Quietly Reading

Hester had got to a good part in her book and had wanted somewhere quiet (basically not the Gryffindor Tower) to read it.

She had chosen the clock tower instead because it was pretty much empty of students and also because the only noise was the bell every hour. She could cope with that.

She settled down in a corner, resting on her bag. She took out her book and opened it to chapter three. It was getting good now, really interesting.

She started read, and she read until she heard footsteps. She looked up to see someone watching her.

Ethan always had a rare gift at getting very lost, very quickly. He had decided half an hour prior that he would go exploring the first and second floors. How he ended up at what looked like the Towers, he had no idea, but now that he was here, there was no point not to have a look around.

He peered through one door, which seemed to go out to a ledge, but decided against it. It really would be his luck to go in for a look and end up 100 feet on the ground. Better not, he thought as he closed the door.

Searching around, Ethan blinked and squinted into the distance. He swore he saw something move, and on closed inspection, he was right. It was a girl.

Ethan stepped closer, aware that his feet were doing marvels at making as much noise as possible. He noticed that she looked up and was staring at him. Ethan shrugged slightly. He wasn't exactly spying, so he should have nothing to feel guilty over, well... expect that he seemed to be interrupting her reading.

Ethan couldn't exactly high-tail-it and run, so he introduced himself instead.

"Hello," he began. "I'm Ethan. Sorry to bother you." The girl didn't look like she was the same age as him, and he was half scared that she would bite his head off for interrupting her. Hopefully with a introducing like that, he'd wouldn't have to go about headless; that would be a drag.

"Hi," said Hester, giving the boy a smile. "I'm Hester. Just let me finish my page..."

She scan read to the end of the page; it took her about thirty seconds. Then she slipped her bookmark into the book and looked back at the boy. She didn't recognise him as someone in her year, so she guessed that he was in second or first. He looked quite young.

"Are you in second year?" she asked him. She stood up so that he wasn't talking down at the floor.

Ethan was entirely happy that the girl didn't take his head, and nodded as she finished off the page. Ethan hadn't really thought about it much before, but now that he was thinking about it, he really was rather attached to his head.

"Are you in second year?"

Ethan shook his head. "Nope. I'm a first year; all new and sparkly. Impressionable, I would think, although how much, I don't really know." Ethan tilted his head. "I'm gonna hazard a guess and say third year for you. Correct me If I'm wrong, please. It's the only way I'll learn."

"Yeah, I'm third year," said Hester. Ethan seemed nice, and she did get on with boys better than girls, so she didn't really mind that he was two years younger. At Hogwarts she took her friends whenever she got the chance, It was too easy to make enemies here.

She didn't want to ask the dreded question, but she'd feel more of ease if she did, because then she'd know how to act around him and what she could talk about.

"Excuse me for asking," she began, "but are you pure blood?" She hoped that he wouldn't take offence. When she was in first year she would have taken offence at that question.

Ethan shook his head fervently. "Nope, nope. I'm what they call a Muggleborn." Ethan shrugged. He wasn't ashamed of where he came from, and besides, being from Muggle parents meant that he knew stuff about the non-magical world that others didn't, and he got to play with computer games growing up!

Ethan took a seat, sick of standing up; down to the core, he really was a lazy boy.

"What about you? Pure?" he asked the girl.

Hester sat down as well. She was relieved that Ethan was muggle born.

"Muggle born," said Hester with a smile. "I just sometimes find it awkward talking to pure bloods who think they're 'it'. I mean, not all of them are like that, but I like to know where I stand."

She paused.

"So all of this is new to you, then? I'm pretty much used to it now, but sometimes I still get surprised."

Ethan hadn't met anyone who fit Hester's description, so he couldn't emphasize completely, but he nodded all the same. He could definitely imagine some purebloods acting that way though.

"It's pretty new, yeah," he said, thinking about how he got stuck in the staircase and it took three older students to pull him out of it. "I'm still getting my head around everything."

He looked at Hester. "It's nice to meet another Muggleborn though. The only other Muggleborn person that I know is my cousin, Brianna."

Ethan had only found out that day that Bri was actually attending Hogwarts. His aunt and uncle told Ethan's immediate family that they sent her off to a special school. That news didn't sit well with Ethan, as he and Bri were quite close, and she didn't seem out of the ordinary to him. Then again, Ethan obviously was not an ordinary child either, as here he was.

"What year's Brianna in?" asked Hester. "I haven't heard of her, I don't think."

She thought about the muggle borns that she had met.

"Actually, come to think of it," she said. "I can't think of any other muggle borns, except my cousin, Matt. She's in Hufflepuff and is a first year. Most people are either pure blood or half blood."

She shrugged and stood up again.

"I'd better get going," she said, regret tingeing her voice. "I said I'd meet someone."

She waved a goodbye to Ethan and then hurried off out of the tower.