Bridging a Gap

[Diana Hollis]

Diana was very pleased to be back at Hogwarts. While she didn't love everything about the castle, it has definitely grown on her over the past year. The girl still detested having to sleep in the dungeons, but there were many upsides to being at school as well. What she liked most was the ability to be on her own. No parents or sisters around to annoy her or tell her what to do. She was able to be her own boss and do what she wanted, which more often than not was either gossip or find something to gossip about. Diana was also very pleased to be in her second year now. No longer being the youngest made her feel a lot more confident, and she often had a condescending smirk on her face when she passed a group of firsties. They were all so in awe of the school, so silly in their excitement. Diana was certainly a lot more mature than they were.

At breakfast, she looked around for any of her friends while she made herself some toast. She would like to catch up with Sapphire or Domi, though she didn't spot either girl. Suddenly, someone sat down directly opposite of her, hindering her view from the rest of the great hall. Diana frowned, then faltered when she saw who it was. "Alice? This isn't your table," she scolded, giving her little sister an annoyed look. "Did you forget where you're supposed to go already?" she rolled her eyes as her sister's apparent stupidity.

 

[Alice Holland]

While Alice didn't mind that she was sorted in a different house than her sisters, she still intended to seek them out a lot. She hadn't been waiting to join them at school for so long to now ignore them completely, after all. She was confident in her ability to make friends in her own year, but was really curious about her sisters's houses and friends too. So as she headed into the Great Hall for breakfast, she scanned the hall for any of her sister's familiar faces. As far as she knew, there was no official rule against eating at a different table, so she planned to sit and eat with all of them in turn.

Spotting Diana at the Slytherin table, she decided to head over. It wasn't hard to miss that her sister was sitting alone, and she wondered if Diana's many stories about the friends she had made in her year had been exaggarated slightly. Her sister wasn't one to admit to anything negative, so that wouldn't really be a surprise. Alice had a bright smile on her face as she took a seat at the unfamiliar table. It seemed very similar to the Hufflepuff one, in truth. "Hi Diana." She said, ignoring her sister's less-than-friendly greeting. "I can find my way just fine, no need to be concerned. I just wanted to sit with you today." Without waiting for her sister to respond, she started grabbing some food. "How are things in Slytherin?"

 

[Anastasie Vernier]

Anastasie had quite enjoyed her holidays. It was good to be away from the people at Hogwarts, even with the presence of small toddlers always wanting attention, but when the holidays had ended, the Slytherin was in quite a bad mood, not wanting to go back to seeing everyone's face, especially after such a horrible reputation she had given herself the year before. She had just wanted to make friends which she had not achieved, and this slightly upset her. Patrick had made plenty of friends in his first year and Ana couldn't help but be jealous of him.

That morning Ana made her way to the Great Hall for some breakfast. The Great Hall was quite full by the time she had made her way up there, and so it was harder than she thought trying to find a seat at the Slytherin table. When she finally found one however, she sat down and noticed a Hufflepuff sitting beside her. Why did the Hufflepuff think it was acceptable to steal a seat at the Slytherin table? Better yet, they were a first year and obviously didn't have any manners. Ana gave her a dirty look as she poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice, hoping she would quickly go away after she finished talking to Anastasie's roommate that sat across from her.

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana sighed, glad to at least have someone to talk to even if it was Alice. "Slytherin is fine. Better than Hufflepuff I'm sure." She said shortly, giving her sister smirk. Then she shook her head. "Look, if you go sitting here all the time you won't make any friends." She said pointedly. "You make friends in your own house, that's the best way." Her gaze went to Anastasie who had just taken a seat on the other side of the table next to Alice. The two hadn't talked too much, but Diana was eager to look like she had many friends just like Rose and Phoebe. "Like Anastasie next to you. She's one of my roommates." Diana gave her a nice smile, hoping the girl wouldn't ruin the moment by being a jerk to her. It wasn't like they were friends, but maybe she had potential. "How were your holidays? Maybe we can sit together in a class this year." She said with a sweet smile, giving Alice a pointed glance to show how much she was intruding on this very important conversation."

 

[Alice Holland]

While Diana had often been a bit standoffish, this was colder than she usually was to Alice. Possibly, she didn't think it was very cool to be hanging out with her little sister. But Alice decided then and there that she didn't care. If she wanted to sit here, she could. There were no rules against it, so she would stay. Often enough, she gave up the fight with Diana just because it wasn't worth it, but in this case she was going to be stubborn. In a way, her sister's behavior reminded her of the boy she had met on the train. Elijah was a Slytherin too. Maybe grumpiness was a hidden Slytherin trait? The hat hadn't mentioned it, but it seemed to be a recurring thing with students in this house. "I'll be fine, I've already started to make some friends." She said smoothly. "But thanks for the tip." As Diana started speaking to the girl next to her, Alice turned to her with a bright smile. "Oh, hi! It's nice to meet a friend of Diana's. I'm her sister Alice. I like your name!"