Picking up Valuables

Max had left La Petit Dragon to find the carriages. He knew that he could just follow the other students there, but he wanted to have a vague idea of where he was going.

He looked around the Alley, which wasn't as busy now that it was later in the evening. He didn't see any signs of Carlie or of the carriages. But he saw someone else.

She was one of the most beautiful girls Max had ever seen in his life. She had blonde hair, dark-ish make up, and a scowl. And she was perfect.

He doubted he could actually pick her up, but if he could make her smile, that might be his in. He walked up next to her and very seriously said, "Do you play quidditch? 'Cause you look like a keeper."

Garnet liked doing things alone and didn't mind being alone. She found that she could get a lot of things done when she was by herself and didn't have any help. She didn't need help nor did she want any. She found herself alone once again and like always she didn't mind it. She took this time to go down the list of things that she was even going to this bloody school. None of them seemed like good reasons. She must please everyone besides herself. She was the only one that wasn't allowed to be happy. At least it seemed that. It seemed like no one cared what the young girl wanted. So she didn't tell a soul what she dreamed about or what her hopes were. She didn't get close to people, they only left her or didn't care.

She was all alone until a boy approached her. He couldn't have been much older than her if he even was. She let out a snort and rolled her eyes at his lame attempt to pick her up. A keeper? Really? "You think just because I'm alone that you have the right to just come up to me?" she snapped. "I'm not here just for some guy to come up to me and think he has a chance." She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, waiting for his reply.

Max grinned. He was kind of expecting that reaction. "Well, I probably would have tried to talk to you even if you were with someone. I just probably wouldn't have tried that way," he replied. "See, a beautiful girl with all of her friends is harder to get the attention of. If you mess up, her friends are there to laugh at you. And trust me, they always laugh," he said, shaking his head at a memory. "But a beautiful girl on her own... that's a different story. That's rare," he explained.

"I'm Max," he finally said. "What are you here for? If you don't mind me asking."

"You're lucky I didn't laugh at you myself," she replied with another eye roll. She didn't need friends to laugh at him for her, she could do that all on her own. "Well why don't you just go bother another girl?" Why did it have to be her? Her of all people? It was just her luck. "I don't need friends to laugh at you, I can do that myself." All she wanted to do was enjoy her time alone before boarding the carriages to the school that she didn't want to go to. She knew it would be rude to put her headphones on and ignore the boy. But since when did she care about being rude?

"I do mind you asking." Like hell she was going to give him any of her information. She didn't want to be bothered. Couldn't he tell? She was nothing special but she wasn't about to give out any details about herself.

"But that was my goal," he said, winking at her. He sort of made a pun, if you went back in time a few moments. Like, "goal" and "keeper" went together. But he doubted the other girl would pick up on that. She seemed pretty pissed off and angry people weren't the best receivers of bad jokes. Max just liked to keep his mind sharp. "We're already having a conversation. That's the most difficult part." He wasn't giving up. Not yet.

Max shrugged. "Fair enough. Can I at least get the ice princess' name?" he asked politely.

Garnet let out a long sigh, this boy wasn't going to give up. Would it be so bad to give in and just talk to him? Maybe it would be okay to make a friend. But at the same time, she was wary of new people. People always left. Always. No matter who they were, they left. Left her abandoned and broken. It wasn't fair for her to put herself into this situation, she always thought so negatively, like no one was going to like her. There was a wall up and it was hard to knock down. She had spent so much time building it up and she wasn't going to let some guy tear it down. "I don't want to have a conversation," she rolled her eyes once again.

There was no use arguing with this guy, she might as well tell him her name. "Garnet," she said softly. "My name is Garnet."

Max nodded. "Okay, I guess," he replied, turning in a way that from the outside, would make it appear as if they weren't having a conversation. He felt like he was sort of giving up, but not really at the same time. Maybe more like backing off. He definitely didn't want to scare the girl away. He wanted to be her friend.

He glanced sideways at her, "Nice name," he commented. "It's unique in a good way." At least he got her name. A name was a good start. "You going to Beauxbatons?" he asked quietly, not wanting to be overstep this boundary that she'd created for him.