Lunch Time, Sunday, September 3^rd, 2006
Great Hall, Hogwarts

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Nicholas had been surprised that his mum had gotten back to him so quickly.  He guessed she was finally getting used to owl post.  He'd sent a letter almost immediately after sorting two days before.  It had been something short, asking if he had a cousin who was around eleven named Katy.  More information probably would have helped but since the only thing he had to go one was that a girl with his last name had been sorted into Hufflepuff.  One of his housemates had asked if they were related and he hadn't known.  Most of the pure-bloods and half-bloods seemed to know a good portion of their family tree, but given that he was muggle-born, Nicholas wasn't too concerned with his extended family, and he hadn't been expecting to run into some distant, or close, family member at the magic school he had been going to for two whole years now.

Now he knew though.  His mother had been pretty sure that her cousin had a daughter named Katy.  She was also pretty sure that her cousin's wife had left him recently.  He wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do with that bit of information, seemed like, even to him, a crass way to confirm if the first year Hufflepuff was his cousin.  He'd mixed breakfast that morning or he might have sought her out then, but by the time he'd woken up, since owls dropping letters on his face rarely woke him up anymore, he'd had no idea where to look for the girl.  He figured he could catch her at lunch.

By the time lunch had rolled around though he'd already forgotten about his plan to find her at lunch and didn't remember till he'd found his way into the Great Hall halfway through lunch.  He was halfway to a spot at the Gryffindor table near his friends when he spotted the curly haired girl.  Instead of sitting with the Gryffindors he sat across from Katy.  It wasn't unheard of for people from different houses to sit at one of the other tables, but it tend to raise eyebrows, especially when the one sitting at the wrong table had a brilliant black eye and a busted lip.  Though Nicholas looking like he had been in a fight wasn't unusual for those that weren't new to Hogwarts, and he had been sporting both since a couple days before he'd gotten to Hogwarts, the result of stepping in and maybe escalating an argument into a fight between some kids at a park near his home.

"So," He said to the girl across from him, who he realized was probably as tall as he was, "Katy? Right?  Bevans?  I think you're my cousin.  Sucks that the hat stuck you in Hufflepuff."  He shrugged at one of the other students sitting near them, "You know what I mean."

Katy still hadn't made any friends.  Her mother's latest letter, sitting in her bag from this morning, told her to just be patient, that friendships would take time.  Katy didn't really have time to put into making friends anyway.  There was so much to do and see here.  It was a world beyond any she'd imagined before and she absolutely could not take it in fast enough.  She opened Hogwarts, A History to the section about the founding of the four houses.  With the book settled in beside her  plate, she ate and read. 

That is, at least, until someone sat down across from her.  She raised her eyebrows, her spoon still halfway to her mouth.  She put it back down and sat up straight with a frown.  He was older and wearing Gryffindor colors but that was all she could tell about him.  He had a black eye and a busted lip, showing he'd been in a fight recently.  Oh dear.  What had she done?  Had she made someone mad already?

"Katy? Right?  Bevans?  I think you're my cousin."

What?  Katy wasn't sure how to take that.  Cousin?  She wasn't aware of any family beyond her mother and father, and wished she could forget at least 50% of that.  Her mind slowly began to process the information, her second thought being, who does that?  What kind of person just goes up to another and says, hello you're my cousin?  He hadn't even told her his name. 

"Sucks that the hat stuck you in Hufflepuff."

Her back went rigid.  "What's wrong with Hufflepuff?" she asked, vaguely insulted on behalf of her house despite being a really new member.  Of course, she'd completely skipped the part where he claimed to be her cousin but that was like her.  Family meant nothing beyond her mother and her childhood friend, Brynn.

Oops, now he'd insulted her.  Nicholas hadn't really meant anything by the comment.  "Well nothing wrong with Hufflepuff I guess.  It's just Hufflepuff."  He smiled, grabbing a piece of roast beef and slopping some mashed potatoes onto the plate in front of him.  "Hey pass the gravy will you?"  He said to a fellow third year down the table who was openly glaring at him now, but he did eventually pass the gravy boat.  "Hufflepuff is just the...umm...yeah.  Just would've been cool if you were in Gryffindor."  Mostly because Nicholas thought it would be cool to have a cousin in the same house as him, assuming of course that she was his cousin.  It wasn't like Nicholas was the only muggleborn at Hogwarts, so he wasn't the only one without magical family members, but he hadn't really met any of his extended family.  There were vague memories of a trip back to Wales before he'd started primary school, but nothing since then.

"So you're a muggleborn right?"  Nicholas said between bites of roast.  "I wrote home to my mum after the sorting.  She was pretty sure her cousin, oh what's his name...I can't remember and I left the letter on my bed, but anyways she was pretty sure her cousin had a daughter named Katy.  From Wales?  That wouldn't be you would it?  What's the likelihood that there would be two muggleborn cousins?  I'd ask a professor, but--yeah best not to."  He talked fast, taking small bites and swallowing quickly.  "Oh and I'm Nicholas Bevans.  Third year Gryffindor."

He ate and talked at the same time, taking small bites of his lunch in between rambling sentences that filled her in on what he'd been up to in regards to the family relation.  Her father had done that too.  Perhaps they were family after all.  It certainly sounded like they might be.  His mother had a male cousin with a daughter named Katy in Wales.  Her name wasn't special or unique and there were probably others in the country.

"Why shouldn't we ask the professors?" she asked, disliking the uncertainty.  She knew nothing about magical families and how the ability got passed around.  She didn't even know much about families.  Her mother was an only child whose parents had died ages ago.  If her father had mentioned family she didn't remember it.    She could write her mother an ask but didn't know if her mother would even know.

Nicholas chuckled at her question, "Well, one I have no idea who to ask.  There isn't exactly a course on Wizarding genes, well at least not that I've heard of.  Might ask a Ravenclaw about that one.  And two, let's just say I don't exactly have a good relationship with any of the professors."  His relationships with the professors tended to be detention based.  And he didn't have being a good attentive student to fall back on either.  Sure he was great with his wand, but beyond that, he hadn't earned any points with the teachers.

Realizing that she hadn't answered any of his questions, and that he hadn't exactly left her much chance to, Nicholas slowly took a bite and chewed it.  Giving her a chance to catch up before continuing, "So what do you think?  Does that sound, at least vaguely, like you?"

Katy scowled slightly, a delicate wrinkle forming between her eyebrows.  Not on good terms with the professors?  What did that mean?  Was he lazy or stupid, unwilling or unable to complete his work?  Hogwarts didn't seem like the kind of place where failure to at least muddle along was very pleasant or well received.  Perhaps he was a fighter, like she was.  Did he receive the same wary glances her professors had always given her?  Rumors of her short temper where Brynn was concerned spread from one teacher to the next until there wasn't one in the whole school who knew how she was apt to react if someone made fun of the bright and bubbly blonde she shadowed.

Fighting, she concluded, was by far the most likely here if his black eye and busted lip were anything to go by.  Her gaze softened a bit as she regarded the boy who might be her cousin.

"It does sound... vaguely... like me," she conceded, using his own words.  "I suppose we could be cousins but I don't remember my dad talking about having family.  I could write my mother and ask."

A crumpled-up ball of parchment came flying and hit Nicholas in the back the head, he turned away from Katy with a shouted "What? Oh, give me a second."  He said to his friends who had thrown the parchment.  Turning back to Katy, he smiled.  "Write her, it'd be cool to have a cousin here.  Seems like half the school has at least some family here.  Nice meeting you, but I have to run now." He glanced back at his impatient friends, "Before they start throwing food at us."  Which reminded him he was still hungry, grabbing a piece of bread and threw his roast beef onto it, and took a large bite and stood up.  "See you around."  Nicholas said with his mouth full before he walked over to his friends who were already headed toward the exit.