Tears Finished

"U-uh, um, yes...yes I am. S-sorry you had to witness that," the girl squeaked, and Ami's heart broke and crumbled even more. "Honey..." Ami said softly, and realized she probably sounded like her mother. She mentally slapped herself, and lectured, This girl is probably your senior, Ami. Get it together. "It's totally fine. It's my fault for intruding upon you this lovely evening." She stepped closer, trying not to scare the girl away with her imposing height.

"U-uh, really, I'm really sorry. I-is this your spot? I've disturbed you with my ugly sobs, haven't I? I'm so sorry I didn't mean to. I'll leave right away, uh.." "My spot?" Ami laughed kindly. "No, I just wander around this castle at night. A miracle, really, I haven't been caught out yet." Ami peered at the girl anxiously through the dark. "You won't rat me out, will you?"

Ami, taking a deep breath and silencing her anxiety's cries, crossed the Observatory over to the girl in three large strides. She stuck her hand out, saying, "Ami," as a simple introduction. There was no need for anything else atop this hulking Observatory, where everything else seemed so much more complicated than everything else in life, yet so simple at the same time.

AHH so so so sorry for the late reply

"(Redacted), first year. Hufflepuff. Nice to meet you, Ami," (Redacted) said, shaking Ami's hand. To Ami's immense surprise, it was strong and firm- the type that her dad's bosses used. What kind of household taught their daughters to shake hands like business-men? Clearly, this girl was worldly and well-traveled.

Ami grinned, saying, "I'm a Hufflepuff too! Golly, so many new people in our house, right?" Ami asked, laying it on thick, trying not to let the happy, cheery mask slip. She tilted her head, and added, "You don't have a British accent, do you? Ooh, I like you so much more than everyone else already. Are you from America? No..." Ami trailed off, thinking. "You're too nice to be American. I bet you're Canadian- Canada is the best. I love their Starbucks- somehow, it's just slightly different from America's."

Ami smiled, moving towards the edge of the Observatory, leaning against the stone walls, staring up at the sky. "Oh, it's so beautiful," she sighed softly, closing her eyes, relishing the cool breeze on her face. "Really, this whole curfew thing is pretty stupid. Why sleep when you can enjoy this view?"

"Hehe, that's true, I am from Canada! And I can most definitely say that Starbucks is great there...Tim Horton's too." Ami sighed happily. "Yes... Tim Horton's, my bae!" she yelled, trying to remain upbeat, if only for (Redacted)'s sake.

Oh, who was she kidding? What was she even saying? (Redacted) was perfectly capable on her own- this was for herself; this is who she could become. But enough about herself- tonight, was making (Redacted) feel better.

"Ahh...I suppose. But I mean, as hypocritical as it is, sleep is important! Especially for good grades." Hypocritical, Ami mused to herself. And I thought my vocabulary was larger than most. Hypocritical- giving off a sense of, 'Do as I say, not as I do.' More commonly known in the form of the word 'hypocrite'. "Good grades, huh?" Ami said quietly. "Huh. So you're a scholar. Yeah, that's never been me- never will be me, either. Never been the type to try. If it interested me, I got good grades. Things like History, or Language Arts, or Spanish? Kaput. D's. Man, you should've seen the look on my dad's face when he saw I got a C in gym- I thought he was going to explode, his face was so purple. I suppose it'll be different at Hogwarts- all new things, all new subject, whole new grading system... maybe I'll actually pay attention, for once."

"Yeah, I like studying and reading books a lot and all. It's really fun! It's grown on me ever since I was little..." (Redacted) admitted. Ami sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You'll have to tutor me, then. I don't want Hufflepuff to lose house points because I procrastinate everything." 

"And people thought I should have been in Ravenclaw and so I thought I'd get into that house but... here we are." Ami smiled encouragingly- if the Sorting Hat thought she should be in Hufflepuff, she was most definitely in Hufflepuff. "Well, supposedly, the Sorting Hat's never wrong. If you're in Hufflepuff, you're a Hufflepuff. And I'm glad you're in my house- you go earn those points, girlfriend," Ami said, trying to be encouraging. "If you don't, no one else will." That was a lie, but it sounded good. "And, that also means your loyalty to friends and kindness towards other trumps your knowledge, so just imagine how freaking awesome you are."

"I wonder if Hogwarts has World Language classes," she mumbled idly. "Easy A. No, wait, that's not the grading system... O. That's right- easy O, if there was Mandarin or Spanish. Well, maybe not Spanish- I'm not the best at that. (Redacted), do you speak any languages?"

Ami stared at (Redacted) in awe. "Woah woah woah. Slow down there, girlfriend. That's, what, that's..." Ami recounted in her head. "That's five languages, and if you get Russian and Spanish down pat, that's seven. What is that, septa-lingual? Hepta-lingual? I don't know, depends on if you wanna go the Greek or Latin route- I suppose both can be used. (Redacted), you're amazing- that means you're a polyglot! I've never met one before..." Ami gushed. "Your parents must be so proud of you. Not many people can do that."

Man, if Ami could speak seven languages, she would travel more than she already did, and revisit the places she really loved, like Denmark or France. If she could speak Danish or French fluently, she'd probably move to either Denmark or France; that's just how much she loved those countries. Ami sighed happily, thanking her mother for dragging her around the world on random excursions.

"Do you play any instruments?" Ami asked, interested. "I find music soothes the soul better than any other medium- chocolate isn't applicable in my case, I can't eat it. My own downfall, I suppose, but oh well. I can't exactly go back now," she laughed, tugging on her hair.

"Hmm, I suppose so...but you see, they were at first, I suppose, but then it just became a normal thing. My father speaks 9 languages, he's really smart. And I adapt to things really quickly like my family too, so excitement dies quite quickly in my house." Ami stared at (Redacted) in disbelief, her eyes wide. "Wait, wait- nine languages? Holy schmoly... geez, what kind of geniuses are you, sucking up all the smartness in the world?" Ami complained in a joking matter. "Leave some for the rest of us, will ya?!"

"OH!" (Redacted) yelled loudly, startling Ami. She stared at her with wide eyes, panicking. Was something wrong? Did she do something stupid (again)? "You wanted to join the Music club here too, didn't you?" (Redacted) asked. Ami sighed in relief, glad she wasn't in trouble or anything. "Yeah, yeah I did. Oh yeah!" Ami exclaimed, finally remembering. "You walked in right after me! I remember now... you play piano, right?" Ami asked, stretching her memory skills to the limit. "And... uh, violin? No, you don't seem like a violin type of girl... you play viola, too, right? God, please tell me I'm right. I swear, if you're a violin..." Ami shook her head. "I don't know what I would do. My music-radar would be so off!"

"Which instruments do you play Ami?" Ami gave (Redacted) a weird look. "I mean... I just kinda... um... play stuff. Well, if I'm honest, I play piano the most- that's my favorite. I'm not super into classical music, though, although that's all my British piano teacher taught me. It just gets kinda boring after a while. I prefer pop- American pop. I used to be- was- am- geez, I don't even know anymore- in a band. Um... let's see, what else..." Ami tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Guitar. Yeah, I play guitar... acoustic, mostly, but sometimes I have to fill in for Thomas if he has baseball practice, so occasionally I'll play electric bass. Hmm... oh! I play the four string instruments- mostly cello, but I know how to play the other three. You get what I mean, right?"

Ami shook her head in awe. "Man. Five languages, four instruments... anything else I should know about the One and Only, Amazingly Awesome (Redacted)?" Ami grinned. "That should be a column name; The One and Only, Amazingly Awesome (Redacted)! Starring Hufflepuff's brightest pupil, (Redacted)! Transcribed, edited, and featuring Ami Procoppio, whose head is always up in the clouds!" Ami laughed, her eyes twinkling.

“In a band?! Woah, Ami, that’s so cool! What was it like?”

Ami shrugged, laughing ruefully. "Man, being in a band was stressful. So, so stressful. Arranging practices, booking gigs, getting pressured to busk on the streets of Chinatown... y'know, the part I left out was that there were only two of us- it was just Thomas and I. So if he had baseball practice, I just played by myself." She laughed again, embarrassed, remembering when she would just rock out by herself in the garage, all alone.

“Ami, thanks a lot for today! You’re a good...um...”

"You're a good friend," Ami finished for her. "You really are, (Redacted). You're hilarious, super smart, and super nice. And while I do enjoy your company, and the view from up here, we should get to bed before a prefect comes up here to murder us for being out this late." She smiled, and stood up, extending a hand to (Redacted). "Come on. I'll walk with you. Makes sense, because we're going to the same place... but you know what I mean." Her eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter, the Duchenne marker by her eyes indicating that yes, the smile was most definitely genuine.

Ami has left this thread.