Presents and Polaroid Pictures Finished

Min-seo smiled slightly at El. She was so nice to Min-seo, and she didn't understand why. Min always pictured herself as a loser, but somehow El was quite kind to the depressing girl. She looked at the creatures as they greeted Elena like an old friend. Min gripped her camera tightly for she was quite nervous and shy and she moved closer to El. Her Godfather had a house elf and he wanted to free her, but she doesn't want to leave. Her name was Jinx, and she'd taken care of Min and her brother ever since they entered the house. She smiled softly. The house elf's name was Saffy, and Elena introduced her to Min. She stiffened and waved with a small smile. "Pleasure to meet you," she said with a small bow of the head. The house elf clapped her hands and asked her what her favorite kind of cake was. Min thought about it for a little and she made her decision, but she didn't want it to be hard for them. Min looked down a bit. "U-um, well, my favorite cake is Red Velvet, but if that's too hard then it's okay whatever is easiest," she said with a small blush from embarrassment.

Red velvet, Elena noted the choice and nodded slightly, she'd have to write that down in her notebook later. Saffy nodded and smiled, "Of course we can do red velvet! Just sit right down over there and we'll have it out to you in a... jiffy?"

Saffy looked up at Elena, questioning if that was the right word to use. The girl nodded encouragingly and the house elf dashed away, leaving the two students standing by the table. Elena noticed Min-seo had moved closer to her, so she didn't move to sit quite yet.

"I'm glad you got to meet Saffy, she's super sweet. Loves baking too, so it's good to run into her." Elena fidgeted with the edge of her cloak, "Are there any other things we need for your birthday?"

The acoustical layout of the kitchens was just as bad as the Great Hall, making Elena's voice echo unless she keeped it relatively quiet. Elena started to try and hum Istanbul Not Constantinople calmingly, if that didn't work she might need to try a song that hasn't been used for a fight scene. Perish the thought, what else were amazing songs used for?

Elena smiled, "Want to sit down or stay here?"

Min-seo looked at the house elf and smiled slightly. She was so nice. Her heart melted a little at El and Saffy's relationship. They seemed to be quite good friends in a way. Min-seo relaxed a little bit, not as uptight as before. "Thank you so much Saffy," she bowed slightly again. She watched as she dashed off to the other house-elves as they got to work on the red velvet cake. Min looked up at Elena with a smile. "Yes, she really is, and I bet she's very talented at it for sure." she said. She shook her head. "I really don't need anything, I didn't even need this." she said with a soft smile. She really didn't deserve what she got to be honest. She noticed Elena humming a song. She immediately turned around to face her. "Wait. I know that song. I love that song," she said quickly with a grin on her face. She LOVED that song, to be honest. She shrugged. "I wouldn't mind sitting," she said, walking over to where Saffy told her to sit. She crossed her legs.

Seeing as Min-seo sat down, Elena perched on the chair next to her, one knee up and the other dangling off the bench, "It's one of my favourites too! I heard it on the radio over break, it was super cool."

"Also, I think everyone needs a birthday, a real one. I'm planning on not having the chaos of last year again though, too many people. I could send out anti-invites." Elena joked, "Thank you for being awesome friends, I love you all but I'd really like to be left along for my birthday. Kind Regards, Elly Jones."

It was probably true, as much as Elena liked making new friends she also got tired of interaction quickly, seeking out people for comfort yet also wanting to run away from them and hide. Introversion, but in a way that still had Elena look for people. Maybe it was the lack of family.

Elena laughed a little bit, "Still though, I think that you needed a birthday because you're amazing. Every amazing person needs to have a day for them to feel special, you could always pick another day, if you want. Like I picked my birthday." Elena smiled, "Always loved Winter, and the number six."

Min-seo smiled. "Really? My Godfather has a huge record player, and he has the whole album of that, along with many others," she said, bouncing up and down slightly. Not many people she knew liked the song or have ever heard of it, so it was nice to have someone who did enjoy it. Min giggled a bit at the idea for anti-invites. "Really? I'd love to have a bigger party. It'd be so fun! I used to have those before-" she cut herself off there and changed the subject. "Anyways, a big birthday party would be fun, plus I'd get to see everyone," she said with a smile, covering up all the pain she felt. That's what she usually did. Hide from them. Be the happiest you can be in the moment so people will like you. Make sure you don't hurt anyone. Make sure you don't make people depressed with your stupid backstory. Just don't speak. She snapped out of her thoughts for what felt like the 100th time today to listen to Elena. "Amazing? I wouldn't call myself amazing. And I like my birthday, it's nice to have it in the winter," she said with a small smile.

"I've never heard anything on a record player, maybe I'll come visit you one day." In her mind Elena was trying to figure out exactly what vintage record to get Min-seo for her next birthday, "A big party? Well, don't worry about next year's birthday. I'll make sure it's the best one you've ever had."

The girl winked conspiratorially at her friend, but could see a hint of something in her eyes. Something a lot like sadness but not quite. Elena weighed up risks, feeling a little bit of adrenaline in her blood to assist her mind working. In the end she decided the risks outweighed the rewards, "I can see something is hurting. We can go talk about it, somewhere quiet. I'll tell you a story in return. Only if you want though. You're my friend and I just want to make sure you're okay."

It was a strange jumble of words but it was meant with only the best intentions, as with much of Elena's speech. Hopefully Min wouldn't take it the wrong way, or think that she was being insincere, "And you are amazing, even if you don't think so. You're like Winter, in a way. Beautiful and interesting, even if not everyone can see it."

Min-seo clapped her hands rapidly for she was very excited. “Oh you should come over! Maybe this summer! That would be fun! Also, something on a record player sounds like, oh, well it’s hard to explain it. It sounds old, but I personally like it. You might not, but you never know,” she said with a cheeky smile. Probably none of that made sense, but whatever. Min-seo smiled as El said that she’d make sure that Min had the biggest party ever next year. “El, you’re literally the best. Thank you for sticking with someone as annoying as me,” she said. She was so glad that she had great friends who cared about her. El asked her if something was wrong. Min sighed slightly. “Yeah, I’ll tell you, but I don’t want to depress you. Also, thank you for worrying, I mean it isn’t fun, but I’m glad someone cares sometimes, even if it’s fake,” she said, bringing her knees to her chest. She didn’t think that El was being fake, it’s just that others had been fake to her and stuff like that. Min-seo smiled slightly. “I don’t see how you could think I’m pretty. I’m really not.” she said.

Elena smiled brightly at her friend, "I would like that, just owl me whenever you want to hang out. I like old things by the way, and fixing things. I used to want to learn clockmaking..."

Strange thing to say but Elena was sleep deprived and weird to begin with. Who cares about normal human interaction, "And I'm very depressing usually. So it's only fair."

For some reason Elena had 11 Minutes going through her head, self restraint stopped her from serenading Min-seo with sad love songs. She just gave Min-seo a slightly crooked smile when she said she wasn't pretty, a knowing look to denote that Elena knew the truth, that Min was beautiful.

Saffy showed up with the cake, a huge smile on her face, "Here you go darlings!"

"Thank you so much Saffy." Elena smiled at the house elf she thought of as her friend, "It looks amazing."

The elf beamed at them, then left the cake on the table before whisking away with a small goodbye to the girls. Elena glanced at Min-seo, "Where to now Min? We could head to the common room, or there's an unused classroom on the second floor too, not sure what it's for...

Min-seo tilted her head to the side with a smile. ”Clockmaking? That’s one I haven’t heard before. I bet it would be interesting to try for sure! And I’ll totally owe you over the summer! I can show you around and stuff!” she said, already excited for the fun they’d have. She clapped her hands rapidly. She shook her head slightly at Elena’s comment. ”You’re not depressing to me. And I guess I’ll tell you. Later though. The topic isn’t that big of a deal anyways.” she said quietly. It was a big issue, but Min-seo didn’t want it to be. She wished it wasn’t. Sadly, her family was a big deal. She shook the thought out of her head. She looked towards Saffy as she brought the cake. ”It looks amazing and smells amazing too! Thank you Ms. Saffy!” she said. She sighed. She really didn’t deserve any of this, nor did she know why El was going to this extent to give her a good birthday. She turned back to El and smiled. ”I don’t want to go back to the common room just yet, I think the classroom would be fine, if you want of course.” she said.

"That sounds amazing, thank you Min." Elena said softly and then smiled at the way she was respectful to Saffy. It was nice to see Min-seo's kindness, in a way it gave Elena more faith that the world really was a beautiful place, and not just monsters hiding in the shadows on the wall.

"As long as you're okay with sharing." Elena smiled at her friend, knowing that talking about anything can be hard. There was a reason that Elena never said anything specific about her past, as much as she wanted to be understood she didn't want to be pitied. Hide your nightmares, hide your fears, hide your past. Nobody will do anything but treat you as normal.

Now, looking at Min-seo, Elena realised that it wasn't pity that people felt, it was empathy. Sadly amongst all the moments of the day this realisation would be lost, and not recovered until months later.

"The classroom sounds excellent. I get it, the common room always makes me feel claustrophobic." Elena shook her head sadly, "I really don't like it, I heard the Gryffindor tower is beautiful and homey. I wish I was sorted there, only for the tower itself though, I wouldn't give up the house prestige."