The Better House Closed

After Emma had finished eating the remaining of the food of her plate, she got up from the Ravenclaw table to stroll around the Great Hall. She forced her bag over her shoulder and scanning around the room looking for people to socialize with. The candles gleamed brighter than ever as she spotted a Gryffindor at the Hufflepuff table. Just from pure knowledge, she knew that that table wasn't her designated table. She looked down at her crumb-filled plate before walking over to the table which wasn't that far away from her current table.

The pressure of the bag seemed to be weighing her down by ten pounds, it was like carrying a giant metal weight that only weighed a few pounds. Her eyes still on the female Gryffindor, she walked across the hall, every once in a while hitting the wooden seats with her feet accidentally. She glanced up at the enchanted candles moving up and across the ceiling.

"Hi!" Emma said cheerfully, in hopes that she could make a friend right off the mark. "Uhm, sorry to interrupt, but I really want someone to talk to... No one really socializes when they're stuffing their faces with food." She placed her bag down underneath her feet and faced the Gryffindor, awaiting her answer.

Evelyn had been sipping on iced tea after she finished her meal, almost content on not having any company. She still wouldn't mind having somebody to talk to during the dullness that is the great hall when everybody else is stuffing their faces with the- admittedly well made- food. It seemed her prayers were answered when she heard the tell-tale sound of somebody sitting across from her.
When she looked up she was met with the sight of a Ravenclaw girl. The girl seemed rather cheerful right off the bat. Which is something Evelyn took great amusement in. So she nodded along in understanding at the explanation she gave for sitting at the hufflepuff table.
Before she could speak up though another person converged to her location. Like moths, Her mind supplied her with that trivial detail. Both the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw seemed objectively attractive so she thought the comparison was accurate.
The Gryffindor girl also seemed to want to talk. Which was nice and all; perhaps they could have a civil conversation?
But how to start it off, maybe with a joke? She wasn't very good with them but she could give it a shot.
"And what dose though brave lion wish to speak about to the cowardly bird and badger?" It was a subtle shot at the Gryffindor traits. Which she found as condescending as the Ravenclaw ones.
Her comment wasn't made with ill intent but rather with mirth, and it leaked through her words.

Lorelai greeted the approaching Ravenclaw."Yeah, feel free to join us. Nice to meet you." She shrugged passively, making more room for the girl next to her. The more the merrier, right? She had been looking for some company after all, and she was getting it. Both girls seemed pretty nice, and it was much better than being alone.

The Gryffindor was not amused by the Hufflepuff's' joke'. But she smiled anyway, just be polite. However, she couldn't hold back a snarky remark. "I was just looking for someone to talk to. Nothing else. And just so you know, not all Gryffindors think that they're superior to other houses. That's an awfully gross generalization. I'm just saying...."She rolled her eyes, lifting her head out of her arms and making eye contact with the Hufflepuff girl.

The girl never had much of a tolerance for people she deemed 'wrong'. Sure it got her into trouble sometimes but she always managed to get herself into that so it never stopped her. Another think Lorelai was, was stubborn. Her views weren't going to change very easily, if at all.

It annoyed her that the Hufflepuff was making assumptions about her house from stereotypes. Lorelai never went around calling Hufflepuffs annoying cowards or Ravenclaws snobbish nerds. She felt agitated, although not as angry as she could have been.

Emma had taken the Hufflepuff's joke a bit wrong. The word 'coward' rang inside of her head, but she tried her best not to show it and covered it up with a smile and a laugh. She sat down next to the two and awaited conversation that followed the joke, something was about to happen... and it wasn't going to be good.

"I was just looking for someone to talk to. Nothing else. And just so you know, not all Gryffindors think that they're superior to other houses. That's an awfully gross generalization. I'm just saying...." Emma watched as the Gryffindor rolled her eyes. She must have found this nonappealing, for even she had come out of her comfortable position. 

"All the houses are equal... They're each known for something amazing, I like all of the houses." Emma said shifting her weight in her seat. She spoke from her heart, all of her family had been in most of the four Hogwarts houses. "You aren't a coward, either, not unless if you want to be..." She said mumbling the last part, as her eyes withdrew from hers.

The Ravenclaw tried to focus on something else, but nothing seemed to be working. Looks like this conversation was only starting, and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Perhaps the three would make up, though she doubted she was actually included.

Evelyn wasn't a fool and noticed her joke hadn't landed properly. She probably could've phrased it better because looking back on it it was grossly out of place, like the Gryffindor had said. Instead of ignoring her mistake she conceded to their points. She didn't put the Gryffindor's eyeroll against her, it didn't have as much vitriol in it that it could of. The Ravenclaw seemed to be uncomfortable as well. Which she felt guilty for almost immediately.

"You're right, it wasn't considerate for me to say things like that. I guess i'm just a bit bitter. But I shouldn't take it out on you just because of your guys houses."

The sorting hat had been a backhanded kind of rude while sorting her into hufflepuff and she hadn't really realized that she held a grudge until they brought it up. "Houses themselves are equal. I guess I just didn't consider the people themselves, It shouldn't be an excuse though."

She itched the back of head. Heat had risen up the back of her neck, betraying her shame. "Do you guys enjoy being in your houses?"

Evelyn wanted to get back into a positive conversation. They seemed like good people and she didn't want to offend them any further with inconsiderate remarks.

Lorelai was still a bit bitter from the Hufflepuff's earlier joke but tried her best to let it slide. She was glad that the Ravenclaw agreed with her, although she noticed that she had been a little nicer about it than Lorelai had been. Although they had gotten off to a bad start, she hoped the Hufflepuff girl didn't feel ganged up on. She had apologized for it and seemed to have a change of heart. And after all, she had been the one to get up and sit next to her. Apologizing was not her forte, however, so she decided to just drop the topic instead, and just answer the question the Hufflepuff posed.


"Yeah, I like Gryffindor. Everyone’s super nice.”She stopped herself from commenting on how not everyone there was self-absorbed but figured it was the opposite of where she wanted this conversation to go. She did like Gryffindor though, and although she wouldn't admit it, in the back of her mind she did like Gryffindor far more than any of the other houses. “What about you guys….uh, what's your names?”

She realized none of them had formally met each other before, and it bothered her she didn’t know these girls names. “I’m Lorelai, Lorelai Brunelle, just so you know.”

Emma noticed the swift change of the topic, but before suspecting it she went with it. There were such things as defective starts, but it was more of an awkward start to her, maybe even a bad first impression. She didn't know how to feel being called a coward. Though the subject had been changed, she felt the thought still swim in her head as if it would never leave her.

When reality finally hit her, the brunette answered. When Lorelai had said she liked being in Gryffindor, she wondered if she had made the right choice. Maybe, after all, she was meant to be in Gryffindor, even though she had prayed not to be. "I like being in Ravenclaw, well because not everyone puts their work first -" Like people assume. Emma knew well to leave that part out. It was a bit bias to go into detail, but she kept her mouth shut.

When the Ravenclaw had noticed that neither of the three had properly introduced themselves, it seemed that the Gryffindor took up the responsibility. Part of her admired that, she could never be the first one to do something, she couldn't even read properly without studdering a few times. 

"I'm Emma Hill, nice to meet you." Emma looked at both the Hufflepuff and the Gryffindor.

Evelyn was terrible with first impressions. There was still some lingering tension in the air, though everybody seemed to be trying to fix the problem. Still she couldn't help but want to try and fix it. She should've thought about that before she made the joke, so she was stuck with her insensitive comment. Well she was worrying over it in her head Lorelia had introduced herself replied about how everybody in Gryffindor was nice. Emma even talked about her house and given her name. There was a pause that she figured she was suppose to fill with her two cents.

"That's good. I'm Evelyn, by the way have you ever thought about why the Ravenclaw crest is an eagle when it's called Ravenclaw?" She was trying to lighten the mood despite it failing miserably the first time. Normally she would ramble about it but it seemed better to leave the question up for discretion. It was a genuine question after all. Evelyn couldn't help but add something else that bugged her about the animal crests on each house.

"Isn't Slytherin the only house with an accurate representation for their animal? Because of the whole snakes slithering thing. I mean, Gryffindor's have a lion when gryffin's are an actual creature. Hufflepuffs aren't actually a thing I think. It's just a last name." And she ended up rambling anyway. Way to go Evelyn.

Emma was remarkably ready for this question, she too had once had the same thought that the Hufflepuff did. As she shifted in her seat she thought about how to transform her beliefs into statements. She looked up at the candles that continued to float lazily around the Great Hall before answering. As she looked briefly, all conversations that had been going on now seemed so boisterous, maybe it was just her ability to tune others out, that seemed unlikely. 

It seemed a bit suspicious to talk about the emblems of the houses, the brunette knew where this would eventually lead up to, but still, she played the game. "I'm only sure it's a legend, but do you know Helena Ravenclaw? Well, she ran off to a place called I believe the Land of Eagles? Well, she died there and I think Rowena Ravenclaw did it off of honor." 

Starting to grow a bit mentally impatient, the girl turned the topic back to Evelyn. "I've always wondered why the emblem for Hufflepuff is a badger, do you know?" She hid a sense of curiosity in her voice so that she wouldn't grow to feign of her, the last thing she wanted was to have someone lie to her face.