Free Juice

[Alice Briar]

It was sad, being back at Hogwarts after the amazing holidays. Alice had enjoyed being at school for her first semester, but the ache fo homesickness was now cropping up a little as she had to remember their wonderful Christmas as a family. She knew she was luckier than most, with a lot of her family still around her, but it hurt her heart to think of her mum and dad in the house by themselves. Though she supposed mum wouldn't be at home much. She was so busy with her campaign, besides Christmas day itself Alice hadn't seen her much. The girl knew she shouln't be a baby about that. It was important, after all. But there was still a part of her that resented not having her mother there to coddle her whenever she wanted. But here at Hogwarts classes would distract her anyway.

Right now, the girl was hunched over a paper at the Hufflepuff house table. It was breakfast time, and Alice usually spent this time chatting with her friends or attempting to make new ones. But today, she had gotten it into her head that she would try to understand polticics a little more. The plan had only hatched the moment she saw an abandoned paper with an article about the election. With her mother in the running, Alice really wanted to be able to understand everything better. But a lot went over her head. Of course she wanted her mother to win, but she hardly understood everything the candidates discussed during the debates. It was puzzling. Alice was frowning in concentration as she tried to understand a few difficult words, and as she tried to comprehend them she reached over for her glass of pumpkin juice. Because she wasn't looking, she knocked over the glass. With a gasp, she looked up as she watched her juice spill on the table, some of it ending up on the plate of the person next to her. "Oh no! I'm sorry." Alice said quickly. With lack of anything better, she started dabbing at it with her sleeve. Then she pulled a face, that really hadn't been the best idea. She gave the girl an apologetic smile, then realized it was someone she knew from her dormitory. "Oh, hi Victoria," she added a little sheepishly.

 

[Victoria Matthias]

Victoria Matthias calmly ate her food, rather glad that her studies were doing somewhat well for her. Her golden eyes stared down as she ate her vegetables. Her father would get on her nerves if she managed to skip out on those. Last thing she wanted was to make her dad mad at her. But, a wave of pumpkin juice crashed over her plate, destroying the vegetables. She managed to pick her roll up before it became saturated with the juice. She glanced up to see who did it, after hearing the apology. At least, she was glad that it was not done out of meanness. That would have sent Victoria into tears. "Hi Alice, and it is okay. I'll tell my dad that my vegetables were...demolished. So, I'm not lying, and you saved me." Victoria knew that Alice was related somehow to the new minister candidate. She, herself, was related to Mikhail, but not that close. He was her great-uncle. "How are you? Um, we don't talk much, so let's change that! We have some in common already. My grandfather is running against your...mom?"

 

[Alice Briar]

Alice grimaced as she saw the juice had gotten onto the other girl's plate. At least she had saved her roll, which was something. Alice didn't know Victoria very well, so she wasn't sure what the girl's reaction would be. She seemed very nice and quiet, but Alice knew that didn't necessarily mean she didn't have a temper. But thankfully, Victoria seemed very forgiving, and Alice relaxed. She still had a damp sleeve from her failed attempt to get rid of the juice, but she would just have to run up to her dormitory to change quickly before classes. "You can tell him they got free swimming lessons." Alice said with a smile, feeling enough at ease to attempt a joke. It seemed like her accident had been a conversation starter, and she was glad Victoria seemed to want to talk to her. She nodded eagerly when the girl said she wanted to talk to her more. It did seem like a good idea to befriend the girls in her dormitory. Rose was very close to some of the girls in her own dorm, and one of Diana's best friends was also in Slytherin with her. She was surprised by Victoria's words, as she hadn't put together the girl's last name with that of one of the candidates. "Really? Your grandfather?" She asked, clearly surprised. She glanced back down at the paper she had been reading, her eyes skimming to the name of the man that had to be Victoria's grandfather. "I don't really know what everyone's opinions are yet, but I did try to remember the names. Now that you mention it one does have the same last name as you! And yes, Claudia my mum." She was clearly proud of that, but she also didn't want to start some sort of rivalry with a girl who was probably rooting for her grandfather. Instead, she decided to focus on the fact that this did give them something in common, like Victoria had said. "So you must kinda get how strange it is, right? To have random people just know your family members and talk about them?" Alice was slowly starting to get used to the fact that her mother was a topic of conversation of complete strangers. She gestured to the paper. "It's so weird to see my mum's name in here, even though it also makes me proud."

 

[Victoria Matthias]

Victoria giggled with the joke about the swimming lessons. That was a good one, and a better excuse. Though, hopefully, he won't question it. "Yeah, Metrophanes! Uncle Mikhail is stepping down with mister Kingsley, but honestly, between you and me, Grandpa Metro isn't exactly a nice man. My dad won't let me visit him more than a few minutes. He doesn't seem to like anything less than pure-blood, which is so stupid!" Victoria did not really care about blood status and neither did her dad. "But I do wish your mom luck! I hope she wins over my grandpa at least!" Victoria grinned, not really knowing who the other ones were. Just the ones that were involved within the school from what she remembered. Victoria nodded, "Well, Uncle Mikhail had that for ten years, since I was a tyke. Then my grandpa does it. And before uncle Mikhail, there was uncle Thomas Hensel. So, I think my family is kinda used to it. It'd be nice to not have anyone in power for a change. It gets boring. Luckily, things are too distant for me, so hopefully, the media don't hound you and your family too."

 

[Alice Briar]

Alice wondered if she should have known that the candidate with Victoria’s last name was also related to the current deputy minister, but she hadn’t. For the daughter of one of the candidates, she really didn’t know much about politics. Maybe that was something she should work on. Her eyes widened slightly when Victoria told her that her grandfather wasn’t nice and didn’t like anyone but purebloods. That was horrible! Alice didn’t know much about her mother’s stance on things, but she definitely knew she wouldn’t like that at all. She had worked with muggles during her career, and always tried to teach her daughters to respect and value them in their own way. “Oh no! That’s not good.” She said, a little shocked. At least Victoria didn’t seem to agree with that, which was nice. “But at least your dad sounds nice, and you are too!” Alice wondered if someone with those views about blood purity would have a lot of followers. She hoped not. Victoria talked more about her family, and it became clear she was connected to a lot of political people. “I had no idea all these people were connected, and that they’re your relatives.” Alice said, shaking her head slightly. The comment about media hounding her and her family made her go quiet for a moment, as she was honestly a little worried about that too. “Well, at Hogwarts they can’t come talk to us even if they wanted to. I’m sure it will be fine.” She said, conjuring a bright smile on her face. Alice was an optimist above all else, so she believed that things would turn out okay almost every time. “Did your family get bothered by them a lot?” She couldn’t help but ask.

 

[Victoria Matthias]

Victoria smiled when Alice complimented her. Her dad might have married someone of a pure line, but it didn't reflect on her or her father's views. The only thing bad about him was that he fainted at the very sight of blood. "My dad does hate blood though, but only when he sees it outside the body. He faints on sight!" Victoria giggled as she thought of it. She didn't know how many times she had to bandage of her own knees and anything that got skinned. Victoria nodded, "Our family is really big, but they were bigger a long time ago. I don't know what happened. But apparently, my grandfather and his brothers don't exactly get along well, so it isn't surprising that many knew that I'm related, or that they were." Victoria was not sure why they did not get along because she would kill for some siblings, but she was not going to get any apparently. Victoria smiled when she heard that Hogwarts kept them safe, for the most part. She shrugged her shoulders. "I was kept pretty much sheltered, so I'm not sure to be frank. Mikhail didn't have a family really to bother either."