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[Senna Overby]

Senna had enjoyed being home for the break, especially since she hadn't been able to go home for the Christmas break. It had been nice to spend time with her parents again. To surf with her dad, accompany her mom to her job whenever she would let her (which wasn't often, but it was more frequent than she had expected). All in all her break had been good. She was also glad to be back at school though, see her friends again. Especially since she felt like she hadn't seen as much of some of them as she would've liked during their second year at school. So, with fresh hope and a heart filled with determination Senna had immediately send word to Emmanuel when she got back to school. She had tried to find him on the train, which had been hopeless, or talk to him during the start of the year feast. Which had been equally as hopeless. Sending him a message to catch up had felt like the way to go and now here she was hanging back on one of the sofas the students lounge offered as she waited for her friend. With nothing to do but wait she twirled her wand inbetween her fingers, wondering if it would take long for him to show up.

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel was pretty busy at the beginning of the semester. He had decided to improve his grades, which had him taking more books than before. He had been busy trying to get things organized, which had meant a little less time for his friends. But he had been really happy when Senna had reached out. He hadn't seen her a whole lot in the last semester, and he did miss spending time with her. He headed to the student lounge immediately, it took him a couple of minutes to get there and he spotted her immediately. ”Senna!” he greeted loudly as he made his way across to where she was. ”How are you?” he sat down in the spot next to her. ​

 

[Senna Overby]

Senna perked up when she heard someone call out her name from a little further down the room, grinning when she noticed Emmanuel heading her way. "Emmanuel!" She laughed in response, waiting a second before he reached her and sat down next to her. "Yay, you made it!" She exclaimed excitedly while clapping her hands together. "I'm good. Glad to be back, see you guys again." Senna responded. No matter how much she loved being home and to spend the break with her parents she had to admit it felt good being back at school. Seeing her friends again. Especially since going to Hogwarts had hurt her relationship with her muggle friends harder than she would've wished it to. But they were kids and out of sight sometimes could really mean out of mind. Plus, it was difficult being around them when she had so much to hide. To lie about. At least with her friends here at school she had nothing to worry about. "What about you? How're you doing? How was your break? Do anything interesting?"

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel was very happy that she seemed happy to see him though he didn't expect much less. He always felt very excited around her and Joshua. They both had a much higher energy that he did not often have himself, but it was nice to be able to be like that some times. "I'm also good, also glad to be back," He said. "My family went back to Nigeria to spend time with my grandparents and my cousins. That was pretty fun. They were a little critical of my grades, but they're a bit critical of anything," Emmanuel said it with a bright tone. He was going to try a little harder, but he wouldn't say it was because of what they'd said - though it was. "Did you anything interesting?" ​

 

[Senna Overby]

Senna sat up a bit straighter when Emmanuel responded to her question, putting her wand away for good measure so she wouldn't accidentally lose it. Which would be dumb. And totally something that could happen to her. She grinned when he mentioned he was glad to be back as well, wondering if her Muggle friends ever match that enthusiasm of seeing her again. Probably not. "That's cool." Sen nodded when Emmanuel talked about heading back to Nigeria. Everything he had told her about it so far had sounded intriguing and she started to feel like maybe she should ask if she could visit sometime. Perhaps when they were older and had learned to apparate. "Not much. I hung out with my parents mostly. Did some surfing with my dad, went with my mom on a small work trip. Tried to catch up with my friends but that didn't work out all too well." She replied, ending her final sentence with a shrug as if too brush it off.

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel nodded in agreement to it being cool. He listened as she said what she did. He noted at the end that her tone and demeanour didn't exactly make it seem like it had been a good thing. Emmanuel gave a little tentatively expression. "Why didn't it work out too well?" he asked. He hadn't had time to catch up with any old friends while away, but everyone that he knew was equally busy, so it hadn't really mattered. They were also very used to Emmanuel being away, given that he had moved before Hogwarts. "Are they just not good friends?" he assumed that to be true rather than anything else. ​

 

[Senna Overby]

Senna shrugged at Emmanuel's question. She wasn't entirely keen to keep talking about it but she also knew that if she didn't want him to ask questions she shouldn't have brought it up. So perhaps she did want to subconsciously tell someone about it. "I mean it's difficult." She replied with another shrug. "Y'know, I'm away all the time and then when I'm back I have to partially lie about where I've been and then there's so many great things that I can't even tell them about because they're all Muggles." She added, trying to make it make sense. Sen took a second to think about his next question. Were they bad friends? She didn't think so. They tried their best. Still invited her to things, wanted to hang out with her. "I don't think so." She replied, before slumping down into the sofa a little when she started to think about it a bit more. "Maybe I'm the bad friend." She added slightly defeated. She was the one who felt different whenever they hung out. Who couldn't tell them stuff. Who felt bad because she was lying to them and they didn't even know she was. "I don't know, this whole living in two worlds thing is apparently more difficult than I had imagined it would be." Sen concluded before focussing her attention on her friend again. "Do you hang out with your friends a lot when you're home? Do they know? Are they magical too?"

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel hadn't realized how difficult it might be for muggleborns coming to the school. He didn't think that they would need to lie all the time, and that this would then affect the relationship with them. He had to assume that a good enough friend would just accept it, but perhaps it was just difficult when you couldn't then say anything about it. ”You're definitely not a bad friend Senna,” he assured her, because she was a good friend, and present difficulties with her muggle friends were outwith her control, so that didn't mean she wasn't a good friend. ”Most of my friends were magical,” he replied with a little frown. ”So I've never had to tell them…my dad teaches muggles, though. But they aren't my friends, and honestly aren't too concerned with me. But, look, you are a good friend, a very good one, that's most important,”​

 

[Senna Overby]

Whilst Senna had expected to catch up with Emmanuel she hadn't thought she would actually be sharing her troubles with him. But apparently the issue bothered her more than she had initially thought. And if there was anyone she'd ever be willing to share her struggles with it would be Emmanuel. And Josh, obviously. But they were two very different people and she knew she could trust Emmanuel. That he would somehow talk some sense into her. Be rational about things. She nodded when he mentioned most of his friends being magical. Surely, growing up magical would've been nice. At least it meant not having to keep such a big secret. "Thanks. It's probably because of the company I keep around." She joked when he assured her she was a good friend. Part of her thought her Muggle friends still thought the same too. They didn't even know she was lying after all. Didn't know she was keeping things from them. They just thought she went to some fancy boarding school. "But enough about my struggles." Sen let out a chuckle in an attempt to change the subject to something a bit more fun. She knew talking about stuff was good but she wasn't a fan of talking about her feelings for too long. "Anything you're excited for this year? Any big plans?"

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel smiled at her, he hoped that she could work things out with those muggle friends. It couldn't be easy to come and go from people's lives, and have to be even harder to try to find where you fit when you came back. He was sure it wasn't impossible, but they were kids, and he knew everything felt so heightened. The Ravenclaw gave her a smile, ”I'm always here if you want to talk about your struggles,” he assured her, but he was glad. ”YES, obviously my history club is going to have its year, we're going to get so many members for it, and I'm already thinking about the first event we'll have for the year, History of Hogwarts!” He said. He wasn't sure what exactly they'd do, just that he thought it could be neat to focus on that. ”Can I persuade you to join?” he asked, knowing the answer was likely no, and it didn't bother him at all that she was not interesting, not everyone needed to be. 'What about you?” ​

 

[Senna Overby]

Senna nodded when Emmanuel mentioned he'd always be there if she wanted to talk. She knew he would be. It felt silly to keep worrying about her friends back at home now though. Especially since it would be a couple of months before she'd even see them again. She grinned when he seemed excited to answer her question about his plans for the upcoming year. "I would be happy to join if you need the members." Sen answered honestly. She knew nothing about history and honestly she was fairly certain it wouldn't interest her a lot, but she would gladly try to make an effort should Emmanuel need it. Even if she couldn't be sure she would succeed. Or like, not fall asleep. "I can't promise I'd make a very good member though." She added with an innocent shrug before taking a second to think about things when he turned the question back on her. "I have.. zero plans." She laughed eventually. "The quidditch team's pretty sorted so I don't think I'll be trying out for that again. And I don't think there's many other clubs I'd like to join. So yeah. I have all the time in the world to hang out with my friends." She finished with a grin.

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel smiled at her. ”Well, we don't need members but if you were interested in it, I'd be happy to have you join us,” the boy said with a little smile. He would love to have Senna be a part of it, but wasn't sure she would enjoy it. ”I don't expect everyone to be like amazing….just themselves…,” he said. He knew he was expecting himself to do amazing, for him to suddenly be the best in this year, but he didn't expect that of others. ”Could you make your own quidditch team?” he asked. He knew she was passionate about quidditch, so it was almost surprising that she wasn't interested in trying out again. He knew that any extra team probably wouldn't be able to play against other teams, but still. Emmanuel didn't know, he'd created his own club without asking permission. ”You could make your own club…like a having fun club or a friend to the history club club, or like an acting club,” ​

 

[Senna Overby]

Senna nodded when Emmanuel mentioned he wasn't actually in need of members. She'd happily sacrifice some of her time for him but if he wasn't in desperate need she was sure she could ways to spend that time that she would enjoy just a tiny bit more. "Hmm, well if you don't need the numbers I might take a rain check on that." She responded, offering him a sheepish smile. "But I'm sure it'll be the best year yet for the club!" She added excitedly. If anything, she could be the history club's biggest cheerleader. "Hmm, like just a quidditch team for funsies?" Sen asked, all of the possibilities immediately racing through her mind. "That's not even a bad idea. Not sure if it's allowed though." She added with a grin. "But y'know, the school could maybe need some new clubs. I'm totally going to think about this."

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel smiled at her easily. He didn’t want people to join the club just because he was doing the most to just recruit everyone that he could and would. But he wouldn’t force all of his friends to join. He laughed lightly. ”If you ever become more interested in history, you’ll know exactly where to find us,” the teen told her with a little smile. He was sure that he would see more people join them, they just had to. The teen gave a half shrug, nod. ”Why not, like you couldn’t compete, but it would allow you to keep up practice,” he countered, he knew that getting into a quidditch team was hard when there were only 9 possible slots and not a lot of churn in them. ”Could just ask your head of house? There’s never any harm in asking. Or you could just do it, ask forgiveness not permission,” he said. He knew that the school wouldn’t likely add more official clubs, but they could have more little ones, like his club. ​

 

[Senna Overby]

Senna grinned when Emmanuel pretty much extended her an always welcome invitation to the history club. She didn't think she'd ever take him up on but who knew? Maybe someday something would happen that would get her to become fully interested in history. "That's super smart. Did I ever tell you you're smart? I think you're like the smartest out of all of my friends." She nodded enthusiastically when he gave her some more ideas regarding the possibility of a quidditch club. In fairness, Sen especially likes the part about not asking for permission but just saying sorry in case it was something that wasn't allowed for some reason or another. "I'm totally going to figure out how to do this." She nodded confidently. "Just to circle back to the history club for a minute though: do you plan on, like, getting more people to notice it? Promote it? I reckon that's definitely not as easy as for clubs that're actually part of the club fair and what not?"

 

[Emmanuel Okoye]

Emmanuel laughed lightly at her compliment. ”There's a reason I'm in Ravenclaw,” he said with a slightly boastful tone. But he just thought it made sense, if he was interested in quidditch but unable to get on a team, but there were other ways of getting practice then he would do it. ”I have flyers this year for the history club, and I'll hand them out during the club fair, catch people as they go in,” he told her. ”It is more difficult to attract people to it, but I don't need it to be popular. Just for those coming to be ready to talk about history,” he knew there was a chance he could get formally approved and be part of the fair, end up part of the yearbook, but he didn't need to be. It was just something fun he did on the side because he loved history. ”Oh, and I invite almost everyone I talk to join,” ​

 

[Senna Overby]

Senna squinted jokingly when Emmanuel mentioned there was a reason he was in Ravenclaw after she had called him smart. "Wait, you're in Ravenclaw?" She asked in mock confusion. "And here I was thinking you were in Hufflepuff for the past two years." She added before jokingly nudging him. She nodded when he explained the things he did to draw some attention to his history club. It all sounded like it should be working and she was glad he seemed content with how his club was doing. "Well who knows, maybe next year I'll drag a table up next to yours and we can promote our clubs together."