If You Aren’t Preparing, You are Preparing to Fail

[Aliyah Wright]

If You Aren?t Preparing, You are Preparing to Fail

<r><FONT font="Georgia"><s></s>As much as Aliyah was enjoying the free time before school officially started, the first day of classes was beginning to weight heavily on the first year's mind. While a lot of the other members of her year were off running around outside or socializing with their new housemates, the young Slytherin was on a mission to map out her entire schedule for the year. After her encounter with the moving staircases when she was trying to get to the first floor corridor, she didn't want to leave anything else to chance. How could she hope to get points for her house if she was always late and was no good in her classes. So today she planned to map out the quickest routes to her classes and create profiles for each of her professors.<br/>
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Aliyah chose to work in the student lounge. The Slytherin common room was far too to dark and cramped for an operation such as this. She loaded her bag with her first year course schedule, a faculty listing, and a map of the school and headed to the student lounge on the fourth floor. When she entered through the door, she was pleased to see that it was mostly empty except for a quiet Hufflepuff reading in a corner. The first year made a beeline to an empty space in front of the fireplace and began to set-up camp. After she cleared some stray armchairs out of the way, she laid her materials down in a semi-circle and sat in front of them on the floor.<br/>
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The task was proving more daunting than the young type-a Slytherin first thought it would be. On her map she had only marked routes for the dungeons, ground floor, and third floor to the hospital wing and trophy room. She had set out to find the owlery and lounge earlier so she knew where they were as well. The rest of the castle was blank except for the spaces between each floor where she wrote in bold letters, <FONT font="Comic Sans MS"><s></s><B><s></s><COLOR color="#C24641"><s></s>Beware of the moving staircases!<e></e></COLOR><e></e></B><e></e></FONT>. In regards to the faculty, she only had notes for one professor and the head mistress. For Head Mistress Davershire she wrote, <B><s></s><FONT font="Comic Sans MS"><s></s><COLOR color="#C24641"><s></s>Seems nice...almost too nice<e></e></COLOR><e></e></FONT><e></e></B>. The girl wondered what the leader of the school was like mad. The school couldn't possibly run on niceness alone. For her Head of House, Professor Kalif Styx, she wrote down the advice that Sage had given her during the house meeting. <FONT font="Comic Sans MS"><s></s><B><s></s><COLOR color="#C24641"><s></s>Don't Bother.<e></e></COLOR><e></e></B><e></e></FONT> She didn't know what to make of the man. He kind of reminded her of the sergeants on her father's military bases. They were stern and tough because their rank demanded it. It was their way of demanding respect. Perhaps that was what Professor Styx, or perhaps he really was as cold and unfeeling as he seemed to be. Aliyah let out a deep sigh. She had made a decent start, but there was still so much left discover. <e></e></FONT> <br/>
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[Sage Ottavi]

Sage had been very surprised when she had been made into a prefect. It had been completely unexpected. She had been sure that there were others in her year who were much more suited to the role, surely. But it had been her was was now a prefect over those people. This brought with it, unfortunately for Sage a responsibility that she had not really known she would have to deal with. She was not that interested in doing things that was really demanded of her in this role. Despite the fact that she would most likely do them with little to no questions asked. Sage however, was glad of these few days before the start of the classes where she was able to at least pretend that she did not have prefect status. She had her OWLs that year, so she was hoping to focus on them a little more, and really she wanted a new boy to mess around with, being a prefect on top of that was strange. Preston had been fun, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to continue their thing. He was nice, but she wanted more than just one person really. Sage with all these thoughts running through her head, had decided that she needed to go and relax somewhere. Her first thought had been to go to the prefects common room, a place she was allowed to go. Which would be nice and quiet, but maybe didn't have the same pool of people as for if she went else where. which was why in the end, Sage decided that she would go to the student lounge. It was definitely the right place for what she wanted.

After getting ready, in her usual clothes, which did help show off all of her assets. She put on a little bit of make up and then headed to the room. Once she arrived, she noticed that it was a mostly empty, more so than she would've thought. Which meant, that she noticed that first year slytherin girl straight away. Aliyah her name was. Sage had spoken to her briefly at the Slytherin meeting. Mostly just as the girl had been about to speak to Professor Styx and that was just a no go. Of course she hadn't been able to stop the other boy from hugging him, but she had no idea how she could've stopped that. There was no way she could've done anything, that boy had been determined and stupid. She would not be surprised if he did not last the year. Especially if he tried again. She decided that as she was a prefect, perhaps it was time that she maybe, just maybe try and help those new first years. So, with that, Sage wondered over to where the girl was sitting, "Do you mind?" She asked, before taking a seat beside Aliyah, she was then able to see what the girl was working on. "Are you making a map?" Sage asked the girl with a curious tone, "Do you want some help with it?" Sage offered, knowing that Hogwarts could be confusing and maybe this girl would actually turn her down. In any case, it was the nicer thing to do.
​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah glanced from her notes on the map, to her notes on the faculty listing, and finally to her first semester schedule. The first year Slytherin had managed to get all of the dullest sounding courses, with the exception of Defense of the Dark Arts, for her first semester classes. While Aliyah considered herself a bright girl, but working in academic environments never came naturally to her. All the good and decent grades she earned in the past she had to work really hard for. She tended to do well in classes that involved hands on activities like science and she figured that she could easily adapt to potions and any class that needed a wand. Sitting in a class that was all lectures and books would bore her brainless and then she would have to work doubly hard to learn the material after class. From the looks of her schedule she was going to have a lot long nights in the library would be ahead of her. Nothing to look forward to except quidditch and the halloween feast. "Ughhhh..." the girl groaned and covered her face with her hands. Suddenly the idea of getting through the year seemed overwhelming. Aliyah's parents always expected her to do well, but nothing could compare to amount of pressure that the eleven year old put on herself.

Aliyah peeked through her fingers and saw a shadowy figure approaching were she was seated. She looked up and smiled when she recognized the girl as the fifth year who had been nice enough to talk to her at the Slytherin house meeting. "No. Not all." the young Slytherin said scooting over to make room for Sage. "Kind of..." she responded to the older girl's inquiry about what she was up to. "I guess I am working on a map of how to survive my first year around here." she said with a small laugh. The first year was pretty sure that with all of her notes and papers everywhere she looked like a bit of a mess, but the girl believed in going above and beyond and writing everything down seemed like the only way to go. She slid her notes towards her housemate so she could have a better look. "You said you are a fifth year right? How do you manage it all? And with your O.W.Ls coming up!" The young girl looked wide eyed at the older Slytherin. Sage was nice enough to give her advice once, maybe Aliyah would get lucky and get some solid advice from her again.

 

[Sage Ottavi]

As it was turning out Sage was really preparing to have a busy term. She was looking forward to being done with the OWLs but up until very recently Sage had believed that all she would do with this year was the exams. She had never really imagined herself as prefect, and with that came a whole mound of responsibility that she had not really planned for. However the slytherin was more than happy to take it. She was looking forward, oddly to patrolling, as well as having this prefects common room which would be much quieter and apart from the rest. It was why Sage had decided upon receiving the position that she might at least try to be the kind prefect that helped people which everyone expected. Why she had attempted to stop that Aliyah girl from speaking to Styx. Sage was clever enough to know that if you want to live then you didn't bother the man unless it was something incredibly important. Something which was better to talk to him about over any others. Sage had entered the student lounge as she'd had not much to do and was looking for something fun, it had really just been her luck that she'd spotted that girl again and the nice part of Sage had told her to go to the girl, see how she was, see how she was doing. She was therefore glad when Aliyah did in fact allow her to sit. In Sage's experience slytherins were either polite and therefore seemingly nice or just complete b1tches, which was surprising generally for the eleven year olds. In any case despite this girl being in slytherin she seemed nice and friendly. Which was an advantage to Sage who didn't want to deal with pissy first year students who believed they were above all the rest.

Sage took a seat next to the girl and glanced at what she was doing, it sort of seemed like a map to her, which was why she asked as much. Maps would be quite useful for some first years who perhaps struggled with most things. Who were particular bad at directions or remembering where things were. Sage therefore looked at Aliyah with a slightly raised eyebrow when the told Sage that it was not in fact a map, well said Kind of. Sage just continued to watch her. Waiting for the explanation as to what it was. If it was not entirely a map. She wasn't sure what else the girl would need to know about the school. Then it became clear and Sage's expression softened slightly. It was still really odd reasoning, it was a strange excuse for a map of sorts but as Sage glanced back at it, she was beginning to see that. Sage found herself even smiling about it. A navigational tool, it was clear that this girl was not interested in stepping on anyone's toes during this year. Sage was actually really impressed at the fact she'd decided to do such a thing. It was actually fairly impressive. Sage then smiled and nodded at the girl's question. She was a fifth year currently doing her OWLs yes. "Well you just kind of do, really. The class are easy enough if you make sure to do the reading for them." Sage wasn't how to tell the girl that all you really did was push through and avoid stepping on everyone's toes."Living at the school helps with doing homework, you always have your friends pretty close by" Sage paused, she couldn't think of anything else to say. "That's all the advice I can give you off the top of my head. I found you survive by just doing it" Sage gave the girl a small shrug."Does that help you at least a little bit?"
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[Aliyah Wright]

"I guess." Aliyah mumbled and stared at the papers scattered in front of her. It wasn't that she was ungrateful for the fifth year's suggestions, it was just that she felt it was easier said then done. If this was just another muggle school and if she was only planning on being just another student aimlessly roaming the halls the older girl's advice would suit her just fine. But this wasn't just another school, this was Hogwarts and Aliyah intended on doing a lot more than just get by. Doing well here seemed like it would be a lot more complicated than just doing homework and staying out of people's way. Balancing classes with clubs and social life wasn't going to be a walk in a park and friends, she could laugh at the thought. Making and keeping friends wasn't exactly the first year's area of expertise.

Aliyah leaned forward and rested her elbow on her knee, drumming her fingers lightly on her cheek thinking to herself. Perhaps the eleven year old was explaining herself wrong. "You see..." she didn't know exactly what to say. "I am not so sure that all the classes will be so easy for me and then finding time to do all the homework..." She really hoped that Sage didn't think she was dumb or lazy. "And friends...I have met a couple of interesting people, but I am kind of low on those at the moment." She could feel her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment. In her eagerness to get help she had said too much and exposed weakness. The young Slytherin was certain she sounded pathetic and regretted telling the older girl anything the moment words came out of her mouth. She let out a small sigh and shot a quick glance at the older girl fully expecting to be judged.

 

[Sage Ottavi]

From Aliyah's words, she guessed that it hadn't really been the answer that the girl had been looking for. Which made Sage smile slightly, the girl was going to realise pretty quickly that everything was relatively simple in the school. Be careful who you hang around with, be wary of Slytherins who might judge based on blood. Stay away from Styx and any of the off-spring, because those were generally just like him. As a first year avoid creating too much trouble, you had too much time left in the school to be able to handle it right. For one thing, Sage knew that in a matter of days everyone in the school would know of that boy, Avie's, idiotic move. If they didn't, they would surely hear about in some capacity or another in a matter of time. She could tell Aliyah that that kind of thing was not something you were supposed to do. That was very seriously against the rules of everything. Don't touch, much less hug Professor Styx. It was wrong, and it was stupid. Sage however knew that this girl didn't need that kind of advice, she seemed perfectly capable and all that of knowing not to do those kind of things. Everything else that she would do would be things, Sage knew the younger girl would be fine. However, as Sage had been about to tell her as much she noticed that the girl was leaning forward slightly. Curious blue eyes glanced between the girl's elbows and her fingers, perhaps her reassurances would have to wait.

Sage carefully listened to what Aliyah was saying, nodding along with what she said. Sage wasn't sure how best to put it to the girl, that really right now, classes were important but it wasn't the most pivotal thing to do well in them. Sage just smiled at her, noticing the redness in the younger of the two's cheeks. She laughed slightly at this, and it wasn't necessary in a malicious way. Just that it was stupid. Sage place a hand lightly on the girl's back. Smiling at her, "You've not been here long enough to have made any real friends yet. It'll come." she told the girl simply, "You'll meet people in the clubs and the classes. Join the Heta Omega, and you'll meet plenty of girls. Plenty of people whom you can become friends with" Sage liked the Heta Omega, she'd joined a few years back, and it was a good place to just be able to relax. Away from boys and the wider school. "As for classes, there is really nothing complicated about first year, I can assure you that you will enjoy the classes, and have plenty time to do the homework." Sage wasn't sure what else to say to Aliyah. She didn't know what else could be said to her about it. That was all she could suggest about it. "If you struggle with any of the homework, then just come and find me, and I'll help you with it. If you don't understand something, then let me know I can try to explain it. I'm a slytherin prefect, my job is to help the younger students" She told Aliyah, hoping that this might've helped Aliyah's troubles.
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[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah's heart stopped for a moment when she heard Sage's laugh. She closed her eyes and couldn't bear to look in the older girl's direction. Oh my gah. I am an idiot. All she wanted was to be successful and confident and a leader. She wanted to be like Sage. Instead, she was sitting there acting like a complete fool. The first year was ready to pick up her stuff and hurry down to the kitchens and hide. She figured she could stay there for awhile. The house elves would keep her company and make her food. She could sneak into her dorm at night to shower and change clothes. Owling in her homework didn't sound like too bad of an option. She was just about to get up and leave when she felt the older Slytherin's hand on her back and when she finally dared to look at her, Aliyah was surprised to see her smiling. She listened intently to what the girl had to say. Sage's suggestion about clubs was a good one. The first year had noticed the signs around the corridors and actually read few here and there. She had a couple she was hoping to sign-up for, but she would most certainly have to keep an eye out for this Heta Omega. In regards to the classes, she would just have to take the older girl's word for it and her offer of help was reassuring. After all she was prefect, and that definitely counted for something in Aliyah's book.

Aliyah managed to smile and even chuckle at herself a little bit. While having a few days in the castle to get orientated was nice, it gave the Slytherin way too much time to over think and get herself worked up over what was to come. She clearly needed to get out of the castle more. Focusing on the small details of things was just something that the young girl did. It served her well in most cases, but her mother often fussed at her to stop borrowing trouble. The eleven year old let out a small sigh. She nodded her head and smiled in appreciation at the Slytherin prefect. "Thanks. And sorry if I sounded so nutty. It is just that I really reaaally want to do well." Although she might have went a bit overboard, it felt good to verbalize her concerns. After all this talk Aliyah realized that she knew nothing of the fifth year personally. She couldn't exactly place her accent, but from the sound of her voice it didn't sound like she was from New Zealand or Australia. "So are you originally from around here?" she asked her curiously as she began to straighten up the mess she had made of the student lounge fireplace.

 

[Sage Ottavi]

Sage had not really picked up on the fact that Aliyah had not heard Sage's laughter as something other than just something harmless. She was a little inexperienced when it came to first years and helping them out. Things were a little different now anyway, she realised. It didn't matter that Sage had been at this school for a good many years, this was her now, practically a senior student, that was why she had this issue, where she now had to think about being a slytherin that set an example and helped out other students rather than sticking to herself and keeping her head in the sand about everything around her. Which was why she was a little happy she'd actually met this girl, Aliyah, she would be her starting point. Sage knew that she would be good if she was able to help out a few younger students. Work hard at her classes and maybe give a little guidance to others. She felt like making your way through the years in Slytherin house was perhaps a little trickier than with the other houses. Professor Styx being much harsher than the others, but it was doable. At least most had, and Slytherin was always winning the house cup, so surely they were doing something right. She noted that Aliyah in front of her, managed to smile and even laughed a little bit with her. It was a good thing. Clearly she would become more comfortable with it all with a little bit of time.

Slytherin, Sage knew could be a little intense to begin with. She watched as the girl sighed and nodded, Sage listened to what she had to say and found herself smiling in response. Actually smiling, it was funny because just three or four months before she wouldn't even have really taken the time to try to get to know this girl. She was sure that Aliyah would be fine. She seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders and was working hard, or planned to work hard. "I'm sure you will do fantastic over the next seven years" she told her smiling at the girl, knowing that she would be. However, it appeared like Aliyah wanted to shift the conversation slightly, and the girl asked her where she was from. Now, Sage was not actually from New Zealand. She had a natural tan and she had an ever so slight accent. Her mother was Argentinian, and that was who Sage mostly took after, the slimness, her long brown hair, the only thing she took from her father were her eyes. Her accent was not one that was actually from New Zealand, but Sage had thought it was mostly gone, since no one ever asked her about it. "No, I was born in Argentina, moved to New Zealand with my dad when I was eight or nine" Sage told the girl with a smile, "We go back every so often, I like going" Sage didn't feel like getting to much else into it. It didn't seem like the right move to make, considering she hardly knew Aliyah. "What about you Aliyah? You from New Zealand?"
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[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah smiled gratefully back at Sage for her words of reassurance and sat back on her heels as she listened to the older girl's response. Argentina. She had never been anywhere south of Mexico, but South America was on her travel bucket list. Although she dreaded traveling when it came to moving, traveling for fun was something she enjoyed a lot and she hoped to do more of it when she gets older. The Wrights made an effort explore whenever they moved somewhere new. When her father was stationed in Texas they were able to take a family trip to Mexico. It was Aliyah's first time outside of the country. They spent a majority of the time being tourists in Cancun and Cozumel, but of course her mother had to squeeze in a history lesson as they toured the Mayan ruins while they were there. The pyramids were nice and all, but she was only seven at the time and would have much rather been building sandcastles at the beach.

"I'm American, but I moved to Wellington not too long ago. My family and I move around a lot because of my dad's job." Aliyah replied. "Four moves in eleven years." she added with a small smile. It was hard to feel homesick when you never had somewhere that felt like home. She moved from Washington DC before she old enough to start pre-school and Salem felt a little less like home after her grandmother died. Constantly uprooting her life and trying to re-plant it elsewhere just to move again was draining. The girl had learned to deal with the moving, but she most certainly didn't like it. Aliyah had found that if she couldn't control the things like moving or her dad's job, she would try her hardest to control little things in her world like how her room and personal space, her grades, and how she presented herself to others. As long as her little piece of the universe was happy, she was happy.

 

[Sage Ottavi]

Sage had been living in New Zealand quite a while now, though she did still fairly frequently return home. It was easily to her now, living in New Zealand, as much as she enjoyed her home country, she just preferred New Zealand. So much more of her life is in New Zealand, compared with Argentina. Her accent was much lighter and she was just used to this country now more than she would be used to the other. Especially in terms of living in it for a long time. Happily the teen smiled at the younger girl. She was happy to spend some time getting to know the younger student despite not really knowing where this would lead, if anywhere since for Sage she wasn't overly bothered by being the perfect student. She had a lot more to deal with than just the bare minimum. Which was what she had in mind. However, this younger girl Aliyah seemed really very nice. She liked the idea of perhaps helping her out whenever she needed it. An entirely new role for the girl who used to mostly just look out for herself above all others. She would still do that now, but perhaps with Aliyah that would be the exception to the rule, and really, Sage was always keen to look at exceptions.

With a smile, Sage nodded as the girl spoke, the girl was quite clearly American, though she was curious about what the girl's father did that lead them to moving around so much. She hadn't moved that much, only once had she moved house, and that was the same time as her moving country. "What does your father do, that caused you to move around so much?" she asked, curiosity clear in her voice. Not even attempting to make it sound like she was just wanting to know for the sake of it. She wanted to know more about this girl, there was no point in masking such a thing. "It must've been difficult, all that moving around. At least you will be able to stay in one place for all seven years" she told her with a small smile, wondering if that was even a positive for Aliyah. She was sure that due to the fact she was slytherin she would form some very good bonds with other students. Slytherin's could be a little harsh and were keen to be on top, but friendships could be incredibly strong in this house. ​

 

[Aliyah Wright]

"He is active duty in the United State Air Force." Aliyah began. She had been trying to figure out for a while how best to explain her father's job to people who asked when she was at school. She couldn't assume that everyone was a muggle-born or knew much about muggles in general. "We usually have to move whenever he gets stationed new. We lived in a couple of different places in the States, and Germany was my first time living aboard. Apparently the US sends aircrafts to Antarctica from the airport in Christchurch and my dad is here to support that mission...so here we are." she concluded with a shrug. The first year thought she did a good job. She didn't know very many details of what specifically her father did and even if she did she wouldn't want to bore Sage with specifics.

Aliyah nodded at Sage's second comment. The process of constantly moving and never having a say was annoying, but she had gotten use to it. What was really frustrating to the girl was lack of community she felt in the places that they moved to. She couldn't help but wonder what her life would have been like if her father decided on a different career path and if they would have lived in wizarding communities instead. Her parents tried compensate by teaching her about magic at home, but the eleven year old knew it wasn't the same. What good is learning about magical history, if your parent keep you to sheltered to see the effects? Going to quidditch games is fun, but sometimes all a kid wants is for their dad to make time to teach them how to fly. Aliyah appreciated everything that her parents did for her, but she felt cheated. She hoped that their time in New Zealand would change that. She had a suspicion that her dad chose the assignment on purpose so that they would be in a good community for all of her school years. She really hoped that her suspicion was right. "That's the plan." she said reaching over to knock the wooden leg of the closest chair. "Knowing that I would be going to Hogwarts was the only thing keeping me from pouting the whole trip to New Zealand." she added with a laugh.

 

[Sage Ottavi]

Sage was finding despite her usual characteristics, and whom she usually chose to speak to, she was finding this really very fun to be doing. She generally didn't like spending time with younger students, but this first year, Aliyah was actually fairly interesting. It was easy to talk to her, she knew that this girl unlike most others was not boring her, nor was she driving Sage to find someone else to talk to. She nodded along with what she was saying, and came to a realisation that the girl might just be muggleborn. Her father having been in the air force. Which was a good profession, but it wasn't a magical profession really. After all, most people flew on brooms. Happily, the girl just nodded and smiled at what she said, Sage's father didn't do anything of that sort. Her father had a much more stable job, and it had been one that he could move for if he wanted, but it wasn't necessary at all. She liked it that way. And even if he had, Sage would've stayed at Hogwarts because she went to school her and with five years at this school, almost, she had no interest in leaving it any time soon. Well, she wasn't interested in transferring out, she had started at Hogwarts and now she intended to graduate from this school.

It was surprisingly easy to think about how her life had been if their family had moved around like Aliyah's had. She imagined that her mother would've been quite bitter about it. Not really doing much about it. Being annoying and frustrating. Which wasn't the best thing. Her mother was someone that Sage didn't think about at all. She didn't talk about her, nor did she spare the woman any thoughts at any point of the day. That woman played no part in her life. She was nothing to her. Just the person who had given birth to her, and also the woman who'd given her, her skin type. Two things that Sage liked but also could do without. If she really thought about it. She glanced at the girl as she answered the question which Sage had asked her. Glad to hear the response of the girl. Of course she would love this place. Everyone always did. She didn't know why this girl would pout on being able to see places of the world that others did not, but Sage discarded the thought. "Well, you are sure to have a fantastic time here, I'm certain" She said with a smile. She was sure that the girl would be happy not having to move around so much. "So, are you muggleborn?" she asked the girl, curious and also just wondering what they would've been like. Sage had no experience of that, coming from a magical family.
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[Aliyah Wright]

Aliyah was unsure of how to answer Sage's follow-up question. She should have known that explaining her father's job would lead to questions about blood status. Growing up, her family taught her that blood status didn't matter so she often didn't give the topic much thought. Her grandmother taught her that there was a time when people from non-magical backgrounds were persecuted by prejudiced witches and wizards. But the past was in the past and the few people that may be crazy enough to hold those beliefs wouldn't say or do anything in public. "Me? Muggleborn...no. Not that there is anything wrong with that. My mother is muggleborn. My father and most of his family is magical actually. He always liked muggle technology and whatnot so I guess he just decided to be different and live a muggle lifestyle. We had magic in the house though." The one thing that Aliyah respected about the members of her family was their ability not to care what others think. Her father, mother, and grandmother were unabashedly authentic in their own way. The same couldn't be said for the younger Wright. She cared what others what others thought of her more than she would have liked to admit. The young Slytherin looked up at the older girl. Not having a lot of experience with people who lived primarily in the wizarding world, she didn't know what to expect from other people's reactions to her life. Aliyah was relieved that Sage seemed to be understanding and her curiosity was reasonable.