A pile of homework Open!

As Colin spoke earlier, Jarael occasionally giggled, or repeated his words, or gave suggestions. None of which Taylor thought were very good, especially the one to bite her hand off.

Colin, though, still didn't seem to know what to do with her hand, and even though Taylor had taken it back, and was kind of regretting her decision to talk to this boy, like, so much.

First, the boy asked her why she would want him to shake her hand, and before she could answer, proceeded to waggle his own hands, and comment that the English were a weird bunch.

At this point, Taylor was getting seriously annoyed. "Gosh, I don't know? Poor decision-making?"

After that, Colin told Taylor something about where he was from, which made absolutely no sense, and Taylor really wasn't in the mood for nonsense.

Finally, he asked her if shaking other people's hand was a muggle thing, with sudden interest. Well, Taylor hated to squash his hopes, but--

“Oh my god, no!" she half-yelled, heart hammering in her chest. "I'm not a muggle-born, shaking hands is not a muggle thing, it is a normal-person thing, but obviously, you aren't, and that part about where you came from made no sense at all!"

Taylor stormed back to her seat, and crossed her arms, staring angrily at the blackboard in front of her. The teacher still wasn't here.

@Athena McClenin|@Colin McCoire|@Jarael Morningstar

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"Normal," said Blue Eyes.

"...no sense at all!" Taylor said.

Colin snickered as Taylor turned her back on him. He blinked several times, his face a true portrait study in confusion. Taylor went back to her seat in a snit and sat with her arms crossed. Hand waggling didn't seem all that normal. Well, not at this time of year anyway! Maybe when it's cold out and you wanted to shake some unfrozen blood down into your fingers. Colin nodded to himself and whispered: "She must be cold. That's why she's wagggling her hands."

Ravenclaw girl was still staring at him, so Colin stared back. It didn't seem to be a stare of antagonism or revulsion, like he was used to. She just seemed --- curious. That interested Colin. Most everyone his age, he well knew, was curious. Magic, formal magic, was new to most of them and they all sucked it up like a dishrag after supper. But this girl seemed to be --- well, curiosity in the flesh. That interested him.

Colin wondered ---

He narrowed his eyes at Ravenclaw Girl and collected up the things on the desk. Over on the right, he leaned his ruler up against his ink bottle. Then he took out his pocket watch, opened it and set it to twenty past two, then set it up just to the left of the ink bottle & ruler so the hands would point towards her right as she looked at the face. Still keeping his eyes on Ravenclaw Girl, he stood two pencil nubs up on their flat end just to the left of the watch. Last, he fished out a round brass trinket box from his satchel and set that up on its edge just to the left of the two pencil nubs. Colin raised one eyebrow. Let's see what a really normal girl makes of this!

He shifted his gaze momentarily towards Taylor's back. He crossed his eyes and whispered: "Made sense to me!"

When Ravenclaw Girl stood up and went up to the front of the room, he wondered if she was going to start teaching. That would be cool! Even if she didn't know any more than the rest of them! In stead, she just started to examine things.

"Curious!"

She squeaked every now and again, and Colin wondered what the other students were thinking. He was pretty sure that, as a 'snakey boy', he should be cutting her down with some comment about ditzy Ravenclaw girls. He bared his teeth. He hated when kids did that to other kids. She's clearly happy --- just let her explore! At least she was brave enough to go up and have a look around!

"...Why are you so sad?" She seemed to be asking the Dark Arts themselves.

"Whoa, deep!" he said. Colin sat enthralled. Ravenclaw Girl interested him very much, so he watched her closely. Other kids, he thought, must surely call her weird --- but he knew deep in his heart that in the three or four sentences she had said, she made more sense than he often did! He recalled their first lesson --- he disagreed with some things the professor said about the dark arts. "They are sad, aren't they? A deep sorrow in the heart of magic." He wasn't sure if he'd said that aloud or not.

Colin kind of hoped he had.

"Do you want to be friends?"

Brave! He wondered briefly if she got the message? An actual Ravenclaw, he figured, ought to be able to piece together a five letter word spelled out in school supplies! He very much wished he'd been sorted into her House --- but the Hat had not favoured him that night.

Colin nodded and set his mouth with a determined look.

Colin stood up.

He grabbed his wand in his left hand. He couldn't help but check the corners again, just to make sure no imminent threats loomed.

He walked up towards the teacher's table. He tapped his wand onto the skeleton's hand and cleared his throat. He whispered: "Windagardium leviosa!" He lifted and dipped his wand a few times, making the skeleton waggle its hand around. *clllackety-click!* went the bones!

He kept his eyes on Ravenclaw Girl as he whispered into the skeleton's ear hole:

"And o dear Lady Jumble Jones! Now I'm no friend of old dry bones,
thy rictus fixed and toothy mien; I'd take for friend a living quean!"

Colin stepped back, bowed towards Ravenclaw Girl with a little flourish; then turned and went back to his own desk.

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@Jarael Morningstar | @Taylor Lawrence | @Athena McClenin