Gryffindor Common Room

Matthew, who was looking up from him essay, felt a pang of bitterness. Phil wasn't shocked to hear Matthew was a first year last year! But he was right, he thought as he worked on his essay, this kid was quite different then the rest of the herd.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," Josiah told him. "It's pretty good--it's about a boy in America who's practically a genius at conning people into doing stuff for him. It's supposedly an American classic."

"You don't really see someone who likes to read very much." Phil said, studying the cocky expression of the boy carefully on the cover. The resemblance between him and Josiah was completely uncanny. "America has some good authors. My mom is always telling me how I should read To Kill A Mockingbird but I don't like to read very much."

"Well, I like to read. It's not that bad, and, yeah, America's got some good authors. American slang is so funny though."

"That's my mum's favorite book." Will said, popping his up from a chair he was leaning back on. "I always see her with a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird in her hands... and if her copy is destroyed from reading it, she'll buy a new one." and he disappeared.

Phil blinked, and turned back to Josiah. "Right... I haven't really heard it aside, from the American tourists who come to Bath-that's where I live."

Matt cheered during the conversation, "Hah! Half way done is good enough for now!" He neatly rolled the parchment and put it in a safe place in his bag. "Eh, I always see my mom with different ones. I can never tell if she likes one or not. It's gone the next day replaced with a new one, and the same happens to that one."

"I've met American tourists. They're always so rude and ask me to say stuff for them. Is my accent really that fascinating?" asked Josiah in his, you know, English accent. It was actually stronger than the normal English accent. "Oh, what were you working on?"

"Well, he's working on a paper for Transfiguration. I finished mine." Phil rolled his eyes. "What do you think of Professor Brown? Isn't she annoying?!"

"Transfiguration essay. Nothing much to it though! Can procrastinate but I'll get it done soon enough." Matt sat with a cocky air in his voice. He had to match this kid, just had to. He was the resident dreamboat for the girls in his year.

Right?

"Yeah, I just finished my Transfiguration homework, too. Professor Brown is so annoying sometimes, God..." Josiah shook his head.

Matthew shrugged. "She's pretty chill, in my opinion. I'm surprised you guys can't handle her." He added a bit of a snort to the end of that. Hey, if he said he could handle Brown, that's like handling a dragon. Even if it's a little bit of a white lie. Or more.

"Yeah, right." Phil said, raising his eyebrows at Matt. "Remember that time back in First Year she just FLEW off the handle at you?! I'm sorry, but you looked like you were about to cry."

Matthew landed a swift elbow nudge to his friend's stomach. "Nah, just had eaten some gross fish right before. We had it after lunch. But I do seem to irritate her quite a bit." His lies were growing thin as this point, like he couldn't think of many more. Could only cover so much up so fast.

"Quite a bit. Try quite a lot." Phil said sarcastically.

"Quite a bit. Try quite a lot." Phil said sarcastically, rubbing his stomach.

Matthew laughed. "More than a lot. I'm not sure why! I'm such a good student!" He said, obviously joking.

"Of course! You're destined to be Valedictorian!" Phil laughed, going along with the joke.

He raised his hands in the air as if capturing a large, lit up title like you'd see for movies, "Head Boy Matthew Summerfield!"

"Professor Brown does seem to like me though," Josiah said, oblivious to their lying. Upperclassmen are strange. Jeez. "I mean, I've known her for a while, since she's a family friend." Actually, she's my aunt.

"Oh. Well, then that'd make sense." Matthew said, flatly.

But Phillip however, was much more interested in this grand realization than Matt was. "Really! That's interesting... What is she like outside of school? Does she eat children or something?"

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Dude, that's just dumb. I'm pretty sure she has kids."

"Maybe she eats her own!" Tommy piped up.

"HEY!" Will's head poked up yet again. "One of her son's is my best friend. Don't hate." And he dived back down.

"...Professor Brown has kids?" A shocked Phil said, looking completely shocked. "...That's so weird!"

"She has kids, and she's actually kinda nice unless you piss her off," Josiah said, feeling good about knowing more about Professor Brown than everyone else--well, except for Leah and her siblings, but whatever.