Want, or need?

[Matilda Wentworth]

[Closed for Josh]

For a solid hour now, she had been doing homework on a kitchen table. Why, you ask? Well theres a good reason to that. Her House was chock full of its students. Young years and older years bickering to find places in the Common Room, to do homework or sit around the fire eating Pumpkin Pasties. Girls and boys up in their dorms also doing homework, or sitting rugged up because of the sudden coldness that Autumn had brought on this Tuesday afternoon. Matty had given up on trying on concentrate on her studies, and had looked for a place elsewhere to study. She already had so much on her mind. Boys, friends, Quidditch. She just needed a time out for the buzz of everything. The Library was much the same, with lots of firsties from various houses working together on their first major assignments. So Matty went to the only place she thought fit. The Kitchens.

Much to her happiness and surprises, the only ones who vacated it, were the jolly house elf's. The fifth year held no worry or concern when entering, for she was rather 'known' in these parts. The teenager politely declined any offers of food, although accepted a butter beer, and slumped into a chair at the big table in the center of the room. Matty lugged her backpack onto the table, and fished out her Astronomy essay, and a book to compliment it. The fifth year set to work finishing the last half of the essay. This took up about half an hour, and before long the Hufflepuff was moving onto her next subject. Charms. It was practical, so the girl felt refreshed to be able to put down her Quill, and pick up her wand. The girl took a small glance at her notes, before taking another sip of her butter beer. A small smile came to her face as she picked up a plastic bowel, and placed it on a counter on the other side of the room.

"Accio bowl!" nothing. "Accio bowl!" nothing again. "Accio! Bowl!" the Tupperware on the counter stirred a little. The girls fierce green eyes frown slightly. Why was it so difficult? She leaned back on the table, picking up her noted with one hand. Clear your mind, and concentrate on what you really want. However, make yourself think you need it, rather than want it. Matty sighed, and glanced over the wrist actions. Perhaps it was that she was getting wrong. "Ruddy charms..." the girl muttered under her breath, standing back up. She brushed off her uniform, now only consisting of her ballet slip on shoes, black stockings, gray skirt, her white school shirt, gray jumper with rolled up sleeves, and her Hufflepuff tie loosened slightly. Matty ran a hand through her brown hair, which was very straight, and out, before practicing the wrist actions again. It was only a couple of hours until dinner, and Matty didn't want to be spending her time in here when she could be in the great hall.

[Josh York]

Classes here were just as heavy as those in his school in the States. But somehow, Josh was liking it here more than he had in the other school. People were nicer here, they didn't stare at him because he was "the English kid". And from the sort of things he heard, lots of people had different backgrounds, different bloodlines and different kinds of families. Step-parents and foster parents didn't seem like such a big deal here, but that didn't mean Josh was about to boast that his entire family was adopted. No, that was going to stay with him for a while, until he was more comfortable around people.

The Hufflepuff common room was a particularly busy place this evening. Coming down the stairs from his dorm, he noticed how many people were busting around and talking. It wasn't the best place to do homework, so Josh grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder and ventured out of the house. He didn't really know where he was going to go, but his feet started walking and he let them carry him.

Suddenly, the boy found himself in a rather dark place, torches lining the wall. He had no idea where he was, but his feet kept going. Finally, Josh made himself stop so he could take a look around and figure out which way was up. It was only when he stopped did a pleasant smell drift into his nose. Intrigued, Josh followed the smell as it got stronger and stronger. He reached a spot where the smell was strongest, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. A picture caught his eye up on the wall of a bowl of fruit and the Hufflepuff boy felt like he needed to investigate. The picture seemed so real and he ran his hand over the painting. A soft giggle came out of...the pear? No, that couldn't be right. Josh knew pictures in this world moved and talked, but it was a fruit. Fruits couldn't laugh, could they?

To Josh's left, a creaking sounded, like that of a door opening. Still amused by the pear, Josh didn't bother to look and see that an actual door was opening. The pleasant smell he had followed, however, became even stronger. Turning his head, Josh finally noticed the open door. His eyes opened wider as he walked slowly toward it, seeing a bunch of tiny elves bustling around like the students had been doing in the common room. Josh figured this had to be the kitchen as the smell hit him square in the face. A soft "mmm" escaped his lips as he walked into the room, taking a quick glance around the place. He noticed someone else there already, someone he recognized from his house, actually. The boy was about to make his way over to her when two tiny elves stopped him and began asking him what he wanted to eat.
"Oh, nothing, thank you," he told them politely. They seemed to be slightly down-hearted at that and Josh frowned as he watched them walk away sadly.
"How about a sandwich then?" he called after them. He grinned as they scampered off happily to fetch him food.

Making his way toward the girl, he heard her attempting the "accio" charm. He smiled slightly, walking quietly toward her and slowly putting his stuff down. Josh came up beside the girl, ready to offer some advice.
"Try saying it with a little more force," he offered with a smile.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty continued her attempts at making the bowl come to her, though they failed time after time. However, the Hufflepuff wasn't one to give up easily. This year she her major tests coming up. They were important, so of course, the teenager was going to put in her best effort, and that meant practice and study. She screwed up her nose slightly when the bowl stumbled forward on her umpteenth try, now getting frustrated with herself. "Maybe I should just give up and go back to writting..." she mumbled to herself, taking another sip of butter beer to calm herself down. No, she wasn't giving up that easily, these spells took time.

Matty held her wand back up, and took a step closer to the bowl, now facing the back of the entrance to the kitchens. She just needed to concentrate, so as you may have guessed, the fifth year wasn't expecting another human voice to speak aloud. She had missed his voice among the elf's, but the boys direct comment to her startled the girl. 'Try saying it with a little more force'. Matty spun around, managing to trip over her ankle in the process. She stumbled back, before catching herself again. "Holy crap," she blurted out, before lowering her wand, which had risen in the process. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in." she appoligised, blushing slightly for blurting out like that. "Hey, you're in my house, aren't you?" Matty said, while she ran a hand through her hair, one of her winning smiles appearing on her face. She knew he looked kind of familiar, but the girl couldn't put a name to the face.

[Josh York]

Josh seemed to be making a lot of people fall over. The one poor girl had nearly broken her neck, falling down the stairs and now he's startled this poor girl into tripping over her feet. Still, he reached out and his hand touched her shoulder, steadying her in case she kept going. His cheeks flushed an uncomfortable shade of pink as their eyes met for a moment and she started speaking. His hands went up in surrender when the girl's wand was suddenly pointed at him and Josh couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Yeah, I'm in Hufflepuff," the young teenager told the girl, " I just transferred in." At the sight of the girl's smile, Josh was actually taken aback for a second. It was...incredible, to say the least. Still, somehow his brain managed to form words and sentences and spoke them aloud.
"I'm...I'm Josh," the Hufflepuff boy told his housemate, reaching his hand out to shake hers.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty could only smile, kind of stupidly at the boy. She wasn't usually like this, but then again it wasn't usual for someone to offer advice to her just out of the blue. Her smile was also due to the fact that he had reached out, and steadied her. Now that was something you didn't see much in boys today. Not only was her smile stupid, but the girl actually felt kinda silly, grinning at this guy for no reason. Finally, when the boy spoke again, Matty nodded. "I thought so. Well, welcome to the Hogwarts Kitchens." she replied in a chirpy tone, glancing about at all the occupants, running from bench to bench preparing tonights meals. When the boy introduced himself, the fifth year reached out and took his hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, Josh. I'm Matty, fifth year." she added, her eyes briefly glancing up to his again.

Realizing that she was still holding onto his hand, and slipped it back to her own person. The girl then took a couple of steps to wards the table, jumping up so that she was seated on it. "So what brings you here this arvo?"

[Josh York]

"Nice to meet you too, Matty," the boy told her sincerely, the grin still unfortunately on his face. He noticed how long she'd held onto his hand and his cheeks flared a deep pink. Josh was such a shy guy to begin with and having a rather pretty girl holding onto his hand and smiling at him was almost too much to handle. However, she'd let go finally and Josh found himself rather sad that she had. He watched her move over to the table and jump onto it.

"Actually, I was just looking for someplace quiet to do some homework," Josh told Matty, remembering suddenly that his bag was still on his shoulder.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty could see that he was blushing, but then again, so was she. However, to her advantage, the teenager was quite tan, and therefore the pink in her cheeks was hidden quite well. It wasn't often that the fifth year stumbled upon genuinely polite guys. Josh had a charm to him, she had to admit that. Once the girl was seated on the table top, she placed her wand next to her, letting her hands drop onto her lap. When she looked back up the the boy, Matty realised that he must have been at least a year older than her. She was kind of hoping he was a sixth year, that meant the boy would be hanging around for another two years, and it would be a nice change to have a Huffle boy to hang out with. Josh was tall, well, taller than the girl anyway, who stood at about 5'9. He had a gentle, calm look to him.

When he spoke, the girl looked back to her own things. Scrolls of parchment, books, quills and a couple of different coloured ink bottles, note pads and a sketch pad, all decked out on one half of the large table. "Looks like you and me had the same idea. It's a nice place to work, really, even though the critters can't really help you with spells and stuff." Matty admitted. "Like this accio, I can't get that blast bowl to move for the life of me... what kind of work are you stuck with?" she asked, her grin dying down into a curious smile.

[Josh York]

"I don't have much, really," Josh admitted, "None of the practical stuff, anyways. Just some reading I need to get done for Potions and Care of Magical Creatures." Josh took a couple steps toward the girl, lifting his bad up onto the table and set it down, glad that the weight of it was off his shoulder now. He hadn't realized how heavy the texts actually were. He opened his messenger bag and took out his first text book and then his wand.

"Here, just hold on a second," Josh told the girl, pointing his wand at the bowl she was trying to get, "Accio, bowl!" The dish flew out of it's place and into Josh's waiting hand. The "accio" charm was one he had mastered early and was quite good at it already.
"Try having it just a little closer to you to start with," Josh offered, placing it on the table and taking a few steps away from it, "It'll be easier to get when it's closer. Come over here and give it a try."

[Matilda Wentworth]

"Sounds right enough," Matty commented back to Josh. First week back varied for the different years. For example, last year the girl had practically no homework for the first week, but this year, it was quite the opposite. She just assumed it was because of O.W.Ls this year. The girl watched him as he set his things down on the desk, before getting out a book and wand. 'Here, just hold on a second,' and the teen nodded in reply. Her green eyes watched him carefully, while she listened just as intently. And he had done it. Just like that. At first Matty was really impressed, but then she realised he was a year or so older than her, and he had probably had time to work it out. Although, Josh might've just been a real wiz at these things, so she wasn't ruling that out either.

When the boy offered his advice, the Fifth year accepted it with pleasure. "Alrighty," Matty slid off the table, and grabbed her wand from the desk. The girl walked to where Josh was, standing beside him. She glanced to him, a small smile on her face. The Huffle then focused her attention on the bowl, now at a closer distance. She flicked her wand appropriately, followed by firmly saying "Accio, bowl!" Matty watched as the plastic dish slid from the table top, and made it to where the two were standing. The girl put our her free hand, grasping the bowl. "Yes!" she though aloud, a grin forming on her face. Without thinking, she turned and hugged Josh, which was kind of tricky, because of his height, but she managed. However, just after doing so, the girl blushed, and let go, stepping back quickly. "Uhm, sorry, about that." she added, biting her lower lip to hold off the grin. Heck, yeah, she felt happy, but kind of embarrassed about just randomly jumping on Josh about it. The girl levitated the bowl back to the table, to avoid looking up to the older boy for a moment or two.

[Josh York]

Josh watched the girl walk toward him and stand at his side. His eyes followed her and watched her movements, his mind more on helping her with the spell than anything else. Josh couldn't deny that she was really pretty, but he tried his best to ignore that for now and just help her.

When she pointed her wand at the bowl, Josh stood back and let her just go for it. The Hufflepuff boy grinned as the bowl flew off the table and right into the girl's outstretched hand as it had done for him. He laughed slightly when he heard her cheer about it and nearly toppled over backward when Matty latched herself onto the boy. Feeling her arms around him, Josh's face erupted into a bright, extremely noticeable shade of pink on his pale, ivory skin. Matty let go and stepped away from him, avoiding looking his way. Josh did the same thing, but forced himself to speak, hoping to keep the awkwardness away.
"That was really great, Matty," Josh told her, trying to force a grin. In his head, however, he was sure if he meant the hug or the spell.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty was really stoked that she had gotten the spell right. She put allot of the credit to wards Josh, as he had suggested the idea of both saying it with more force, and brining it closer. If he hadn't stumbled in, the Fifth year probably would have given up by now, and would be finishing off the notes from Herbology. So, really, the hug was both spontaneous, but also like a hidden 'thank you' to wards the older boy. When one of them finally spoke, Matty giggled slightly, before turning back to him. "Thanks, Josh. I'd probably be doing notes now, though, if it hadn't been for you." she confessed casually.

The girl took another few steps back, leaving a larger distance between herself and the bowl. Again, she focused on it, swished her wand, and said those magical words, and as a product, the dish came flying to her again. Matty felt more confident with each spell cast. Turning the bowl over in her hands, the teen thought for a moment. "So where did you go, before here?" she asked, somewhat randomly. Josh had been a big help, and Matty felt it was only right to get a bit of a background on him now. After all, she didn't want to give him the impression that she was just using him as a tutor. He was better than that.

[Josh York]

"Actually, I lived in the States for a while with my...f-family," he said, wishing he hadn't stuttered on the word "family". He hoped the girl would let it slide and not bother with it, so he just continued.
"We moved there before I turned 11 so that's where I went to school, but we ended up back here," he explained, not going into any more detail than that. Josh really hoped she wouldn't ask anymore about that, just because he didn't like talking about his family. The last time Josh had trusted someone with it, they'd told other people and he had paid the price. Josh really didn't see why it was such a big deal or why it made him such an oddity, but somehow it did. And Josh really didn't want that again.

"What about you?" he asked the girl, "Been here long?"

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty listened carefully to what Josh said. She liked getting to know the people in her house, especially those who had a potential to be friends. It was in her nature, like most Hufflepuffs. So, Josh seemed like an interesting guy. The girl did let his stutter slide, for she wasn't to pick up on things like that too much. Once she had finished giving her the general low-down, the girl threw in a comment. "That sounds pretty cool. I've been told the States are pretty different from here, is that right?" she asked, it was kind of a rhetorical questions, but there was an answer to it.

At his own question, Matty nodded. "Yeah, since I was eleven. My dad didn't know about magic until I got the letter, so he thought it would be a good opportunity. And, well, my mum wasn't really there to tell me about it anyway." she said, feeling herself shrink a little bit. The same thing happened whenever she talked about her mum, for 'not being there' was kind of an understatement. Matty couldn't have even found her mum all those years ago, for she wasn't even with them on Earth any longer. Moving on, the girl shifted her weight to one foot. "So how do you like Hogwarts?" the girl asked, her eyes looking up to Josh's.

[Josh York]

"The States are pretty different, yeah," Josh answered before she asked him another one, but the way she had said it made Josh stop before he spoke. His eyes looked over her, feeling like there was a sad story behind the way she'd said "wasn't around" about her mom. Josh knew how that was and he didn't ask about it. He wanted to though, so he could tell her his story and make her not feel so bad. But he couldn't, and it sucked. He didn't want to see her sad but he really didn't know her enough to be able to trust her with that. With a slight sigh, Josh tried to lighten the mood.

"Hogwarts is pretty great, yeah," Josh told her with a slight grin, "Especially because there's pretty great people here. And of course, they're in my house." Josh chuckled softly and playfully nudged the girl, feeling his cheeks turn a slight pink again.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty simply nodded in reply when Josh confirmed that the States were different to the U.K. However, she wasn't aware that he had picked up on her falter when speaking. Although the teenager preferred to get her mum's death out in the open early in a relationship with others, so there was no awkwardness later on. However, Matty only let such information out, when she was sure the person wasn't a total jerk or whatever. This wasn't common, but it had been known to happen. The girl was glad that they had shifted onto a new subject, for she could tell Josh was kind of uncomfortable speaking about his past too. It was just written upon his face.

His smile caught on, and soon the younger girl was grinning again. "Well, I'm sure you've realised that Hufflepuff is the best house." she said, giving him a small wink. Matty wasn't all too opinionated about the houses, but of course, she had pride for her own. The girl then back up to the table again, sitting on it, like she had before. She nudged her head tot he spot next to her, and briefly patted the seat. "Have you tried Butter Beer before? It's quite Common here," with that, Matty picked up the bottle, still half full of the ever-warm liquid, and took a small sip.