(T.Broomsticks) Cluttered Mind

[Veata Bane]

Veata's head was hung over a book entitled "Dueling Dragons", her vivd red hair hanging limply in the stale air of the shop. After purchasing herself a Butterbeer, she had settled down in a far, dark corner, in a well-worn booth that was hidden in musky shadows. Here, in the dim light, she opened her book, scanning her eyes over the pages, but not really reading. She was too tired to read. Her mind had been clouded for days now, cluttered almost, fogging the air of her mind with useless thought. She had been unable to sleep lately, resorting to sneaking out of Hogwarts to wander the school grounds until sleep nearly swept her off her feet. Then she headed back to the Slytherin dormroom, often not making it to the female section of the dorm, and crashed out on the couch next to the fire, letting the dying embers warm her feet.

V blinked a few times to clear her vision, shaking her head and bringing her eyes back to the top of the page, because she had realized she wasn't taking in any of the information her eyes were rolling across. Finally, with a burst of newfound frustration, she slammed the book closed, snatching up her butterbeer and taking a huge swig. She took a look around the almost deserted room, suddenly wishing she had stayed at Hogwarts today, hating that she was alone in Hogsmeade. Company right about now was ideal.[/font]

[Maria Turolia]

Maria had walked up to the counter of the Three Broomsticks and got herself a butterbeer. As she was scanning the room looking trying to decide where to sit in this almost empty place, she heard something that sounding like a book slamming shut. Curious as to what had caused the noise, Maria walked over toward where the sound had originated from.In a dark, shadowed corner of the room Maria saw a girl with bright red hair sitting alone. As she walked closer to the girl, Maria immediately noticed that she seemed rather frustrated.

Unable to keep herself from her annoying habit of interrupted people when they seemed frustrated or annoyed at something, she walked over and sat down in the booth across from the girl without even bothering to ask if the girl would mind. She looked at the girl curiously for a moment before stating, "You don't seem to be in too pleasant a mood." Maria knew that most people didn't take well to her blunt statements like that, especially people she didn't know. But as much as she tried she couldn't stop herself from saying them.

[Veata Bane]

Veata's gray cat eyes floated over slowly to find a fellow student seated across from her in the shadowed booth. Not only a fellow student, Veata thought, inwardly smiling though keeping a sour face on the outside, it was a student she had seen around the school wearing Hufflepuff robes. Well, this little Hufflepuff had just picked the worst table to sit at.

Veata smiled at the girl, her teeth bore, more in a vicious than friendly way. Her dislike for the girl was sent skyrocketing by her next words. Veata's smile dropped, and she let a feline growl surge up in her throat.

"No, I'm not," she spat, gray eyes narrowing in distaste. "So why would a filthy little Hufflepuff like you choose to sit down across from me? Do you have a deathwish?"
[/font]

[Maria Turolia]

Maria's eyes narrowed at the girl's statement, but she smiled slightly. She was used to this sort of behavior from Slytherins, so she immediately realized that it was a Slytherin with which she was dealing. She relaxed her eyes and her slight smile stayed in place. "Filthy little, Hufflepuff, huh? Well, I suppose that everyone is entitled to their opinions...no matter how idiotic they are."

Maria's smile never left her face. She thought for a moment before answering the girl's question. "Why would I sit with you?" Maria asked herself as she pondered the question. "I was just rather bored, I suppose. Not that it particularly matters, but no I do not have a deathwish." Maria was used to keeping her calm when people were behaving in such a manner.

[Veata Bane]

Veata just sat and listened, her still hands folded over each other on the table, her eyes trained on the Hufflepuff girl. She had always hated Hufflepuffs. All clumped together in one group because they didn't have the brains, brawn or determination to be in any of the other houses. They were just the outcasts of Hogwarts, thrown together to make it seem like they weren't alone.

"You were bored." She stated in a flat tone. Well, how ever so unique of her. I bet she's the only bored person on this side of the earth, Veata thought bitterly. Why is she coming to me if she's bored? "I'm not here to entertain you."

Veata kept her eyes trained on the Hufflepuff as she lifted her feet to fold them in a cross-legged position on the seat of the booth. That was one strange thing about Veata, besides her hair and eyes. She would sit cross-legged everywhere. A method of keeping her feet warm, since they always felt cold. She slipped her hand away from the other to pick of her Butterbeer and take a long swig.[/font]

[Maria Turolia]

Seeing the girl pick up her butterbeer, Maria realized that she hadn't taken a single drink from her own. Ignoring it she smiled a bit. "I never said you were here to entertain me." Maria still had the small smile on her face as she spoke.

She kept her eyes on the girl without looking away while thinking. It seemed to be very common among Slytherins to see her as weak, simply due to the fact that she was a Hufflpuff. "I simply chose to entertain myself, by speaking to you," Maria said finally. "It has proved very entertaining, as a matter of fact." She added the last statement simply because she knew the girl wouldn't like it. She didn't take well to people that judged her that quickly.

[Veata Bane]

Veata shrugged and leaned back, butterbeer still in hand. Pretty clever for a Hufflepuff, she mused to herself, taking another swig of the mouthwatering liquid. Bobbing her knee to a beat in her head, she reached forward and set the drink back down on the tabletop.

"Yeah, well," she said in a blank voice. "Glad you're enjoying yourself."

Instead of watching her for another reply, she leaned forward off the soft backrest, flipping open her book again. She was painfully aware of every breath the Hufflepuff took, as she scanned her eyes pointlessly over the page. Every now and then she caught a cool fact about a Swedish Shortsnout, but she wasn't retaining any real information.[/font]

[Maria Turolia]

Maria's smile widened a bit at the girl's statement. She had chosen to make no more snide remarks or anything and that surprised Maria. She picked up her butterbeer and took a drink without saying a word and watched the girl as she read the book.
Setting down the butterbeer as she continued to watch the girl, she had the distinct impression that she wasn't paying much attention to the book.

Something about the way her eyes were moving across the page as though they were taking nothing in made Maria not worry about interrupting her. "I'm Maria..." she said. Then quickly added,"not that you care, but I figured it would be rude not to introduce myself." She picked her butterbeer back up and took another drink as she waited to see if the girl would introduce herself.

[Veata Bane]

Veata cleared her throat as she looked up from her book with an i-really-dont-care expression plastered across her face. Why was the girl still talking? Better question, why was she still here? Veata let a long, drawn-out sigh slip through her slightly parted lips, rolling her eyes, then going back to her book.

"Yeah, I'm Veata," not bothering to look up from the page she was skimming over. She knew the girl had noticed she wasn't really reading, but she didn't really care. V was more or less just hoping that if she ignored her long enough she'd just dissapear. "Good to meet you... uh... Mario."[/font]

[Maria Turolia]

Maria's knew the girl wasn't too fond of having her around. That was incredibly obvious. The fact that the girl called her Mario made no difference to Maria. Really, this girl made her wonder why her parents had so desired for her to be in Slytherin house and why they were so disappointed with her when she wasn't. Most of the Slytherins she had met were horrible people.

Thinking of her parents reminded. Without another word to the girl, Maria got out a quill and some parchment. As she began to write she had the feeling that the scratching of the quill against the paper would annoy Veata, who was still pretending to read her book. She quickly wrote down a bunch of pointless things about school and folded the parchment shoving it in a pocket to send later. She took another drink of her butterbeer and setting the drink down looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying to quiet.

[Veata Bane]

Lifting her eyes from the book to watch Maria or Mario, or whatever her name was, V narrowed her eyes as she scribbled something onto a peice of parchment. It seemed to V that the Hufflepuff was trying her best to annoy the enemy Slytherin, but really, writing something on a piece of paper really wasn't about to make V's blood boil. If anything, she'd say that the Hufflepuff held a grudge against Slytherins as much as V held a grudge against the Hufflepuffs. Sort of hypocritical of her, wasn't it? To be angry about Slytherins hating her for what house she was in, but hating the Slytherins for being Slytherins.

At least Veata admitted that what she thought wasn't nice, and that she judged people before she even knew them. V knew she was a complete bitch, no doubt about it, she wasn't trying to cover it up by acting innocent. The way the Hufflepuff seemed to think she was better because she wasn't prejudiced, unlike the quill scratching on the parchment, did bring V's blood to a simmer. Slytherins, as far as she was concerned, were actually much better than the other houses, because they knew and openly admitted to their prejudgice opinions, which were strangely correct. [/font]

[Maria Turolia]

Maria opened her eyes and looked over at the girl again and noticed that she had stopped looking at her book and started looking at Maria. "Yes?" she said curious as to why the girl was looking at her. Not that she really wanted to interrupt the quiet that she was enjoying, but she did want to know why the girl had decided to stop pretending to read.

Then after a moment Maria sighed. "I think that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot," she said thinking to herself. She knew that they wouldn't have had a problem, if the girl hadn't called her a filthy little Hufflepuff, but she also knew that she wasn't really looking to make an enemy and right now that was where this situation was going. "So let's try this again," she said with a pleasant smile. "I'm Maria Turolia, a Hufflepuff, yes, but I see no reason why that should be of any importance." She looked at the girl very uncertain of what her reaction would be, but Maria had to at least give it a shot.

[Veata Bane]

The corner of V's mouth turned up in a part smile. Still hunched over her book, she watched as the girl made a shot to redeem herself. Well, first impressions were very important, and the one she gave, honeslty, was rubbish. V had no intention of ever being on friendly terms with a Hufflepuff, especially one who had treated her in such a nasty manner, even if she had been the nasty one in the first place.

But, Veata had to give her credit for being polite and retrying their meeting. Sitting up straighter in her chair, she gave the girl the slightest of nods. And so, as a symbol of peace, Veata reached across the table with a stiff, strong hand, something her father had taught her she should always do when meeting somone.

"I'm Veata Bane, proud Slytherin," She said, her mouth still quirked into a half smile. "Very good to meet you, Maria."[/font]

[Maria Turolia]

Maria smiled slightly. She had accomplished what she had wanted. She had not made a new enemy, and that was always a good thing. Especially since this girl seemed rather intelligent and probably wasn't someone you would want as an enemy.

"It's good to meet you as well, Veata," Maria said as she reached across and shook the girl's hand. She had of course known that the girl was a Slytherin and wasn't surprised by her introduction of herself. "A proud Slytherin, huh?" said Maria with the same smile. "That would make you cunning and ambitious?" she asked politely. She knew the good qualities that Slytherins possessed and admired them. Also, she figured this girl was a pureblood. Veata did behave as such.

[Veata Bane]

As Veata's slender hand retreated from the handshake, she tipped the front of the book over and allowed it to thud closed. Then, with the same liquid grace, she slid it to the left of her, placed her elbow on the tabletop, and rested her head in her hand.

"Yes, I suppose it would," V said softly, a small laugh bubbling up in her throat. "And you're a Hufflepuff. Does that make you-" V stopped herself from saying stupid and worthless just in time. It would be rather stupid to be on good terms, then just return them to the state they had been in before.

To cover up her mistake, Veata made a violent grab for her Butterbeer, but instead knocking it over in her all too enthusiastic grab. But, instead of recoiling to watch the liquid hit the table and spill, she shot her hand out further, snatching the bottle as the first drop of liquid slip from the top. Setting it right up, Veata glanced at the tiny puddle of spilled Butterbeer, then turned away, ignoring her fumble, acting as though it had never happened.

"Doesn't that make you... uh.. loyal and like, patient or something?"[/font]