things being broken by a sibling. But sometimes, moving back and forth between countries so often, she got a little lonely. "Though I know I wished more than once that I had a sibling. Particularly a sister. So I'm a little jealous. But just a little," she smiled at the brunette.

The topic of the Tournament was an exciting one. It got Ramsey all sorts of excited. "I have seen quite a few of your classmates enter! There aren't as many of us, so I like to think that makes my chances a little bit better but I'm not betting on it." Another nonchalent shrug. Ramsey was just happy to have entered. She'd always be able to say that, at least.

Though Ramsey had explained the reasoning behind her choosing Beauxbatons of Uagadou many, many times she never really tired of the story. Especially if she was talking to this particular girl. "Well," she said, taking in a breath. "My mother is a muggle archaeolgist. She met my father in South Africa. She's French, so after I was born she had to go back to her job in France." She could remember the day she got to decide which school she wanted to attend perfectly. "My father couldn't leave his job at the Ministry in Africa and my mother loved her job in France too much to leave that one. So, I got to choose which school I wanted to attend." She shrugged with a smile. "I like to think I made the right choice." And she certainly thought she did as she smiled at Cecelia.

@cecelia

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It wasn’t terrible to be an only child, but Cecelia could say with certainty that terrible was the best word to describe her older sister. She was terrible and she was selfish and she was...still Cecelia’s sister. And that was the worst part of it all – no matter how much you hated your family, you still couldn’t really hate them, because that was how family worked. “I’d say you could have my sister, but I’m not sure anyone else would want her.” Everyone would want Braelynn, of course, but not Desirae. Cecelia wasn’t sure how the terminology worked when someone died. Was Braelynn still her sister, or did she stop being Cecelia’s sister when she died? Was she still one half of a set of twins, or was she just a lonely one now? There were too many questions left unanswered, and Cecelia couldn’t talk to anyone about them. Maybe…maybe later, she would test the waters with Ramsey. She was an unbiased source, at the least.

“I saw a lot of students in my Artihmancy class calculating what day would optimize their chances for winning, and I thought that was a little crazy.” Cecelia sighed. She had considered doing that herself, but had thought the better of it. “It’s so much more than simple statistics that go into who gets to be champion, though.” If only it was that simple. One in however many people entered. It wasn’t, though – there were people who would make a poor champion that were eliminated, and people who would make a good champion that had extra chances. Cecelia just wished she knew which category she fell into.

Cecelia listened intently to the story that Ramsey told about the circumstances of her schooling, and Cecelia nodded. “One of our teachers went to Uagadou, which is kind of why I asked.” The Gryffindor didn’t take Ancient Runes, but it was pretty well known that the Ancient Runes professor was from Uagadou. “If you want my opinion, you made the right choice, since Uagadou doesn’t participate in the Triwizard Tournament, and then I wouldn’t have met you.” It was a clumsy attempt at flirting, and perhaps a little long-winded, but Cecelia didn’t care.

@ramsey

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Ramsey smiled warmly at the brunette, a small chuckle escaping her lips. "Sibling stuff, huh?" Ramsey wasn't really asking why Cecelia had said that about her sister; she didn't feel like it was her business. So she felt that comment was pretty mutual, while it also didn't necessarily beg for an answer.

The Beauxbatons student raised an eyebrow at the Hogwarts students' next piece of information. "Really?" She asked a little incredulously, finding such a thing to be ridiculous. "That's... silly. People really take that seriously, huh?" She asked, a little shocked that people went to such lengths, and even more suprised that they believed that a simple calculation could predict their chances of winning. Ramsey was no good at arithmancy, and the fact that some people were just blew her away.

Ramsey's eyes lit up at the news that a Hogwarts professor attended Uagaou. "Really?" She asked. She made a mental note to find that teacher and ask her about the school. For a second, Ramsey thought she had imagined what the brunette had said last. But a smile quickly appeared on her face as she looked at the brunette. "Well, then... it sounds like someone was really looking out for me, huh?" Ramsey didn't necessarlily believe in fate, but she was certain that if there had to be a reason she had chosen to attend Beauxbatons... she would really like for it to be this girl.

@cecelia

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“That’s one way to put it.” Cecelia said with a shrug when Ramsey stated that it was sibling stuff. She had made Desirae a promise, told her she’d love her forever, and that wasn’t something that normal siblings asked of each other. Normal siblings didn’t murder each other, or force each other to make Unbreakable Vows.

Cecelia chuckled when Ramsey raised an eyebrow. “Yes, really.” She responded, laughing a little bit louder. “It’s kind of weird, that people think that this Tournament is the most important thing that will happen to them.” Everyone seemed to be convinced that they were going to be the one selected as the champion. How a hundred people (give or take twenty) could all think that it was their destiny was kind of silly. Cecelia would like to win, sure, and she’d certainly like to have something to take her mind off of things, but this wasn’t the be-all, end-all of her life. She had dreams for the future, dreams of flying, even if she was still shackled to the ground.

The Gryffindor girl couldn’t remember smiling this much, ever, but she couldn’t stop the expression from blooming on her face when Ramsey said there was someone looking out for her. “Maybe.” Cecelia agreed. “Or maybe, you just forgot to look.” She said, referencing the accidental bump-in that had caused their conversation in the first place. “Uh, do you need to get back to your friends? Because I can go, if you need.”

@ramsey

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Ramsey flashed the brunette an understanding smile and also gave her one little shrug. "I get it," she said with a nod. "I mean, I don't have siblings to fully get it, but I kinda get it. If that makes sense," she chuckled a little at her rambling. Basically, she understood that Cecelia must not want to talk about it. And Ramsey didn't want to make her uncomfortable. She was way too cute to make upset, and if she made her upset then how would Ramsey ever get to see her again?

The Beauxbatons student gave a chuckling sort of scoff at the idea of people going to such lengths. "Wow... that's kind of... well, sad," she decided. Ramsey herself was only interested in entering so that she could say she did, to make her family proud (though she was sure her mother didn't want her entering.) But Ramsey would never bank on something like that, especially considering the odds. "Some people must not get out a lot." She joked, smiling again at Cecelia.

Ramsey could not stop the big, toothy grin that spread across her first. Ramsey smiled quite often, it was just who she was. But she was certain she had never smiled this hard; her face was beginning to hurt. When Cecelia offered to let her get back to her friends, Ramsey blinked a few times before realizing that perhaps she should head back to the carriage soon. She smiled at Cecelia. "I'd like to see you again, Cecelia," she said outright, more as a statement than a question. "Maybe we can hang out sometime?"

@cecelia
I figured that was perhaps a good place to begin wrapping this up so we can start a new one. You can end it with the next or we can go a few more. <3