Dorm #5: Let's Get Better Acquainted

Melanie knocked gently then opened the door to her room. She and her roommate hadn’t really spoken all that much last year. Which she felt bad about, so she was determined to make a good impression this year and maybe the two of them might even become friends. “Hello.” She smiled over at her roommate, Milan, who was a very nice girl. Melanie flopped onto her bed, sighing softly. Hayden was such a hard worker and here she was being lazy. She sat up and looked over at the other girl. “Milan? We know practically nothing about each other.” She said abruptly.

Milan hadn't spoken much to her roommate, and she wasn't particularly bothered by that. When Melanie practically suggested sharing their life stories, she let out a sigh of exasperation inside. She was never good at introductions. But if the girl wanted to know about her, then she would oblige.

"I live in Aix-en-Provence, my family owns a bakery. My father's a Muggle and my mom's a witch who is terrible at magic. I have an sister two years older who's a genius, and a famous dancer of a little sister. Oh, and a little brother. Um....I think my favorite color is purple. Anyway, what about you? Do you miss wherever you live? I do." Milan liked Beauxbatons and her new friends, but she missed her old Muggle friends terribly. "Are you into Muggle trends?"

Milan hadn't spoken much to her roommate, and she wasn't particularly bothered by that. When Melanie practically suggested sharing their life stories, she let out a sigh of exasperation inside. She was never good at introductions. But if the girl wanted to know about her, then she would oblige.

"I live in Aix-en-Provence, my family owns a bakery. My father's a Muggle and my mom's a witch who is terrible at magic. I have an sister two years older who's a genius, and a famous dancer of a little sister. Oh, and a little brother. Um....I think my favorite color is purple. Anyway, what about you? Do you miss wherever you live? I do." Milan liked Beauxbatons and her new friends, but she missed her old Muggle friends terribly. "Are you into Muggle trends?"

Melanie really hoped that her roommate didn’t mind her wanting to get to know her better. She just thought it’d be nice for them, since they’d be living together for their entire Beauxbatons career.

“I’m a muggle-born. My mum is a painter and sculptor, she’s really good at what she does. My father is a biochemist. I was born in Glasgow, Scotland. But when my little sisters were born we moved to North Benwick, which is also in Scotland.” Melanie explained, hoping she wasn’t boring her at all. “My little sisters are twins and they’re first years this year too. That’s ironic, my favorite color is purple too.” She grinned. “I miss being home with my parents sometimes, but I didn’t have very many friends back home. My best friend is a pen pal of mine actually and he goes here too. His name is Hayden.” Melanie smiled then nodded. “I’m into Muggle trends.”

"Ah." Melanie's family seemed like a typical Muggle family, something Milan never had. "So how did your parents react to you and your sisters being witches?" Milan still recalled her family being rather unexcited at her invitation to Beauxbatons. "Do you get along with your sisters well?" Milan wondered if Melanie would ask the same question to her, if so it would be quite interesting.

"I miss my family sometimes I guess," replied Milan half-heartedly, remembering the hastily written letter last week from her mother. She smiled when Melanie said she was into Muggle trends, that was something they shared. "Excellent, but I don't get much updates from my owl, so I have to catch up with Muggle trends all over the summer. What about wizarding trends? You into them much? I just got into Quidditch." On a more serious note, Milan pursued a topic that had been bugging her. "What do you want to do after Beauxbatons education?"

“They weren’t jumping up and down about it, but I think they’re proud or something?” Melanie laughed quietly. “They were a little nervous at first, definitely didn’t think it was possible or anything. My sisters were more excited then my parents were.” She giggled quietly. “My sisters torment me and I return the favor, but I do love them and at the end of the day we do get along. I’ll always fret over them.” She smiled fondly thinking about Cori and McKenna. “What about your family? Do you get along well with your siblings?”

Melanie chewed on her lip picking up on Milan’s tone. She nodded slowly. “Yes, yes, I adore Muggle trends.” She grinned. “My best friend his mother is a Quidditch player. So he told me all about Quidditch and the trends and stuff. I’m still learning all about the Wizarding world and it’s trends.” She smiled. “After Beauxbatons? I haven’t put much thought into it. Maybe I’ll go to Muggle university or something. I’m not sure. Have you thought about it?”

"If I had a Muggle family I would definitely be looking forward to surprising them all the time with magic," Milan admitted wistfully. "Did they figure your sisters were magic too, then? Or did it take a while?" Milan smiled. "It must be nice to be able to be friends with your sisters. What are their names? What Houses are they in? Are they like you?" She knew she was asking a lot of questions, but hey she was curious.

"I get along with my little brother. I'm the middle of my two sisters and they're both famous and overachieving in their own ways. Whenever I talk to them its either light chat or arguing. Mostly arguing," she smirked. "I get ignored a lot by my family, but it's alright. I'm the spontaneous one."

Milan's eyes lit up when Melanie mentioned her friend's mother being a Quidditch player. "Wow, I would love to be related to a Quidditch player, but I'm the only one in the family. Have you played a game of Quidditch before? Hey, we could play Quidditch together sometime. I'll just sneak some balls after practice," she winked knowingly. "We just have to make sure they don't get too far away."

"Ugh, I wish I didn't have to. My sister keeps bugging me about it since she's got hers all planned out. I swear there isn't a single letter that doesn't have "Milan you should really be thinking six years from now...." Milan rolled her eyes. "I don't know though, maybe it would be nice to catch up with my Muggle friends. But at the same time, I don't want everything I've done here to go to waste, y'know? Speaking of Beauxbatons, what's your favorite subject?"

Melanie laughed and shrugged. “I’m sure one of my sisters tried doing that to my parents, but I dunno. They weren’t sure they were at first. It’s been a while since there was someone magical in our family. But apparently they both carried it. My dad is a biochemist, he got a bit excited and wanted to figure out how.” She laughed softly. Her dad was such a lovable dork. “It’s nice to be friends with your sisters. They were my first friends.” She said with a smile. “Their names are McKenna and Cori. We’re sort of similar, well McKenna is more like me than Cori is. We all look different too.” Melanie didn’t mind all the questions.

She nodded, listening to Milan talk about her own family. Their families had very different dynamics. “Ignored by your family? That sounds horrible…” Melanie bit her lip.

“You like Quidditch?” Melanie laughed at the other girl’s expression. She lit up and got all excited. “I’ve never played, you’ll have to teach me how to, but yeah I’d be up for that. It’d be fun.” She grinned at her.

“That stinks that your sister keeps harping on you about it.” Melanie’s parents didn’t know how the Wizarding world worked once she graduated from Beauxbatons. Melanie was just going to play it by ear honestly… “I think my favorite subject is Charms, but I also like Divination. What about your favorite subject?”

"My dad's a Muggle, he owns the family bakery and doesn't really care about magic. I mean, I'm pretty sure he did at first, but after my sister became a wizarding prodigy the novelty kind of wore off," she laughed. "Really? So do you know of anyone else in your family who's magic?" She smiled. "Yeah, I've heard that before, I know usually sisters are friends and argue. When I was little I did detach myself from my family and made a bunch of friends outside of my family. Most weren't really lasting though, especially with me being at Beauxbatons now," she shrugged.

"Surprisingly I'm closest to my dad in the family, he's all-around not very talkative so you know it's not that he hates you or anything," she admitted. "And he does genuinely try to understand me, while my mom is this perfectionist who sees me as some kind of imperfection and completely ignores me."

She laughed. "Well, I'm a Chaser, so I kind of have to!" she exclaimed. "It can sound pretty confusing, but its not really, although it does seem like three separate games sometimes. Chasers pass the Quaffle and try to shoot goals, kind of like basketball. That's why I became a Chaser, since I was a basketball player. There are these balls called Bludgers that zoom around, trying to knock players off, so the Beaters hit them away. The Keepers guard the goal, and the Seeker tries to catch the Golden Snitch which earns the team 150 points." She grinned. "Don't worry, I'll show you."

"My best friend loves Charms, she thinks I don't know anything about it but I do. Just jinxes and hexes and stuff though," she grinned. "My favorite class is Defense Against the Dark Arts when we actually get to do stuff. I like Divination too, but not all the theory parts of it. Hey, have you snuck out after curfew before?"

“Your family has a bakery? That’s so cool.” Melanie grinned. She understood what she was saying about the magic novelty. She was pretty sure that was how her parents felt. Maybe? She wasn’t too sure. “I don’t know of anyone right now besides my sisters and I. But I guess a fourth cousin of mine or something went to one of the other wizarding schools.” She shrugged. “I had few friends before Beauxbatons and my best friend was a pen pal of mine from America. It’s really cool because he goes here and yeah.” She grinned thinking about Hayden.

Melanie looked at her roommate sadly. She really was lucky in the family department. “I’m so sorry to hear that.” She wasn’t sure what else to say to her.

“Oh, right! I saw the last match, you did great for your first game.” She grinned at her. “I know the basic rules of the sport. I’ve just never hopped on a broom before or personally tried playing it.” Melanie laughed and nodded. “That sounds great.”

She nodded. “Oh? Who’s your best friend?” Melanie asked curiously. “I like the theory parts of Divination. Does that make me a dork?” She asked curiously. “Defense Against the Dark Arts is a good class too.” Snuck out? “Uh…no I haven’t. Have you?”