Greetings, Stranger

With all the studying she had been doing, Harley rarely left the school, but now she had time on her hands and a beautiful day at her disposal. That and she had been forced to go to the pub by Ryan for a butterbeer run. She couldn't help but put a slight bounce in her step as she marched along the cobblestone paths and into the rustic building. She order three butterbeers (one as an extra) and waited by the crowded tables.

Finally, when her drinks came, she took them and hand and went for the door, which swung open and knocked her flat on her butt. "Oh, shit!" She cursed, the drinks spilling across the floor. The person who had caused the accident offered her a hand to get up, which she took. "Um, thanks."

Daniel was still freaking out over the fact of seeing Heather. He had slipped away from his parents at the table to run to the bathroom. When really he just stepped outside to clear his head of all the hustle and bustle of the pub. He took his glasses off and wiped them off, rubbing his temples then put them back on.

He took a deep breath and opened the door, accidentally knocking a girl onto her butt. Daniel’s eyes widened and he hurried forward to help her up. “I am so sorry!” He exclaimed. “And I spilled your drinks. Oh, Merlin, I’m sorry.” He bit his lip. “I can pay for new ones.”

Harley made sure her wand was still in her bag and attempted at brushing off the sticky drink that was on her jacket, which only left her hands sticky too. She would just use a spell to clean up when she got back to school. "Oh, don't worry. It's totally fine." She offered a small smile to calm him down before saying, "If you feel really bad, you can pay for one and I'll pay for the other two. I shouldn't be taking money from people I don't know, though. My name's Harley. You new here?" He had that new kid vibe which she had seen many times before. It was usually easy to pick them out by their nervousness.

Daniel chewed on his lip. He felt so bad about crashing into her. He shook his head adamantly. “I insist, honestly. It was my fault entirely. I can’t make you pay for two more drinks.” He smiled back at her. “I’ll just have to grab money from my table.” Daniel nodded slowly, was it that obvious that he was going to be a first year? Yeah, probably. “My name is Daniel, Daniel Eaton.” Was the last name important? Probably not, but he provided it anyways. “And yes, I’m going to be a first year. What year are you?” He asked curiously. She was definitely a few years older than him.

Harley knew this was an argument she would lose, so she just sighed and said, "Fine, you can pay, but I'll owe you a favour. Anything at any time." She followed him to his table so he could grab his wallet and listened to him introduce himself. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Daniel Eaton. The first year is the best. Everything is so exciting and magical that you forget you're at school to learn. I'm a fourth year, now. So, do you have any idea what house you'll be in?" Once she asked, she realized he would have to be a non-Muggle born in order for him to know what houses there even were. "Thank you, again. For buying the drinks. I appreciate it."

Daniel was glad that she wasn’t going to argue with him on this. His parents were very interested at the much older girl that he brought over to the table. He quickly led her up to the counter and away from his parents before either of them could do something totally embarrassing. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Harley.” He smiled at her and ordered then focused back on her talking. “Magical? We go to wizarding school and you just called it magical.” Daniel chuckled, teasing her slightly. “You’re a fourth year? Wow!” He shrugged to her question about the houses. “My parents are both wizards, but they didn’t go to Beauxbatons. So, I’ll just have to wait and see what will happen. What house are you in?” Eileen and Bryce didn’t really care what house he was in, they just wanted him to enjoy his time at school. “Yeah, of course. It’s no problem really.”

Harley nearly burst out laughing when he pulled her away from his parents faster than they could ask her questions. "Don't worry, my guardian, Elijah, totally mortifying around my friends. And yes, I did call it magical, Daniel Eaton." She insisted on using both of his names ever since he introduced himself with both.

"Ah, I'm a Montagnard. We're the friendly, fun house. The other house is Ceriser, and my best friend is in that house. They're the more intelligent, crafty house," she explained. "Beauxbatons is fun, I swear. It takes a bit of warming up to, and some people can be total bitches sometime, but it's all worth it. Even detention is fun, and trust me, I would know."

Daniel shook his head at the laughing blonde. Parents were so embarrassing and his were probably some of the worst. “Gaurdian?” He asked curiously. Was this girl adopted like him? Daniel rolled his eyes. “How cliche to call it magical.” He teased her again.

“Montagnard and Cerisier, eh?” Daniel repeated the names of the houses. He wondered which house he’d end up in. Maybe Cerisier? He wasn’t sure and again, it didn’t matter too much. “No, I believe, it’s probably extremely fun. One shouldn’t let other people’s bad attitudes ruin their good times.” His eyes widened slightly, “Detention..? Is fun?” Was this chick crazy?

Harley smiled broadly at his sarcastic head shake. "Yes, my guardian. I was adopted by Elijah when he found me on the streets after my birth parents abandoned me for being a witch," she said, getting quieter the more she talked about it. "It's no matter, though, so don't even think about feeing bad for me, or I'll... I'll pay for all three drinks myself. Elijah is the closest thing I've got to a dad, and I'm a-okay with that." She detested when people pitied her. She wasn't the poor girl who was abandoned on the street, she was Harley Fenwick, the Montagnard witch.

"Yep. It really doesn't matter, though. Both houses are fun, and I've got friends in both, so don't think you can't b friends with someone in the opposite house," she added. "Okay, not out-of-this-world, insanely fun, but it's definetly more tolerable compared to other detentions. It's in groups, and you're allowed to talk as long as it doesn't distract. In my first detention, one kid got attacked by a pixie, and it was hilarious. No one was hurt, though, but my last detention, everyone got into a fight and most of us were ready to take out our wands." Okay, so she wasn't sure if the two girls were fully committed to that fight, but she was, and she knew that Ryan would back her up if she had decided to turn the fight physical.

“Oh, wow.” So she was adopted like him and abandoned really. He had no clue who his mother was or why she even gave him up. “I understand how you feel. Those are my adoptive parents over there.” Daniel jutted his thumb in the direction of the table. He was so lucky to have his parents and loved them dearly.

Daniel nodded listening to her talk about the houses. “That’s good, I hope I can make some good friends once I get to school.” He was worried that he wasn’t going to be able to. He wasn’t shy or anything, but he sometimes kept to himself. “Oh, uh… wow…” That detention sounded frightening and Harley was definitely crazy. “A fight…? With wands involved?” What.

"Yeah. They left me when I was eleven. Told me they'd be back, they had a couple errands to run with Jeremy, my little brother. I should've known something was up. Needless to say, they never came back, so I left. Elijah found me and voila, I live with him in a countryside house in Westminster. It's great, really," she said happily. "I think that adoptive parents become your real parents after a while, right?"

She remembered how painfully awkward she was when school started that she groaned out loud. "Trust me when I say that you'll have no problem making friends. If weird, twelve year-old me can find a best friend, I'm sure you can. If not, you're totally welcome to sit with me if you end up in Montagnard." If he ended in Ceriser without friends, she would push Ryan to be his friend, whether he liked it or not. "I'm not insane, I swear. Just  bit... overenthusiastic. You don' back down from a fight on the street, and you certainly don't back down from a fight that two younger kids started. I wouldn't maim them or anything, just a little petrification or a warning spell. I'm not evil," she said, slightly offended that he though she was scary for getting into a magic fight.

“I was a baby when my mother gave me up. I know nothing about her or any of that. So, I grew up in the orphanage.” He said quietly. “I had two best friends there and when I was eight my parents adopted me.” Daniel nodded. “They are my real parents. I’ve been with them for three years and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

“You don’t seem awkward at all.” She seemed really nice and friendly. “I hope I’m in your house so I can sit with you.” Daniel smiled at her. He meant it too, it’d be nice to have a friendly face to sit with. “Right… remind me not to get on your bad side, Harley.” He teased grinning at her. “Nothing wrong with being overenthusiastic.”