012 -- At The Table Again

After exploring the castle, I decided to eat.

No one I knew was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, so I sat down apart from them, quiet for the first time in days. I wanted to write in my journal, but I decided to try and write letters to my parents. I couldn't come up with anything, however. It was...surprisingly difficult, and made me sad to think about.

As I was sitting there thoughtfully, Marius walked up to the table.

"'Ello there Jordan? Not writing anything too private I 'ope? Maybe I join you lass, or are you busy?" he said cheerfully, sitting down anyway.

I grinned at him, and closed the journal quickly. I wasn't sure about having anyone read, plus I didn't want anyone to see the note about the secret passage.

I grabbed a sandwich off of a nearby plate and took a bite. "I'm trying to write to my parents," I explained. "But so much has happened already, I don't know what to write!" I swallowed the sandwich and washed it down with some juice.

"No worries lass, I get the same way somtimes, " he said, taking some food for himself, as well. "I must admit, even though I've found some great friends 'ere at Hogwarts, I miss my family something terrible."

We both looked up when Joellen walked over. She took it upon herself to grab a seat, and looked back at the two of us. "Write about me, Ms. Bard. I'm sure your parents would love to hear that you'd met such a smart, caring girl as myself."

I nearly choked on my sandwich. That was really presumptuous of her. I stared at her, but she pretended to ignore me, reaching instead for a tuna salad sandwich, before withdrawing her hand. "Is this dolphin safe tuna?" she asked us.

I shrugged and looked back at the paper. "No, I want to write them happy things, like my experiences here." I decided. "They need to hear that this place is like Heaven on Earth. I need to be able to tell them that." I got no response to this, but Alex had just walked in and sat down at the table with a letter of her own in her hands.

"Sorry about last night," she told us as she took a seat next to me. "I was being over-emotional." I noticed Joellen raise her eyebrows at this statement, but thankfully, she said nothing.

"I hope you're feeling better today, Alex," I told her, but then I turned back to Jo. "Why do you insist on sticking to that Ms. crap?" I asked her angrily. "Are we not good enough for the high and mighty Joellen? Why do you keep switching between Jordan and Ms. Bard?"

She grimaced at me. "No, silly, you guys are my friends, and I'm just showing you a little respect. I tried calling you Jordan, but that felt rude, so I'm sorry Ms. Bard. I'll try harder."

My annoyance must have shown on my face, because she added, "Besides, you guys are a lot of fun! For Hufflepuffs, anyway."

"What have you got there Alex?" Marius asked, interrupting our little dispute.

She looked up from the letter. "It's a letter from my parents, telling me they've moved to Russia. They keep moving from place to place to place, without ever stopping long enough to make it a home."

Joellen snorted. "Huh. Well, that sucks."

"I'm just happy I don't live with them anymore." she said, crumpling the paper in her hands into a ball, and shoving it into her bag.

I shot a glare at Jo, and looked back at Alex. "Why wouldn't you want to live with your parents?" I asked her in disbelief.

She shrugged. "They're overbearing and always had me under their thumb. They had big plans for me, I think, but I just don't fit in. My parents were always home. My sister was there, too, but she left for school and never like me much, because they gave me so much attention. I was glad to be rid of them." She seemed to know she had said too much, because she started shoveling food into her mouth.

"Fascinating," Jo said on the other side of the table. She was leaning back with her arms crossed and smirking at Alex with a smug expression on her face. I opened my mouth to say something snappy back to her, but she stood up rather abruptly. "Well, if you will all please excuse me, I must be going now."

Without another word, she'd left. And Alex was looking extremely uncomfortable. I was starting to feel my intuition tingle whenever I was around her. It seemed like her life was wrapped up in a lot of trouble..trouble I didn't really want to be a part of. But I said nothing and continued eating.

"Hey, do you two lasses wanna see a picture of my family?" Marius piped up, thankfully turning the spotlight to himself. He reached into his robes and extracted a much abused picture out of his pocket. He proudly handed it over to me. I was surprised to see that all the people in it were moving! But my shock was swallowed up in my jealousy. They both had siblings. And I was alone.

"You guys are so lucky to have sisters," I lamented.

"Yeah, that was taken right before she left for university, " Marius happily explained. "That was the last time we were all together, in front of me dad's shop." Alex leaned over me for a better look.

"You know, even with my parents traveling all the time, I didn't think to bring a picture of either of them." I mused. "I'll have to ask for one when I write them."

I handed the pic off to Alex and looked back at Marius. "So your dad owns a shop? How cool! What does he sell?"

"Magical Curiosities," the boy told me proudly. "He looks all over the world for some of this stuff."

"Wow, I like your family," Alex was saying. "You look a lot like your dad and sister." She had finished her food, and now poured herself a mug of hot chocolate, grabbing some marshmallows to stir into it.

"Yeah, that's my sister Constance. She's a squib so she obviously didn't come here to Hogwarts, but I don't care one whit, I couldn't miss her more if I tried." He took the photo back, looking at it affectionately. "She was so proud that I got into Hufflepuff, just like me mum." He stowed the picture away and looked back at us. "Me dad opened that shop just before I came here. I think Mum was tired of all the moving around, and wanted to settle down for a change." He laughed at the thought.

"My uncle was a squib, too. " Alex said, drinking down her hot chocolate very quickly. "He died when he was seven, though. Drank a potion his mother was making."

I didn't know what squib meant, and was going to ask, but she cut back in before I got a chance.

"Well, sorry to do this guys, but it's late and I need to go to bed." I thought it was a little early, but she gathered up her things. We told her goodnight as she left the hall.

"I guess I should go, too," I said after a moment. I stuffed the still-empty papers back into the journal. "I left Loki sitting in the common room and I'm gonna go find out what he's up to."

"Alright, see you later Jordan! I'm gonna go out for some fresh air, meself." Marius replied as he drained his cup of tea.

I waved and left for the dungeons.. My