Pretend it's Home

[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam had been doing a lot of thinking before she came to Hogwarts. She did miss her siblings and her dad, but mostly she was happy to be starting out at a new school, with nicer people than the ones she went to school with when she was younger. Despite how friendly the community back in Scotland was, Sam never felt like she belonged there. In the muggle world. And she sincerely hoped the wizarding community would be the place Sam could feel at home. She grabbed her bag from her bed in the dorms and when she checked that everything she needed was in there, including her novel in case she finished her assignment she planned to do today before the time that she expected to be done. She arrived to the student lounge not long after and found a table in a section of the lounge that was far from noise, a rather quiet area to her relief. Sam sat down and opened her textbook to start reading, before she began to take extra notes that she would later form into an essay. ​

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[Aleksandra Kaster]

Aleksandra was not a studier. In fact she wasn't much of a learner. She was smart, she knew that, but she didn't like to be told what to study or when to study it and so it was hard to actually motivate herself to do any study. It wasn't that she was particularly against it, but she would always get annoyed by her brother's homework and she didn't understand most of the things it was talking about, though she now hoped that would be different. Shoving her hands in the pockets of her jeans, because Aleksandra so rarely bothered to wear the uniform, she walked into the student lounge. It looked like there were a couple of people here already so Aleksandra looked around for an opening. Most people were already having discussions about one thing or another and were older, so she wasnt sure how successful she would be at sliding into their conversations until she noticed another girl about her age, a Slytherin, sitting off in a quieter section of the lounge. She looked like she might be studying, but Aleksandra didn't really take much notice beyond that as she skipped over and made herself known. "Hi! I hope you aren't doing anything important. Studying is boring you know. I'm Aleksandra!"
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[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam was busy doing her thing, studying was a normal routine for her that she did not like to break. If anything, the Slytherin was happy that she had managed to remain so organised already since she came to Hogwarts. Being organised and unable to leave things to the last minute was a trait she shared with her mom. She felt a pang in her chest at the thought of her and pushed it away, not in the mood to cry today. It was six months since it happened and Sam wondered if she could ever be over it and be able to move on. She highly doubted she would. When a voice spoke to her, a friendly one, the blonde interrupted what she was doing, a bit annoyed but when she observed the other girl she realised she was only trying to be nice and have a conversation with Sam. "Hello," she greeted, and chuckled softly at her words. "Studying is important though," she told her. "It's nice to meet you Aleksandra, my name's Sam," she introduced herself. Maybe, she could finish her work later in the common room. It was time to make friends. ​

 

[Zoe Harkness]

Zoe walked into the Student Lounge rather tired and beat. She trudged inside and didn^t bother to close the door, before flopping down in a soft armchair. She sighed dramatically, before turning her head and acknowledging the other students in the room. They looked her age; a Slytherin and another Gryffindor. They did^t appear to have met before (not that she wanted to sound rude, but she could not help overhearing their conversation), and she sat upright, interested by the prospect of making friends - other than the one she had already.

Hi - I hope I^m not butting in, but I couldn^t help hearing that studying is boring, Zoe chipped in. And...I agree. I study in my own time. I mean, it^s been working so far.

 

[Memphis Hart]

It had been a coincidence that Memphis knew about the student lounge, at first he had never been told about it or heard anything of it. But when he was studying in the library the other day, someone talked about it and Memphis gathered the courage to ask them where it was located. It seemed to be quiet, it seemed to be an area for students to lay back and relax without necessarily having to enter their common room. At times the common room became rather crowded, the sole reason why Memphis chose to stick here for a while and maybe have a read in the book that a little bit of history about the wizarding world. He tried to hide the title, because it seemed a little awkward to be this oblivious to everything that was affiliated with magic. He was a muggle born after all, but sometimes people would still find it strange as he was indeed a wizard himself.

Noticing a few girls chatting up with one another, the raven-haired boy turned to face them with a small smile tugging at his full lips. "It's definitely hard. Especially when everything is so... new to you, to anyone." He was njot afraid that they would judge him, or anything, but he did hear some awful things about people laughing at the people who came from a family of muggle parents. The word Mudblood did not seem so bad, but neither did Memphis want to hear it being used to scold him.

 

[Zoe Harkness]

Zoe's attention was then drawn to a boy who had added to the conversation. She could not help but notice his reserved demeanour, and that he was a Slytherin, but other than that he seemed normal. His dark hair reminded her of her first oldest brother, Ezra. They certainly did look alike. She studied his words about things being hard; especially when everything was so new to you, and to anyone - and she smiled warmly as she realised how much she agreed.

When I received my acceptance letter, my siblings immediately bombarded me with their experiences and everything. It was kind of overwhelming. Zoe giggled uneasily. Do you have any siblings? Because I think having siblings who came here before you can sometimes be the worst. It just made me more nervous.

 

[Aleksandra Kaster]

Aleksandra smiled at the girl as she refuted her and then introduced herself. Well, that was one way to introduce herself! Alex was about to return the introduction when they were greeted by another Gryffindor and then another Slytherin. It seemed they both had opinions similar to her own and she grinned at Sam laughing slightly. "I think you are outnumbered, Sam! Clearly I am in the right thought here!" She turned to smile at the two who'd just showed up. "I always knew I would be coming here or to another magical school. There were really only two options, but because my mum had such a hard time at the other school, and because we live close by, I think it was pretty obvious to my dad where I would go." She said, revealing that she had magical lineage, but not that she was a veela. "I never understood the homework though, my brother is a third year here and he always has all this homework that I just don't understand." She shook her head. "My name is Aleksandra by the way, and this is Sam."
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[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam felt slightly annoyed that when a Gryffindor joined her and Aleksandra, she agreed with Aleksandra, but tried not to comment, then felt bad for thinking to do such a thing. She was here to make friends after all, not argue with them. She smiled at the other Gryffindor and said, "Yeah. I have many older siblings but only one is here at Hogwarts with me. He's in second year now." The group was joined by yet another first year, except this one was in Sam's house. At least they were willing to talk to her, get to know her. It felt good for a change. It was also very good to know that people here were a lot nicer than she'd expected (not that she had doubted anything in the first place). She shrugged at Aleksandra's next words, but nodded her head in understanding. "I never liked muggle school much. So I was really happy when like my siblings I discovered my magical abilities. Hogwarts is starting to be an okay place too," she looked at her classmates. "I'm enjoying it here. I have to admit it does get overwhelming sometimes and for me no amount of preparation from my family could actually prepare me for this."​

 

[Zoe Harkness]

Zoe felt partly relieved that she had been accepted into the conversation, and then rather amused to here the other Gryffindor named Aleksandra argued against the girl Slytherin Sam, and sided with her. Zoe had always made friends easily, but she hoped that her impulsiveness wouldn^t take her chances.

It felt refreshing to hear someone agree with her for once, instead of being opposed by five to seven other opinions. The Harkness household was chaos - and she was grateful that she was here, taking a break from them. The Gryffindor rolled over and lay sideways on the armchair with her chin in her hands and her feet up over the other arm.

She listened to both of the girls and their opinions on school, and found that there was no topic she would like to moan about more. School has been killing me all this time, she sighed. In muggle school, I was known as my brother Jacob^s little sister. No one bothered to learn my name. Speaking of school, has anyone else been having a little trouble in class? Especially Flying.

It wasn^t so much that she was having trouble - she was just feeling overwhelmed with practice. But her dreams of joining the quidditch team were riding on routine and determination. She had admittedly never put so much time and effort into anything, especially something related to school.

She hoped that her time at Hogwarts would prove different; give her a chance to make friends, and to make a name for herself. She did not need her older fifth year twin brothers ruining it for her.