Dinner For One

[Tabitha Theirin]

Tabitha was going over her latest potions paper as she slowly made her way through dinner. She remembered when she had first started at Hogwarts, and the rich food had made her feel ill for the first month. At home she had been used to light meals, usually vegetarian. Mostly out of necessity as her mother had never made much money as a waitress. That might soon change though. Over Christmas break Tabitha learned that her mother had returned to school while she had been away, and was studying to be a lab tech. She had been so proud of her mom. She just wished her so called best friends could have been there for it. The three muggle girls Tabitha had grown up with had decided that being friends with someone who was gone for ten months out of the year just wasn't worth putting the effort into anymore. Not now that they all had boyfriends who needed their time too.

Tabitha put down her paper, and sighed. She supposed she couldn't blame them. The loneliness was a little hard to bear though. She had never really tried making friends at Hogwarts. Her three best friends were just a letter away. Now she was paying the price. Sure she knew a few people from her house, but there wasn't anyone she felt comfortable just sitting down, and talking to. Tabitha picked up her fork, and poked at the lamb chop she had chosen for dinner. As she ate her looked down the table at a group of older students that were talking together. Someone made a joke, and they all laughed. Tabitha felt her throat tighten, and the food stick in her throat. She managed to choke it down, but decided she wasn't as hungry after all. The thought of going back to her dorm wasn't exactly pleasant so she sat there sipping at her pumpkin juice.

 

[Theseas Stratis]

Theseas sighed absent-minded and unconsciously jabbed with his fork the steak in his dish. He hadn't ate nothing from his full dish. Instead his grey eyes were pinned on the enchanted ceiling while his head was in the clouds. He really had no appetite that evening. He actually had no appetite for anything. An hour ago he was at the common room, struggling to read a line of his book without being lost in a stream of irrelevant thoughts. Most of them if not all of them, were concerning a specific girl. Her name, her face were constantly invading his mind. It was an unprecedented feeling and he had done anything to distract himself. He had believed that a nice meal was going to do the trick but to no avail. He stirred with the fork the roasted potatoes in the dish with no real intent to finally eat them. Few seconds later he got some kind of distraction but not a pleasant one.

Voices grew louder as a group of students arrived at gryffindor's table and sat down several seats away from him. Theseas spotted his twin, being the centre of the group, enjoying the attention he was receiving. He couldn't understand how some people could find likable his twin brother. He knew better than anyone that he was nothing like that. Just a poser who was desperate for other fools' attention. Theseas looked down at his dish with a grimace but a wave of laughter made him look back at his brother and his friends. Apparently, Perseas had shared some kind of joke that made the group burst into laughs. Theseas rolled his eyes and reached for the jug in front of him to fill his glass with some pumpkin juice. His fingers grabbed awkwardly the jug's handle, making it topple. Juice poured on the table showering everything in close proximity, including the dish of the girl sitting close and opposite to him, and maybe even her if she wasn't quick enough to stand up and avoid the juice dripping down the other side of the table. "Oh, crap!" He cursed and stood up as the juice dripped on his uniform and grabbed a few handkerchiefs to apply on the wet table. "I'm so sorry! Here, take." He apologized and offered to the girl a few handkerchiefs as well, blushing in embarrassment.

 

[Tabitha Theirin]

Tabitha was trying to focus on her potion paper. It needed to be a few inches longer before she turned it in, but she was having a hard time getting there. Maybe if she made her margins bigger, or got more descriptive with the results the potion should produce. It was funny when she first started at Hogwarts three years ago she had been so excited about all of her school work, but now it felt just like her muggle homework did. Of course magic was still amazing, but it felt more normal to her now.

Tabitha was so wrapped she didn't even notice the pumpkin juice inching towards her until an older boy was shoving napkins in her face. Tabitha jumped back, and took dropped the napkins he had shoved towards her. She quickly snatched up her paper, and shoved it under her armpit while helping him mop up the juice. Then she remembered they were wizards, pulled out her wand, and quickly cleaned up the mess. "It's okay. Nothing harmed." Tabitha said waving him off. She stuffed her paper in her bag on the floor. "I wasn't really eating anyways." she said gesturing to the half eaten food that still had a pit of juice on it.

 

[Theseas Stratis]

Theseas glanced at his twin's direction fearing that his clumsiness had been noticed but thankfully he seemed too occupied entertaining the bunch of gryffindors surrounding him. He followed the girl's lead and flourished his wand as well. He pointed at the table and shot a couple of cleaning charms to help her clean the mess he had caused. He looked at his food to find his steak drenched in pumpkin juice. Juice was standing in the girl's plate as well. "Me neither." he admitted and cast another charm to clean his gryffindor uniform as well. He shoved his wand back in his pocket and had a seat again. "I'm Theseas." He said and reached for the jug which was almost empty. "Don't worry, I won't mess up this time." He gibed and poured the remaining juice in his cup. Then the empty jug was refilled magically. "Better keep this away from me." the Gryffindor moved the full jug out of his reach with a nervous smile. He took a sip of his drink. "I could dry up your papers if you want." He offered kindly in case she hadn't learned yet the draught charm. She wasn't in his year and she definitely didn't look older than him.

 

[Tabitha Theirin]

Tabitha laughed softly when the boy poured himself some pumpkin juice, and pushed the refilled jug away. She sat back down on the newly dried bench, and introduced herself to the older student. "I'm Tabitha. Maybe if those guys down there would keep it down we wouldn't have to drown ourselves in pumpkin juice." she joked. She wondered how she had managed to go 3 years at school, and still not know everyone in her house. Maybe she was spending too much time on the quidditch pitch. Not that she played quidditch. She had always meant to try out for the team, but never worked up the nerve to. Instead she just flew around when it wasn't being taken up from practices. "Nah thats okay. It was rubbish anyways." she waved him off. The year was almost over anyways. It wasn't like her one assignment was going to make or break Gryffindors house points.