Falling Stars Finished

Quidditch had sounded pretty cool from the moment Henry first heard of it. Sure, the idea of the Bludger coming at him full speed was a bit frightening, otherwise it seemed fun. Also, the idea of falling off his broom midgame, whether by being knocked off by a bludger or another player was kind of terrifying. Perhaps there was another sport with brooms that didn’t involve so much knocking people off the brooms….Still, Henry kind of wanted to at least give the game a try. Perhaps it wasn’t all bad once you played.

Henry listened to Gabriella’s answer with deep interest. She really did remember everything! He barely managed to read the required readings for classes, let alone remember everything from them. If he had the focus that Gabriella had, perhaps he’d do better in class. Or, at the very least, have less questions. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a house elf,” he commented, “though that sounds a bit like the Goblins.” Henry did remember a bit about the lessons on the Goblin Rebellions. They were small creatures with pointy ears, and he had seen a few of them on his trip to Diagon Alley to get his school supplies. Perhaps they were related to house elves.

“Maybe it is a Transfiguration, then,” Henry contemplated, recalling the first Transfiguration lesson where they were told that they’d be able to vanish things. The professor was able to vanish something and then make it reappear. It must take a lot out of someone to cast a Transfiguration on so much food at once. “I think maybe I’ll see if I can find some books on it at the library…” he muttered thoughtfully. It was uncommon that he actually be interested enough in a subject to read so much on it, but he was genuinely curious. “It’s pretty cool going here,” he commented out of the blue, looking over the massive Great Hall in awe.

@Gabriella Haworth

"Hogwarts, you mean?" asked Gabriella, slightly taken aback by Henry's sudden subject change, although she didn't see why. Surely she should have seen it coming by now...

"I think it's amazing." Should she say all of what she was thinking? Yes. "Really amazing. And to think that a few months ago I never knew I was even magical, and now I'm here, in a magic school, learning to be a wizard. I thought I'd spend all my secondary school years doing physics and geography, but actually I'm learning Transfiguration and Charms instead? And the architecture, too..." She looked up in awe at the Great Hall, almost mirroring Henry's own movements. She thought of all the other grand places in the school - the library, her common room... heck, even the bathroom was ornately decorated. "I especially love it in here," she decided. "I like the floating candles. And the ceiling that's enchanted to look like the sky outside. That must have been a really powerful piece of magic, right? I wonder who cast the spell. Surely it was a really powerful wizard... maybe even one of the four founders themselves? Oh no, I'm rambling again..." She blushed - she was particularly prone to rambling and getting overexcited, although she had to admit that next to Henry she would appear perfectly calm and collected.

Not that she didn't like Henry for his enthusiasm, of course - in fact, the more she spoke to him, the more she realised that she really liked him, and that she really wanted to be his friend. We'll be seeing each other a lot more, she thought to herself, as if she had to justify her friendship with Henry, so it really has to make sense.

“Yeah,” Henry confirmed. The previous topic had been pretty much exhausted, and he wanted to keep talking. It was starting to get close to the end of the lunch break, so they were going to have to go onto their next class soon. Perhaps they would sit together, since they were first years in the same house, they had the same classes.

Henry grinned as Gabriella went on, a little surprised to here her say so much. “Right?!” He exclaimed. “The first time I walked in here I almost ran into someone in front of me! Sure, the walking through a wall to get on the train was magical, and the self-rowing boats, but being here for real was crazy.” It was one thing to experience a few instances of magic on their own, but at Hogwarts, it was magic 24/7 wherever he went. “I’ve been to a few castles on vacation, but nothing like this,” he said, nodding in response to her awe at the architecture.

“It’s really nice for knowing what the weather is going to be,” he commented, forgetting that there were plenty of windows between the Great Hall and the common room that he could look out of for the weather. “Can a spell last that long?” He asked, wondering if one of the four founders really could have cast it and the spell still be there. “If it can’t, then I wonder how long it lasts. Does a professor have to recast it every now and then?” He asked, wondering which professor it would be. That would mean they were being taught by a really powerful wizard! Though, all their professors were powerful.

It was getting to be really fun to talk to Gabriella. Though she didn’t talk as much – except mere moments ago – it was still interesting to have a conversation with her. She followed his abrupt transitions from topic to topic very well.

@Gabriella Haworth

"Maybe really really powerful wizards can make their spells last for centuries!" exclaimed Gabriella excitedly, letting her imagination run wild. "That would be so amazing. When I'm older, I think I want to cast a spell that will last centuries. How about you? What are your ambitions for this world? So far, obviously... neither of us have experienced much yet..."

Gabriella was conscious that the lunch break was coming to an end, so she didn't know why she had just started a whole new conversation about ambitions for the future. All she could do was hope that Henry didn't have much to say - but that seemed highly unlikely.

Subconsciously, she picked up one of Henry's stars from the large pile left discarded on the table, and fiddled with it in her hand. "You need to teach me how to make these some day," she commented. "Maybe we can meet in the common room sometime and you can teach me. And in return, I'll teach you to retain information..."

She had no clue why she had made that offer - the truth was, she didn't know how she retained information. It just came naturally to her. She hadn't even known that her memory was her special skill until she had met Henry, and now she was offering masterclasses? You're getting way too ahead of yourself, Gabby. Your thirst for validation is making you say stupid things and preventing you from having fun... She wondered where this voice in her head was coming from, and why it could see so deeply into the intricacies of her mind.

Maybe my subconscious knows more than I do. She sort of hoped this voice in her head stayed - she could do with a check-up from her subconscious from time to time.

The idea that someone could cast a spell that would last a long time was interesting. Maybe that was something else Henry would look into when he got the chance. All of a sudden, he was actually curious about stuff he’d need to research on books. “A spell to last centuries would be awesome!” He exclaimed. What did he want to do? He had no idea. “I’m not sure. Make everyone happy, I guess,” Henry responded, not having thought about it much. He did enjoy making the people around him happy, so maybe there was something he could do with that idea in mind? Still, he was only eleven, so the thought hadn’t crossed his mind much.

Part of him really hoped the lunch break would never end, but he knew there was no way to stop time. Besides, life wouldn’t be as fun if they lived in a single instance of time forever. Still, he was enjoying this conversation with Gabriella.

“Of course! It’s not too hard,” Henry said, picking up a star and looking it over. It really was quite simple. He would just need more parchment. Or, better yet, some paper that he didn’t need for classes and homework. “That sounds like fun, we should definitely do that.” He was curious how much she knew about retaining information, because he wasn’t very good at it. Maybe that could be another thing he would research, he thought. The list of things he was going to look into was getting awfully long, he was going to have a hard time keeping track soon enough. He made a mental note to get a notebook of some kind so he could make lists like this.

@Gabriella Haworth

"Cool," said Gabriella. It was strange - suddenly she had no idea what to say to Henry. They had just been talking for so long, and now it was suddenly awkward again, like all her social battery had been drained out of her all at once. It was like it had been before, before she came to Hogwarts. No, worse. At least, before she came here, not knowing what to say had been her greatest ailment. Now she felt bad about it too, and she didn't like that. She wondered if Henry could detect the awkwardness in the air.

It definitely wasn't anything Henry had said, Gabriella decided. After all, what had Henry said? Nothing! He just said he would teach her to make paper stars, which she had asked him to, after all. No, it was just a sudden change in Gabriella's mindset. But why? she thought to herself? Why this sudden change?

She sat in silence for a moment, thinking, before she realised she hadn't said anything in about a minute. Henry was probably expecting her to say something, right? "I - I think lunch break is ending soon," said Gabriella, hoping the enormous minute-long gap hadn't sounded too unnatural. "We should arrange a time and place to meet up..."

Unfortunately, the conversation seemed to die out. Henry had run out of things to talk about, which was uncommon, but still possible. Sometimes on sided conversations didn’t work very well, as he had learned when he was younger. He had friends back at his old primary school that didn’t like to talk a lot, and conversations with them tended to be very short. Henry didn’t feel awkward, though, when the conversation had ended. He took another bite of the sandwich he had grabbed, reveling in the silence. Even though he had the inability to stop his talking sometimes, he did occasionally enjoy the silence that came with those moments where he could stop.

When Gabriella finally spoke up again, Henry drew his attention back to her. “Yeah, it’s getting close. This was fun, I’m glad I met you,” Henry responded, grinning at her after glancing at the clock. “Definitely!” He was excited to teach her how to make stars. It really was quite simple. “Erm, how about tomorrow after supper?” He suggested. He supposed he could do it that night, but he would need to acquire more paper and she would need to collect her thoughts. Gabriella seemed pretty good with her words, but even Henry needed to prepare when he was going to talk a lot about something that required facts. Though, Gabriella could be different than him in that respect too….Either way, tomorrow night seemed reasonable.

@Gabriella Haworth

"Ok, sure!" cried Gabriella, glad that Henry hadn't detected awkwardness. She was already incredibly excited about tomorrow night - much more excited than she let on, in all honesty. It had been fun talking to him, and Gabriella saw that they could easily be good friends in the future.

She swung her legs around the table, and as she did so, a shower of stars fell off the table. Hastily, she scooped them up and carefully placed them back. When she knew how to make them, she was going to hang them up on her bed curtains, she decided. She debated to herself about whether she should say something about the school's luxurious four-poster beds - they were very important to her - but decided against it. The time for beginning new conversations was gone, it was time to leave.

She stood up and grinned broadly at Henry. "Bye!" she said loudly, waving madly although he was only two metres away from her "It was really great to meet you! Uh - see you tomorrow evening, I guess? Although I might see you in class before that, of course..."

Gabriella swung her school satchel round her shoulders and skipped merrily out of the Great Hall, happy and content with herself.

I've made a new friend!

Henry grinned when Gabriella agreed to meet together again. Diana had taught him to make stars only a year ago, but he hadn’t had anyone that he could teach the skill to. He was the youngest, after all. So, he was glad that Gabriella was excited to learn to make them.

When Gabriella got up from the table, a bunch of stars got swept off. Henry leaned down with her to help scoop them back onto the table. Now that he had made this many, and now that they had somewhere they needed to be, Henry wasn’t sure what he was going to do with them. Perhaps he would just pile them into his bag and figure something out later. Maybe he could hide some in the bookshelves in the library or in the common room. That way, if someone went to take a book down, they’d be met with a cascade of stars! That was a brilliant idea.

“Bye! It was great meeting you, too!” He returned the wave. “See you when I see you,” he added on, watching her for a second as she turned to leave before he turned back to his mess. He slipped his books back into his bag and then carefully piled the stars in on top of them. Getting books out during class was doing to be a bit difficult, but he was sure he could manage.

Now he had to go about the business of finding more paper….