Trying to get over it

[Alessio Benivieni]

Alessio needed a break from thinking about what happened over the Christmas holidays, it got too out of hand for his liking, his family had never fought that way before - especially not with his younger siblings. Al knew his younger brother and sister had nothing to do with how their parents felt about all of them officially being part of the wizarding world, it could be one of the many reasons why Alessio had always felt out of place in his old muggle school. Well, mostly out of place. He was muggle-born after all. His parents thought they were always 'normal' as such and they were having a hard time coping with reality. The twins certainly tried to protect their siblings and defend them without seeming like they preferred them over their parents but Al's mom and dad were acting distant, as if afraid they might do something wrong if they got too close to the children. Al did love his parents without a doubt and would do anything for them. However to him they were exaggerating, it didn't change anything except for the fact of not being at home every day after school. They were still writing to each other. That helped. The Hufflepuff was trying hard, explaining everything he could about Hogwarts and what he was learning in as much detail as possible so that his parents could at least try to understand.

Personally, Al was getting tired of the heavy attitude at home. He was writing more than once a day to his little aiblings to make sure they also could use their wide imagination to see what it was like here at Hogwarts. And yet, he couldn't help to worry constantly if they were alright. If their parents were doing okay. If he was being honest, Alessio was more worried about his brother and sister than he was his parents. He felt guilty just thinking about it, but it was true. They were only ten and six (turning seven soon) respectively. His parents had told him and Mar about their cousin, his dad's niece. This had been news to Al, he didn't know he had a cousin until recently! Well, at least he would be able to look after the little ones. It gave him a sense of pride to know he could do something in the house during the holidays to make up for all the days spent here. He often missed his family, no matter how annoying they actually came across to be. And the fact that Ariana, the newly discovered cousin, was only three years old made the young Hufflepuff smile. He loved little children.

Alessio was subconsciously exploring the lovely gardens, not really in the mood to talk to anyone. Hogwarts was still new to him so a lot of things did not make sense to him just yet. He still had to adjust a little before getting into swing of things. Thankfully Mar was a lot more curious and would sometimes drag him with her whenever she wanted to explore the castle some more. Al was a shy kid, he has been one his whole life, and he had no idea how to change that. He wanted to, of course but he had no idea when the time would come, he'd have to wait until he got used to being magical. It had only been a semester since he started learning after all. He didn't know if he would ever come out of his shell. In six years time he could be the same person he is now, confused and shy and always trying to help people. Alessio suddenly felt tired so he decided to sit down on a bench breathing in the fresh air. There weren't too many students out here, Alessio glanced at all the students to pass time. Maybe he could get a breather and a sense of relief washed over him once he realized he had the whole day to sit here if he wanted to.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte had always been an optimistic person. She had liked to try and think of the good things about a situation. Her Christmas holidays weren't very exciting but at least she was able to see her family and tell them all about the good times she had at Hogwarts. She was actually quite glad to be back at school as she was finally able to explore the castle a bit more. In Charlotte's spare time she loved exploring and being in the dark Slytherin common room was boring when the sun was shining and the birds were chirping so she decided to go out and get some fresh air.

Skipping along, Charlotte found herself wandering into the Hogwarts Garden. She found it amazing that Hogwarts had its own garden that was full of so many different magical plants. It was also quite useful if someone needed to make a healing potion to save someone's life and they needed a crucial ingredient from the garden. Charlotte's mother hated gardening but they still had one in the backyard just in case she ever needed to make a last minute potion and wasn't able to go to the shops in time. Charlotte loved watching her mother make potions and supposed that was one thing she missed whilst being at Hogwarts. Her mother always had that look of concentration on her face whilst doing what she loved which made Charlotte feel like she was in a happy place somehow. There are some small things that Charlotte loves but she can never understand why.

As Charlotte admired a pink and purple plant that had black spots on it and looked rather interesting, she noticed at the corner of her eye a Hufflepuff sitting on a nearby bench. He looked like he wanted to be left alone but also looked rather bored. He didn't seem as if he was in the best of moods and Charlotte really wanted to cheer him up. She skipped cheerfully over to him.

"Hey there!" she exclaimed out of nowhere, probably frightening the poor boy. She knew that Hufflepuffs were either really loud or really quiet and this boy seemed to be the latter. He sat there quite lonely as he stared off into the distance and Charlotte took a seat next to him, hoping that he was happy that someone was now talking to him. "You look rather down. What's the matter?" She couldn't help herself and really did not like seeing people upset. He looked extremely tired and Charlotte hoped she'd be able to cheer him up soon enough.

 

[Alessio Benivieni]

Al didn't expect anybody to approach him, and when a very pretty girl did, he tried his best to smile at her, his Hufflepuff instincts kicking in. She was a Slytherin, from the colour of her robes and Alessio was ashamed to think she wouldn't be nice when he first took a glance at her. She was smiling, that was always a good sign. Alessio thought he'd seen her around before, but maybe he was mistaken. He didn't expect her to come to him so cheerfully, instead he shook the thought away as people surprised you (he would know) and said "Hello." His Italian accent was strong still and it was one of the many things he was proud of in his life. There were other things, but at the moment he had felt a bit ashamed of his family so he was more than happy to come back to Hogwarts where he didn't have to interfere with adults. Well, professors and staff yes, but it was an entirely different thing. They weren't his parents. At least this girl was making an effort to talk to him so he guessed he could too. "Well, besides my family, nothing much. I'm Alessio by the way," he said brightly. He didn't want to change her mood by how he was feeling. He also didn't want to bother her with his life story so he left it at that. He didn't want to annoy her the first chance of probably getting a friend.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

The boy had an accent but unlike any that Charlotte had ever heard. The only accent she knew perfectly was Welsh and that was only because her father had a Welsh accent. The boy's accent flowed with his words and it was almost as if he was picked out straight from a romantic movie. It seduced Charlotte in a way that she couldn't explain and she felt like she should get the boy to talk more in order for her to hear his voice better. After all, she was unsure if many people even had the pleasure to hear it as he seemed extremely quiet.

He introduced himself as Alessio which Charlotte instantly recognised as an Italian name. She almost jumped up and down excitedly in her seat, glad that she had quickly figured out exactly what accent it was and smiled at herself. Usually, she didn't think of herself as intelligent but this was a once in a lifetime experience for her.

"Your family? What about your family?" she asked instantly. As soon as she said it she wanted to slap herself. She didn't think before she spoke and maybe asking about his family was a bit personal. "Oh, I'm sorry. I mean- I'm Charlotte and I'm sorry to interrupt." She looked down at the grass below their feet, feeling guilty. She really hoped she didn't hurt the boy's feelings.

 

[Alessio Benivieni]

Alessio smiled at the girl again, she seemed very upbeat and optimistic. He sometimes didn't get how people were that cheerful, but he decided to leave the thought alone. It wasn't like his very own twin wasn't like that. Then again, Marcella was rather energetic. Al loved her no less than the rest of his family of course. Sometimes he needed a break from all of them. Was that so much to ask? Maybe everyone needed a break from their families sometimes. For Alessio this was one of those moments. He looked ahead of him for a few moments before taking a glance at the girl next to him. "It's okay," he said quietly. He felt like telling this girl about what the problem was, but he was afraid of spilling too much on the first meeting. "It's just...my family - the ones still back at home..." his voice trailed off. He did want to share what was wrong, Charlotte seemed trustworthy enough, he just didn't know how to put it without putting a heavy burden on her shoulders. They'd just met after all. He didn't want to ruin the mood yet. "When I went home for the Christmas break, it wasn't the same. It didn't feel the same." Alessio looked down at his hands and noticed Charlotte felt guilty for asking him about his family. He didn't blame her. People always thought his family was interesting. Al was lucky to be a part of the big Benivieni family, but at the moment he was glad he was back at Hogwarts. Telling Charlotte about what happened was going to be harder than he thought.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte listened closely to everything Alessio had to say. She knew what it was like to feel put down by the people you love. She wasn't sure if that was the case but she remembered how it felt when she was sorted into Slytherin house. She didn't know if her parents would have accepted her being in such a dark house and felt very disappointed when she came home and was told that she wasn't allowed to tell her father's parents about what house she was sorted into. She understood that her father's side of the family wouldn't like her anymore if they found out (after all, they did disown a child for being sorted into Slytherin) but if they couldn't like her for who she was then why bother? It just made Charlotte feel like a failure to the family.

"So... did someone pass away? Does it have something to do with your magical abilities?" she asked, trying her best not to step over the line too much. "Because whatever it is, your family should always stay by your side and love you through everything no matter what because they're your family, right? There are so many people that are here to support you too, including me." She felt like a counsellor and like she was saying this because it was her job but deep inside she felt determined to cheer this stranger up and she felt comfortable in doing so. In her opinion, she was pretty good at cheering people up and that was exactly what she was going to do.