Friendly conversations
Techna only saw her cousins on family gatherings. She rarely saw her cousins and that's why she wasn't very close to them. Today was a gathering at the Black Manor. Most of their gatherings took place at the Black Manor even though no body lived there. It was a come and go place for all the Blacks. She and all her cousins were sitting and talking, well almost all, but again Bella was never one of them. She was strange and unfriendly. And Andy (nickname for Andromeda) was spending the weekend at her friend's house. Techna felt slightly alien sitting there. All others seemed to know each other very well but Techna was almost a stranger. So she excused herself and went to sit by the fireplace alone. When she went there, she saw a bookshelf on her right side. Techna loved reading so she went and grabbed a good looking book and started reading it. She was so immersed in her book that she didn't hear footsteps approach her. She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Sirius smiling at her. She liked Sirius. He was always talking and laughing. Seeing him there, she put her book down and he asked her whether he could sit with of her. She nodded, she was too shy to say anything. She had talked to him a few times but was still a little shy. She had always been shy with new people. They both were age fellows. They both will be starting Hogwarts next year and so Sirius started talking about that. Bella had already finished her sixth year and Andy had finished her fourth.
"Which house do you want to be in?" he asked.
"Well, every house is unique in its own way, I don't have any preference but if I could choose then I will choose either Slytherin or Ravenclaw. What about you?" she asked.
"My whole family had been in Slytherin but I would like to break the tradition" he grinned. "If I could then I would have chosen Ravenclaw but I don't think I will fit there, you see I am not very studious therefore I want it to be Gryffindor. Gryffindor is also my mother's least favorite house, so that's a bonus."
Techna laughed at that. "You do like to annoy your mother."
"Well, it's not my fault that everything I like annoys my mother." He replied.
They talked for a long time and were just discussing Quidditch when they were all called for dinner.
"That was fun" Techna said.
"Well you really are a good company." Sirius remarked.
During dinner, Sirius sat at Techna's left and Narcissa sat at her right. Cissa and Techna were really good friends and were very close. Cissa had just completed her first year at Hogwarts. She like her sisters was in Slithering. She started telling Techna all about her first year and her classes and everything. After dinner, all the present cousins sat together again while the adults cleaned the table and plates and then they will all be going. This time Techna didn't feel like a stranger at all and got to know a lot about Regulus, Sirius' younger brother. He was a lot like Sirius but lacked some of his confidence. Soon it was time to say goodbye. Techna went home very happy.