On Tuesday afternoon, Devon, Hugo, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily walked down to Care of Magical Creatures class.
They were a little early, so Hagrid and Luna weren't there yet.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Lily saw the first two Slytherins arrive for the class. She had not yet spoken to either of them and she now saw an opportunity.
These two Slytherins were BFFs.
One of them was a tall and slender girl with dark brown hair and green eyes and the other was a short and slender girl with dark brown hair and green eyes. Were it not for the very noticeable height difference, they would easily have been confused for twin sisters.
"Hello, " said Lily warmly, walking up to them as they appeared, "I know we haven't spoken yet and I'd like to introduce myself. My name is-"
"Lily Luna Potter," chroused the two Slytherin girls.
"We know a lot about you already from both our own observations and hearing about you through the grapevine, " said the taller of the two.
"It's you who doesn't know much about us," added the shorter girl.
"That's why I came to greet you two. I want to get to know you and learn a bit more about you both," said Lily kindly.
"So," said the taller girl, "My name is Gina Giant."
"And I'm Debbie Dwarf," said the shorter girl.
"We hit it off on the Hogwarts Express and that's the origin of our bestie status," said Gina happily.
"We quickly discovered we have a lot in common," added Debbie.
"Such as?" inquired Lily curiously.
"We're both muggleborn," said Gina crisply.
"I'm glad to see muggleborns welcomed by Slytherin in the New Era of Hogwarts, " said Lily cheerfully.
"Slytherins are known for their ambition," said Debbie briskly, "And we are both very ambitious."
"We want to follow in the footsteps of the woman who is serving as our guest teacher today, " piped up Gina.
"You mean," said Lily slowly, 'That you both want to be Wizarding Naturalists and travel the world of in search of hitherto unknown creatures."
"Yes," said Gina proudly, puffing out her chest, "But we also have an even bigger ambition than discovering more species of Magical Creatures. "
"When we grow up, " said Debbie with a gleam in her eyes, "Our goal is to visit EVERY country in the entire world."
"Now that's ambitious," agreed Lily, "No wonder you two were put into Slytherin."
"We bonded over our common love of animals, especially Magical Creatures, " declared Debbie.
"But we also want to learn about as many cultures as we can from their languages to their food to their sports to their music and of course, their Magical Creatures, " pined Gina.
"Thing is," added Debbie, "We are both only at Hogwarts because there no schools of magic in either of our homelands. Just as Samantha came to Hogwarts because there no schools of magic in her homeland of Arizona, so too Gina and I are at Hogwarts due to the there being no schools of magic in our homelands. I'm at Hogwarts because there are no schools of magic in my homeland of Wyoming."
"Similarly, " supplied Gina, "I became a Hogwarts student because there are no schools of magic in my homeland of Vermont."
"Being put in a different environment from our homelands at age eleven inspired both of us," explained Debbie, "We saw the beauty in having new and different experiences from what we had grown up with."
"And as we talked about that between the two of us," said Gina glowingly, "We started to fantasize about going all sorts of different places and having all these difference experiences. And then one day we decided to set a goal for ourselves to make it happen and set a goal for ourselves to visit every country in the world in our lifetimes."
"Good luck," said Lily heartily, "It's a lofty goal, but I wish you all the luck in the world in achieving it and I know you've got it in you to accomplish it!"
"Thanks a lot, Lily, " smiled Debbie and Gina together.
"Is Care of Magical Creatures both of your favorite subjects then?" Lily asked Gina and Debbie.
"It is," chorused Gina and Debbie.
They had to cut it off there because the full class as well as Hagrid and Luna had now arrived, and it was time for the lesson to begin.
Lily smiled inwardly. She was glad she had taken the opportunity to speak to Gina and Debbie. Lily was in awe of the ambitious goals Gina and Debbie had set for themselves and it always warmed her heart to hear about how friends had met.
Her insides glowing, Lily turned to Hagrid and Luna who were getting ready to introduce the day's lesson.
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