Lost PV Asher Owens Closed

His reaction to the magic was frankly adorable, but Anastasia resisted the urge to tell him that. She somehow knew that he wouldn’t appreciate a girl that he’d just met telling him he was adorable. She could hardly stand it when adults told her that, and she would probably hex another first year for saying that. Anyway, boys were odd about their pride and such. She’d once used that spell to clean up a mess her cousin had made to keep them both out of trouble, and he’d been surprisingly angry about it.

She could picture her father’s face when the boy said he couldn’t believe she’d never been to his world. He would have been so offended at the idea that the boy was implying his daughter was missing out on something while at the same time being equally offended that someone who associated with muggles on purpose even speaking to his daughter, which would probably result in him turning bright red and making everyone leave. It was amusing to her now when he wasn’t here, but when situations like that actually happened, it was more serious. Her father had a fierce temper, and while he’d never hurt Anastasia or her mother at least as far as she knew, he took it out on their house elf and by throwing things at the wall, which always scared her.

"I have a proposition. What if you help me get used to all this and I show you some cool stuff from the muggle world?"

He was speaking her language. While she was interested in making actual friends, it was completely foreign to her and she wasn’t entirely certain how to go about it, this was totally familiar to her. Making sure that each person was clear on the terms of their association was something her father would very much approve of. She also liked his use of the word proposition. She had a rather large vocabulary, but she had gotten some strange looks from other first years at some of the words she’d used, one of them being proposition. “I think that sounds rather intriguing,” she replied, smiling and holding out her hand to shake.

On the outside, Ash looked totally calm. On the inside he was going something like this "REALLY???? Yes, you did it Asher! I can't believe this. She said it sounded intriguing. Intriguing!!!! While it might not have seemed like a big deal to anyone else, it was a huge deal to Asher. The fact that he now had an ally (he wasn't sure he could call her a friend yet) meant that he wasn't going to have to face all of this alone. He hated doing things alone, feared it in fact, which was not a good thing considering his house. It hadn't taken him long to realize that while studious and creative, Ravenclaw kids didn't make good friends for the most part. The dorms were quiet and most people seemed to have their most loving relationships with their books. Not that Ash minded, he thought it was great that there were other kids so invested in success through knowledge, but he did feel a little bit out of place. Quiet but social, Asher enjoyed the company of others more than anything, even if he had nothing to say.

"I'm glad your intrigued." He answered, showing his excitement only through another small, polite smile. Finally with no ink dripping off of his hands he could finally lean forward and take her offered hand for a handshake. For a slim boy he had a strong handshake that radiated confidence. Confidence he definitely didn't actually have.
"I would guess what house you're in, but I don't know nearly enough about them so you might just have to tell me." He knew that many students wore their house colours on their ties, but it was before classes were starting so many kids weren't wearing their robes. Plus, Ash hadn't figured out how first years were supposed to get the specifically coloured clothing. He was glad that eventually students would start wearing their colours though because he hated guessing what houses people were in by personality. He was actually right most of the time but he didn't like judging people's personalities and then just shoving them into a house category in his mind. Plus, he still didn't believe that the hat was always right. He was sure that he belonged in Hufflepuff, if he belonged anywhere at all. Most of the time he felt like he wouldn't fit into any of the houses. Really he just wanted to go home back when he didn't have to be intelligent or brave or loyal or ambitious. Of course, he did actually have to be all those things when he was at home with his father Alex, but he just didn't realize it.

He had a surprisingly strong handshake, considering what she knew of him and his demeanor. She had a decent handshake, but not a particularly strong one, as her mother thought it was not at all lady like.

"I would guess what house you're in, but I don't know nearly enough about them so you might just have to tell me.”

That was smart of him to ask rathe than guess because people could be very touchy about that. For instance, most of the people she knew would horribly offended if you suggested anything other than Slytherin, especially Hufflepuff. They hated Gryffindor with a passion, because it was “the muggle loving house”, and ending up there usually made them think that you were a rebel, but ending up in Hufflepuff made them think that you were an utter failure. Ravenclaw was alright, but Slytherin was really the only house for a proper pureblood. According to her parents and their friends at least. She had always just agreed without putting much thought into it, but so far, she had seen absolutely nothing to confirm their ideas. “I’m in Gryffindor. What about you?” she replied. She still didn’t feel as though Gryffindor fit her right, but for now at least, she was open to learn new things and have her opinions about the houses changed.

"Ravenclaw. Not sure why honestly." He admitted, resisting the urge to shrug. His father had always told him that shrugging was unprofessional and too casual. He raked through his tired brain to try and remember a little bit about her house. He remembered vaguely that they were the brave ones. Confident, competitive and noble. At least that's what he had seen so far from the other kids and the sorting hat explanation. That was the dream house for Ash. He knew that had his father been a wizard, he definitely would have been in Gryffindor. Any good soldier would have been in that house, right? That only further made Asher wish he was anything other than a Ravenclaw. It sounded like even the Slytherin house would be better for a soldier. No soldier got to be a hero by reading books (or at least that's what he thought). Even though he felt out of place in his house, he thought that Anastasia was perfect for her house. She radiated an aura of confidence and surety that could only be found in students of a house that represented those exact traits.

"If you don't mine me asking. You most obviously weren't lost, so were you just exploring?" He asked curiously, trying to get to know her a little bit better. His father had always taught him to learn as much as he possibly could about his friends, and his enemies. The habit was totally unconscious and it meant he usually ended up asking a lot of questions. Again he wanted to make sure that Anastasia was actually a good person though before considering her a friend.

She nodded again at his house. She had thought he was either that or a Hufflepuff. She knew he wasn't a Gryffindor since she would have remember his face a bit better. He probably wouldn't have been a Slytherin, since he wasn't a Pureblood, although this year, the bloody Hat had put severl Muggle Borns in Slytherin, so it wasn't impossible, but he didn't seem like the type. She could also tell that he, like her, wasn't entirely pleased about his placement. "Nobody understands the Hat's decisions expect maybe the Hat, and I'm not completely certain about that," she said, only half joking. The stupid thing had been so argumentative and she was fairly certain it had placed her in Gryffindor just to spite her for her insistence on Slytherin and possibly her mental cussing it out. Alright, that second one was extremely Gryffindor of her, but still.

"If you don't mine me asking. You most obviously weren't lost, so were you just exploring?"

"Not at all," she said, smiling warmly. She could tell he was trying to get a bit more information about her, which she found interesting. She herself did the exact same thing, but most of the people her age didn't. "I was trying to get a bearings so I don't get too lost tomorrow. Not that it'll actually help that much." She laughed a bit at her last words, since everyone knew them to be true. The stupid castle would change itself constantly and it often didn't even make sense how, even to someone who had grown up with magic.

Ash chuckled softly at the comment about the hat. The whole idea still sort of freaked him out. Talking hats were no the norm in his life so having one make a decision for him was a bit weird. It was true though that he didn't understand that hat's decision to put him into Ravenclaw. It hadn't exactly been that he didn't want to be in Ravenclaw (he didn't know the houses well enough to know which ones were good or bad or which one he wanted to be in) but when he had found out that Ravenclaws were supposed to be the smart ones, he had immediately started to doubt the hat's choice. Meeting the other first years of his class had done nothing to make him feel any better since all of them had seemed extremely smart. It sounded as though she didn't quite understand the hat's choice either. Still, Ash thought that she was the perfect Gryffindor.

"All the moving staircases keep confusing me. I was just trying to find the library but it seems to be impossible." He said with a sheepish grin. The map that was now tucked away in his satchel hadn't really been helping him at all with finding things at this school. While he disliked the fact that he was constantly getting lost and was probably going to end up stuck in some mystery room before classes even started, he didn't mind wandering down the halls. The old castle was beautiful and the medieval atmosphere intrigued him. This was nothing like the muggle world and while that scared him more than a little bit, it was also interesting. Perhaps that was why he had been chosen for Ravenclaw, he was curious about everything.

All the moving staircases keep confusing me. I was just trying to find the library but it seems to be impossible.

He was such a perfect Ravenclaw. She noted that one of the first things she had done that day had been go to the library, but it hadn't been the very first thing she'd done, and she certainly wouldn't have kept hunting for it after getting lost. Well, maybe she would have, but it would have been more because she was stubborn and had set out to do something, and less because she was dying to see the library. "How committed to are you to going to the Library at this particular time? Because if you wanted, I could help you get a bit of a bearing of this place. Mind you, it would be the blind being lead by the slightly less blind, but I'd be more than happy to you out if you wanted," she offered. He seemed like nice enough company and she ever so hated wandering around alone. Not only did she detest loneliness, but it also made her look weak. She liked having a posse with her at most times or at the very least one other person. It was just one of the many things her parents had drilled into her - "Purebloods get what they want most of the time, and popular people get what they want most of the time, so if you're both, than you can get what you want all the time." She wasn't so sure about the logic, but she liked the idea behind it.

Maybe Anastasia had realized he made a good Ravenclaw before Ash himself did. To him the first thing he did was obviously going to be the library. Libraries were a good way to tell what the values of the institution you were in and the people around you. If certain things were censored that showed something about the place you were in. Asher also just liked libraries, not even just to read all the time. He liked the way they felt. Calming, tranquil, like hot chocolate and cookies after a cold day outside. While Asher did like to read, it wasn't really his favorite thing to do but that wasn't why he liked the library. Of course it wasn't the most important thing for him to get to (actually he thought that getting some food might be nice but he couldn't find the place they ate) and if Anastasia wanted to go somewhere else he didn't mind at all.

"Well, even if we do get lost. I wouldn't mind it as much with someone else." He replied in his always soft voice. Ash didn't like speaking loud, he had been taught that it was rude by his father. If he was going to speak, he had to be really saying something not just talking, and when he spoke it would always be in a respectful, soft but commanding and confident. True leaders didn't need to speak loudly to be heard, people just listened.
"I don't need to get to the library. Honestly, just knowing where I actually am would be useful." He joked, giving her a sheepish smile. He knew he was in a hallway that should be close to the Astronomy Tower, but he couldn't see it anywhere at all.

She noticed that his voice was rather soft. It reminded her of what her mother had always taught her - if you had to raise your voice to get people to listen, then you didn’t have anything worth listening too. There was also the fact that it was incredibly unladylike to speak too loudly, but she doubt that applied to Ash. Still, since he was so obviously not from a Pureblood family like hers, she wondered what his family was like. It absolutely fascinated her that two people could come from such totally different worlds and yet have so many shared philosophies. 

After listening to the rest of his response, she began to formulate any idea. “Why don’t we explore a bit and I’ll tell you some interesting things about the Wizarding World and you tell me about the Muggle World?” she suggested. She knew her parents wouldn’t approve of this on several accounts, amusingly enough the least of which being they didn’t want her alone with boys since they thought that was just begging for gossip. She would certainly have to be careful what friends she mentioned in her letter Home, seeing as her parents would only actually approve of  one of them. The rest were Half blood and even a muggle born, and while her parents didn’t detest half bloods with the same vigor as muggle borns, they still didn’t want their precious daughter associating with them.

Sorry for taking so long!

Asher smiled brightly at her. A real smile this time. All bright white teeth and dimples. Just as Asher hated being called adorable, he hated his dimples beyond belief. They were like the epitome of cute so he despised them. Usually his smiles were soft enough that his cheeks didn't dimple but this wide smile made them totally noticeable.
"I'd like that." He replied. Brushing his hair out of his eyes he made a mental note to cut it soon. At home his hair was usually always kept short since that was the army way but his father Alex hadn't been home for a while and his other father Jonas wasn't really into the whole military thing. In fact his parents were so different that Asher couldn't help but spend a lot of time wondering how they had gotten together in the first place. Jonas was soft and loving while Alex was strict and distant. Asher had very quickly learned to go to Jonas (his papa) when he wanted something rather than Alex (his dad). But somehow they worked well together and Asher had never had a doubt in the world that his parents loved each other beyond words. They were always kind and understanding with each other and in his entire life, Asher had only ever heard Alex yell at his papa once and he had never heard Jonas yell at Alex.

"So, what do you want to know? Have you ever seen a movie?" He asked conversationally, trying to make sure that this friendship was going to work. It was going to be important to have allies at this big school if he wanted to survive. The last thing he wanted was to have to explain to his papa that he couldn't handle this school. And then of course he would have to tell his dad that he had left military school, which was not going to be good. He needed to make it work here, and having allies was going to be important.