Why must it be cold? (Mariah)

She sighs and nods at the other girl’s attempt to cheer her up. Green grass and a lake would never make up for California, but the other girl was right. All she could really do was make the best of the situation. ”They don’t even have Quodpot here!” She said, frowning slightly before nodding. ”But, I mean, you’re right. I’m here either way and it’s never going to be California. But I should at least try to find the good things about this place.”

She took a second to think, trying to focus on the positives before a grin slowly broke out over her face. A goofy, warm, excited grin. ”The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is a definite upside. Jake Newbury. He used to play for the Moose Jaw Meteorites? They aren’t the best team ever, but they’re doing alright this year. Better than the US. My Sweetwater All-Stars Are doing pretty horrible this year but we’ll do better next year. At least that’s one good thing, England generally has decent Quidditch.”

She noticed that Mariah seemed a bit down at Lyra’s reaction and sighed. ”Sorry, I just thought you were laughing at me for a second. As I’m sure you know not everyone is as nice as you are here. I’ve already been made of a couple times when I make comments on the weather since this apparently is pretty mild for here. It’s just colder than what I’m used to is all. But everyone here doesn’t seem to understand that what they are used to isn’t the same as what everyone else is used to.”

Mariah stared somewhat blankly at the other girl as she exclaimed a word she'd never heard before. Quodpot? She felt like she was supposed to know what that was, but it wasn't ringing a bell. Afraid to admit her ignorance, she simply caught on to the feeling behind the statement and nodded sympathetically.

"Have you been to Hogsmeade yet?" she asked, trying to think of good things about the area that might help cheer Lyra up. Mariah had just discovered butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks a month earlier, and it was now her favorite part of Hogsmeade weekends - especially now when it was cold outside, and the hot drink kept her warm. She wasn't entirely sure what was in it, but it tasted heavenly, and if Lyra hadn't had it before, Mariah couldn't wait to introduce her to it.

Something changed in Lyra's demeanor as a thought seemed to occur to the girl. Mariah cocked her head at the mention of Jake Newbury. Honestly, she didn't know that much about the Defense teacher, only that he was a nice person, and had something to do with reffing the quidditch matches at school.

She'd gone to both of the matches so far, and though it had been fun to watch, she wasn't entirely sure what all the rules were. She had never played or watched quidditch before, and had only really started hearing about it when she'd gotten to Hogwarts. Apparently it was a big deal here.

She found most sports pretty hard to follow, and quidditch was no different. All she knew was that a bunch of players flew around on broomsticks (something which had shocked her at first, but which she now really wanted to try for herself), and if someone threw a ball into one of the hoops it was 10 points. There were also a bunch of other things whizzing through the air, and some people had bats and apparently tried to hit things at people, which seemed pretty violent. And then at the end, someone caught a thing called a snitch, which Mariah still had yet to see up close.

So, when Lyra began to chatter excitedly about quidditch teams, Mariah had no idea what she was talking about until she finally mentioned the name of the sport. Feeling woefully uninformed, she tried not to let the confusion show on her face as she nodded slowly. "Jake is really nice," she agreed, trying to latch onto something that she understood. Clearly Lyra's feelings toward their professor were built on a different reason, but Mariah was trying her best to relate.

As Lyra paused to reassure her that everything was all right, Mariah felt some tension ease from her mind. Just a misunderstanding. No harm done. She felt a little bashful at the implication that she was especially nice somehow - she didn't think she was nicer than any other average person - but she brushed it off. She hummed her understanding as Lyra explained her troubles relating to their classmates.

"That goes for a lot of things," she nodded, thinking back on her own experiences - even to just a few seconds ago when Lyra had spoken about quidditch. Mariah hadn't grown up in the wizarding world, and she found quite frequently that in order to keep up with her peers, she would have to smile and nod and pretend she knew what they were talking about, or else face judgement for her lack of so called "common" knowledge.

At the blank look from the other girl she assumed Mariah didn't know what Quodpot was. "Sorry," she said quickly, "I forget that even American witches and wizards don't always know about Quodpot. I'm just a huge wizarding sports fan. It's a game that you play on brooms, like Quidditch is played. I used to play on the Wampus Quodpot team at Ilvermorny. As well as their Quidditch team. OH! Did I tell you I'm on the quidditch team now?"

She grinned before spilling the story. "I tracked down the old Hufflepuff seeker yesterday. I guess he lost his last game, or something like that. Anyways, the captain said that I could have his spot if I beat him to catch a snitch and I totally did! It was really, really close though, I almost didn't get it, but I did a move I saw during a professional game once, called the Starfish and Stick, and I totally beat him! He so tripped out afterwords and was so pissed, but the rest of the team thought it was cool, and I got his spot! So now I'm the Hufflepuff seeker!"

At the mention of somewhere called Hogsmeade Lyra shook her head quickly. "Hogsmeade? No, I didn't know that was even a place? Where is it? Do we get chances to go? Anything to get out of the school to be honest." It wasn't that she hated Hogwarts, but she really would rather be somewhere else. If she had a choice she would be back home, but that obviously wasn't an option and besides, she wasn't going to focus on California right then.

She nodded quickly at Mariah's comment that Jake was nice. Though, her fawning over him had very little to do with the fact that he was nice. I mean, if he wasn't nice it would be a definite turn off but as it was... "And he's HOT! He's definitely the best looking teacher here. The ex-quidditch player thing is of course a great touch, but he's good looking with or without that status."

She nodded once more at the girl's statement. "That's true. I try to be understanding of that when I can, but you don't always notice it... you know?" In truth, Lyra was okay at trying not to assume other people were used to what she was. But there really were times she didn't realize that that wasn't how everyone's lives worked. After all, the only life she truly had to go off of was her own.

Mariah was relieved that Lyra didn't seem hurt or offended that she didn't know what Quodpot was, nor did she seem to be judging her. The other girl's brief explanation, however, did very little to clarify. In fact, Mariah felt even more lost as Lyra spouted several more words that she didn't know. What's a wampus? What's Ilvermorny?

Wait. Ilvermorny. That sounded familiar. Wasn't that the name of the school that she'd rejected?

She often wondered what would have happened if she'd gone there. Maybe she would have known Lyra. Maybe they would have been friends. Maybe she would have known all about Quodpot and Quidditch and she wouldn't feel so lost right now. Did she regret her decision?

No. She had enjoyed her studies with Mr. Weber. But she couldn't help but imagine how different everything would have been -- how different she might have been had she accepted her invitation.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it as Lyra launched into the story of how she had made the Hufflepuff Quidditch team on her second day at Hogwarts. Mariah couldn't entirely follow the story, but she knew enough to be impressed. She would never have had the guts to try something like that.

"Wow," she replied, unsure what to say, but wanting to express that she was happy for the other witch's accomplishment. "Congratulations! That's really impressive. I've only seen the Hufflepuff team play once and we lost, but I think we were pretty good up until the end. It was a close game." She hadn't really known what was going on, but she had watched the scoreboard and they hadn't been any worse than Ravenclaw until the very end of the game. In fact, if she remembered correctly, they'd been ahead for most of it. She couldn't say much to critique the players themselves, but they had at least been able to score.

Mariah's eyes lit up as she thought about Hogsmeade. She loved visiting the charming little town. She'd found a couple quiet nooks that she enjoyed frequenting on weekends when she wanted to get away from the crowds. "Hogsmeade is a village not far from here. Third years and up are allowed to go on weekends. I can show you around next time if you want," she offered.

As Lyra commented on Jake's hotness, Mariah considered it for the first time. She'd never really thought about Jake in that way, but she supposed he had a nice face. "I guess so," she agreed. "I hadn't really thought about it."

Mariah nodded her understanding. "It can be hard sometimes. I guess the best you can do is just listen to other people."

She nodded quickly when Mariah said she'd only seen the Hufflepuffs play once but that they'd lost. "That was Sterling's fault so I've heard. We were ahead until he let the other team get the snitch. Which is why he's no longer on the team!"

Her head tilted and it was her turn to look a bit confused as the girl explained Hogsmeade. "Why would we go to a village? Aren't villages just like... houses mostly? I'm not really supposed to talk to strangers outside of school, so if it's just houses I don't see how I could really participate. Oh! Unless we're playing hide and seek or something? I'm not very good at hiding, but I make a really awesome seeker!!"

Listen to other people. That was one thing that Lyra could work on. She wasn't a bad listener, but sometimes when she started getting really excited, or really upset, or just her emotions in general started taking over she started listening to what the other person was saying to respond, rather than to really hear their words. "I just hate it when you're trying really hard but then you say something that you don't even know you weren't supposed to say, you know?"

She motioned to the books beside the two of them on the bed, curiosity sparking. "What are you reading? Is it study work or just for fun?" That brought up another question and her eyes widened slightly. "Oh! So, are you behind in your studies at all? Cause I guess Ilvermorny was behind in a couple subjects and now I have to try and catch up and it really sucks."

Mariah considered Sterling's situation with a thoughtful frown. "That seems a little harsh. I mean, it was either Sterling or the Ravenclaw seeker. One of them had to lose. It could just as easily have been either of them. It seems kind of mean to kick him off the team for losing one match. Everybody loses sometimes; that's part of playing sports."

Of course, she'd never personally interacted with Sterling. Maybe there was more to the story that she didn't know, but from the facts available, it didn't seem fair that he'd gotten no second chances. Mariah didn't have to play sports to understand that sometimes people had bad days and messed up. She didn't think people deserved to be punished for that.

Still, she was happy that Lyra was happy, and that she'd gotten the position she had wanted. She supposed it wasn't her place to judge the Hufflepuff Quidditch team when she barely knew the rules of the sport.

Mariah realized she hadn't explained Hogsmeade very well and backtracked a little. "Oh, well, I think there are houses there too, but mostly it's like...a street full of shops and restaurants. And there are a couple touristy things too, but mostly people go to buy things like candy, and games, and butterbeer," she said with a smile, thinking of some of her favorite places to visit there.

Mariah nodded, considering Lyra's words. "I guess if you're trying the best you can, people shouldn't blame you for a misunderstanding like that. Especially if there was no way for you to know."

She looked down at the books Lyra had gestured to and flashed a small, sheepish smile. "Um, both. The one I'm reading now is just for fun, but most of these are for studying," she gestured to a few textbooks scattered across her bed.

At Lyra's next question, Mariah nodded. "I feel way behind in potions. But I think I'm ahead in charms, so maybe it balances out. I was homeschooled before this, so I didn't really have a set curriculum," she explained. "So sometimes the classes here expect me to know things I haven't learned yet, but sometimes I already know things that haven't been taught here yet, so it's hard to figure out which things I need to catch up on."

She shrugged at Mariah's sentiments and nodded. "Maybe a bit harsh, but it sounded to me like it wasn't the only game he'd lost for the team. Plus, as far as I can tell he's an asshole, maybe they were just tired of him. There's always try outs next year if he really wants to be on the team, he could go for a different spot of the seeker position again." She shrugged, no longer the least bit intimidated by the older wizard. "If he still thinks he can beat me that is."

She listened carefully to the girl's description of the village, her smile slowly growing until she tilted her head slightly. "Butter beer? Firstly, that sounds gross, second, we aren't supposed to drink beer until we're twenty-one, right?" Though, that wasn't to say that Lyra would exactly tell on her new friend if she was caught up in some... bad habits.

"I'm behind in potions too!" She said, almost excitedly, "We could study together?" She nodded in understanding as Mariah kept talking. "Ilvermorny was behind in some things and ahead in others, so I'm right there with you. But like I said, if you need a study buddy?"

Mariah hummed in consideration, recognizing that she didn't have all the facts, so the situation was probably more complicated than she realized.

"I guess so," she hesitantly agreed with Lyra. It wasn't like she had any say in the matter anyway. Whatever had happened had already happened, and it wasn't really her business. She figured there was no reason she couldn't be happy for Lyra while at the same time feeling bad for Sterling.

Mariah laughed in response to Lyra's confusion, realizing how bad 'butterbeer' sounded. "I thought so too at first, but it tastes a lot better than it sounds. And it's not really beer, I don't think. If there's any alcohol in it, I haven't been able to tell, but they sell it to students all the time at The Three Broomsticks. And I think the drinking age here is lower anyway, like eighteen or something. Not that that helps us any, but if we ever did want to try real beer, we'd only have to wait four years instead of seven."

Personally, she had no great desire to try drinking real beer. She didn't like the smell, and she imagined it couldn't taste much better. From the few sips of alcohol her moms had let her try, she wasn't a huge fan of any of it, except maybe the dessert wine they sometimes had at Christmas.

Mariah smiled at the prospect of a study buddy. She'd only ever studied by herself before, but it sounded nice to have someone around to help out if she was confused. "I'd like that," she decided. "Whenever you're free."

Her eyes widened slightly at the news. "Why would I want to drink alcohol at eighteen?! I mean, most people's brains aren't even fully developed until they're like... twenty-five, hence why you have to be that old to rent a car." She shook her head slightly.

She could see why people would want to drink. It was supposedly 'fun', but in her opinion she couldn't see all the hype around it. All it did was make it so you couldn't think as well as normal, and it seemed to often cause people to do stupid crap, so what was the point? If you wanted to feel the rush there's other ways of doing that, like adrenaline for example, and they didn't make you stop thinking straight. Go skydiving or something, or bungee jumping, or ride a roller coaster, those were things that you could still (usually) function correctly after doing rather than stumbling around and slurring your words like an idiot.

"I'm... pretty much always free I guess? I mean, besides classes and quidditch I don't have any plans. Heck, I don't really know enough people here yet to make plans, you know?" She quickly realized how pathetic that sounded and lifted a shoulder in a half shrug. "But, Mary- Mimosa and I hang out all the time, so it's fine. Anyways, just whenever you're free I guess?"

She let out a small sigh, her gaze gravitating back to her bed under which her broom sat unused and lonely. "I should probably get some studying done now actually. New school means new work and all that."