Eden woke up to the sound of the gentle lapping of lake water against the windows of her dormitory room that she shared with Daphne and two other girls she had met her first night in Slytherin House, Tracy Davis and Pansy Parkinson. A faint greenish glow came through the windows which had an instant calming effect on her. Eden stretched her limbs against the green and silver bedspread and smiled to herself, remembering that first night in her new dormitory. After the banquet ended and all students were released back to their dormitories, Justin and Eden walked together towards the main hall rehashing their conversations with their new housemates. Once they approached the stairs, they split up promising to meet up in the library tomorrow before the task to begin note taking and comparing interview ideas. As she turned away, Daphne caught up next to her and linked her arm with hers and fell into step with her as they walked to the Slytherin dungeons talking about her life back home with the boys walking behind them.
Eden was amazed by the opulent tapestries lining the walls of the common room that made even the dungeons look cozy, as well as the large fireplace nestled into the western wall surrounded by large couches. After taking a seat with Daphne, Tracy and Pansy came around to introduce themselves and give her the information she needed for success as a Slytherin. Making herself comfortable on the couch across from Eden and Daphne with Tracy close next to here, both girls leaned in and Pansy began, "Make sure you only talk to people in our house. I get your friend is a Gryffindor but that is basically against all we stand for because they are our rivals." Pansy explained with a superior tone as she watched the boys coming to sit around the fire with them. Draco sitting down with his back against the seat of the couch that Pansy was sitting at and nudged her legs over to give him space. "I think I can make those decisions for myself, thanks," Eden responded kindly. She was still determined to keep her housemates on her good side, even if she blatantly disagreed with their weird prejudices.
Pansy's eyes narrowed and Tracy looked perplexed, while Draco's eyebrows shot into his hairline with amusement and she heard him mutter about hearing that before. "Well, if that is how you feel, it is your funeral, American." Pansy then pushed Draco out of the way of her legs and stalked to the dorm room with Tracy in tow. Eden chocked that up to a loss, maybe she could live with not being Pansy's friend while she was here though.
After she left, the Slytherin boys began asking Eden all about life in the U.S. and what Ilvermorny was like. "So you are telling me that they let you leave on weekends? Any weekends? Portkeys galore?" Blaise was most enthralled of all. "Yeah, it isn't really a big deal since it is in Massachusetts we are able to portkey when we can pool enough cash or just take the bus which takes a lot longer but is also a lot cheaper."
"Nomaj clothes are kinda the norm back home. They are just clothes. We are pretty interwoven into mainstream culture. We love Reese's cups and Coke more than pumpkin juice and chocolate frogs." They relaxed into comfortable conversation as the fire slowly began to dim out and their eyes began to lull. Eden slowly found herself glancing more and more over at Theo sitting next to her, especially when his knee would slightly graze her own and he would send her a small smile.
This morning she felt refreshed and ready for the task later that day but knew it was much earlier than she could expect any of her housemates to be up. Reaching through the silk curtains pulled closed around her four poster bed, she checked her watch that laid on the bedside table and it glowed 5:30, so she pulled open the side of her bed and began getting ready as quietly as possible. She brushed her teeth and changed her pajamas to a pair of Boston College sweatpants, a long sleeved red tee and an Ilvermorny sweatshirt; she knew that Scotland would be cold but the many layers she had to wear would quickly use up all of her clothes.
Slipping out of her dorm with her backpack slung over her shoulder, she decided to get acquainted with the Hogwarts library to get a head start on the task preparation before Justin showed up. As she walked the corridors of Hogwarts, she found the giant castle very beautiful but also cold. Classes were cancelled that day due to the task later on and she expected the school to be a flutter of activity, but the halls were bare. Back at home Ilvermorny seemed to have little creatures, elves, and ghosts scuttling to and fro through the halls at all hours of the day, but roaming the Hogwarts halls, Eden did not cross another soul as she made her way to the library. All she could hear was the faint tapping of her black converse sneakers on the cold stone floors.
Once she found the library, she was pleased to see a large blue fire going and the librarian stationed behind her post with a cup of what she assumed to be coffee in her hand. Eden's head thumped with the warning of a caffeine headache she would soon get if she didn't have her morning cup. She strolled through the warm library, smiled at the severe looking witch behind the desk, and found a seat near the fireplace as Scottish winters put Boston to shame.
Hours passed as Eden dove head first into the work that she came to Hogwarts to do. Both herself and Justin had been picked among two hundred other Ilvermorny applicants to be chosen as ambassadors for the school as well as journalists on the ground of the tournament. She would interview the champions, students, and staff about the events and report back to Ilvermorny. The reason being they were in discussions with the other Northern, Central, and Southern American schools to host their own tournament the next year.
As time passed, the library slowly began to fill up with tired looking students dragging their shoulder bags to empty tables and the heat in the room quickly shot up. Eden stripped off her sweatshirt and draped it on the seat next to her and pushed up her long sleeves. She decided to move on to some Charms homework she received earlier in the week by mail that still needed to be finished before she had her first official Charms class and reached down in her bag to retrieve it. At that moment, Theo sauntered into the library with a cup of tea in his hand and scanned the library floor. Looking towards the fireplace he saw her. Her black hair falling into her murky green eyes as she tucked it behind her ears while riffling through her backpack and pulling out some lined paper.
Over the couple of days of her being at Hogwarts, Theo began to notice she much preferred her own lined, three hole punched paper and her ball point pens over parchment and quills. The overall American vibe given off by her was intoxicating to Theo. She was so different than any girl he had met before and although she was sorted into Slytherin she still had her heart on her sleeve and a very muggle vibe. Plus her face usually gave away her real emotion; be it either a blush creeping up her cheeks or the hardening of her eyes when Malfoy said something irrevocably prejudiced. His eyes trailed over her clothes and the body underneath as he walked towards her table. After standing there for a few seconds and her not noticing, he set the mug down directly on top of the paper she was currently writing on. He sat down at the empty chair next to her, that she just deposited her sweatshirt into. "I brought this for you. I saw your friend at breakfast and he said you would be needing it."
"I thought Slytherins weren't allowed to talk to Gryffindors. From what I hear it is against the rules." Eden responded with a teasing tone. "Oh Pansy hates everybody but she is right. Houses don't usually mix. Especially Gryffindors with us, but I thought for you I'd make an exception." The red that creeped up Eden's throat and her sheepish smile as she grabbed for the mug made Theo's heart speed up. Her eyes narrowed on the tea, "Uh. What is this?" Theo's forehead crinkled as he stared at her like she had lost it, "Tea, America, it is tea." Eden whipped around and grabbed her wand from her bag and began to transfigure the tea inside the mug into a murkier liquid. "No, Theo, coffee. America needs coffee." She took a sip and made a content sound. "Thank you," Eden said looking at Theo through her thick lashes, "So what's up?"
"Nothing really, just thought I'd do my good deed for the day. See ya at the task." With that Theo stood up and strolled out of the library without looking back. Eden was flooded with confusion as she thought to herself about the difference between American boys and British boys.
Another hour passed by the time Justin quick stepped into the library and threw his backpack down on Eden's table and her mug was empty. "Alright, so last night I made some notes and I think it is shaping up to a good outline. I really hope that the interviews go well, this would be really cool to have next year." Justin looked up at her, pulling a bright blue and orange Chicago Bears folder out from his backpack and began flipping through the papers crammed inside. "Alright, here are my interview questions for Krum," Justin handed her a meticulous list of interview questions on three hole punched paper, "I really want to get his take on how he feels about the international cooperation with Hogwarts and Beauxbatons. Really is he seeing anything positive about the mingling of the different schools? Yes, the tasks are fun and interesting- maybe we will add a summary of the running stats at the bottom of the articles?- but I think what will really convince people back home that this tournament is worth the government funds as well as hours of planning is the networking the students can take advantage of at this sort of teenaged wizarding conference."
"Damn and I thought I was going overboard with prep." Her eyes widen as she saw the stacks of paper Justin was still pulling from his bag and a joking smile took over her face. "But I agree, I like the magical cooperation among the schools as a huge focus. I definitely want to get some pictures of the groups of students if possible and action shots at the first task." The plans were coming together and Justin and Eden felt ready for the task. As they began to pack up and leave, Justin looked towards Eden, "So your boyfriend asked me where you were this morning." Justin gave her a sly smile and nudged her shoulder as once again Theo made red creep up Eden's neck. "He is definitely not my boyfriend, but I do like having a friend in my house. And who are you to talk? Girls have to pick their jaws up off of the floor when you grace them with your presence at meals. I see the way Hermione Granger looks at you. It is quite adorable." Eden pushed Justin much harder as they walked out of the library into the corridor, "Ah, you know how my beauty and personality are often a curse. I have to beat them away with a stick with all my good looks and charm." Justin laughed at his luck with girls both Hogwarts as well as at home. Eden and Gina were often the source of many jealous girlfriends who thought Justin was too close to both of them throughout the years. "I really think it is because of my otherness here. They don't know many Americans and I'm exotic to them." His voice lost all hint of laughter.
"Who would have thought we would be considered exotic?" Eden looked around at the students in the corridors walking to and from the Great Hall. "Dude, by the way, did you know we aren't allowed to be friends?"
"Yeah, I think Harry and Seamus aren't trying to seem prejudice but they definitely keep hinting to the fact that Slytherins cannot be trusted. Y'all definitely have a really bad rap. They were surprised I was friends with you and slightly disappointed that I didn't sneer at Slytherins as they walked by heading to classes. So weird. I'm glad home isn't like this, honestly. I mean, don't get me wrong, this place is cool so far and Ilvermorny has its own set of issues, but think if we only talked to our house? The parties wouldn't be nearly as fun without the Wampuses or Horned Serpents... But i get it, Pukwudgies... I could live without." Eden let out a loud laugh and slapped his arm as students turned to stare at the loud American duo. Seeing their stares, Eden grabbed his arm and dragged him to a side corridor away from the main hall and with a quick goodbye and rehash of their interviewing plans they returned to their houses to change for the task.