Serenity | 1

NINE

"Stuck and Sorted"

Serenity took a seat on her trunk and looked around at the dorm she'd been assigned to. It was simple and a mustard yellow. From the corners of the bed, canopies hung the black and white flag of Hufflepuff, bearing the honey badger associated with the aggressively loyal house. Small succulent plants and long and winding vines lined the windows.

There were five windows for five beds, each of them circular and bright, which would have added natural light to the amber light of the lanterns swinging above head should the sun be out. It was all so rustic and beautiful. Serenity felt as though she was in a cottage. It was homely and bore a black fluffy rug atop the otherwise bare floorboards that lead to a small fireplace that seemed to have been lit ages ago.

None of her dormmates had arrived yet. Without Juliet, who had been sorted into Slytherin, she couldn't help the slither of loneliness that stung in her chest and images of earlier that day flashed across her vision. Lakita's laugh echoed in her ears accompanied by shattering glass.

Kicking off her shoes and shuffling onto the feather-soft mattress, she lies down on her side and wills away the tears welling in her eyes. She would not cry over a bully.

Yet, when she opened her eyes she could see Lakita's face as real as it was in the carriage. Her blood-red lips stretched into a grin that was horribly kind, her pale hair brightening her hazel eyes in the dim light. Dressed in a knitted Hufflepuff jumper and resting comfortably against the mattress. Closing her eyes again, Serenity willed the spectre away.

"Well, that's not how we greet our dormmates." Sitting up, Serenity's eyes opened only when her head collided with Lakita's. "Ow..."

"I didn't know you were a first year." Standing from her kneeling position on the floor, Lakita scowls and rubs her head.

"I don't pick on people who are younger than me, that's not very nice."

"Yeah," Serenity scoffs, "that's not nice."

With a sigh and a facepalm, Lakita huffs in frustration and crosses her arms. While the brunette observes her from the bed, she diverts her gaze to the floor and digs her toes into the rug.

"I realise that I may have gone too far on the train," the brunette raises an eyebrow, "and after thinking long and hard over it, I realise that I should apologise." Serenity looks on at Lakita expectantly, the blonde shakes her head slightly and looks towards the door as though she didn't want their housemates to hear the conversation. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Serenity counters with a slight smirk.

"Do you accept my apology?" Serenity sighs and moves to sit on the end of the bed.

"You didn't decide to apologise to me because you feel guilty, Lakita, I'm not stupid, I can tell." Fists clenched, Lakita looks away and slumps onto the bed beside Serenity with a sigh.

"I do feel guilty!" She exclaimed as she fell onto her back. "I just didn't realise how mean I was until Lucas and Logan told me off."

"They speak?" There was a hint of teasing on the brunette's tone which helped the blonde relax. With a giggle, she shakes her head.

"No, not exactly. They're legilimens." Serenity's eyes widen and she lies back also, turning her head to the blonde.

"You're kidding."

"Nope. But, rather than speaking like normal wizards, they speak only with their minds." Serenity looked up at the canopy.

"How do they do magic?"

"They don't. They can't, not without speaking." Both girls knitted their eyebrows together in wonderment. While Serenity pondered over the mysterious Senate twins, Lakita still wondered if the Rier girl had accepted her apology. "Did I do it right?" The blonde asked, tapping her fingers on her stomach. Serenity looked over at her, "the apology, did I do it right?" With a slight scoff and a small laugh, she shakes her head.

"Not at all."

"Really?" The incredulous lilt to her voice was enough to set Serenity into a fit of giggles.

"Really. You're meant to say, 'I'm sorry' and then follow it with what you're sorry for. If you just say 'I'm sorry' then it doesn't exactly have much meaning to it." Nodding, Lakita sits up suddenly. Crossing her legs, she clears her throat and waits for Serenity to follow her actions.

"Serenity Rier, I am, truly, sorry for calling your family a cult." Nodding with a smile, Serenity reaches forwards and grabs the blondes cold hands.

"And I'm sorry for smashing that window." Sharing a laugh, the two girls finally put aside their differences. Shooting her shot, Serenity looks away shyly, "does this mean we're friends now?" Squeezing their hands, Lakita grins.

"Of course!" Neither of them had realised how tense they were until their shoulders dropped at the same time. They both giggled once again at seemingly nothing.

"If you want I could try and teach Logan and Lucas to do silent magic, after all, I do it all the time." Lakita's eyes widen.

"Really?"

"Yeah," the brunette shrugs, "as long as I don't have to speak to them in my mind else we'll look like actual freaks." With a short laugh and a 'thank you!' Lakita throws herself at Serenity. Encasing the taller girl in a hug, the momentum pushes them from the bed and to the floor.

Somewhere between hitting the floor and detangling themselves, they'd broken into fits of laughter, blissfully unaware of the three girls now standing in the centre of the room. Noticing the three of them standing awkwardly, Serenity props herself up and greets them through suppressed laughter.

"Hi!"