What To Choose

August wasn't big on candy, but he enjoyed a snack for when he really needed one. Or two. Candy seemed like a good choice for a snack. His mother never let him have too much, in fear that the sugar wpuld ruin his teeth. So, he didn't eat much candy.

But once walking into the shop, his eyes lit up. So much candy to choose from. "Whoa." He couldn't help but get excited over the variety of candy. There was so much to choose from and he didn't know where to begin. This was going to be a difficult decision.

He eyed the delicious candies while grabbing something to put them in. He ended up knocking over baskets. "Oops!" He hurried to pick up his mess. Once the baskets were back where they had been, he grabbed one and began to look over the candy again.

Sweet, sweet food. Linette didn't eat much of it but it didn't mean she didn't like sweets and candies. It was just something she'd never gone overboard for. There were times though when she thought she could be in need. Especially now with a badge added to her person. How she managed to be singled out from all of Cerisier House for this honour was a wonder. Maybe it was her ability to show loyalty even in the midst of being told not to be so biased in her commentary. That made sense.

She entered The Sugar Shack just in time to see a younger boy knock of a stack of baskets. It was hard to keep a straight face. Ignoring the baskets she went up behind the boy who'd managed to get it all back in place and himself sorted. "I'd recommend those," she said as she pointed out a box of brightly striped candies. "The taste ever so lovely. Nothing like those Bertie Bott's beans the English favour." She shuddered as she recalled trying those on a holiday in England back when she'd been seven. "The flavours are nice like ice-cream, strawberries and peaches."

August jumped a bit when the girl spoke, but calmed himself once he realized it wasn't someone coming to yell at him for the baskets. At least he picked them up. "Oh thanks! I'll try them." He picked up the box of candy and put it into his basket. "Thanks." He turned to face the girl and gave her a smile. "I'm August."

He eyed the badge that the girl wore with pride, he had never see a badge like that before. "What's that?" It must be important because, well, it looked important. "Must be important." August nodded at this fact, it had to be important.

Linette smiled at August and his eagerness to follow her suggestion. She also picked up a box of the sweets she'd recommended. They would help her through the year of new responsibilities and one annoying sister. "It's good to meet you August. I'm Linette and you'll hear me a lot if you attend any of the Quidditch matches at Beauxbatons."

She glanced down at the badge she'd pinned to her clothes as per the recommendation given to her by her mother. Something about meeting the youngest students before they started school. Turned out she must have been right. "This badge," she pointed out, "is one only ever bestowed onto a prefect. If you ever have trouble with anything you don't want to talk to a professor about just come to me. I'll help." She lowered her voice as she added, "if you ever want to do something against school rules just make sure no-one with a prefect badge is around. I'd be obliged to report you." And Linette didn't want to have to do that to anyone, not even her own sister.

A prefect? What was that? He had never heard that term before. He gave out an 'oh' as she began to explain what it meant and what her duties as a prefect were. She had a lot of power. "Sounds fun! I can tell your enjoy your position. Good luck with being a prefect."

August wasn't a bad kid and he the only thing he got in trouble for was being late. No matter how hard he tried, he was always late. He tried his best to be on time, but timing wasn't in his favor. "Well, I'll try not to get in trouble, but I tend to be late to everything. I try to be on time, I really do, but I'm always late. Its very annoying and I get in trouble for it a lot."

"I'm going to need all the luck I can get," she replied with half a grimace. "If I get that then I think being a prefect will be a blast." Despite all the good fortune which had come her way over the past few years (Louise the only exception) she still felt like bad luck was dogging her heals.

She laughed and shook her head. "As far as I'm concerned that's the Professors' job. You'd better make sure you're not running too late for their classes. They don't like tardiness. If I happen to see you in the halls it means I'm running late too." And boy would the professors hit the roof if a prefect were the one running late for class.

"I'm sure you'll be a great prefect! No need to worry!" If she earned being a prefect, it meant she was doing something right. She shouldn't worry about it if she was good enough to get the job. "It'll be fun if you don't worry so much about it. Its all about the experience and you can't enjoy it if you're too busy worrying."

August gave out a sigh of relief, she wouldn't be the one to get him in trouble. But that didn't mean that he wouldn't get in trouble by a professor. Hepoefully he didn't get into too much trouble and they went easy on him. "They're not going to like me then. I'm always late. By seconds, minutes, hours. Not my fault though, it just happens. I'm gonna work on it though."

"You are full of wisdom," Linette said decidedly. "I'm going to stop worrying and enjoy wearing this badge. It's such a shame that I'm going to have to stop and think before following someone else." It had been a long time since Linette followed the crowd. Beauxbatons had that effect on her and now the result of that was apparently a badge.

Linette grinned and nodded. "That's a very wise thing to do. In the meantime you'd better select more sweets. You might need them to give you the energy to get moving onto classes on time." She reached up to the shelf and picked up some fudge to go with the sweets she held in her hand. "Did you see anything else you might want to try?"

August was glad that he gave out some words of wisdom, it didn't happen ofen. He learned some wisdom from the older kids he hung around. He liked to hang out with older kids, it made him feel older. "Why thank you." He smiled up at the girl, who was older and taller than him. He was pretty short compared to her so he had to look up to talk to her. "Good for you! Enjoy the honor of being a prefect! You probably deserved it. I wouldn't know since I haven't gone to school yet. But you obviously did."

August scanned the candy again, what did he want? He was no good at making decisions on his own and usually asked people for help. "I'm not sure what I want. I don't know if I want sour or sweet, chocolate or vanilla. Too many choices."

"Well you'll have the chance to see if I did deserve it once you're there, especially if you get yourself sorted into Cerisier. It's the best house in the school." She did wonder if the goblet could be influenced in ways more than your answer to a question to sort you into a certain house. Maybe that's how she ended up being stuck with an unwanted sister.

Linette nodded. "Yes it can be a little overwhelming. Go for..." She looked at the shelf and the selections. "...chocolate. It's a choice which never gets old. Who doesn't like to have a little chocolate in their selections." Well she hadn't gotten any but Linette was sure she could get some from Cheval later if she wanted any. That was if she didn't spend too much money on books.

"My cousin is in Montagnard and I wanted to be in the same house as her. But if I'm not in her house, I'm okay with the other house. I don't think it matters that much to me." He would enjoy either house because no matter what, he'd spend time with his cousin. "I guess I should be sorted into Cerisier because its the best house." He'd take her word for it, it must be the best house if she thought so.

Chocolate was nice, but August wasn't allowed to have too much of it. "I'm allergic. If I eat too much, I get a rash and things happen. So, my mom doesn't let me have too much." It was a shame that he was allergic, it was a sweet treat that he enjoyed a lot. "She said no chocolate while I was away cause she's a worry wart."

"You want to be in the same house as your cousin? I was hoping my sister wouldn't be in the same house as me but unfortunately that's where she ended up." It had to be rigged for sisters to end up in the same house. Knowing her luck if her brother had gone to Beauxbatons he would have been a Cerisier as well. She nodded. "It is and you might be in your cousin's shadow if you end up in Montagnard. Think of it that way." Though in her case it hadn't quite worked out that way with Louise. More's the pity.

"Oh. That's a real shame. How about you go for vanilla then. It's a little on the bland side but no allergy effects hopefully." To be allergic to chocolate sounded extremely tragic to Linette's years. It would be like being allergic to ice-cream or any other delicious foods. Would be like? It was exactly the same. Completely tragic. "She's obviously making sure you don't do anything rash and end up with a rash."

"We're opposites then cause I want the same house as my cousin and you didn't want your sister to be in the same house as you." If August had a sibling, he'd want to hang out with them all the time. But since he was an only child, he thought of Percy as a sister. "Percy is like a sister to me since I don't have one." August thought it would be cool to be like Percy and he liked to act like her sometimes. "I would love to be her shadow!"

"I like vanilla, vanilla is nice." He picked out a bag of wrapped candies that were brightly colored. "These look good." He had no idea what these treats were, but he was going to find out. "My mom worries a lot. But everything really. She's just a worry wart."

It was sad to hear such things coming out of the mouth of an eleven year old. "You really want to be her shadow?" she asked. "Why do you want to do that when you could be out doing things for yourself? Distance yourself from her? Otherwise people might compare her for you." Why hadn't she said these things to Louise? It might have been more effective than what she had said. If it worked on August though at least Linette might have saved his cousin from having an overly eager cousin following her everywhere.

"That was easily solved then," Linette replied. Vanilla could be a little dull and bland but it was useful if you were allergic to chocolate like this boy. She couldn't think of Vanilla as giving anyone an allergic reaction it was so mild and dull in flavour. "Mine is always fussing about grades. The older I get the worst she gets." And some of the things she said made Linette wonder if her dad's lack of ambition had something to do with the divorce.

"I do do things for myself, but I wanna be like her too. I mean, I am my own person. I just like to be like her cause she's like a sister to me. Aren't younger siblings supposed to look up to their older siblings and want to be like them? I don't know if that's true because I'm an only child." He always wondered why his parents never had more kids, it would be less lonely. "I guess my parents only wanted one kid." He shrugged, he didn't understand grown up stuff like that. "I am my own person though, I'm August Foster Bradbury. Since that's a one of a kind name, I'm one of a kind."

"My mom tells me to be on time for things a lot. She always complains when she gets letters or phone calls from my old school telling her that I had been late to class for the millionth time. I think it'll only get worse since this stuff is supposed to be very important for a wizard. I'm not sure what to expect from all of this schooling, but I hope its fun."

Linette shrugged. "I guess. Maybe." Not at all. She never had any desire to look up to her brother and be like him. Benoit was an arrogant stuck up wizard who'd plagued her life even when he weren't around. Louise though was someone whom Linette wasn't so sure about. Was that why she followed her around? And how did thinking of the possibility her younger sister wanted to be like herself make her feel? That really messed up Linette's thinking and she almost missed August's next words. "August Foster Bradbury does sound very unique to me," she replied with a small smile.

"I was taught at home by the housekeeper so I didn't have to worry about being on time for anything before I started at Beauxbatons." She gave a small laugh. "Now that was a learning curve with timetables and classes with other students. I'm sure you'll eventually learn that detention is not pleasant and thus being on time will prove down right useful. And believe me the fun part is casting spells. The rest depends on what you're interested in. I like to read so History of Magic gives me no problems but a lot of other students complain like nothing you'd ever heard before."