I'll Believe in Anything

The whole concept of magic was new to Haruhi. She always thought that magic was only allusions done by magicians or just a fictitious part of the fairy tales Obaasan told her when she was little. She thought it didn't exist and had good reason to. How could such a world be hiding on her all this time? Yet here she was, walking down streets full of wizards with shops that sold brooms that flew and wands that casted spells. It was mind boggling entirely to think that it wasn't a dream.

She had learned as soon as she had stepped into her first shop that her money wasn't acceptable in the wizard world and she would have to go to the bank to exchange for 'galleons and sickles and knuts.' Luckily the bank stood out in the shopping vista so Haruhi found it with ease. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a large line waiting for the tellers, which she had joined and told Obaasan to take a seat while she waited in line. Though Obaasan didn't like to admit it, too much strenuous activity really took a toll on her in her old age.

Haruhi took advantage of this moment to look at her shopping list. She grimaced at some of the stuff required for potions class. "Surely they don't mean real newt eyes and rat tails!" She exclaimed to herself. It sound icky to her. Who would want to drink anything made out of that stuff? Even if it did give you magical side effects.

Exchanging muggle money for wizard money was always an annoying little step Marceline had to do as part of her 'going back to school' ritual. She supposed despite the grief, it would all be over soon, as this was her last year attending school and then afterwards she wouldn't have to make such extreme jumps from the muggle world to the magic. She reckoned she'd live and work in the wizarding world, only visiting the muggle world to see Agatha once in awhile. Agatha kept telling her how much she'd miss her. It was all really annoying.

Marceline stood in the long line. It wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't such a long wait every time she had to do this. He huffed and blew a strand of lilac hair out of her eyes. So many first years probably opening accounts for the first time, she reasoned with little sympathy. One first year was standing directly in front of her, mumbling to herself, which made Marceline smile. It was obvious she was a muggleborn by the things she had said and muggleborns were so deliciously naive.

"Of course they do. Potions class always uses the freshest and best ingredients," Marceline interjected, grinning at her own fun. "Toe clippings of trolls. Gnome snot. Oh and I heard in advanced potion making, they use some of the toes and fingers students in the lowers classes accidentally chopped off themselves. I heard human ingredients make for the best potions, but they're so scarce because, y'know, it's not everyday someone loses an appendage. Maybe like once a week. Twice, if you're lucky. Or more like, if you're not," Marceline spewed. She wasn't usually much of a talker unless A. she liked the person she was talking to, which wasn't often or B. she had interest in the conversation. Scaring people was definitely a conversation she was interested in and was why she was so fluently speaking at the moment.

Haruhi was surprised to hear and voice and jumped as she turned around to see an older girl waiting behind her. She looked too young to be an adult, so Haruhi assumed she was just an older student. Maybe she attended Beauxbatons and could give her some pointers? Without even asking, Haruhi got a handful of them, but cringed at the girl's words.

"T-t-toe clippings?" Haruhi repeated with her quiet voice. That sounded horribly disgusting to her! But that wasn't even the worst part. The older girl claimed that sometimes fingers and toes were used! That meant people occasionally accidentally chopped off their fingers in the making of potions. Haruhi wore a look of horror on her face. She did not want to take potions at all now. It sounded horrible!

The look on the younger girl's face was absolutely priceless. She not only looked grossed out, but she looked scared enough to drop out of Beauxbatons even before she started. Marceline tried to put on a sincere face as she nodded in return to the girl's mutterings. She really did buy it all, huh? Marceline wondered what else she could get the girl to believe.

"It's a wonderful course though and the school is really great. Nice and big. First years are always getting lost. This one kid in my house last year left to go to class his first day and we didn't see him again until the second week of school. He was all battered up and covered in dirt and had no recollection of where he had been all that time. He shortly dropped out after that. People say that the corridors sometimes move around on people the school doesn't like, but I find that a bit far-fetched. Honestly, I think he wandered down into the dungeons and was kidnapped by the trolls that live down there. Which, by the way, there are trolls in the dungeon so please be careful while you're walking down there. You look like a real sweet girl," Marceline feigned concern. Though she was sure that if trolls really did live in the dungeons, a girl of small stature and with that sweet disposition would be troll food by the second week. "I'm a prefect at school so I know these things," Marceline added, which was true, but she also felt would further prove her case as well.

As if potions class wasn't scary enough, the older girl made the entire idea of attending Beauxbatons scary! She said it was easy to get lost in and Haruhi didn't doubt it. Changing corridors or not, Haruhi often found her navigation skills to be below par and knew she'd be in trouble without a good map. Then there was the whole concept of trolls living in the dungeons. She didn't even know trolls were a real thing until that moment and couldn't imagine what they looked like. She assumed they resembled those troll dolls a bunch of her friends had when she was growing up with their scrunchy little faces and crazy colored hair. She shivered at the thought of being tackled by several small little trolls and being dragged into the darkness of the dungeons.

"W-what was his name?" She asked, a detail that didn't seem horribly important to her, yet she felt the need to ask in memory of the boy. She gulped as the girl entrusted that she was a prefect and prefects knew best. Haruhi believed it. Prefects had always helped her in primary school and maybe this one was a bit off the wall because a magic school was a bit more complex.

"Alright, so I stay out of the dungeons and avoid using knives in potions class. What else?" Haruhi asked the girl with large brown eyes seeking her help. She trusted the purple haired girl and heavens knew that Haruhi could use a little help being muggleborn.

"Toby," Marceline answered, without missing a beat. She pulled the first name that had come to her mind. "Toby Strathemore. Merlin knows where he is now," Marceline added, for a little more effect. Soon enough the young muggleborn would pick up on things and she might get wise about majority of the lies she had told her. It was best not to get too detailed lest she pick up on it.

"Well, don't leave your socks lying around your dorm, okay?" Marceline began again. "The school is a castle and it's really big, right? So it's gotta be hard to clean. Well, the creatures called house elves do all the cooking and cleaning for Beauxbatons, which is nice and all, but they are obsessed with socks," Marceline relayed. Partially true. House elves did do most of the hard labor in the school. However, they were only allowed to wash clothes, not own any, and would never steal a sock. House elves were horribly moral bound. "You leave a bunch of socks lying around and they'll bombard the room and go crazy! Honestly! They'll make such a mess from the ruckus and it'll probably be at the dead of night when you are trying to sleep! I speak out of personal experience," Marceline finished, trying not to laugh at the ridiculous tale she had concocted. "But you will be fine. Trust me." She paused for a moment and looked around. The line was starting to dwindle down some, yet they still had plenty of time to wait.

"Tell me, what is your strategy for the sorting ceremony?"

Haruhi found the advice about the socks strange when the girl had first introduced it. Socks? What could possibly go wrong with something as innocent as her dirty socks? She was quiet and listened to what the older girl had to say. Her tale didn't seem as bad as the lost fingers and dungeon trolls, but it didn't seem like a fun experience either. Once again, she had yet to be acquainted with the creature mentioned in the story. The only time she had ever heard of an elf was when she had watched the Lord of the Rings at a sleepover. Haruhi imagined the tall elves with pointed ears rampaging in her dorm room, which was upsetting at first until she pictured it all being over a sock. One little Hello Kitty print sock. She couldn't help but chuckle at the mental image.

The girl's question brought her to silence, though. "Sorting ceremony?" She had heard whisperings of such a thing. Beauxbatons had all their students sorted into four different houses. She assumed it was some sort of randomized system, perhaps by alphabetized last name. However, the girl asking what her strategy was meant that it was a little more involved on her part. "Why would I need a strategy?" She inquired.

The house elf thing didn't seem to be as potent as Marceline had hoped, but she still had fun with it and it seemed like the girl was still believing everything she told her, which was a bonus. She didn't know why she hadn't poked fun at the sorting ceremony yet. A muggleborn child might know of the houses and the set personalities for each house, but would most likely be a bit blurry on what the ceremony involved. The girl had picked up the bait she left for the conversation and Marceline was ready to go.

"Well as you know, they don't just sort people all willy nilly like. All new wizards and witches have to take a test to first prove that they are worthy to attend the school," That was a fun addition, she decided. It had been a fear of hers before she had stood before the goblet that she would be turned away and that all was for naught. Planting the same worry into the muggleborn girl was like commemorating Marceline's first year at school. "And secondly to figure out which house you belong to. However, this test isn't some boring parchment and quill test. It's a test of intelligence and skill and nearly always is physical." Marceline played around with it. "I had to fight a chimera my first year, but they seemed to have been upping the ante these past few years. I know last year they brought a dragon in. Who knows what they'll have this year."

Haruhi went quiet as the girl told her about the sorting ceremony. She liked what she had seen so far of the wizarding world so that she knew it would be hard to have to be turned away once she arrived at school and go back to her boring old life. What was worse was thinking about the task she would have to complete to prove that she was worthy to attend the school. Haruhi couldn't imagine how she'd take down a dragon, let alone whatever worse creature the school might pit her against! Sure, she was good at football and Judo, but she couldn't just kick and knockout the dragon with her bare hands! She was at such a disposition she wondered how any muggleborn children made it into that school.

The girl started to tear up thinking about not only being turned away from the school, but potentially dying. She wouldn't have to worry about chopped off fingers or dungeon trolls or sock obsessed house elves if she died her first week of school! She didn't even want to go anymore! "Obaasan!" She cried, tears actually streaming down her narrow face. She hated crying in public, but she also happened to be incredibly sensitive. She wanted to let her grandma know that she had changed her mind about attending Beauxbatons and that they better start looking at muggle schools in Paris instead.

Marceline knew the joke had gone too far as the girl was getting visibly upset. She was used to rubbing people the wrong way and was prepared to fight if it came to that, but instead the girl started crying. Marceline bite her lip. Usually at this point, she'd run off as to avoid dealing with the repercussions, but leaving then meant she'd have to come back later after the ruckus died down and wait in line all over again for her money exchange. Looking forward, there were only about five people in front of her, one of them being the crying you girl. She was calling for help and it was then that Marceline knew she was in trouble.

"No, no!" She all but covered the girl's mouth to silence her. "Shhh, quiet!" People were starting to stare now and Marceline feared getting kicked out of the bank. The goblins were not horribly understanding creatures and any funny business was dealt with severe punishment. "Don't cry please!" she asked in a hushed panicked voice. "It was all just a joke!" She confessed. "Please, I promise I was just having a jest at you! Let me tell you how school really is," She offered, resting her hands on the younger girl's shoulders.

She didn't know if Obaasan could hear her and was ready to call again for her grandmother when the girl told her to hush up. Haruhi did so out of shock. She noticed then that her uproar had gathered quite a lot of attention. She felt greatly embarrassed and even more so when the girl told her it had all been a joke. She narrowed her eyes at the older girl. "I trusted you," She spat at her, bitterly. She wasn't much of a fighter and that was about the worst she could do to anyone verbally, but she wanted to convey her feelings of betrayal.

She folded her arms across her chest. "That was mean," she told the older girl. She didn't know if she liked the girl anymore and shrugged off the hands that were placed on her shoulders. "How do I know you're not going to trick me again?" She asked, as the girl promised to tell the truth this time. "You already lied to me once," she reasoned.

Marceline wasn't too concerned with what the younger girl thought of her, but she knew that causing a ruckus in the bank would not be a good thing, especially with all the witnessing who would only pin the cause of the trouble on her. She knew she had to silence the girl and would say anything to get her to shut up, including confessing to her lies. Fortunately, that seemed to work well, for the young girl fell silent. Though she wasn't too keen on the idea of Marceline telling her more about the school, even if she promised this time not to lie.

"Fine. I don't need to tell you anything in the first place, I just thought that now since I've had my fun, I'd actually help you. Good luck in school," Marceline replied, crossing her arms and averting her gaze from the girl. It honestly didn't matter to her whether or not she told the truth. It was all her loss anyway.

Haruhi turned her back on the girl and faced the front of the line. She was almost there now. Only three people ahead of her and then she'd have her money and her and Obaasan to go shopping for the supplies she would need for school. She had time and as much as she didn't want to talk to that horrible older girl waiting behind her, she felt a nagging feeling that she was going to need a little help.

"Okay fine," She said, turning back around to face the purple haired girl. "I want to know what the sorting ceremony is really like," She told the girl. "and, uhhh," What was that sport thing she heard a different older student talk about before? "What quirnditch is all about," She added, less confidently but nodded her head determinedly afterwards.