The Reading List Closed

Lara slunk into the Great Hall, her narrow shoulders slumping in defeat the moment she crossed the threshold. It was as if the very act of entering the room drained something vital from her body; even her normally bright gaze slipped to her feet, irises obscured, as though the sight before her was too great to bear.

Of course, she was really just being overdramatic - not like anybody here cared. She was really only putting on a show for herself. It felt obligatory. She’d spent so much time avoiding and detesting the Great Hall, and it would be very underwhelming to her, if she was to just enter it now without expressing the least bit of distress.

But just because she’d given in to entering the Hall, didn’t mean she actually had to sit at her own table. The Slytherin table. She didn’t belong there, and she never would, and it frustrated her to no end. Maybe if she’d had more friends from other houses she could’ve been sitting with them, instead, at mealtimes or during her study-breaks - but she only had a few meagre acquaintances, and she didn’t know if they’d even actually want to be friends with her.

Whatever. She walked right past the Slytherin table, ignoring whoever might have been sitting there, holding tightly to the strap of her book bag. She lifted her eyes to take a quick look around, looking for whichever other table was the emptiest, or which had a friendly-looking face.

Eventually, she found somebody who looked amiable enough: a young Hufflepuff girl, sitting alone, occasionally looking around the room as though she was waiting for somebody to show up. Hopefully she wouldn’t mind an intrusion. Lara treaded over to her, coming to a pause on the opposite side of the table from the redheaded girl.

“Hey,” she said, offering a smile. She gestured to the open spot. “Anybody sitting here?”

Hestia was acutely aware of the Slytherin walking on the other side of the table - what she wasn't aware of, however, is that she would ask to sit opposite her. As the Slytherin spoke, Hestia looked up, shooting the student a smile. "Sure, I need some company," she answered, straightening her back up and sitting in a slightly less slumped posture.

Hestia knew that Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were stereotyped as the complete opposites of each other, but this girl seemed nice enough. Hestia didn't recognise her from any classes or when she'd been walking down the corridors, but she figured that the girl was also a first year - she still looked a bit unsure of everything.

"I'm Hestia. Hestia Montgomery," Hestia introduced herself with a warm smile, indicating for the girl to introduce herself. "What's Slytherin like? I've always wondered what it would be like to have a dormitory right next to the Great Lake."

It was true - Hestia's only reason for wanting to be in Slytherin had been that she might have caught a glimpse of the Giant Squid that occupied the murky depths of the Great Lake. Some Slytherins reported seeing it, but she wasn't totally sure if they had.

Lara’s smile widened into a broad grin when the Hufflepuff girl responded so positively. She slung her book bag off her shoulder, setting it down on the bench with a audible thunk before sliding into the space beside it. Her shoulder ached a little from where the strap had rested. She wasn’t used to having to carry around so many things - up until now, she’d attended a Muggle elementary school, where all her books and supplies had stayed in the classroom unless she had homework to do over the weekend.

"I'm Hestia. Hestia Montgomery.”

“Lara Youngblood,” Lara replied, and reached across the table to offer her hand to shake. She would have preferred not to say her surname - it now left a sour taste in her mouth - but it seemed improper to do so, seeing as this other girl had such a fancy name herself. The good news was that Hestia’s accent sounded British, and so she probably didn’t even know anything about Lara’s own Welsh family. At least, that’s what Lara told herself.

“Slytherin’s… okay,” Lara said, hesitating. She didn’t want to go right out and admit how much she detested almost everything about her House; then this girl would never like her. Her smile slipped a little. “I mean, the rooms are really fancy, but no amount of decorating can hide the fact that we live in a literal dungeon, y’know? It gets pretty cold down there. And dark. Sometimes it feels damp, too, but I might just be imagining that, 'cause of the Lake being there…” She trailed off for a moment, eyes drifting toward the table space between the two girls, and then glanced up again. “How’s Hufflepuff? I heard it’s really, like, homey. Nice and warm-feeling.”

That was what her brother Hugo had told her, at least. He’d always spoken so fondly of his House, despite the anger of their grandparents over the fact that he’d been sorted into it. Lara wished she could feel the same way about Slytherin, but she doubted she ever would.

The girl introduced herself as Lara, and reached out a hand for the Hufflepuff to shake. Hestia accepted the offering and shook the girls hand, smiling towards her. She seemed rather nice, Hestia thought to herself, and wondered how she fitted in in Slytherin. She knew that Slytherins could be kind, but she was also aware that those who fitted into the "cunning" attribute could also be unkind.

Hestia's smile faded into a look of mild concern as Lara hesitated with her answer. It became obvious that she didn't particularly like Slytherin as she spoke of her surroundings. It gave the Hufflepuff shivers just thinking of Lara's description, and she suddenly felt rather sorry for Lara. It was hard enough being in the first year, but also having to live in a cold dormitory... grim.

The redhead noticed that Lara seemed to want to change the subject by reflecting it back onto the Hufflepuff house. "It's really nice, I love it! We're right next to the kitchens and the house elves make the best ever hot chocolate," Hestia rambled, a bright smile across her face. She wasn't too fond of house elf labour, and so had been trying to knit some little hats for the elves for the winter. Although the kitchens were quite warm and the house elves didn't go out much, Hestia had to find some way of paying them back.

Lara was relieved that Hestia at least seemed fond of her own House; she wouldn’t have wished her own terrible turmoil on her worst enemy. Not like she had any enemies, to be fair, but maybe someday she would. That was an idea which frightened her, mostly, but also felt sort of… Enticing? It would be awful to have somebody hate her enough to deem themself her enemy, but wouldn’t it also be kind of cool?

She leaned forward, crossing her arms on the tabletop. A curl of dark hair fell over her shoulder, having come loose from the messy ponytail at the base of her neck, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“That sounds awesome,” she told Hestia, genuinely meaning it. How great would it be to live right next to the kitchens? “Are you guys, like, allowed to go into the kitchens and get snacks? Or d’you have to sneak in? Are the elves nice?”

Lara had only had a few encounters with house elves herself. Her father had never employed one, and neither had any of her aunts and uncles. They’d been against it, if she recalled correctly. But her grandparents had had one when she’d been younger, and it had been a sweet little thing, but it had died when Lara was seven and her grandmother had refused to get another. Apparently, nothing could replace their first one.