It had been a rather cloudy afternoon. The weather wasn't likely to improve for Halloween, although the petite Ravenclaw certainly hoped so. Serenity was gazing up at the gray sky in a brief pause from her strict concentration. Once she had formulated the paragraph in her head properly, she returned her hazel eyes to the scroll of parchment settled in her lap atop a book. She was doing the homework that she should have done a few days ago, but hadn't settled herself down well enough. Her child-size hand carefully guided the quill across the parchment to write her essay. The open books around her were glanced at momentarily to ensure that she wasn't copying them word for word.

It was a sin to be working late in the afternoon when she could be like the rest of the first year students, carefree and not buckled down by work. Then again, Serenity wasn't like the other first years and did things in her own time. She didn't get started right away on homework, but instead procrastinated a fair amount to have some fun. After all, she deserved a break every day from all the hard work she did in class. Why do homework right off the bat as well? So, she had ended up putting it off until two days before it was due. As long as she didn't over-procrastinate, she would be fine.

"Did it say...? Yeah. There it is. 'The Hogwarts founders were...'," she trailed off to read the text silently to herself.

With a wrinkle of her nose to the distasteful way the book was worded--boring, in her opinion--she returned her gaze to the paper quickly and started to write again. It would be great to be out playing or having fun and she looked at the other students longingly, but seeing as how Serenity didn't have any actual friends to do things with, it was best suited for her to pass the time by working on her homework. Of course, it would be nice if she had someone to do the homework with as well like she'd seen study groups doing in the library.

Noriko's quill hand had started to ache from all of the writing she'd been doing, so she had decided that it was time to take a break.  Thankfully, she had completed enough to feel satisfied with her progress: a letter each to her mum and dad, telling them about everything that had happened in the past two days since the last time she'd written and begging them to let her transfer to a school without any cannibals; a letter to her younger siblings warning them about all of the dangers at Hogwarts, which was much shorter but no less melodramatic since her mum was likely to read it out loud; and one last to her cousin Toshiko, asking if she knew any potions that could keep you awake all night so that Noriko could stop worrying about the Gryffindor Muggleborns breaking into her dorm room and eating her while she was asleep.

All in all, it had been a productive afternoon, especially since Noriko had finished the rewrite of her essay a day ago.  Keeping an eye out warily behind her, she had decided to venture out to the lake in hopes of working on the next scene in the latest play she was writing. 

The drama was about a group of young students who were sent away to a school run by an evil Muggle in disguise as a wizard, who was intent on killing them off one by one.  So far, one of the students had drowned in the lake upon arrival, another had been fed by an angry teacher to a giant plant in Herbology class, and a third had vanished into thin air during a school field trip.  Noriko had not yet decided what would happen to the fourth student, who was not based on anyone in particular but was very loud and Irish and liked to make mean faces at people for absolutely no reason, so she had come out to the lake to search for suitably horrible inspiration.

But there was already another student there.  Noriko eyed her cautiously as she padded closer, taking care not to make any sudden moves.  She recognized the other girl from class as one of the Ravenclaws, but she didn't know much about her other than she was a yearmate.  Considering how far ahead Ravenclaw were in the House Cup, she couldn't help hoping that the other student had some horrible habit that would get her into trouble, as long as it wasn't eating witches.

The spine of the book gave away what she must be working on.  Noriko wrinkled her nose.

"That essay's due tomorrow," she informed her warily.  "Are you just starting it now?"

"That essay's due tomorrow. Are you just starting it now?"

The smaller first year turned her eyes upwards towards the girl who had approached her and stared momentarily. Her robes bore the Slytherin house symbol, but she didn't look like a normal Slytherin--at least, not the kind that Serenity had heard about from her older siblings. According to Alex, they were vicious bullies who delighted in torturing other students. Everyone wanted to see them lose the House Cup, Quidditch Cup, and have points knocked off for their foul behavior towards the other houses. At least, that's what her brother Garrett had told her. Somehow, this girl didn't threaten her or even look like she could bully anyone.

"I didn't mean to do it last minute. I thought it was due next week, but I'll have to work extra hard on it to get it finished."

Out of habit, the girl nodded her head to ensure that her dark brown hair fell in front of her face to hide it. She was always doing this whenever she talked to people, despite how friendly she was to them.

"Wh-what about you? Did you finish yours?"

She imagined it would be nice to have someone to study with, whether it was a different house or not. This girl had come up to her, so maybe if she wasn't through with hers, they could work on it together. As the thought crossed her mind, there was a weak, hopeful smile that appeared beneath the strands of hair.

Noriko eyed the other girl cautiously.  She wasn't entirely sure how anyone could forget when an assignment was due, but there must be a reason that could cause it to happen.  Maybe her hair falling in her face had kept the Ravenclaw from reading her calendar.

"Yes.  Yesterday," she said truthfully, and then added unhappily, "but I would have finished it sooner if we hadn't had to go on that trip." 

She was still convinced that the adventure to Knockturn Alley had been too dangerous a risk for first years, although at least it had given her fodder for her script.  Flying in general seemed too dangerous, although Noriko was quickly running out of options for future travel.  She had already firmly promised herself that she would never Apparate out of fear of splinching, and she refused to use Floo powder unless someone assured her three times that they knew where she was going.  At this rate, she was going to be stuck either walking or on the Knight Bus.

"Maybe if you ask the Professor, you can turn it in late," she added dubiously.  She doubted it since none of their professors had been very forgiving so far, but it was worth a try.  Maybe the other girl would get points taken off for asking.  "Aren't Ravenclaws supposed to be smart?  You should have done it already."

"Yes. Yesterday, but I would have finished it sooner if we hadn't had to go on that trip."

The Ravenclaw blinked and stared at her blankly.

"I rather enjoyed the trip," she admitted.

There was an awkward silence that fell between the two momentarily. Serenity took her chance to search her book again for some more explanation about Hogwarts, jotting down something else on her parchment.

""Maybe if you ask the Professor, you can turn it in late."

There was another pause before the girl added on a rather hurtful remark.

"Aren't Ravenclaws supposed to be smart?  You should have done it already."

The comment felt similar to the sting of a wasp she had watched her brother, Garrett, get injured by. Of course, she had expected the other first years to say this to each other at some point in time, but not to her face--except Eirene or Mairead; neither of them had a problem saying something to a person's face. Yet to hear it from someone whose name she didn't even know at the time seemed to make it all the worse. Serenity paused in her scribbling to peer sadly at her parchment. What sort of reply was she supposed to make to that?

And then it came to her. Slowly, Serenity lifted her head and sized the girl up from behind her veil of hair.

"I thought Slytherins were supposed to be bullies?"

There was another brief silence before Serenity cast her hazel eyes back to the parchment to continue her homework.

"Like I said, I thought it was due next week. I must have heard wrong. Just because I'm a Ravenclaw doesn't mean I won't make mistakes. I mean, I am still a human--same as you. Besides," she lifted her gaze once again with a friendly smile, "who said Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart? In 'Trivial Facts About the Wizarding Educational Facilities of Britain', people are sorted into Ravenclaw because they want to learn--not because they're smart. If Ravenclaws were that smart, I don't think girls like Miss Antonopoulos would be in school at all. What's the point in learning if you already know everything?"

It was said in a curious and, simultaneously, matter-of-fact tone with her smile that simply showed her Slytherin guest that she wasn't discouraged by her offensive remark. This was something that she planned on showing everyone: she hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw because she was smart or clever, but because she was curious which, in Serenity's opinion, was one of the best reasons to go to school in the first place. Once she had cleared that up with this girl, she patted the ground beside her invitingly.

"Why don't you sit down? I can listen and do my homework at the same time."

The Ravenclaw's first question was so suspect that Noriko gave her a dubious look.  As far as she could tell, her housemates weren't the ones who carried on most of the bullying at Hogwarts, although there was at least one giant fifth year that terrified Noriko into silence every time he passed her in the Slytherin common room. 

As the other girl continued to speak, though, Noriko decided that she came much closer to meeting her expectations than she might have expected.  She didn't particularly care about any trivial facts unless one of her professors was going to test her on them, but reading unimportant books definitely fit with her mental image of a Ravenclaw.

She eyed Serenity cautiously as the other girl put down her fellow housemate.  "I don't know..." she said doubtfully.  From what she had seen, Eirene Antonopoulos was one of the reasons why Ravenclaw were so far ahead in the House points.  Noriko was secretly hoping that one of the Gryffindors would threaten to eat her soon, if only to throw the other girl off her game for long enough that Slytherin could catch up.

She gave Serenity an extremely disbelieving look at her last question.  "To do well?" she countered warily.  The answer seemed so obvious, she wasn't sure if the other girl was testing her.  She was in school because her parents expected it of her and because dragons might eat her if she didn't.  How much she knew had nothing to do with it.

Noriko hesitated as she was invited to sit.  She wasn't really sure what the other girl expected to listen to, but she gamely nodded and lowered herself carefully to the ground, glancing cautiously all around her.  She didn't want to get pounced on because she'd let her guard down.

Making conversation seemed like the polite thing to do.  "How far along are you?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.  "Do you think you'll lose points if you don't finish?"

"How far along are you? Do you think you'll lose points if you don't finish?"

Her concern with this bit of homework was amazing! Was she really worried about Serenity losing house points and finishing it on time? Serenity paused again to glance up from her parchment and studied the fellow first year. She seemed more interested in whether or not Serenity would lose points rather than finish it.

'She is from another house,' Serenity reminded herself, 'so it would make sense for her to be thinking about other houses losing points.'

Either way, the smallest first year smiled at the girl.

"I expect I'll be finished with it later this afternoon if I don't get distracted. Er, my name is Serenity Lee, by the way. Serenity Lee Thornton, but you can just call me Serenity if you want."

Introductions were important. After all, casual conversation was difficult unless one person knew the other person's name. A name said a lot about a person--at least, more than what they realized, and Serenity enjoyed hearing the many different names of people. Such as Godric or Rowena. Those were exceptionally uncommon names that she had never heard of until History of Magic. Her eyes cast a guilty glance down towards her parchment before scribbling down a sentence or two that she paraphrased from the book once again.

By Noriko's standards, the other girl was cutting things extremely close to the wire.  Essays were meant to be finished days in advance.  Why else did professors assign them so early?  Leaving homework until the last minute like this meant that you'd be in a rush to get it finished, which could lose points for your house, or get distracted and not have time to finish it, which could lose more points for your house, or...

It might have taken her a moment to add two and two together, but the young Slytherin got to four eventually.

"All right, Serenity," she said, giving the other girl a shy smile.  She wasn't on a first name basis with any of the Ravenclaws, but she knew who most of the first years were, mostly because the other house was so far ahead in points.  Come to think of it, she knew the Gryffindors too, but that was only because they threatened to eat her.  It was only the Hufflepuffs that blended into the castle woodwork.  "I'm Noriko.  Noriko Wakahisa," she said, taking care to enunciate her last name.

Serenity was beginning to scribble on her parchment again, and Noriko was left searching for some way to quickly make the conversation irresistibly interesting.  "Serenity is a pretty name," she tried, and inwardly winced.  That wasn't going to distract anyone.  She'd have to try another tactic.  "How do you like Hogwarts so far?  Have you met many of the other students?"

It was unfortunate that Serenity, being an eleven-year-old, could not multitask. That was a skill that came with age and experience, on occasions even practice, none of which she currently had. She found herself swept up in the conversation since she was unable to focus on the homework and, after all, making friends was just as important and a little more interesting--although, she did love History of Magic.

"How do you like Hogwarts so far?  Have you met many of the other students?"

"Oh, I'm having loads of fun! My sister used to tell me all of these awful stories about how hard it was going to be as a First Year, but I figured out she was lying about some things. She once wrote home to me and told me that we had to duel a convict from Azkaban in Defense Against the Dark Arts for our orientation to the class to test how much we knew which was why I was so nervous. I can't believe she did that..."

For a moment, Serenity trailed off into silence to think about how she was going to get her sister back. Since no ideas came to her, she quickly retracted her attention to the Slytherin sitting beside her with a smile from beneath her curtain of hair.

"I have older siblings and they have some friends that I've met over the summer holidays. Let's see, um, there's Devlin Matthews who's a Ravenclaw Seventh Year. If I have a question, I usually just ask him and he knows the answer. Erm... I don't think I know any other students except all of you--first years, I mean."

Another gap of silence lingered as she took the time to question if there was anyone else she actually knew. When, once again, her mind drew a blank, she glanced at her book to add another sentence. Suddenly, the homework didn't seem as enjoyable, and she was happily distracted by the discussion.

"What about you, Noriko? I mean, I don't see you talking to anyone much. You have friends, right? Why aren't you playing outside with them today?"

Asking questions proved to be a much more successful distraction.  Noriko eyed the other girl's book as she scribbled another sentence down.  With any luck, she'd just need to think of one or two more good ones and Serenity would talk for the rest of the afternoon.

"I don't think that would be very safe," she said finally, in response to Serenity's worry that they'd have to duel a convict from Azkaban.  Not that much at Hogwarts was safe - falling in lakes and taking field trips certainly wasn't, at least not in Noriko's book, but even her mum and dad who were clearly in denial about these things would not be able to excuse dueling people.  The last time she'd threatened to cast a spell on her younger brother when he'd annoyed her, she'd been sent to her room for two hours.

Serenity was chattering on about her own siblings and some of the other students she'd met through them.  Noriko hadn't really met any of the older Slytherins yet; truth be told, she'd been giving most of them an extremely wide berth.  Going down to the dungeon was scary enough without worrying that one of her older housemates would get annoyed with her and do her in with a well-aimed spell.

"I don't play," she replied, a hint of indigence creeping into her voice.  Her younger brothers and sister might play, but she had grown out of it years ago.  "I was working on something.  It's an opera," she added, since that sounded much more impressive than a simple play, and she had just insisted that she didn't participate in the homonym anyhow.  "I came outside to try and come up with an idea for the next scene."

"I don't play," the Slytherin girl replied.

Serenity, who was now paying close attention to Noriko, gave her a bewildered look. She didn't play? What kind of eleven-year-old didn't play? The question would have slipped out, but Noriko continued.

"I was working on something.  It's an opera. I came outside to try and come up with an idea for the next scene."

The smaller first year giggled. An opera? Wasn't that like a musical, but with really high-pitched singing where a person couldn't tell what the singer was saying?

"You're writing an opera? Isn't that a little hard for our age? I mean, is it the same as writing lyrics or a story?"

Though, Serenity honestly felt she had no reason to laugh. Here in the wizarding world, her hobby was much less accepted. Still, since Noriko had a strange interest, perhaps Serenity should make her feel, well, normal.

"I don't write. I mean, I write essays and stuff, but not for fun. My grandfather is a Muggle Archaeologist. He sends me things he finds sometimes like old pocket-watches or clocks. I take them apart and make them into things like jewelry."

The girl reached down into her robes and withdrew a necklace to show to Noriko with a smile.

"I made this out of some amber and clock parts. That's my hobby: taking Muggle objects apart. They have such fascinating artifacts! I really enjoy shopping in London. There's this old marketplace my mother takes me to where people sell whatever items they want. There's all sorts of booths there where you can buy clothes, jewelry, and antiques."

Although Serenity was so excited about her conversation, it seemed that Noriko wasn't. The girl's smile faded as she hid the necklace back within her robes under her shirt. A question came to her mind that made Serenity couldn't resist asking.

"Why is it that you don't seem to like Muggle-borns and half-bloods? I mean, you sometimes seem scared of Keegan Kearney and Mairead. Are you really afraid of them? Do they bully you?"

It was hard for her to imagine Mairead bullying anyone because she was so outgoing, in Serenity's mind. Then again, she could also see how the Gryffindor tomboy often presented herself as fierce and intimidating--though, it was mostly aimed towards Eirene than anyone else. As for Keegan, he was just mischievous and harmless. Or at least, he was so far.

The reaction to her pronouncement had been far from what Noriko had hoped for.  Back home, she had always been able to convince her younger brothers and sister to help her stage her productions, even if the "convincing" had sometimes taken the form of threatening to tell on them until they did what she wanted them to.  She was disappointed that no one else at Hogwarts seemed to be interested.

But writing operas was definitely not too hard because of her age.  Before Noriko could open her mouth to correct the other girl, Serenity had plowed on to another topic of conversation, going on about a Muggle R.K. something that apparently had to do with non-magical pocket watches.

She shrank back as Serenity pulled out the necklace to show her.  Whatever it was, it didn't look safe.  Noriko had absolutely no idea why anyone would want to own any sort of Muggle antique, let alone wear one that so closely resembled a Dark Artifact around their neck, but maybe the Dark Wizards had taken to working with the Muggles.  Hearing that the professors at Hogwarts were all right with allowing such awful objects into the school didn't make her feel any safer.

Noriko hesitated at Serenity's last set of questions.  "I'm not scared of them," she said doubtfully at last.  She wasn't going to admit it, at least; everyone knew Muggles could smell your fear.  "I just don't want to get eaten.  Haven't you heard all the stories about what Muggles do to you if they catch you?" she asked hesitantly.  "They steal you away and roast you over a fire if they find out that you're a witch!"