Listening To Our Favourite Song PV Scarlett

Scarlett was dismissed from classes, and now was wandering round the halls to see if there were any people she could meet, and any places she could visit. The courtyard was full of those intimidating-looking third-years and Scarlett wasn't sure she was courageous enough for that. The library was boring, but Alaska had been doing that new activity - was it something called Love Letters? She might take a look at it later. The Gryffindor Common Room she had been in too many times and the Kitchens? The house elves did not want to see her chef skills.

As she hurried down the almost deserted corridor, a large door caught her eye. It smelled musty but still looked like it was fit for a...

Ballroom!

Judging from the noise, there was no one in there - maybe she could wreck some havoc. It had been quite a while since her last prank.

Without hesitation, Scarlett threw open the doors to find a first-year like her, reaching a crescendo in a Muggle song - was that Perfect? One of the older Muggleborns had introduced the entranced children of Godric's Hollow (including her) to this very tune.

Scarlett was no good at singing, so she cleared her throat and said, "Ed Sheeran?"

The girl spun around to reveal a startlingly pretty witch, first-year, clad in yellow-lined robes and with large dark eyes and a mane of long black hair. Scarlett smiled at her.

All the glory of the ball crashed down around Lucia as she spun around to face the person who had interrupted her, and suddenly the room was a ghost of its imagined self.
"I-" Lucia stuttered, then she pulled herself together.
She was a Fox. She had to act like one.
Lucia stood straight and brushed down her robes, giving her red cheeks time to cool down, acting like she hadn't just been dancing by herself in an empty ballroom. She must look like such a loner.
"Yes, it was," Lucia said simply as she raised her head to face the girl.
She was very untidy. Her shirt was untucked and her red hair unbrushed, in contrast to Lucia's immaculately combed black mane. Her clothes were probably first-hand, by the look of her, and Lucia caught sight of a red tie around her neck. She was glad that Ebony had sewn up the holes in her robe.
Lucia advanced towards the girl, holding out her hand.
"I'm Lucia. Lucia Fox." she said.
Suddenly, a terrible thought appeared in her mind. What if she was talking to a Mudblood? If she was, Ebony would be maddened. But then Lucia's brain kicked in and she realised that if she was going to worry about the bloodlines of everyone she talked to she should just not talk to anyone. Still, though, if the girl was one...

Okay, okay. Scarlett had to admit - a Hufflepuff girl swinging round the ballroom wasn't exactly weird. The Muggle song wasn't even that weird. Sure, it wasn't as upbeat and energetic as Scarlett liked her music to be, but maybe this girl was just another Muggleborn Hufflepuff? Yet there was something about the familiarity of her...

The girl stuttered for a bit. Average. Then something changed - maybe a click in her brain, a sudden twist of the heart.

Her reddened (definitely embarrassed) cheeks cooled down gradually and she straightened and dusted her robes to look presentable, perhaps? Scarlett's mind flashed back to the days before Godric's Troop, the worst in her life. It was all 'look pristine' and 'act perfect' and 'absolutely no interacting with other children'. All Scarlett wanted to do was be a child! Run around and play, annoy adults and make friends...

"Yes, it was." The girl said this smoothly, at a level quite remarkable for one who had just been tomato-red and stuttering a few moments before. "I'm Lucia Fox."

Fox! She had heard that surname in one of the textbooks her mother had given her to read. Apparently the Foxes were a highly-respected yet strictly pure-blooded bunch. All Slytherins; your typical pure maniac family. But this girl was a...Hufflepuff? Scarlett knew about not judging people, however, and when Lucia held out her hand, Scarlett shook it keenly, but not too energetically.

"I'm Scarlett Aden." Scarlett grinned at Lucia. "What were you doing here anyway? And are you part of the Foxes? As in...I think Elony Fox or something? Or was it Ebony..."

Lucia noticed a flicker of recognition pass over the girl's cheery features and felt quite pleased. Ebony had been right, then, when she had said that a Fox should always be recognised.
"I'm Scarlett Aden." the girl said, grinning. Her smile was so infectious that Lucia found herself smiling slightly as well, although she wasn't quite sure why - there wasn't anything to smile about!
"What were you doing here anyway? And are you part of the Foxes? As in...I think Elony Fox or something? Or was it Ebony..."
Lucia started for a moment, as if the questions had brought her back down to Earth from some far-off planet, although she didn't know which one.
"Ebony. She's my mother," she told the girl. "And I don't think I've heard of the name 'Aden'... What's your blood status?" Lucia asked, neatly sidestepping around the awkward question of "What were you doing here anyway?"
Lucia crossed her fingers under the folds of her long sleeves and hoped that Scarlett would answer 'Pure'. Then she would be allowed to be friends with her... But then Lucia's stomach twisted slightly as she remembered that Ebony wasn't here to monitor what her eldest daughter was doing - Lucia could be friends with whoever she wanted. Still though - the girl wasn't used to independence and it was such a habit to ask for blood status that she didn't take the question back.

Scarlett was amused by the fact that Lucia had skirted round her question of 'What were you doing here?' but she didn't let that show. She just pretended she hadn't asked that particular question. Scarlett didn't know much about the Foxes but Lucia seemed really nice for one from a prejudicing pure-blood family.

Lucia's far-away look came crashing into the ground when Scarlett asked who her mother was and stared for a moment before saying, "Ebony. She's my mother."

Drat! Scarlett was never one for names - so it was Ebony then. She nodded just to show she was listening because Scarlett knew from experience that people would not be motivated to talk if the listener wasn't, well, listening.

"And I don't think I've heard of the name 'Aden'... What's your blood status?" Lucia continued and this next question startled Scarlett a bit. Lucia didn't seem like the infamous pure-blood type, but Scarlett was determined that this girl was better than that, so she forged on.

"I'm Muggle-born," said Scarlett with a poker face. "Nope, just kidding!"

She laughed quickly.

"I'm pure-blood. Have you heard of Benedict Fulton; that Charms dude? I'm descended from him." Scarlett's mind suddenly flashed to Benedict Fulton turning in his grave at being called 'That Charms Dude' by his ancestor.

"And I have to say." Scarlett dropped her tone to a more serious one. "Do you have...that dilemma? Because you're a Hufflepuff and the Foxes are Slytherins, so I just thought-"

Scarlett stopped, hoping this wasn't - er - disrespectful. This was strange though. When was she ever concerned about being disrespectful? Well, when she was trying to make friends. Scarlett shrugged it off.

Interacting with @Scarlett Aden

When Scarlett said "I'm Muggle-born," Lucia's heart leapt for a second, although whether it was from fear, or perhaps even excitement (she had never met any less than a half-blood before), she didn't know, but when Scarlett then laughed "Nope, just kidding!" it stilled again, and Lucia felt a strange mix of relief and disappointment.
"I'm pure-blood." Scarlett continued. "Have you heard of Benedict Fulton; that Charms dude? I'm descended from him."
Then her voice seemed to speed up slightly, and her tone became far more serious as she asked, "Do you have...that dilemma? Because you're a Hufflepuff and the Foxes are Slytherins, so I just thought-" then she stopped suddenly, as if she had thought better of it. Lucia was glad of that, at least. Why did everyone have to see her as a Fox first, then herself second? But suddenly she realised - that was how Ebony wanted people to see her. Lucia ran her hand down her sleeve, feeling through the fabric the embroidered crest hidden away on the inside.
Lucia took a slight step closer to the girl; she felt slightly awkward trying to have a conversation from such a distance away.
She pondered for a second, then her eyes lit up.
"Benedict Fulton; yes, I remember now!" Lucia's eyes sparkled slightly as she joked, "Charms dude, indeed."
Then her voice faltered a little and her face seemed to loose some of it's new-found life.
"Um, what dilemma?" Lucia blurted quickly, hoping for some time to think, and not just start rambling on about her troubles with her house and her family.

You mind if I do the same thing? xD

Talking with @Lucia Fox

Scarlett hadn't realised they were having a conversation so far away until Lucia shuffled a bit further forward so they weren't having a shouting match across the ballroom.

And she saw that Lucia looked slightly conflicted at her not being a Muggle-born. Ooh, maybe this girl was actually quite cool. Scarlett added to her mental to-do list to introduce Lucia to some of her Muggle-born friends; she fit it in right between 'Swap everyone's house colours' and 'Dye people's hair neon green'. It admittedly slid in nicely.

Lucia mused about her question with Benedict Fulton before her eyes lit up with recognition. "Benedict Fulton; yes, I remember now! Charms dude indeed."

Scarlett bit back a snigger and a giggle. A sniggle?

Then Lucia's tone faltered a bit at her last question - it grew a tad nervous and Scarlett was seriously re-considering her life choices and whether they had a Time-Turner in-

"Um, what dilemma?" asked Lucia, rushed.

Scarlett mentally face-palmed and groaned. Now what was that? A mental face-groan maybe?

"Forget it," said Scarlett as smoothly as possible. "It's fine, I never should've asked. Do what you're comfortable with."

Then she tilted her head as if thinking - her red hair fanned out from the side - and she smiled.

Interacting with @ Scarlett Aden
Sorry for such a late reply XD

Lucia sighed, seeing that Scarlett had regretted asking her question, but the girl smiled, so she did not seem to hold anything against Lucia.
"It's fine," Lucia said shortly, then realising she should probably say something.
"But if you mean the dilemma where I've been brought up Slytherin my whole life and suddenly been catapulted into Hufflepuff then yes, I do. And it - what's the word Muggles say?" Lucia paused for a moment, trying to remember. "Sucks. It sucks."
Lucia pronounced the word 'sucks' slowly and carefully, as she always did on the few occasions when she used a Muggle phrase. Her tongue, teeth and lips moved together to form the word so precisely that it was as it was made of glass or crystal, and might crack at any moment.
Lucia cast around in her mind for something she could change the subject with.
"So, Benedict Fulton huh?" Lucia ventured, "Does the talent run in the family?"
Lucia knew from awkward conversations with her two younger sisters that people like to talk about themselves; if you give almost any person a subject relating to them, they will grab onto the idea and stick with it for as long as possible, especially if it was something that they were good at. She hoped Scarlett was good at Charms.

@Lucia Fox

Scarlett was generally trying to make a bit of small talk, because Lucia seemed nice. Hopefully she wouldn't say the wrong thing again. It was going alright, the chat. She had no idea what time it was. 3pm? Her mind started to wander, until Lucia's reply jolted her back.

"It's fine," Lucia said quickly. "But if you mean the dilemma where I've been brought up Slytherin my whole life and suddenly been catapulted into Hufflepuff then yes, I do. And it - what's the word Muggles say?"

She paused for a moment. "Sucks. It sucks."

Scarlett laughed to herself. It was always interesting to see how the pure-blood-obsessed type families acted, even if their children were different. Personally, at Hogwarts, Scarlett had found plenty of students from families like those, and they were all nice enough. Lucia said the word awkwardly, like she was extracting something from her teeth, which was no surprise. She didn't expect someone from the Foxes to be flinging around Muggle slang in day to day life.

"So, Benedict Fulton, huh?" continued Lucia. "Does it run in the family?"

"Maybe," said Scarlett nonchalantly. She enjoyed Charms, and they were just so useful. And fun - generally getting a wand that you could call your own created a feeling to its own merit. "I mean, you need to be good at Charms to be a prankster, right? Or at least it helps."

She didn't mention her home tutoring from her estranged mother. She wasn't ready to go there yet.

"So," said Scarlett. "How are classes? Which are your favourites?"