You Can't Even See What You Do To Me

Seth could only really blink as Claire started to parttle on about her day. The girl seemed to notice she was as well, since the next thing she said was, "I'm sorry, I did not mean to babble like that."

"It's fine," he replied, thinking that it was saving him from having to talk. He didn't know if he'd be able to think of replies much longer. The snowball fight had completely worn him out. "And just so you know, and since I didn't get to answer before, there was no clear winner, since there weren't sides."

He stopped then, yawning massively.

"It's fine," Seth replied, stretching as he spoke. "And just so you know, and since I didn't get to answer before, there was no clear winner, since there weren't sides." He really did seem wiped out. Claire felt bad for keeping him awake, especially when his words were proceeded by a huge, loud yawn.

"I'm so, so, so sorry for keeping you awake! I bet you are drained, after all the craziness today." She did not know what else to say, so she got up, out of the nice warm seat. She would need some sleep--she herself was feeling kind of worn out. She looked back down to Seth, who looked like he was about to fall asleep again. She was not sure whether she should say goodnight, or just leave, to avoid disrupting him. She stood there, wavering for a second. She would wait for a quick response, and if one did not come, she would assume he was asleep, and take off.

Seth's eyes were drooping down, and he had nearly fallen back asleep in the chair when Claire's voice woke him back up. He opened his eyes a little. "I'm so, so, so sorry for keeping you awake! I bet you are drained, after all the craziness today."

"Just a little," he mumbled back, barely noticing that she had gotten up from the chair she was sitting in before. He rubbed at his eyes for a second. "Should probably go to my bed, since sleeping in a chair wouldn't be comfortable..." he muttered on, mostly to himself.

He stood up as well and looked at Claire. "Night, I guess," he mumbled, too tired to speak more clearly than that.

"Night, I guess," Seth mumbled, and Claire waved goodnight. She walked up to her dormitory, careful not to wake any of the other girls up. She did not want to be a disturbance.

She thought for a few minutes about the day. It was an average day, but it seemed to go by so quickly. Between Hogsmeade and sneaking around the school, she certainly had had an exciting day, and the thought of sleep was welcome to her. She quickly put on her pajamas and crawled into bed.

From her conversation with Seth, however brief it was, she decided that he would partner up with Bri very nicely. He was a bit shy, while she was not, and she would be able to fill his awkward silences. Bri was sweet, and would not frown upon Seth's clumsiness. Both were happy, amiable people. This was her last thought as she drifted off to sleep.

Seth went the opposite way of Clair, heading up to the boys' dorms. He collapsed on to his bed, not even bothering with pajamas or pulling back the cover. He was feeling dead on his feet, as tired as he was, and doing either of those things just seemed to be too much of a hassle.

He yawned, flipping around on the bed, trying to get himself comfortable. It had been a long, tiring day and he just wanted to get comfy and sleep. That was the only real thing on his mind, it being too tired to focus on anything else at all.

Eventually, Seth managed to get himself in a comfortable position, having finally given in to the warmth of his covers and curling up under them. His eyes drooped shut and soon he'd fallen fast asleep. Thankful that the next day was the weekend so he could sleep in.

It was the weekend and the end of the semester, meaning that the schedules changed. While Claire's classes were all the same, she had them with different groups of people. Her friends compared schedules, and it appeared that they had a lot of the same classes, but she did not have a soul in her Transfiguration class, which was disappointing. However, being the optimistic person she was, she was able to put a bright spin on it. She would get to make new friends! One of the people in that class could be one of her future best friends!

She walked to the classroom, taking her time. She had left her last class, Divination, in a hurry, so that she could get down from the tower in time for Transfiguration. However, it appeared as she got closer that she had plenty of time, and would be sitting alone in an empty classroom with Professor Mcgonagall, something which no student wanted. So, she paced herself, taking time to relax and take in the sites and sounds of the busy hallways.

She walked into class three minutes before it started, and looked around the classroom. She did not recognize anyone that was in there yet, which worried her a bit; however, it took more than that to keep Claire down. She chose a seat near the middle of the room, at an empty table, and took out her materials for class.

Classes on Monday was not Seth looked forward to. It was still snowy outside and he'd much rather be out there than trapped inside the castle, learning out stuff he wasn't very likely to ever use again outside of school. With a sigh he walked out of his most recent class, not feeling very energetic at the moment. Classes always did that to him, though, because they were just so boring. Maybe if his friends were in the same classes it would be better, but they were all Gryffindors and had classes at different times than he did.

He made his way through the stairs, only going down a couple of floors to Transfiguration. He walked in the room, feet scuffling across the floor just a little bit. He didn't particularly like this class.

Looking around the room, Seth looked for a place to sit, perhaps by someone he knew for once. He frowned, seeing no one right off. Then he noticed someone that he thought might look familiar. Walking forward just a little, he noticed that he did know the person. Walking the rest of the way, he stopped just by the empty chair at the table and said a quick, "Hi."

The bell was about to ring for class when a silver lining appeared at the cloud that was being friendless in Transfiguration class.

Oddly enough, that little ray of sunshine was Seth.

He walked in, shuffling, and looking a bit down. Claire was not paying attention completely until he came over, stopping at the empty chair next to her. "Hi," he said, rather abruptly, and Claire replied cheerfully. He seemed to be hovering awkwardly, almost afraid to ask to sit down, and Claire had to try hard not to smile. He looked so awkward, shuffling his feet. There was another seat open on the other side of the room, but something told Claire that he did not know the person sitting in the chair next door.

"Go ahead, sit down. I don't bite, you know, and it would be nice to have someone I know in this class," she said, in her usual chipper manner. Seth looked relieved, and sat down.

"So, how are you today?" Claire asked.

For whatever odd reason, Seth was slightly startled with Claire spoke. It seemed that for some reason he had not expected her to. He inwardly shook his head at himself as she responded to his greeting.

Seth stood there for a short moment longer unsure what to do with himself. He could just sit down, but he figured that would be imposing on a person he'd barely just met tday before. But, at the same time, he thought he'd like to sit near someone he knew the name of at the very least.

Claire seemed to know what he was thinking because she basically answered his pondering with the next thing she said. "Go ahead, sit down. I don't bite, you know, and it would be nice to have someone I know in this class."

Seth smiled, energy level returning just a bit. He sat down in the empty chair, tossing his bag lightly onto the floor. He dug around in it for a moment for his Transfiguration stuff, as Claire asked, "So, how are you today?"

Seth looked up from his task for a moment, nearly falling from his chair as his balance shifted oddly as he looked at Claire. "Er...ok I guess," he replied, knocking hair from his face so he could see.

"Er...ok I guess," Seth responded, still looking rather awkward. She felt sorry for the poor kid--it had to be hard on him getting stuck sitting with some random person he barely knew. Claire was one of those people who always felt like she knew a person, once she had met him or her and talked to them once. She was that kind of person; trusting and naive to a fault. However, she had no reason not to trust Seth, who seemed like a sweety.

He moved the hair out of his face so that he could see her properly. "You might want to consider getting that hair of yours cut. You are constantly brushing it out of your face. Doesn't that get annoying? I daresay, it would bother me."

Until she said it, she did not realize that it might be construed as offensive, and her cheeks turned pink. "I'm sorry, I hope I did not say something offensive."

Seth, having successfully found his book in the mess that was his bag, properly righted himself in his seat, once again brushing hair from his eyes. He shrugged slight as Claire suggested he cut it, and then get embarassed it looked like, fearing she had possibly offended him.

"It's a little annoying," Seth replied. "Especially when it tickles my nose. But, I don't cut hair and I don't really trust anyone here to do it."

Then he shrugged again, picking up the quill he'd previously ppulled from his bag with his book and doodling on the front page of it.

"It's a little annoying," Seth said. "Especially when it tickles my nose. But, I don't cut hair and I don't really trust anyone here to do it."

Seth shrugged, and Claire smiled. "You know, they do have professional hair salons in Hogsmeade, right? It is one of the few places I've been to that does not horribly butcher guys' hair, and if muggles were ever in Hogsmeade, it would be relatively muggle-friendly. No odd wizarding hair-cutting devices which make you worry about getting your ear cut off."

Seth pulled out his book from his bag and started to doodle on the front page. His doodles were elegant scribbles, forming odd shapes on the page, but the certainly were interesting. Claire was the doodling type too, and she stared at the intricate, looping patterns on her hands.

Seth thought about what Claire was saying about hair salons in Hogsmeade for a moment before he spoke again. "It doesn't matter to me if they're good or not," he said. "I have to trust the person, because any sort of sharp object that goes near my face has to be weilded by someone I trust."

He continued drawing random lines around the page, wondering if they would amount to anything at some point or another. A moment later, he decided that it probably wasn't going to.

"You know," Seth said a moment later, "yesterday you asked how Bri and I know each other. How do you know her?"

"It doesn't matter to me if they're good or not," Seth said, slowly. "I have to trust the person, because any sort of sharp object that goes near my face has to be wielded by someone I trust."

Claire nodded--this made sense. It was definitely not a problem she had, since she trusted most people, but it made sense that it would be a problem. Scissors could cause accidents, if wielded incorrectly.

"You know, yesterday you asked how Bri and I knew each other. How do you know her?" Seth had asked an interesting question, which brought Claire back to her early years at Hogwarts.

"I met her in third year, in one of my classes. I think it was History of Magic, actually. We sat together, and things just kind of caught on. We became close, despite our house differences." Claire smiled fondly. "She's been a really good friend, probably the best one I've ever had."

Seth nodded at Claire's answer, thinking to himself that it made sense. "She's good at making friends," he said tapping the tip of his quill on the table top, having successfully convered the page in squiggles. It left little ink splots, going out in random directions.

He fell into a silence, not knowing of anything else to say. Sure, once he knew someone he could talk nonstop, but when it was a stranger, orin Claire's case an almost stranger, it was hard for Seth to think of a topic to talk about. Plus, the chatter in t classroom was really distracting.

"She's good at making friends," Seth said, nodding. He had covered his page in squiggles, with ink, and now a silence descended. Neither of them had a clue what to talk about, which was odd--Claire usually could not keep quiet for extended periods of time. However, around Seth and his shy yet hyper personality, she could not ever think of anything to say. It was hard for her, because she usually was so good at bringing quiet people out of their shells. She supposed that maybe, her failure was due to lack of time. She did not really know him very well, and she did not know what to talk about. She did not know of a single thing they had in common, beside their friendship with Bri and their being in that class.

Claire looked at the clock. Class was about to start, and any minute.

"Do you like transfiguration much?" Claire asked, choosing a conversation that could be as short or as long as it needed to be.

Seth continued with his random desk ink splotting as Claire said something, or rather asked, since it was a question and not a statement, and why was he wondering about this? Shouldn't he just answer herr already? It would seem rude not to, and to take forever in replying and then what would one say? Oh, osrry I was trying to figure out if that was a question or not? He thought not.

Seth shook from his thoughts and back to the question that had previously been posed to him. "Oh, um, I don't really like this subject too much. I'm not really big on most things magic at all."

Seth zoned out for almost an entire minute, lost in his thoughts. It almost seemed as if he had not heard the question at all, which was odd, considering that she had asked him in a tone that was clear and oh dear, what if she was mumbling, or if she sounded like a crazy person, or he did not like her and the question was stupid--

Claire slowed down her thoughts. She always had cared too much about what people thought, though she never realized it. She was too busy trying to be happy and cheerful and amiable. She was very good at it, because she rarely had anything to make her otherwise, but in her thoughts, her mind was always racing.

However, Seth then cut her train of thought short. "Oh, um, I don't really like this subject too much. I'm not really big on most things magic at all."

This surprised Claire. "Really? I always found magic to be really interesting. Why don't you like most magical things?"

Seth pushed his hair from his face as he thought of a way to phrase his answer. "Well," he said, "even though my dad is a wizard he was raised by Mugges, so because of this, I was raised mostly without magic, so the idea of it just overwhelms me still, and my best friend is a Muggle too." He stopped then, wondering to himself if he'd said toomuch at once, especially to a person he barely knew in the first place.

"Well," Seth started, "Even though my dad is a wizard he was raised by Muggles, so because of this, I was raised mostly without magic, so the idea of it just overwhelms me still, and my best friend is a Muggle too."

Claire was pretty sure that was the most she had heard him say since she had met him, which was rather surprising, when she thought about it.

"That's cool! My parents were both wizards, although I always found muggles fascinating. The fact that they do what they do without magic is something I've always admired, and some of their contraptions simply are incredible." Claire stopped talking, and smiled.

Seth shrugged as Claire went on about Muggles. "They aren't so incredible when you've known them your whole life. Then they just get kind of dull. When I first learned about magic I nearly refused to have anything to do with it, because not only would I know nothing about it, but my best friend wouldn't be able to come with me. Dad convinced me otherwise, and I guess I'm glad he did sometimes, but other times not so much." Then Seth stopped for a moment. "I'm sorry. Am I ranting?"

"They aren't so incredible when you've known them your whole life. Then they just get kind of dull. When I first learned about magic I nearly refused to have anything to do with it, because not only would I know nothing about it, but my best friend wouldn't be able to come with me. Dad convinced me otherwise, and I guess I'm glad he did sometimes, but other times not so much."

Claire listened, interested in what Seth had to say. It definitely sounded interesting, but she still could not imagine living like a muggle. Magic had been a central part of her life since the day she was born, and she could not fathom giving up the chance to go to Hogwarts.

"I'm sorry. Am I ranting?" Seth asked, stopping.

"No, you are not. Trust me, I am a terrible rambler--that is absolutely nothing. I think it is interesting. I don't know how you did it, still. I was so excited when I got my Hogwarts letter."

Seth half relieved and half confused when Claire spoke. "No, you are not. Trust me, I am a terrible rambler--that is absolutely nothing. I think it is interesting. I don't know how you did it, still. I was so excited when I got my Hogwarts letter." His eyebrows pulled together a bit.

"How I did what?" he asked, blinking at her through his bangs. He couldn't think of anything that he did that wasn't understandable, but he was looking at it from his perspective, rather than her's.

Seth's eyebrows pulled together, as if he was confused by something she said.

"How I did what?" Seth asked, sounding confused.

"How you lived as a muggle. How you did not know the wonders of the wizarding world. How you could not be ecstatic to go to Hogwarts? I guess it is that I am looking at things from a different perspective than you... All my life I was excited to go to Hogwarts, to learn to control magic. When I was little, it was because I wanted to be just like my parents, but all throughout my childhood, I heard tales of Hogwarts. I heard about the hallways and the classes and the professors and the students and the secret passageways and-"

Claire cut off, realizing she was rambling. She turned slightly pink. "See what I mean? I am the world's greatest rambler. You cannot pale in comparison to my great and wondrous power, no matter how hard you try."

"It's fine," Seth said, getting more comfortable with talking and carrying on a conversation. Then he shrugged as a response to her questions. "I don't know. It's just what I always knew. It's like Muggleborns are I suppose. Not knowing anything about this world until they get here. My dad rarely uses his magic, even today."

Then he looked down at the table, wondering if anything he had said or would later say could potential get an unwanted or unpleasant reaction from Claire. Especially since she seemed on top of the whole magic thing. Seth sighed to himself a little bit. "And I wasn't ecstatic to be coming here, because then I had to leave my best friend behind at home and would get to hang out with him only on holidays."