Are You Sure?

[Ai Nightray]

Ai had rarely been out of her room, much less, the castle. It had indeed been a long time since the young girl has stepped foot on the grassy lands of the lawn and seen the wonderful view of the lake. After some encounters, the Hufflepuff didn't really like to set foot near the lake, as it had contained wonderful memories. Memories and experiences that she knew was far from happening once again. It had been quite a spot where she would often spend time with her twin brother and also a very close friend of theirs, but after a fight with her brother, she hadn't spoken to either of them, with the exception of their friend which she had spoken to about a month or two ago. But, since then, she never got the chance to talk to him again.

Ai was quite sure that she didn't have that many friends at school, or not many friends for that matter. She wanted a friend that she could be with and just tell her how she felt, which she had always hoped that would be her age. But according to some people, it would be impossible for her as she had some of a bad attitude. She just managed to give a slight smile at this thought as she approached the water and dipped her hand, feeling it's coolness. When she was contented, she backed away a few feet and took her seat, appreciating the view she was seeing. Although it was a very nice view, the young Hufflepuff still wished that she had someone beside her who she could share it with.

 

[Casey Everdeen]

A letter was received earlier this morning by Casey Everdeen. She had been innocently eating her breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup and fresh cow’s milk when that snowy owl of hers dropped a pale cream colored envelope with a purple seal. The letter had been from her younger brother Steven of course. There was no one else that she knew of who would send her a letter. Steven’s letter was written in perfect cursive writing. Casey smiled at what she saw. Steven’s handwriting was so messy, no one but himself could understand it. It must have been one of those helpful ladies that wrote the letter. When their father died last year, Casey felt like life was picking on her. She had nowhere else to go. Her life had started living on gloom when that day arrived. She always knew that her dad was going to do earlier than his time. He had a liver cancer for Pete’s sake and all the chemotherapy plus the medicines not to mention raising his two children without a mother was a tough work. Casey and Steven had been living in separate orphanage ever since. Their dad’s closest friend sent them in. Steven was yet still too young to enter Hogwarts for he was only seven years old. To keep in touch, they send each other letters from time to time, describing their current state. Knowing that Steven was safe and happy brought a thousand sunshine on Casey’s heart. There was no one in the world that she loved more than her dad but her brother. She finished her breakfast solemnly and headed out to the lakefront.

The lakefront was the perfect place to reflect. It was winter, yes and the lake was probably frozen but it contained that nature aroma that the Hogwarts students came to love. Upon approaching the lake, Casey prepared some parchment, a standard quill and a bottle of jet black ink. She sat at the corner of the lake. She rested a sheet of parchment on her thigh. She took out a standard quill, dipped it on the jet black ink and began to write.

 

[Ai Nightray]

The view of the lake just made Ai more lonelier as minutes passed, by now, she knew that she really had to learn to make friends. But, at least, she hoped she was making progress. Last time she was here alone, she had managed to approach another girl about her age, but she got shy and ran off. At least there was a spark of progress in her actions. Her eyes wandered throughout the lake, surveying the surroundings for a hint of maybe someone she knew. A housemate, a classmate, or even someone she just happened to bump into. She was desperate, but she found none. She was just about to give up, until she saw the girl that she had encountered a little over a year ago.

She stood up and brushed off dirt and grass from her clothing. As soon as there was no sign of any discomfort in her garments, she started to walk, approaching the girl who seemed to start writing. Curiosity got the best of her, and she was glad it did. She would at least have something to start a topic with and the girl might just talk to her just because of the young Hufflepuff's curiosity. As soon as she approached her, she stopped and said, "Excuse me. Would you mind if I sit with you?" she asked. It was all she could say for now. After all, she can't exactly barge in to other people's lives without respect or introduction at the very least.

 

[Casey Everdeen]

Casey started her letter with a warm greeting. Her brother was always a cheerful person. A loving smile appeared on her lips. How he missed her brother so. Her thoughts about his letter went next. She told him how happy she was to know that his brother liked the place. Casey then informed him on what was going on around her. The classes, the magic, her social life –the works. Her classes had been a little hard. It was difficult for her to focus knowing that her mother was nowhere to be found and her dad had already passed away – leaving her with brother that she had no idea how to keep alive. If it wasn’t for that friend of his father’s that sent them to an orphanage, they would’ve been dying by now. A tear swelled up right on the corner of Casey’s eye as she recalled unwillingly the abandonment her mother had done on what seemed like only a day ago. True, her mother’s actions had been done almost six years ago but right now, her wound felt fresh and bloody. Casey didn’t dare include her mother on her letter for her brother. She knew he would not understood and he would only ask more questions resulting more and more tears from Casey’s obliterated eyes. Casey wiped that ridiculous tear that flowed on her right cheek. She always hated it when she cried about her useless mother.

Casey went on, on describing her current stats. The Gryffindors were doing well. There was nothing really important to report. The magic was burning alive as usual. Her social life had been a little down because that all that happened. Casey rolled her eyes at her absurd idea of indicating her social life in this letter for her little brother. She doesn’t usually care about her social life. She was contented on her current friends and she doubted her brother even understood what social life means. Casey smiled again. Just thinking about her brother’s reaction towards her letter made her wonder in a happy way. Casey was imperceptibly startled when she heard a female voice behind her back. She guessed she was just so caught up on her letter that she became oblivious towards her surroundings. She turned around and set her eyes on the owner of that female voice and found her orbs looking straight at Ai Edogawa’s. She met her last year but they didn’t have the chance to spoke again after that. Casey gave her a simple smile. She patted the low and grassy ground. “Not at all”, she politely replied.

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai sure was glad that now, she had someone to talk to. Although, she knew that the girl in front of her wasn't automatically her friend, for all she knew, that was not how things were. At least, that's what she believed to be. Making friends wasn't exactly the forte of the young Hufflepuff, in fact, it was her weakness. Despite having wanted to have many friends or acquaintances and less enemies, she seemed to be doing wrong and having the opposite effect. As now, she almost had no friends and more enemies. Lots of enemies. She wasn't even sure of the number! But now, all she had to do was focus on making friends with the girl in front of her, making sure that she won't mess up in the process.

"Thanks," she said flashing a smile towards the girl as she took a seat putting only little distance between them. "I hope she doesn't mind," Ai thought to herself. The young Hufflepuff could almost feel her mind going berserk as she tried to think of what was best to say at a time like this. Lacking experience in the field isn't really doing good for her. "I'm Ai by the way," she said, "And you are?" she wasn't sure if it was disrespectful or anything. But hey? She had to give it a shot right?

 

[Casey Everdeen]

A cold breeze swept fast swiftly and danced along Casey’s bare skin. For some reasons, it reminded her of her father and how he enjoyed the winter. A flashback popped on her head and she found herself drifting from place to place until she was standing by her father, mentally. She recalled those tiring but enjoyable memories they had involving snow. How his father would always build a snowman. The snowman would usually look dreadful and it would earn funny insults from both Casey and Steven and would later on result to a disastrous snowball fight. Casey grinned and shook her head at her flashback. She missed those times so much. A wistful frown came across her pale face. She knew that those moments would never be revived again. She sighed at her thoughts.’ Why does it have to be very difficult to move on?’ she miserably asked herself. It seemed to her that Steven was the one that was staying strong for both of them when she should be the one carrying her job. She knew perfectly well that Steven was also feeling dreadful deep inside but he did not show it. He seemed very happy and very vibrant. Casey heaved a deep sigh and continued on writing her letter.

Casey smiled politely at the Hufflepuff. She heard numerous of rumors about her. Casey was not much of a gossip girl but she had accidentally eavesdropped anyway. She heard that the female Hufflepuff had had a recent fight with her brother. That’s what she only heard. She doesn’t trust rumors though. She believed that most of them were only created to destroy certain people’s reputations. Casey nod at the girl’s introduction. She seemed nice, not the way Casey’s dorm mates described her. “I’m Casey", she replied simply as her body slightly tingled caused by the cold breeze that continued to dance on her.

 

[Ai Nightray]

Being with a friend, rather an acquaintance, alone was quite hard for the young Hufflepuff. Ai always had her brother beside her when she attempts on making friends, and they were not very memorable experiences. Even when she hangs out with her friends back in Japan, she had her brother accompany her. In her experience, making friends with males were easier than females, at least in her point of view. One way or the other, she seemed to be getting into trouble whenever she tried to be friends with another girl, and it bothers her. A lot.

Fortunately, the girl in front of the Hufflepuff right now was very kind and approachable. And not to mention, familiar. Ai always found it easier to approach those who were familiar to her. Well, who could blame her? She was once scared of making friends. The young Hufflepuff couldn't help but smile as the girl had also told her her name. "It's nice to meet you Casey," she smiled with that little innocent smile of hers, that seemed like she had no troubles given to her. "I hope we can be friends," she said as she held out her hand to shake with the other girl's. If her enemies or even those she had a fight with saw her right now, she knew she would probably get weird faces, but she didn't care. Ai had the opportunity to make a friend on her own, and she would make sure that it would not go to waste.

 

[Casey Everdeen]

Socializing was an uncommon field for the Gryffindor. She was not really the world’s bubbliest person and she was not at all chatty. Her social life so far was respectively dim which wasn’t a bother since she rarely even cared about those things. She had quite a few friends back in Montreal which she unwillingly left due to her moving in an orphanage along with her younger brother. There were days when she would miss them and the urge to go back to Montreal tempts her but she knew wholeheartedly that she cannot go back because it would result into leaving her brother. They already had settled in Nanaimo and things were going bright for the both of them and so she let her wishes get blown by the wind.

Casey studied Ai Edogawa respectfully as she played with her hair. She was good looking in an Asian kind of way and had this hopeful gleam buried deep down her pupils. Casey had seen her often around the castle and in some classes. She was always accompanied by her twin brother. She hadn’t seen them around each other much but she guessed maybe one of them had been doing busily being the start of a new term and all. “Likewise” She replied simply as held out her hand for Ai Edogawa to shake. The thirteen-year-old twirled some strands that came upon her cheeks. It was a winter afternoon and she preferred to have her hair loose since she thought that it would somehow lessen the cold feeling from her bare neck. Casey was a bit taken-aback by the Hufflepuff’s words. They were unusual words coming from a girl that was rumored to be quite a contender.”Don’t worry. I’m sure we will” Casey smiled at her awkwardly as she continued to stare at her companions brown eyes. There was the same glint of hopefulness she saw earlier but it seemed like it was now mixed with a glint that she guessed was desperateness. Casey narrowed her eyes invisibly as she tried to guess what was bothering the girl. She seemed a bit desperate to gain a friend. It made her wonder why she does since she always had her brother on her side along with that Asian, Ravenclaw boy and those other familiar people Casey sometimes saw her with. “Is there something going on? You look really…desperate to have a friend” She awkwardly asked hoping that the Hufflepuff would take no offense.

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai may have been a candidate for being the most simpleton of all simpletons. At least, that's how she viewed herself. After a very painful injury, nerve-wrecking vacation and traumatizing meet up with some guy, the Hufflepuff was very glad to have met someone who was kind, gentle. And most of all, she didn't lose her temper. Which was a very, very, very good thing. She didn't need more enemies at the moment. Her mind was going haywire over liking a certain guy, and then she has to deal with both her brother and brotherly figure who wasn't on very good terms since before her second year at Hogwarts ended. Most of all, the matter with Liam, it well got on her nerves after that meeting in the Forbidden Forest. But nonetheless, Ai managed to push those thoughts to the back of her mind.

Now that she able to focus more on the girl in front and beside her, she couldn't help but notice Casey studying her. Not that Ai thought rude of it, she only thought that the girl was curious about her in so many ways. Of course, she had been mostly with her brother during her first year, then again there may be rumors about her going haywire over every person she meets. Not totally true and not totally false, of course. They shook hands and Ai was glad they did, but hearing that they had a large possibility of being friends, she would have jumped in glee, but in the freezing whether, it wasn't totally suggested. With a small smile, Ai had managed to listen to the girl's question, and she had remembered all the bad things that had kept on happening to her. "Hmm," she whispered in a small chuckle. "I guess you could say that. Well, as you may or may not know, I'm the crazy girl who just about goes haywire on about every people she meets. Not totally false. And seeing as I don't have many friends, well, I can't go to them as they have their own things to focus on," she said with a sad smile, thinking why she doesn't have the courage to look for her friends now.