Tear Down This Wall
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, United Kingdom, 1992.
Kati was having a hard time sleeping in the Slytherin dormitories. The word 'Dungeon' was apt... But, she supposed, she had a much better bed than back in Durmstrang - and it wasn't a bunk bed, either. No fighting over who gets the top. That was almost a relief... But it was still 23:00 hours. Maybe the jetlag must be affecting her still, even though quite a bit of time had passed. Perhaps it was just the stress of being in a new school, in a new place... Ugh, it was hard to handle. She ended up reaching into her stuff once again... and looked at the FDJ pin on her school uniform again. Almost staring at it. An optimistic dream from the past, she thought. That's all that is. From a future that would never be. And maybe, that future would never come. That thought almost made her sick.
But... It wouldn't be too long until sleep overtook her, and she just simply passed out. She always woke up at 05:00 on the dot every morning at Durmstrang, but there was no Reveille call this morning. That and the hard time falling asleep lead her to waking up... almost late for class! Amelia was shaking her new friend awake now! "Lass mich verdammt nochmal schlafen... Huh-- oh, uh. Sorry... I..." Katarina yawned, before continuing. "Guess we should get ready, huh...?" It was potions first. Something she wasn't exactly good at, but she'd try her best, just like every other class. Most people were filing out of the dorms anyway, and she was barely awake!
"C'mon. Snape'll have our heads if we're late! You don't want detention on your first week, do you?" Despite being in the same House, Amelia wasn't the biggest fan of Professor Snape. Kati didn't really have enough to go off of, on the other hand. Not enough to go off of. But the girl tried her best to clean herself up and get ready as fast as possible. Treating like this almost like she was a pilot who'd just been told to scramble. Amelia, meanwhile, was rather impressed by this whole display. She almost didn't think it'd be possible to get ready that fast, even with magic!
"Ja, let's go, I've got everything." Kati sighed, stretching out a little... and walking with her newfound friend to Potions... And she got quite the interesting question.
"What's with those posters of airplanes?" Amelia asked, since Kati had a few posters of Soviet and East German aircraft put up near her bed. Magic posters, of course. "Oh, those." Kati started. "I want to be a pilot someday, even if that's a little silly. To fly planes and shoot missiles at the people's enemy. I even kinda know how to do air combat tactics... Practiced a few times on a broom." She thought for a moment. "Maybe I should sign up for Quiddich. Show these English who's boss." Kati ended up joking, and... well, Amelia didn't understand most of it. Kati could have gone at length about nerdy details, but she didn't yet.
"Maybe you could write to my mom about that stuff, she used to play for Slytherin back in the day~ Not me, though, I'm no good at flying." Amelia admitted, kind of embarrassed by it all. "But no, maybe you should try out!"
Kati took a breath. "Maybe, maybe. I don't know. I don't think it's anywhere near flying a Su-27." After seeing the look of confusion on the Irish girl's face... "Flanker. It's the one in the big poster. Maybe when we come back to the dorms, the pilot will wave to us." Kati actually... smiled a little bit while saying that to her. She really liked aviation, especially military aviation. Even if Amelia didn't really get it.
"Maybe you will get behind the controls of one of those muggle planes, one day." Kati shrugged, and replied, "Probably not." But with that, they arrived at the Potions classroom. Right on time, thankfully for both of them.
Most of the class was uneventful... Until Snape called on Kati. And she stood to attention! "Sir!" The professor let out an exasperated sigh. "Miss Lessman, this isn't Durmstrang, sit down. And tell me the the ingredients of the wit-sharpening potion in a more... normal manner." Katarina could feel the icy stares of everyone else in the room, as she returned to her chair. It almost felt like her neck was being stabbed into by a million needles. "Uh. Ginger, Ground scarab, and... Bile of the Gürteltier, sir." She didn't know the word in English, but it was all correct. And the professor acknowledged it with a nod. The class would carry on as normal, but it was... quite embarrassing to her.
To the point that, after that potions class... she barely spoke at all. Just a few non-responses... Until lunch, where Amelia finally pulled her away. "Hey... What's up?" Kati sighed. "It's just that... I just embarrassed myself. And I'm upset. It's... silly, but... I'm sorry..." She just looked like she was blaming herself for something relatively minor, but... Amelia still tried to comfort her. "Aw... that'd be the kind of thing that'd get you chewed out back home, right?" Kati just nodded, and looked over at the other girl... "Thank you for... caring."
Even from this minor little show of support, Kati felt... a little more comfortable around her. That she could relax around Amelia, that she could talk to her, trust her... Maybe there's more than comfort here. She didn't really know yet. But she still just sat with her for as long as she could. Kati actually started to try and worm her fingers around Amelia's, for more comfort... and it was reciprocated, with Amelia putting her hand on Kati's. This... was nice... She could get used to this, if nothing else at this school. "Thank you again, Amelia..."