Erika's Office

Erika smiled as she entered her office. The beginning of a new year at it was nice and clean, just like she liked it. Everything from the previous year was packed away and organized and the desk was empty, just waiting for her to fill it with notes, cards, things that her children had made, or things that her little Ravens had given her.

She sat primly in the high-backed chair behind the desk and closed her eyes, smiling. It was good to be back.

There was a knock at the door. "Come in," she called lazily, opening just one eye to see who it was.

"No need to get up Mom, it´s just me." Gwen laughed after coming in and hugging her,
"Don´t worry as soon as someone comes I´ll leave Professor Cooper to her other students." She smiled. She had wanted to check up on her parents and was going to try to see Dad next. She also understood separating her parents from Headmaster and Professor Cooper and she also thought it was better that way. She didn´t like some reactions she´d gotten from others. Okay. She didn´t like the reaction she´d gotten from that girl and the ones she´d probabley get from some Snakes. But they didn´t matter, her friends all liked her and to gwen that was the most important thing.
"How was your day?" She asked sitting down.

Erika smiled as Gwen entered. "Hello dear. My day? Same old, same old. The twins were unusually hungry today. I think I've nearly eaten my weight in food today."

Erika loved that her daughter was thoughtful enough to ask about her day, but it wasn't a very exciting story to tell. "What about you? How's my little Gryffindor doing?" she asked proudly, although admittedly she would have been proud no matter which house Gwen had been sorted into. "Have you made many friends yet?"

Gwen smiled and nodded. "I´m great! And I´ve made friends with a few boys and the girls in my dorm. And a few other girls. But I haven´t met anyone nice in Slytherin yet... But I´m sure I will. I can´t wait for the first lessons." she grinned. She was trying succesfully to forget the girl that had given her problems about her last name and was speculating on pranking her.
"Maybe I´ll give her a babbling potion....then SHE can be confused about her name...Nah....Pink fairy wings are better."

Essi knocked softly on her head of house's office door. And then she knocked a little louder, scared that no one had heard.

She peeped her head around the door and saw that Gwen was already inside.

"I'm... I'm sorry if I'm bothering you..." she muttered. "Can I please talk?"

Erika was about to respond and tell her daughter that the Slytherins were a tricky bunch, but once you got to know them, they were perfectly fine (Erika would know, of course, she'd married a Slytherin), but there was another knock at the door. It was one of her Ravenclaw students- Essi Kettenun.

"It's perfectly fine, Miss Kettenun, come in. I'll see you later, Gwen, and then we'll finish. You can go see the Headmaster if you like," she scribbled the password to Tai's office on a piece of parchment and sent her on her way.

"What seems to be the trouble, Miss Kettenun?" she asked kindly. The girl appeared to be in low spirits, which worried her. Erika didn't like when her students were not happy.

Gwen smiled and thanked her before smiling at Essi and leaving. Once behind Essi she turned and mouthed, 'I LOVE YOU MOM' and left smiling.

Essi sat down nervously.

"I'm- I'm finding it really hard to make friends with the other Ravenclaws," she said quietly. "Like in the common room. I seem to have very little in common with most of them."

"I mean-" she added quickly "-it's not like I have no friends. But they're mainly Gryffindors. I- I just feel awkward,."

Erika nodded. She knew exactly what the girl was talking about. "I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling this way, Essi."

Truth be told, it broke Erika's heart. She hated to see people who felt out of place when they were meant to feel like this place was their home. "There's nothing wrong with having friends in other houses, but I can see why you want to make friends in Ravenclaw as well."

She hated having to tell the young girl this, but there was really nothing Erika could do about it. "My best advice to you would be to just keep trying. Start with the girls living in your dorm, try to get to know them better. Chances are, they might just be shy and they need a little time to adjust to life away from home before they can get to know you."