Open Quite the Surprise

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene had certainly not expected the badge in the post. He hadn't expected it at all, thinking that Louis or Nolan might be the one to get it. but he was head boy. It was nice, he felt proud to have achieved it. Eugene was however disappointed, he'd come back to the school, ready to show Charlie and to tell his friend all about his break and his friend was gone. No longer at the school. Knowing that when he graduated his cousin would be moving away too, it was just a lot of change, and he didn't even know if Charlie had just gone home or if he'd transferred to a different school. Eugene was putting it to the back of his mind, trying not to focus on this big negative thing in his life when he had something so good. Something that he hadn't believed he would get. He arrived the first morning to breakfast with the badge pinned proudly to his uniform, and he was just trying to stay upbeat as he went about his morning. ​

 

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique was trying to be better at being a morning person, and that meant actually getting up early to have breakfast. Even though she had stayed up the night before catching up with roommates, she forced herself up, washed her face, put on a nice outfit under her robes, and headed down to Great Hall. There were plenty of people around since it was the first morning book, but they usually dwindled down as the semester went one. She looked at the tables and saw Eugene sitting by himself. She walked over, taking a seat somewhat adjacent to where he sat in case he wanted to have breakfast by himself. "Congratulations on Head Boy," she said to him, as she grabbed herself a plain bagel.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene always welcomed the fact that you were never truly alone at Hogwarts and he was glad when someone sat with him. He glanced and smiled at Veronique, he didn't know her too well, she was on Accio and was a good worker, but he didn't know her better than that. `though he now welcomed the opportunity to. "Thank you, quite the surprise honestly," he said to her with a smile. "How was your break?" he asked her, wondering if it was rude to linger in talking about the head boy stuff and therefore giving an out.

 

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique tore open her bagel and started looking for something to spread on it. "I mean, I know I don't know everyone, but you seemed like a good pick!" She didn't really know Eugene well, but maybe he would like her compliment. "It was okay. I went to visit family per usual. We had this giant family reunion in India, and then some family came to our house. I live in France," she said, realizing quickly that maybe this was too much information, and he probably just wanted her to say it was fine. "Did you do anything fun on your break?"

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene gave a shy expression in response. He knew Veronique from Accio and therefore perhaps she had a good view of what he was like, of him being a good pick, but it was reassuring. He was glad at least one person thought he was a good pick. "Aw, that's nice. How big is your family?" he replied, thinking that a big family reunion had to be a lot of fun. He hadn't know that Veronique lived in France, though the name should've given it a little away. He gave a quick nod. "I worked a lot, I work at the inner eyes, so it was chill and spent time with my cousin," he explained.

 

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique took a bite of her bagel as Eugene spoke. "I have two younger brothers, but there's a lot of aunts, uncles, cousins, and people I'm not really sure how we're related to," she said, hoping it wasn't odd to have a big family. "Do you have a lot of family?"

Veronique was surprised to hear Eugene had a job on top of his other responsibilities, but she supposed she'd seen Elara do it, as well, among other older students. It just seemed like a lot. "That's the shop that sells stuff for divination and arithmancy and stuff, right?" Veronique asked, having never visited it.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene didn't think that her family was too big when she started, but he was sure there were probably loads more than she counted with all the extended ones. He shook his head lightly at the return of the question. "No, it's just me and my cousin. She's like my big sister and my parent rolled into one," he said, struggling to define her without then highlighting to Veronique that his mother was dead, that would not help the mood. "yeah! More divination than Arithmancy, but yeah," he said. "Its also got a really great selection of teas,"

 

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique was glad to see someone had a cousin who appreciated them and gave Eugene a smile, taking another bite of her food. Having a big sister would have helped to solve a lot of her problem. She was really bad at being the oldest child and sometimes felt like she was in fact an only child with how little she saw her brothers now. "Does your cousin go here?" she asked curiously. "You know, I've never been a big tea person," she added, knowing that was weird for many, but she just struggled to enjoy the whole hot water with what felt like a drop of flavor. She'd much rather just drink cold water. "Fruity tea is okay, though."

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene shook his head. "She's a muggle," he told her. He had never had a strained relationship with her, even though they lived these different lives and people didn't really always understand that them being apart had really made things easier for them both. "Well, tea isn't for everyone, but sometimes it's about not finding the right type of tea," he said with a little laugh. "Which is very much what I do at the inner eye, is help people find teas,"

 

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique nodded, not quite understand what it was like to have a muggle relative. Anyone she knew in her family was a wizard in some way. Maybe she had a distant cousin or two who had married a muggle, but she had never known of any. Most of her time growing up was spent in their community and with other young magical kids. "Oh, umm, sor-it must be nice to see her on breaks," she said, catching herself instead of apologizing. She didn't want Eugene to think she was apologizing for his cousin being a muggle. She just kind of threw sorry in as a placeholder sometimes. "Are there any teas that help you study better?" she laughed, wondering if some magical herb could get her to focus more.

 

[Eugene Nestor]

Eugene gave a little nod in agreement, he didn't mind that she had been likely about to apologise for it. Knowing that it was unlikely that Veronique was going to be saying sorry that she was muggle. "It is nice, she's going to be moving to Australia soon, so I'm making the most of her," Eugene said with a smile. He knew it would be easy for him to visit when he graduated but knew too that it would not be the same. "There are tea's which can help concentration?" he suggested with a little laugh.

 

[Veronique Chatelain]

Veronique nodded when Eugene suggested there was a concentration tea. "That definitely sounds like a tea I'd like to try. I'll have to go get some," she said, taking another bite of food. "Well, I think I need to go study, but it's been nice chatting with you." Veronique gathered up her books and gave Eugene a wave. "See you around!"