As Sweet as Sugar

[Odette Madison]

The first few days at Hogwarts had been exhausting. It wasn't the classes that made it so tiring, but the hard work to form some sort of social network. Things were a lot harder when you couldn't just text your friends, it was one of the few things Odette missed about the No-maj world. When were wizards going to catch up, honestly?

She'd talked to quite a few girls in her year by now, and had at least made a good acquaintance with most, if not friendship. There was someone she still had to find, though. The girl she met on the train. Margo. That girl had been exactly what Odette had been looking for, and she didn't want the other girl to forget about her.

After trying a few different places, she was starting to get a bit grumpy. It wasn't like Margo was easy to miss, with her enormous bird's nest of a hairdo. This should not be as difficult as it was. Odette entered the student lounge, a place she hadn't yet been. She spotted Margo almost at once and breathed a sigh of relief. She opened her bag and took out a box of sweets she'd saved for just such an occasion. It looked nice and had a ribbon around it, which Odette had tied herself this morning. She walked over to Margo and smiled. "Hi Margo, I was looking everywhere for you!" She said, her voice filled with false cheer.

 

[Margo Ellis]

It was only upon her arrival at the castle that it had truly dawned upon Margo just how far behind her peers she was. Odette had been right - she was at a huge disadvantage. A fair portion of her enthusiasm had thenceforth waned, the prospect of lessons being suddenly more frightening than it was exciting, and consequently she had grown extremely familiar with the route between the library and the student lounge. On this occasion she was sitting in the latter, a book so heavy on her knee that the indent it had made in her flesh would remain for hours after she quit studying. How anybody was supposed to memorise all of this in a few days, Margo hadn't the faintest idea. She was going to fail everything - and worse still, she wouldn't even have any friends to comfort her when she did.

Having been too absorbed in her misery to notice Odette approaching, Margo startled at the sound of her voice. "Oh! Odette!" she said, closing her book and smiling. "For me? Why?" What had she done?

 

[Odette Madison]

The book Margo was reading looked heavy enough to be a possible murder weapon, and Odette wondered what the other girl could possibly be reading about already. Maybe she was one of those girls that was always too prepared for school and did all the reading and homework like they were supposed to. That could potentially be useful. She was in the house that was known for its intelligence, so maybe it would be nice to have her around for homework help.

Odette smiled and sat down next to her. "Actually, it was a gift from my mother." She lied, undoing the ribbon. "But I thought we could share it together. We haven't really had a chance to talk since the train ride, but we got along well and I wanted to get to know you more." She smiled. "It was a lot of fun in that compartment until it became too crowded." The only person that had joined them that Odette thought was interesting had been Rufus, and she wondered if she could hang out with him again. All the others were useless and annoying, so she would ignore them.

 

[Alex Sheffield]

Alex was as confused as ever. Hogwarts is bloody huge and he had no idea where his Charms classroom might be, and after a while of wandering he came across the student lounge. Inside, he saw Odette and Margo, surely other first years. Ater taking a deep breath, he decided to step inside and approach the two. With a half-smile on his face, and a tickle-ish voice he spoke in his yorkshire accent:
" I'm sorry to interupt girls, but I'm a tad lost. This lad that was leadin' me to my charms lesson abandoned me half-way for some bloke and now I'm lost. Wouldya happen to know where charms is?"

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo opened her mouth to say that her question had been in response to Odette's remark, and that she hadn't even noticed the box in her hands, let alone assumed it was for her, but she didn't get the chance. Fortunately, Odette didn't seem to think she was rude - in fact, she was so lovely that Margo completely forgot what she was going to say anyway. "Really?" she said, as if she couldn't quite believe that anybody could have fun in her presence, but desperately wanted to. "It was fun, wasn't it?" she added, though the end of her sentence was cut short by the start of another. Margo turned her eyes between Odette, the stranger, and back again. "I - I don't know... sorry. Oh, but I think I might have a map!" The Ravenclaw shifted her heavy book off her lap to dig around in her pocket.

 

[Alex Sheffield]

Alex chuckled and smiled politely, blushing slightly as well as he watched Margo dig through her pockets. He too was digging through his pockets. He wasn't really looking for anything, he just didn't know what to do with his hands. He'd switch gazes between Odette and Margo before finally speaking up

"Once again, I'm terribly sorry for bothering, I get lost a lot I guess."

Out of Character:

I wanted to wait for Odette, but it's been a day so I'll just continue

 

[Odette Madison]

Out of Character:

I don't mind that you replied first, but in the future it might be better to wait a little longer. One day isn't really that long, and many people on this site have busy lives outside RP so sometimes replies can take a while. For example I have exams next week and also more characters/threads to reply to, so it could take a few days or even longer.

Odette smiled at Margo and nodded. "It was fun, I really felt like you were the nicest person in that compartment. The one I wanted to befriend the most." She paused. "I suppose that Rufus boy was alright, but I really don't want to run into that girl... what's her name? The rude one that ignored us." She pulled a face.

As they were interrupted, Odette felt a spike of annoyance. Why did this happen very time she tried talking to Margo? It had been bad enough in the train, but there it had been somewhat understandable The worst part was that he was asking for directions Odette didn't know, so even if she wanted to help him, she couldn't. She didn't even take charms yet, something she was also a bit miffed about. "Perhaps it would be smarter to ask someone older that knows the castle, she started. "Or, I don't know, someone from a house that does take charms this semester. You're lucky Margo has a map, but otherwise you would have just wasted everyone's time." She said sharply, forgetting to put on her usual coating of niceness in her irritation. This boy just annoyed her. She wanted to get Margo to like her and it seemed like the universe was conspiring against her. If he ruined her chances of befriending this girl, she wouldn't forgive him.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo's heart swelled with happiness. Of all those people, it was her Odette wanted to get to know. The Ravenclaw bit her lip in thought, the train journey seeming a lifetime ago already. "Sophie?" she suggested. She wasn't particularly good at names. Or places, or languages, or anything at all, really, except maths. And Hogwarts didn't even offer it! At least they played chess.

Margo said to the lost boy, "Don't worry about it. I'm awful with directions." She handed him her map and sat back, wondering if she'd been too polite. He had interrupted their conversation. Margo personally wouldn't have mentioned it, but neither did she make any effort to stop Odette from doing it herself. She was tired of being interrupted all the time, as if she were completely invisible! And if she didn't have the guts to stand up for herself, then, well, maybe this girl could do it for her. Sure it was immoral, but her odds of making any other friends were reducing by the day, and she didn't want to be completely alone. Suddenly remembering the box in Odette's hands, Margo lit up and asked the boy, "Ooh, do you want one of these?"

 

[Alex Sheffield]

Alex'es smile faded from his face as Odette started speaking. Turning his head from Margo to Odette, he nodded once Odette finished. It was something about her voice that annoyed him. He was just asking a simple question that would take three minutes at most, he couldn't understand why that would be something that bothered another person.

"Right. Didn't think of it". He responded with the most monotone, uninterested voice possible.
He turned back to Margo, smiling once again. He took the map Margo offered him, and skimmed through it.

"So if I go one floor down, it should be..."

He sparked up when he saw the charms class room, memorizing the path he must take. As Margo asked him about the sweets, he simply shook his head, chuckling slightly with a wide smile on his face.

"Nah, appreciate it though. Thank you very, very much. You saved my head."

He handed her the map back, turning around towards the exit, but before leaving, he had one last remark to say to Odette:

"Sorry to have bothered you, Princess"

Out of Character:

Oh,right sorry. My bad, recently joined back, I tend to check this very often and I didn't consider other peoples routines.

 

[Odette Madison]

Out of Character:

No problem, I like your enthusiasm

Odette was pretty sure the name hadn't been Sophie, but it had been close. "Sophie seems awful." She told Margo, letting her think she got the name right. "Don't you agree? She was so rude."

The boy was annoyed at her too now, but she didn't care. He was the one butting in and asking stupid questions. He was of no importance to her, and she could tell he never would be. She wanted to shoot Margo an annoyed look for offering her candy to this unpleasant boy, but she contained herself. At least he'd had the sense to turn her offer down. "You bothered my friend more than me." She said icily. "Now hurry along to your important class, I'm sure you'll be late if you don't." She gave a dismissive hand gesture and smiled at him.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo nodded in agreement, though she hadn't thought Sophie had been that bad. Not the sort of girl she'd have picked for a friend, perhaps, but neither worth calling names. Still, if pretending to wholeheartedly agree with Odette was what kept her on her side, she was happy to go along with it.

Margo smiled at the nice boy and took her map. "That's OK," she told him, "I hope you find it!" But then suddenly he was calling Odette princess, and Odette was making all sorts of claims that Margo didn't agree with. She waited until the boy had gone before she brought it up. "He wasn't really bothering me," she said. Actually, asides from the fact he'd interrupted, he'd been quite nice, but she left that part out. "Oh, but thank you for sticking up for me!" That had, after all, been what Odette was doing. Backtracking to the conversation they'd been having before the interruption, Margo said, "I'm not really very interesting. My parents are muggles, so I had no idea I was a witch until a few weeks ago. That was crazy. I'm really good at chess, and really, really bad at writing. So what about you? Where do you come from?"

 

[Alex Sheffield]

On his way out, Alex turned back towards Odette while walking one more time, giving a quick monotone response

"You got it, sorry."

He wasn't really that annoyed at Odette. He's very hard to annoy, but from her tone, he kinda got that sort of impression. On the other hand, he really liked Margo, not everyone is that organised to have a map, at least he isn't. The fact that she was willing to help made her good enough of a person for him. He finally took off for his charms class.

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette regretted her annoyed outburst soon after she'd said it. The boy had been harmless enough and now Margo had seen a side of her she hoped wouldn't scare off the other girl. She sighed, hoping she hadn't just ruined everything. "Sorry, I know I was a bit rude. I just am getting a bit tired of being interrupted when trying to talk to you." She smiled shyly. "It was nice of you to help him like that. I wouldn't even have known what to say, I have no clue where the classroom is."

Thankfully, Margo kept talking and asking her questions, so she was pretty sure the other girl still wanted to be close to her. She even thanked her for sticking up for her, which made all worries disappear from Odette's mind. This girl would be her best friend for as long as Odette wanted it, she was sure of that. "Being good at chess is interesting, same with muggle parents. It must have been such a shock to discover you're a witch, but it seems like you adapted quite well." She smiled. "That's something to be proud of, isn't it? My parents are both magical, but this school is still quite a shock to the system. Though I'm sure we'll both find our place here in no time." She smiled reassuringly at Margo and offered her sweets again.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo blushed, watching Alex leave, and decided she would seek him out later to apologise. After all, he might have been friendless, too, and Margo didn't want to make anybody feel as lonely as she did. "That's OK - me too," she admitted, with a smile. "You can borrow my map, too, if you'd like! I won't really need it until Friday. That's Astronomy." The Ravenclaw offered her map to Odette.

Suddenly remembering she had already once told Odette she came from a Muggle family, Margo frowned. "I thought you said I would be at a disadvantage," she said, before promptly forgetting about it and brightening up at the offered sweets. She took one and popped it in her mouth. "Thanks! It's quite overwhelming, isn't it? Did you want to be in Slytherin?"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette smiled gratefully. "Thank you! I think we have Astronomy together, so we can find that class together if you'd like." She grinned, trying to seem excited about that class. "We could sit together!" She looked at the map carefully, trying to remember where her other classes were. Being late because you were lost would probably be understandable this early on, but it would also give the teacher a bad first impression.

Margo bringing up her own comment from in the train made the smile slip. "Well. Yes." She said, tossing her hair a bit. "Obviously, I meant you're adapting well for someone of your background. It was a compliment, you know." She took one piece of candy herself, popping it into her mouth. She smiled again, hoping to soften her earlier statement. "I had no real opinion on the houses, to be honest. I'm fine with it but I haven't really made friends in my own house yet." She sighed, looking back down at the map. "Some of them seem very cold. How's Ravenclaw so far?"

 

[Margo Ellis]

"Yes! Can we?" said Margo, the prospect of Astronomy becoming altogether brighter now that she knew Odette was going to be sitting next to her. She was quite looking forward to astronomy anyway, it being the only subject at this school of magic she stood any chance in, but there was nothing that could not be improved by doing it with a friend.

The Ravenclaw felt her cheeks heat up. Of course it had been a compliment! How had she been so silly as to doubt her? She smiled shyly, feeling it wiser to say nothing at all than to try to apologise for her misunderstanding. The subject moved swiftly onto houses, and Margo nodded sympathetically. "That's such a shame. I'm sure you'll make loads of friends soon," she said. "Ravenclaw's okay. My granddad said my uncle was in Ravenclaw, so I shouldn't be surprised if that's where I'm put. But he also said it's for really clever people, and I think he might have been right. The other girls here are way smarter than I am. I should have been in Hufflepuff." She sighed. Then she brightened up, adding, "But the tower is like, so cool. You can see for miles in every direction. Where's your common room?"

 

[Odette Madison]

"Of course we can!" Odette said happily. "I'd really like that, it would make the subject a lot more fun." At least, she hoped so. Astronomy seemed like it would be dreadfully boring. Maybe Margo could improve it somewhat.

It was a good sign that Margo didn't go on about what Odette had said on the train, it meant that the other girl would just accept most things Odette would say, at least for now. Margo was a good person to have around, she seemed like one of the best people Odette could have met. Though, she also desperately needed someone more on her own level. It wouldn't do to just hang around with people that were clearly awkward and insecure. "Thank you, but I've already met a few girls from different houses." She said with a smile. "So I'm sure it won't be a problem. I was sort of thinking of starting a study group or something, but I'm not sure... it would just be nice to have some girls together." She wasn't quite sure if this was a good idea yet, it would make things more convenient if she could talk to more people at once, but the opportunities for lies would be less too. It would be way too easy for others to compare stories she told them.

Margo started talking about how all girls in her house were smarter than she was, and Odette almost rolled her eyes. It was so easy to just say you were less good than others, but even if you were it was always better to pretend you weren't. It sounded a lot less pathetic. The talk of the common room only annoyed her more, it seemed like every house had a better one than she did in Slytherin. How unfair! "Oh, that sounds amazing." She said with false cheer. "Though, I'm not sure if we should just talk about our Common Rooms like that. Ours has a password and is hidden pretty well." She pretended to be worried, hoping the subject would be closed that way. She didn't want to admit her new bed was in a cold dungeon under the lake.

 

[Margo Ellis]

Margo nodded, reproaching herself for having suggested Odette might not have made any other friends. The Slytherin was beautiful in every sense of the word; she was the sort of girl who you'd expect to see fending off potential friends with a stick. Which made it all the stranger to Margo that she hadn't seen any such happening yet - that she seemed to be the only person in the school Odette had made an effort to talk to. Perhaps, Margo surmised, she was tired of the falsities that came with people who were only interested in her for her stunning looks, and for the sense of achievement and status attached to her friendship. Margo wasn't interested in any of these things; she wanted only a good companion. That must have been it.

"That's a good idea," she said. "I'd like to help. We could make it all girls - no boys allowed!" She giggled, loosening up a little as she lowered her already flimsy defences. Sensing nothing artificial in Odette's enthusiasm, she added, "It is." But then she grew concerned, wondering if perhaps she'd broken some sort of rule in divulging information of her common room's whereabouts. It wasn't a secret, was it? "Oh, yes. The password to mine is a riddle, and it keeps changing! I was stood outside for an hour last night before someone came and answered it for me. Oh, no - I hope I'm allowed to say that." Keen to change the subject, the Ravenclaw looked around for inspiration. "Are you looking forward to your classes? I'm really nervous - I've been studying all day, and none of it's going in!"

 

[Odette Madison]

Odette laughed gently at Margo's enthusiasm. "Yes, I think girls would be best. Though if a boy really wanted to join I suppose we could see what we do then." She hadn't met many boys yet, and they didn't interest her much. Boys and girls being friends was something she knew rarely happened, well unless the boy wanted more of you. What that 'more' was, she only had a vague concept of, but her mother had always warned her to be charming and nice to them but not let any boys too close. Not until she was older. She could almost hear her mothers voice in her head. You don't want to look like one of those girls, do you?" Odette knew mother had meant girls like that Sofia girl, that only went after boys. She knew girls like that would only end up alone and sad, while girls like Odette would have good and rich husbands.

She focused on the conversation again. "A riddle that keeps changing? That sounds like a pain. Ours is just a password, that seems a lot smarter. I suppose whoever made up your system thought people from your house maybe aren't to be trusted with something like a password to keep others out." She smiled as Margo changed the subject. "Oh, sure." She said airily. "They don't seem too impressive, honestly. I'm sure we'll both do fine without much effort, you probably worry too much." She smirked a bit. "Though, when I looked at some of the books we had to read, it didn't seem that difficult to me..." It wasn't entirely true, but she knew it would make Margo feel worse. She wanted the girl to think Odette was smarter, even if she wasn't sure if that was true. Margo was definitely a bit too trusting and a bit silly, but she had been sorted into the house that was known for its intelligence. Odette would be an idiot if she forgot that.