Why must it be cold? (Mariah)

Lyra smoothed her sheets out. It was one of her first days in her new "home" and it was definitely taking some getting used to. Her newly made bed beckoned her and she gazed at it longingly before shaking her head and moving to gather her things for the bathroom.

She showered quickly that morning, taking only fifteen minutes as opposed to the usual half hour or forty-five minute showers she took, this being because she'd decided today was the day to practice her flying. She'd barely had any time to do so since moving to this horrid place, and she was just itching to take her skyscraper out for a spin. She toweled off quickly, wrapping a towel around her head and hurrying back into the dormitory, a towel wrapped tightly around her and held up with one hand.

The young girl threw on some clothes and pulled a long case from under her bed, setting it on top of her comforter and opening it to pull out her beloved broom. She grinned and ran a hand over the broom's handle. Soon enough she was rushing out of the dorm.

She barely remembered her way around the school, but found her way to the entrance quickly enough. The second the door was open she was hit with a gust of wind, colder even than when she would open the freezer to grab a popsicle back home. The door was promptly closed again, as she really had no desire to go out into the cold.

She trudged back into the common rooms much slower than she'd left it. She put her broom back in it's case and put the case back in it's place before flopping down onto her bed with a loud and very much over exaggerated sigh.

"Stupid fucking England."

As fall turned to winter, Mariah began to find her place at Hogwarts. That place was in the background. She had become acquainted with the rest of the girls in her dorm, and they occasionally invited her to hang out with them, like when they went to Hogsmeade on the weekends, but Mariah understood it was because they were nice people, not because they were particularly interested in her. The fact of the matter was, they had all been friends for years before she'd arrived, and, well, even at wizard school, a clique was a clique. One didn't simply join a friend group out of the blue.

Hufflepuffs have a reputation for being nice, Mr. Weber had written her after she'd told him the news of her sorting. I don't doubt that most of them are, but it takes a very rare person to be nice all the time - and just because someone is nice to you, that doesn't mean they want to be your friend. Don't latch on to "nice" people - find the ones that really care. They're the ones who will stick by you.

Well, Mariah hadn't found those people yet. Granted, she hadn't been trying very hard. She was working diligently to stay on top of her schoolwork, and, well, she had never been great at reaching out. Her main strategy was simply to wait for others to come to her, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that no one had.

Still, she wasn't all that discouraged. She had plenty of things with which to occupy herself. Each day, it seemed, she discovered something new and amazing about the wizarding world. She had maxed out on books she was allowed to check out from the library, and she was pretty sure at least one of them was overdue, but wasn't sure which one and she hadn't finished all of them yet. The librarian seemed quite nice and had been very understanding so far, so she simply resolved to finish everything by the end of the week and return them en masse when she did.

Currently, one of her favorite places to be when she had free time was her four-poster bed in the corner of the fourth year girls' dorm. Especially as the days grew colder, the Hufflepuff dorms became all the more warm and inviting. The bed was soft and comfortable, large enough to spread out all of her books and papers, and, if she wanted privacy, she could close the curtains. At the moment, she sat with the curtains open, The Tales of Beedle the Bard resting on her lap. As it turned out, wizards did have their own works of fiction, and Mariah was hastily catching up on the wizarding childhood she'd never had.

Mariah glanced up to see the new girl rummaging around across the room. The other girls had gone off to do whatever it was they did together, and Mariah and her newest dormmate were the only ones still in the room.

Nope, just me, Mariah corrected herself as she watched the girl bolt out the door. Mariah was still wrapping her head around the fact that she was no longer the new girl, no longer the only transfer student. And this new new girl was also in the same year and same house, and from California no less! It was an amazing coincidence, one that she had been wanting to bring up since the girl's arrival, but wasn't sure how.

The new new girl seemed to be much better at integrating herself than Mariah was. She exuded confidence. She was also lucky enough to have a private sorting, for which Mariah envied her ever-so-slightly.

She shook herself out of her thoughts, glancing back down at the book in her lap. She knew the girl's name was Lyra, had heard her thick SoCal accent, and had been present for the introductions they'd gone through in the dorm on her first day, but she'd never really spoken to the girl in the few days that she'd been there. She could pass no judgement whatsoever on anyone she hadn't really met.

Just as she had the thought, the door swung open once more, and Lyra returned looking downtrodden. Mariah watched as the other girl trudged to her bed and flopped down, her dramatic display breaking the silence.

"Stupid fucking England."

Mariah suppressed a soft giggle. "I feel ya," she responded, smiling down at her book.

Lyra sat up quickly at the sound of a voice, her gaze moving in it's direction to land on a girl a couple beds away. She searched for the girl's name in her mind, frowning slightly when she couldn't think of it. It had only been a couple days, but there were so many names to remember and she had trouble remembering all of Mimosa's friends already.

Se gave the girl a small smile. She had recognized already that this girl was different than the others in their dormitory, she didn't go off to hang out full of giggles in the morning for one. She eyed the books spread over the girls bed as she continued to search for her name, but only was capable of coming up with a single letter.

"I... totally suck at names apparently. I think yours started with... an M?" She gave her a sheepish smile, running a hand through her dark hair. "Lots of names around here to put it mildly. I'm Lyra."

She debated standing to go greet the girl, but by the looks of the book in her lap Lyra wasn't quite sure the girl wanted to really have a conversation, much less with the new girl. Then again, she also hadn't run off that morning with the other girls they shared a room with.

Not that the other girls had been excluding Lyra by any means. No, they were perfectly friendly. Just not in the way that said 'I-want-to-be-your-new-friend' more like a 'I-feel-sorry-that-you're-new-but-have-no-desire-to-actually-befriend-you' way. Which, wasn't bad, but also not what you wanted when trying to fit in somewhere new.

"Does that mean you're not from London either?"

"Mariah," Mariah said, helping the girl out. "Don't worry, I get that. It took me forever to learn everyone's names when I first got here. Even now, I sometimes have trouble."

It was nice having a one-on-one conversation. Mariah found it difficult to address a crowd, and, being naturally soft-spoken, had a hard time making herself heard over other people, so she appreciated the quiet room. She felt more relaxed than she normally did, allowing her the confidence to speak more than a few words at a time.

She shook her head in response to Lyra's next question. "I moved here over the summer. I'm from San Bernardino."

Another nice thing about talking to Lyra: she wasn't self-conscious about her accent. Whenever she spoke with her other classmates, she felt like her own voice stood out, and it made her hesitant to speak up. Compared to Lyra's accent, Mariah's was softer and less distinct, but she felt a certain kinship with the other American based on that shared feature.

Mariah gently shut her book, letting Lyra know she was paying attention to the conversation. Perhaps they could be friends.

She gave her a grateful smile and nodded. ”Mariah. That’s right, we’ll at least I got a letter right? If it hadn’t started with an M I would have felt hella stupid” She chuckled softly, glad her fellow puff didn’t seem annoyed.

Her face brightened quite a bit at the mention of Mariah being from California. ”Thank god! A fellow SoCal! I thought I recognized your accent but didn’t want to assume anything. I’m from Huntington Beach.” She could not explain in words how excited she was to have another American in her dorm. She constantly felt out of place at the school, even when around Mimosa and her friends.

She gestured towards the girl’s bed. ”May I” If given permission she would come over to sit across from Mariah facing her. ”Do you miss California?”

Mariah smiled softly, the amusement in her eyes letting her new housemate know that she wasn't offended in any way. Honestly, she never really expected any of her acquaintances to remember her name. She understood that she probably wasn't important enough to most people for them to care, so she wasn't about to expect anyone to pay that much attention. She was quiet, after all, and easily missed. It would be presumptuous to think people should go out of their way to remember her.

Mariah's smile widened at the mention of Huntington Beach. "Oh, we used to vacation there in the summer sometimes," she told the other girl, remembering how she and her mothers would take a short road trip at the end of every June to spend a week at the beach. She'd tried her hand at surfing a couple times, but she had never quite gotten the hang of it, too afraid to actually stand up on the board. Still, she loved the beach, and had fond memories of watching the sunset from the pier.

Mariah nodded her consent as Lyra asked to join her on her bed. She moved a couple books out of the way to clear a more comfortable spot for the other girl to sit.

"Sometimes, yeah. I miss my old house and...friends." Well, just one friend. But she wasn't about to launch into her whole life story unless Lyra specifically asked for it, which was pretty unlikely. "How about you? How are you adjusting to the UK?"

Lyra’s face brightened even more when she was told that the other girl had consistently visited her home every year. It was brilliant to have another Californian, but one that knew just how amazing Huntington Beach was was even better. The other students she’d met wouldn’t ever understand the place like she and even Mariah would, even if the other girl hadn’t lived there.

There was something about it that you couldn’t explain in words. Something about the sound of the waves and the smell of salt water in the air. The smell that you knew would stick in your clothes and in your hair, a reminder even as you went home of the day’s adventure. Something about the way the sun set over the water, colors in the sky and on the horizon and the blazing ball of fire that was the sun, all reflected, mirrored on the waves below it. It brought up emotions, feelings, things Lyra didn’t think you could feel anywhere else with your toes buried deep in the sand and the wind in your hair.

The thoughts of home brought up a little too much feeling for that moment, and Lyra stuffed them down hastily, refusing to give in to her homesickness. It had only been a couple days after all and he would not allow herself to get sucked away from reality this early. No, she only allowed that to happen at nights, when she was alone and was sure nobody could hear her. She would lock herself in the bathroom, or slip away to find somewhere in solitude, the lake on the warmer days, or some empty room in the castle on the colder ones.

”You did visit our beach then, yes? We are basically named after it after all.”

When allowed to sit she nodded her thanks, careful not to sit on nay of the girl's books, and trying not to take up too much room on the bed. She listened carefully as she spoke, nodding silently. "Leaving friends behind is the worst part I think."

When asked how she was doing she sighed, lifting a shoulder in a half shrug. "It's... been rough. I've lived in the same house for fourteen years now, and all of a sudden have to leave it. And it's so cold here! Like, all the time! Of course, it's December, but still. Does it ever get warm? I mean, I really prefer it to be hot, be at this point I would settle for not shivering when I step outside!"

Mariah nodded. "Yeah, we have a family friend who used to rent out her beach house to us. It was less than a mile from the water."

As Lyra sat down, Mariah shifted to face her more fully, removing the book from her lap and setting it on a short stack that had piled up next to her. She nodded again in solemn agreement - leaving Mr. Weber was by far the worst part about moving. She had no idea how to put those feelings into words, but she was pretty sure that Lyra already understood, at least to a greater extent than anyone else she had talked to here. In fact, Lyra probably understood a lot of things that Mariah had a hard time trying to explain. She was grateful to have finally found a kindred soul.

Mariah nodded once more to show she understood and empathized with the difficulties Lyra was facing. Although she herself hadn't lived in the same place her entire life, she had grown very attached to her home of the past six years, so she imagined it could only be harder for Lyra. She laughed a little at the other girl's complaints about the weather.

"It actually does get warm in the summer. When I first moved to London back in June it was actually pretty nice. Maybe 10 degrees cooler than San Bernardino."

Lyra nodded quickly. "Yeah! We live within walking distance." She paused, a hesitant frown touching her feature before correcting herself. "We lived within walking distance." She forced a smile back on her face a pushed past the minor mistake, trying not to dwell on the fact that she couldn't imagine ever thinking of this place as her home. "I used to go to the beach every day. And almost always surfed, if the weather was okay. That's one of the things I miss the most here, is the beach. Cause like, when I was at school I obviously couldn't surf, but I could on breaks. Now, even on breaks, all I have is this dreary place. It's like a constant June Gloom here."

The laugh from the other girl made Lyra stiffen for a moment, not enjoying being laughed at, but as the girl talked she relaxed, realizing Mariah had been laughing with her, not at her. At the mention that it did actually get warm she smiled softly. "Well at least that! I don't know if I could stand it being like it is now all year round. It's kind of depressing."

Mariah's brow furrowed as Lyra corrected her mistake. She cast the other girl a sympathetic glance, knowing exactly how she must be feeling. While Mariah had had time to get used to her new environment, Lyra's memories of her old home were still fresh, and Mariah knew from her childhood how hard it was to be thrust into a new place in the middle of the school year.

She listened quietly as the other girl released some of her emotions, then nodded. "The change is overwhelming. And coming here in the winter is probably the worst. But it's not all bad. I mean, the rain is kind of a downer, but have you seen how green the grass is? And I know it's nowhere close to the beach, but people swim in the lake when it's warm." She sighed, not knowing quite enough about the other girl to know how to cheer her up. "It'll never be California," she conceded. "But maybe it shouldn't be. There's stuff in the UK that we could never get back home. Maybe it's best not to compare the two."

She hadn't spoken so much in one go since her arrival. She took a deep breath, hoping something she'd said might have been helpful to the other girl. It was those types of thoughts that kept her going when she felt homesick, so maybe it would help Lyra to look on the bright side.

Mariah noticed when Lyra stiffened, and immediately corrected herself, smothering her soft laugh as quickly as it had started. She was afraid she might have offended the other girl, and her words trailed off a little at the end as she mentally berated herself. She was about to apologize when Lyra smiled, seeming to relax. Mariah tried to pull herself back into the moment, but the worry lingered in the back of her mind as it always did. Lyra seemed to have brushed it off, but what if she really hadn't? What if she was just pretending out of politeness? Mariah attempted to push those thoughts aside and focus on the conversation, to little avail.

"Yeah. I haven't experienced spring here yet, but I'm sure it's better than winter," she fumbled a little, trying to think of something better to say and coming up short.