After spending the better part of the day at the Scamanders' house with their friends, Percival and Credence crashed through their own front door, exhausted. Credence made straight for the sofa while Percival joined him a couple of minutes later with two cups of coffee.
"It seems so quiet now." Credence began, wringing his hands together, nervous at the thought of both of his children being away from him.
Percival gently but firmly placed his own hands of Credence's and pulled them apart. "You don't need to worry so much. You will be fine."
"I hate being alone. I'm so scared of being alone."
"You won't be. I will be here with you. And anyway, we should be expecting an owl from Sophia soon, although I would've expected it to have arrived by now." He looked around, as if expecting Mark to appear right then and there.
Credence cringed a little bit, and Percival sent him a questioning look.
"It's not that I don't want Sophia to send us letters." Credence began. "It's just that letters are hardly equivalent to seeing and speaking to her in person. And I fear that every time we get a letter from her, I'm just going to be reminded that they aren't here with us, and it will upset me."
"It might do at first, but that will quickly change. Very soon you'll find yourself wishing that she'd send more owls." When Percival realised that although his words had given a bit of comfort to his husband, they hadn't completely calmed his nerves, he continued. "And anyway... I might have the chance to see them more regularly than the holidays, and I might be able to take you with me if we keep it quiet."
Credence froze in shock and excitement, although more than anything, he was confused. After a second, he spoke up again. "Is this to do with what Professor Blackrose wanted to talk to you about?"
- - - - -
By lunch, Sophia realised that she really wanted David as her friend, whether Adam wanted that or not. Although she realised that calling him her friend might scare him, or suddenly make him dislike her, so she decided to just call him that in her head. She was soon finding herself getting better at understanding this strange, moody boy's personality.
Upon entering the dining hall, there appeared to be an unspoken rule that people could only sit with people in their own houses. Sometime between being sorted and coming down for lunch, Sophia realised that the crest of the Wampus house had emblazoned itself onto her robes, over her left shoulder.
The room was full of small round tables, big enough to fit four people around them. At the far end, there were a couple of larger tables, big enough to fit around eight people. Sophia guessed correctly that they were reserved for the professors.
Although the room was lively and full of chattering loud enough to be heard through the closed double doors, a hush fell over the groups closest to them as people's eyes fell on David. David just glared in response, while Sophia's cheeks burned red from embarrassment enough for the both of them.
David forged forward, cutting a path between the tables for Sophia to follow, scurrying after him. They found an empty table in the middle of the room, and Sophia caught David glancing fretfully around the room.
"What's the matter?" She asked him quietly. She had come to realise that talking loudly was one of the worst things you do around David. She didn't mind.
He took a second to decide whether to explain what was going on in his head or not, but in the end decided to open up to her. "How does it work here? Are we supposed to grab a tray and collect our own food from the kitchen like the No-Majes do at Simon's school? Why is everyone sat around tables ready for lunch, but there is no food in sight?"
Sophia chuckled slightly, and David glared at her, suddenly angry.
"What's funny?" He demanded. "Think it's strange that my cousin is a No-Maj?"
"No! No, of course not, David. I'm sorry, I was laughing about the fact that I never realised how many small advantages I have over people from just the fact that I have an older brother at the school. It's just funny how although this is the first day for both of us, I'm a bit more accustomed to the way that things work here." She lowered her voice even further. "I would never... And I mean never... Judge someone just because they don't have magic."
David started to relax a bit.
Sophia continued. "Anyway, to answer your question: we just have to wait here. In about ten minutes or so, a menu will appear on the wall and we can just say out loud whatever we want from the list and it will appear in front of us."
David nodded slightly in thanks and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence. Every now and then someone would look as though they were attempting to come and sit with them, and David would send them away with glares. Sophia didn't mind. She didn't like the way any of them had been looking at him in the common room earlier. She felt bad for him. She guessed that it would be very uncomfortable to be in his position.
She had no idea what it would feel like to have only recently been sent off to a strange school by yourself and find that you're not only different to the most people in the world due to your magical abilities, but find that you are different from the magical people you are supposed to relate with. She knew that his aunt was a legilimens, but even she wouldn't be able to help him with the isolation that the sorting ceremony had brought to him. It was huge, what had happened to him, Sophia knew that. And although he looked like he was able to deal with it himself, she felt that deep down he was struggling.
Soon they were able to eat and did so in a comfortable silence. The expression on David's face shifted slightly for a second, becoming more vulnerable before going back to its usual scowl in a blink and you'll miss it moment. Sophia was startled and put down her fork, twisting in her seat to see what he was looking at. A couple of tables away sat Daniel, staring intently back at her.
Sophia felt anger boil up and scowled at him. She turned to David and asked if he was making him feel uncomfortable. David seemed to snap back to reality.
"What? Daniel? No!" David was shaking his head sternly. "He's my cousin. I wish he'd have chosen Wampus, then I would find everything a bit easier to cope with."
Sophia felt ashamed for disliking Daniel so much, and returned to eating in silence.
It was only when they had been given their timetables and were heading off for their first lesson that she realised that what David had said didn't entirely make sense. After all, David was able to choose any of the houses, and by the time he did, he already knew what house Daniel had chosen.
He could've chosen to be a Horned Serpent, but he didn't.
- - - - - - - - - -
Ta da. I haven't written any more since the last time I uploaded, because I've been on holiday and I'm also super ill. Anyway, hope you enjoy this.
I would love it if you voted. Makes me feel all happy on the inside.
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Innocence
Fanfic'Percival carefully took Credence's hands in his. "My darling." He said softly. "Hatred is a foul creature born initially from fear. But like a fire, as it spreads it becomes all-consuming and destructive. In time, the hatred may be quenched but fro...
