Open Much Busier Breakfast

[Valeria Iglesias]

Valeria had struggled with sharing the room that first night, she had never shared a room before and the other people in the class had made it difficult. She hadn't enjoyed that at all, but she knew she'd just get her parents to send her some ear plugs and everything would be okay. It would work out with that. And though she was a little more tired than she had wanted to be on her very first day, the new Ravenclaw was excited, she'd put on her uniform, had done her hair all pretty and put on some make up. She had made her way excitedly to the great hall, and now she was here at the ravenclaw table. She didn't know anyone, had probably seen some of these kids about the magical area but had never met any of them, so despite wanting to go up to some of them to talk she decided to sit alone, glancing about the room just waiting people, trying to figure this whole place out. For one, this certainly was the busiest breakfast that Valeria had ever had, just with how many other people were in this room and eating too. ​

 

[Weston Stirling]

The start of a new semester had always been Weston's favorite time of the year. Classes hadn't yet begun in earnest, and he could still tell himself that this would be the year he managed to get good grades and live up to his house's reputation. In the meantime, he had plenty of time to catch up with his friends after a long break away from Hogwarts.

Determined to get a head start on the first day, Weston had made his way down to the Great Hall earlier than he normally would. It seemed everyone else had had the same idea. Weston couldn't make out any of his friends among the crowded tables, but he did see an open spot at the Ravenclaw table. He hurried to claim it, automatically greeting the girl across from him with a cheerful "Hi!" He started to reach for some toast before suddenly realizing something. "Wait, who are you? Are you new?" he asked curiously. Though the girl was wearing Ravenclaw robes and looked to be his age, Weston was pretty sure he'd never seen her before.

 

[Valeria Iglesias]

Valeria wasn't sitting alone long when a boy, a little older than her sat down in front of her. He was cute and did immediately greet her. "Hey," she said back with a full smile, trying her best to be as polite and friendly as possible. She giggled lightly as he seemed to realise that she wasn't someone he knew. "I'm Valeria, I just transferred in," she held out her hand to him. "Who are you?" she returned the question to the boy, since this was how to get to know people. And she wanted to get to know this boy, like she wanted to get to know as many of the boys in this school as possible. ​

 

[Weston Stirling]

A transfer — that explained why he'd never seen her before. Weston was a bit relieved that he hadn't somehow completely overlooked a whole person for the past few years. He liked to think he at least knew of most of the other Ravenclaws, especially those around his age. "Nice to meet you!" he said brightly as he shook her hand. "I'm Weston. Fourth year. Not a transfer." He grabbed a piece of toast and started to spread some jam on it. "Where did you transfer from?" he asked, curious if she was from anywhere cool.

 

[Valeria Iglesias]

Valeria smiled at him, giving a little flick of her hair, "You too, Weston," She replied easily. She took a cup of juice and took a little sip of it. "No where, I was homeschooled," she told him, she hoped he wouldn't be too disinterested in that, she wasn't from somewhere cooler than just homeschool. "Tell me about yourself Weston!" she asked keenly, leaning slightly towards him, to appear more interested in what he might say. She found asking people directly to talk about themselves was a useful way of learning about people. ​

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston's eyes widened when Valeria mentioned that she used to be homeschooled. "I used to be homeschooled too!" he exclaimed before clarifying, "Before Hogwarts. It was really boring and kind of lonely." He frowned slightly. While it had been nice getting to set his own schedule, he had never had the chance to make friends with kids his own age. "Hogwarts is loads better," he said with a smile.

He took a bite of toast and considered her question. "Uh, I'm from Auckland. I really like music and comic books. Me and my friend Jordie, we're in a band together! I play the guitar, and he's on drums, but we're trying to learn other instruments." He paused, trying to figure out what else he should say. "Oh, and I've seen the man-eating eel in the lake! It nearly attacked me and my other friend, Indi." It had been his greatest accomplishment.

 

[Valeria Iglesias]

Valeria gave a little smile in understanding. "It's so boring," she wouldn't say anything about if she agreed with it being lonely, since she definitely didn't want this boy to think she was lonely. "Hogwarts is so much better, there are so many interesting people to spend time with," she told him with a little smile. She listened as he talked about himself. There were some interesting points about him. The comics weren't that interesting, but him being in a bank was cool.

"Wow....you're in a band, that's very very cool. Can you sing then? What sort of music do you play? Have you got any preformances lined up?" she asked. The last part about the man-eating eel in the lake was not something she trusted too much but, perhaps the boy had at least seen something. "A man-eating eel? That's dangerous," ​

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston smiled and nodded in agreement. "Not just people, the ghosts and portraits are also pretty cool." He'd had many conversations with them during his time at Hogwarts. It was the best part about going to an actual school — having so many people (and beings) to talk to.

He grinned when she seemed impressed by the band. "A little, yeah. We're still looking for a lead singer." For a while, Weston had held onto the hope that Zay would agree to be their lead singer, but after the Forbidden Forest incident, he wasn't even sure if they were still friends. "Mostly pop, but we're still developing our sound," he said, stealing a line he'd read from an interview with one of his favorite bands. Hopefully, it made them sound more official. "No official performances yet, but I sometimes play in the courtyard." Weston nodded, always eager to talk more about the eel. "It is, that's why you're not supposed to swim out too far. The eel's really big and might attack you."

 

[Valeria Iglesias]

It seemed that this boy, Weston was someone who liked talking to people and she was more than happy for that, he'd be someone good to know. Someone she could ask gossip for, because he might just know it because of who he was. She thought that though he didn't seem that cool, the fact he was in a band was pretty cool and she was sure that meant that he could at least appear cool. "You'll have to invite me to your performance, I'd love to go along," Valeria told him. She would need to at least find out if he and his band were any good before anything else. "have you named the eel?" Val asked. ​

 

[Weston Stirling]

Weston nodded eagerly when Valeria mentioned getting an invitation to their first performance. "Definitely! I'll let you know when we set something up. In the meantime, you can come to one of our practices if you want." Maybe he should have consulted Jordie before inviting Valeria, but he figured the Hufflepuff wouldn't mind. Jordie liked meeting new people just as much as he did. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if Jordie somehow already knew Valeria. The question about the eel made Weston tilt his head in confusion. "No...?" Why would he name the eel? "Do you think I should name it? What would you call it?"

 

[Valeria Iglesias]

Valeria gave a little smile, enjoying that she'd managed to get an invite to the practice sessions. She could never know if Weston would get famous or how good they were until she saw it, and could decide then about how to be towards Weston. Valeria then just nodded, "I mean, it won't be the official name, but you clearly really like it, and when you like something you name it. Like every artist names every piece...," Val told her. ​

 

[Weston Stirling]

He considered Valeria's explanation. Weston wasn't sure he would describe his feelings toward the eel as "like." He was actually kind of scared of it. But he did like the idea of it, and he definitely liked the possibility of being the first person to find proof of its existence. "But artists create their pieces. I didn't create the eel," he pointed out. "What if it already has a name?" Could an eel even be aware of its own name?