Testing Echoes

[Belladonna Butler]

The evening gloom sank across the New Zealand landscape with as much enthusiasm as ever it bore. Inside the stone castle walls of Hogwarts, many a student scurried like mice to their common rooms or to the library for some last minute studying. However, not all the students of the wizarding school were quite so well trained and obedient.
"Echo!" Echo.. Echo.. Belladonna Butler was stood before an aged sink, twisting the leaky facet back and forth as she danced to the tune of her own voice bouncing back at her. "Potato!" .. Ato.. Ato..
Twist. Twist. Drip. Drip.
The first year paused only briefly from her random calling to glance down at her antiquated bronze wristwatch. Half past eight. Time was getting on. There was homework to be done. Belladonna decided to call out one last time to humour herself before she would make a start.
"Go, go, Gryffindor!" .. Dor.. Dor.. The echo rang out, and Belladonna continued her short dance with the dripping tap until the squeak of the door interrupted her. She was no longer alone.

 

[Lyra Fonteyn]

The first few days of Lyra's stay at Hogwarts school had come and gone, and though she missed her Godfather dearly, she was coping OK on her own. With a rather confusing map of the castle tucked under one arm and an odd red flower from the gardens tucked into her long, dirty blonde hair, Lyra skipped along the fifth floor corridor without much care that she was thoroughly lost.
Humming a lullaby to herself, Lyra was almost at the end of the corridor when she heard a strange sound emerging from a large door to her left. Stopping immediately in her tracks and taking a few steps back, Lyra pressed her head up against the door. For fear of looking as though she was snooping, the young girl gently pushed open the door and peeped inside.
"I couldn't 'elp but overhear somezing about Gryffindor?" Lyra said cheerfully in her soft French accent when she realised the girl in the bathroom she had just entered was just another first year. She looked around, wondering if this bathroom was ever used. It certainly didn't look as though it was.

 

[Belladonna Butler]

Belladonna spun round on her heel to face the girl now addressing her. Her face cracked into a wide, chirpy smile. "Oh," Belladonna began casually, twisting the leaky faucet back to its 'off' position. "I was just indulging in a little Gryffindor pride. And testing the echo." She paused, shooting a grin at the (what she assumed to be) French girl, before demonstrating this fact. "Vegetable!" She called out. .. Egetable.. Egetable..
"Y'a see?" She nodded in reference to the echo. Only now did it seem appropriate, having explained herself to this stranger that seemed vaguely familiar, that she should make her introduction.
"You're from France, am I right?" Belladonna inquired boldly, not taking into consideration how personal a fact this may have been. "I'm Belladonna Butler. I'm a 'kiwi', born and bred. A Gryffindor, too, in case you hadn't guessed." She gestured towards a tiny, handmade, broom-shaped brooch pinned to her school shirt. It was decorated gold and red and inscribed with the single word 'Gryffindor'.

 

[Lyra Fonteyn]

Lyra wasn't sure what a 'kiwi' was exactly, but she felt much more relaxed now that the girl had introduced herself. The girl's presence was a little strong, but Lyra could tell she meant no harm by her forward nature. In fact, she liked the way Belladonna felt comfortable being herself.
A grin settled onto Lyra's face as she approached the taps and, in her loudest voice, said "Gryffindor!" A very feint echo replied back, but it was so quiet that you had to strain to hear it. Lyra smiled. "Oh well. I'm Lyra, by ze way. Lyra Fonteyn," she introduced herself dreamily. Lyra held out her hand, offering it to Belladonna, only to find that the map which had been tucked under her arm had fallen to the floor. She looked down at it curiously, but didn't make any effort to pick it up. "I didn't need it anyway," she explained. "Yes, I live on a lake in France wiz my Godfazer." Lyra hoped that the girl had enough respect for people's privacy that she didn't question why she didn't live with her parents. "Sorry, but what is a kiwi exactly? I zought it was a type of fruit.." Lyra's eyebrows knitted as she strained to make sense of what Belladonna had said.

 

[Belladonna Butler]

Belladonna giggled to herself as the girl- Lyra, tested out the echo. She was naturally very quiet even in her louder state of voice. Fonteyn, Belladonna committed the name to memory, sounds a little bit like a French fountain. That was how she would come to remember Lyra. The French fountain.
Belladonna took hold of the fellow Gryffindor's hand, giving it a firm but polite shake. Her eyes fell briefly to the something which dropped from beneath Lyra's arm. A moment of the two girls staring down at the object came to pass. Belladonna smiled back at Lyra. Whatever it was couldn't be all that important.
"Wow," Belladonna said with admiration, "that sounds so cool!" She wanted to ask more questions about the house, about Lyra's home life, but she decided against it deeming it a little too personal when she would not be as easily willing to spill the details of her own home life.
"A kiwi," the first year began, "is a slang term a lot of people seem to use for people of New Zealand birth. And you're completely right- it is a type of fruit." Belladonna nodded in response to this. She decided now was as good a time as ever to ask less personal questions. "I'm sure I've seen you in Potions class.. Have you done the homework yet? I'm stuck on question three."