Open From The Outside In

[Ngawaiata Martin]

((Open after Aine))

Ngawaiata didn't know how she was ever going to get used to the hustle and bustle of Hogwarts life. The fact that there was nowhere she could retreat to was starting to wear on her nerves. Everywhere was so public, even her bedroom was full of other girls. There wasn't anywhere Ngawaiata could go to be truly alone. She had spent a few days in Auntie Kahu's office, playing with Hinemoa and gratefully enjoying her aunt's silent company. Right now, Auntie Kahu was taking Hinemoa for a playdate, so Ngawaiata had no choice but to settle for quiet, the closest thing she could find to solitude. The courtyard was blessedly mostly empty today and she had picked a bench to just collapse on, lying silently on her back along the bench, listening to nearby birdsong and trying to imagine she was in her kuia's* garden, feeling the peace.

*Kuia - Grandmother

 

[Aine Thompson]

Hogwarts was just so busy. There were people everywhere, all the time. Even though Aine was one of four children she was pretty much always left alone back at home, which she appreciated. Kind of. It did get pretty lonely at times. A lot of the time. But there was a large enough age gap between her siblings that she couldn't exactly be close to them, as it was.

Aine was stubborn and difficult, though, and making friends didn't come naturally to her. At least she always had books to rely on. Right now, for instance, she was carting around her History of Magic textbook to read in a spot with fresh air where she wouldn't get sunburned. She was also carrying around a copy of The Secret Garden, which was what she actually intended to read, presumably inside the textbook so she could look like she was studying when really she wasn't. Even Aine could admit she related to spoiled, sullen Mary more than she cared to.

Only when she went to go sit on a bench she saw a girl she recognized from one of her classes in the spot she'd planned to sit at. "Oh," she started, "Sorry, didn't see you there." With that, she sat down on the next bench over, elaborately starting the pretence of reading her textbook while sliding her novel in between the pages. A pretence that was painfully obvious and unnecessary, but done nonetheless.

 

[Ngawaiata Martin]

Ngawaiata hadn't really thought about how much space she was taking up until she heard another person's voice, having been focused more on her own peace than other people in the space. But unfortunately, other people were a constant in this place, and she couldn't really do much about it. She opened her eyes to see a girl she recognised from her classes, walking away before Ngawaiata had had time to sit up and make room. She sat up anyway, frowning slightly as she watched the girl fit a book inside another book. "Why are you doing that?" She asked, figuring that if her peaceful bubble was broken she might as well try to be.... friendly.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Well, she supposed it had been kind of unsubtle. In her heart of hearts, Aine didn't really know what she was meant to achieve by this. She'd gone in with the pretence of studying, though at least she probably should've started actually reading the History of Magic textbook before giving up.

"Oh, you know. Just in case someone comes by and I'm supposed to look like I'm studying. You know. In my free time." She shrugged, frowning a little at the books in front of her. "...maybe it's not one of my brightest ideas."

 

[Ngawaiata Martin]

Ngawaiata couldn't help a small snort of laughter at the girl's explanation, quietly thinking it was just a little bit silly. She knew there was a decent amount of pressure at Hogwarts to be quite studious, but she didn't think it extended that far. "Pretty sure you won't get in trouble for reading in your free time." She commented, leaning forward a bit in her seat. Her instinct was to just... leave it, but that wasn't.... all that conducive to making friends, so she decided to push past what felt natural. "....What are you reading?"

 

[Aine Thompson]

"Oh, yeah, I totally knew that," Aine bluffed, before sighing, giving a somewhat defeated shrug. "Actually, I don't know what they expect here." For all she knew, they could expect studiousness 24/7 if you weren't playing Quidditch, or something - and Aine could barely fly.

Aine wasn't the best at talking to people, she knew that well. But she had to try, and considering this girl was making an effort, she supposed she had to try as well. She only hoped she wouldn't push her away with her awkward nature. "Um. It's The Secret Garden." She lifted it from its poorly hidden spot between her textbook pages, showing the well worn copy with its rather bent spine. "I've read it a few times. I just like to re-read books."

 

[Ngawaiata Martin]

Ngawaiata gave a small snort of laughter at the girl's response, shaking her head. "It's your free time, you can do whatever you like. If it helps you feel better my aunt has tons of fiction novels in her office, and she's the head of Ravenclaw." She couldn't help a small roll of her eyes. She liked having Auntie Kahu around at school a lot, but she had already started acting concerned about how many friends Ngawaiata was making. Which was silly, as far as she was concerned. She had as many friends as she needed right now, and she didn't need Auntie Kahu worrying or worse - telling her mum. She looked over at the book with interest, nodding. "I read that one too. It was fine, though I don't really like.... old books so much." Ngawaiata knew there were a lot of good reasons classic books were considered classics, but it was hard to enjoy them when there were so few people who looked like her, and even fewer of those who actually got good stories.

 

[Aine Thompson]

"I wish I'd been put in Ravenclaw," she mused, absently. The hoyses still didn't mean a whole lot to her, to be fair, but she had the distinct idea that Hufflepuff was for the leftovers. The ones who didn't really have anything interesting going for them. Either too nice (so, plainly not Aine) or just...too difficult to place.

She'd always been difficult, and even now she had the distinct impression she'd said something wrong. It was a fairly common occurance.

"It's about the newest book you can even get in my hometown," she blurted, awkwardly deflecting with humour. "Between there and here I forget it's not, like, 1950 or something."