Introductions PV Luka Sylvester 𝙲𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍

The Sorting Hat rests on Luka’s head, the aged leather as heavy as solid steel with the weight of the future. He doesn’t know what to expect. His mother had regaled him with the tale of her own sorting numerous times, but he also hears it’s different for everyone.

The hat seems confused, remaining silent for a long time. Luka holds his breath, nervous. He fidgets with the sprig of Cypress in his pocket, rubbing the needles anxiously. Interesting. Very interesting. The line between being hard-working and ambitious is very thin, and you rest right at the edge. There’s a long, tense moment as the sentient headpiece ponders its choice. “Hufflepuff!” it finally exclaims. It’s hastily lifted from Luka’s mop of dark curls to be placed upon the next child.

There is a light smattering of applause as he slides off the chair. He’s not displeased by the result, though he had not expected it. Really, he could have been in any of the houses. His mother predicted he would be a Slytherin, but that may have been her own bias speaking. As detached as she is now from pureblood circles, she was raised in them, and was also a Slytherin herself.

Luka makes a mental note to send her an owl with the news of his sorting as he marches towards the Hufflepuff table. He scans the benches. The newly sorted first years are congregated at one end of the table, many of them paired up with friends both new and old. The older students are scattered along the rest of the table, many of them cheering new Hufflepuffs on with enthusiasm.

He chooses a spot next to a boy with a book in hand who doesn’t look like he’d ask Luka to leave. “Why is it that you’d rather read than watch the Sorting?” he asks, genuinely curious.

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Introductions with @Luka Sylvester

James heard the voice before he saw who it belonged to. It was quite sudden and startled him which made him fumble his book. He managed to get a good hold of it but had lost his page. Hmm...It is alright, I will find it again later. He turned his head to see who the voice that had startled him so much belonged to.

There was a boy sitting next to him with dark curly hair. His face looked vaguely familiar for some odd reason but James put that to the side. He could not tell how old the boy was but he certainly looked somewhere around James' own age. He concluded he must have just gotten sorted. "Oh sorry. You startled me a bit."

James scratched his neck as he tried to remember the boy's question "Ah that was it; I must have zoned out. I do think it has been a while since I looked up. But overall watching sorting does not interest me all that much" James looked down the table seeing quite a few new faces that weren't there when he sat down. He then realized he had not yet introduced himself to the boy yet. How rude of me.James lightly scolded himself under his breath before clearing his throat and putting his book away back in his satchel. He turned towards the boy.

" I should have said this first but what was said instead has already been said. So let us start off introductions correctly shall we? I'm James Owens. No need to say my house because I'm already sitting at the table." James held his hand out to the boy and scratched his neck nervously with the other.

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The other boy jumps when he hears Luka, nearly dropping his book. “Oh sorry, you startled me a bit,” he says, scratching his neck.

Luka smiles sheepishly. “Sorry about that.” The boy introduces himself as James Owens, a fellow first-year Hufflepuff. Luka returns the handshake.

“I agree the Sorting can be…dull.” He glances over at the chair which currently has a short blonde girl, hands clenched in her lap. The hat has been mulling over the decision for at least a solid two minutes at this point. “I feel it is because of social obligation that we even watch at all.” He pauses. “Is the book a good one at least? I don’t recognize the title.” He doesn’t mention that he doesn’t read for fun and would fail to recognize almost any book that isn’t a mandatory textbook or incredibly famous.

Ah yes, introductions. Luka will admit, he rehearsed his several times in front of the mirror this morning, before he boarded the Hogwarts Express. Now it rolls off his tongue with practiced ease. “I’m Luka Sylvester, from Ireland. Pleasure to meet you. I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful seven years together,” he says with a tight-lipped smile. Admittedly, he really didn’t need to practice just to recite three sentences. Still, it makes him feel more confident knowing he did.

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@James Owens

Interacting with @Luka Sylvester

The boy apologized to James with a sheepish smile and returned the friendly hand shake. "It is quite alright. I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings. My mum used to always scolded me for that. " He let out a small nervous laugh.

The boy agreed with him about how boring or unentertaining the sorting was. He looked over to the chair and James followed his gaze to see a girl with blonde hair sitting there. The hat was taking quite a while to sort her into her house. The girl looked nervous as well and had bunched her robes into her fists.

James turned his attention back to the boy sitting next to him as he asked about his book after a short pause. James wasn't paying enough attention to catch the previous sentence the boy had said. However the word book caught his attention. He always got excited when someone asked him about books or what book he was reading at the moment. "Oh this book?" He pulled the book he was reading back out of his satchel "It's a book I brought from home. It's called Matched. I've read it at least two or three times already." James didn't bother to describe what the book was about. He didn't want to bore the boy to death.

The boy then introduced himself. Luka Sylvester was his name. He was from Ireland. James had always wanted to travel there. In fact he wanted to travel everywhere. Luka mentioned the seven years they would have together. "It's nice to meet you as well Luka. I'm just positive the next seven years will be as fantastic as I or we can imagine. Would you like to be friends by any chance? You seem like a very nice person. James enjoyed talking to Luka. He didn't feel nervous either. Maybe Luka would be the one to break him out of his shyness and closed off shell.

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Ironic that James’ mum scolded him for not paying attention to his surroundings, Luka thinks amusedly. Mine always said I was too busy looking around! Out loud, he says “As long as I didn’t spook you too hard.”

He watches as James’ face lights up upon mention of his book. A conversational topic he likes, then. “‘Matched?’” Luka muses, glancing over the cover. “Is it a muggle book? I think I recall a classmate whose older sister carried it around everywhere. What’s it about? Must be good if you read it that many times.” Maybe it’ll be the book to get him interested in reading. Reading is a favorite pastime of many, but Luka has never understood why.

James expresses a similar sentiment regarding the next seven years - really, it seems like an eternity, especially for eleven-year olds. Luka accepts the offered friendship with a wider grin, a slight sliver of teeth showing. “Friends,” he confirms. “Glad to hear I hadn’t scared you away yet.” Internally, he wonders if this is how people usually make friends. Do they just ask? He grew up with most of his friends from childhood and never had to really make friends, it just happened. Since being introduced to the wizarding world, his mum had introduced him to most of his newer friends, so he hadn’t had to do much then either.

Actually, James might be one of, if not his first, friend he made completely on his own. Luka feels a surge of pride. His smile widens further, unbidden, revealing the slight gap in his front teeth. Friends indeed.

Belatedly, he realizes that the Sorting has ended, and food is about to be served. Time passes surprisingly fast when talking, it seems.

Word count: 288

Interacting with @Luka Sylvester

James shook his head "No you didn't startle me too much. I just startle easily. James looked back to his book and nodded. "Yes it is a muggle book. Its a book where people live in a tightly controlled society where the young people are 'matched' with their partners at the age of 17."

James put his book away and turned back to Luka who had agreed to be friends. James was overly excited. He had never had a friend before. Luka was his first. James followed Luka's gaze and noticed that the last first year had been sorted. This meant that food would start to appear soon.

The first year made their way to their table. Just as they sat down the empty plates lining the table were suddenly bursting with foods. James looked and he swore he saw foods in every color. Of course James always had a sweet tooth so he began to fill his plate with different tarts and pastries. He added some rolls to his plate along with some types of meat. He reached and grabbed a goblet of fruit punch and took a sip. It was fantastic.

James took a bite of a pastries and it practically melted in his mouth. He looked to Luka. "You should really try this. It's so good" He wiped the edges of his mouth with a napkin.

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The book does sound interesting. Luka ponders the premise. Would it work in real life? He can’t even imagine what it would be like to live in such a controlling society. Especially in modern times, governments seem very hands-off and don’t really negatively impact anyone. Laws take so long to be passed, and the political environment is always shifting, and nothing ever changes. The matching system sounds more realistic. “Interesting. Like an arranged marriage.” His expression turns pensive. “Honestly, it sounds terrible. I can’t imagine how someone could live with a partner they don’t love. There must be a lot of people who run away from their assigned partners then?” He shrugs, watching James tuck the book away.

The end of the Sorting marks the beginning of the feast. The tables erupt in color, dishes and platters full of food of every hue and type. It looks so perfect it looks fake, so well-proportioned and nicely colored beyond what should be natural. The house elves truly did an exemplary job.

Luka watches James immediately attack the food, amused. “It does look good,” he says, scooping a heaping portion of string beans into his own dish. He spots some delicious ham farther down the table, but can’t be bothered to stand to serve himself some. Instead, he shovels some chicken into his plate, and potatoes as the meal’s carbohydrates instead of bread. He scans his plate, before nodding to himself in satisfaction. It covers all the essential food groups at least.

“Do you have a favorite food?” he asks James, slicing his chicken into bite-sized pieces.

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@James Owens

@Luka Sylvester

Luka agrees with James about how good the food looks before scooping some string beans onto his plate. James see Luka notice the ham but scoops chicken onto his plate instead. Did he want the ham? James beckons to an older student. Probably a third or fourth year. "Oi, Could you pass the ham down for a bit?" The student nodded and passed the ham down the table to where they were.

The student asked James to pass something back up. James grabbed the plate of what the other student wanted and passed it back up to them. They thanked James before scooping it onto their plate and placing it where the ham was.

Luka asked James if he had a favorite food. "Not in particular. I like to eat a variety of foods. I don't think it's good to just eat the same thing and not try anything new." James spooned some potatoes on his plate. They tasted heavenly. James wondered how the house elves made the food so good. It was beyond him. Perhaps it was a secret recipe? Or maybe they just new the perfect proportions of seasonings and herbs to add to the food.

James put the thought to the side and continued to eat.

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Luka stares at the ham, a flush rising in his cheeks. He casts James a sheepish look, embarrassed to be called out on his social incompetency. Or, at least after his plate is already full. He really shouldn’t have gotten so much chicken if he planned to get ham. Still, he carves off two slices out of politeness, before sending the dish back down the table. He stabs his food awkwardly.

Luka nods at James’ answer. “I agree, too much of anything is a bad thing.” He pauses. “There was a lady who died from drinking too much water. Nothing is exempt from the rule” He crams a bite of potato into his mouth. “Though I find it interesting you don’t have a favorite food. Or multiple. After all, a specific interest doesn’t signal a disinterest in everything else.” He shrugs, smiling slightly. “I like mashed potatoes. Which is absolutely a stereotype, being from Ireland and all, but they’re delicious.” Luka frequently wonders if his fondness for potatoes is an example of the stereotype or because of the stereotype. Nevertheless, potatoes are undeniably good. The house elves did a good job.

“Though I never asked, where are you from?” He regards James curiously. “I’m very bad at placing accents, so…”

Across the table, dishes are navigating from person to person. Luka flushes further, upon realizing really, people just ask to pass the plate. His unwillingness to engage in conversation is entirely unfounded. Then, just to test that he could, out of some strange sense of curiosity, he asks an adjacent student to pass the lemonade pitcher.

Word count: 266

James Owens