Hallucinations ((Nattie))

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

She had imagined him again. Only this time he stayed longer than he usually did. He was in the common room. Reading. Ingrid of course, got freaked out at how life-like her hallucination of Nattie was, and ran out of the common room faster than one could say, "Quidditch." Ingrid was starting to get creeped out by these hallucinations. She hadn't spoken to Nattie since the day of the old people home. Normally, Ingrid didn't warm to someone so soon- but Nattie had the impression of being an older brother to Ingrid...and killed her to think about him almost as much as it killed her to think of Janine. So she tried her hardest not to think of him...it didn't help that she saw him where ever she went.

Ingrid now blinked back tears...she missed everyone. Was she going to be able to stay at Hogwarts? Maintain her life without her family and friends there beside her? Sure, she had Sita. Who was her family...and her friend, but Sita wasn't her mother or her father. Ingrid wondered if Sally was right. She wondered if she could continue to attend Hogwarts without missing her family too much...she knew she could, if only she had support. But she didn't have too much of that at the moment. Ingrid sighed, her arms crossed, and her head down. She had been walking around the school for a good 20 minutes now.

Bump. She wasn't looking where she was going and she bumped into someone. Ingrid looked up, startled, and her eyes got even more wide than they were before. He was standing in front of her. But...no. Hallucinations weren't copporeal. Ingrid bit her bottom lip, tilted her head to the side. Could this be really him? Ingrid grabbed his arm, and slapped it a couple of times; "Nattie?! Is that really you?! You aren't a hallucination?! Nattie!" Ingrid squealed with delight and threw herself onto him, hugging him around the waist.

[nathaniel]

Nathaniel flipped the page, as he skimmed through the rather old smelling and looking, huge book/ It has seemed interesting, when he arrived at the library, and first picked it out, but he was now getting extremely bored with it. Nathaniel wasn't the type of person that would just start something, and stop in the middle, so he really did want to finsih the book, but he thought that he would let it slide. He put his hand up ho his chin, resting his head there, with his elbow laying nicely on the huge, book. He was doing this, to keep himself from falling asleep. Whenever he got bored, he got tired, it was as simple as that.

He started to skim through the book, but thinking of much different things, as his eyes rolled over the words. He began to think about classes, his family, friends, his home life in the muggle world... Ingrid. He could have swore that he had seen the girl quite a few times, of course, he simply told himself that he was just seeing things, and went on to what he was doing before. He was getting a strange feeling about this though. He had never seen the same things, in his mind, so many times, and he often found himself thinking that he might have gone mad! He shrugged, as he closed the book, and heaved it back onto the shelf. He picked up his bag, and headed out of the library, enough reading for today.

Just as he rounded the cornor, and down the hall, a small person bumbed into him. The girl seemed to look quite amazed with Nathaniel, and began to hit his arm a few times, after grabbing it. He pulled it from the girl, with a "Hey! Stop that!" The girl then flung herself at him, calling him 'Nattie'. Nattie... the last person that had called him that was Ingrid... He quickly look down at the girl, her blond hair, and big blue eyes were the only thing that Nathaniel had to see, to reconize her. "I-Ingrid...?" he asked in disbeleif. "Ingrid!" He pulled the small girl into a hug, as well. "You didn't tell me that you were a witch! Well... I suppose you couldn't have... could you of?" he said happliy with a smile. He had missed the girl, even if they had only met once.

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

She couldn't believe it. She hadn't been hallucinating all those times. No wonder he had seemed so real those times she had seen him. Ingrid felt a sudden rush of welcoming and immediate reassurance come over her. Nattie went to Hogwarts, he probably knew a lot more than Ingrid did. And he was in Hufflepuff too. Double joy boiled through Ingrid now.

"I guess I didn't tell you because of the same reason you didn't tell me. I thought you were a muggle." Ingrid answered him with a grin. Her trademark grin. The one that was very wide but slightly lopsided. Her blue eyes were sparkling again, they had seemed to have stopped sparkling when she had first realised how lower bloods were treated at Hogwarts.

She put her hands in her pockets and shrugged. She could feel her hair fall across her eyes. She had curled it for classes this morning and it was still intact. She inhaled a bit,t hen exhaled. Nattie had seen her hyper, normal side- now he got to see her hurt and worn out side. She had been through a lot of things and had met a lot of mean people and it was wearing her down.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you..." Ingrid said before hugging him again. She was on the verge of tears, and she buried her face in his cloak.

[nathaniel]

"So did I." Nathaniel said, with a smile, when Ingrid had said that she thought that he was a muggle. "So... I suppose your a first year then. How do you like Hogwarts? Me, I've been going here for three years, since I can't really count this one, since it just began, but I'm a fourth year, Hufflepuff, as you can see by my robes. And I suppose you are as well, huh?" he asked, eying her own pair of Hufflepuff robes.

The girl didn't seem to be as hyper, and as happy as she was, when Nathaniel had met her. He pondered on the subject, for a few moments, and figured that there must have been something bothering her. Well... there is a lot of things that could have been troubling a first year. Too many classes, too much homework, getting lost around the huge castle, being homesick. It could go down as far as simply being hungry. Nathaniel shrugged, he figured that he couldn't possibly figure it out himself, so he decided that he would simply ask the girl.

Ingrid hugged him again, burying her face into his cloak, and he grinned, a bit awkwardly. "Ingrid..." he started, again, a bit awkwardly. "What's wrong?" he asked this time, with a bit of concern and curiosity visible in his voice. He wasn't very good at solving young girl's problems, dealing with them, or figuring them out, for that fact, so Nathaniel felt awkward about this. However, he decided that he would try to help the girl, with whatever it was that she was upset about, since he didn't want to see her hurt.

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

"Why are people so mean to others? Why do they treat me and my friends like we don't exist or shouldn't? Aren't we human too? Nattie, everytime I try to make new friends- I'm shoved away and called a mudblood. I have learned to deal but it still hurts and I want to know why." Ingrid spoke sadly, telling him what was truly bothering her. She had come to grips with the idea that she was never going to be friends with a certain group of people...mainly the Slytherins. But sometimes it was nice to know why they wouldn't be your friend. And if it was just because of what blood you were, that was stupid.

"I've always been nice to people, Nattie, always. I'm cheerful and sweet and kind, but others don't seem to care about how nice I am to them. All they care about is who my parents are, and what blood I am and if I like muggles. I like muggles. They're nice. They have some cool things. My family is muggles. So why is that frowned upon? We have things in common with muggles. We're both human, for one example. We do certain things that they do, like have friends, fall in love, all that. We have the same emotions. What's the difference besides magic?" Ingrid asked him this, she was actually looking for an answer. Why were others treated differently because of their beliefes? That was so prejudice and Ingrid hated it.

Ingrid bit her lip and pulled away from him, looking up at him with tear filled eyes. She wiped at her eyes with her cloak sleeve and breathed in; "I just don't think I want to be a part of the school that is like this. I mean, I have yet to see something that is good that can beat something that is this bad. I don't normally get upset about something as much as I do with this...but it really hurts me that some people could be that way toward a girl who is just trying to bring happiness to the world."

[nathaniel]

((Yay! Ingy, I finally replied! ;D))

Nathaniel smiled down at the girl, just a slight smile though. He was happy that Ingrid felt comfortable enough, to share her feelings with him. However, he hadn’t expected at all, what the girl would say next. The boy listened to her carefully, with an open ear. She talked about blood, how people were mean to her, here at Hogwarts, because she wasn’t the right blood. Nathaniel grimaced, a little. He wasn’t used to dealing with young girls’ problems, and he never actually had to, since his sisters usually went to either their mother, when she was still alive, or their father. They also just kept to themselves a lot too, well, as far as Nathaniel knew, that was. Maybe they called up a close friend or two, to talk about it, but like I mentioned, Nathaniel didn’t think that he had ever tried to help a girl, like this, and he didn’t think that he would be too good at it, either. But, he decided… that he would try…

As Nathaniel listened better, and Ingrid went on telling him about how hard it is for her here, he realized how very true she was, and Nathaniel didn’t think that he ever actually thought about it that way. When Ingrid asked him what made magic different in people, besides their blood, Nathaniel gave the girl a bit of a sad smile. “Well…” he started out a bit awkwardly. “You’re right, there isn’t a difference. There is just some very mean and nasty people in the wizarding world, hence the Slytherins and most of their parents, that think just because they were born from two magical parents, it makes them much better than everybody else, but their wrong. You’re right, Ingrid. You’re exactly right. We are all human beings, and all have feelings. But, blood doesn’t make us different from one another. Some people believe that it makes them a better witch or wizard, but it doesn’t. That matters on the person, not some family background.” Nathaniel gave himself quite an odd look. Had he just said all of that? Wow, he had done even better than he thought he could do, at his best. He was glad that he had done quite well, with his little talk, to hopefully make his little friend feel a bit better.

Nathaniel frowned, when Ingrid pulled away, and told him that she didn’t want to be a part of the school, where all of this way going on, and she hadn’t seen anything, that was better than any of the bad stuff here at Hogwarts. Well, Nathaniel understood that Ingrid was very upset about this, but he didn’t expect her to say something, as though she wanted to leave Hogwarts. Despite the bad things that happened here every now and then, which weren’t too common, Hogwarts was still a very great place to go, and Nathaniel was glad that he went to Hogwarts, instead of all of the other possible choices of wizarding schools. “Well…” he started, trying to think of a good thing to say again, by trailed off, having to ponder on what to say for a couple of moments. He pulled the girl closer to him, and wrapped his arms around her again, taking her into a tight hug. He smiled, just a bit, and went on with what he was about to say. “Listen Ingrid,” he started, looking down at her. “There is some things, here at Hogwarts, but… most people just get used to. I’m sorry, that that doesn’t sound very good, but hey, when you’ve got friends to stand up for you, especially an older person, like me,” he smiled. “then it’s not that bad. Trust me though, there is a lot of great things at Hogwarts, and in my opinion, they kind of even out, and even overrule the bad stuff.” He knew that she was going to ask him what those good things were, since she didn’t seem too convinced, so he decided to give her examples. “Like, well, classes are really great here, much more interesting than the things that we learned in the muggle schools, don’t you think so? You can meet a lot of really good friends. It’s really beautiful here, and I really like landscape and everything, so it’s nice to take often strolls around Hogwarts, especially when it snows.” He added with another smiled. “Learning about magic is really fun, and being introduced and learning everything from the start is even better. Another thing, that is good to know, is that the good people here, overrule the bad and not so nice people. If you think about it, there is three houses, that are filled with good, nice people, that don’t care about blood, hence the Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and Ravenclaws. You see, there is only one house filled with mean people, who do care about blood.” That was a very good conclusion, well, Nathaniel thought so, anyway. He hoped that Ingrid would find it very good, and comforting as well. He smiled again, even wider this time, when a great idea came to mind. “Well Ingrid, you know that you said that you are always very happy and sweet to everybody, right? Well, that’s very true. You see, maybe that’s just what Hogwarts needs, a sweet, kind girl like you, to try and change this place around!”

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

She allowed herself to be hugged again by Nattie. Her ears keen on listening to him speak. What he was saying made perfect sense, but Ingrid wasn't just willing to believe it and be ok with it. She didn't want to walk through the halls, knowing that no matter how she saw Hogwarts- Slytherins would always see her the same way. She couldn't pretend everything was alright, when it wasn't. Ingrid wasn't going to act like it didn't bother her. If she was going to put up with the absurdity of this "pureblooded" notion, then she was going to do with a fight. She wasn't one to sit back and take things as they came. If Ingrid believed strongly in something unfair or unjust, she would make a movement to right the wrong that had been done.

Ingrid shook her blond little head at Nattie's idea. It wouldn't work. She was learning, and learning fast. So far she had learnt that there were two types of people at Hogwarts. The type that liked to be happy and the type that would rather see bloodshed than smiles. Although Ingrid had never personally been affected by the hatred of the world, she knew of the pain others have gone through and she knew of the pain others have caused. She knew that to be able to survive in this place, she would have to do something much more affective. Surely Nattie understood and knew that as well.

"They base too much on who someone is related to and what blood they are. Even how they are raised is something people keep under close inspection. And even though there are good things here at Hogwarts, what is there in the wizarding world? What is good enough to stay in this world? Even though what this world might need is a sweet and cheerful girl, maybe what else this world needs is someone to give them a large reality check. And maybe I can be that person. Then again, I might get pummeled because of it. Either way my words would be heard." Ingrid leaned against a near by wall, and slid down it while putting her head in her hands, "I can't just sit and let this unjustice continue while I know I have power to stop at least some of it." She adverted her eyes to Nattie's. She had power. Enough to change some people's beliefes...she knew she did, or else she wouldn't be there.

[nathaniel]

Nathaniel looked down at Ingrid, as she shook her head, in almost disagreement. He frowned. It was sad, about how true she was, and she seemed to be realizing the things, that mostly only the older students would start to understand. This impressed him very much, but he still didn’t feel good about the girl’s feelings. He bit his lip, he really couldn’t think of anything to say, after the girl’s wonderful display of words, that would make some people crawl with disgust, hence the people that were acting bad towards her, in her words, or the other kind of people, such as Nathaniel, that just made their hearts go out to the small girl. Even though, he thought that he had done a pretty good job, replying last time, it must not have worked, since Ingrid still didn’t seem to happy, possibly, even worse. Well, Nathaniel was pretty sure that his talking had ran out, and since last time, he words didn’t seem to help, he was completely stumped on what to say next.

He sighed, and gave the girl another sad frown. When he first saw Ingrid walk down the hall, he expected her to be just as happy as she had been, the day that they had met. He expected much different. Nathaniel sighed again. He really had no idea what to say. He wasn’t used to taking care of other peoples’ problems at all, heck, he couldn’t even take care of his own. Sure, Nathaniel had a lot of problems… but he just… kind of forgot about them, and well… just went on with his life. To add to his dilemma of trying to comfort the girl, she began to talk again, and this small speech was just as bad to answer to, and the kind of things that would make your heart go out to someone, as the last one.

This time, she talked just about the same things as she did the other times. However, this time she seemed more confident. That made a small smile flicker across Nathaniel’s face. He shrugged slightly, and slid down, against the wall next to the girl. He turned to her, took a deep breath, and pondered on what he was to say now. He knew that it was his turn to talk, and try to make her feel better, so he might as well have tried. He sighed again, slightly, and turned his head down, just a bit, so that he was staring into the girl’s blue eyes. “You’re right,” he began, hoping to death, that this time, his words would maybe actually get through to the girl, and not make himself feel bad for trying, or a bid odd again. “What this world needs, is someone to change everybody’s mind, about this whole stupid blood thing. You know, I really think that you do have what it takes, to change this world around, but I can’t promise that it will happen all at once, or very soon.” His mind traveled off. He didn’t know if there would ever be peace in the wizarding world. He knew that one day or another, Harry Potter and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would have the final battle, and that would determine the fate of the wizarding world. He really believed that Dumbledor’s side would win the final war. “Well…” he started again, turning back to face Ingrid. “I’m sure you’ve heard about the famous Harry Potter, huh? Well, one day… I believe that he, and all of the other loyal followers of Albus Dumbledor will defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and all of the other bad people around here. Then, one day, everything will be set straight. Even after that though… well, I’m still not entirely sure if the whole wizarding blood thing will be just forgotten…” a smile flickered across Nathaniel’s face, at what he was about to say next. “so that’s where you can come in, Ingrid. That’s where you’re job is supposed to be done. You can go around, and set everybody straight, since there will be no more need for fighting between families anymore. That’s a perfect chance for us halfbloods and muggleborns, to prove all of those purebloods wrong, that blood doesn’t matter at all. Now that, is a very good reason, to go on with the wizarding world. In the meantime, you can always run to friends for comfort. You know, you’ll now always have me to come to, and I’m always willing to listen to what you have to say, you know that.” Nathaniel pondered on what he had last said. He’s not too up to trying to do these kind of things a lot, but he could maybe get better at it. Well, he had given Ingrid his word. He would help her, and if he couldn’t, then he would sure try.

[Ingrid Lewis H4]

Ingrid's blue eyes slowly looked up to stare at Nattie's. She blinked once but then let a small smile cross her face. But even the smallest of smiles could light up the little first years face, and her eyes would sparkle and dance once more. She threw her arms around Nattie in a hug. He had helped. She didn't feel so sad anymore, and Ingrid knew that it was because of him. Because he told her what she needed to hear. It was another challenge. Another thing to get through and another thing to prove someone wrong in. Ingrid would rise to meet that challenge, she always did. And she would succeed. Ingrid smiled and pulled away, her bounce returning into her body. She grabbed Nattie's hand and pulled him up. There was still a spark of sadness in her, but Ingrid wasn't going to let it show. She wanted to have fun. She pulled him up and pulled him down the hall toward an empty classroom. Talking a million miles a minute;

"Nattie! I haven't been doing nothing the whole time! I promise! I've been doing something that takes up a lot of my time. Of course school comes first, so this comes after my studies and things like that, but I have been doing something really really good! I think you'll like it. Because...well...I hope you like it. I was talking with this Slytherin first year, yes he was nice to me can you believe it? Anywho, I was talking with him and I was talking about how i wanted to be a writer when I grow up, either a journalist or an author and that's when I got the idea. Of course, it's not going to circulate the school- but maybe I could get the head of Hufflepuff to let me have it circulate the Hufflepuffs? I understand I would need adult supervision and some help, and I was wondering if you wanted to help? I could get other people too...maybe the prefect or or...that one girl who is like a prefect? Jordan is her name? Anywho, yeah, it's a sort of newspaper thing. Where it has things like upcoming events. Just some fun for Hufflepuffs."

She pushed open a door and stepped in, her hand still grasping his as she pulled him into the room. On the desk there were small stacks of papers and such. Ingrid dropped Nattie's hand and bounced over to the first stack, holding up the paper- "The Hufflepuff Pride." She read aloud before she thrust the paper into his hand. On it was a picture of the sorting ceremony, someone had dropped it in the hall and Ingrid had picked it up. Thinking it might prove some use later on. And it had! Ingrid plopped down into a near by bean bag chair- a muggle device but still comfortable- and watched Nattie. Waiting for a reaction, a hint at what he thought. Anything.

[nathaniel]

((I am so, so, so, so, so, so, sooo sorry that I haven't been able to reply in so long! I've been really busy, but I hope that we are still doing this post...))

The smile on Nathaniel's face returned, as he saw Ingrid's face light up. Good. He had helped, which was more than he ever thought that he could do. Nathaniel was then pulled into an empty classroom, by the small girl, listening to her talk rather fast, all the while. Nathaniel didn't mind though, he figured that he had now gotten pretty used to her ramblings.

Nathaniel sat on a beanbag chair, next to Ingrid, as a small stack of papers was thrust into his hands. Nathaniel flipped through the pages, skimming the words on each page, as a smile began tugging at the corners of his mouth. Nathaniel closed the small booklet, and looked back up to the small blond. "Wow Ing, it's great!" he told her with a wide smile. "Of course. I'd love to help you with it. I think that it's a very good idea." Nathaniel opened the booklet again, and began reading the whole first page carefully, while also listening to Ingrid.

Without turning his head from the booklet, he commented. "Well, if you're wanting to be a writer or journalist when you grow up, that's really cool. It'll also support you pretty well, when you're on your own. It's very good, it seems as though you've already got the talent for it... I suppose you could probably find a good job working for the Daily Prophet, or maybe even the Quibbler. That stuff in papers isn't always exactly right... but some stuff's still worth reading." he mused aloud. "You know... you could maybe even run the idea by Dumbledore, of starting a school paper, or something like that. But... I still like your idea of the 'Hufflepuff Pride'." he concluded with a smile.