Midnight meeting [Meredith]

It had been a long day, and Edyta was tired. Secretly, she was wondering if the whole summer was going to be this intense and whether she'd made a terrible mistake in offering to work in exchange for her place here. Right now the thought was so secret that she barely admitted it to herself, but what she really wanted to was fall into her bed and sleep for about ten hours.

That wasn't going to happen, of course. She was supervising breakfast from 6:30 in the morning, and while that wasn't likely to be as taxing as the Quodpot tournament, it still meant she would need to be awake about six hours from now. As she approached her cabin, still carrying her beloved Siberian Arrow in one hand, she noticed there was a light in the window, and her heart sank. Having arrived the previous day and had the cabin to herself, Edyta had forgotten that she would be sharing with a student for the rest of her stay. It shouldn't have been a problem; indeed she had already looked up the girl's name and school when she'd been welcoming people earlier in the day, so she shouldn't have forgotten either. It was just that so much had happened today. She was used to sharing with several others at Durmstrang and indeed, found it hard to fall asleep when there was total silence or indeed complete darkness, but nonetheless she could have done without needing to introduce herself to yet another someone new.

Worse, she remembered that she had left her outfit from earlier in the day lying on her bed, having quickly changed into leggings and top that were easier to fly in. Now her roommate was going to think she was the sort of lazy slob who never tidied up after herself...Edyta quickened her pace, then paused as she reached the door. It wouldn't do to storm in with a scowl on her face and make a bad first impression on top of an untidy room. So she paused, brushed a few stray hairs back from her face, took a calming breath, and opened the door with a cheerful "Good evening" and then, feeling that as the graduate she really should be attempting to put the stranger at her ease, continued "Edyta Ciesynska, from Durmstrang Institute. I think you are...Meredith?" She hesitated slightly on pronouncing the unfamiliar name, but hoped it had sounded close enough to be recognisable.

@Meredith Emerson

Sat cross-legged on top of her bed, Meredith had her nose stuck in yet another book. It was the third book of the day and was hopefully her last. She hadn't realised until she left her wand behind how hard performing no magic for a few weeks was going to be, and she thought even after one day she was going to go nuts. Her dependency was concerning, but Mer was coming up with a different solution that seemed better than just grinning and bearing it. And so, she had spent the entire day reading page after page on the lore of wandmaking meaning that despite the late hour, the Ravenclaw witch still hadn't got ready for bed yet. She had paused her reading only once, which was to steal a cookie from the plate she had baked early that morning before she had arrived. They were for herself and her roommate to share, of course.

Letting go of her locket to turn the page, she shifted about once to rearrange her black dress before looking up from her book to rest her eyes and take a quick look around the room. She wondered if the witch she was sharing with would mind the row of books all over Merrie's bed. At least they were neat, Mer supposed, and they were on her own bed, so it should have been fine. Her eyes drifted back to the pages of the book and she became so engrossed in the subject that when the door opened and a cheerful "Good evening," rang out, Meredith didn't even look up or acknowledge the other witch's presence. It wasn't until the witch continued and introduced herself properly that Meredith realised she had company.

"Oh," she gasped, scrambling to get up and put her book down to properly greet her new companion, "I am so sorry, how abominably rude of me, Edyta!" Standing to her full height and finally looking at Edyta as she shook out the creases in her dress, Meredith smiled brightly at her as she had to do something quite rare... look up. It was rare to find a witch taller than she, so Meredith was secretly delighted. "Call me Mer, all my friends do," she warmly offered and then added, "I'm from Hogwarts, but you probably already knew that." Suddenly feeling a little anxious, Mer bit her bottom lip as she looked from Edyta to the cookies and back again. "I do hope you like cookies?" She asked, gesturing to the plate on the table. "I saw you supervising the uh... Quodpot game? And I um, thought maybe you might be hungry?" Why she was suddenly getting tongue-tied she had no idea, but she really hoped that she wasn't going to offend her new friend.

The girl was sitting on her bed, reading and surrounded by books, and initially didn't look up. Edyta's initial reaction was irritation and she sighed quietly, deciding that at least if she didn't talk, then she wasn't going to complain about Edyta's clothes on her bed. Before she could even reach her own bed though, the girl - Meredith, she reminded herself leapt up, apologised and introduced herself properly. Now Edyta had her first shock. She was used to looking down to most people, even some boys, but put this girl in heels and she would be taller than Edyta herself!

“That's alright. When I am studying I forget the rest of the world, as well” she said, wanting to be generous now and feeling bad for her earlier thoughts. “Mer...and you can call me...I'm afraid Edyta isn't short for anything.” she giggled, and immediately wondered where the uncharacteristic girly gesture came from. Actually, Nikola called her “Dyta”, but she wouldn't feel comfortable with telling a virtual stranger someone else's pet name for her. Not yet, anyway.

“Quodpot? Ah yes...I think...almost everyone had a good time” she said carefully, though it had been tiring. Exhausting might be a better word; one of the youngest students hadn't really thought the ball would explode and had been slow to throw it, then screamed and panicked when it had blown up near her face. She was unhurt, but Edyta had had to call a time out to take her to sit with one of the counselors to calm down. Then two older kids, clearly from the same school and with some past rivalry, got into a disagreement until Edyta sent them off for repeated blatching, ignoring their protests that Quodpot didn't have the same fouls as quidditch. At that point she had sent them off for arguing and thanked her lucky stars that she didn't plan to become a professor, and that had just been in the first hour!

Edyta suddenly wanted to be told all about Hogwarts, but before that - “I love cookies...” she said longingly, looking at the plate. Now, her annoyance had faded entirely and she had almost forgotten the lateness of the hour. Instead, she crossed to her own bed and sat down, pulling the smaller of her two bags onto her lap. She searched briefly within and extracted a single bottle of Polish- label butterbeer. “Midnight feast?” she suggested hopefully “and you can tell me all about what it's like to study at Hogwarts...”

Meredith couldn't help but smile as Edyta replied, clearly not offended by her little lapse of decorum. She seemed rather nice, and Meredith sighed to herself in relief as her heart started calming down a little bit. "Well, that's okay. I like your name, it is very pretty!" These weren't just empty, obligatory words, Mer genuinely meant them and her enthusiastic tone showed that well.

Edyta seemed tired from helping out for the Quodpot game and Mer's compassionate nature immediately made her feel sorry for the poor girl. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to attend the camp and help out at the same time. The Ravenclaw student thought it would be rude, however, to point it out or comment on it, especially as they had only just met. "Is it much like Quidditch?" Merrie asked, unable to resist the opportunity to learn something new. "I've been on the reserve team for Ravenclaw before but I've never played Quodpot." It didn't occur to her that Edyta wouldn't necessarily know what Ravenclaw was, her curiosity was getting the best of her, as per usual.

A sweet smile was aimed at Edyta as she voiced her approval for Mer's little offering. Merrie was glad that she had made them now. Originally, she had planned to bake cupcakes but that was a sticky situation as there were so many flavours and people could be picky, but everyone liked cookies! As the other witch went to her won bed and pulled a bottle, Mer gasped in delight as she recognised the contents. She adored butterbeer, it was quite possibly her favourite drink. "Yes, please! I'd love that," Mer exclaimed, as her eyes sparkled brightly.

Grabbing another cookie for herself as she went to sit back down on her own bed, she moved the pile of books slightly and grabbed her pillow as she sat cross-legged and put the pillow on her lap like a table. Mer laughed as Edyta continued. Durmstrang was surely far more interesting than Hogwarts! "I bet it isn't as exciting as studying at Durmstrang! My older brother said that you have real-life dragons there, is that true? I've never seen one in person before... we don't have them at Hogwarts."

Surprised by the inexpected compliment, Edyta felt herself blushing a little and was glad that the lights in the cabin weren't bring enough for it to be noticeable. Or if it was, her flushed face was probably just because she'd come indoors after being outside all evening...and she'd probably hurred to get here, she told herself firmly. That would definitely account for any visible redness in her cheeks. She pushed the thought aside and was just glad to be sitting down on her bed. She leaned back a little, resting her head against the wall and letting her eyes close for a moment, though she continued to chat.

"It's similar...well, they're both played on brooms!" she said, changing her mind halfway through the sentence "Quodpot has eleven players, but they don't have positions, they just try to get the quaffle through the hoop before it explodes..." It wasn't called a quaffle either, but right now Edyta was so tired she couldn't remember the Russian word...and that in itself made her giggle, because of course there was a translation charm on the cabins so students from other schools were able to talk with each other. "I'm sorry...you won't know this but...I was talking to you in Russian, out of habit, and I forgot a word, because I am actually from Poland," Edyta wasn't even sure she'd made sense, and she was still talking Russian now, and that amused her even more.

"I played on my house team as well, as beater" she said, not bothering to mention she'd actually captained the Krov team for several years. It would have felt like she was showing off, and she didn't want to do that. She would much rather drink beer and eat cookies, and make a new friend. Not having brought a bottle opener, she leaned the bottle neck up against the metal bedframe, then slammed downwards with her other hand, causing the cap to fly off and clatter onto the floor. "Do you have a cup?" she asked, thinking they could have half each rather than pass the bottle to one another, eyeing the cookies as she spoke and not wanting to just reach out and grab one...

Oh, never mind politeness! She put the bottle on the table next to the plate, took a cookie and bit into it, all in one swift movement. A sigh of pleasure slipped past her lips, together with several crumbs as the cookie crumbled. She caught the crumbs in her other hand and decided that first impressions had gone entirely out of the window as she finished the cookie in three bites. "That was delicious. Did you make these yourself?" She leaned down and belatedly unlaced her boots, before pulling them off and standing them neatly at the foot of her bed as the question she got asked more than any other appeared earlier in the conversation than she had expected.

"We do. We have several different species, although mostly Swedish Short-Snouts and Welsh Greens as they are the easiest to handle. Students are allowed to ride them, and I have my solo dragon flying licence" she said with a smile, deciding to answer the next three questions before they were asked. Now that her boots were off, she brought her feet up into the bed, leaning against her pillow as she curled her feet underneath her. Her eyes sparkled, despite her tiredness as she turned the question around by asking innocently "But I hear you have a forest at Hogwarts that is so dangerous students aren't allowed to go inside without a professor..?"

Quodpot sounded very different to Quidditch, Meredith thought, based off of her new friend's synopsis of it. And scary too, Mer didn't think having an exploding quaffle would be fun at all. Horrifying, more like. Edyta giggled, and Merrie shifted around in her sitting position as she wondered what was possibly so funny. She didn't have to wait long for an explanation, however, and the Ravenclaw student lightly giggled herself. "Oh!" She laughed, biting her lip. "That is quite funny. Translation charms are amazing..." She added, feeling a little inadequate in comparison to Edyta since her own language skills were rather lacking. "I've never been to Russia or Poland before, and... I only know some French. Just enough to hold a basic conversation." She frowned, as she picked up one of her books and ran a finger down the spine. "I'm much better at science and arithmetic stuff."

"Oh! I'm a beater too!" Merrie clapped her hands in delight, as she beamed. "What a coincidence!" It probably wasn't really, after all, there were only four possible positions Edyta could have been, but Meredith thought it was nice to have something in common, nonetheless. She watched as Edyta picked up the bottle and somehow slammed the cap off with her own hand. "Woah..." Mer stared at her in awe, almost missing her question entirely. Edyta was so cool. And that was kind of... well, kind of hot? That was something she was allowed to think, right? "Cup? Yeah, I have one." She shook her head to bring herself back into reality, Meredith fished into her dress pockets for her wand, so she could summon her cup. Well, it was actually a goblet, but close enough. However, her wand was not there. Momentarily panicked, she patted herself down before she realised her wand was at home since no magic was allowed. Sighing, Meredith untucked her legs from underneath her and clambered over to the little cupboard where she removed the goblet and handed it to Edyta.

She was definitely exceedingly glad she had baked those cookies, as Edyta seemed to wolf one of them down. Mer found it endearing, and couldn't help but giggle. As the Durmstrang student praised her baking ability, Merrie's cheeks flushed a bright red and she ducked her head to hide the warm glow. "I did! I'm so pleased you like them. I love baking, and usually in the holidays I help out at my family's critter cafe."

Wow. Riding a dragon sounded so exhilarating, Meredith thought. And she figured being able to ride one must not have been an easy task. "That's amazing. You must be super talented to have that permit. I bet that it isn't easy at all." Merrie smiled shyly. She laughed as Edyta mentioned the Forbidden Forest, realising that must sound crazy to the outsider too. "Point taken," Mer giggled. "We do, the Forbidden Forest. I've only been in there once, myself." Mer added, grabbing another cookie off of the plate. "There are centaurs living there and werewolves... I'm sure I saw one of the centaurs myself when I was inside there." She took a delicate bite of the cookie, cupping her hand to catch any of the crumbs. "Apparently, there is also an acromantula that lives in there." She shuddered. The fear of ever being face to face with that thing was more than enough to deter Mer from ever wanting to try and explore the forest.

"That's nothing to concern yourself with. I had to learn Russian because Durmstrang was in Russia, and when everyone around you is speaking the language, you learn it quickly." That was an oversimplification - it had taken Edyta several years to learn and it was only in her fifth year that she was finally fluent. She didn't think there was anything wrong with not speaking several languages, or visiting different countries either. "If it wasn't for the summer schools, the only countries I have visited would be Russia and Poland!' she said, realising as she said it that wasn't entirely true. For the last year Durmstrang had been in Sweden, but she didn't want to complicate things by mentioning that right away "I've visited Greece and the Caribbean as well, thanks to the scholarship programs."

Edyta had also long since stopped worrying that she didn't have much money compared to most people. She wanted something, so she worked for it, and it meant more. Although she had very little in common with her muggle family these days, one thing Papa always insisted he was proud of was her determination to achieve whatever she wanted. Well, with a few limitations... she giggled again - Edyta, who almost never giggled - "I'm fairly terrible at science, I'm afraid...the only scientific subject I achieved good grades in was alchemy!" Her other NEWTs - curses, nautica, sword fighting, flying... were all wand or physical subjects. Probably why she was good at Quidditch, which normally wasn't something she'd consider an amazing co-incidence. Since she'd returned from the tournament though, everything seemed brighter and more interesting and she was quite ready to agree with nearly anything Mer said.

"We should arrange a game while we're here. Find another team to play against or just throw some bludgers around. If you'd like to?" she suggested "oh, thank you..." Meredith had handed her the goblet and Edyta poured half the butterbeer into it then offered it back again. What if I touch her fingers? came the sudden unexpected thought, and suddenly the graduate both desperately wanted and didn't want that to happen more than anything else in the world. For a moment she forgot to breathe. How adorable that her new friend baked. That was something Edyta had never learned - never really had time to learn. She thought idly that they would make a good team, and then stared fixedly at the beer bottle she was gripping as if Mer could read her mind and knew all these random thoughts she couldn't seem to stop having.

She managed to fix her mind of one thing that she hadn't heard before "Critter cafe? I'm sorry, I don't know that phrase..." she bit her lip and smiled, another gesture Edyta had never in her life used before. One moment she was completely in control of herself and then next falling for a stranger on the strength of a plate of cookies.

Wait, what?

No she wasn't.

No way.

Edyta had come here to gain some more skills for her resume, not for any other reason. Being friendly was one thing...that was all she was doing, right? Being friendly. Yes. Deep breath. It was fine.

"It took several years of training" she said, her voice sounding almost natural. Dragons were one of the things she found easiest to talk about after all "It's not so much about talent as understanding how dragons behave...and keeping out of range of their fire...actually, the best place to be if there's a p-ssed off dragon is sitting in it's back!" Edyta had often thought that, but never actually said it out loud in case people thought she didn't take the beasts seriously enough. While they were talking about dangerous creatures though, it seemed quite reasonable. Centaurs and werewolves...not creatures Edyta had ever thought she would hear mentioned in the same sentence. One intelligent and proud, the other unable to control itself, and... "Oh, my. That's the giant man-eating spider, I think?" she asked, eyes widening. Edyta wouldn't fancy meeting one of those either "I'm not surprised students aren't allowed in there alone!"

Meredith sighed, chewing her lip guiltily despite Edyta’s reassurances. “I guess so. I still feel like I should… I don’t know. Like I should know every language in the World.” She shook her head, forcing a small smile on her face. Mer hated not knowing things. “I was in the Caribbean too, though I wasn’t part of the summer school then…” Meredith gave a coy smile as she remembered the fun moment of sneaking out of her home with her cousin. “My cousin was teaching and snuck me along for a day. I loved it so much that it convinced me to go to the summer school here.” She flashed a toothy grin at her companion, licking her lips slightly before adding, “I’m glad I came.”

Edyta giggled, and Mer instinctively made a barely audible giggle herself. The noise was exceedingly like music to her ears and Meredith wasn’t sure why. “Alchemy?” Meredith questioned, wondering how much she didn’t know about the subject. “We don’t do that in Hogwarts. Just Potions, unfortunately.”

“A game?” Mer’s eyes lit up as she positively beamed. “I’d love that! Thank you.” She giggled again, wondering why she was so enthusiastic for anything this other witch said. Edyta offered her back the goblet, and Meredith gingerly took it from her, her breath hitching in her throat as a finger gently brushed Edyta’s. The brief contact felt electric for some strange reason.

“Oh, sorry!” Meredith gasped, as Edyta said she hadn’t heard the phrase before. She forgot it was a novel concept for quite a few people outside of Hogsmeade, let alone from a different school entirely. “It’s a cafe where there are animals roaming freely around, so you can play with kittens and kneazles while relaxing with a cup of tea and a cake.” Mer explained enthusiastically with a twinkle in her eyes, “I love it so much, I know it has helped a lot of people who come there.” Mer smiled, chewing the inside of her cheek. It meant a lot to her that she could help make a difference in someone’s life, however small it was.

It was fascinating to hear about dragons from Edyta, she sounded so cool and gutsy. This witch was brave and adventurous in ways that Meredith could never hope to be and it was making her heart flutter and making her behave in ways that she would never usually. “Well, I still think you must be very talented.” Mer found her gushing over this person that she’d only just met, and she took a large gulp of the butterbeer to distract from the realisation. “I’d love to meet a dragon one day… preferably a calm-tempered one though.” She laughed, biting her lip again as she gazed at her companion. “Maybe you could even introduce me to one?” She laughed softly, wondering if it was as silly a suggestion as it sounded in her head.

“It certainly is,” Meredith confirmed, wiggling a little at the idea of an acromantula biting her head off, and taking another large gulp of the butterbeer. “Yeah… that doesn’t stop some students from thinking it is a good idea to go in by themselves though.” She shook her head disapprovingly. “I would never though. The bravest thing I’ve ever done was shout ‘eureka!’ in the library once… and I’d certainly never try that again.”

Edyta shook her head "Actually, I think I was lucky. Imagine, if there had been a magical school in Poland I might never have had the opportunity to learn Russian" and then she shouldn't have realised that learning languages was actually rather fun, and she might not have been so enthusiastic at the prospect of learning others. But the thought that their paths might have crossed previously made her heart lurch. What had she been doing that day? Had it been a day of seminars, or when she'd come in second to last place attempting to ride the giant fire crabs? But thankfully there was something else she could consider.

"Professor Emerson..? I think I remember him. A tall man, I think?" she asked, though in truth all Edyta could actually say for sure was that the name was vaguely familiar. She certainly couldn't remember what class he had taught or even if she'd been a part of it, though undoubtedly it would be recorded in her journal...the old one she hadn't brought with her, of course. "You're fortunate. Alchemy includes potions, but also the philosophy behind how they work, and..." she shrugged, and then grinned a little "..some other stuff as well..." Well, she had already said it wasn't her best subject!

The matter of Quidditch settled, Edyta felt herself relax. She was sure she was going to enjoy this summer now, and that meant she felt wildly enthusiastic about absolutely everything, her weariness forgotten. The idea of a cafe with cats wandering around seemed rather bizarre to the graduate, whose own experience with kneazles and other small animals was mainly restricted to frustration when dormmates' pets played with her quills or chewed the corners of textbooks, but if she didn't actually have to be responsible for the creatures and could hand them straight back... "It sounds nice. I'm sure it's really appreciated" she said agreeably, and then added with a glint in her eye "Now I now what it is. I'd love to open one with miniature dragons, but I don't expect it would be very popular..."

She was glad that Mer was open to learning about dragons. "Our flying professor had a miniature Romanian Longhorn. There was a rumour she'd named it after an ex boyfriend, but nobody ever dared to ask her. He was pretty calm, I guess she'd trained him not to set things of fire or chew the desks...she brought him to class sometimes, when we had theory work..." she was talking too much, she reached for the half-filled bottle of butterbeer and took a drink, and then felt her cheeks growing red as she inexplicably wondered if she'd drunk elegantly enough and then wondering why she cared and where the thought had come from and why she suddenly felt so uncertain of herself and yet so aware.

But if she felt like that one minute, the next she felt excited, actually laughing out loud. "You did what?" she spoke louder than usual, almost a shriek of amusement. Even speaking any louder than a hushed voice in the Durmstrang library would have led to...well actually, Edyta had no idea. It just wasn't done, any more than one would run naked into the Grand Hall or break into the Headmaster's office. Still grinning, she unfortunately had to stifle a yawn and then apologise, because she definitely didn't want Mer to think she wanted to go to sleep yet. "So what are your plans for tomorrow? Did you sign up for anything yet?" she asked, not because she as hoping that the other girl might be attending some of the activities she was supervising.

Meredith smiled as Edyta said she thought she was lucky to have had the opportunity to learn Russian. Her new friend made an excellent point. How lovely Edyta’s perspective was. “I guess that is lucky, then. Learning languages must be a lot of fun sometimes, even if it is hard.” She bashfully ducked her head down, realising she didn’t really know what she was saying. She wondered for a second if Edyta would be willing to teach her Russian or Polish, just so she could spend extra time with her roommate. 

“Yes, he certainly is.” Mer giggled as Edyta described her cousin as tall. That was true of the entire Emerson family, with the exception of Frida (who technically wasn’t part of the family yet, still bearing her Trickett surname). Meredith had learnt to wear her height as a badge of honour throughout the years, though she was quite grateful that she wasn’t as tall as her cousin, that would have just been ridiculous.

She smiled at Edyta as the other witch explained the difference between Potions and Alchemy. “I wouldn’t say I’m fortunate then,” Mer’s smile grew as grabbed another cookie. “I think the philosophy aspect would be extremely interesting to learn about in class. It’d be much easier than having to just read about it in books.” She took a small bite of the cookie, her free hand cupped by her chin to catch any loose crumbs. “Perhaps that’s just my nerdiness talking though.”

“Chaotic, most of the time,” Mer laughed in response to Edyta saying the critter cafe sounded nice. “But I know the place means an awful lot to some of our regulars.” She, herself, had witnessed customers looking worse-for-wear when they first started coming into the cafe during the holidays to come out of their bubble and relax among the animals, gradually taking the time to have lengthy conversations with the family. It was always heartwarming to see their little venture have such an impact on other people. Meredith grinned as Edyta said she’d like to open one with miniature dragons. Now, that was definitely something she’d pay to see. “I’d think it’d be more popular than you realise. Even more crazily chaotic than dealing with twenty cats and kneazles but…” Mer paused, biting her lip as she looked at her new friend. “If you ever did open one, I’d love to be your first customer. You could teach me all about them.”

“A… miniature Romanian Longhorn? In your class?” Meredith gasped, as she stared at Edyta in awe. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Romanian Longhorns were always depicted as extremely dangerous in all the books that she had read. And, apparently Edyta’s professor just… brought one into class with her? “I can’t imagine how hard it must be to train one of those, even if they are miniature.” Mer mirrored Edyta, taking a few sips of the butterbeer in her goblet, finding herself staring at the other witch.

“Well!” Mer laughed, glad to hear that such a thing was scandalous in the Durmstrang libraries too. “In fairness to me, I think my discovery warranted the reaction.” She wasn’t too sure about that, actually, but considering that she had gotten an O on her work for it, then the Ravenclaw witch was sure that being shushed and being on the receiving end of an impressive glare was worth it.

She smiled, trying to stifle a yawn herself (as the natural response to seeing another do so). Meredith found herself staring at the other girl again, a tiny, borderline flirtatious smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “Well… that depends.” Mer teased, her smile growing wider. “Which activities will you be doing?”