Hard Candy

Carlie looked around the dingy little restaurant. She could probably do without another visit there, but her first one was mildly successful. And she still needed to meet up with Max and that seemed like the most logical place to do so, seeing as it was the first thing she arrived at on this side of Paris. And he was older and much smarter than she was, so he'd probably get to the same conclusion.

She needed to sit down somewhere, but the area was terribly crowded. There wasn't an open table anywhere. And while Carlie wasn't normally judgmental, she didn't want to sit with any of the clean cut, goody-two-shoes looking kids. She wanted to sit with someone who she thought she'd fit in with. Someone who looked comforting.

And that's when she spotted him. A boy who looked about her age who had a similar style to her. Fairly grungy with some unnatural looking hair color. That's my new friend she decided.

She walked up to his table, flipped her hair over her shoulder, looked him in the eye and said, very seriously, "I'm Carlie. Who are you?"

Since his mother was busy working, again, Teddy was in charge of himself and was free to roam around without an adult. Ruby spent a lot of her time in this area so he knew it pretty well. While she ran errands, he bothered the workers at the shops. What he really wanted was a pet. But he knew that was out of the question until they found a better place to live. A nicer house, maybe a big yard, and a white fence. That's what he always dreamed about when he was going from home to home. There's was one that was close to that dream but the inside wasn't as nice as the outside. On the inside you fought others for food and weren't allowed to have any fun. When it really came down to it, he was perfectly happy with the small apartment as long as he had his mom.

Bothering the workers was getting old and he needed some new form of entertainment. Or maybe just something to drink. So he entered the pub that he had memorized and sat down in one of the only available spots. It wasn't the perfect seat, he had noticed that the one spot in the right corner of the pub was the perfect spot to sit. It wasn't too cold or too hot. No where near the bathrooms and food was quick to come to that table. Whoever was there was a lucky fellow.

The twelve year old waited as patiently as he could until a waitress finally took his order. Ruby had given him some money to spend freely. His school things would be bought when she was around so she knew that he was getting the things he needed instead of wasting it on things he didn't. This was his money to do with what he pleased. And he was pleased to get a drink.

When his drink arrived, he carefully took a sip of the hot liquid. Even though the weather outside wasn't cold, he loved hot chocolate no matter the time of the year. The young boy's eyes snapped up when he heard someone talking to him. She was about his age, maybe older, and she had very nice blonde hair. It was the total opposite of his jet black hair. "Theodore," he said softly. He wasn't about to give out too much information, he couldn't trust the girl until he got to know her. And didn't like giving people chances. He then looked back at his drink before taking another careful sip. Maybe she'd carry on the conversation or maybe she'd go away, either idea pleased the soon to be second year.

Carlie smiled. "I like it. It's cool," she declared. "I like your hair. I want to try the black hair thing, but I'm afraid it might turn purple and my mom would shout at me," She'd have to have that done professionally. But she needed a hairdresser for that.

"So are you a new student like me or are you just returning to school?" Carlie asked curiously. She hoped that the waitress would come back around. She needed some water or something. In case she started to feel awkward. She had some gum, too, which could work, she supposed.

He didn't think he was going to get much of a reply from the girl since he had not talked very much to begin with. He would keep his answers short and simple, he had to be that way. He couldn't trust anyone that he didn't know and he wasn't sure if he shouldn't get to know this girl or not. It could mean he didn't have to go in alone, he'd know someone. But for all he knew she could be a horrible person.

"New," he shrugged. "Transferred from Hogwarts." He was so excited to start school and couldn't wait to go to the school that his mother had gone to.

"Hey! That's cool! I transferred, too. But not from Hogwarts. I went to a school in America. It was full of rich kids who felt like they were entitled to everything. I am so glad to be out of there," Carlie replied. "I'm going into third year. What year will you be?" she asked.

Carlie finally saw a waitress and waved her over. "Can I get a water with lemon please?" she asked, with a smile. The woman nodded.

"So what brings you to Beauxbatons, then? Did you move to Paris recently, or something?" Carlie asked curiously. She was tempted to ask in English, but she didn't.