Standing by the Fire

Andrew trudged slowly down the hall, aiming his destination heading towards the common room for Gryffindor. Even the hallways in Hogwarts seem to shrivel and die as the cold enveloped the school. Walking more and more quickly, Andrew was only had his mind set on getting to the warm fire inside the common room. Just thinking about it nearly set him into a frenzy, since he despised the cold very much. Almost there Andrew, he thought to himself Almost there he thought to himself bitterly almost there.

Almost in a dash, Andrew went through the portrait to guard the house and quickly went into the common room. He sat on a comfortable chair directly next to the fire and began to feel his body temperature heating back up to normal. He despised winter and just wished it was summer already, when everyone was wearing regular clothing and the trees regained their strength. Hopefully it would be soon, otherwise Andrew would lose his sanity very quickly.

Hitame walked into the common room quickly after being outside for a short period of time.Ugh, i hate winter. Its so cold outside. Hitame thought as she took off her gloves and coat. She looked around to see if anyone else was there. She saw a sixth year sitting in a chair next to the fire. She didn't really pay any attention to him at first. She walked past him and sat near the fire and looked at the flames.

Then she figured she might as well say hi to him. She turned to face him. " Umm..... hello." She said nervously. Well i said hi now its up to him if he wants to answer me.

Andrew looked up from his bitter thoughts and saw a girl sit near him. He thought he had been alone in the common room at that moment, but must have missed her entering the room. At first glance, she seemed pretty shy, so he would try and talk to her a bit. "Hello," he replied to the girl, a slight smile on his face "Are you new? I haven't seen you around." Great way to break the ice, thought Andrew, looking back towards the fire now. He wanted to get as warm as possible.

After warming up a bit, he looked back at the girl and examined her for a second. She seemed to be a first year, so it was pretty obvious she was now. To try and make things simpler, Andrew decided to introduce himself. "My name's Andrew J. Thompson," he said, a friendly smile on his face "Sixth year Gryffindor. And you are...?"

" My name is Hitame Higurashi. I'm a first year so yeah i'm new. Nice to meet ya" Hitame said with a smile. Well at least he answered me. Hitame thought. " I didn't think i would find someone in here. Everyone else is outside playing with the snow, but personally i don't like it."

I hope summer comes soon" What about you do you like winter?" Hitame said trying to make conversation with Andrew.She waited for his reply and put her hands a little closer to the flames. She felt the warmth of the fire soothing for some reason.

Andrew looked back at Hitame and said "I hate being the cold right now. It's a pain in the arse since I've been outside almost everyday now...way too cold for my style." The fire began to warm up Andrew's hands a lot more now, to the point where it nearly stung because he held it so close. But he didn't care, he just wanted to be warm again. After feeling his hands start to sting beyond pain, he quickly pulled his hands back and let out a small 'aah' in pain. He flung his hands back in forth to attempt to cool them down and laughed slightly. That was the second time this week.

"Winter's alright," he replied to her question "but frankly it gets annoying when you have to go and put on 12 layers of clothing. That's when it gets out of control." Once the stinging began to flow away, Andrew set his hands on the ground, feeling the cold smoothness of the rug on his palms "So are you enjoying Hogwarts so far?" he asked, wondering if she was one of those people who enjoyed magic.

Hitame laughed slightly when she saw that Andrew burned his hands a little. " Yeah, that's what i hate about winter the most. You really can't enjoy playing in the snow or anything when you have a ton of clothes on." She looked back at the fire and brought her hands closer to it.

" Yeah, Hogwarts is a good place so far. Being a new student really stinks. You have to leave your old friends behind and make new one." Like i even had any real friends before. " But, i'm getting used to it and I've already made 2 new friends." Hitame sat there silently thinking about how she had met Xemnas and Sora.

Andrew continued to keep his hands on the on the floor, trying to make the stinging go away. After a moment, the stinging began to evaporate and he was able to pull them from the ground. When he looked at his hands, there were some more darker red areas around his palm, which seemed to be a pretty bad thing at first. He would go to the Nurse later, when there wasn't a lot of people in there. He hadn't been in there yet, but he had heard a lot of people had gotten hurt somehow. It didn't really matter, but it was rather a nuisance.

Andrew pocketed his hands and looked towards Hitame and said "Well I'm sure you'll make plenty of new friends. It's not that hard since everyone is the same here, so it makes you feel a little bit more safer than usual." Andrew pushed himself up from the ground and sat on a chair right next to him, not really caring that being closer to the fire meant more warmth. "Who are your 2 new friends if you don't mind me asking?" he said.

I doubt anyone there is even close to being the same as me. Hitame thought.She took her hands away from the fire and sat in the dhair next to Andrew." My new friends....... Their names are Xemnas and Sora Charcovix." Hitame said sounding happy. She liked to think of her firends. They were a way of reminding her that not every thing or everyone in the world was bad." Do you know them?" She asked Andrew.

Xemnas and Sora. He had met Xemnas down at the lake, a very odd occurance indeed. He was about ready to attack him at first, not knowing who he was when he greeted Andrew. Yet he was able to talk to him about some things and be on their way. Now he Andrew recalled, he did remember Xemnas mention something about Hitame. This had to have been her. "Yeah I met Xemnas," he said calmly, his expression still friendly, yet with some thought as though trying to remember "I met him down by the Lake a couple of days ago. Nice guy."

"Oh, yeah he is." Hitame said calmly."He's a good friend,too. You can tell him anything and he won't tell anyone else about it."Hitame said. Of course they met at the lake. Xem is almost always out there. And i guess he hasn't met Sora yet."Do you go out to the lake a lot? Cause if you do, it's no wonder you met Xem there."

" He likes to go out there.But oddly enough I didn't meet him there. I met him in here." Hitame said laughing."I actually met Sora out there. But. when i met him he was kinda sad and angry at Xem......." Hitame trailed off.