DADA for First Years Closed

Maeve laughed softly. "So is my mother. She has tons of house elves, just for cle-cleaning. She does all the cooking herself." She flipped a page in her DADA book as she spoke. "If a room isn't cleaned at least twice per day, my mother considers that room, 'Unclean and useless for if guests come'. I find it hilarious. My room is a disaster at home. I don't like letting the house elves in. They mess with all my thi-things. Mixing them up everywhere and such."

She chewed her inner lip anxiously. "So, Lucien, how much magic do you know already? I have all of the first year spells memorized. I had nothing else to do this summer. I can cast most of them, but some are just a bit too difficult. Oh, and what's your favorite mag-mag-magical creature? I love them all! Do you like potions?" Now that Maeve had started to talk, she found it difficult to stop.

Maeve was definitely the talker around her siblings. She didn't speak around her parents, as they said her stutter annoyed them. Maeve hated being a burden, so she kept her words to simple, "Yes, Mother.", "No, Father.", and the obvious, "Whatever you say, Mother.".

Mia sat up a little straighter, and flipped her hair a bit. It was getting a bit too long, and she had to cut it over the break. Or whenever she had time.

Mia noticed the girl and the boy talking behind her a few minutes ago, about 5 minutes after the girl sat down, and was mildly irritated. Granted, she already knew what the proffessor was talking about, it was quite basic, but she wanted to pay attention, just a little bit. A minute later, she gave up.

"You know, class started a bit ago.."

Mia turned around slightly, and kept speaking, tapping her foot on the ground as she spoke, tapping to the rhythm of Combat Baby by Metric.

"So you might want to quiet down a bit."

She shot a look towards the teacher, knowing full well that they were absorbed in their lesson, too absorbed, to pay attention to a couple of students talking. Even so, Mia sunk lower in her seat.

"Mia Alexander. Slytherin. First year."

Mia looked at both of the students behind her, both in her house. She recognized them both, and felt confident that they would recognize her too, given her family name.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Turner, right?."

Mia smiled to show that she approved. Her family knew of the Turner line, and even though they were mostly Ravenclaws-except for this one apparently-he approved of them. Mia then turned to the boy.

"Escanora-I believe-sorry if I mixed your name up. Nice to meet you as well. I believe I have met one of your relatives? Are you related to Aravis and Odette?"

Mia raised an eyebrow questioningly, waiting for the boy's answer.

"Wel, um, I know a lot. My Aunt and Uncle taught us magic before school.
She taught us a lot of incantations and the hand movements. She had us practice with sticks we found in the yard. Favorite magic animal, um, probabaly an Occamy. I really like those. I'm quite good at potions actually, I'm working on a cure for myopia, schizophrenia, and I uh made one to fix clumisness but it doesn't last all too long." He said keeping this voice low. The girl in front of him turned around. Lucien muttered a quiet apology for being a bit louder than he usually was. Then she sank in her seat before talking to them. He enodded about Aravis and Odette. "Yes, I'm related to them. Aravis was a bit head strong I apologise if she's done anything." He looked down at the mention of his sister. She had a terrible habit of offending people or picking fights. He was used to having to apologise for her. "You're an Alexander right? Doesn't your mother work for the ministry? I might have the wrong family...my dad works for the ministry so I usually hear about people from there." He said scratching the back of his neck, another habit he had developed when he was nervous.

"You're an Alexander right? Doesn't your mother work for the ministry? I might have the wrong family...my dad works for the ministry so I usually hear about people from there."

Mia smiled at the recognition.

"Yes. My whole family-both sides-basically lives there"- Mia smiled and rolled her eyes-" And no, Aravis was not too much actually she was...refreshing. Compared to the lackluster attempts of other magical people to be genuine. As was Odette. She has an amazing singing voice you know. Even if she isn't that fond of Alternative music. I'm actually rather fond of your relatives."

Mia smiled, and brushed her hair out of her face.

"Sorry if that came across as creepy. I know them from bumping into them sometimes. I'm around the castle often, I can never stay in one place."

Mia now turned around, focusing her attention on Lucien.

"And um.. sorry for eavesdropping but um... do you have a cure for myopia? I am myopic myself, but I hate wearing spectacles, they look so silly, so I wear contacts. But I rather dislike them, and they make my eyes itchy. Plus"- Mia glanced towards the proffessor and then back at Lucien- "You cannot-I repeat- cannot swim with them in without goggles and"- Mia rolled her eyes-" Ugh. So annoying."

She suddenly realized that she might have scared him off. Worried, Mia glanced at him, hoping he didn't think that she was strange.

Maeve squealed when she heard Lucien say 'Occamy'. "I have one!" She whispered quicky, quieting herself at the girls' words. "His name is Eragon. He's abso-absolutely beautiful!"

"And yes, Turner. Even though I'm not Ravenclaw. Not smart enough, I suppose." Maeve said softly. "I'm Maeve. This is Lucien. Oh! You are an Alexander! Aren't you guys a strong mi-min-ministry family? Like, almost everyone gets a job there? Like the Turners are usually amazing potions masters or magical archae-archae-archaeologists?" She said quickly, not even bothering to get upset about the stutter that time. She knew that archaeologist was going to get a stutter, and she almost felt it deserved one. It was a huge word, after all.

"Oh, a potion to fix clums-clumsiness, Lucien? I should try that sometimes." Maeve laughed. "My siblings say I'm hopeless. Absolutely hopeless." She shook her head slightly. "I don't think I'm that bad, but I definitely need work."

By this time, Maeve had charmed her quill to write her notes so she didn't have to focus on it. She was trying to have a conversation, one that she believed shouldn't be interrupted. After all, Maeve was making new friends. It was something that she was horrible at. Or, at least she had thought she was.

Mia glanced at Maeve's quill dancing across it's paper.

"Impressive! What charm did you use to accomplish that?"

Mia laughed a small breathy laugh, and then turned to Maeve, serious.

"If you did this, then your previous statement- And yes, Turner. Even though I'm not Ravenclaw. Not smart enough, I suppose- is total baloney. I've never heard of a first year who could do that!"

Mia was exited at this point, and put a stand of hair behind her ear, ready to blabber on and on. She reminded herself- CALM- and pivoted her full attention towards Maeve.

"I'm a total charms nerd- although enthusiast is a better word to describe me- and i'd love to learn how you did that! I have a 'Quick-Quotes Quill', even though my mum says that it's frowned upon, and I shouldn't use it, but you're not murmuring to it..."

Mia trailed off, still staring at the quill intently.

"Does it have ancient runes scratched on it? Or is it some kind of blood magic? Sorry, but it fascinates me, the quill. I must learn how to do that!"

Mia proclaimed, sitting up straighter. People were staring at her now, and she sunk lower, hoping the teacher didn't notice. They didn't.

"Oh, my brother Alexander gave this to me as a gift. Alexander said if I tell it to write, it'll copy any-an-anything I want it to." Maeve explained. "I'll ask him the spell, though. I don't think he made it. Probably got one of our older si-siblings to do it for him." She chuckled.

"I'm not really that smart..." Maeve murmured. "Definitely not as sma-smart as Dahlia or Benjamin were when they were my age. They're my other siblings. They're twins. Sno-snobby twins." She added, as an afterthought.

Maeve looked at her quill thoughtfully. She supposed it was pretty cool, but she was so used to magic, nothing seemed to surprise her anymore. That saddened her greatly. When she was younger, her father would show her tons of different charms to impress her. It always amazed her.

Maeve smiled at her new friends. "Weird, isn't it, that coming from a pure-blood fa-family means that we're too used to magic to find it inter-int-interesting? I think it's sad. When I was young I loved magic. Now it's just ano-another normal thing. We don't get to ex-experience it for the first time like the mug-mu-muggleborns." She knew her stutter was becoming even more prominent as she ranted, but she couldn't stop. It was a problem she thought was important. "I me-mean, magic is wonde-wonderful, but I don't enjoy it like I used to. It's sad. He-hear-heartbreaking, actually."

Weird, isn't it, that coming from a pure-blood fa-family means that we're too used to magic to find it inter-int-interesting? I think it's sad. When I was young I loved magic. Now it's just ano-another normal thing. We don't get to ex-experience it for the first time like the mug-mu-muggleborns. I me-mean, magic is wonde-wonderful, but I don't enjoy it like I used to. It's sad. He-hear-heartbreaking, actually.

The girl stuttered through the proclomation and Mia smiled.

"How true. But coming to this place," Mia gestured towards the cielings of the room, smiling, "really is amazing. It renewed my interest in magic, especially Charms class. I love it so much. It is my favorite class!"

Mia smiled and went on to look around the room.

"And I think that I figured it out. The quill I mean. It must be some strange form of the Protean charm! You know, the one that links things together? I have a coin that links my thoughts to it, and decides where I should go, or what I should eat. I'm indecisive on the highest level."

Mia laughed a small, breathy laugh, and responded to Maeve's previous statement.

"Also, Maeve, you shouldn't sell yourself short. I'm sure that you're plenty smart."

Mia smiled at Maeve cautiously, and then continued talking.

"Anyways, class is over soon. What are you guys doing next?"

Maeve nodded thoughtfully. "That does make sense... I'll ask Alexander. I don't have an-any-anything going on after this class. I thought I might just head down to the reh-rehearsal room. I need to practice my piano playing. Mother wants me to memorize three diff-different songs for my annual Chri-Christmas performance."

She glanced up at the teacher briefly, making sure she wasn't watching the trio talk. Maeve didn't need to be in trouble for being late and talking. Dahlia would never let her hear the end of it. ("Do you even care about school, Maeve?" "I bet you got put in Slytherin because of your unwillingness to be in class" would be just a few of the things the older girl would say to her little sister.)

"Maybe we could sit to-toget-together at dinner tonight? I usually sit with Guy, Aravis, Marcus, and Oph-Ophelia, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind two new ad-additions to our little group." She smiled at Lucien and Mia. "It'd be fun. Guy is mug-muggleborn. He's very curious about everything! You guys could help the rest of us tea-teach him about the ma-magical world." Maeve said excitedly. She was getting far too excited for such a little thing, but it meant a lot to her.

"Maybe we could sit to-toget-together at dinner tonight? I usually sit with Guy, Aravis, Marcus, and Oph-Ophelia, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind two new ad-additions to our little group. It'd be fun. Guy is mug-muggleborn. He's very curious about everything! You guys could help the rest of us tea-teach him about the ma-magical world."

Mia smiled at Maeve. She usually ate dinner in the kitchens, she couldn't be bothered to make the trek to the Great Hall when there were books to be read, but maybe, just maybe, actually talking to people while eating good food would be fun. It wasn't like she was some recluse, Mia had like one good friend, and that was her cousin, but she had plenty of casual friends that she had spoken to once or twice. Mia decided to respond.

"That would be amazing. I'd love to meet Guy, Marcus, and Ophelia, and I've already met Avaris..."

Mia smiled at Maeve and turned to Lucien, her eyes sparkling.

"As you now know."

Mia turned back to Maeve.

"And about heading to the rehersal room, mind if I tag along? I play a few instruments, but not the piano, unfortunately, and it's an annual tradition for Alexander children to play songs over the summer at gatherings. It's quite a bore, actually, but I don't mind."

Mia smiled and continued talking to the two.

"I guess it's a pure-blood family thing."