Strangers

Starting back at Hogwarts was a relief to Simon and he welcomed it as a great way to put summer behind him and focus on the present and the future - letting go of the past. This year, there weren't OWLs, but he knew that he would still need to prep for the upcoming NEWTs of next year so that ddidn't mean he could just take a year off - still, he felt he had a good handle on everything and was looking forward to his Sixth Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He had a pretty good grasp of how things worked - all his classes. He had made friends, was on good terms with professors. He had spoken with portraits and started up clubs in both wizarding photography and magical healing. He had been prefect and he was a broom racer. Hogwarts was now home to him and he was ready for another year of adventures.

Simon was up and about at that moment trying to find something he didn't have a handle on yet - control over his pet rat. Rascal had accompanied him again that year to Hogwarts and already had escaped, made his way out of Simon's satchel pocket and was now roaming the corridors somewhere. Simon hoped to find him before someone's pet cat did.

"You really shouldn't be wandering the corridors this late, alone," he said, speaking to the rat, or at least, hoping he was within earshot of the little creature. Simon didn't realize that he was within hearing distance of the girl who had sunk down to the floor. He turned the corner and saw her.

Isabella was on the floor when she heard it. She wasn't sure that it was actually someone speaking, much less to her. "You really shouldn't be wandering around the corridors this late, alone."

She looked around the corridor. "Hello?" After she said that, a much older boy rounded the corner of the corridor. She quickly stood up. She brushed herself off and combed her fingers through her hair, to look more presentable after roaming the castle for a while. Then, she looked at him.

She slightly recognized him from seeing him around school that day. Oh, She realized, He's one of the sixth years! She took in how he held himself and pondered what he was doing there.

And then she made her second revelation. She had seen a rat, his rat earlier in the day. She looked around, but the rat was nowhere to be found. That means that he's probably looking for his rat, and his rat is probably wandering the castle. So, it makes sense that his rat is what he said those words to! Isa concluded, smiling to herself.

Isabella felt embarrassed that she had thought he was talking to her. She felt her cheeks get a bit pink. "Hello. I was wondering..." her voice trailed off. Then, she said it louder; more confident, "I was wondering if you could show me where the Hufflepuff common room is?" She stood almost perfectly still, awaiting his reply.

He was surprised to find her there because most of the other students had filtered back to their Common Rooms or Dormitories by now. "Hey," he said, his look of surprising changing into a smile because Simon was always ready to help out a fellow student. It's what had made him a good prefect back before he let go of the title to focus on his studies. One didn't become a healer by jeopardizing their knowledge.

"Yea, of course. I can help with that. Might you be able to help me with something as well? My little gray rat is scurrying somewhere within these corridors and apparently he thinks we're playing a game of hide and go seek at the moment. If you see him, you'll let me know? Don't be scared of him either, he's very friendly - just obstinate."

Rascal was around somewhere, he knew it. "I'm Simon, Simon Kincaid," he said to her and brought out his hand for a formal handshake. A good handshake was always a proper way to start off any positive interaction, he thought. "Congratulations on being sorted into Hufflepuff." Simon leaned in slightly closer to the girl and lowered his voice - even though the corridor was abandoned except for the two of them. "....It is the best house," he whispered.

"Are you happy with your sorting, or were you hoping for something else?" he asked and just then began to hear the tapping on metal. "....Hmm, I think someone's trying to climb one of the suits of armor."

Isabella looked at Simon. "Thank you!" She smiled at him. "Yes, I love Hufflepuff, and I'll let you know if I see your rat." She said quietly. She was so happy that Simon had decided to help her. She really did value kindness, so she had decided to tell him if she saw his rat, for he was helping her, too!

She was still nervous with him being a sixth year, but he seemed nice. She also shook his hand. "I'm Isabella Dín." She said quietly. She played with her brown hair a bit.

She had heard he was trying to become a healer from her friend, was it Riley? "I heard you're trying to become a healer?" She then realized that it sounded weird to already know things about the other person when they hadn't told you anything yet.

She followed up with, "I'm looking to work in the Department of Mysteries." She was more confident in speaking with the boy after talking for a little bit. She twisted a curl around her finger. She wondered what the boy thought about being an Unspeakable. She thought it would be helpful, but terrifying to be a healer. Sometimes someone else's life was in your hands. You were responsible for if they lived or died, healed or got worse.

"Yea, hoping to become a healer.....there's a lot of work involved in that though. The OWLs were slightly brutal and I'll still have NEWTs next year," he said and sighed. "But I think I can do it. I did an internship over this past summer with St Mungo's. I've got a club here called PULSE that deals with magical medicine if you'r eever interested on the topic," he said.

But she wanted to work within the Ministry - another noble career choice surely. "What do you think you'd do in the Department of Mysteries? It sounds....mysterious," he smiled widely. Okay, yes, that was a silly thing to say but this was Simon and sometimes that's what you got. He couldn't be serious ALL the time - only some of the time.

Actually, if he thought about it, it was probably some from the Department of Mysteries that came out to the castle over the summer after the fire at his father's. It was probably wome within the Department of Mysteries that put together the account of what exactly happened and how they were going to handle such a crazy situation. He had been grateful to the Ministry workers that did come out.

Simon noticed the hair color change and thought it was amazing. As a not standard human himself, he always appreciated the differences in others. He was about to compliment her on it, when there was a CRASH and a suit of armor before them tumbled to the ground and a small shadow of a something scurried off. Simon was quick though with his dhampir reflexes and quickly scooped it up. "Rascal, stop it!" he hissed but one would also be able to tell that he was glad to have found his rat pal.

"Isabella, meet Rascal. Rascal, this is Isabella. She's wih the Department of Mysteries with the Ministry of Magic, or will be someday, and we are escorting your rodent self back to the Hufflepuff Common Room."

Isabella smiled, "I think, in the Department of Mysteries..." she trailed off.

Bella didn't know. She wondered what actually went on in there. Well, it sounded fascinating, so she was sure there was something cool to be done in that department.

"I'm not sure what I would do as an Unspeakable! I hope it would be interesting, though." Isabella didn't know a lot about the Department of Mysteries from her mom, but the stories she and her siblings were told were amazing.

Another idea of Isabella's sprung to mind. "Well, it would be fun to work with dragons." Suddenly, there was a clanging sound. A suit of armor had fallen to the ground.

Simon scooped up something furry, and maybe Alive?! Bella thought. Oh, of course! It was his pet rat.

Simon said, "Isabella, meet Rascal. Rascal, this is Isabella. She's with the Department of Mysteries with the Ministry of Magic, or will be someday, and we are escorting your rodent self back to the Hufflepuff Common Room."

Isabella smiled brightly, looking at the rat. "Hi, Rascal!" She loved creatures, and Rascal was definitely a creature. Isabella started walking toward the Hufflepuff Common Room. Then she realized that she still had no idea where she was going.

She turned back around to look at Simon, waiting for him to lead the way.

Rascal finally started acting right - since there were others around. He always behaved better in the presence of a girl for some reason and Simon found it frustrating. Then again, he had Rascal come back with him for another year of Hogwarts and had his pet owl Percy stay at home for adventures such as this.

Rascal gave a polite little squeak before Simon lifted him up eye level to him and just gave him a disapproving look before slipping the rat into the side crocheted pocket of his enchanted satchel. It was one of Rascal's favorite places to be.

"Working with dragons, now you're talking," Simon smiled. His first three entire years at Hogwars or more he was enchanted with dragons. Nothing probably excited him more nor did he spend more time learning about in the library - with the exception of maybe dhampirs and vampires because he wanted to learn more about his own kind.

"I've heard it can be difficult to be an unspeakable and have a family," Simon admitted to the girl. He wasn't sure how far ahead she had thought about her future, but wanted to bring that up. "I want a big family someday. Have at least twelve children. If I was in such line of work I'd never get to be home to be a father to them."

The two continued their way down a corridor and took a left when they got to a crossing one.

"My mom's an Unspeakable. She isn't at home a lot on work days, so I understand what you've heard." Simon said he wanted a big family. Isabella smiled. "That sounds lovely. I hope you get there some day."

"I'm not sure if you know many, but what's your favorite kind of dragon? I like the Swedish Short snout and Hungarian Horntail." Isabella's parents had told her a little bit about the different kinds of dragons once. Isabella continued to walk, passing suits of armor. The castle may have been in use for years, but it still looked like an old castle. That was part of the magic. Isabella thought it must have looked very similar for witches and wizards walking through the halls fifty, even a hundred years ago! It was so cool. The castle was so mysterious.

Isabella realized they would probably reach the common room soon. She wondered if she and Simon would see each other again. She hoped so. He was really nice. He had been willing to help her find the common room even when he probably had many other things that he had actually been wanting to do that evening, but instead he had helped her get back to their common room.

Isabella tried to continue the conversation. She hesitated. Then she continued. "Which classes do you like?" She smiled. This was a nice evening walk, even if it had started with her lost in a corridor.