A bird, a chirp, and a tune Finished

Ami, sitting ten or twenty meters away, watched this all with an amused expression. How natural this girl seemed, how at peace with herself and the world. How accustomed to all of this... magic. As Ami herself wasn't as accustomed to all of this, yet (next to no signs of pre-eleven magic), she marveled at those who'd grown up with all of this their entire life. She pulled her cardigan tighter around her shoulders, now sorely wishing she'd adhered to the dress code and worn the standard black robe everyone else wore.

Like her favorite hero, Sherlock (played by the oh-so-gorgeous Benedict Cumberbatch), always did, Ami assessed the girl, looking her up and down. Her robes marked her as Ravenclaw, and she looked like a first-year- Ami's age. The tune wasn't one she'd heard before, which must mean she was from a richer family than she- Ami'd made a point of learning as many down-to-earth songs as she could.

Ami picked up the music sheets she'd been marking up (some nocturne or etude by Chopin sent to her by her mother) when the wind blew one of them away from her. She mumbled something along the lines of, "Drat," and slowly stood up. She wasn't in any particular hurry, as the wind wasn't the strongest, but then it picked up even more. She hustled herself after the cartwheeling sheet and snatched the offending paper up mere meters from the water.

Sitting down calmly, Nora chirped to the bird,”What’s your name little one?”
The nightingale, just as shocked as before, stared at the young wizard in wonder. How did she know their language, the bird didn’t know, but if she could speak it, he might as well reply.

“I have not had any name put upon me yet, we birds don’t usally earn a name until adulthood.”

The young wizard smiled at the bird, and went into thought. Maybe she could herself suggest a name for him? It all depend on the cultural values that bird’s family followed. If given a human name, it could be a form of honor or disgrace for the little bird, so instead, she decided against it. The nightingale looked up at her confused, wondering what her next words were going to be, but as soon as Nora as going to continue the conversation, it was interrupted.

She heard soft mumbling behind her, startling her slightly. It wasn’t the word itself or the person, just the suddenness of the sound that had spooked her. Nora lifted her finger into the air, and with a little bounce of her hand, the nightingale flew off, back into the trees. She turned around to see another Ravenclaw like herself chasing a paper along the bank.

“Do you need some help by any chance?”

Ami heard the girl chirping to the bird, which was rather amusing to listen to. She'd never heard a bird imitated so well. When she saw the girl turn a look at her, however, the blood in her veins (metaphorically) turned to ice, and she gulped at the thought of social interaction. There was no escaping, however, when the girl asked, "Do you need some help by any chance?"

"Um." Ami looked back down at the papers in her hands. Ah, she was referring to the Case of the Windblown Music Sheet. "No. No, I don't think so." Hadn't her mother lectured her about her manners right before she set off for Hogwarts? "Thank you for offering to help, that was very kind and thoughtful of you," Ami continued. She stuck the papers in a sheaf under her arm and extended her hand to shake. "Hi. Hello." She cleared her throat, and tried again. "I'm Ami. Please excuse my overall awkwardness," she laughed nervously. "I'm not really accustomed to talking to new people- Hogwarts is my first real practice." She stared pointedly at the badge on the girl's chest. "Raven... Ravenclaw, that's right. You're Ravenclaw? So cool! I'm a Huffle- uh, what's it again?" She scrunched her nose in thought. "Oh yeah. Hufflepuff. Sorry, I'm terrible with names."
She gasped. "Gosh, I totally forgot! What's your name?" She cursed internally, trying to stop herself from rambling.

Nora smiled back at the girl, softly laughing along with her. If it weren’t for all the nature around them, Nora herself would also be a vicious mess of stumbling words and incomplete phrases. Unless she was comfortable, she usually stayed on the middle ground where she could manage social contact most of the time.

“Hogwarts is one of my first social experiences as well, this environment is a pretty big change from being locked in my room most of the time.” Nora understood completely what the girl meant from Nora’s own lack of contact with the outside world. Her parents had always been afraid to let her leave the house for stars know what reason, but she didn’t mind as long she had her secretly stashed phone and social media outlets.

The young wizard observed Ami’s marking as well on her robes, seeing the traditional Hufflepuff yellow imprinted on them. The Hufflepuff were known to be very kind people, so she was happy to finally run into one herself. After being lost in thought for a few seconds, Nora heard Ami’s question and replied smoothly,” My name is Nora, Nora Selnius. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” She observed the sheet music under Ami’s arm and asked,” Are you musically inclined by any chance? I always have loved the arts, especially when it comes to music.”

Ami paused for a brief moment, going over all the calming methods her mother had taught her so she wouldn't go into a full panic attack. She savored the girl's name, letting it roll around his brain. Nora Selnius. Nora Selnius. Nora. Selnius. Nora was a nice, sweetly common name- not that there was anything wrong with that. Artistically creative, shy in a large group of strangers, but to Noras, friends are family. Selnius- an uncommon 'ln' combination at the end of a syllable, how sweet, and the sweet 'ius' ending sent shivers of delight down Ami's spine. Oh, how she loved this girl's name! Nora Selnius. She'd certainly remember that one.

Nora had mentioned something about being locked in her room- so that meant she misbehaved, and her parents still believed in the medieval punishments. Interesting. Certainly interesting.

"Are you musically inclined, by any chance?" Nora had asked. "I always have loved the arts, especially when it comes to music." Ami glanced down at the papers tucked under her arm and blushed a shade the same color as her hair. "Oh. Yeah, I play the piano. My mother insisted on my learning it, and I really started to pick it up when I was 8. Now, I just can't let it go," Ami smiled. "Do you play any instruments? Oh," she thought to add. "You look like an actual witch, by the way. That's means you're... you're a... uh, confound it all, what's the term?" She scrunched up her nose, and finally exclaimed, "Full-blood! Right?" she added uncertainly.

walking out of the castle in a swim suit Lilith headed to the great lake , she stopped close bye the girls not noticing them and set down her school bag before jumping in the water. her skin turned a shiny blue everywhere the water touched . she had so many different types of blood, spit, and venom from different creatures that she used to care for back at home that she took on some of their traits in certain situations. she was an odd witch to say the least. ever one of her best friends sometimes called her a freak but she didn't mind because it was true. swimming to the surface of the water she herd a few chirps and spotted the other girls who had already spotted her and her bright blue scales as she had unknowingly swam closer to them. she waved at them awkwardly not sure what to do bout the situation. she had only come out to swim because her skin was itching for the water and it was a beautiful weekend . she tried to talk but made an odd sound but remembering her gills she spat out some water and cleared her throat " hi , I'm Lilith"

Nora payed attention to Ami, making sure to keep the piano interest the other girl harbored in mind. If she were to become closer to her, it would be a good idea to keep the detail in mind. Nora’s interest in others, despite her anxiety, always seemed to peak when she met someone. From what she could tell, Ami was a nice girl, and she couldn’t wait to speak more to her.

“Do you play any instruments?”
Nora nervously smiled, looking for her worrds. After a few ticks, she was able to formulate a sentence,”Well, I’ve really tried, but I can’t seem to play one for the life of me. The only thing I’ve ever been ok at is singing.”

At hearing the next question, Nora, a bit more confident than before replied,” Yes I’m a Pure-Blood, according to my family at least. I’ve never really been shown any other family members before, and I do seem to have some skills my parents don’t, so I'm currently researching to see if I'm really what my parents say.”

Soon enough, something caught Nora’s eyes, and she turned to see what appeared to be another student in the water, but instead, they seemed to have more of a mermaid appearance. Nora’s face went from a quick shock to realization, and she grinned, the girl must work with many types of creatures. After the girl, who’s name seemed to be Lilith, introduced herself, Nora introduced herself as well.
“Hi, I’m Nora, Nora Selnius. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

Lilith giggled at the other girl's expression "interesting thoughts, I do happen to work with many creatures and to say the least I've gotten my fair share of them in me" she showed the girl the scars on her body from werewolf bites , a unicorn's horn , a centaur's hooves , a merperson's sharp scales , a dragons claws and who knows what else. she sat on the edge of the water calmly spitting out a bit more water "I'm surprised that you didn't flip out since I'm a bit of a one witch freak show. most people don't like odd magic and slightly unhuman beings " she scratched at her scales causing a few to fall off. she picked them up and put them in a small container labeled mermaid scales. she used some of her abnormalities for potions and jewelry like mermaid scale necklaces , they were also worth a bit of money in magic shops around London since mermaid scales were not easy to find. smiling she played with a few and braided het hair which was drenched but was slowly drying out again. she wondered if the girls would be offended that she was listening to their thoughts.

When Ami first saw Lilith, thought number one was her running around in her head, digging through old memories, trying to figure out what Lilith reminded her of. Growing up in Chicago taught her not to judge, so she wasn't all that surprised by anything anymore. But something about Lilith reminded her of something, something mildly familiar, and then she remembered, and randomly blurted out, "The Little Mermaid!" She blushed, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh golly, that was really rude of me. Gosh, so, so sorry." She extended her hand to Lilith. "Hi. I'm Ami, Ami Procoppio. It's just... you remind me of a mermaid." Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. "Are you a mermaid? Because that's just not fair to the rest of us- you already get a head start on the way-cool factor." Then, of course, her politeness factor suddenly decided to kick in. "I mean, it's totally cool if you are and stuff. Geez, I probably sound so dumb right now. I'm sorry, only my mother's a witch, and she doesn't really talk about this stuff with me, so I'm just going in blind, here. Y'all are so lucky that your parents told you about all of this."