Chapter 2- New Friends?
Life at the University was certainly different. Classes were about the same, but with less interaction. The professors were content to listen to themselves talk, while the students took notes. Questions were few and far between. The living conditions were also different. The dorms were tiny, with a shared bathroom on the floor. Hermione's roommate at AU was an average sized girl from the state of New Jersey. Her name was Alexandria, and she was the worst student that Hermione had ever encountered. She barely studied at all, went out every night, and returned to the dormitories very early in the morning, if at all. What made it more frustrating was that the girl managed to pull extremely high grades in every class. While Hermione was forced to spend the majority of her time in the library and with her nose in a book, Alexandria partied, and was exceptionally good at it. After attending classes and studying all day one Friday, Hermione wrote to Harry and Ron about her new experiences.
Dear Harry and Ron,
Well, I've made it to the third week. We're not allowed to do magic at all, so it's made it difficult to keep up. I've been studying every day harder than ever, and I feel that my head is just barely staying above water. Classes are alright, my political science class is very interesting, I think the Ministry of Magic could learn something by studying this. (Remember that, Ron!) My roommate, Alexandria, is a witch also, but she's a nightmare. Never studies, parties all the time, Gets amazing marks. It makes the work I'm doing a joke. I wish I could visit home, I miss you both!
Harry, how's the Auror training going? You'll be amazing at it, of course.
Miss you all,
Say hi to everyone for me.
Love, Hermione
A pang of loneliness hit her as she ended, and remembered how far away all the people she knew actually were. She folded the letter, stuffed it in an envelope, licked the back and placed a stamp on the front. She had, of course, been used to watching her parents use this strange custom for mail. She addressed the letter to the post office in Diagon Alley, where, she knew, it would then be owled out to her friends. After writing two more letters, to her parents and Professor McGonegall respectively, and addressing them in a similar manner, she grasped them and headed out the door to find a mailbox.
On her way out, she ran into her roommate in the hallway.
"Hey Herm," Alexandria called. "Whatcha up to?" Hermione smiled.
"Just posting some letters to my friends at home," she answered. Alex's eyes grew wide.
"Oh, cool. Ya know, I should do that too, I haven't talked to my Jersey friends in a while… Oh, Herm, there's a wild party later at the Teek house, wanna go with us?" Normally, Hermione wouldn't even think twice about refusing to go out. She never had the time, with the studying she had to do. But this was a Friday night, and she had already started studying earlier, and she was feeling very lonely.
"Why not?" she answered, grinning. Her roommate looked taken aback, and smiled back, eyes wider than ever.
"Alright then. We're heading down at 9:00. I'll come back here and pick you up, and we'll walk over." Grinning, Hermione nodded. Alex gave a little wave and headed back to the room, as Hermione continued out to the mailbox.
*-*-*
Three hours later, Hermione was dressed in jeans and a trendy muggle shirt, had a light coating of makeup on, and was ready to socialize. After all, she thought, at Hogwarts, I studied muggle relations. What better way to use that class practically than interacting with them in person? Alexandria entered the room in a flurry of energy, and hurried about, changing clothes and applying makeup and jewelry. Ten minutes later, the two locked the door behind them, and headed across campus.
Hermione didn't realize that 'Teek' was a nickname for the TKE house, a fraternity. Had she known, she still wouldn't have realized what to expect. The concept of a Greek system was foreign to her. The house where the party was located was one in a row of houses that looked identical. The only identifying feature on each house was the appropriate three symbols that designated each group. This particular house had students pouring out of the door. Most of the students had plastic cups filled to the brim. Hermione knew that the beverage was not likely to be as benign as butterbeer, and briefly contemplated going back to the dorm room and finishing her studies. But Alexandria was pulling her by the arm, and leading them both into the house.
The throng of people broke apart briefly to let them through. Hermione tried to keep a smile plastered on her face, and answered a few hellos with short, shy greetings of her own. Alex shoved a plastic cup into her hand, filled with something that looked like fruit punch.
"Jungle Juice," she said, grinning. "Don't drink too much, or the toilet will be your new best friend." Restraining from wrinkling her nose, Hermione nodded at her roommate, and allowed herself to be led through the rooms of the house, finally standing near a group of students who looked older, as were she and Alex. Alex ran up to a boy, who had raven black hair and a shirt that read, 'Hottie.'
"Good thing you warned us, Jonah, we had no idea," she called, yanking on the back of his shirt.
"Alex," the boy smirked. "'Sup, girl?" Hermione lurked behind her roommate, watching them banter back and forth. When Jonah put his arm around Alex's waist and shoved her into the group's circle, she realized that this must be Alex's boyfriend. She smiled, watching a grin spread across Alex's face.
"Who's your friend?" One of the girls asked, smiling at Hermione.
"Oh, sorry, guys this is Hermione, my roommate. She's from England. Hermione, the gang. And this is my boyfriend, Jonah. He's a Teek." Hermione smiled at them.
"Pleasure to meet you all." Some of the group members stepped aside so that she could join them in the circle. She stood beside a girl with long brown hair and brilliant green eyes, and a boy with tousled blonde hair and a plain blue shirt.
"Sweet accent," said another girl.
"Thanks," Hermione said quietly.
"I'm Anna," the girl continued, "and this is John (the guy with the blue shirt), Celia (the girl next to me), and Matt." She motioned to a boy Hermione hadn't noticed before. He was standing on the outskirts of the group, wearing jeans and a simple shirt with a logo that said SAMWA on it. He wore a serious expression, but smiled briefly when Hermione was introduced. His eyes were bright blue, and his hair was a dark auburn. Hermione thought that she had never seen someone so gorgeous in her entire life.
As the talk in the group became more specific, Hermione found herself drawn nearer to Matt. She finally got a chance to start up a conversation with him.
"Um, what does SAMWA stand for?" she asked.
"Students Against Migrant Worker Abuse," Matt replied. "There have been reports of foul conditions where migrant workers have been forced to work, and their pay has in some cases been withheld as a kind of blackmail. There's a small group of us here at AU that raises money for agencies to investigate and help these people." Hermione's eyes were shining even before he finished speaking. "Some people," Matt continued, "Even try arguing that the workers LIKE working in these conditions, and that they wouldn't know what to do with better conditions if they had them." With all the strength she had, Hermione tried to restrain herself from jumping up and down.
"That's amazing!" she said. "How refreshing that a group of students would organize like that to really get something done. Where do you meet? When? Do you have more information?" Matt was starting to laugh quietly at her enthusiasm.
"Well, there aren't very many of us," he answered, "So for now we're just meeting in the lounge of Tower A, floor 5. Hermione's eyes grew wide.
"Floor 5? Then you mean…"
"Right," Matt said, then whispered, "no muggles allowed."
