Boredom Was Never My Friend

Hester was wandering along the path in the Centenary Park, glad to be away from the rush of the shops, when she realised that someone was right in front of her.

"Hey," she said. She didn't recognise the girl, although she looked younger than Hester. She wondered if she was one of the new First Years, although she could just have been a young looking second year. It wasn't impossible.

Well, if she was a first year, she wouldn't know very many people yet.

"I'm Hester," she said, introducing herself. "What's your name?"

"That's a pretty name," said Hester. She'd never heard of anyone called Serenity before.

She began walking again, this time in the direction Serenity had been going in.

"Do you want to walk with me?" she asked. She felt like she was being a bit sudden, but walking had always seemed to make things easier, because it was easier to talk to something if you were doing something else as well. It made any awkward silences a lot less awkward.

"Are you a first year?" she asked, hoping that the girl wouldn't turn out to be third year or something. Now that would be embarrassing.

Hester was glad that the girl had agreed to walk with her. It would have been rather awkward if she hadn't.

"I'm in Gryffindor, but I have a few friends in Slytherin," she said. She hoped that Serenity wasn't the type of person to hate everyone in the other houses; she had got on very well with a few Slytherins, and the only person who had really given her trouble last year was a Hufflepuff.

"I've just finished my first year," she added.

Hester smiled. Serenity didn't seem bothered that she was a Gryffindor, which was a good sign.

"I do," she said happily. "It's nice. All of the other students are really friendly as well."

"Have you bought your books yet? Do you know what subjects you're going to take?" she asked. To anyone else it would have been a conversation filler question, but Hester was truly interested.

It was really sunny, surprisingly for Britain, and Hester wondered if they would bump into anyone else in the park. She was sure that some of her friends would be hanging around Diagon Alley.

Hester felt a little embarrassed at the next question. Her answer would make her sound like one of the most studious Ravenclaws.

"I'm actually taking all of them," she said. "Everything's so new."

She wasn't sure whether she had said too much; she was still a little worried about her blood status, despite already having done a year at the school, gotten good grades and made pure blood friends who didn't mind.

"Divination's a bit odd," said Hester. "All staring into teacups and stuff. I never really understood it. But it's quite interesting. Defence against the dark arts is probably the best subject I took. It was practical in the first lesson, and we got sweets as a reward."

Then she stopped. She hoped that the girl wasn't getting bored.

"Hey, do you want to go for an ice cream or something?" she asked, hoping that Serenity would say yes.

Hester grinned. The girl seemed a bit stony, but she was a first year and would be shy by law. Hester liked making new friends, and she felt like she was getting somewhere with Serenity.

"That's awesome," she said, smiling kindly at Serenity. "Do you wanna go there now?" She was hoping for a change of scenery, just to liven things up a bit. There was only so much she could say about school before both of them fell asleep from the boredom.

Hester saw the girl smile in return to her grin, and felt pleased with herself. She felt like she was cracking into the girl's personality, getting to know her. She hoped that they would stay friends at Hogwarts, despite being in different years and, probably, houses. It did look like she was going to have to do most of the work in the friendship but Hester didn't really mind. She liked Serenity.

Hester led Serenity down another path.

"It's this way," she said. "Out of the park."

She waited for Serenity to follow her.

((OOC: I'll start a new thread at the Ice Cream Parlour)).