The high up windows of the Hufflepuff Common room--the ones that made it feel underground like the elaborate tunnel network utilized by poultry stealing farmer swindling varmints, if Obderedria knew her Roald Dahl, which she did--had whiter light instead of the golden cheery light that splayed through the grass, grass that was covered by snow. In all of her one year and a half at the castle Obderedria had never figured out where the windows to the common room were on the outside of the castle, if they exited at all.

Though phantom windows were hardly surprising now that she new about some spells, wandlore, the funny plants that populated the common room, and her own green spotted hair.

In the space of time after dinner, as she had all her homework done, Obderedria had dragged out the little potted peach tree down the hall from her room. She'd been taken care of it since her last final of her first year, having survived two train deliveries and producing a bushel's worth of the little orange fruits in the time since. She tried to care for it twice a week, the weekends being more involved labor.

Even a few of the Blue Bessie Spice Flowers[1] had survived, which helped their room smell fresh when Heliotrope came in smelling of dingy pond water--which was most days.

Currently, Obderedria was pruning small leaves that had grown on the skinny trunk of her tree--leaves with short stems that would grow into oddly placed branches if left alone. She felt it was good for her tree to get some time in the center of the common room with the other plants, even if it wasn't magical. She would swear she had heard some of them talk at some point.[2]

1.	link
2.	Because I LOVE the Pottermore description

Chaya was sitting crosslegged in one of the large armchairs in the common room, reading the chapter in Hogwarts, a History assigned in History of Magic that afternoon[1] when a slightly round girl with green-spotted hair came out of the girl's dormitory dragging a potted peach tree and pruning shears[2].

 For a few minutes, Chaya tried to continue reading, but she kept glancing up to watch the other girl work, and soon gave it up as a bad job.

"What are those blueish flowers around your tree[3]?" she asked, leaving her open book on the chair to approach the girl. She leaned over her shoulder to admire the tree and flowers. "They look like daisies, a little, but they're not quite right..." She sniffed the air and grinned. Whatever the flowers were, they definitely weren't daisies; daisies didn't smell so much like The Spires Shopping Centre[4] at Christmas. She breathed in deep through her nose. Even a good Jewish girl could appreciate the spicy scent of a London Christmas.

1.	There are no specific History of magic assignments for first years for this date. I'm assuming that for days without rp classes or specific assignments, we're to assume generic reading homework was assigned. If I'm wrong, or accidentally godmodding the prof (I'm aware this is tredding the line), let me know.
2.	Because no indication is made that the pruning is done with magic, and the character doing the pruning was raised with limited contact with the wizarding world, I'm assuming she prunes with shears like any muggle gardener
3.	the post was a little unclear about the location of the Blue Bessies. I concluded that they were meant to be sharing a pot with the peach tree.
4.	http://www.thespiresbarnet.co.uk/

"Oh!" Obderedria had almost dropped her orange handled Mr. Duck My First Gardening Kit Pruning Shears that she would most likely outgrow when she was a third year. She was already thirteen as of the end of last month, upgraded from twelve to thirteen. She had been completely oblivious to someone else occupying the common room.

"These are called Blue Bessies. It was a final last year with the professor we had last year, Mz Blair, we had to transplant the flowers around a tree. They're magical kinds that are exceptionally fragrant and air clearing."

"Are they difficult to grow?" Chaya asked, committing the name to memory to look up later. "I'd love to try growing some myself." She sat down on the floor beside the other girl, careful to leave her enough room to maneuver around her tree. "They smell lovely. Do they actually clear the air or just make it smell nicer?" Magical plants could do all sorts of fascinating things, she was learning.

"They're no trouble whatsoever," Obderedria replied. "They like the excess water from watering the tree. What I should probably do is get another layer of fertilizer for them at some point. We had to use some as part of the exam, with transplanting them. But they've always been indoor plants so the temperature is steady, I always keep it by a window so it catches light."

She snipped off another stem. "I think they actually scrub the air. It's not like one of those scented air fresheners that plug into the wall that give you Fresh Linens or Tropical Breeze every half hour that gives you an oily pleasant scent on top of whatever stench was coming from the rubbish bin--I'm sorry--"

She looked down at Chaya. "--Do you know what I'm talking about?" It was never too obvious, figuring out if somebody had been raised muggle or raised magical. Had Obderedria been explaining air fresheners to Philo or Helio she would be needing many more metaphors.

"I know exactly what you mean," Chaya said. "My dad uses 'Lilac Blossom.' I like these better, though. So you're muggle-born, then? I suppose you'd have to be, to know about plug-in air fresheners. Me, too."  Suddenly realizing that she'd once again gotten half-way into a conversation without bothering to introduce herself, she added, "I'm Chaya, by the way. Chaya Weismann."

Obderedria paused mid snip. "Muggleborn means both parents are muggles, isn't it?" She didn't need to ask because she already knew what the term meant. "I guess. My mum's muggle. But she thinks dad might be a wizard. Should be."

There wasn't much to think about with her father because he wasn't there, so Obderedria comfortably edged off the subject. "Oh, Weismann. I remember you being sorted at the Welcoming Feast." She didn't want to admit that the times past when she had seen the younger girl's face she thought she was named 'Wise-man'.

"I'm Obderedria. But you can call me Drea, it's easier."

"Oh, good. I'd never get the full name right," Chaya said, not even trying to pronounce it. "I'm surprised you remember me. I'd thought nearly everyone had nodded off by then. I almost fell asleep waiting for my name to be called, myself." She smiled wryly. "It's a hazard of having an end of the alphabet name, I'm afraid." She'd hated that in primary school.

 "So you kept your Blue Bessies in a muggle home over the summer, then? That's allowed? I'm still learning the rules about this sort of thing."

She'd been working her way through the copy of Morgan Shirling's A Wizarding World Guide that her parents had bought for her at Flourish and Blotts, but it was fairly slow going, and she was having trouble assimilating the detailed information it provided. 

"I want to try raising some magical plants in my room, but I'm not sure which ones I'll be allowed to take home with me for breaks."

"I wouldn't have fallen asleep." Maybe after dinner. It was a good thing that everyone was sorted before dinner. Obderedria briefly imagined a Hogwarts Kiddie Table for all the unsorted kids if they had to wait until after the feast to be branded for the rest of their educational years--branding made them sound too much like cattle.

"Well it was a gift last year. If you so wanted at the end of your final. The dwarf fruit tree, and then the flowers I guess too since they were already in the pot. I think I'm the only one that kept their Bessie's alive too." Conversation with Heliotrope reviled she had killed her flowers and nearly her tree dragging it through an ocean.

"You'd have to ask the Herbology professor, Mr. Longbottom." Any significance of that name was lost on her though being a frequent victim of teasing she recognized that the name must have been embarrassing when he was in school. Imagine a bottom too long for your pants--and then Obderedria wished she hadn't.

"I mean, if the plant looks enough like a normal plant I guess it's allowed to have in front of non-magicals. Bessie's look like regular flowers and the tree is just a normal tree. Though there's a kind of geranium that's deceptively fanged, I guess that wouldn't be."

Intrigued by Chaya's oversized paperback Obderedria asked, "What's that?"

Chaya followed Drea's gaze to the paperback she'd been reading in between sections of Hogwarts, a History

 "The book?" she asked. "It's a guide for muggle-borns, a sort of wizarding-world handbook. My mum and dad bought it for me at Flourish and Blotts over the summer." She got up off the floor and retrieved the paperback from the chair where she'd left it. "It's really useful," she continued, "but also really detailed."

She handed the book over to her new friend. "Take a look," she offered. "It's got all sorts of information about everything in the wizarding-world. I hate to think how confused I'd be without a reference like this. I'm still a bit lost, of course," she added with a grin, "an entire, essentially foreign, world and culture is a lot to learn, guidebook or not."
 
She frowned. "You said you were raised muggle. No one told you about it when you came to Hogwarts? The Muggle Affairs Office recommended in my 'Welcome to the Wizarding World' letter[1] that I buy a copy before I started at Hogwarts."

1.

Since one of the Muggle Affairs Office's stated goals is "ensuring that Muggleborns have an equal opportunity to succeed in the Magical world," I figured it was reasonable to guess that they may send some sort of introductory letter to Muggleborns when they learn about the wizarding world. Of course, since the office only formed in 2009, Drea wouldn't have gotten one.

As Chaya so generously offered the book, Obderedria picked it up to skim through leaves of pages. It was one she kind of recognized. "I remember seeing this too at Flourish and Blotts last year, back when everything was so new. Although we couldn't afford it because we only had the amount of money to cover my required school supplies."

Come to think of it mum had raised a big stink about it back then. Hadn't she? If so how did she forget about trying to buy it this year when they were school shopping? They had gone to Flourish and Blotts, they must have, because Obderedria had all her new textbooks.

Obderedria's own scrutiny of herself was starting to worry her, aided by Chaya's own questions. Because Obderedria had been in Chaya's shoes--not literally, as her over active imagination toyed with the metaphor--just a year ago so she could understand about not-understanding the magical world. But Chaya was having a much better go of it by having a guide. Right away in the first section it even mentioned how Ollivander's was the best wand shop in the country and you'd be a fool not to shop there.

And Obderedria's wand had been from a different supplier and of such a low standard that Ollivander had to fix it at request of her Head of House.

Suddenly she felt very stupid.

"I--I--" Obderedria began, "I got one of those letters, of course, but it didn't suggest the guidebook. I've never even heard that there's a Muggle Affairs Office." Really she didn't know much about the magical government, save the brief overview from History of Magic classes. "But yes, mum's the muggle. But she knew some--things--about magic, because dad was a wizard." He must have been. "But maybe he was supposed to--leave more instructions before he left."

"That's alright," Chaya said. She tried to rearrange her face into a reassuring expression. She hadn't meant to upset Drea. She never meant to upset people - or hardly ever, anyhow. But she still managed to upset them all the same.

"The library must have a copy you could borrow," she suggested, "or you could owl-order it from Flourish and Blotts, if you want your own copy." She shrugged. "It's not your fault your dad didn't tell you anything."

She gestured to the peach tree. "You seem to be doing well at Herbology, at any rate. You kept your Bessies alive, and your tree is beautiful."

Obderedria wasn't sure what to think anymore. She knew it wasn't her fault--she had never known who her dad was. She just didn't know why she didn't have one present.

The last thing she wanted was to make someone else uncomfortable with a sob story she didn't even consider sad. Just--different. "You're right. I actually like Herbology. Our flat doesn't have any garden space but I've found room for the tree."

The compliment left her beaming and blushing. It was just a tree but that was nice of Chaya to say. "I'll make sure you get a peach once they ripen. They're very sweet peaches."

"Thanks," Chaya said, and grinned. She wasn't sure, without experience to base it on, but she thought she might be making a friend.

She'd never been any good at making friends before - she'd only really had one, Leah Friedman, before coming to Hogwarts, and they'd been socialized by their parents since near-infancy, their friendship a fact of life unquestioned since before she could remember, so she wasn't sure that really counted. The other girls at Akiva had put up with her, even included her and been friendly with her, but mostly, she was aware, for Leah's sake.

"I'm lucky," she continued. "We have a good sized back garden. I have my own vegetable patch and everything. Where is your flat?" she asked, suddenly excited. "We live in Finchley - Church End,  to be exact, right near the Finchley Central tube station."

She couldn't be sure, but Drea certainly sounded like a Londoner, and a friend - a friend! Chaya nearly squealed at the thought, but managed not to - living in muggle London was someone Chaya could spend time with during winter break.

"Maybe we could meet up over break," she suggested, trying not to sound too hopeful, or desperate. She didn't want her new friend to think she was a lunatic, after all.

After pulling the shambles of her self esteem back into its loose structure, Obderedria found that there wasn't much left to do with her tree. All the extra sprigs were trimmed so all that was left was to water it.

"Oh," she paused, feeling a twinge of homesickness. "Mum and I live in East Croydon. It's a small flat, though. Really small."

But recognizing a new friend excited her too. One of the easiest aspects of magical boarding school her mother Patricia could understand was when friends lived close by means of public transport, like Dahlia's high end apartment when Obderedria managed to visit.

"I think so--that we could meet that is. I'm going home over the Christmas break." Should be. The superstition of 'knocking on wood' came to mind but Obderedria never knew if that worked with a still living tree and not a table or counter or something.