Closed Charms Classmates PV Hui Ming RP

Interacting: @Grace Swan

English | Mandarin | Quotes

Charms. one of the last classes that Ming would be having. A part of him was resigned to these classes, no matter what the fates threw at him, he would bite the bullet and perform. It was expected of him, after all, and he would not let down his family name, not even among the oddities that populated this new world.

As had become his policy, he was the last student to enter the classroom. He had seen Mr. Harrington use this strategy to great effect when he wished to avoid being clumped in with the masses, and had been using it himself ever since.

Today it seemed as if this tested means would fail him at last, as the Professor had ordered that each student partner up with someone not of their house. He did not know any Gryffindors bar one, and she was clearly already accounted for.

The Chinese boy looked around the classroom, hoping that everyone had paired up so he was left with an acceptable excuse to be left alone, but alas! It appeared that several of the lions had yet to have partners. That would just be his ill luck.

He looked his available choices over, before picking a blonde girl. She did not seem to exude the manner of exuberance and energy that would drain him from just being in the vicinity of the girl. With a slow, assured gait, the Chinese Slytherin walked up to the girl.

"Excuse me," he said politely as he neared her, quietly looking her over. Despite initial appearances, the he estimated that the two of them were less alike than he had initially hoped. His dark hair was neat, while her blonde hair was tied in a dirty ponytail. His face carefully neutral, showing nothing of his wariness, while she wore her excitement freely for the world to see. His uniform was neat and immaculate, hers....

"Is this seat taken?"

Meeting @Hui Ming

Interacting: @Grace Swan

English | Mandarin | French | Quotes

"Much obliged, Miss Grace. My name is Hui Ming, Slytherin first-year." Hui Ming met the greeting with one of his own. While hers was carefree and light, his was reserved and formal, something you might expect as a formal event, or from one of the adults in the more 'serious' situations. Not that this was something that occurred to the Chinese boy, though. For this was his usual fare, and normal behavior.

Carefully, the boy placed his bag on the desk, before drawing out a notepad and a ball-point pen. He had insisted on sticking to his muggle roots quite deliberately to spite the wizarding traditions. It had attracted some attention, especially among his first year peers, the attention had quickly died down as the Professors decreed that any assignments turned in with ink was acceptable regardless of the medium of writing.

The bespectacled boy took a seat next to the blonde, casting a quick look around to try and find his peers - ever since the goose incident he had been rather on edge, expecting to beset by some manner of unfathomable horror the moment he let his guard down.

Only after he was reasonably certain of the location of his associates did he return his attention to his classmate, only to realize that perhaps she expected some manner of interaction from him.

What could he really speak to her about? He was a student, not some manner of odd social being who thrived off conversation with strangers! He could hardly talk about theory or studies - the things that made him most of his current associates.

"Pardon the interruption," he said slowly, unsure of what kind of conversation he could possibly have with her. "But if you would indulge my curiosity. How has the Gryffindor house been treating you?"

Lemon drops with @Hui Ming

Interacting: @Grace Swan

English | Mandarin | French | Quotes

The Chinese boy blinked in surprise. He had not been expecting such a frank admission from someone he had barely met. But then the wizarding world and its customs and norms seem ever-more confusing to him.

Privately he could empathies with her desire to stay away from certain people - had he not all but begged the Astronomy Professor for permission to visit after hours, if only for a quiet place to reflect and ruminate without the troublesome interactions that ran rampant in the snakes' nest? He could hardly express such a view, though. Instead he chose to ruminate on her second point.

How was Slytherin House treating him? It was... Ming thought back to his experiences. The insanity of the first day - both the things he had missed in the common room and the teachers in absentia; Dmitri Jones, awe and terror all rolled into one; and the fights he was all but forced into with the upperclassmen. Pile upon that the stress of maintaining two whole sets of academia - the Muggle one and the wizarding world - and trying to understand a whole new world. To say that he was overwhelmed would be putting it lightly.

He gave the girl a tight smile, before answering. "I suppose it could be much worse." This was technically the truth. He could have been set alight, or been set upon by some bloodthirsty vampire. He could also point to Mr. Harrington, alone in the house of the friendly and loyal.

It was a disquieting thought, how difficult this world was. He considered Miss Grace for a moment, wondering if her words were a mask of social decorum. Or perhaps the experience of this world was as difficult as one chose to make it, and he was just making it harder on himself, trying to live up to his own standards.

The girl seemed to notice his discomfort, and offered him some candy. It gave every appearance of being innocent candy, and not the monstrous chocolate frogs or the surprisingly every-flavored beans. Not able to come up with a polite way to decline, Ming accepted the proffered candy gingerly with a soft 'thank you'.

"I had thought," he said finally after some contemplation - this candy was excellent, he really had to look into trying to procure some for himself - "that I was a poor match for Slytherin. Surely, I would do well in Ravenclaw?"

"I was wrong." He tapped his pen on a desk a couple on the desk. No, that did not sound right at all. He ought to reword that, lest he leave her with the wrong impression. "What I meant to say, Miss Swan, is that there is a reason we were assigned our Houses. Perhaps you need to seek the reason why you belong?"