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The young princess sat, bundled up in the tea shop in Hogsmead on a rather blustery fall sunday afternoon. She hadn’t come to the village with anyone, in fact, she had gotten up a bit later in the day and walked over herself. She enjoyed the quiet. She enjoyed the pure sounds of nature around her as she walked through the fallen leaves to the small, golden village. Lusie loved being in the mountains. She loved all the colors surrounding her. In London there were trees, and the castle of course had beautiful gardens and grounds, however, looking out at buildings nearby was very different than looking out at mountains and forests and water and nature. Lusie always loved Fall. Fall and Spring, actually. She loved the transition seasons for they brought the most color.

The tea shop was fairly busy, however, it was winding down. Lusie had found a little corner of the shop and hunkered down there with her pot of tea steeping on the table and the book that she was reading for her Italian tutoring open to her bookmark. Weekends were the only time she gave herself during the term to work on her personal studies, if she didn’t study a bit, she knew she’d slip, and her goal was to get decently fluent in Italian before her trip over the next summer holidays.

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Gilderoy hadn’t had as much time to do as he pleased as he was used to. With this being his last year at Hogwarts and accepting the role of prefect his time had been cut in half for the most part. Still he attempted to find what little time he could and Sunday he had seemed to squeeze in just enough to meet someone at Hogsmeade. One of the new Ilvermorny students, he hardly knew her but Gilderoy already assumed it would be interesting. Gilderoy stood outside Madame puddifoots for sometime but no one ever showed. Most people might assume they were stood up but this was Gilderoy, the reality was more likely that the poor girl had gotten cold feet. He couldn’t blame the poor thing, he was the infamous Gilderoy Lockhart. He’d have to find her sometime and reassure her that it was okay.

Finally giving up on waiting Gilderoy decided to go into the tea shop anyway. He had just spend almost an hour outside waiting, might as well get something to drink and eat. A quick glance over the store once inside saw that it was wasn’t as full as always. It seemed couples had started to leave, a break in the rush it would seem. What he did find was a vaguely familiar face tucked away in the corner of the tea shop. It would be rude not to say hello at least as Gilderoy walked over to her table. “Lusie was it? We met over summer break for a short moment.” Gilderoy explained more as a way to make sure he was getting the right person but he felt he wasn’t wrong here. “I normally have a good memory when it comes to pretty girls.”

@lusie

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Lusie hated being approached. Probably because she was always approached because people wanted to talk to the princess of England and not the 6th year Hufflepuff student. While the young man said that they had met over the summer, Lusie knew who he was. He was good friends with someone in her dorm, well, friends was a term for it, she supposed. Though, she’d be lying if she didn’t admit that everyone probably knew who he was, just like everyone probably knew who she was. However, everyone in the school kind of knew who everyone else was, it wasn’t that big of a school… now it was a bit bigger with the transfer students. But they weren’t sticking around forever. “Yes I remember you.” she admitted. They had met in the dress shop while she was buying jumpers and keeping away from her security guard who was a muggle and thus couldn’t follow her into the Alley.

He admitted that he normally remembered pretty girls and Lusie Windsor couldn’t help but snicker out loud. “It’s funny that you remembered me, then.” Lusie rolled her eyes. It wasn’t that she thought of herself as ugly, she knew she wasn’t unfortunate looking. But, she did think of herself as very plain, nothing to write home about. At least not most of the time. “No offense but you don’t exactly seem like the tea-shop-type?” she was a little curious as to why he was here, but she also wasn’t sure she wanted to get too distracted from her studying.

@lockhart

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“Yes I remember you.” The girl replied and Gilderoy just smiled. He knew he was a hard person to forget after all. How could Gilderoy be with how amazingly amazing he was. Still he would have let it slide if Lusie had as it was just a quick meeting. “That’s good, I always worry I might get someone confused with someone else and look a bit silly.” He joked for a moment, the possibly was there if he had been wrong but normally he was on the mark with meetings like this.

She remarked how she was surprised he remembered her probably playing off his comment about remembering pretty girls. “Now don’t talk like that, I said I had a good memory for pretty girls so you’d be right up there with people I remember.” Gilderoy explained with a smile as Lusie questioned why he was in the tea shop as it didn’t seem like a place he would normally be at. “No, you’re right there. I’m not normally here by myself. I was going to meet someone here but I guess nerves got the best of the poor thing.” That was the only reason Gilderoy could possibly imagine the girl hadn’t shown. His mind wouldn’t never allow the notion that he could be stood up. “What about you? Expecting company or just you and your book this evening?”

@lusie

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Lusie chose to ignore the first few comments about him being memeriable and about her being pretty. She wasn’t really interested in talking about things like that. She wasn’t often very interested in talking at all, but she also wasn’t rude and since he had talked to her, she wasn’t going to ignore him or blow him off. He admitted that he wasn’t there by himself and he had been waiting for someone, who, in his words, they got nervous and didn’t come to meet him. Lusie rolled her eyes and fought the urge to laugh a little. Making fun of people wasn’t like her, but this guy made it seem so easy. “It’s just me. I was just going to study for a while…” and then she felt the next question flow out of her mouth without thinking about it, “would you like to join me?” she offered, out of habit and politeness.

@lockhart

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Lusie explained that she wasn’t meeting anyone here in particular and just came here to study. It seemed like a pretty far walk just to come to the tea shop to study but who was he to question where one enjoyed to study. Gilderoy himself enjoyed the common room for such things but the Ravenclaw common room was made for studying. The Hufflepuff common room was more cozy than anything else from what he could remember. Lusie then offered that Gilderoy could join if he’d like too. “Well I’m never one to turn down a pretty girls invitation. I’ll only stay for a cup of tea or something and let you get back to your studying eventual.” Gilderoy explained as he took a seat a-crossed from the Hufflepuff. “I’m well aware of how distracting I can be.” Totally meaning it in the sense that he was more interesting than anything else someone could have going on. “What are you studying by the way if you don’t mind me asking?”

@lusie

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It was hard for Lusie to explain to most people that she was studying for fun. And while studying for fun, she liked to put herself in a more unconventional location. She studied for school in the library and the common room, she couldn’t do something fun there or her brain would stop associating those places with studying for school and start associating them with doing things that the Hufflepuff found oddly fun. Languages were oddly fun. Lusie also loved the place because she loved having a proper tea. She had tons of tea everyday at the castle, and often when to the kitchens for a cuppa before she went to bed, but it wasn’t the same as the tea she’d have at home in the castle, or, at the tea shop here. As the young man sat with her, Lusie moved her finger in a swirly motion above her mug and swirled her tea around to help the sugar from falling to the bottom, it was the only non-verbal spell she knew. “Yes, very distracting.” Lusie agreed, in a way that she had meant to sound like a joke, but she was a bit caught off guard that he continued to call her pretty and it came out rather breathlessly.

He asked what she was studying and she closed her book. “Italian.” she admitted with a small shrug. “The language, not the food, though that would be cool…” why was she talking so much?! “It’s Just for fun.” she added.

@lockhart

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Gilderoy smirked slightly as she agreed that he could be distracting. A normal person would possibly assume there was sarcasm in there somewhere or that she was just joking. Not Gilderoy, he felt that she was just agreeing with him about being more interesting than anything else. “It’s a blessing and a curse, I know. Yet I’m sure you get that too, it’s probably hard for people to stay focused with you around too.” He explained as he was used to being a distraction to others at times and he did tend to enjoy it actually. Not much better than getting random people’s attention just for being himself.

Lusie explained what she was studying, making a point to say that it was the Italian language and not the food. She also claimed that it was studying just for fun, which wasn’t something that was all that odd to him. It was what most Ravenclaws did in their spare time. “You could always do both. Eat Italian food while studying the language.” Gilderoy said with a laugh before continuing, “but I would have assumed it was the Language. If you wanted to study Italian food you could always go to a restaurant and see it first hand.” Gilderoy explained as he continued to make conversation with the Hufflepuff. “Still even if it’s just for fun, speaking Italian can always be useful. Even just studying is more than I’ve accomplished today.”

@lusie

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He went on to agree what he was a distraction and Lusie gave a breathy laugh, nearly in disbelieve that he actually thought of himself as a distraction. The she supposed, everyone, in some way, was a distraction. Or could be a distraction. People were the worst. “I haven’t noticed.” Lusie shrugged when he said that it was probably hard for people to stay focused around her too. She had definitely noticed. People would turn their heads to their friends and whispers about the princess, not that there was much to whisper about Lusie. But she would often hear them talking about her brother Will. Or, sometimes they’d be brave and actually asked her questions. She didn’t mind being asked questions or talking about it, what she hated was when people treated her different because she was a princess.

Of course he knew what she meant when she said what she was studying, but he went along with her ramblings anyway. She smiled and then explained, “Well I already know Spanish and Latin and Italian is very similar to the two, so it’s not so difficult. Still, I want to be able to speak fluently by the summer.” maybe that was a crazy goal, to speak a full language in a year, as she had started her studies over the summer Holiday, but had had worked with a tutor every day over the summer and studied everyday during the school term, even if just reciting words to herself as she walked from class to class or got ready in the morning. “How are you? How have you been since we met in the robe shop?” Lusie change the subject.

@lockhart

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Lusie claimed she hadn’t noticed that she could be a distraction and Gilderoy just smiled. He doubted that very highly, she was a pretty girl which was one thing but everyone who paid attention to rumors or what people just liked to share knew she was royalty. It must been an interesting life to be part of a royal family, sure his father was famous but not that famous to both the magical and wizarding world alike. Still he could dream to be that famous and well known for his adventures, somehow be famous among muggles too. That was a little way off for him though, he hadn’t done much to earn his own name yet and he needed to walk before he ran. “That’s the way it should be, it’s far more distracting if the pretty girl doesn’t pay attention back. Keep up the good work, us distracting people have to stick together.” Gilderoy teased for a moment with a laugh.

As she explained Gilderoy found it impressive Lusie already knew two other languages, working on a third now. All while hoping to be done by the end of the school year. “Knowing three languages going on four is pretty impressive. I only speak the one at the moment but I have humored the idea of learning another. It’d be a shame if in the future I ran into someone and they couldn’t speak to me.” Gilderoy explained as he had thought of it a number of times, just thinking of the fans that might not be able to speak to him one day was saddening to them he would imagine. Lusie asked how he was and how he had been since they last met. “I’ve been good. This year has been a bit stressful with N.E.W.T.s coming up and becoming a prefect but if anyone can handle it, I can.” Yet it had been a bit more of a work load than Gilderoy had been expecting at first. Still it only took just some getting used too. “How have you been? Besides becoming a master of languages.”

@lusie

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Lusie found herself a little uncomfortable with his joke, but not because of anything that he was saying, bust just because she was now wondering whether or not anyone ever did find themselves distracted by her. Lusie had always considered herself in the middle of the spectrum, she didn’t consider herself pretty, but she also didn’t consider herself ugly. She considered herself very plain. But she knew that others saw her differently than she saw herself, just as she saw other people differently. She just had a hard time admitting to herself that she was distracting looking. Maybe because she had more baggage than just her looks. Perhaps if people were distracted by her, they were distracted by her name or her title, or the fact that she was a member of possibly one of the most known families in the world. “I might notice it a little more now.” she admitted quietly, shifting in her seat a bit.

“Oh no, sorry, I actually know 5: English, Spanish, French, German, and, Latin. I just only said Spanish and latin then because Italian is a lot like the two of them.” she explained, feeling a little like she was boasting about her talents. But maybe a bit of boasting wasn’t too bad. “I’m quite good at languages, I was considering going into international public policy after Hogwarts, but I’m not sure how a wizarding education would fit within a university setting.” she said. She was sure she could get into any university that she wanted to, with her name and her status, but, she was curious about how the whole thing would work. She then began to wonder if she was talking too much and got a bit red in her cheeks as she listened to him explain how his year had been thus far. “Do you know what you want to do after graduation?” she asked after he was talking about his NEWTs .

@lockhart

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Gilderoy was considerably more impressed with Lusie as she claimed that she actually spoke five different languages at the moment and working on her sixth as they speak. “Do you do that often? Just bring up a language or two then correct the person with all five?” Gilderoy laughed as he was obviously just teasing for a moment as Lusie explained she was good with languages and how she wanted to go to university after Hogwarts. “Yeah I’m not quite sure how that would work either. I’m sure there is some plan for magical students to go to Muggle universities if they want to.” It seemed like an odd thing for someone from the magical world to want to go to a muggle school but his life revolved around magic and the world that belongs to it. He wouldn’t really know much else about a muggle school but Gilderoy could still attempt to be reassuring. “I’m sure you’ll figure out, it can’t be as hard as mastering five languages.”

Lusie asked what he wanted to do after graduation which was an interesting question to Gilderoy, if he was being honest with himself. “I’ve always wanted to be a writer like my father. Telling stories about my adventures and helping people. Problem is I don’t really have any stories at the moment. I’d need to actually go do something first.” He laughed as that seemed pretty obvious to anyone really but he wasn’t really sure how to go about it just yet. “I might start in law enforcement and see where that takes me.” Gilderoy finished with a shrug unsure at the moment and it was a question that had been on his mind as of late.

@lusie

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“Well I hadn’t realized that I was divulging all of my talents. Maybe I was trying to keep it a secret so one day I could just randomly speak German in front of you. I can imagine there’s nothing more impressive than a girl who can speak German.” she said with a laugh, almost teasing him in return. She was surprised how comfortable she was starting to feel with him sitting with her. She hadn’t felt uncomfortable in the robe shop in town over the summer, but they hadn’t really spoke much more than a few jokes about the robe he found and some very mild teasing on both of their parts. This felt a lot more intimate. They didn’t really have any distractions or goals at the moment. He mentioned that there were likely plans for this sort of thing and she nodded, she didn’t really see a need to get into it at the moment, she had talked about it enough, and she felt like she was talking too much.

He wanted to be a writer like his father. Lusie smiled, she thought that was a very sweet aspiration and a very sweet reason for wanting to be so. “There aren’t any stories that you could tell about your time in Hogwarts?” she asked. It had been a very eventful past few years with all of the kidnappings and attacks and bombings. Surely there was something to get him started. “Law enforcement could be cool - at least if you’re cut out for it. I hear it can be pretty rough.” of course she kept up on the news and heard about all the sorts of things that they were meant to do.

@lockhart

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Lusie explained how she was possibly keeping the other languages a secret to impress him at a later time and Gilderoy just smirked slightly. “Oh I’m already pretty impressed even without the surprise. Some people can hardly speak one language properly let along a second, third or even fifth language.” Gilderoy joked a little but it was impressive to him and he was sure to many others that she knew five different languages. “Yet it’s better that I know which languages you know so far, I’ll know who to come to if I’m ever looking for a tutor. Probably French first, not sure why but I’m sure knowing what people call the language of love useful.” Gilderoy explained only partly joking as if he did finally decide to learn another language he would start with French.

The Hufflepuff asked if there weren’t any stories from Hogwarts he could share. “I suppose, it has been an eventful couple of years but that’s not really the stories I want to tell.” No, he wanted his books to be more like his fathers if not better. “People hear enough about explosions and dying, I’d like people to read more about just the adventures. Of fighting against evil or dark creatures and saving the day.” Gilderoy did want to be famous but he wanted to be famous for being a hero and brightening someone’s day. “I’ll change my mind from tea to coffee right now if you think I’m not tough enough for it.” He laughed jokingly teasing as Lusie explained law enforcement could be rough work. It was partly what he was counting on.

@lusie

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The blonde man sitting with her insisted that he was already impressed even without the surprise that she had made up on the spot in order to seem a little less lame. Honestly, she rarely told anyone that she spoke so many languages, unless it came up in conversation, but it was rare that someone asked her, ‘how many languages do you speak?’ so she rarely had to talk about it. Talking about it felt like bragging. It was nearly impossible to say. ‘I speak 5 and a half languages’ without it sounding like a brag. And Lusie wasn’t someone who bragged. Ever. To be completely honest, she was only more recently becoming someone who spoke at all. “Well I could probably teach you something about the language, but I’m not entirely sure you have the patience necessary to learn the full language.” she said with a bit of a teasing demeanor, just given what she knew about him from hear-say.

He explained that he didn’t want to write about explosions and dying and Lusie felt like, while she could understand his expressions of the subject, maybe he should have worded it a bit more sensitively. He wanted to write about adventures and about saving the day. “So you want to be the one saving the day?” Lusie asked. A question which she felt would have an obvious answer, but she wanted to clarify. “I’m sure you know better than I whether or not you're tough enough for it.” she gave in with a shrug.

@lockhart