An Afternoon Chat open

Pandora sat wearily, reading a History of Magic, eating her ham sandwich. I guess I'd better go to the library from here, she thought. Or go to dorms and sleep. Then she remembered that she had already gone to the library in the morning.

She felt her throat go dry as she thought about this. She had just seen the girl across from him when she put her book on the table and reached out to get some pumpkin juice. How had she not seen that she was here before? She couldn't see her face that much, but looking at the book she was reading, she saw that she too was studying History of Magic.

Just as he was saying something, he saw the girl close the History of Magic book and pick up another book. She was a freckled girl with dark blond hair, green or blue eyes.

"Hi. What are you reading?"

She admitted it was a very bad conversation starter. She thought it was uncomfortable. Her face reddened slightly because of this. She was ashamed.

"What is your name? My name is Pandora."

Okay, thinking that she should shut up now, she stopped and continued to look at the textbook.

@Erin Gallagher

Erin lifted her head towards the voice. "Oh, hello," Erin said with a soft laugh. The girl who had spoken to her was a Ravenclaw like Erin, but she had long, black hair and... yellow eyes? "Intriguing, I wonder if they're contacts," Erin thought to herself quickly before moving back to the conversation. "This? It's a book my Grandma gave me before I left for Hogwarts. It's called Phantoms of the Sea, and it's about this girl who goes on this journey across the Atlantic to try and save her brother who was captured by pirates," Erin grinned towards the book. It was a thick book with blue leather and silver-colored thread for binding. The thickness didn't bother Erin, the story was fascinating to her and she could easily find herself reading it for hours on end.

"It's nice to meet you, Pandora. My name is Erin—with the American spelling, much to my Momma's protest heh. My Momma was hard-set that they should name me É-I-R-E-A-N-N, the Irish way to spell Erin, but my Dad argued since I was already taking my Momma's last name, Gallagher, that I should be named E-R-I-N, the American version, as a nod to my American roots... " Erin stopped for a second and glanced at the girl. Erin was used to being able to ramble on and on about things she found interesting, but she didn't want to bore the girl to death further than she already seemed, having noticed a rather identical History of Magic book laying next to Pandora on the table as well.

"Sorry, I tend to ramble heh," Erin said sheepishly. "I see you're also a victim to the latest History of Magic homework as well?" Erin nodded towards the textbook.

Word Count: 291

"Nice too meet you Erin. Wow I want to meet your grandma. Is she a witch?"

She was a little too curious. Pandora hesitated for a moment when she heard the word grandma. She felt a little strange remembering that other people's Grandma was fine. Her eyes fell on her necklace. The blue part inside had turned a little gray. She blinked to see if it was real. But now it was back to its original color. When the girl spoke again, she answered with a smile.

"Unfortunately. History of Magic is not my favorite course. I can't do normal human history. I saw you study History of Magic. I still haven't done my last homework. I didn't do that well in the previous assignment"

She had talked too much. She took some food from the table and poured some pumpkin juice. She had been addicted to Pumpkin Juice ever since she got here.

""Have you ever had a Coke? Muggle soda and it tastes pretty good. And it's addictive like Pumpkin Juice."

He looked at Erin curiously. She knew that some wizards were pure wizards, and he knew they had no idea about Muggle food. I guess the only way to tell is to look into Erin's eyes, she thought.

@Erin Gallagher

"Yeah heh; Momma, Dad, Grandma, even Great-Grandma all witches and wizards," Erin said with a grin, before thinking about her Great-Grandma. "My Great-Grandma isn't doing too good though. Momma says she just has Rheum...Rheumatis?" Erin stumbled slightly on the word her Momma had given her in the past. "It just means my Great-Grandma is getting older so she can't move around as well. It's why we moved back to Ireland," Erin said softly, noticing Pandora's eyes focused on her necklace. After a brief moment, Erin heard Pandora speak again—this time with a smile on her face.

"Unfortunately. History of Magic is not my favorite course. I can't do normal human history. I saw you study History of Magic. I still haven't done my last homework. I didn't do that well in the previous assignment."

"Oh, I get that heh. I much prefer the complexity of Potions and Herbology to studying History of Magic. It's not that I don't find History intriguing, it's just... boring, quite honestly," Erin chuckled slightly and also took some snacks from the table as she heard Pandora speak once again.

"Have you ever had a Coke? Muggle soda and it tastes pretty good. And it's addictive like Pumpkin Juice."

Erin tilted her head slightly at the question before nodding slightly. "I had it one time when I was living in America I think. My Dad had some no-maj—muggle—friends over once and they brought a thingy of it," Erin said. She definitely wasn't a fan of the sickly-sweet taste it had though thinking back. Erin grabbed filled her cup with pumpkin juice. "I definitely agree pumpkin juice is quite addictive though," She said with a laugh, making eye contact with Pandora.

Word Count: 226

Pandora was deep in thought. She realized that she didn't care so much about her family. About the mother's side. She just realized who was in the family and didn't know as much as Erin. She didn't even know what house her mother was in. When Erin spoke, she spoke in a distracted voice. She could hardly remember what she had said, but she knew it was about Coke.

"It has very different taste. It tastes both throat-burning and sweet, but I would never switch to pumpkin juice. I think"

It was a little difficult to talk with her head in different places. But she did. She shook her head and broke away from her thoughts, knowing that this was very rude. She spoke to change the subject

"Say something you've never told anyone. But something you never told anyone."

After saying that, she regretted what she had said. She took another ham sandwich from the table. For some reason he loved this sandwich. She put the book on the table in her bag. I guess he was supposed to work in the common room.

"Do you think I'm weirder than other witches? I just wonder."

She knew she had to shut up now.

@Erin Gallagher

"Say something you've never told anyone. But something you never told anyone."

Erin tilted her head slightly at Pandora's statement. "I hated living in a muggle town," Erin admitted quietly. "I'd never admit it to Momma or Dad, but it wasn't fun not being able to do stuff other kids could do. Sure, Dad was working to study muggle culture for his job and I had wizard friends, but the secrecy of everything was really sucky, honestly," Erin paused and shook her head slightly. "Sorry, I ramble when I get heated about something heh," she explained sheepishly.

Erin didn't mind sharing stuff with Pandora. How else was Erin going to make friends—or at least acquaintances? Erin noticed Pandora place her book into her bag, and was taken back slightly by her next question.

"Do you think I'm weirder than other witches? I just wonder."

"I don't think you're any weirder than me or any other student. Momma tells me that everyone is unique in their own way. If everyone was the same...well the world would be really boring," Erin said with a slight chuckle. "I'm sorry if I've held you up, I know I can talk a lot," Erin said, nodding towards Pandora's bag. "I'm not the greatest at making friends," she admitted quietly. "Sometimes my imagination and curiosity gets the best of me heh." Erin said with a shy laugh.

Word Count: 209

"We used to live in a house right by the woods near Muggle town but now I don't know what to expect. But I didn't have muggle friends. I miss them so much."

Tears of blood came from her eyes for a moment, but she quickly wiped it away. She didn't know if Erin had seen it. There was sadness in her voice as she said this. When he realized this, she immediately went back to her old self.

Pandora smiled. It was so good for her to hear that Erin was just like her. She spoke trying to be happy.

"Then you have one more friend now. It's so good to have a friend like you."

She was very sincere when she said this. She was proud to have such a friend. She couldn't help but ask because she was curious about something.

"Soo what's your hobbies? What is your horoscope? I don't believe in horoscopes though. Do you believe Muggles believe in them a lot. It's pretty stupid in my opinion."

It was an attempt to open a very different topic. She bought another chicken thigh.She drank some more pumpkin juice from her glass. When her hands were empty, she put some more lettuce in her bag without being noticed.

@Erin Gallagher

Erin nodded as she listened to Pandora speak. "It's definitely hard and I miss my friends back in America too," Erin said. She heard sadness in Pandora's voice as she spoke, but after a minute Pandora spoke again—this time more chipper than before.

"Then you have one more friend now. It's so good to have a friend like you."

Erin grinned. "I'm glad you consider me a friend now," she said excitedly before Pandora continued, asking a jumble of questions.

"Soo what's your hobbies? What is your horoscope? I don't believe in horoscopes though. Do you believe Muggles believe in them a lot. It's pretty stupid in my opinion."

Erin's head tilted, and she opened her mouth slightly as she began laughing. "Oh my gosh, yes," Erin laughed out loud. "We had a muggle woman in the town we lived in who not only believed in them, but believed that she could control them! She was a funny little lady," Erin nodded with a grin, remembering the stout, older lady who had lived down the road from her growing up. "But otherwise I am a Taurus-Gemini cusp—I was born in May on the 20th. For hobbies, I do quite enjoy reading as you've seen, but I also really like exploring and finding new things to add to my 'Exploration collection,'" Erin said with a grin. "I love collecting things, back home I even have my own little space where I can keep all of my finds—although I think that's because Momma didn't want anymore Beetle eyes in the house," Erin said with a chuckle as she filled her glass with more Pumpkin juice.

Word Count: 224

"Wow. I didn't go to town with my brothers. I mean, I have no idea about those in town. But that woman was so good."

She chuckled. She would like to go back to those times. She didn't show much except a moment's pause. When she spoke again, she smiled again. In a cheerful voice

"Very good. It's a very useful hobby. In the meantime, I collect flower petals and dry them. I have such a notebook."

She opened her bag and took out a red notebook. This was her inspiration book. She opened a part marked with green. There were flower petals that she dried in this part.

"Look, I've been collecting these since I was little. But since I don't have a file here, I'm putting it in my inspiration book. In this notebook, there are mostly music notes I wrote and stories I made up.Look. All leaves are different in color. This is the most beautiful."

She had talked a lot. But ahe was feeling better. Then a question came to her mind couldn't help but ask.

" Which dorm are you staying in? I would be very happy if we were staying in the same dormitory."

@Erin Gallagher