Dreaming Closed

Adalacia had found herself exploring once more, despite knowing she was brilliant at getting herself lost. She'd already searched the grounds for a good reading spot, but everyone knew where everything was and no matter where she went she couldn't seem to capture a moment of silence; so she decided she'd try her luck inside the Castle. She had a handful of books she'd wanted to finish before the weekends end, knowing the year's homework would progress to an intolerable level at some point in time, she thought getting her casual reading in now was her best bet. So, a little awkwardly with her hands full, she pulled opened a large french styled door only to feel her stomach plummet in disappointment at the sight of a young red headed girl dancing to magically produced music. 

When she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes widening in fear Adalacia considered just leaving... but her stuttered "h-hello" forced her to consider otherwise, realizing the young girl expected her to judge her for her lone dancing, but that wasn't something she'd ever do. Adalacia understood the fear as a first year, being all alone in a castle full of strangers away from your family for the first time; she had to try and be nice if she wanted to form any semblance of a life here. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Her feet shuffled awkwardly, "I was just looking for a quiet place to read." 

Hestia finally turned around to see who was there, almost relieved to hear the girl wasn't about to pick on her for her solo dance. "That's alright..." She spoke quietly, waving her wand and muttering another incantation to stop the music. "You can read in here if you want, I won't get in your way." She stepped forward and waved her hand to gesture to the ballroom itself. "I-it's a pretty big room after all, no sense in me taking up all of it." She smiled a little and stepped forward again. 

"What books have you got? I've read through Hogwarts, a History cuz my dad didn't go here, but if you've got something else and wanted to talk about it I wouldn't mind hearing." Hestia was only saying this because she was a bit lonely. The couple of friends she had made were busy with their work, and she kind of craved some company right now. Normally she wouldn't be one to offer friendship first, as her nerves usually kept her from speaking to strangers, but this girl seemed nice, and Hestia didn't know anyone in Gryffindor yet, so maybe they could at the very least talk about books. "I wasn't able to get anything but the required books from Flourish and Blott's because my parents didn't give me much more money than I needed for required stuff, but I had a big collection at home!" She mentally scolded herself. Was she being too talkative already? What if this girl got creeped out by Hestia's attempt at friendship? She took a step back, trying to keep a smile on her face.

Adalacia smiled gently at the girl's offer, nodding her head in affirmation. It was a rather large room, and she herself listened to music while reading and studying anyway so it's not like the girl's dancing would really bother her in the slightest... she should probably tell her that. "The same goes for you, I mean if you don't mind." Adalacia forced a smile, not being one for accurate signs of emotion "Dancing, I mean - I don't mind if you dance... i-if you don't mind dancing with a bit of an audience." The words came out before she could think of them properly, and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment "W-well I mean I won't be watching you or anything, I just mean you were here first..."

When she got nervous she tended to ramble, and every single time her rambling did nothing but scare people away. She wouldn't be surprised if the girl turned tail and ran right now; but to her ultimate surprise she just asked her what she was reading, and Adalacia cocked her head to the side ever so slightly before presenting the other with the front cover of her book. 

"It's called Enchanted Encounters, by Fifi Lafolle." Adalacia didn't want to be rude and assume the girl hadn't read the book before, so settled for just asking "Have you ever read it?" 

Hestia nodded and smiled at the other girl. She'd have to get herself to tone down the dancing just a bit if she was going to dance in front of this girl. Though, she probably wouldn't dance more. Just for her own embarrassment's sake. "No, I haven't. I've been meaning to though." She responded, taking another step forward. "What's it about again?" She asked, tilting her head a bit. She had heard of the series, of course, but she had never really figured out what it was about. Or maybe she did and she just didn't remember.

Much like this girl, Hestia tended to ramble. Only, she did it when she was comfortable around someone, when she knew she could just talk and talk without being interrupted. However, she wasn't yet comfortable with this girl, so she kept her sentences short and sweet. "M-my name's Hestia by the way, like the goddess?" She always loved slipping that fact into conversation when she was meeting someone new, even if it made her seem a little narcissistic. She didn't care. Well, she did care, she just didn't want others to take the opportunity of pointing the fact out from her. It was her favorite part of meeting new people.

"Well..." Adalacia trailed, hoping her thoughts would eventually catch up with her mouth; was this girl actually talking to her? Like, choosing to have a conversation instead of nodding politely and disappearing? She couldn't believe it. "I-i'm only a few chapters in so far and it's sort of embarrassing, but it's so far seeming to be a romance." Adalacia laughed gently, shaking her head "I thought it would have something to do with magic, but I'm not really partial to anything so I'm giving it a chance." Which was a true statement, Adalacia wasn't much for romance, being eleven and all it barely piqued her interest, but she wasn't one to judge a book by it's cover... or it's first few chapters. 

"I'm Adalacia, but you can call me Lacy if you'd like?" She offered, a small genuine smile tugging at her lips; Hestia was a beautiful name in and of itself, a name she'd personally never heard before... and did she say like the Goddess? "I'll admit-" Adalacia continued, bowing her head awkwardly "I'm from a pure-blood Wizarding family, and don't know much about muggle culture... I've heard of God and religion and so on but am completely in the dark about the details of God's and Goddesses." In fear of sounding rude, and judgmental Adalacia elaborated on why she'd mentioned her blood status at all - "I say that because I just don't want to sound totally ignorant when I ask about this Goddess you're named after... Hestia?" 

Hestia nodded to Adalacia's talking about the book, taking a few steps further forward. "It's nice to meet you Lacy." She said with a smile. She perked up when the other girl asked about the origin of her name, and she continued moving forward until she was by Adalacia's side. "Well, Hestia's a greek goddess! I think she takes care of the home or something like that, I did a bunch of research on her when I was younger, but I don't remember much of it now... But she was one of the original six gods and goddesses in greek mythology." She spoke excitedly, her fingers messing with the hem of her shirt.

"What about you? Where does Adalacia come from?" She asked, tilting her head a bit and biting her lip. "It's a very pretty name, don't get me wrong!" She said, a little too loudly. She immediately hushed down and apologized. "Sorry, I do that sometimes." She said, much softer than before. "But do tell, where does Adalacia come from?" Her hands moved from her shirt to her hair, her nerves pushing her to do something, to hold on to something, to play with something. To do anything with her hands.