The Welcome Wagon

This was almost a new pastime, waiting outside of other House's common rooms to launch surprise attacks on unsuspecting boys. At least she had learned enough this time around to make sure she whizzed ahead of time. She was fed, she had peed, she had nothing holding her back now.

The portrait swung open and she stepped forward. "Hiya!"

Lily Potter flinched, before frowning at her. "Whoops. Sorry. Wrong Gryffindor."

Lily walked away, moving cautiously before speeding up. Not necessary, but she guessed she understood the sentiment. Damn. That was the third one.

The portrait swung open again. "Hiya!" This time she was right. She brightened as she looked at their newest (and possibly only??) American. "Quill, yeah? We have Herbology together, among other classes. I thought you might want a tour of the school, being new and all!"

He groaned, why did potions have to be in the basement? - the walk from the dungeons to the common room was the absolute worst. More often than not he'd detour to the grounds or library. But not today; no, today was a day for getting out of his robes as fast as possible. So, he had naturally booked it up the steps to the common room dashing between students. People were already talking about him so it wasn't like he was doing any extra damage to his character. It's also not like he cared.

Solace came in the form of his comfiest pair of pants and a sweater. Sitting on his bed he realized the true nature of the evening ahead of him.

he was free

No responsibilities for senior Quill on this wonderful evening. He decided it was the perfect opportunity to go and sign up for the dueling club. He'd been putting it off for quite some time now but he felt good this evening. He practically jumped off his bed and ran down the stairs through the common room. He called after the girl who was leaving through the portrait hole to hold it for him but she either ignored him or didn't hear. Oh well, there wasn't anything in his way through that portrait hole. One step outside of the common room, however, would prove that belief to be false.

Her smile, welcoming, her face, cute, her attitude - offputting. 2 out of 3 was a pretty solid start, however. After the moment of shock wore off he laughed and smiled at her.

"Oh yeah, I think I've seen you in there."

The portrait closed behind him and he motioned for them to begin walking. "I'm heading to the dueling club if you're okay going along with my schedule for the evening."

Her grin widened - he didn’t seem too thrown off by her welcome (why did everyone flinch when she came barrelling at them with her love?). It was about time they had some people in the castle who weren’t so stuffy.

“Oooh, a man who takes charge, I love it!” she said, clicking her tongue at the end of the sentence, shooting him a cheeky grin, tongue caught between her teeth. “I’m Margo, by the way.” She thrust her hand out for him to shake.

She fell into step with him. “So, I’m sure you have tons of questions, but ladies first. Because of feminism, I think. Why did you come to Hogwarts? Thinking of joining any other clubs? What’s the difference between Gryffindor and whatever house you were over there?”

He took her hand and shook it as they began to walk. He quickly learned the type of person Margo was. He blinked at the onslaught of questions as they descended a staircase and just laughed.

"Alright, yeah no kidding ladies first." he snorted through the laughter. "Uhm okay so starting from the first; didn't want to commute across an ocean every day. Second, I'm interested in Quidditch so I was thinking of trying out for the team. And finally, I'm not sure yet it's my first week."

Now, because feminism worked both ways it was his turn.

"Alright, based on your logic that means its my turn to ask you some questions!" he hopped down the last two stairs in front of her and turned to look at her.

"What house are you? Did you finish the Herbology homework? Do you have a sister?"

Margo giggled at his explanation for coming to Hogwarts. Not quite the answer she meant to get, but she liked it. She already had a good feel for Quill and thought he was smashing. So many people at Hogwarts were boring and serious and dull. They needed a bit of energy, and she couldn’t be the only one with a spark of life in her. That wasn’t fair.

“Bring it,” she said, rubbing her hands together. “I’m Ravenclaw - they’re meant to be smart and good at studying, so don’t take too much stock in how good the hat is at its job. No, I… didn’t know we had homework. Shit. And no - two brothers, who are both, like, Hogwarts legends. I do have a best friend Molly who is sorta like a sister. Right, watch this step. It’s tricky.”

She hopped over the step in the staircase and continued, “Quidditch will be fun. Careful, though. The captain is like an insane monster these days. Punch the Head Boy, got in a fight in class. I suppose it’ll be fine since you’re on her team though.”

"You guys have fist fights over here? Damn, that's some old school sh*t" he trailed off as he began to look at each of the photos as they walked down the hallways. The moving pictures were fascinating to him - there weren't nearly as many at Ilvermorny and even beyond that he didn't have much experience with them. He looked back at Margo, however, at the topic of Quidditch and the revelation about the captain. He was slowly discovering that life really wasn't that different between here and back home. At least as far as the student body was concerned anyway.

"Right, well I have a way with people that I can just sort of get along with everybody." he said with a sly smile. He was easy to get a read on and didn't really have any secrets that he kept to himself. He began to walk backwards keeping his eyes on her. "So Ravenclaw is kind of like our Horned Serpent then. Yeah, I have a buddy from Ohio who chose the serpent but he's as dumb as a brick. You seem like you've got a good head on your shoulders though - you picked the handsomest man on campus to walk with, after all."

He turned around and entered the hallway that lead to the dueling club room. He had memorized the route because it had been what he was most excited for. Quidditch would come later but it was still not as exciting for him - he wasn't sure how he stood up compared to the other beaters Gryffindor had in the past.

"And don't worry, you can copy my homework."

"We don't usually have fist fights. It's just some of the muggleborns like Jack, or the students who have anger issues... like Jack. And Matt, I guess," she said thinking aloud to herself. "Mostly we just have lots of gossip and he said, she said." She rolled her eyes, as though she wasn't one of the biggest energy sources for said rumor mill.

She blew a loose raspberry at his assertion that he could get on with Jack, giving him an exaggerated look of exhaustion. "I hope so, she's just... Well, just really nail your try out and you should be fine."

As he tried to assure her that she seemed smart, she immediately began, "Oh no, I'm really not, it just heard my last name and- oh." She had finally caught up with his joke, and her lips widened in a fake, scandalized grin. "Oh! You cad!" She shoved his shoulder playfully. She had decided Quill was now her friend, and she was very excited to share the news with Johnny and Molly.

They were arriving at Dueling Club and it still had not struck her that she not only A) wasn't in the club but that B) she was horrible at dueling. "Thank Merlin," she hissed to him, as they walked in. "I wasn't listening to anything the professor said."

He couldn't help but smirk at Margo's energy. She radiated what seemed to be positivity but she had knowledge of the school like the type to talk mad sh*t about everyone. On some level he could respect the hustle she clearly put herself through to know almost everything that went on at this school. It was something he really didn't care about but he knew he didn't have the brain for it. He liked her - she could be someone he talked to a lot. At this thought they reached the dueling club doorway and he noticed the sign up sheet hanging outside on the hallway wall.

"Well, I definitely thought I'd have to do a test or something." he said as he picked up the quill that was floating next to the paper and scribbled his name on one of the last lines. "Are you going to sign up as well?" he asked her, holding the quill out to her.

She was basically skipping by the time they reached the door, and then she stopped, staring at the offered sign up sheet as it hit her. "Oh. Yeah. Right. So I'm not allowed. My friend Johnny and I came a few times but I ended up breaking three of his bones on accident. It was a total misunderstanding. But we're not allowed anymore."

He blinked at her - taking in what she had just said.

"Right, well that sucks." he put the quill back where it was initially floating and it fell to the ground.

"Oh, yeah."

He pulled out his wand and muttered wingardium leviosa - the quill began to float again where it was initially. He chuckled to himself, he could be such a bonehead.

"So how exactly did you break your friends bones?" he asked her, knowing full well she was dying to tell him.