Tongue Twisted [Open/Max]

[Deleted]

The sixteen year old girl walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. She had once been an Ilvermorny student until its ransacking. Thanks to that, the students there had been offered a chance to come here which she accepted. It did kind of bite that she couldn't have her old wand though. As she passed a window, the sun glinted on her medium brown hair, making it shine brightly. A sigh escaped her as she looked around for available seats at the Gryffindor table. She supposed the nice part about all of this was that there were still familiar faces from those she had gone to school with in America.

Being an outsider was no picnic. Blue-green eyes carefully scanned the faces in the room. She was half-blood and that was all she knew. That and her father was not a niceperson. She often thought that she wanted to meet him in order to see what he was like but wasn't too keen on seeking him out. If it happened, it happened. If not, she didn't particularly care. At the thought of families and parents, a pang of homesickness swept over her as she thought about her mom. She and the hard working woman were extremely close and the girl missed her mom terribly. Sure she could always write but it wasn't the same as hugging her mom in the mornings and sharing breakfast with her.

A sigh escaped her as she found a relatively empty section at the Gryffindor table and began half-heartedly eating her food. She only did it for appearances sake. She missed her home and her old way of living. It would take a bit to bounce back but right now, she just needed to process everything that was happening to her. Students walked past her, entering and leaving. If she wanted to make it to her first class of the day she would need to hurry. She touched her face and noticed they were wet with tears. She hurried to swipe them away and hoped no one saw. The girl stared down at the eggs on her plate and stabbed them with her fork, imagining it was a pillow and she was punching it. She wished she could see her mother for just a moment just to hear her voice.

Electronics went haywire at the school so she had no way of hearing her mother's voice if even in a recording. With a sigh, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. After she finished eating, she made to move and ran into someone.

"I am SOOOOOOO sorry!" She yelped, panicking.

Great! She was already off to a wonderful start!

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

It was another morning at breakfast, and Max was glad to be back at Hogwarts from the winter holidays. It had been a long few weeks, especially after the dragon attack and the destruction of Azkaban. She had started corresponding with her half-brother Adrian's cousin, Dan, via owl post, writing about their respective abilities that seemed to defy even the magical norm and their theories of why they, of all people, had ended up with them.

She had received another letter when the morning's mail had arrived, and she had hoped that it would be a reply from Dan. It wasn't, although it was from her mother, which she couldn't say that she minded much, either. Luckily, it had been the usual check-in and not something more startling, though Max made herself a mental note to write her mother back as soon as she could.

With class only a short while away, however, her letter-writing would have to wait. She got up, gathered her belongings, and was just about to leave the Great Hall when she felt someone bump into her and only barely caught her balance.

A clearly alarmed apology followed. It was a girl whom Max recognized as one of the Ilvermorny students, a Gryffindor in her own year. Although Max wasn't terrible with names, she hadn't yet learned all of the transfer students'. She knew their faces well enough, though she wasn't sure if she had ever actually spoken to the girl who was apologizing to her, a pale brunette shorter than she.

"It's alright," Max assured her, straightening back up. There were so many people at Hogwarts that it was miraculous that there weren't more accidents in the common areas of the castle. Still, colliding with someone else probably wasn't the greatest start to anyone's morning, and Max wouldn't have been surprised if the girl was doubly startled by the prefect badge on her robes. She wasn't going to dock House points for something so trivial; sometimes things just… happened.

"Are you, erm… okay?" Max checked with the Gryffindor girl. If she was shaken up, she didn't have reason to be. There was no harm done.

@jazz

[Deleted]

"Y-Yeah! Sorry. Just... still trying to get used to all this." She waved a hand around her.

"Ilvermorny is so different. But the same at the same time."

The girl coughed and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. A faint blush crossed her cheeks. Not only had she bumped into someone, she had done so to a Hogwarts Prefect. Just great!

"I'm Aria, by the way. Aria Adagio. I was in the Horned Serpent house at Ilvermorny. Gryffindor is... strange. I do like the tower though."

Aria cleared her throat and pulled her bag to her. She was still trying to get used to everything and hoped she wasn't going to end up late to her classes. Blue-green eyes looked around as people continued their mornings. Laughing at jokes, reading letters from family members, and so much more.

A lone owl came flying in, late. It dropped a letter into Aria's hand. Her eyes widened. She recognized her mother's scrawl anywhere! She held the unopened letter close to her, fighting tears. She was again reminded of how far away from home she was. She couldn't wait to read her mother's letter! Mundane topics like the patients her mother worked with filled Aria's mind with things other than the crushing loneliness she felt at being so far from home.

Her mother had suggested she accept the offer. It was not only safer for the both of them but it would give Aria something to do instead of being bored at home. The non magical world wasn't where Aria belonged no matter how much she was loved by her mother. Here she could make potential friends or even deeper connections. Aria sighed softly as she tucked the letter away.

"Sorry." She said again. Why did she keep saying that? Did she think it would make everything better?

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

The girl answered her that she was fine and continued to apologize for what had happened. She said something about still having to get used to everything, too. While it was strange for Max occasionally, she had never been put in a similar position. Aside from when she had first started Hogwarts, the castle and its routines were familiar to her. It must have been strange for Adrian when he had been attending Ilvermorny, only for him to return to Hogwarts.

"I'm Aria, by the way. Aria Adagio. I was in the Horned Serpent house at Ilvermorny," she explained. Max, who now knew the Gryffindor's name, laughed slightly when Aria called her new House "strange". If you weren't used to them, Max supposed, some of the Gryffindor students would likely seem that way.

In through the window came one last owl that had apparently fallen behind schedule. It dropped the letter that it was carrying into Aria's hand, and Max watched in silence as the Gryffindor looked at the letter with astonishment and then held it to her chest. Instead of opening it, though, Aria put the letter away. "Sorry," she said, as though there was something wrong with what she had done.

"It's your letter," Max reminded her with a shrug of her shoulders and a hint of a smile. "You can open it, you know." There was nothing that said she couldn't; plus, there was time.

"Aria… Haven't we got Charms together?" she asked of her first class of the day. Professor Choi was new to Hogwarts, as well, but she wasn't unfair as a teacher. Even if Aria wasn't in Charms class with her, she could probably use her prefect status as an excuse to keep Aria company on the way to her first class. She seemed like she could use it.

@jazz

[Deleted]

Aria giggled. It was nice of the other to give her time to read the letter.

"It's alright. It gives me a reason to think of what my mom is telling me. Did she meet a nice guy? Is there a new nurse at where she works? So many possible things she could possibly be telling me. I like to hype myself up for when I actually read the letter. Knowing she responded to my last letter is enough. Besides. I want it to be fresh in my mind when I write back to her. It sucks she's a No-Maj though. I can't practice my skills around her. She says I got my magical ability from my father... whoever he is."

She muttered one last word. "Jerk."

She brightened. "I don't actually. I have Potions. Charms is my third lesson. The teachers and students seem to be rather understanding and patient for the most part."

Aria knew she should hurry along but the dungeons were so gloomy and dark! They made her sleepy! She slung her bag over her shoulder and had a bright look.

"The classes here are more or less the same as they were back at Ilvermorny. I'm glad our Native American magic class professor came to Hogwarts too. I don't know if it's allowed but if it is... you can always check it out and see if you'd like it. I'm always interested in learning things."

Aria blushed. "Listen to me. I'm rambling. You probably don't even want to hear a lot of what I say. I'm just excited to actually have a conversation with someone and take my mind off home for a little while."

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

Aria explained that it was actually alright that she wasn't reading the letter just yet; it gave her time to think about what her mother might have written. She provided some examples, such as if there was a new nurse where she worked or if she had met a nice guy. Aria also mentioned that her mother was a No-Maj—a Muggle—and that her father was apparently out of the picture.

Well, aside from her stepfather—who was the only father figure she had ever had in her life—Max could relate to that. Wherever Fenrir Greyback was, he had never been her dad. She probably had to thank him, though, for giving her her half-siblings on that side. It was strange for Max to think of her life before she had let them into it.

Aria didn't have Charms with her, unfortunately; she had Potions. That was unfortunate, considering that they wouldn't even be walking to class in the same direction. It wasn't as though Max hadn't taken her chances with the staircases before, and she weighed how quickly she could get from the dungeons back up to the third floor in time for Charms.

The classes were essentially the same as they were at Ilvermorny, though, which Max thought must have helped. Aria specifically mentioned the Native American Magic professor and mentioned that—although she wasn't sure if she could actually check it out—she could potentially check it out.

Max hadn't interacted with Professor Corntassel much, though she had seen the man around the castle. She did wonder what it was like for him to be at Hogwarts; most of the students from Ilvermorny seemed to call him by his first name—Clarence—rather than even "Professor" or "Mister", so that must have been strange. It had been just as strange for her to hear the Americans speaking to a teacher so casually.

Aria apologized again, this time for rambling on about school. It was no bother. Max had heard Kaylee Mahi'ai talking about Native American Magic occasionally and how much she enjoyed the subject, too. If nothing else, she could probably come up with an excuse to stop by the classroom at some point.

"I'm just excited to actually have a conversation with someone and take my mind off home for a little while."

"I don't mind," Max reassured her. "I'd be the same way if I had to go to Ilvermorny." Even though she had known a handful of Americans before so much of Ilvermorny had come to Hogwarts, she wouldn't have known what to do in Massachusetts. "I'll walk with you to Potions, if you'd like? And you can tell me more about the States? Or I can tell you more about Hogwarts?"

@jazz

[Deleted]

Aria walked towards the dungeons with the Slytherin Prefect.

"You sure? I don't want you in trouble."

That just went to show that Aria cared about others. She waved to some of the pictures on the walls who smiled in return. Aria was always interested how that first happened. These had to be paintings of real historical people right? What must it have been like for them to come to life for the first time? What all did they see? So many secrets they learned and advice they had.

Aria still couldn't get used to the moving staircases as she gripped the strap of her bag as they went down into the gloomy section of Hogwarts.

"Why is Potions so dark and gloomy? It gives me the chills."

Aria shivered as she said this, eyes trying to get used to the dimmer light. This must feel like home for the girl beside Aria since she knew that this was where the Slytherin House resided. Though why anyone would LIVE down here was beyond Aria.

"May I ask a personal question?" Aria asked, careful.

Some things were personal and not everyone liked talking about it. Aria never know how others felt at times so she hoped the other would understand what Aria was feeling at this very moment. Especially with her letter sitting in her bag and everything.

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

"You sure? I don't want you in trouble,” Aria checked with her, to which Max shook her head.

“It’s fine. There’re shortcuts. Don’t worry about it,” she told Aria, waving it off. Besides, she could probably slip in the back of Professor Choi’s lesson, unnoticed, if she had to. Even if Professor Choi happened to call her out for tardiness, she was helping an Ilvermorny student. Reasonably, that wasn’t a reason to get docked points.

As they went from the Great Hall downstairs, Aria looked as though the stairs were going to grab her and swallow her whole, as she asked why Potions was so dark and gloomy. Being in Slytherin, Max spent enough time in her own common room that the dungeons weren’t that bad. Sure, sometimes it got a little chilly, and it wasn’t as well-lit as the rest of the castle, but it was okay. It could have been worse, in Max’s view, though it probably seemed a little jarring for anyone unused to it.

Suddenly, Aria asked something that Max wasn’t expecting—if she could ask her a personal question, that was.

Max nodded hesitantly, wondering what the Gryffindor wanted to know but not seeing the harm in letting her ask something. It wasn’t as though her name hadn’t been relatively public since Elias’s death in the explosion of the Durmstrang Ship. Was it about him, she thought, or something else entirely? “Yeah, um… Sure, Aria,” she answered. Whatever it was, she could handle it, right?

@jazz

[Deleted]

Aria looked nervous as she looked to the Slytherin Prefect. There was no easy way to ask so she just said it.

"Do you get homesick?"

She had been before when she went to Ilvermorny but that hadn't been as far as Hogwarts was. Sure she loved the school so much and the classes and teachers were interesting but it still couldn't beat home in way of how routines were. Aria did miss her mom but she wanted to move on. She would always miss her mom while at school but it was not something to constantly dwell on either. There were friends to be made and lessons to be learned.

Aria hummed softly as she seemed to lose track of where they were walking. She shivered when the light around them started fading, signal that they were close to the dungeons.

"The dungeons never cease to freak me out. So dark and gloomy! One would think the dead hung out down here."

It hadn't been meant to be offensive, just depressing.

maxima ruqayyah greyback

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

"Do you get homesick?"

Of all the questions she could have expected Aria to ask her, that hadn't been among them. Having anticipated that it would be much more personal in nature than that, Max was, admittedly, relieved. All of the questions that she could have gotten about Fenrir or about Elias—and those were only two of the possibilities—didn't come. Instead, it was simply about homesickness.

"A bit, I guess?" Max nodded, offering Aria a small smile. It really depended on the time of year for her, though she really didn't mind being at Hogwarts anymore. "My mum and stepdad are usually working, though," she noted, "so there's loads of, 'Max, could you do this,' sort of stuff when I'm home." She understood that they couldn't trust the twins to take care of everything, so it wasn't too bad. Besides, they didn't order her around or anything like that; it was just watching her younger half-siblings to ensure that they didn't get into trouble, making dinner, or feeding their pets. It wasn't anything too strenuous, assuming that the twins weren't misbehaving.

The two of them continued walking in the direction of the dungeons, the availability of the warm light that glowed over most of the rest of the castle becoming scarce as they neared their destination.

"The dungeons never cease to freak me out. So dark and gloomy! One would think the dead hung out down here!" Aria echoed her comment from earlier about how creepy she found the dungeons, in response to which Max shook her head.

"It's a bit dark, but it's not terrible." Most of the time, it wasn't bad, unless Max happened to recall her emotional state in the autumn of over a year before. If there was a rock bottom, she had hit it then, attempting to poison herself only to be saved by her roommate's quick thinking and a bezoar. Enough had happened in the grand scheme of things since then that she doubted that any of the Ilvermorny transfer students would have known anything about it. She didn't speak openly about it, and the rumor mill seemed to have moved on to other subjects.

Still, Max understood the feeling of death that surrounded the dungeons on occasion. It still gave her an eerie feeling to go back to the Potions supply cupboard, if she was honest.

Even though it wasn't a matter of vision, since the sconces on the stone walls left some light, Max held out her wand in front of herself and Aria. "Lumos," she spoke, watching as her wand illuminated to keep them from walking in as dark of a corridor. "Is that any better?" she asked.

@jazz