So It Begins... PV Closed

Imani scoffed at the boy. "I should apologize for what, making the train jolt and everyone fall? It's not my fault his cane nearly poked my eye out, or that I fell, but I don't need to explain myself to you." She glanced at the blind kid; he didn't seem angry at all so she didn't know why this other boy was targeting her like a bull. She glared at him. "And if you think it's bad manners to ask questions, then I know which one of us is definitely not getting into Ravenclaw. Besides, I wasn't talking to you, and the person I was actually speaking to doesn't seem so concerned, so maybe you should just shut up, thank you."

She sniffed and looked away, then added, "I think asking whether or not someone is a girl or boy is equal to asking how they necame blind, or are you to slow to see that?"

Turning to Cecilia, she said, "I think it's actually cool that you're blind, then you don't have to see any of the ugliness in this world." She ignored the boy when he introduced himself as Alan. She decided that Cecilia was the nicest so she went to sit next to him. He was going to be her new friend, he was the only nice person here. "Where are you guys from anyway? And I'm only talking—" She looked at Alan. He didn't look that much older than her, was he a second-year? Imani didn't care, he was still a person, and a weird one at that.

Looking at the first boy, she asked, "What kind of name is Alberic? What does it mean?"

Cecilia was furiously scared right now, god bless his soul. He appriciated that the other boy had spoke up for him. But then he just scared of how the girl would react.
“Hey it’s okay, I’m not…”
And just like he thought, Imani snaped back at the boy almost imidiately. Cecilia frowned slightly at the rude manner they were using to each other. Imani seems to be a little bit straight forward for a normal person, but it was okay actually, maybe she didn’t really mean it after all.

“I’m fine, thanks” he smiled at the boy who just asked, showed him that it was alright “And again, sorry, I should have been more careful the cane. Also, I’m a boy and it wasn’t rude to ask, people mistake me as a girl all the time, and I just can’t blame them since my name was Cecilia” He answered the boy’s question but sligtly hint at Imani to tell that asking his gender wasn’t that rude.

Then he just stayed silence when Imani made a comment about how Cecilia was lucky not to see all the ugly in the world (Huh? His dads always described to him that the world was beautiful??), Alan and Alberic introduced themselves,. Just then, another straight forward question was made by Imani asking for Alberic’s name meaning

The young Gryffindor huffed. He hoped nobody would be mad at him for standing up in front of someone who was clearly mean to her peers. Alan just wanted to protect the younger boy who was clearly at a disadvantage in this situation. But he was not mad, he just looked out to keep this conversation civil and nice, because anything else was not like himself.

“Poking your eye out? You are either delusional or over exaggerating the situation because this is not what happened. And I don't expect you to apologize about the situation but about the behavior…”, he explained and had to think for a moment. ”In case you really did not understand… he did nothing to earn your spite and still you lashed out at him, which I don't think was nice- and you're right, I don't belong in Ravenclaw but into Gryffindor”, he blushed slightly, fidgeting with his fingers.

He did not like the position he was in. Lecturing someone younger. ”We are known to rush into situations when we think someone is not respected the way they should and no, a gender is something you usually get asked, especially if you're owl friends…. However asking about someone's disability is not okay because you just can't know if it is a sensitive topic…”, as he continued speaking, he grabbed the hem of his hoodie, as his anxiety spiked. He turned to look at the other two boys nervously, mouthing a silent ‘sorry’ into Alberic's direction.

Alberic sat still, watching Imani and Alan go back and forth. He understood where both of them were coming from. He too had thought that Imani was a little out of line with her question, however she made a fair point that asking Cecilia about her gender could have been just as offensive. The subject of the questioning didn’t seem to mind either way as he offered an apology to Imani and was also not offended by Alan’s question.

It was all a little overwhelming for young Alberic, being exposed to so many new things. Fortunately for him, he was raised by parents that were pretty open minded, which was quite different from a lot of people that grew up in his rural environment. They had aslways told him that no matter how uncomfortable a situation might become, it is of the upmost importance to try and remain pleasant and try to see things from other’s perspective. This made him feel that he might have jumped the gun with Imani. Being blunt and straightforward were two qualities that Alberic did not process, but that surely doesn’t make them poor qualities. Maybe with a little of his southern charm he could calm the situation down and the four could get to know each other.

Just then, Imani turned to him, asking him the meaning of his name. He looked around to the other two, it was not a question he had ever been asked before. Alan mouthed the words, “I’m sorry,” to him. It was time to try and diffuse the situation.

“I don’t know what Alberic means. My folks just named me after my great granddaddy.” He answered Imani’s question. “Didn’t really know names had a meanin. Does yours mean somethin special?” He did his best to smile and try to calm the tense environment. “I know y’all had a bit of a disagreement, but umm...maybe we could just talk for a bit. Forget the whole thing?” He looked between Imani and Alan, hoping the we’re ready to settle it for now.

Imani was really, really getting angry now. Alan was acting like his opinion was a fact, and it wasn't. Nobody was offended, or at least not the person who it was directed to, and they all had only just met, so it was really none of his business. She didn't care if he was trying to be calm about it, Imani was the type of person who accounted what someone said more than what they actually meant, that was just the way it was and what it was going to be. She really didn't like him, and she was a little angry that he was a Gryffindor. She hoped he wasn't a prefect or anything, she knew if she got into Gryffindor there would probably a be a big problem with them both just being there, unless he got into her way.

"Look, so you're telling me that you noticed every single detail when we fell? And anyway, it was an obvious exaggeration, I knew he wasn't going to poke my eye out, how could he anyway? The fact that you really went that far to point out the logic behind that means you take things to seriously, even Cecilia didn't get that bothered by most of what I said. You really got a stick up your butt or something, gosh." She felt like hitting him but she didn't want to get caught by a professor.

Imani noticed that everyone seemed uncomfortable, which was certainly not something she usually even cared to see, and she tried her hardest to bite bake her frustration. She glared at Alan and then turned to Alberic, who explained about his name. He didn't seem to know either, so she made a mental note to research later. This was very, very weird for Imani, she was so use to just lashing out on everyone, letting her angry get control over her, but something difused, or at least lightened it for the moment.

Her eyebrows still furrowed, she said, "My name means 'faith', and my middle name, Ebele, means 'mercy'. Most people say that's ironic, but they're probably dumb." She sighed and then said, to Alan, "I'm not going to apologize, because I know—feel, like I didn't do anything wrong, but I just wanted to say that we should just agree to disagree. I like to get answers, and I'll do it the way I want. Cecilia doesn't seem bothered, so unless he complains, then you have no reason say anything about respect. Asking about genders and disabilities, it's all life at the end of the day, and you're obviously not ready for it if you're crying about a question. He shouldn't have answered if it was a problem. So, unless it's against the rules, get out of my face, and stop acting like you're so innocent and sorry, don't say anything if you don't freaking mean it."

Imani, feeling her face heated up, grabbed her things and got up, meaning to leave the compartment. But before she did she stopped and threw a dark look at Alan. It wasn't even just because of their disagreement, it was something deeper than that, but Imani felt hatred grow in heart and it was directed at him, and she hoped he knew that. She left without saying goodbye.

Cecilia just sat there, regret not sitting near Alberic. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to sit by Imani, but Alberic seems way more civil than Imani. He didn’t need no one to defend him, he appriciated Alan, but if it was serious, he would have defended himself. Sitting by Imani’s seat, he could literally feel the heat from her and the tension that was flooding the compartment evem faster than actual flood… Everybody seemed to take this problem further than what it actually should be.

Cecilia just covered his reddening face with all the width his hands had to offers, didn’t really wanted to be the spotlight of the argurment. He heard Alberic’s explanation of his name and sighed in relief that the conversation seems to be easing down a little bit with Imani talking about her name’s meaning… But he soon knew that good things never last long as Imani returned to the earlier argument with a calmer voice but still flickered with anger. In all the posibilities that Cecilia’s first impression could have been, it had to be this way…

“…and stop acting like you're so innocent and sorry, don't say anything if you don't freaking mean it."

She ended her speech as she grabbed all her belongings and stormed out of the apartment after a short moment of pausing.
Cecilia, was upset because of the chao he caused and followed Imani, didn’t forget to stop a little bit at the other two “I’ll call her and calm her down. I know I say sorry too much, but… sorry”
Then, he hurrily followed Imani and forgot to bring the cane with him, but he was doing fine without it and leaned on the passageway’s wall to steady his pace a little bit.
“Imani! Wait up! Imani” He called out, a little louder than he used to. 

Alberic leaned back against the cushioned fabric of the bench, allowing himself to relax a little. It seemed for now that the atmosphere had calmed, if only a little. Looking out the window he could see that they were leaving the city behind, with the busy streets giving way to rolling hills and small villages. It was very unlike the terrain he had left back home, but he was enjoying it.

Imani spoke up. Alberic flinched, as it seemed another outburst was coming , but after a few short words in Alan’s direction she changed the subject, going on to explain the meaning of her name. The young boy had never met anyone with her name before, and he quite liked it. It sounded much nicer than all of the typical American female names. He wondered if most people had names with meanings. Was it an English thing? Or maybe something amongst the magical community?

Faith and Mercy. That sounded nice. “Golly, I didnt know names had...”Alberic didn’t have the chance to finish his statement before Imani’s anger lashed out again. So much for mercy. His face flushed as she laid right back into Alan. Alberic had had enough of this, he wasn’t going to sit here and listen to two people fight the whole way to Hogwarts. His first experience was turning out to be a disaster. Just as he opened his mouth to say that he was going to find another department, Imani stood, grabbed her belongings and stormed out. It was not but a moment later that Cecilia took off to try and calm her to bring her back. He secretly wished that she would not.

“Be careful Cecilia!” He called out after him. Alberic wasn’t too sure what to say to Alan, so he shot him a surprised look.

Alan felt bad, as guilt and remorse rushed in. Not because he thought his way of acting was wrong or bad - in his opinion he did the right thing of standing up for Cecilia – but because he did not want for Imani to leave abruptly or to just destroy the atmosphere. He was not sure why she looked at him like this though, was it him having something on his face? He remembered having eaten chocolate frogs earlier, so he wiped his mouth just in case he had chocolate smudges on his lips. That was not the case, Alan just did not know what a death glare was.

He shyly looked after Cecilia and the other girl, he was not sure how to judge her, he really did not know. He would probably just avoid her as she did not seem to like him now, which was fine. He after a few moments of wild running thoughts to Alberic and tilted his head. ”H-hey... can I call you Al? I am bad with names...”, he laughed nervously, clutching his small hands into fists as he sat down on the seat that had not been taken yet. ”Sorry that I caused trouble...”, he mumbled sincerely.