He had felt a sense of warmness fill him for the first time that night when Vivian had broken a smile at his compliment. After all, before he'd arrived, Vivian looked agonised; the same way which Graydon had felt inside once he felt all the foreign eyes beaming at him. And yet now, just by the placement of his intentions and the uttering of his words, he had shifted agony into at least a vague sense of positivity.
Graydon had returned the smile which he had received. Though, the smile had broken down a little more by the time Vivian had questioned whether he had just moved to New Zealand. His mind rushed to his father; playing the scene he had left behind him just prior to disembarking for the party.
"Remember; nothing about the Scitorari. Nothing about how we live."
He felt a lump form in his throat, though, he did his damnedest to swallow it down in one effortful gulp.
"I-Uh... Yeah, I... Well, we....Me and my dad, not my mum though. No, she-..." he stopped, took a breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd never been the secretive type. At least, not when it was expected of him to actively avoid the truth. Not that Vivian had pried or anything. Hell, he hadn't even asked about the details of Graydon's life. Almost as if to make whatever rambling drivel he'd been about to deliver believable, he'd tried to add depth to his 'origin'. And that had just made him look daft and confused. "I'm just going to pretend I didn't sound like a complete idiot and retry that." he paused, letting out a chuckle.
Simple. Basic. Believable.
He repeated it to himself over and over before he spoke again.
"I just got here, honestly. Just a few nights ago. I transferred in from Durmstrang, so definitely haven't been hiding from you at Hogwarts. I uh, had it a little rough over there because..." he thought about the students. He thought about how they used to cuss at him, calling him out as a 'tainted wizard', a 'dark mark worshipper' and everything else under the sun that they might have conjured up in typical, cruel, teenage fashion. Though for the moment, he blinked it all away; swallowing any emotion that might have come with it. "... Because I was missing my family. They've lived out this way for years. I just happened to get the Tom Hanks treatment and got Castaway." as if his words had been magic, he conjured up a story that even he might have believed if he hadn't known any better.
He'd been thankful when the conversation had turned away from him and onto Vivian however after he'd noted the boys straying eyes. Though, apparently the gentleman across the ways had been none more than a friend to his new acquaintance; alas, not a friend he had arrived with. "If I'm keeping you from your Hogwarts buddies, man, honestly, just shove me along. I won't be offended" he promised, gesturing as if to cross his heart. "Your assumption on me being alone too, however, is on the money. I'm Graydon-No-Mates." he chuckled lightheartedly.
