Quiet Time Private Finished

Leila groaned inwardly as she saw the Hufflepuff step further towards them. Illowy wasn't stupid, she would surely figure out from the laugh that Mari had been listening to her conversation. But Leila had told the Hufflepuff that she would protect her and she wasn't going to back down now. She hated it when people broke their promises. She was about to jump in to diffuse the small bit of tension when the Slytherin's sneering tone as she talked to the girl.

Leila's eyes widened as she heard the Slytherin's words. She wasn't used to people who were rude for no reason and she didn't particularly like it. She liked being friendly to everybody, even if they didn't deserve it, and it still shocked her to see people who didn't act the same.

"Hey! She wasn't spying, she was just... looking for a book." Leila defended Mari. She looked at the Slytherin, not quite meeting her eyes, hoping that she looked defiant but she was sure she just looked nervous. She still wasn't very good at the whole 'confrontation' thing.

"And you don't have to be rude about it," Leila continued. "There are other ways of getting what you want besides snapping at everybody." She looked into Illowy's eyes for the first time since beginning to speak and noticed that her blue eyes were cold. She suddenly lost all of her nerve.

Scratch that. Leila wasn't worth the benefit of the doubt, she decided. Personally, she didn't much care what people thought about her, though she had a general idea of what people's first impressions of her were.

Cold. Rude. Emotionless. Cynical even, perhaps.

And that was just fine by her. It made people leave her alone for the most part. She didn't like giving her time to people who weren't worth it, and Illowy didn't believe in being friendly to just anyone. She tried to stay mainly neutral most of the time; at least, she felt she was being neutral most of the time. As Leila pipped up in defense of the other girl, she allowed her eyes to flick in Leila's direction.

The girl was a mouse in lion's clothing in the Slytherin's eyes. The way she tried to keep her tone strong, but avoided Illowy's gaze. The way she stood, not quite even facing her head on, almost leaning away. It was like reading a book. The moment the blonde even brought herself to meet the brunette's gaze, Illowy could see whatever courage she'd worked up was gone almost instantly.

Some Gryffindor.

"And what, exactly, do you think I want? Because I believe I was just sitting by myself, minding my own business, not even talking to anyone, when you all came to me." Illowy shifted her weight to her hip, turning her head a bit more towards Leila, "Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong." her voice dripped in tender cynicism.

Leila rolled her eyes at the Slytherin's sarcastic tone. She hated being spoken to as though she was a small child. She wasn't stupid, she remember that she had gone over to the Slytherin.

"I did come up to you." She said slowly. "But just to introduce myself. We're in the same year, even if we're in different Houses. We'll probably see a lot of each other in the next seven years. I wanted to say hello and introduce myself... I was just trying to make friends." Leila said, deflating a bit more and looking at the floor.

She couldn't bring herself to look at the Slytherin yet again. Leila hadn't wanted for the stereotype about Slytherins to be true, but they seemed to be. Leila found herself examining the girl's shoes as she thought. No. She's not going to walk all over me, Leila thought to herself.

She looked up, meeting Illowy's eyes. Leila's eyes were cold and she snapped at the girl. "But you know what. I shouldn't have made the mistake to come up to a Slytherin. After all, everyone knows that you guys are the rudest house. I shouldn't have wasted my time talking to you."

Leila crossed her arms as she set her jaw and looked at Illowy. She had to be brave sometime, she supposed. She hated losing her temper but people like Illowy always seemed to get under her skin.

As the blonde snapped at her, it took everything in Illowy not to laugh, "You're hurting my feelings." she smirked with a roll of her eyes, "Clearly, you don't have to be a Slytherin to be rude or sketchy." she eyed the Hufflepuff for a moment, "After all, I wasn't the one sneaking around, spying on people." she returned the gaze back to Leila.

"I mean, if we're going to go on about stereotypes, then I guess most people would think of Slytherin as rude, lying, sketchy, the list goes on." she absentmindedly lifted a finger to each trait she listed, "But from where I'm standing, its the Puff, who's suppose to be so just and friendly, is actually being incredibly sketchy; considering she's targeting me for some reason. I'll assume its only because I'm a Slytherin since, like we've agreed, I didn't even approach any of you. You came to me. And on top of that, the virtuous, brave, perfect Gryffindor is the one sitting there blatantly lying, since you knew she was standing there and probably knew she was listening to us. And now you're lying to me, defending her wrong doing and attacking someone who, by all technicalities, is an innocent defending herself. So cut it with the self-righteous I-should've-know-better-because-you're-a-Slytherin bunk."

Illowy wasn't going to have it today. If there were a reason for her to be getting attacked, then that was one thing; but to have literally been doing nothing, and suddenly everyone is ganging up against her simply because of her house, that was another, "Neither of you know anything about me other then my house. So feel free to make you're assumptions based on that, but you two aren't exactly sparkling representations of your own houses either."

The first year crossed her arms over her chest, turning on her heel to go back to her things.

Leila actually let out a small laugh at the Slytherin's words. Here she had been, questioning whether she was supposed to be a Gryffindor, and there goes Illowy confirming that it was the wrong house for her. She supposed she should be upset at the Slytherin's mean words, but the entire situation was so ironic that she couldn't help but laugh.

"I didn't know that she was standing there," Leila said in between giggles. Leila made a visible effort to stop laughing and finally managed it, with just a small smile on her face. "But I'm also not the one jumping to conclusions that she's spying on us. I mean, all we were doing was introducing ourselves. I suppose you think that Hufflepuff is organizing a rebellion and they need all of the names of the first years."

"And Gryffindors aren't perfect." Leila added rolling her eyes. "I mean, most people think us incredibly stupid. And I guess I fit my house stereotype of being stupid for trying to talk to a grumpy Slytherin."

"Although," Leila conceeded, a bit more quietly. "You're right that we shouldn't make assumptions about people based on their houses. So, I'm sorry." Leila didn't want to apologize. She didn't particularly think the girl deserved an apology, but Leila didn't want to let things end with the two of them disliking each other. She knew the Slytherin wouldn't accept the apology, but at least she had tried.

Ompf. Maybe luck wasn't on her side. She hadn't meant to cause a fight with her presence. While Illowy and Leila duked it out, Mari smiled appreciatively at Leila for defending her. She resumed the stance that Kona seemed to be having: watching the scene play out. This scene was how she had imagined Hogwarts, of course: Isa, her mother, who had imposed such a prejudice against Slytherins on Mari, had told her that Slytherins were cold, cruel, and calculating, always starting fights for no reason. It seemed that Illowy had fulfilled much of that stereotype. Granted, it didn't take much for Mari to assume that a Slytherin fulfilled a stereotype. Prejudices run deep.

At some point, though, Mari knew she would have to intervene. Though she wasn't necessarily feeling lucky anymore, the brutality of the Slytherin kept her confidence going by means of anger. She was clearly irate, and that anger was mounting as the conversation continued. A scowl befell her face as she glared at the snake and muttered, before Leila apologized, "You're being quite mean, Illowy. Leila is right, I was looking for a book and just happened upon this conversation because you attacked her for no good reason when she was trying to introduce herself."

Then, that foolish girl had to concede and apologize. Though Mari hadn't meant to, she glared at the Gryffindor in turn. "No, Leila," she said assuredly, "She doesn't need your apologies. She's shown that she's a snake through and through."

Deep down, Mari knew the girl was right; they shouldn't make assumptions about people based on their houses, certainly. But anger clouded Mari's sense of judgement, as well as her past conversations with Isa, to come to agreement with Leila in this moment. Illowy was just plain mean, there was no way around it. She deserved her house and all of its stereotypes. Mari was sure of it.

Realizing that she was still glaring at the Gryffindor, Mari turned back towards the Slytherin and crossed her arms. It would take a lot to change her mind about her, and though stranger things have happened, Mari didn't have much hope that she and Illowy would be best friends, or even friends for that matter, ever.