The First Encounterance PV Cleo Cabello Finished

Cleo sat against the trunk of a large oak tree, completely absorbed in a book open in her lap. She blinked a few times and lowered Book of spells, looking across the grounds. She had needed space- the classrooms had high arches and ceilings but there were always people watching. Some of them nice, sure , but some were sure to judge you. 

Cleo spotted a girl she half recognised from the sorting walking around. She was fairly sure the girl was a Slytherin, and since first knowing about the magical world she had never met one. The Gryffindors didn’t hate them but there weren’t many who were friends with them either.  She knew that there had been past feuds but Cleo didn’t believe in letting the past taint the future too much. 

Her curiosity getting the better of her, she snapped her book closed and pushed herself up. With one sweep of the area to see if there were any onlookers, she started walking.
“Hi.” She said as she reached the girl. “I’m Cleo... er, Gryffindor first year.” 
She wanted to say more but stopped as she discreetly surveyed the girl. She looked almost haughty to Cleo, very full of herself. It wasn’t her features, it was the way she held herself and it made Cleo less certain that this was a good idea. The wind blew around them, a big gust causing Cleo’s unbrushed, shoulder length hair to blow to the side. She pushed it out of her face, unbothered. “What’s your name?” She asked.

Ruby didn't let the slight irritation she felt from being interrupted show on her face. Potential friend, potential enemy, potential acquaintance, so much potential to be gained from talking with someone else. Her survey of the grounds could wait. She gave the girl who had interrupted her – Cleo, she had said – a nod of acknowledgement when she was greeted. Ruby did not miss the examination Cleo gave her. It might be considered to be discreet, certainly by most, but she saw Cleo's eyes sweep her and examine her. To conduct her own examination of Cleo, Ruby just looked at Cleo the way she would when she was about to respond, and quickly saved the information into her head, examining it as she spoke.

"I'm Ruby, a Slytherin, if you didn't see it on the robes. I'm also a first year," she answered, not putting much effort into her response. She could do that later, but she wanted to get to know Cleo first.

Maybe the mentality she had strengthened in the short time she'd been here wasn't the best approach. It was far from friendly, but she couldn't decide who she wanted to be friends with until she knew them. Nevertheless, it had worked so far and helped her to "survive", so she would continue… for now. But the air she had, that was something she didn't change. It had been that way since she was young. She had found here that Gryffindors picked up on and exaggerated the confidence, Ravenclaws noticed the intelligence, Hufflepuffs… they mainly noticed the possible danger, or didn't even notice any of it at all really. Finally, Slytherins. They saw most of it for what it was, or calculated the danger and understood some of it.

She had gathered several possibilities from Cleo. The fact that she had previously been so absorbed in the Book of Spells showed either book-loving, a desire to learn, a lack of knowledge of the wizarding world, or a combination of those. The way Cleo had blinked when she was looking up showed the complete absorption into the book. Ruby might not have appeared to have been looking, but she certainly did. Cleo's lack of much hesitation could show curiosity, previous thought, or an outgoing nature. The brief sweep of the grounds before speaking showed an attention to possible danger or eavesdroppers, which was something Ruby would check for herself. The pause and "er" in the middle of the sentence could show anxiety, social difficulties, doubt, a lack of preparing the sentences in the moment before, feelings of awkwardness, or more. Her hair being down showed either that she was careless, she didn't know it was windy, she didn't have time, or she preferred to wear it down, among other things.

Sometimes analyzing people was second nature to Ruby, but there were so many possibilities that meant that you couldn't confirm any one guess for sure until you spoke to the person.

Privately, Ruby helped she hadn't discouraged Cleo enough to make Cleo leave yet. She wanted to explore the possibilities of a relationship of any kind, she didn't really care which, provided that Cleo could offer something or had at least one quality Ruby admired.

Cleo smiled, mostly unaware of Ruby’s analysis of her. 
“Cool.” She said. “What class do you like most? I really want to ride a broomstick.” That was an understatement. Cleo itched to get her hands on a broom, to fly without a care in the world. She had always had a secret desire to fly, and now that it was actually possible she wanted to do it as soon as possible. Cleo had some patience with people but less with the things in life she really wanted. 

She turned her face towards the sunshine and closed her eyes. “Have you seen the quidditch pitch?” She asked. She had, and thought it was massive. The hoops were so high that she knew you’d be dead if you fell. However, this hadn’t made her scared, only more eager. If people could zoom on broomsticks around a pitch this large trying to catch a ball, then she wanted to see how fast she could go. 

With the sun on her face and the promise of her dream coming true soon, Cleo was happy. But she thought, It would be even better if she had someone she liked to experience her first magical year with.

Ruby smiled. "Yeah, I can't wait for flying lessons. I've flown a little bit in the past but I'm really looking forward to doing it more." It was true. Ruby adored the times she had flown and they were some of her best memories. "I've definitely seen the Quidditch pitch, and it's great. It's amazing that we have the opportunity to possibly take part in some of that here. Flying is one of the best parts of the magical world, in my opinion."

Honestly, Ruby needed a friend. She hadn't talked to many people here and she needed to get to know more of the students here. She really needed some people she could trust, laugh with, hang out with, and chill with; just some buddies. The thought of forming good friendships here made Ruby's smile widen some more.

Even if this girl was a Gryffindor, she might make a good friend. After all, her parents mainly wanted her to be friends with Gryffindor purebloods. Which reminded her… "Are you from the magical world? Your family, I mean."

Ruby didn't really care about what her parents thought of her anymore. After she was sorted into Slytherin, her life had really become her own and she cared less about their views of her future, but it wouldn't hurt to try to make some Gryffindor – preferably pureblood – friends. Maybe her parents would forgive her for being a Slytherin if she mentioned having some Gryffindor friends.

Even if most people of the other houses were seriously biased against Slytherins, Ruby knew she might have a chance with Cleo.

Cleo frowned. “Does it matter who my parents are?” She asked almost coldly. Her mother had told her that some people, usually from slytherin house, thought that the amount if magical blood you had determined your status. Cleo had scowled at the severe disadvantage but her mother had assured her that any decent person shouldn’t care at all. 
“I suppose you have magical cousins, friends, acquaintances and everything then.” She said to Ruby, almost sadly. She knew how hard it was to find friends who understood you and truly cared, but she’d hoped, foolishly perhaps, that it might be easier among magical children. 

Cleo sighed, absently fingering the pages of Magical Theory. She liked the book. It’s straight facts had soothed her and she’d thought that maybe she wasn’t at too much of a disadvantage after all. Cleo still could hardly believe that it was possible to do magic with just the wave of a wand. She hadn’t successfully managed any spells with her wand yet but had hoped that theory might help her. She knew she wouldn’t be the smartest in her year by any shot, she just didn’t have a good enough memory for words and boring facts. 

Cleo looked back at Ruby. The girl was pretty, she supposed, with brown hair in braids that suited her face nicely. Her blue eyes sparkled and looked intelligent, a big contrast from Cleo’s deep, slightly wild, brown ones. The two girls didn’t look very alike at all from the outside, but Cleo had read a lot of books which she’d hated the covers of but loved the story. She had vowed that since then she wouldn’t try to make judgements on people’s looks because, after all, they couldn’t be helped.

Ruby blinked, a little surprised with Cleo's reaction. It gave her an answer though, Cleo was almost certainly not a pureblood. However, she knew why the other girl probably reacted like that, and picked up on the sad tone in Cleo's next sentence. Cleo thinks I'm one of those Slytherins, doesn't she? That's a shame.

She watched Cleo sigh and finger the pages of her book. A sign of disappointment, possible hopelessness, and judging something wrong. When Cleo looked back up, Ruby stared into the girl's brown eyes with a spark of intensity showing in her own blue ones.

"No, it doesn't matter who your parents are. Despite the fact that my parents would like me to be friends with Gryffindor purebloods, I make my own decisions. I don't care who your parents are except for the fact that – don't take this the wrong way – you might need help adjusting to the magical world. My cousins and the rest of my family are magical, yes, and I am a pureblood, but my friends are not exclusively from wizarding backgrounds. I do know and like people who aren't purebloods. To be honest, I don't really care about blood "purity" much. People can't help who they were born. What matters is that you're here right now, and I am talking to you, so what you say and do impacts how I think of you, not your blood."

Cleo stared back into Ruby’s eyes, her gaze unwavering. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was rather touched by what Ruby had said. She could have just walked away, not caring what Cleo thought about her and found some friends that her parents would have approved of. But she hadn’t, and that made Cleo pleased. She also had a slight suspicion that Ruby wasn’t quite as confident as she seemed, or she most certainly wouldn’t have walked away, sure that there were many other people to talk to. 
 “I’m sorry for judging you then.” Cleo said solemnly. She cracked a grin.
“Do you want to try and do some magic?” She asked excitedly, hoping that the answer would be yes. She had tried a few spells but even she had known that her heart wasn’t really in them. Hopefully with somebody else to impress, especially somebody with two magical parents, she would manage some magic. 

Cleo stroked her fir wood wand lovingly. It was hers and hers alone. In the introduction to magical theory it had said that a wand chooses a wizard. Cleo liked the idea that her wand had  chosen her, it made her feel like a true witch. 

Judging by Cleo's look and her response, it had worked. Ruby was quietly pleased. Sometimes it seemed so easy to get someone on your side, especially when you had the keys… Ruby had stayed to persuade Cleo because having a Gryffindor ally could be beneficial, especially a first year who was new and seemed not to be too influenced yet. There were definitely others around, but Cleo had chosen Ruby, so the pureblood considered it to count for something. What was the harm in seeing how things played out? Ruby was likely to gain an ally, possibly a friend, from this interaction.

"I'd love to do some magic, although, according to the rules, "Magic should only be used in relation to studies and extra-curricular activities or with permission," so we can choose to follow the rules or not, although we might get detention if we can't explain that it helps with our studies."

Ruby was eager to do magic, but slightly nervous yet simultaneously excited because of the possibility of breaking rules so early on in her school career at Hogwarts.

She found the presence of the cold cherry wood of her wand against her bare arm in the sleeve of her robes quite comforting. This was the first time she had tried slipping it into her sleeve, as she was trying new ways of keeping the wand with her at all times.

She could practically feel Cleo's fondness as the other girl stroked her own wand.

Cleo frowned, two parts of her mind waving a battle  against each other. On one hand she desperately wanted to do some magic. She wanted to see how much control she had, she wanted to do something that was impossible in the non magic world. However, she definitely did not want to be known as the first first year to get a detention. If she was caught, she didn’t think she’d be able to live with it. She hoped that the next 7 years of her life would be spent at hogwarts,  and she did not want to begin them on a bad note.  So, with a heavy heart, she started speaking.
“I want to try magic so much but I think we need to fully assess our likeliness of getting caught and all escape routes and hidden places before we start doing secret magic.” She said jokingly. 
“Anyway, what kind of wand is yours? Do you have it on you?” Cleo asked Ruby curiously. She didn’t know much about wands but knew that they were made out of many different woods and had different cores. 
She loved her wand, its design like a vine around a tree trunk and its dark smooth wood. It had been her first solid thing to link her to her magical self, and for that she didn’t ever want to lose it.