The First Meet

The sound of the Great Hall made Hex feel immediately relaxed. Surrounded by people and excitement. Although, glancing at Haeli, she realised her friend was not feeling the same.

"Come with me" Hex shouted over the noise and pulled Haeli past her usual spot at the end and over to where she could see Damaris, Wisteria, and Rikkali sitting, already part of the way through the dinner spread laid out in front of them. Taking her usual seat next to them, she motioned for Haeli to join, and turned to her friends.

"Everyone - this here is Haeli Randall. She saved my life over by the Great Lake and, being a Gryffindor like us, I thought you would all get on great!" Hex beamed at the others. She hadn't known them long, herself. She hoped that they would be interested in making new friends and she was sure that they would get along as well as she did with Haeli. She was confident of it.

Shrugging off her jumper, now the heat of the Great Hall was there to warm her up, she filled up the goblet in front of her and waited for her friends response, giving Haeli a small pat on the arm for courage.

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Damaris turned around when she heard Hex's voice behind her, seeing that she was accompanied by another girl, Haeli. She put down the sandwich she was eating on her plate and greeted the girls with a smile, chewing the bite in her mouth. After swallowing, she introduced herself: "I'm Damaris, nice to meet you, Haeli" she said with a smile as she rested her elbows on the table, now in a comfortable position to rest her chin on her clasped hands, something she always found easy. She couldn't believe it; she had made friends, and not just one on her first day, but three, and now four with Haeli. This surprised her, as before she would have thought it ridiculous. It usually took her almost a week to adapt to a new place and new classmates, but not now. Haeli seemed very confident, which made her smile and feel good about herself. "You saved Hex? Good, at least now she can keep causing trouble" she thanked Haeli with a smile as he took another bite of his food, imagining the scene of what might have happened at the lake for Haeli to save Hex. She was quite curious to know if she was really honest.
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I was still a little nervous, but not like before. After Hex pulled me across the Great Hall toward her friends, something clicked in my brain. It told me that I was in, there was no going back now.

Once we got to the table Hex introduced me in a hurry. I smiled and gave a small wave when Damaris introduced herself. It was nice to put a face to the name Hex had told her about, just earlier. She seemed to be super nice, I was intrigued to get to know her a little more. Everyone was already eating and I was literally starving despite being nervous, so I sat down.

"Nice to meet you Damaris." I said with a smile. As I grabbed a sandwich and filled the goblet in front of me up with some sort of juice, I continued, "I wouldn't really say I saved her. I just gave her a little warning." I looked at Hex. She didn't seem to be paying attention though, for she was filling up her own goblet.

I think that I might actually be able to fit in finally, here at Hogwarts. I am actually super excited. I hope everyone likes me. I took a deep breath and sat a little taller, trying to look more presentable, like my grandmother always told me to when I was meeting new people.

I took a bite of my sandwich while waiting for the others to introduce themselves. I mean, I guess I could ask, but that would be really embarrassing if I got their names wrong, or something. So I think I am just going to be patient and wait.

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"A warning? Why?" Damaris asked, raising an eyebrow as she finished her sandwich and glanced at Haeli and Hex, who was intently eating what little she could. She was starving, and it showed, which amused me. Seeing Haeli doing the same, Damaris smiled at her, wanting to put her at ease and reassure her that she could trust us. She refilled her glass with pumpkin juice and took a sip, looking at Hex to try and figure out what her friend had done to warrant a warning from Haeli. "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into? You've only been here a few hours and you're already causing problems. That must be a record" she said to her friend, looking at her incredulously but with an amusement that was obvious. She wasn't angry with Hex, just surprised at how easily she got into trouble. Seeing Hex's surprised face at being "scolded" by Damaris, she quickly set her glass down and raised her hands in a gesture of peace, wanting to make it clear that she wasn't upset or scolding her. "I'm not upset, I'm just... surprised by how easily you get into trouble" Damaris defended herself with a small smile, not wanting to upset Hex, even though she knew there was a lot of trust between them despite barely knowing each other. After a few seconds, she leaned towards her, standing almost in front of Haeli but careful not to disturb her while she ate. Damaris whispered something to Hex, "Next time, let me know and we'll get into trouble together" she said with a mischievous smile, revealing her desire to get into trouble at school for fun.
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Hex laughed to herself as Damaris pulled in close to whisper to her. She enjoyed having a friend that she knew would be down for a little bit of mischief.
"Yes, Ma'am!" Hex mocked salute toward the other girl and the two of them burst out laughing. Damaris would certainly have gone in the water with her, but then again it would have ended badly for them both if they had!
"What can I say?" Hex began, addressing the whole group, "I like to make my name known, and to truly experience all Hogwarts has to offer of course" she mocked the Headmaster's voice in the final bit.

Picking up her fork, she nibbled at bits and pieces as the other girls talked. She was concerned that Haeli was still nervous, but tried to make her feel as at ease as possible. Thinking of things for the other girl to join in on, Hex proclaimed. "Oh Haeli likes reading fiction too!"

It seemed it was the one thing that united all the girls. Despite their different upbringings and journeys to get to Gryffindor, they had all at some point fallen in love with a novel. She was pleased to find such like-minded people.

nearly gone. She never took any of the peas or carrots as she hated peas and only ate raw carrots. She couldn't stand the taste of cooked carrots. A treacle tart sat off to the side. She'd eat that last. Her thoughts had drifted off...yet again. 'I will need to find a way to pick up more pranks. My stash will dwindle quick. I really hope I'll be able to see or be around when a prank goes off...especially if the Hogwarts Caretaker is the one who set of that prank. It will be hard to contain my laughter, but I'm determined to do so.' she thought to herself. She was unaware that Hex had joined them, bringing yet another Gryffindor student.
them, along with her being lost in her own thoughts. Shaking her head a bit to clear her head, she turned and realized that Damaris had been talking, as was Hex and the new girl. She didn't want to seem rude and gave a slight frown. "Apologies, I was lost in my own thoughts again. I'm Rikkali." she said as she took another bite of her Shepherd's pie, washing it down with her pumpkin juice. When she first learned she'd be attending Hogwarts, learned that her world was about to change, she never thought she'd be placed in Gryffindor House, let alone find friends as quick as she did. She figured she'd end up in Slytherin like her parents had been. Despite never knowing them, she only knew bits and pieces about their lives before her from her foster parents. They had said she was mostly like her mother with a bit of her father. Always enjoying a bit of mischief. She had all the qualities of a Slytherin, yet she had been placed in Gryffindor. 'Perhaps the Sorting Hat got it all wrong. Or maybe the hat got it wrong on purpose, to change things up.' she thought to herself. She still wasn't sure about these girls that she just met. She wasn't used to having friends. Being home schooled never gave her a chance to have friends. Now here are these girls, who seem nice and cool enough. In fact, she can't even see any fault in not one of them. And the best thing about them...they like getting into mischief as much as she does.
to being home schooled and not given the chance for friendship with anyone, coming to the school was her chance. When she received her letter, she knew things would be different. She could feel it in her gut. She looked at the girls around her, looking at each one in turn, giving a smile. She realized that she was happy to have met them and look forward to any and all kinds of trouble to get into with them.
Hearing Damaris telling Hex to wait for any mischief making until she could be with her to get into trouble together. Rikkali gave a soft laugh. "Exactly, no getting up to any mischief without us." she said with another soft laugh, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

Wisteria had been calmly drinking her water and listening to the conversation when she heard that Haeli liked fiction. Now was the perfect opportunity to talk to her.
"Hi Haeli! I'm Wisteria, Wisteria Ames. Nice to meet you. What are your favorite books?"
As she waited for Haeli to respond, she looked a the wide array of food displayed on the table. She wasn't that hungry, so she decided to only eat a little bit. As she ate, she listened to the hum of people in the Great Hall talking.
All of them are living a life as complex as mine, with their own challenges and relationships, Wisteria thought, spacing out. What was the word for that again? Oh right! Sonder.
Wisteria continued thinking about sonder until a particularly loud laugh snapped her out of her reverie. She snapped back to attention just as Hex, Damaris, and Rikkali were talking about mischief.
I hope they don't get into too much trouble, Wisteria thought. She was worried for them. What if they got caught? She didn't want her new friends to get expelled.
Wisteria continued eating as she waited for Haeli to respond. The food here was truly delicious. And they had vegetarian options too, which was great.

Haeli couldn't believe the sight of all of these girls interacting. It was like they had known each other for years. It was nice, but she really was hoping that they were going to be open to having another in their group.

"It is really nice to meet all of you!" Haeli said with a smile on her face. She seemed to never go anywhere without a smile. It was her secret weapon, as her grandmother used to say. My, how she missed her grandmother. After dinner she needed to go and write her another letter and tell her about meeting all of these girls.

Haeli looked to Wisteria to answer her question about books, "That is actually a super hard question. I love a lot of books. The one I told Hex about was The Hunger Games. I've read the whole series, multiple times. I really enjoyed it!" With a smile she continued, "But I pretty much like any dystopian, romance, or fantasy book. Have you read the Lord of the Rings series, or the Divergent series?" Haeli finished. She hoped she wasn't asking too many questions.

All of the other girls were talking about getting into mischief. Haeli didn't really know what to think about it. She used to hate getting into mischief when she was younger, but as she grew up she realized that she enjoyed the thrill and adrenalin of it. But then you go back to the reasonable side of Haeli's brain, which would tell you that you could get expelled from Hogwarts if you cause too much trouble. I guess you could even say that someone could get killed, especially if you provoke a mermaid, Haeli laughed to herself.

Haeli was about done with dinner. She had eaten so fast, she felt a little wheezy. All she wanted to do was go lye down, but that reminded her that she never found a dormitory. When she first got here she b-lined it for the library. She totally forgot about finding a bed.

She was kicking herself for this stupid choice. Now, she had to ask the table a really embarrassing question, if they have room. Haeli sighed a deep sigh and looked from Wisteria to Hex. She hoped that she made a good enough impression that if they did have room, they would let her be a part of their dorm too.

"Hey, I..." Haeli didn't know how to ask, "So, I, you know..." She would just have to dive right in, the worst they could say was no, right? With a deep breath, she managed, "Ok, so basically, I was stupid when I first got here and went straight to the library, not to the dormitory. So, I basically don't have a dormitory. Do yall think that yall have an open spot for me? It’s ok if yall don’t…” Haeli was just praying that they did.

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Damaris turned to look at Haeli upon hearing her say she didn't have a room, her eyes wide at how quickly the other girl had admitted to visiting the school library. She took a bite of her meat pie, glancing at the other girls at the table who wore the same surprised expression.
Damaris swallowed and looked at Haeli—seated to her right—before replying.
"One: yes, we have space in the room; I think there were... two beds left, if I'm not mistaken" she said, glancing at Wisteria for confirmation. She held up a second finger to continue: "Two: how did you find the library? I almost got lost on my way to the Gryffindor tower" Damaris mentioned with a smile, "and three..." she started speaking while looking at Haeli with a smile that didn't fully reveal the excitement she felt about what she had just said regarding her taste in books.
"Do you really like The Hunger Games? It’s one of the best book and movie series in history! Well, at least in my perspective....Well, at least from my point of view... but the Percy Jackson and Maze Runner series aren't far behind" she said with a smile, happy that Haeli shared tastes so similar to her own and those of the other girls at the table. She looked at Wisteria, smiling and putting on a puppy-dog face; she draped an arm around Haeli’s shoulders and pouted—the same look she always used to convince her father to get her something, though this time, she was trying it on Wisteria.
"Can we keep her?" Damaris asked softly, trying to persuade her friend to agree to something they had all already decided to allow. Damaris glanced to her left, saw Rikkali, and did the same—wrapping her other arm around her to pull her in—while smiling at Wisteria and awaiting her response.
Damaris had never been one for physical contact—especially not with people she had just met—but now she allowed it with them; she viewed this as a personal milestone, as it meant she felt truly comfortable with them, and that made her happy.
"Rikkali too, pleeeeeeeease."
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