Not My Favorite (Open) Closed

Adriel was happy to get out of the castle and into the sunlight, even if it was for her herbology class. She was unsure of what to expect, but, she hoped that it would somehow be exciting. She walked briskly down the path from the castle to the greenhouses, wasting no time to get inside and take a seat. 
"I don't know about you, but I hope we get to learn about Venomous Tentacula today," Adriel whispered as she sat down next to a Hufflepuff girl. She certainly wasn't shy, and she certainly wanted to see the animated vines of the Venomous Tentacula today, or else her hopes for the enjoyment of the class would drop greatly. Herbology wasn't especially exciting, though, she knew she wouldn't hate it as much as Muggle Studies or History of Magic. She had some experience with it. She'd help her parents grow plants for magical products in their apothecary back in Cork, but, frankly, she hadn't paid much attention. She'd much rather be pulling worms out of the dirt or throwing gnomes into the neighbor's garden than watching aconite grow.

She hoped the girl next to her was in agreement and not an avid lover of Herbology, less she get offended by Adriel's spirit.

Herbology was going to be Melora's favourite subject, she just knew it. She had always loved gardening.  It was one of the few things she had could occupy herself with since she rarely ever left the family's estate. 
As she neared the greenhouse she could feel all the anxiety that had been building up during the day just fade away. It was like her troubles just disappeared. She didn't feel homesick, she didn't care about not having any friends or worrying about having trouble keeping up with the other students. The gardens were her friends now and she couldn't be any happier.

But the moment she stepped into the greenhouse it was like her soul left her body. She had forgotten about one small detail... Other students. She tried her best to bring back her smile as she sat next to a ginger Gryffindor girl, doing her best to avoid eye contact.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

They were the first words she had spoken to another student. And just like that, Melora's anxiety was back.

It wasn't that she didn't like people. In fact, Melora loved people. She just had a hard time meeting new ones. Almost her entire life had been spent on the estate. The only kid she'd known was her sister and Melora had only seen her on the holidays. She wasn't really sure how to act around others. She hadn't met many people outside of her family and the few times she had she would've been hiding in her room until they left. 

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

Adriel had barely finished her words to the Hufflepuff girl when a voice called to her from her other side. She turned, smiling brightly already without having seen the owner. Her eyes found the green, silver, and black robes of Slytherin, and her eyes traced excitedly up them to find the face of the owner. It was a pretty girl with twin braids. The Slytherin looked rather nervous as she averted her eyes from Adriel, so Adriel, wanting to make the girl feel at least a little more comfortable, amped her friendliness up to the maximum, her face somehow radiating more joy than before as if she were some nuclear material glowing in a scientific laboratory. An overwhelming deluge of bright, bell-like syllables fell from her mouth and rang through the air cheerily.

"I don't mind at all! We were just beginning to chat about herbology and plants. I'm hoping to see a Venomous Tentacula or Mandrake soon. I've never seen them before, but my brother said we'll learn about them. All I've ever grown are potion ingredients- and muggle plants- and they're not too exciting. Aconite grows real slow and dittany doesn't look like anything but a weed," she rambled on for a bit, giving her contemporaries little time to respond. She hadn't meant to be rude, however; it was really her way of being friendly. Hoping to not seem too obnoxious, she added a breathless and rather childish sentence to her speech. "Do you like gardening?"

Olympia smiled at the girl who'd sat down next to her. "Me too. I haven't really had a lot of experience with them, but I'm excited to." The best part for her about Herbology would be the new, exotic plants she'd never seen before. She'd had some experience witht the Venomous Tentacula, but only in books. She'd never seen one in person, but she'd thought it was an intriguing idea for a plant to look like it did.

"I'm Olympia, by the way," she added, realizing she hadn't introduced herself to the Gryffindor girl yet. "Olympia Allman." She didn't extend her hand for lack of space, and she also found herself extremely awkward in greetings like that. Whenever she met someone new, she either talked to much or said too little, leaving people to believe to be extremely shy or extremely talkative. And annoying.

"I don't know how I'm going to feel about this class. The new plants will be intriguing, sure, but I doubt we'll be working with any today." Olympia was unsure whether or not the girl would relate to her suspicions of the class. She hopes she hasn't offended her. If she liked this class and Olympia didn't, how would they bond? It would be something that could drive a wedge between the two, and she didn't want enemies already. But how would reluctance about a class make this girl an enemy?

Olympia looked up, seeing another girl from Slytherin come and sit next to the Gryffindor. She had a Slytherin friend, and she wasn't anything like the stereotypes said. People always said to stay away from Slytherins, but with a brother in that house, she couldn't stay away. There was nothing wrong with Slytherins in her opinion, there were people just like Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws. She wasn't sure if she introduced herself to the girl she would hear her right away, so she stayed quiet for now.

"I don't mind at all!"

Melora was surprised to hear such a cheery Irish accent. The reminder of her home made her feel a little bit more comfortable next to the stranger. The Gryffindor didn't seem bothered by her presence at all. Melora didn't know much about Hogwarts, but she did know that Gryffindors and Slytherins weren't supposed to get along. At least that was what she'd been taught. 
The Gryffindor started rambling on about the class and muggle plants and other gardening related subjects. She had barely noticed the Hufflepuff girl that was sat on the other side of what Melora was hoping was a newfound friend. She looked up at the Hufflepuff and gave her a gentle smile before getting her attention caught by the chatty Gryffindor.

"Do you like gardening?"

Melora opened her mouth to respond to her question but found it difficult to get a single sound out.

"Uh, yeah... I-I love gardening. I used to help my mother a lot in the garden at home. Um, planted a lot of muggle flowers and stuff like that."

She felt embarrassed by her stuttering of words. She couldn't help being so incredibly nervous. Melora hoped the Gryffindor was too occupied in her own head to notice how awkward and uncomfortable Melora was. 

"S-so where abouts are you from?"

She was hoping she wouldn't come off as rude by changing the subject or weird for asking about her. But she was curious to know where she came from. Hearing the girl's accent comforted Melora as well as made her quite homesick. Thinking about Ireland made her wish for the holidays to come faster just so she could go home.

Adriel barely noticed the Slytherin girl's nerves as she listened intently, waiting for her chance to talk again. 

"S-so, whereabouts are you from?" 

Oh, lovely. Adriel was excited to talk about something other than gardening, and with an Irish pride forever burning in her belly, she was even more excited to elaborate.

"I was born and raised down in Cork, Ireland. It's a nice little port city, right on the bottom of Ireland with its own harbor and River Lee runnin' right through it. It's not nearly as exciting or famous as Dublin is, but it's a right fine little city," she was nearly dancing in her seat as she launched into another speech, but, this time she felt a little more self-conscious about how much she was talking. There were two other people who could talk, weren't there? Her mother, if present, would say, "Adriel, you're not the only person in the world who knows how to talk, but you're the only person in the world who doesn't know how to listen." She took a minute to recompose and rethink about what she had heard from the other two.

"Say, uh..." she realized, in a moment, that despite how long she had been talking, she still didn't know the name of Slytherin girl she was talking to. She had barely caught the name of the Hufflepuff girl. Something like Olivia Almond, but, she wouldn't say the girl's name until she was sure in fear of making a mistake.

"Well, I suppose I haven't even introduced myself, huh!" she exclaimed, laughing at herself. "I'm Adriel Lovage, and my mother would be telling me to apologize for being so long-winded if she were here. Say, where are you both from?" Her parents would be proud of her ability to refrain her speech.

"I'm from Barnet, England" Olympia stated through a slightly thick English accent. "I've lived there my entire life with my five siblings. It isn't that large, but it's a cute little town. It's somewhat busy, but I had a lake by my house, so that was nice. I was somewhat on the outskirts of the town before I came here." A smile made its way onto Olympia's face. She was fascinated by the other towns of people. One day, she planned on traveling the world.

Olympia had lived in quite a large house while in Barnet. She came from a wealthy family, and many people knew her around the area. She didn't want to tell anybody that here, though. She didn't want to seem stuck up or snobby. In reality, she hated people like that. There was just no way she could stand them.

She was intent on figuring out where the Slytherin girl came from. If she'd said her name, Olympia hadn't heard. Sometimes she would just get lost in her thoughts, and totally zone out from everything going on around her. She never did it on purpose, nor did she have any control over when and where it happened. She hoped it didn't happen while she was talking. That would be too embarrassing for her to handle.

"I'm from Ireland too! I haven't really left Dublin up until now though, but even in Dublin I didn't really leave my family's estate."

Melora felt her confidence rise as she sat listening to the two other girls. Melora was fascinated by how eventful their lives have had to have been. She had barely seen the outside world. Her mother didn't want her interacting with any muggles. She had been anxious about letting Melora go to Hogwarts because she knew there would be wizards and witches less than pure. Had Eilis had a choice she would've homeschooled Melora through her teens as well.


She wanted to know more about the girls and their lives at home. The Hufflepuff girl had five siblings that she grew up with. Melora only had one and she barely ever met her! Adriel had mentioned having a brother. Melora couldn't help but wonder what it would've been like growing up with a brother. Her mother had only told her about the trouble that boys brought with them. It made Melora kind of excited, thinking about all the fun things she could do with boys if they were as mischievous as her mother painted them to be. 
 

Olympia was excited at the prospect of hearing where the Slytherin girl was from. She'd left her home in Barnet on a regular basis, but she thought that it would lead to an interesting life barely seeing the outside world. Maybe for Olympia it would be fun in the beginning, but she would easily get bored. She needed to be active, and in her house, there was only the large gym-space.

"Really? I think that'd be interesting. I couldn't imagine never leaving, though. I'm extremely close with my siblings, so I'd find that hard." Olympia smiles, feeling sympathetic for the girl. She didn't catch her name if she'd said it, but she hoped to find out.

"So, how are you guys liking it here?" She hoped that they were settling in alright, and maybe if she was lucky, she'd see them outside of Herbology. She didn't care to know the setup of the other common rooms and dormitories. She much preferred the comfort of the Hufflepuff dorms, but it would also be interesting to see how the others had to adapt form home.

Olympia looked down at the pair of gloves in front of her, which she would be using to deal with plants later. She wondered what type of plants they'd be dealing with. Possibly Devil's Snare, or the Venomous Tentacula. Either way, it was alright with her as long as she had more time to talk to these girls.