𝐦𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐢 - 𝐝.𝐦.

𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬

It had taken Akina a little over 15 minutes with the help of a sympathetic fourth year to maneuver her way to classroom 1B. She was now thoroughly out of breath, her short legs having to keep up something resembling a jog in order to match the quick paces of the older student. They stride past groups of bustling students in the Middle Courtyard before pivoting sharply to the right.

"This is it!" The student proclaims. Akina gives a short nod in appreciation before the fourth year responds with a big smile and turns on his heel.

This Akina, roughly a foot shorter and drowning in her Ravenclaw robes stands anxiously in the doorway of the Transfiguration classroom. She stares with a certain light in her eyes that hadn't yet been knocked out from the cruel realities of the world; it's hopeful and buoyant. This world is rose-colored and inviting.

She chews nervously on her bottom lip and tightens her pigtails before pushing open the large door and peering inside, other like-minded eleven-year-olds chatting amongst each other at their mahogany desks. Pushing her robes up her arms for the fiftieth time that day, she quietly patters through the entrance and glances around.

Most of the students had already found their people, it seems. At the state of the classroom, she could either opt to sit with the boy with honey-colored, shaggy hair who is currently knuckles-deep into his nose, or the Gryffindor girl sat at the front of the classroom, crouched over a large and worn book with her unruly hair acting as a shield for her face.

When Akina pulls out the old chair and sits down, the girl immediately lifts her head and turns, looking at Akina with a pair of wide, chocolate brown doe eyes. Her bushy nest of hair looks rather silly as it frames her small face, though it strangely suits her.

"Hi! My apologies, I was just catching up on some reading." She says confidently, her voice proud and sweet.

Akina tilts her head and raises a thin brow. "It's the first day of classes."

The Gryffindor girl blushes profusely, her dilated eyes casting downwards in an awkward fashion. "I know... I just wanted to be prepared."

Akina only nods in understanding and turns, now facing the front of the room. The desk ahead is empty aside from a striped tabby cat perched on its surface, seemingly studying the gaggle of students through a furry ring of spectacles around its beady eyes.

It had only been a couple beats of silence between the pair before the curly-haired girl spoke again, her dignified tone returning. Any trace of embarrassment or shame was simply a matter of the past."I'm Hermione Granger," she pronounces. "What's your name?"

Akina's eyebrows practically hit her hairline as she turns her head once more, certainly not expecting a stretch of kindness from the girl. What did she want her name for; is she just being nice? Perhaps she wanted friendship? Or maybe she only wanted her name so that it would be ready on the tip of her tongue to use against her at a later date. She wasn't well-versed in the realm of friendship-- she could count the number of friends she's had in her life on one hand.

"Akina... Selwyn." She says with hesitation, feeling her caramel skin heat up without warning.

Hermione's already-wide eyes practically bulged out of her skull as the next words spill freely from her mouth. "Selwyn... Where do I know that from?! The name is so familiar, it's on the tip of my tongue..."