Hurt me once, shame on you... {OPEN}

Mariah used to come to the Three Broomsticks by herself all the time when she first got to Hogwarts. She hadn't made any friends yet, so she always went everywhere alone. She hadn't really minded back then. She was used to it, and besides, everything had been new and exciting at the time and she'd been too busy discovering butterbeer to really worry about who else was around.

And then she'd met Lyra and Nikolai and had made actual friends who accompanied her places and she found it was much more fun being in Hogsmeade with somebody else. And she had great memories of bringing Lyra here and introducing her to butterbeer and then meeting up at the Three Broomsticks nearly every Hogsmeade weekend after that and catching up, goofing off, and generally having a good time.

And now she was here by herself once again, and Lyra was on her way back to America, and Mariah wasn't talking to Nikolai anymore, and all the progress she had made over the last year and a half was falling back in on itself, only this time she noticed how awkward it was to walk into the Three Broomsticks by herself because everybody else in the room had at least someone to talk to and all the tables were filled with groups of friends having fun and here she was with nobody and suddenly the idea of drinking a butterbeer by herself at the bar seemed utterly and ridiculously sad.

It was a familiar feeling, loneliness. She thought she'd finally beaten it once and for all when she'd found her little niche last year, but she supposed it had been there all along, sitting in the back of her head and waiting for moments like this to resurface and remind her that there was only one thing she could really rely on: one way or another, Mariah always ended up alone.

She would have turned around and walked back out of the pub, but she really had nowhere else to go. The loneliness would follow her anyway. May as well keep walking forward, since she was already here.

She ventured deeper into the pub, passing tables full of students and hating the fact that hearing other people laugh was making her sad. What a terrible thing, to wish unhappiness upon strangers. Just because she was miserable didn't mean anyone else deserved to be.

She was just about to change her mind and leave for someplace quieter when she saw the booth in the back corner and its solitary occupant. Something in her chest twinged at the scene. Someone here was even more miserable than she was.

She felt compelled to approach, if only to ask what was wrong and offer whatever comfort she could. She had nowhere better to be, and if nothing else, she was at least a pretty good listener. Maybe, just maybe, she might leave here with a friend. At the very least, she could try to make someone else feel better and put something positive into the world. That would certainly be more productive than wallowing in her own self-pity.

She allowed her feet to carry her to the table, hesitating slightly upon reaching it. Upon closer inspection, she realized she recognized the girl in the booth.

"Apollonia?" she asked gently, resting her hand lightly on the table.