Just let me relax a moment... Finished

"Hello?" called out Mitzi, stepping into the bathroom. She remembered hearing that it was abandoned, but she wasn't sure if genders still applied if she still wanted to go in. She saw a boy sneak into there and decided to follow to see if he was alright. She thought she saw a flash of red so maybe he was a Gryffindor as well.

Letting the door close behind her, Mitzi slowly stepped across the room. There was only light coming from the windows so she couldn't see that well, and it was a bit chilly. Rubbing her arms, she said, "I saw you run in here, I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're afraid of." Quickly, she added, "Yes, I know I'm a girl, but I think if anyone asked, they'd wonder more why we were in the Abandoned Toilets rather than why a girl might be in the boy's bathroom..."

She then noticed someone nearby, close to the walls. It was dark so she didn't see him at first. Going over to him, she said, "Don't you think it's a bit foul to be sitting on the floor amongst the dirt and bugs?" She made a face as she glanced around at the floor. She gave him a little smile to let him know she was friendly.

"Don't you think it's a bit foul to be sitting on the floor amongst the dirt and bugs?"

Nick felt the blood rush to his face. "Um, well, I was just catching my breath." he said. Nick hurried to put the book away and stood up. "So, I'm, er, Nick. Um what's your name?" Nick mentally smacked himself on the side of the head. 'what's wrong with you??' Nick thought. 'She has a friendly aura, so why can't I control my nerves?' But Nick didn't know why he was thinking that, because he knew it was just his shyness getting the better of him. "Um uh" Nick cleared his throat. "Er, you new too?"

Grinning at his uneasiness, she said, "I don't think I would want to catch my breath in a stinky ole bathroom." Brushing her curly hair out of her face, she noticed that he had put a book away. She didn't get to catch the title, but it still made her wonder if he liked to read the kind of books she liked to read. She also wondered why he didn't just go to the common room or the library to relax, instead of the bathroom. She didn't really have anything to do except go to the History of Magic class, which she really didn't want to attend. Besides, she didn't think the professor would notice anyway if she were gone.

"I'm Mitzi, and yeah, I'm a first year." Going over to the window, she dusted off a spot and sat on the sill, looking out. She could see the land around Hogwarts and how beautiful it looked. It sort of reminded her of back home, in Montacute, where she use to run around with her dog Turtle in the fields near her neighborhood. She missed her parents home, although she stayed at her academy school most of the year so she didn't see it as much. She hoped she have a lot of fun at Hogwarts.

Turning to her new friend, Mitzi asked, "Do you like Hogwarts so far?"

Nick finally managed too calm his nerves down. "Yeah, I like Hogwarts. It's a really big castle, and I'm kind of shy, so yeah." Nick looked down at her feet, and caught a glimpse of red and gold socks. "You a Gryffindor too?" he asked, looking up at Mitzi and giving a sort of half smile to her.

"It's just, Hogwarts is a big place, and what with all these 'Slytherins running around, I'm worried I'll have the same problem I had with bullies back home." Nick walked over to the windowsill where Mitzi was sitting. "Heh, my mom always told me, you'll always find your true friends in the messy bathrooms, and I guess I wanted a few, so I headed here." "I guess we're kind of proving her advice, huh?" Nick said.

"Yeah, I think my favorite part of Hogwarts is the library, what with all the books everywhere." Nick looked at Mitzi. "I was so surprised when I was sorted into Gryffindor, I mean you'd think I should've been sorted into Ravenclaw, what with all my shyness." Nick followed Mitzi's gaze along the grounds of Hogwarts. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he murmured to his new found friend.

Nick didn't seem as shy as some people she knew, or even herself when she was about five years old. Back then she would only speak to others when she felt pressured, when it was absolutely necessary. Usually she seemed to ignore everyone when she just felt scared of social interaction and saying the wrong thing. Nowadays she learned to put the fear all the way in a deep, dark part of her mind and show bravery, all after a big incident that happened when she younger.

Rubbing a piece of lint between her fingers, she watched as he came over, feeling herself blush a bit. She returned his smile, though, and quickly went back to looking out the window. She hoped he wouldn't notice her reddened ears, which was her tell-tale when she was nervous, according to her mother. Her skin is light brown, though, so it should be harder to notice. "But what are you shy for, exactly? I don't like to be scared of anything unless I have a good enough reason to, I like to remember that I can always fight back...that's what my mum told me." Grinning, she added, "Both of our mums seemed to be pretty clever, was your mother in Ravenclaw, too?"

Nodding about the library comment, she said, "I like reading books too but I think what you believe puts you into your House, or that's what my mum said. I thought shy people were in Hufflepuff, but here we are. I use to be shy too but I'm not scared of anything anymore...or almost." Giggling, she pointed to Nick and said, "Boys who read in stinky bathrooms give me the creeps." She burst into laughter, covering her mouth to deafen it.

Nick gave Mitzi a sort of embarrassed smile. "Yeah, My mom was in Ravenclaw. I thought I would've been in there too, but... when I put on the Sorting hat it mentioned something to me about how 'bravery comes in many shapes and sizes,' and then it sorted me here. I guess I'm shy because bad things just seem to happen when I'm near people I don't know, so I just tend to avoid it."

Nick moved to pick up his bag to move it away from a water leak that was moving menacingly towards it. "Yeah, I like reading books too, especially those about animals. I was extremely exited when I saw that we were supposed to get Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I'm gonna be a Magi-Zoologist when I graduate."

Nick moved to put his bag down, but the seams ripped and everything inside spilled everywhere. His copy of FBAWTFT fell extremely close to a water pile. Nick made haste in picking it up. His copy of Magical Theory, however, was not so lucky. It fell directly in what appeared to be the deepest puddle of water there was in the bathroom. "Aggh! No! That was my only copy!" He hollered.

The rest of Nick's belongings scattered into dry areas. It was mainly books, though his copy of Magical Drafts and Potions was creased as though someone had been reading it recently. Nick picked up his wand and pointed it a the ripped seam. "Reparo." The seam instantly resealed itself, and Nick put all his stuff back in the bag. He stood up and muttered "Darn, darn, darn."

"Well, you don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself when there's danger...I know karate, archery, how to swim, pick locks, climb rocks, and a lot of other good things," she explained, counting off on her fingers. "Besides, just because you're shy doesn't mean you can't be brave as well. I think certain big feelings like being brave only come around when something important happens. Besides, we're only first-years, you can't expect to be so grown up when we're only eleven years old."

She chewed on her nails as she watched him move his bag away, noticing the water puddles in the bathroom. She had strangely never noticed them before and now made sure her own bag was safe in her lap. Mitzi liked animals too, but she wasn't sure if she wanted a job dealing with them when she grew up. Really she wanted to be someone in the Ministry. Her mother worked there as a secretary, which Mitzi considered, but she still had to figure out what she wanted to be the secretary of. Her father, on the other hand, worked with magical creatures, but he mainly cataloged their statistics and did some research about them.

Mitzi was about to tell Nick this when suddenly his bag ripped open and his things tumbled out. She gasped, moving to help when she noticed his Magic Theory book fall into the water. "Oh, no!" she cried, hurrying to grab the books out of the water. She wrung it, water dripping everywhere. She frowned; the words were barely legible on the pages. Turning towards Nick, Mitzi said, eyeing his wand, "Well, if you know a spell to fix book bags, you should know one to dry off things, right?"

Personally, Mitzi didn't like practicing spells outside of classrooms or school, but her friend seemed to do so uncaringly. She pursed her lips, handing it over to him. Thinking for a moment, she said, "I...I'll let you borrow mine, alright? Just be careful, would you? My mum would be very unhappy to hear that any of my school books were ruined at all, especially in a bathroom where I wasn't supposed to be..." She moved to retrieve her copy but then paused. "Well, since we're in the same House anyway, you can just tell me when you need it, and I'll let you borrow it, alright?"

She stood near him and gave him a pat on the shoulder, smiling. "We should head to the library or something, it's starting to smell like wet socks in here." She held her nose and giggled, eyeing his bag before heading towards the door.

"Thanks." Nick said. "I'll just borrow your copy until I can get back to Diagon Alley, and get a new copy. And no, I don't know any spells for soaking up water. I believe it's called Spongify, but I haven't gotten that far in Miranda Goshawk's Book of Spells yet." Nick smiled up at Mitzi. He put the soaked book in a special compartment in his bag and stood up, grabbing it. Looking up, he said "Yeah! Of course I want to go to the Library! I usually spend three or four hours there before bed. In fact, I was about to go there before you came in." Nick gave a sort of understanding smirk to Mitzi and then wrinkled his nose. "You're right. It does smell like socks in here."

Moving toward the door, he said "By the way, you should teach me how to pick locks sometime. I've always wanted to be able to do that, but my dad said it was 'uncivilized.'" Nick peeked outside the bathroom. "Yeah, it seems as though mostly everyone's gone back to bed." He stared around the bathroom and wrinkled his nose again. "Ugh. Next time I'm definitely bringing some air freshener." He looked back toward the door and opened it. "So! Erm, Ladies first!" Nick happily walked out of the bathroom toward the Library with his new friend.