An Odd Introduction Closed

Taking a few steps in the second-floor corridors, Millie felt the breeze trickle past her as the Bloody Baron passed by. Taking in her short, black hair, she was no longer thankful about her neck. The poor thing, it must've been as cold as the Baron himself. She watched for a moment, as the ghost floated off, dreary and cold.

And then she felt someone bump into her. It was a short girl, with long, very wavy brown hair. She had adorned Slytherin robes. Millie felt all the books in her hand, tumble and crash onto the ground. As the Slytherin girl bent down to pick them up, she herself picked up the books within her reach. Soon, they were all back in her hands.

When the girl straightened up, Millie saw that she had hazelnut eyes, a pretty common color, but it always seemed to amaze her. After all, she had purple eyes. Not even normal purple, but big, dark purple eyes. People either mistook them for black, red, or pink. It was hard to tell people they were purple. They were rare, after all.

The girl's eyes were red and puffy, and Millie could spot a few tears on the girls eyelashes, and quickly, worry took over. She swiftly reached her left hand- which wasn't holding books- over the girls shoulder, and pulled her into a one-armed hug. Millie was pretty affectionate.

"You alright? I'm not sure if there is anything to cry about. That could be subject to change, though." It had been a while since Millie had comforted someone, but she wasn't going to give up now. Not so soon.

'Forget avoiding attention,' Bridget thought miserably. She supposed her book would have to wait.

At least she had run into someone nice--the girl hadn't seemed mad, given her a side-hug (which was kind of awkward...), and asked if she was okay.

"I'm fine," Bridget said, but knowing that she didn't look fine, she continued. "It's just, I totally failed Potions class. In the Muggle world, I had really wanted to be a chemist. Now that I have magic, I figured a career in Potions would be the closest thing. I guess it was just disappointing. Discouraging, really."

Bridget could feel her cheeks go pink. She didn't usually talk about her feelings--she rarely did so with her close friends (whom she would trust with her life), but here she was telling some random girl everything. It broke the cardinal rule in Bridget's book--don't trust anyone with anything private. She had that mistake once before, and she had been careful to never repeat it. In fact, she had hardly interacted with anyone outside of her family and two friends since then.

"It's stupid. It was just one class." To herself she added, 'But what if I keep failing?' She had never struggled with academics before. She couldn't imagine failing the one class she cared about.

"Here are your books," she said, handing them to the short girl. She had said too much already, and she hated being social. "Oh, and I'm Bridget. Bridget Collins."

Worst-case-scenario, she'd hopelessly embarrass herself. But maybe, just maybe, she would make a new friend.

So the girl was having trouble with potions. It wasn't that shocking. It was a difficult class, and the professor was quite scary. However, Millie had learned that as long as you keep trying, it will become easier over time. That being said, she hadn't been doing very well in potions, and she hadn't really improved all that much. But potions sucked, and Gryffindors had a very medieval attitude over potions because of Professor Snape all those years ago.

After taking back her books, Millie hoped the girl hadn't payed too much attention to the covers. On the front book, the cover was titled 'Parseltongues? Scary or Extraordinary.' While she still wasn't too new to her ability, she wanted to learn all about it. Seeing as most people associated it with the dark arts. In fact, her parents thought the same. They became very colder towards her, but they loved her all the same.

"Oh, and I'm Bridget. Bridget Collins."

The girl definitely looked like a Bridget. While Millie hadn't ever met one before, she imaged a Bridget to have brown hair and brown or hazel eyes. It seemed that this girl matched that perfectly. Bridget looked a bit anxious, or nervous. To Millie, they were pretty much the same thing.

"Nice to meet you, Bridget. I'm Euphrasia, but call me Millie."

"Good to meet you Millie," Bridget answered. She stood there awkwardly for a minute, unsure of what to say. With her friends, she could joke and talk about nothing and have fun. But with new people... well, she supposed there was small talk. Personally, Bridget thought small talk was kind of pointless. Not to mention that she was terrible at it. But, she figured she couldn't make new friends without getting to know people first.

"By the way, you have amazing eyes. Purple," she decided on saying. Her eyes wandered around the room, uncomfortable making eye contact. Although it was just a corridor, the room was stunning. Every block of stone was hewed by hand and laid in perfect order. The torches cast an otherworldly glow across the room and long shadows stretched from coats of armors. Pictures of various witches and wizards moved in their pictures. She smiled to herself remembering when one had talked to her on her first day. She had been tired after the Start of Term feast and didn't notice that the pictures were moving. It had been a big shock for her the next day when while hurrying to class, a wizard wearing a crimson robe had said hello. She had jumped almost a foot off the ground in shock. Now though, she was used to them. Everything at Hogwarts was so... so not normal, and it was a dream compared to the mundane buildings in the Muggle world.

"Are you reading for fun, or for school?" Bridget asked, gesturing towards the gilded books. Reading was, after all, one of her favorite pastimes, and it would be easier to talk about something she enjoyed.

She complimented Millie's purple eyes. The way they reflected the light, they were impossible to miss. Amethyst, or maybe even a purple crayon, but with sparkles. Why couldn't everything have sparkles? They were always so pretty! They didn't even have to be purple, but sparkly!

"Are you reading for fun, or for school?"

Would Bridget consider researching Parselmouths for fun? Millie remembered a class in DADA about them, but there wasn't anything assigned for homework or something. And she was not about to write an essay about her own kind. Ability or race, to her they were the same thing.

"Neither. I'm researching this thing called Parselmouths. When you can speak to snakes and stuff. Lord Voldemort, Salazar Slytherin, and Harry Potter are the most famous. Wacky, isn't it?" Millie smiled politely. She hoped that bringing the dark art into the conversation with Bridget wouldn't make her uncomfortable. And then the thought of Bridget reacting to the name Voldemort was torture.

There was nothing brave about saying the Dark Lord's name, Millie had just moved on like it was nothing. Like clockwork. Honestly, she just stopped caring, unlike most people. But then again, most people were still terrified he would arise once more, just as he had done when Harry Potter was in Hogwarts.

Wacky.

"Neither. I'm researching this thing called Parselmouths. When you can speak to snakes and stuff. Lord Voldemort, Salazar Slytherin, and Harry Potter are the most famous. Wacky, isn't it?" Euphrasia, or Millie, as she wanted to be called, answered.

Bridget focused hard, trying to remember everything she'd read about Voldemort, Salazar Slytherin, and Harry Potter. She hadn't heard about Parselmouths until now (other than a single line stating those people possessed that ability). Salazar Slytherin was, of course, the founder of her house, Slytherin. He was one of the first recorded Parselmouths after... who was it again? Someone the Foul... oh, of course! Herpo the Foul.

Voldemort was the most famous dark wizard of all time. A few days again someone had mentioned his name and several people had looked horrified. To Bridget though, he was just another figure of history. Someone to not end up like. She had seen how Euphrasia had eyed her, as if waiting for her to react. But she hadn't because she hadn't grown up hearing tales of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's heinous crimes.

And finally, there was Harry Potter. Known as the Boy Who Lived in many books, he was possibly the most famous person in the wizarding world. All her more recently published textbooks mentioned him, plenty of library books talked about him, and there were even fictional spin-offs of his life. Spoiler Alert—don’t read if you haven’t finished Harry Potter: (Of course, his ability as a Parselmouth came from him being an accidental Horcrux... whatever that meant.)

"That sounds cool. You know, speaking to snakes," Bridget said. She glanced down at her analog watch that her grandma had given her last Christmas. It was an old leather strap with silver fastenings. It was almost time for dinner.

"It's almost time for dinner. I need to put my books back in my dorm... maybe we could sit together?" Bridget asked. Euphrasia seemed nice... maybe even someone she would want to be friends with. Besides, the only way to know for sure was to find out more about her. She offered Euphrasia a rare smile, hoping she would say yes.

Bridget seemed a lot less phased than Millie had thought. Though, people seemed a lot less phased nowadays. She remembered once vaguely saying the name aloud, and her mother panicking and hiding behind a couch. Even if Naomi had been a muggle-born, there was no need to react in such manner. Millie had been a lot more careful since the incident. After all, dad had shouted at her for a good twenty minutes. But why would he care so much? It's not like he personally knew Voldemort himself, and it nobody in the family were death-eaters. What freaks.

Millie knew she was a Parselmouth, herself. She had only been able to tell two people, Marla, and Lallie. The former was because both Marla and Millie found out about their abilities together, the latter was more from a mental breakdown in the bathroom, in front of the opened Chamber. Very interesting.

"It's almost time for dinner. I need to put my books back in my dorm... maybe we could sit together?"

Millie nodded absentmindedly. She had been looking at the cover of her book, and looked at the ripped and torn up cover. It was green and red, with rips and tears all around the edges. On the inside, there were scribble marks, and a name poorly signed. It was nearly impossible to decipher.

"Sure. We can totally sit together. I should go ahead and put my books up. I'll meet you in the Great Hall, though?" Millie waved her left hand, the one that didn't have books, and ran off, excited for lunch.