Birds of a Feather {Sasha}

Sterling scowled at the letter he held in his hands as he made his way back from lunch. His sister's stupid horned owl had dropped the thing in a bowl of soup the boy next to him had been eating. He had gotten it out and dried it out fast enough he could still see the contents of the letter but the words were smeared and his mother's handwriting already wasn't the greatest.

He squinted at a word about halfway down the page and tilted his head. Using his context clues Sterling could only assume the word was "studies" but he couldn't be sure. He sighed and shook his head as he arrived at the pile of large barrels that marked the Hufflepuff entrance.

He found the barrel two from the bottom, middle of the second row, and tapped it in the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff’. The barrel opened and the boy entered, walking up the dimly lit sloped passage and entered the common room, looking down again at the letter. He jogged up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

He plopped his bag down on his bed in his room, looking away from the letter to retrieve a pencil, some paper, and an envelope before he jogged back down the stairs. He looked around the room and threw himself down at a table and chair near the fireplace, setting his things down on the table.

He finished reading the letter quickly before folding it neatly and setting it aside, getting ready to write his mother back.

    "Dear Mother,
First off, I'd like to say it was wonderful, as always, to hear from you. I always enjoy catching up on what's going on in your little world. I wasn't quite as happy with this letter if I'm being honest, not that you did anything wrong, but simply because Mathilde's godforsaken owl dropped your letter in a bowl of soup someone next to me was enjoying!

I sure hope you're doing alright, how is Father's mood lately?"....

Sterling frowned at the paper. He knew he shouldn't have to ask that, and yet here they were. He looked up as someone else walked in, immediately feeling defensive before calming down slightly. It was only a student, and who did he think it was going to be anyways?

As he saw the red-haired girl he turned back to his letter. She was likely just going up to her dormitory or going to read by the fire or something. The latter may be slightly annoying, considering his position was so close to the fireplace, but it would likely be fine since reading is a silent activity.

"I sincerely hope he's treating you right, and you know what I mean by that. Please don't let him push you around mama. He needs to know it's not ok.

On a different note, I"...

He looked up from his letter as the girl who had entered spoke to him, sitting in an armchair a little ways away. "No, you're fine." In reality, he was slightly annoyed, but he pushed past it. It was her common room too. Speaking of which, he really needed to get to know some of the people in his own house, as he'd been here... what?... four years already? And aside from his small group of guys and Dia, he didn't know anyone, which he figured he should know his own housemates, not just the ones he shared a room with.

"I'm sorry, miss? I'm Sterling, I'm just realizing that I've seen you around before, yet I don't know your name. It seems like a crime for me to ignore such a lovely lady such as yourself, would you like to come sit with me? There's room at my table, and another chair if you'd like."

Sterling nodded to the girl as she accepted his compliment. "Well of course Sasha. It doesn't hurt to speak the truth, yes?" He grinned and tried to think of what to say next. A semi-awkward silence stretched out and Sterling turned back to his letter as he tried to think of something to say.

"have been making pretty decent grades. I, myself, am pretty proud of them! There isn't really any new news. I've made a couple new friends, and then there's always my old friends. It's really a shame you haven't met any of them if only we didn't live so far."...

He looked up once more as the girl asked about his letter. "Oh, well, it's going. I can't really think of anything to write about, but that's usual." She asked if she should go grab a book while he finished and he realized it must've seemed like he was ignoring her. "No, no. I'm sorry, I wasn't meaning to ignore you, I can do both." He smiled at her, trying to think once again about what to talk about. "Do you like cats by any chance?"

He thought about what she said and nodded. He supposed that was true. It could hurt, to tell the truth, especially if it was something like telling someone the dress they were wearing made them look fat, or that they sang like a dying goose. The truth could hurt, but in this situation it didn't, and he decided it was likely best not to dwell further on the subject.

He tilted his head as he listened to the girl... Sasha. The girl's name was Sasha, and he needed to think of her by her name. He mentally scolded himself. He would need to remember and learn her name if he would ever wish to talk to her again. Lucky for him he was pretty decent with names, but it was still a challenge sometimes.

As he listened he learned about her. She had a boyfriend and a complicated relationship with her parents. Both of these would be potential conversation starters, though the whole parents topic would have to be brought up gently he guessed.

He set down his pen with a small smile as he spoke, standing with a small nod. "Yes, owls do definitely count. Would you like to meet my cat? Well, she's a kitten I suppose. Her name is Stella. She's up in my room. I could bring her down for you to see if you'd like? She always enjoys new people and she's very friendly. I'd only watch her claws a bit, they can get caught on your shirt and hair and stuff and she may accidentally claw you."

Sterling shook his head. "Of course it's no trouble! Trust me, if it was any trouble I likely wouldn't have offered. I'll be back in a moment." He smiled at Sasha and turned to go through the round door that leads to the boys' dormitories. He entered his shared room and called for the kitten, kneeling to check under the beds. He frowned, straightening to look around again and almost went to check other rooms for the tiny cat when he heard a small mew. He followed the sound and pulled back his patchwork quilt on his bed to reveal the little kitten curled up under his pillow.

He chuckled and scooped the creature up with one hand, bringing her out of the room and not bothering to make his bed before leaving the room. He grinned again as he walked back into the common room, cat in hand. He set the kitten down on one arm of the armchair she was sitting in. "Sasha, meet Stella." The kitten looked at the girl with wide eyes, blinking once before letting out a quiet mew in greeting.