The weather was getting cooler already, less than a week into October. Kayla, a girl exceptionally suited to heat, disapproved. She was meant for sweltering summers, denim shorts and creek wading; the wet, green Scottish air had nothing on the smell of beach salt and hot asphalt, and she missed the cries of the gulls. It wasn't so bad at Salem, which had become her second home, but though the wild flora and dramatic skies here energized her, though she was fascinated by and caught up in the busy halls of Hogwarts, everything was different enough that sometimes she felt the hollow ache of longing. Homesickness. She surrounded herself with people, but sometimes she still couldn't help it.

Sitting on the pebbly beach, Kayla rested her sharp chin on her knees and turned her face into the cool breeze. It smelled like rain and a sharp, mineral tang; she sighed, then flung her weight back on her hands and tilted her head back to what was left of the sun. Kayla liked to stay busy, and she liked to be around others - usually, that was enough to keep her mind from working. But she was drawn to nature too, and that often spelled solitude. Wasn't fair, really. Kayla would have been happy to sit here with company. But this wasn't like Salem where everywhere she turned she saw a dozen friendly faces - Hogwarts was full of foreign students, and she hadn't run into anyone she'd known on her way out to the grounds after classes had ended.

"Bugger," Katy cursed.
 
Her fingers curled in the loose pebbles of the lakeside path in irritation.  She loosened them consciously and turned over to sit on her backside right there in the middle of the path.  Her palms were red and scratched, with small rocks and dirt jammed into the crevices.  And her stockings were torn.  Again!  She really hated having to get new ones, it was such a bother and she had no idea when the next Hogsmeade weekend was because she rarely went. She glared past her abused hands, and scratched, knobby knees to the loose rock hidden beneath traitorous damp moss.  It was responsible for this!

She lunged forward and seized the rock.  She hurled it as hard as she could from her half-sitting position on the path.  It plopped dully (perhaps even smugly) into the water.  That's when she realized that a few scrapes and torn stockings were the least of her concerns.  She dropped her Care of Magical Creatures book and the belt holding it shut had come loose.  In a fit of monster rage it had propelled itself down the side of the path and was now thrashing in the shallows. 

What was left of her stocking and her shoes got mud on them when she slipped down to the water and squelched in the mud to retrieve her book. 

"Oh you stupid thing!" she growled at it.  "Just hold still!"

Kayla's eyes shuttered as the wind picked up, and finally she blinked rapidly and turned her face away. A small grin grew on her lips. "You win!" she sang, flinging her arms out into the air, unselfconscious because she was alone (not that Kayla was ever terribly concerned with what other people thought of her or her actions). But the wind also carried a faint noise with it - faint, shrill cries. Kayla perked her metaphorical ears, straining, but the sound could have been carried for any distance. Another student? A child. A stone landed in the water; she looked around and then jumped enormously when a small snuffling snarling thing scooted past her at high speed, launching itself into the lake where it swirled and spat. Bubbles frothed. Kayla stared.

Then a girl marched past, intent on the thing and without noticing Kayla though she was only meters away. Kayla noted three things in rapid succession: one, that the girl was a Hogwarts student; two, that she was clearly the owner of the flapping thing; and three, that it really was a lovely day for a swim. Without further delay Kayla hopped up and into the water, wading after the small brown furry thing. It lunged at her and she scooped it up, whipcord muscles in her arms straining as she clamped it tightly to her chest, too tightly for it to snap.

"Oh," she said, eyes widening as it snarled at her, "It's a book." She raised her gaze to Katy as if to ask, what do I do with it? then let out a bark of startled laughter when it lunged for her face. "Naughty!" she scolded it, still laughing, and wound her arms tighter until it subsided.

Katy heaved a deep breath and pushed her hair out of her face, relieved.  Her Care of Magical Creatures textbook was her absolute least favorite because it kept getting loose on her.  Books were supposed to be quiet and still.  At least, that's what she'd been raised to believe.  At Hogwarts, books were never just books.  It was fun, but often a pain and horribly inefficient.  Books that bite, books that scream, books that insult you when you flip the page.  Where were the books that spoke the passage you were looking for when you picked it up?  Where were the books that lit up so you could read them in the dark?  Where were the self-drying books? 

She eyed her dripping textbook in the arms of the other girl with disdain.  At the expectant, questioning look aimed in her direction, Katy mumbled to herself, "Oh right."  She looked about and realized that she'd left the belt behind.  After going back to retrieve it, she moved in close to wrap the belt around the book.  It snapped at her fingers once or twice but she bound it shut before it did any damage and then heaved the sopping wet thing into her own embrace.  She hoped the smell of wet fur could be washed out of her sweater.  Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Thanks," she told the other girl grudgingly.  "The books about monsters are actual monsters."

Kayla obediently handed the book off when Katy fumbled for it, watching as the younger girl bound it into submission. The wet-fur feeling wasn't a pleasant one, yet Kayla still reached out to trail light fingers over the book's side and spine. It shivered, growl fading away, and wasn't that fascinating. "I'm jealous," she admitted. "We've never had books that were this much fun." It wasn't snarling at all anymore, just lying like a dead weight in Katy's arms. Kayla eyed it, mouth quirked in a little smile. "It's very sweet, isn't it?"

She waded towards shore without waiting for an answer, mud squishing under her toes. She'd taken off her stockings and shoes as soon as she'd reached the lake earlier this afternoon, so she'd never had to fear for them; she could spot them in a neat pile on the grass, just waiting to force her into propriety again. Honestly, she'd rather stay in the lake. The water was still warm from summer, and she hadn't yet met the Giant Squid.

Sweet was not the word Katy would've used to describe it.  That horrendous, angry paperweight.  But of course, if it was just going lie there like a dog getting its belly scratched, perhaps it could eventually redeem itself.  Her lip curled in disgust at the squelchy wet fur against her skin.  She'd smell like a wet dog.  Honestly, she had a hard enough time making friends without driving them off.  Idly she wondered if she would have time for a wash before dinner but the notion swept out of her mind quickly as her afternoon schedule occupied her attention.  She still had a few homework assignments to complete and would need to outline the next chapter for Charms.

Belatedly, Katy realized that the older girl was looking at her from the shore.  She was soaking wet but surprisingly not put out by the situation.  She seemed so friendly.  What kind of person leaped into a lake after a complete stranger's wayward and snarling book?  An odd one certainly.  Luckily for this other girl though, she'd already taken off her socks and shoes.  Katy gave her own muddy shoes a baleful look.

Should she say something? she wondered to herself.  It seemed that she ought to, given everything but hadn't she already said thank you?  Surely she didn't have to say it again.  Maybe she could just leave. 

"Well... Thanks again," she mumbled, looking around herself as though she'd find the answer on the lake's smooth surface.

The girl stared at her shoes under the lake water and mumbled her thanks. Kayla's smile grew until it nearly devoured itself, only her inherent good nature making her look somewhat less devious than the Grinch. Inwardly she clutched her fists to her chest and babbled, what a little cutie oh my Cliodne! Katy's bowed, curly head did strange squiggly things to her protective instincts, the same ones that made her crouch over a new seedling for hours or drag Odi out of the dorms when she was sulking. Her accent... ugh, it was unbearable. Kayla'd already gained a reputation as the odd girl for throwing herself onto the UK students and cooing at them (which, because she was American, had led some of the boys to make the most unwelcome assumptions, but Kayla had a mean right elbow so it had all ended well enough). It wasn't like this was unexpected, really... but add the sulleness and Katy became her favorite flavor of person.

Sitting back on the bank with more grace than usual, Kayla patted the ground next to her and gave Katy an expectant look. She followed it up with a slant of the brows and a quirk of her mouth which clearly meant, and don't think you can get away.

She was devious.

A strange, uneasy weight settled in Katy's stomach along with that thought.  It didn't matter how kindly the origins of the smile, it was tinged with the dreaded persistence of a whirlwind.  To Katy, whirlwind people moved through life causing mayhem, dragging others along with them.  Katy's best friend from childhood, Brynn, was like that.  Resistance was useless because they would force you into something and force you to like it. 

Resistance...  that was at the front of her mind.  She wanted to walk away right now, go back to her dorm and study.  But as she walked back onto shore, water squelching out of her shoes, Katy didn't want to walk all the way back to the dorm with wet feet.  Blisters.  She stared at the pebbly beach where the American's hand was patting gently.  She gingerly lowered herself down on to the ground and smoothed her uniform skirt in her lap before reaching down and methodically taking off one shoe and then the next.  She poured small trickle of water onto the rocks then put them out and laid her socks out next to them.

Only when she finished did she realize the silence around them.  She bit her lip, glanced at the American who was still grinning deviously,  and finally said, "My name's Katy Bevans.  I'm a fourth year Hufflepuff."

She stuck her hand out, not because she particularly wanted to shake the other girl's hand, but because her sense of propriety told her she should.  It was expected.  So she held it out there stiffly.

"My name's Kayla Austin." Kayla crossed her legs Indian-style, waiting until Katy had settled to pull out her wand. "I'm a junior from Salem, well, from North Carolina originally. D'you know where that is? Pleased to meet you." She shook Katy's hand cheerfully enough, then turned her wand on the other girl's sodden shoes and socks. A blast of air issued from her wand, and she ran it slowly over each article before following that up with an "Scourgify!" to get rid of any linger dirt or lake-water smell. She did this as easily and as casually as another girl might tuck a lock of hair behind her ear; a thoughtless action, predisposed to kindness by nature.

"Hufflepuff's the badger house, right?" Try as she might, Kayla could never remember. This wasn't even the first time she'd asked someone. These animals just seemed so arbitrary. Had they been the founder's favorites? An outdoorsy girl at heart, Kayla had had several encounters with badgers in the wild and found it absolutely puzzling that apparently that was the nice house. Or the shy house. Less brave than the lions, apparently (she'd been thoroughly educated in the first week by a group of the boisterous lads). Badgers were fucking terrifying little devils and when riled bit like to snap bone; she didn't know what everyone was thinking with this weird way of classing people, Slytherins scary, Hufflepuffs mild.... what she needed to do was hunt down this infamous Sorting Hat. Kayla was dead curious as to where it'd put her in this house system.

Katy had no idea where North Carolina was.  She'd heard of it, or course, as one of the thirteen original American colonies.  She wouldn't have been able to place it on a map though.  American history wasn't something her primary school had focused on.  It didn't seem to matter though because Kayla had already moved on... cleaning Katy's socks.  Why hadn't Katy thought of that?  She shrugged it off.  As a muggleborn she occasionally forgot that sometimes magic provided a faster and easier way of getting things done.  Just as often magic just made things worse, more complicated.  Like her book.  She glared at it and then sent a blast of air from her own wand.  Her ire sent a blast strong enough to dry the fur on the cover, leaving it soft and fuzzy looking.  She imagined that it was angry with her at the injustice and quirked her lip.

"Hufflepuffs are represented by a badger," Katy confirmed.  She squirmed a bit because Kayla looked very interested, more interested than people usually were in what she had to say.  So she continued,  "Slytherins have a snake, Ravenclaws have an eagle, and Gryffindors a lion.  The animals represent the qualities each house prides itself on."  Katy bit her lip and stopped.  She could go on.   She'd researched the houses in her first year out of curiosity but Kayla hadn't asked, so that would probably be rambling.

"Hmmmm." Kayla leaned her pointy elbows on her knees, sliding her hands back into her hair and lacing fingers over the back of her neck. "So Slytherins are slithery, Ravenclaws have excellent vision, and Gryffindors are aggressive pack animals?" Her expression was very earnest, but that twinkle was back in her eye. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "And Hufflepuffs like to dig for grubs, obviously. You must be a surly lot." 

Her tone was as innocent as her expression, the teasing note only faintly sneaking in. Kayla was not unfamiliar with the sports teams in America with similar motives behind their animal mascots. But she wanted to see what the little spitfire had to say about it - she was quiet, awfully cute, and very serious, and Kayla was sure she would be far more educational than the group of guys who'd "educated" her on the Hogwarts system to start with. The Gryffindor perspective  - at least of that group - seemed denser than even Kayla could pretend.

Katy almost scowled, wondering if Kayla was dense or dumb but didn't when she realized that the American was having her on.  She didn't really think... surely she didn't.  The metaphoric use of animals was universal as far as Katy was aware and not meant to be taken literally.  Although the literal interpretations were probably not as far off as Kayla had intended.  They certainly did speak to some the less stellar attributes of each house.

"The snake is the symbol of magic, mystery and change," Katy said absently, still thinking about what Kayla said.  "Salazar Slytherin had a great affinity for the animal and it became associated with his desire for personal change and advancement.  Unfortunately the snake has been vilified and, so too, the house, based on past mistakes."  Katy knew of Slytherins who were willing to do anything and stoop to any low to accomplish what they thought they wanted but she didn't think that was the norm.  Generally, she found them a sharp bunch, if somewhat standoffish.

"The eagle is regarded as the spirit of freedom and insight and has become associated with the perspective Ravenclaws feel the gain with the dedication to their studies.  The lion is a symbol of courage, dignity, and justice, primarily as a result of its association with the sun symbol, but also because of the necessary strength and leadership in group situations."

Katy paused and chewed on her lip.  She hated talking about herself and talking about Hufflepuff was too close for comfort.  She was chosen for the house for reason, after all.  "The badger is known or its passion and willingness to fight for what it wants.  They have a tendency to ignore the things that don't concern them, or things they don't care about, but when they're angered they have the capacity to do anything."

There was more to the totems, more than should be conveyed in a single stretch.  But Katy found the whole thing incredibly and distractingly interesting.  She enjoyed watching people, seeing how the house traits manifested in individuals.  And, despite her initial reaction, Katy enjoyed the description Kayla offered.  It showed what people thought of the houses.  Slytherins were sneaky and untrustworthy, slithery like snakes.  Ravenclaws were elitist, with their supposed high vision.  Gryffindors were rash, aggressive, and insular like a pride of lions.  And Hufflepuffs.... Hufflepuffs were low and unambitious, willing to take what everyone else dished out.  Lost in thought, Katy forgot she was supposed to be having a conversation and just stared out over the lake.

She got even more than she'd hoped for with her teasing, which was frankly wonderful; Kayla listened intently, happily, curious about what Katy thought. The younger girl made it all sound so magical - which obviously it was, only there was still delight in that for Kayla who went home every summer to a Muggle household - and intertwined it with the history of Hogwarts, which Kayla was also interested in. Hogwarts had thousands of years behind it - Salem, not so much. It made the former more mysterious, more intriguing, worthy of her curiosity and awe.

Afterwards Katy stared out over the lake, her gaze gone distant. Kayla wondered if she'd prompted deep thoughts, maybe even some unpleasant ones, which she certainly hadn't intended. She was quiet as well for a few moments, respectful of whatever Katy was thinking. Even her little movements had purpose and calm to them, the tucking of her knees to her chest and her glances back towards the castle absent, not fidgety. Her gaze came back to Katy, studying without demand the uptilt of her pale nose, the girl's serious mouth, the darling little crease of her eyelids. Finally she reached out with her foot and nudged Katy's leg. "That was a good explanation." She smiled. "You know, I tried to decide what House I'd be in if I'd been born here, and I thought I'd had it until you went into all that. It seems so much more significant now. Thank you."

Katy sighed as she looked out over the lake, not really certain herself if it was a sigh of disappointment or contentment.  And perhaps in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter one way or the other because it went unnoticed and unmentioned in the quiet of the afternoon.  It was strange to be able to sit in silence with someone.  Usually she was pressed for conversation at all times when in someone else's presence, even if they didn't particularly get along.  But now the silence was easy and companionable, with only the rustle of the wind in the leaves above and the slight slush of lake-water waves on the stone beach. 

Then, surprise of surprises, Kayla thanked her for lecturing about the meaning of school animal emblems.  She wasn't sure what that meant and blinked in surprise.  She was pleased though, to have been of some use, even if only in a small way.  Perhaps it was that treacherous pleasure that caused her to ask impolitely, "What house did you think you were in?"  She really ought to know better.  Deciding your own house said a lot about yourself and it was the type of thing that should only be shared if offered.  Katy bit her lip but didn't withdraw her question.

"Well..." Kayla dug her bare toes into the damp, pebbly sand. "I'd thought maybe Hufflepuff, because they're very loyal and - if we're going by the animal mascot - stubborn, too. Protective. And after what you said, well, I wouldn't want to face me when I'm pissed off." She leaned back on her hands again, tilted her gaze thoughtfully towards the sky. She wasn't sure how passionate she was, though, how willing to fight like Katy had said. Kayla didn't like fighting, not at all, not even for the things she really wanted. She could be a bit of a pushover that way. Really, she just wanted everyone to be happy. Her happiness didn't necessarily come first.

"But I share some traits with Ravenclaw, too, that bit about freedom. And Gryffindors even, being pack animals and so warm. Justice and team spirit and the sun. I really like the sun. The only one I'm sure about is Slytherin, because change, not so much, and mystery? Not me." She'd also heard that Hufflepuffs were associated with the earth, and that was encouraging. But she couldn't imagine herself at Hogwarts, really. She was just a country girl from North Carolina; it all seemed very grand to her.