You can call me "Out of the Loop."

Sofie had no idea what this place was.

She had been plastering small signs over Hogsmeade advertising her services as a nanny and a possible maid. The draw to look at Hogwarts had been too strong; she had to get closer. The girl sprung from Durmstrang had never seen Hogwarts, having decided to skip the Triwizard Tournament so as to focus on her lessons. But now she had her chance.

A sign had distracted her, however. The Garden of Solace? Sofie had no idea what the place could possibly be, but she had always enjoyed the serenity of gardens. She angled that way, her dress swishing as she changed direction, her legs crossing briefly. She continued on, walking down the path until she arrived to what had to be the Garden of Solace.

All Sofie could say about the place was that it was beautiful. She spotted a plaque and strode over to it, reading it. A battle, huh? Of course, it was at Hogwarts, so it had probably not been important enough for her to hear about. She rubbed her arm, before pulling away, nervous about rubbing off the makeup that masked her Dark Mark. Most people didn't want their kids to be babysat by a Death Eater. With a blink of her blue eyes, she walked towards a nearby patch of flower.

A life as Calvin Ransom consisted of confusion, energy, joy, innocence, injury and being ever so perpetually lost. Far too many a day had been spent by the young lad, roaming the vacant cobblestone streets of one town or another in search of a familiar landmark. Commonly, he was worried by such circumstances. But being quite high off of the overdose of Cheering Potion that he'd received not a month prior to the present date, Calvin found himself incapable of such deep emotions. Thus, he hummed.

From the railway station, he hummed. Along the familiar paths of Hogsmeade, he hummed. And along the unfamiliar paths of Hogsmeade, he hummed. The tune varied from the Mario Brothers theme to Batman, constantly changing to suit Calvin's fleeting fancy. Until alas, Calvin could hum no longer, for he was well and truly lost. The Garden of Solace rang no bells. "It must be new!" Calvin noted as he fidgeted with the sleeve of his hooded sweater. "Wow! There are a lot of names! They must've been pretty cool people, to get their names in a garden!"

"Oh - Hiya!" Calvin called to the newest and only other addition to his surroundings. With the haste that he was so well known for, Calvin approached the woman. "Aren't these flowers pretty? I'm lost. Are you lost, too? I usually get scared by being lost but for some reason I don't feel scared today. I just think being lost is a good chance to find new things today. Like this place! Did you know about this garden? I didn't. I think Hogwarts just put it here, because if there was a garden when I was at Hogwarts I would have come here all the time. I was a Ravenclaw. What house were you in? Were you in Ravenclaw too?" Calvin blurted, before pausing to inhale an all-too-audible breath.

"Hiya. My name's Calvin. But my friends call me Cal," The young man introduced himself at last.

"What's your name?"

Sofie was not easily startled. So when a cheerful voice rang out at her, and she stood up straight and rigid, starting as her hand reached for her wand, she found herself full of shame when she turned to find it had been the cause of a harmless looking man. She relaxed and a small blush crept around her ears, and she found herself utterly embarrassed to have been so easily set affright. She tried to push out the cold feelings of shame to respond to the stranger.

“Hello,” she called back, the Russian accent present but severely lessened since her time here. She had been speaking English her whole life but only recently had she been so surrounded by it. He came closer and spoke of the flowers. She opened her mouth to agree but he pressed on, informing her he was lost. She was very curious about this man. How trusting could one safely be in this climate of deception and darkness? And yet, he pressed on, giving her less information that she would have asked for about the garden, and giving her more information about his personal life than she would have asked for. He was friendly, though Sofie did not mind friendly. A typical Death Eater might hate such people, but one that was in dire need of acquaintances, took any and all friendliness she could get.

It seemed that he had finally discovered that she had not been given a chance to respond and he introduced himself. With a smile, she said, “My name is Sofia Elkin. You may call me Sofe, though.” She decided to address his question about Hogwarts. “Actually, I went to Durmstrang. I have never heard of this place, but there was a plaque over there that said something about some sort of battle at Howarts. Somewhat recently too, within the past year. Have you not hear anything of it?”