Open Meeting Expectations

[Toby Oikawa]

Toby sighed as he sat himself down at the Slytherin table that morning. Once more he was at at Hogwarts and was having to put up with other people. Back at home it was fine. His parents largely ignored him and he could order the house elves to leave him alone and just bring him food whenever he got a bit peckish. But here, he was surrounded by so many other students and complete idiots he didn't have the time of day for. And if he mood wasn't already awful that morning, it was only worsened when the mail arrived and an owl landed in front of him bearing an envelope written in a familiar hand.

The boy huffed, putting down the knife he had been using to butter his toast to grab the envelope from the stupid bird. It simply hooted at him before flapping it's wings and taking flight again, very nearly knocking his breakfast on the floor in the process. Toby wrinkled his nose as he looked at his mother's handwriting before ripping open the letter, carefully unfolding the parchment so he could read the contents. It was the usual bather. Behave. Get good grades. Excel at your extra-curricular activities. But it was the bit at the bottom which really pissed him off. Try not to disappoint us with your choice of friends. "Oh, piss off," he grumbled, scrunching up the letter and carelessly tossing it to the side. Friends, as if he needed those in the first place. He knew why they were even saying that, they were already looking for the right person to match him up with to keep building their family dynasty.

 

[Celia Vuong]

There was nothing like the appearance of an owl to put Celia on edge. It was unfortunate, then, that breakfast at Hogwarts meant having to deal with dozens of them. Why the school insisted on such a public (and messy) method of mail delivery, Celia had no idea, and she grimaced as birds started swooping down around her. She knew it was unlikely she would get any more bad news via owl post at this point in her life, but she still didn't allow herself to fully relax until the last bird was on its way out. There was no better way to tempt fate than to assume she was safe.

It seemed one of her tablemates was not as lucky. Celia frowned as a crumpled ball of parchment skidded to a stop next to her coffee, and she followed its path back to a grumbling Toby. It was pretty obvious this was a letter of some sort, and she plucked the parchment from the table, raising her eyebrows slightly. "Careful, I wouldn't toss aside anything you don't want other people reading," she said, holding the scrunched up parchment aloft. However, she made no move to smooth it out and read it herself. In the past, she wouldn't have hesitated. But Toby was one of her teammates, and she knew from experience how much it sucked to have random people be privy to your private correspondence.

 

[Toby Oikawa]

Why was his own life his parents business, anyway? It was not like they cared what he got up to at school, rarely even bothering to check in. The only time they wrote was when they wanted something from him or they wanted an update on his grades to make sure they were all up to snuff. It was infurating to know they cared so little. But Toby was a good son. He had always been a good son, bending to their will and always trying to do what he knew pleased them. It was his duty as the eldest son. Their only son, to carry on the family legacy and really make something of himself.

He glanced down the table to where the bunched up piece of parchment had ended up, letting out a breath as Celia picked it up. "Who says I care if anyone else reads it?" Good luck with that in the first place given it was all in Japanese. "It's just some old drivel from my parents, anyway. They never have anything interesting to say."

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia wasn't sure if Toby was just posturing or if he truly didn't care, but she decided to take him at his word and smoothed out the parchment. She was a little surprised to see that it was covered in what looked like Japanese, and she folded the parchment into a neat square. "Good thing you're here and don't have to listen to them," she said, placing the letter on the table for now. It probably wasn't the most responsible thing to say as head girl-slash-theoretical role model, but Celia had always been anti-parent. God knows how many letters from her own parents she'd burned at this very table. "But define 'interesting,'" she said, curious to know whether Toby was just being a typical 11-year-old or if there was a legitimate reason for his grumbling. "Or, I guess, define 'drivel.'"

 

[Toby Oikawa]

He watched as Celia took him for his word, folding out the parchment he had crumpled up. For a moment, he did wonder if she could read Japanese, but by the fact she was soon folding the paper back up again he was going to take it as he couldn't. "I suppose that is something," he did have to admit. While he grumbled about how much he disliked Hogwarts and most of the occupants, it did mean he could get away from his parents for awhile and not have to listen to them lecturing him about his life choices. "The usual things about making sure I keep up with my grades and make the right connections at school," he didn't mind sharing. He didn't think it was going to change things if people knew that he had his parents hanging over his shoulder all the time. "It's like they don't trust me."

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia did think grades were important (though perhaps not that important during first year), so she wasn't surprised that Toby's parents were urging him to keep his up. It was the second part that made her arch an eyebrow. "What kinds of connections are they expecting you to make as a first year?" Celia knew better than most how important connections could be — especially at a place like Hogwarts — but first year was a little early to figure out who would be of any use. She could remember being a second year and trying to befriend Natalia because the other girl was a pureblood, and while she'd liked Natalia, that "connection" hadn't really gotten her anything. Celia considered Toby's complaint. "Well, you're, like, eleven," she couldn't resist pointing out, even though she knew it'd probably piss him off. She wouldn't trust an eleven-year-old either. It was why she'd made him the alternate alternate seeker. "But, do you even need them to trust you? Like I said, you're here, and they're there. Just don't read their letters if you don't like what they have to say. It's not like they'll know." It was the approach Celia had taken with her own parents though they had never really been the type to lecture her.

 

[Toby Oikawa]

Toby couldn't help but let out a breath at the question. "Make friends with parents with important jobs, people with semi-famous parents, that kind of thing." He paused as he leaned back in his seat, having to refrain from sounding too bitter about all of this. "It's not for my benefit. My parents just want to network with important families and want to use me as the excuse." They'd been doing it all his life, urging him to get out there and make 'friends' with people who might end up being useful further down the line. Though, he did have to scowl slightly as Celia felt it imprudent to point out his age. He really didn't see what that had to do with anything. "They always know," it really did sometimes feel as though his parents had spies watching him at all times. The amount of times he had failed to get away with something was unbelievable. "And they'll find out I'm ignoring them if I don't end up having any "friends" by the end of the year." Which was looking more and more likely as time went on. None of the people he had met seemed worth his time, so it wasn't really like he wanted to make friends with them anyway.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia was a little taken aback Toby revealed that it was his parents who would be using the connections, not him. As a kid, Celia had spent a fair amount of time rubbing shoulders with the one percent, but wizards seemed to take it to a whole new level. "That's a very inefficient way to network," she said, raising her eyebrows slightly. If you needed to use your kid to connect with other people, then you sucked at networking. She wondered what Toby's parents even did, but she wasn't about to ask since it would invite him to return the question (assuming he didn't already know). Celia hid a smirk as Toby scowled, but she did nod as he explained that his parents would eventually figure it out. "Tell them there's no one worth befriending," she said a little flippantly. Maybe it wasn't the best advice, but this wasn't really her problem. "I don't think there's anyone here with famous parents anyways." There were quite a few kids from prominent local pureblood families, but she didn't think their parents were necessarily famous.