An Unused Classroom Private Finished

Nothing was new. It was just another day of wandering down the halls, looking for something to do. Saskia really needed a hobby at this point, but she figured the only things she would ever be good at were running around and navigating through the grounds. Maybe there were some other things, but she wasn't one to keep a list about her talents and accomplishments, or any list, really. She was rather disorganized, and it was a miracle she could keep her notes in one place and maintain some kind of order in the dorms. Though, then again, her dorm mates might have had complaints if she didn't do so.

Learning about music would have been nice, and perhaps some form of art, but she wasn't very confident in her artistic ability. She was fairly sure she couldn't even draw a stick figure properly. Maybe she could seek extra help from her classes, or go to the library and study. She especially needed the help for certain subjects. Yet there was a feeling that she could do something else that was worth her time. Studies were important, that was true, but perhaps she could try something before she had to face the boredom that were her textbooks.

And that was what she did. She walked through the corridors, in hopes to find something. Anything. The sooner she found something, the less time she would have to waste wandering aimlessly about the hallways. It would have been a tedious task, but she was sure she would find something remotely interesting, even if it was just a student's lost textbook lying around on the floor.

But something caught her eye. It was a room, with the door opened to another room that she never saw before. The girl tilted her head in curiosity. How did she never see this room before? Or was it always just locked before? Saskia contemplated on her next actions. As far as she was concerned, there weren't any rules against entering this particular room. Maybe there was a rule somewhere about not entering suspicious looking rooms, but if the door was open, it probably wasn't too bad. Maybe she could get away with a simple look into the room.

Taking a deep breath, Saskia walked closer towards the room and poked her head through the door. It looked like an abandoned classroom. The room was as dim as she expected, and it might have looked like an actual classroom, with the desks still in good shape, albeit somewhat old and dusty. But what really got her attention was the other girl in the room nearby one of the desks. With the light being the brightest in that area, she definitely stood out from the other dark parts of the room.

Saskia wasn't sure what to do. She found something, that was for sure, but she didn't expect the girl either. Perhaps she wouldn't mind if she intruded? She seemed interesting, for someone who managed to discover this room before her. Having decided that, she took a step further in the room, making sure to stay right by the door. "Hey. Do you mind if I come in?"

She was on page 15 only when she heard the door creaking and soft steps behind her.

"Didn't I close the door?" she thought instantly putting away the book and half-turning towards the door.

A girl walked in. She couldn't get the tints of her clothing as the classroom was quite darkish. And since when she even cared about houses? She brushed aside the unnecessary thoughts and stared at the girl without quite understanding what to answer to a simple question.

"State your intentions!" she started to think quite taken aback as she believed for some reason that no one could ever notice the room. But if the girl walked in just minutes after Meenauh discovered it herself, probably that wasn't quite a rare finding in the end. Maybe the girl was a frequent visitor and it was only Meenauh who discovered it for the first time.

The pause lasted too long already, so Meenauh collected her thoughts and replied:

"No one would oppose you, of course. But my minding depends on your intentions," she actually tried to sound like she was joking, but moments after she realised that she didn't.

"I'm joking. I don't mind. You may enter," she added, "But do you mind me asking how often you visit this place?"

"No one would oppose you, of course. But my minding depends on your intentions."

Well, that was fair enough. It was natural for the girl to be suspicious of what she would be doing in a nearly deserted room that quite literally nobody visits. The girl sounded like she was joking, but Saskia couldn't help but sense something else in her tone that would imply she would probably kick her out of the room if she didn't give the right reply. It didn't necessarily scare her, but she didn't want to cause a fight all because she couldn't mind her own business.

"I'm joking. I don't mind. You may enter," she added shortly afterwards, presumable to relieve the tense atmosphere.

Nevermind then. Turns out the girl really was joking, which was a relief. Saskia didn't feel like making enemies at this point, and now that the girl gave her a full invitation, maybe she could get to know her a bit more and make a new friend. With that in mind, Saskia closed the door behind her and walked a little further in the classroom. The room really was quite dusty, and it made her wonder if the caretaker bothers to visit the place.

But for now, her main focus was on the girl. Turning towards her, Saskia cocked her head to the side to get a better look at her. Now that she could slightly see her better, she could see that she was a Gryffindor, judging from the faint red tints on her robes. From her wording of her previous statement, she sounded quite intelligent. Perhaps she read a lot of books in her spare time, or she just spent a lot of time with other smart people. Still, Saskia felt that she could be interesting to talk to, even if she felt somewhat ominous vibes from her first response.

"But do you mind me asking how often you visit this place?" she would have asked while Saskia was walking closer.

That was easy enough to answer. She hadn't exactly visited the inside of the room, but she did encounter the door a few times. It probably didn't count as actually visiting, though, so maybe she could just settle with the idea that it was the first time she actually saw the room.

"I've seen it quite a few times, while I walked along the corridor. I've always been contemplating on whether to go in, but I didn't think it would be allowed to enter the room, so I left it alone. That is, until now, when I saw the door open a while back," she explained.

"So, have you been always using this space for privacy?" she asked. She was thinking about using this room in case she needed to find somewhere private for whatever reason, but she couldn't do that if she was already using it for that purpose.

As the girl was coming closer, she started to distinguish the colours and they revealed the girl was a Hufflepuff. The girl told her that she saw the room before, so it meant no perception filters. And moreover, the girl wouldn't have entered if Meenauh would have closed the door properly. 

Meenauh wasn't quite sure whether to be happy or sad about the fact that the room was long a private finding, which she planned to use for herself. She was actually being stupid. If there was a room in the castle, the probabilities of a first year being the first one to discover it were critically low. Unless it was a new classroom. But that was not the case, considering the dust and lack of lighting.

And then the girl asked her question about Meenauh's use of the room. 

"Well, to be honest, I've discovered this room just a few minutes before you did. In my case, I haven't even seen it before, so I was quite surprised, and start to think about some kind of perception filter, but if you saw it before then it's something else. Anyway, I planned to use the room in case I'd really need some private space with no one looking," she answered the question, and hastily added just in case, "Not... that... I'm planning something no one should see, of course. But having this room as a haven sounds cool."

She was studying the girl while talking to her. She was a pretty little thing with mesmerizing eyes. No shyness as she could expect, but there was still space to find out.

"Are you an explorer or something? What was your actual motivation to go and discover something unknown to you?" she inquired without taking her eyes off the girl.

So it turned out the Gryffindor girl was also looking to use the space for privacy. It wasn't very surprising, though. Saskia had initially wanted to use it in case she needed to hide away from everyone else, for whatever reason she may have, but it just so happened that the girl found it first, and by a few minutes as well. But as the saying goes, finders keepers. If the girl wanted this room first, she may as well have it. There were probably some other places Saskia could discover in this school anyway. It might be a bit more tedious, but it wasn't a big deal to her. It just meant she could find more places to explore.

Saskia tilted her head in curiosity as the girl quickly added that she wasn't planning anything in the room. If anything, it made it more likely that she was, in fact, planning something. Saskia wasn't one to pry for information on someone she just met, but she couldn't help but wonder what that plan could possibly be. The girl didn't seem like the type to cause unnecessary trouble, although it was unclear what her true intentions were. For the most part, she appeared well read and a bit on the analytical side, so Saskia's first guess was that she would be using it for a private studying place. But now that she mentioned a plan, her curiosity was piqued. Still, she wouldn't need to ask about that yet. It might have been personal to her.

"Are you an explorer or something? What was your actual motivation to go and discover something unknown to you?" the girl then asked, staring back at her.

Saskia shrugged. "I guess you could call me that, but I haven't made any groundbreaking discoveries at the moment. Still working on that, she started, taking a pause to figure out the answer to her next question.

"My motivation? I guess I wanted to find something to do in this school. Find some adventure, if you will. All that's there to do nowadays is studying and homework. Besides, there's a certain kind of... Thrill and excitement in finding something new. Not only do you feel accomplished that you found something, but you'll find some kind of bond to it. The feeling that it's yours and that not everyone is there to know that, if I'm saying that properly," she further explained, hoping that the answer was enough for the girl. She hadn't meant to be so lengthy in her answer, but she felt that a short answer wouldn't suffice for someone so smart as this girl.

And then it occurred to her that she still didn't know the girl's name. She would have to change that if she wanted to know her better.

"So, who are you anyway?" she asked, a small, yet amused smile present on her face.

"Groundbreaking discoveries? Well, we're just a bunch of first-years yet," she thought as the girl was talking.

She listened to the girl explaining her motivation and favoured her desire to dig deeper with thrill and excitement. To find out stuff and not stuck in the continuous loop of homework and classes. That was a distinct trait of a researcher. Probably she would be interested in that Research Club Meenauh had ideas for. She liked the girl's speech in general and she liked how the girl looked at her. Her eyes were intriguing in their manner of looking at her and the surroundings. As if they were piercing through the reality itself, trying to get to the core of anything that was in front of her.

The Research Club derailed her stream of thoughts a bit and she missed the introduction invitation from the girl. Recovering after a couple of seconds, she answered:

"I am an explorer myself. A researcher I'd say. And I do support what you said about thrill and excitement in finding something new," her eyes were sort of gleaming with pleasure from talking to a potential fellow researcher, "My name is Meenauh, like 'me' and 'now'. And nice to meet you."

"I am an explorer myself. A researcher I'd say. And I do support what you said about thrill and excitement in finding something new," the girl replied.

Saskia smiled. She knew this girl would be someone she'd like. It was hard to find fellow explorers in a school where studying and magic was mostly emphasized. While it was believable that there were definitely those kinds of people around, it was hard to talk to them, or even catch them in the first place. It was only by some kind of coincidence that Saskia was even able to meet this girl in the room. In other circumstances, she would find herself alone, which wasn't bad, but it might have gotten boring if she had nothing else to do in the meantime. But now here she was, actually having the opportunity to meet someone with a similar goal.

"My name is Meenauh, like 'me' and 'now'. And nice to meet you."

Meenauh. If she was being honest, it was an odd name, and she wasn't really sure if she'd be able to spell it correctly if she had to write it down someday. But it was unique, and there might have been some kind of meaning behind it. Plus, it might even be easy to remember, if she could just think about those two words, 'me' and 'now'. It was a simple, yet amusing way to recall the name.

"I'm Saskia. It's nice to meet you, too," she said, her smile having yet to falter.

Now that Meenauh mentioned being another explorer, as well as being a researcher, Saskia's interest in the conversation was starting to grow a lot more. Questions filled her mind, and if she wasn't being careful, she might have ended up bombarding the Gryffindor with several of them all at once. But the girl knew she couldn't be too nosy. Too many consecutive questions usually left people overwhelmed, and she could probably take her time asking them. Saskia would also have to let the other girl ask her own questions, if she wanted to. It would have been better to have a balanced conversation, after all.

"Have you made any discoveries while exploring? And what have you researched so far?"

Saskia? That sounded very British. Probably even Old English. And if the girl's name was unique at Hogwarts, Meenauh must have overheard it mentioned in the common room. Was she a celebrity Meenauh didn't yet know about? Would Meenauh care? Celebrities were nice people to have connections with, especially when you would not plan to become one. Such connections had been proven useful in case one would need a thing that requires glory and influence.

Meenauh tried to recall any other celebrities she knew but failed. She failed to find any other actual people she could become really close with. Well, except Marla and Euphrasia, probably. That was enough. Probably.

Saskia asked Meenauh a question. 

"For Merlin's sake, Meenauh, will you ever pay attention while people talk to you so that you wouldn't need to go to your subconsсiously recorded archive every time to retrieve the information?" her inner voice whined, but it worked and Meenauh tried to actually listen to the conversation without going deep in her thoughts every time, "But apart from that, Meenauh, really, any discoveries so far?"

She thought for a while. She researched books on Transfiguration a lot. She avoided actual experiments because she promised her mom. But she was eager to try. Probably even more than keeping the promise. That was the father's part talking in her. Not "not keeping the promises", of course, but the rebellious investigator's part. She didn't feel like actually breaking the rules, but if nothing would go wrong and no one would be hurt, then no one would know that any rules would be broken. Right? 

"And what if someone would?" her voice inquired again, but Meenauh avoided continuing that discussion with herself and returned to Saskia.

"I think my biggest discovery is people. You see, I haven't really interacted or talked to wizards before. Like really no one. So while magic is my common environment, people are not. So every new personality I meet, any new kind of interaction I get, I'm always surprised the way people react and what I feel when talking to them. And how the conversations can turn the opposite directions, when you don't expect them to," she answered the girl's question, actually being surprised herself of that recent discovery.

People. That was actually an answer Saskia did not expect. She expected something about the school, or maybe even something about magic. But people? That was definitely an interesting topic to think about. As much as Saskia liked talking to people, she found that she was lacking in meaningful relationships or even any kind of close friendship that she had seen with so many other people.

She never attended those public schools people usually brought up, so it was harder to find people she could normally talk to. Being home schooled instead, she only had her sister to talk to, and even then, she wasn't one for conversation most of the time. Sure, she talked to other children who happened to be outside and open to socializing, but anytime she tried, she always felt a certain kind of distance when she talked to them.

It might have had to do with the fact that they didn't have enough time to talk during the day, but it might have also been something Saskia had done. If it was the latter, she had a hard time figuring out what it was specifically. Was it her magical ability that distanced herself from them? The feeling that she wouldn't be able to express an integral part of her life with other people and never knowing whether they would be able to relate or not? She definitely wasn't planning to break the laws of secrecy, but she always did wonder what exactly would happen if she found someone who shared the same abilities and bond over that. Still, it was an unlikely possibility, and the girl accepted that she would have to wait until she could attend Hogwarts to find other people who may have been like her.

Maybe she could even learn more about this girl. Whether she'd be able to become friends with her would be a different issue altogether, but she wouldn't be opposed to the idea of it. She was a smart and observant individual, it seemed. At most, they should get along just fine.

"What personalities have you met so far? And what was the most interesting one you've seen?" Saskia asked, staring at the girl intently, as if she was trying to search for the answers through her eyes. If she wanted to know more about her, she was going to take a slightly more serious approach to this.