Troubled Waters and Steadfast Hills

Chapter 2: Settling In

"Pass the salt?" Ivy said to anyone who was listening. Louis passed it to her.

"Mmm," Warren spoke up with a mouthful of turkey. "Speaking of salt. Wait till you hear about my ride here."

"What does you traveling to school have anything to do with salt?" Asked Lucy as she delicately cut up the food on her plate. The boys were total slobs, especially if you compare them to Lucy and Vinnie who had probably mastered the art of proper dining manners at the ripe old age of 5.

Our group of friends was a bit odd to say the least. You could throw 20 different marbles in a bag and still pull out a group of 6 more similar than our group. It had started with just me and Ivy. We shared a room together first year and hit it off. She might as well be my sister at this point. She knows me better than I do. The triplets, Lavinia, Lucretia and Louis Williams, joined our group a year later when they entered school. Which came as quite a shocker to Ivy and I. The Williams are practically American royalty in the Wizarding world. They had descended from an impressive Icelandic pure-blood line. Probably one of the oldest traceable wizarding families. Oh, and they are filthy stinking rich.

Warren sort of half joined our group that year. Him and Louis had met somehow. Probably teamed up on a prank or something childish like that. It was a strange pairing, the two of them. Louis has always been sort of scrawny. He had grown to a considerable height over the years but he hasn't quite filled out yet. Ivy likes to call him a baby giraffe. I still have no idea what a giraffe is but her and Warren seem to think it hysterical.

Warren had always had a decent amount of muscle on him. Being quartitch beater for almost every year of school would do that to you. The two boys always looked out of place next to each other but they never cared. Besides they were outnumbered 4 to 2 by girls in the friend group so they needed each other.

Anyhow, Louis brought Warren into the group despite him being two years older than the triplets and one year older than Ivy and I. His connection to us was never quite 100%. He spent half his time with us and half his time with his 'bro's' from his house, the Wampus'. Unfortunately, the one and only Ernest was one of those bros.

Nevertheless, Warren and I ended up being great friends. We've stayed close for 6 years now. I trusted him with my life. 4 years into our friendship we made a pact to marry if neither of us could find suitable prospects by 35. Though Warren had always been the popular type so I assumed that would never happen. He'd find a pretty, young, doe-eyed girl to settle down and have kids with by 20 if I had to make a bet.

That is, if Vinnie didn't find a way to snatch him up after all these years of crushing on him. But that would take a miracle. Why? I had no idea but Warren had never shown any romantic feelings for her. And I was not going to be the one to open that can of worms so I never pressed. No one did. Instead we sufficed to watch a painful display of Vinnie throwing herself at him every year and Warren ignoring it every time.

So here we were, our odd bunch, sitting at one of the many round tables in the dining hall. Me with my back to the hall door, Ivy on my left and Lucy on hers. Warren on my right and Vinnie and Louis across from me.

"I swear she looked more horrified than Mira when Ernest walked into the prefect room today." Warren continued. I rejoined the conversation at the sound of my name. Leaving the comfort of my own thoughts.

"Hm?" I questioned, continuing to poke at my meal. "What about me?"

"Only that I thought you were going to pass out at the prefect meeting when Ernest walked in. It was either going to be you or that bubbling busty girl next to you."

"Caroline. Yeah." I rolled my eyes and looked down at my plate. "I didn't know the lord of all things evil was going to be a prefect this year." I turned to Warren. "We all got our prefect invitation letters before the school year ended last year so why didn't you tell me he'd gotten one, Warren? A heads up would have been nice."