#2 Dinner

Lailee briefly looked up as Avery sat nearby, always on alert for a potential threat. Seeing that it was a third year that she barely knew, which meant she likely wasn’t a troublemaker, she gave a slight smile, trying to be friendly but failing miserably because of her sour mood. Still, the girl looked lonely and feeling like she could relate to that emotion and didn’t want any of her housemates to feel that way, she asked, “Hey, Allenmyer, you alright?”

It didn’t escape her notice that Lucas sat further away, and she thought that was just as well, since she was never sure what to make of him or if he was trustworthy in the slightest. She was relieved though, when Becca sat near her, making good on her earlier vow to sit with her.

Lailee soon regretted it, though, as Becca stared at her long enough for Lailee to grow extremely uncomfortable and awkwardly tell her to shove off. She rolled her eyes as Becca loaded more food onto her plate, as if stuffing her face would make the words Eleanor had taunted her with hurt any less, and she added it to the mess of food she was pushing around, still not particularly hungry. She thought Becca was probably right about being hungry later, but that did nothing to distract her from her overactive brain at this moment. “It’s fine.” she murmured, appreciating the concern but feeling uneasy about being the focus of attention.

She wondered where Amara was, feeling like her friend’s absence was because of her even though there was nothing to indicate that. She knew she was having the most ridiculous thoughts, but couldn’t brush them aside no matter how hard she tried.

She turned her gaze to the front of the room as Headmaster Rickard spoke, not so subtly looking towards the Gryffindor table when the illicit fireworks were mentioned. Even if Becca hadn’t mentioned Thatcher, Lockyer and Bernard earlier, it wouldn’t take a stretch of the imagination to determine who was behind that flagrant display of disregard for school policies. She was appalled that Headmaster Rickard didn’t seem too upset, even as he forbid the use and possession of fireworks. Typical--Gryffindors getting away with everything.

She pushed her plate away, disinterested, and waited for the Headmaster to finish speaking so she could excuse herself, still dwelling on her row with Eleanor. She wished her new brother was around to talk to about this, though she supposed she could write...but then she would have to find words to describe what her problem was, when she wasn’t even really sure herself.

Lailee glanced back at Headmaster Rickard when he spoke of the usefulness of learning defensive spells, then looked immediately in the direction of Professor Snape, to gauge his reaction. She trusted very few people in this entire school, and he was one of the few. Sure, he was terrifying at times, but he had never given her a reason not to trust him and had been very respectful of her recent life changes. If he seemed like there should be a reason to be concerned over Headmaster Rickard’s ominous warning, she would definitely be on alert as well.