Dominic’s feeling of irritation towards Henry on this topic didn’t really abate when he seemingly suggested that Dominic had somehow missed the point that his mamgu was making. It did, whether the Hufflepuff boy intended for it to do so or not, come across to Dom slightly like he was suggesting that he was stupid or something. The Gryffindor felt that he was definitely not stupid, even if some people seemed to think that he was. It really did irritate and upset the youngster that people thought of him in that way. It hurt him even more that his new friend seemly thought he was thick.

He was just about to fix Henry with a glare and give him a piece of his mind about the perceived slight when his companion followed another train of thought. This one seemed to make a bit more sense to the 11 year old Gryffindor. That maybe the Frankenstein monster was now extinct, and his grandmother was just remember an old tale not realising that the monster was now dead. Dominic supposed that did make sense. If the beast was still around surely, he would have heard stories about it taking children on the news, there be warnings about it. However, if it was dead and it was simply the older generation not realising it, that might make some sense. Maybe? He was still slightly sceptical, his grandmother would know the monster had been wiped out, she wasn’t daft either. But, then, it was possible. In Dom’s experience a lot of people didn’t know that things existed, so maybe this was one of the situations where something no longer did exist, and people thought that did. ”I I I guess that might might be what is happening” he conceded to his friend, albeit still sounding somewhat unsure of it.

The first year lion cub nodded in the affirmative when the Hufflepuff asked if all those sweets were on the pizza dough and then shook his head when he asked about tomato sauce. ”They don’t put th the tomato sauce on on on the pizza, the custard is is there instead of the of the cheese and the the jam is is there in place of the the the tomato sauce.” he informed his friend. That is, at least, how he remembered seeing it. ”I I knooooow. It it it does sound really yucky to to to meee too.” it was not what the11 year old would have on a pizza. Even to him that was all a bit too much. Muggles could be so weird sometimes. he thought to himself.

The blond haired lad nodded when Henry asked if his mother thought he was hyperactive. She had said it to him a number of times. ”She does and and and she saids too much sugar gives me me me even more energy and and makes it worse” he gave a small shrug. He didn’t see the problem with that himself. So what if Dominic liked adventure and doing fun things. The first year didn’t see it as a problem himself ”I don’t know. I I I don’t think so myself. I I I don’t think that I I am a bad person nor do do do I do things that I I I think are bad. I I I can’t help being hyper” he informed his buddy, hoping that he was making himself clear. He knew that Henry wasn’t calling him bad, but asking if being hyper was bad. ”I I don’t think that I I am all that hyper anyway” he concluded with another small shrug.

”I I I think some people might be be be allergic to to certain kind of of fruits. But but but but, not all fruits. After all a an apple has very little in in common with a a a a banana.” it was true when Henry said that people can get reactions that appear out of nowhere, that suddenly come on after being dormant for so long or even come on out of no-where at all. He vaguely wondered why that might be. ”Being allergic to to to things is is is no fun” he conceded to the Huflepuff lad.

”I I I don’t think I I I ever had a a a mandarin” a look of puzzlement came across his face. He had heard of them before and he knew what they ere ”I I I had satsumas and and tangerines and and I I I think I I have had clementine’s before but but but it it it is all confusing. I I I I mean they all look the same don’t they? And and and I am not entire surely how they they taste different.” was there any difference in taste? Dominic did not know. ”And and and I am also scared that that that I might accidently eat a a an Aliquamex by by by mistake.” he pulled a yuck face. ”A a a lot of them get killed by by by hiding in in fruit bowls and and and getting accidently mistaken for an an an orange fruit” the small boy nodded gravely.

The 11 year old nodded ” Really” he said. ”I I I I think Quinn is more like a a a superhero or or or a a good person than a a a an auror type person…” he wondered a bit about the song again, if he was misremembering if ”…I I don’t know what the person did to upset everyone. I I I I think he was was just being annoying or telling mean things to to to people and Quinn comes and and tells him to stop” it made sense to Dommie anyway. If he could remember the song a bit better maybe he would be able to give Henry a better explanation of the song and what was happening in it.

The first year nodded when Herny said canans are usually not that difficult. It was one of the reasons why the youngster liked them, ”I I I don’t know brother John and and and the the the morning bells” he admitted, they were never taught that one. ”But I I I I do know row row row row your boat” he added. ”It it it really good when people get the the canon right.” he agreed with his pal on that. When people get them wrong, however, they could sound awful.

Another frown came on Dominic’s face when his friend suggest that he always talked with a melody in his head ”Well, in in case you you haven’t noootice, my my accent is is is quiet melodic anyway” he thought that he was making a fair point with that. His own internal monologue already was fairly lyrical and that was not helping with his stuttering. Maybe it was more of a mental thing, perhaps he felt singing was something totally different from how he talks normally and how his accent was. ”So I I am not totally that it would be very helpful for for for me to to do that as I am, I am doing it anyway”

It worried Dominic a bit to see his friend stammering when he suggested that Henry sing the song. Dom really didn’t want his friend to end up feeling uncomfortable, that wasn’t his plan at all. Some people might get a perverse pleasure out of seeing their friends struggle but the Gryffindor never really understood that. Perhaps it was because he never really had that many friends to begin with so valued the ones that he had. Not that he felt that he was a particularly good friend. He was sure that he had his faults. Being annoying was one of them he was sure. In fact, it was more likely that he was a very bad friend, which was why he didn’t have many. In any case the 11 year old felt a bit uneasy that Henry was seemed uncomfortable. ”You you don’t have to, if if if you don’t want to?” he said re-assuringly to his butty.

However Henry, in all fairness to him, song the one anyway. Even after listing to the lyrics the first year was not entirely certain he would figure out what the song was all about. It seemed to be some sort of Christmas song One which featured deaths of alcoholic drinks. It was certainly an odd song and the Gryffindor boy made a mental note that Pure Malt Whiskeys could fight each other and fly. Apparently. It also seemed that the poor little malt whiskies wanted to repeat the same and same mistake over and over again

”That is an an an odd song” he said, hoping that he didn’t sound too stupid for saying so. Mabe the song had some hidden meaning he didin’t get. ”How can so many whiskies die in in in a a a Christmas song?” he assed his friends with his eyes widening a bit. Indeed, it did surprised Dominic a bit that Henry sang that song. Although he had only really just met the Hufflepuff, he got the impression that the little Hufflepuff didn’t really like anything that horrific.

The blond boy did feel bad for stopping his friend from talking about the Welsh language, and language in general It wasn’t that he didn’t like Welsh, but he was finding the whole discussion of language in general rather boring. It was a boring subject. Like history, or anything else like that. The first year had to look out for his own sanity, that and he was very worried that the topic might piut him to sleep and he could end up falling off the tree downwards towards his doom. The little boy didn’t want to literally die of boredom. That would be an awful thing to have died from. If he was going to die, Dominic then would want it to be something cool. Like fighting a giant crocodile that shot lasers from his eyes and had poisonous teeth and sung opera songs so loudly that it caused glasses to smash. That would be an awesome way to go.

The Gyffindor shook his head a bit on Henry’s thought of life ”I I I don’t see the the choice but to to life the the live that that we want to. If if if we try to please other people all our lives then then you are are always going to to to struggle to to be happy. You don’t have to hurt others, of course and and and I would never dream of of of intentionally hurting other people. But at the the same time I I think that if you are too busy trying to to live for for for others you cannot live for yourself.” he wondered if that was making sense. He wasn’t too sure. He had been told that, sometimes, he could talk utter nonsense. He hoped that this was not one of those times.

No, Dominic would never hurt others on purpose. He would be absolutely devastated if he did that. But then was there anything wrong in trying to life your live by yourself, rather than for others? It might make someone else happy, maybe, but would it make him happy. He didn’t really think that. As far as he could tell he was the only person that could make himself happy. Besides, it wasn’t like anything really mattered anyway. In 500 years from now, who would know the difference? He was pretty sure that it would be nobody.

The frown appeared on his face again when Henry started to lecture him. Perhaps the Hufflepuff should have know better than to imply that a Gryffindor was a coward or scared in anyway. It was a natter of pride and dignity that he wasn’t. ”OH! So I am foolish now?!? Dom said feeling the level of irritation with his new found friend starting to grow and grow more. He really didn’t want to fall out with Henry. He did seem like a nice person and Dominic did like him. A lot. The 11 year old attempted to get control of his temper before it ended in the premature death of this friendship. That was something that he certainly did not want to happen. ”I I I know fear is is is is important, But but so is is facing yours fears and and challenging yourself.” he said still clearly irritated by Henry. He guessed that he should appreciate that Henry was concerned with his safety and didn’t want to see him getting hurt. He have Henry a small grin, in an attempt to show that they were still friends. ”Thanks though, for for the concern for for my safety. Although you you really don’t have to to to be” he said in an attempt to make sure that they didn’t end up burning their bridges.

It was now Henry’s turn to go on the defensive. The first year made a bit of a mental note of his. Dominic didn’t think he was being unreasonable in his assessment nor was he giving any slight against the Hufflepuff. ”Well, I I I know that!” he said matter of factly. ”I I I been up higher in in in more difficult treeeess as well. But but that is is my point. People take risks all the the the time.” they were back on the topic of death again. The Welsh lad winkled his nose slightly. He decided to argue with his friend other this. They seemed to be getting into more and more arguments and he didn’t want his new friend to get the wrong impression. He let his objections to it slip this once.

”So your motto is, basically, whoever heard of a worm skinned rug?” he quipped at his friend, hoping that the would not take it in the wrong way. He did suppose that his friend had a point. Tigers and worms both did what they did to survive. However, the Gryffindor felt that there was certainly something more noble about being a tiger, about trying to be brave, then acting like a chicken and living in the shadows your entire life. ”Perhaps there is some kind of balance between the two extremes though. I will say that” he conceded thoughtful. Being too risky was, as Henry was pointing out, foolish. However, in Dominic’s own opinion, not taking risks was equally as foolish. There was probably a happy medium somewhere in the middle.

”What if people didn’t like wearing wool or or drinking milk either?” he asked his friend automatically. ”You okay Henry” he asked his friend when Henry pulled a face. There was concern in Dominic’s voice. He didn’t really fancy a medical emergency on the tree. Not one involving his friend anyway. He didn’t want the Hufflepuff boy to get hurt. Dommie’s chest swelled with some pride when Henry said he had a very good point. It was not something people often said to Dominic. It was heartening to hear that, sometimes, he could make good points. It was always good to know.

”Keeping a a journal might be cool” he said to his friend rather excitedly once more. ”And if if if we do it together it it it could be fun, it it it could be another thing on top of the the expl….” he caught himself rather quickly ”…the the the hunt for magical creatures that we are are going to to to do together.” anything that he could do with his friends was something he should embrace he felt. And going vegetarian could be a totally new experience so they would have some rather interesting things to put into the journal right? He was petty sure that they would.

The blond haired lad raised an eyebrow as his new mate sighed ”You alright?” he asked wondering if he was the one now boring Henry. It would be entirely possible, but Dominic wasn’t sure he was boring. Indeed, he was pretty certain that he was anything but boring. So, if he was being boring then that would be a totally new experience for him, which the 11 year old considered would be totally awesome in and of itself. Perhaps he could keep a journal of all the times that he was being boring. However, Dom assumed that would be a pretty small journal with hardly anything at all, if anything at all, written into it.

”I I I would say” the idea of starting a study club together was also an interesting one, and one that Dominic never thought he would be involved with. Perhaps he was starting to become boring after all. He mused on this thought for a moment before mentally rebelling against such a preposterous idea. ”I think that is is is the idea. The more we have the wider range of subjects people can support each other on.” Dom didn’t really have anyone he could ask along. Maybe Icky, but he got the impression that Ichabod liked hanging around with himself and studying by himself more and more.

”Us two studying together would be cool and and we could have Lizzy come along two, there be be three of of of us then. That could be good.” it certainly seemed to the Welsh wizard in training to be a better idea than hi, going along to listen to Henry read a book to someone. That didn’t sound like a lot of fun to Dommie. Indeed he struggled to see any value in that what so ever. Unless Henry was reading her books to help her get to sleep. But then, Lizzy was a Gryffindor, so it wasn’t even possible for Henry, a Hufflepuff, to get into the Gryffindor tower to do that for her. Maybe they had some kind of magical device that allowed them to communicate with each other in different arts of the castle? That would be so cool if they did, but he was pretty sure that they would be prohibited by the school as well. Hogwarts banned all the fun things.

”I do do not want to to to get injured!” protested Dominic. ”Nor do I want to go to to the hospital wing” he added in much the same tone of protest. Maybe he hadn’t made himself clear to his friend. ”All I I I was trying to to to say was that the the hospital wing really wasn’t all such a a a bad place to go, because the the nurse is nice and the the wing is nice too. But it it it is also very boring and and and the nurse does not let you do anything fun. So I I would rather avoid going there.” he hoped that would clear up what he meant for Henry.

”I I know. I I I I have climbed a a a lot of trees in the the past. Sometimes I I I have fallen off them tooooo” he added looking down and pointing downwards as if to try and make the point. It didn’t really help his balance too much but the little boy managed to stay on regardless. It was true that Dom did like to take risk and be a bit of a dare devil but maybe Dominic was giving a bit of a disingenuous impression about how risky he actually was. There were things that even the Gryffindor first year would think twice before doing. He wasn’t entirely all that daft. Just seemed like it sometimes.

The monster couldn’t be real. The possibility of something like that existing was too terrifying, and Henry did what he could in his attempt to explain to himself. Dominic had to make a mistake. He couldn’t be right. If he were, the consequences would mean endless horror and the inability to ever go to sleep again peacefully. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be. That was the mantra Henry kept repeating to himself. When he had suggested that Dominic might have misunderstood the element about the monster being under protection, no matter how many children it murdered and adorned itself with (Henry’s stomach slightly heaved at this thought), his main goal had been to calm himself. Yet, considering Dominic’s darkening expression, he might have done more harm to his friend than good to himself. Anxiously racking his brain for other solutions to their monstrous problem, he spilled out his next theory.

He almost sighed with relief when the Gryffindor didn’t glare at him but seemed to think over his suggestion. Though Henry feared that he was not safe yet, maybe he’d decide to feel insulted on his grandmother’s part. Maybe grandmothers liked to think up monsters? It sounded like a crazy theory, but at least crazy in a better way than the monster. He wished he had some experience with grandparents to tell whether that might be a common trait in grandmothers. Though he supposed Dominic had two of them, and he had only mentioned one in connection to monsters. It seemed that his theory was exactly as it sounded, simply crazy. He considered for a second to mention it to Dominic nevertheless - it was not like the other boy was always making sense to Henry - but then decided against it. It seemed a different sort of crazy from what Dominic was uttering, so Henry had no confidence in actually saying out loud what he couldn’t make believe even himself. It was better to just be relieved that Dominic had decided to label his theory about extinct monsters as plausible. He didn’t sound that convinced, but Henry was glad for the smallest bit of consent that he could use to reject the monster’s existence. ”Right?” he said, feeling almost exhausted after this unpleasant surprise. It was awesome to discover new creatures, but that monster had been more awful than anything else. ”I mean, it would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?” he added, starting to feel happy in the aftermath of the big shock.

Pizzas were not exactly terrifying, certainly less terrifying than the monster they had just talked about. But then this pizza seemed to reach the peak of disgusting nevertheless so that Henry started to wonder whether they would even once manage to talk about something pleasant. He liked pizza, that wasn’t the point. But then pizza wasn’t supposed to be sweet. It was supposed to be a flat, round piece of dough, and there had to be tomato sauce and cheese on top of it. That was a pizza. At least that was what Henry had always thought a pizza should be. Now that he thought of it he was rather convinced that it was an Italian dish. He had never been to Italy, maybe the salty pizza version was a mistake and it was always supposed to be sweet? He had to ask around a bit among students, there might be some who knew more about Italy. ”So,” he said after a moment of thought, ”it’s more like a very sweet tart? Like a tart in which someone just shoved all their favourite sweets, not realising that combining things, even when the things in themselves are delicious, doesn’t necessarily work out.” He scratched his head. ”And it was really called a pizza?” he asked. ”Because I always thought pizza had to be salty. I guess I made a mistake.” This unexpectedly, he now had a reason to never wanted to travel to Italy (not that he had ever before thought about traveling to Italy), at least if that sweet thing was the real Italian pizza.

”Does she say you are always hyperactive or only sometimes? What do you do when you’re hyperactive?” he asked, trying to figure out what the actual implications of the word were. Dominic’s mother seemed, if he wasn’t misinterpreting what he had been told, to consider it not right. It seemed that hyperactive might not mean that Dominic was doing a lot of homework because his mother wouldn’t think that was a bad thing. Though if he was learning too much, then that could be unhealthy. On second thought, if his mother used the word negatively, it could also mean that Dominic did the wrong things from what his mother considered appropriate. It really all depended on what it really meant in relation to Dominic’s life. ”Has your mother told you what you should do against it?” he asked curiously. ”I mean, I get that you’re not hyperactive-” His friend had said so, and Henry would never doubt what a friend told him. ”- but your mum does seem to think so. She surely advised you what to do to not be hyperactive, and I’d be really curious to know what she said.” Now that he was wondering about the word, he needed an answer. His aunt would receive a very long row of questions anyway. Maybe he would manage to solve this problem without her help.

”Yes, I think you’re right,” confirmed Henry Dominic’s suggestion about allergies. It made perfect sense. Allergies could have all different forms and appearances. He knew that some people couldn’t eat flour and that was not that far off a fruit in his opinion. It was something from a plant too. If one part of a plant could cause allergic reactions, it only made sense that another could as well. ”I’m quite sure you’re right,” he corrected himself, remembering that there existed different sorts of flour from plants that weren’t wheat, like rice or chestnut, and these could be eaten by those who were allergic to normal flour. That was as good as a confirmation of Dominic’s theory. At least one problem solved he thought contently to himself. ”Especially when you don’t know and are always sick,” he agreed with the Gryffindor. ”But once you get used to it, it’s not a problem anymore. At least, I don’t have one.” Dairy had never agreed with him, so he had never felt any need to consume something with dairy. Consequently, he also couldn’t miss it.

”Oh, well, these are good too. And you’re right, they’re all very similar,” said Henry. ”I’m not sure whether I could tell them apart to be honest. Just these fruits that look like little oranges but aren’t that bitter. I like them all. I just eat them and don’t ask that long what their name is exactly.” Probably he should. It was sort of weird to do not know the difference. There had to be one, why else would they exist. There had to be a deeper meaning somewhere attached to these fruits. He frowned in further confusion. ”Wait,” he said, ”you mean there is an animal that looks a lot like a mandarine, clementine, satsuma?” Was it possible that he had ever eaten an animal alive? That would be horrible. He’d be a horrible person. He trembled but then decided to reconsider it later on. Dominic had said so much, and Henry reminded himself that he had put question marks, some loudly, even more only to himself, behind several statements. He had to look up the carrots, and apparently these… what had the name been? ”What exactly is that animal called?” he asked, trying not to sound all too desperate. ”Is it native to Britain? Have you ever seen one? But I’d notice if I’d eat it, right?” Henry breathed deeply. That was true. Once he peeled an orange, he’d notice if an animal was under the… skin. Why did the use of skin for peel suddenly sound that ominous? ”I mean, they can’t look the same on the inside and the outside?” Why! Why couldn’t this conversation happen without continuously frightening him out of his wits?

”He is?” said Henry, mildly surprised. ”But how is he allowed to stop someone then? I thought you needed to be an Auror, or at very least a hit-wizard, to be allowed to give orders. Er, and what’s a superhero? I mean I know what a hero is, but how can someone be… more — more than a hero?” Henry was well aware that he wasn’t all-knowing, but the amount of things he had absolutely no knowledge about was starting to astound him. ”But didn’t you say that the text went ̓When Quinn the Eskimo gets you ̓,” he suddenly asked, remembering what the Gryffindor had sung. ”So the song is addressed to the bad person. Isn’t the song then about this bad person? Are you sure there’s not more about what they have done that they deserve Quinn’s punishment. Oh, is it sung from the point of view of the oppressed. Maybe they’re reminding the ̓you ̓ to be nice to them because otherwise Quinn comes to punish? Would that make sense?” Henry felt that they were making some progress in trying to explain the song.

”It’s just difficult to get four people to sing with you,” said Henry sadly. ”Canon with just two is a little boring. And when you meet people on the street, they hardly ever want to sing with you. Sometimes you’re lucky in pubs, but then it doesn’t sound that pretty.” Not to mention that those drinking Fire Whiskey and similar stuff were usually not that eager to sing canons. He mostly sang alone or together with his aunt. When he was younger, he had tried everything to make Gunther sing, but as he grew older he had understood that the undertaking would never yield any results. ”Is there a choir at Hogwarts?” he asked. ”It might be fun to join. Though I don’t know if they’d take first-years. If they existed. It’d be nice.” Singing was always creating a better atmosphere in his opinion, so he considered it would be really clever of Hogwarts to encourage musicians. He would have to keep an eye on the notice board of the common room.

Henry shrunk a bit at the reproach. ”I didn’t,” he said almost pleadingly, ”mean to say anything against the way you talk.” In fact, the Gryffindor’s speeches hadn’t sounded that melodious to him, maybe because he found he had to concentrate a little more than usual to do not be confused by the repetitions. ”I’m sorry, but…” He bit his lip. Hopefully that wouldn’t sound insulting again. ”Do you talk consciously with a tune in your head? I mean you could come up with some sort of simple rhythm and try to fit your speech patterns into it… I don’t know. Does that sound stupid? I only tried to be helpful,” he muttered. Somehow everything he said was wrong. He felt that it was a reproachable thing to think, but he was somehow glad that he had met Lizzy in the park back then. It had been easier to talk to her - still was easier. But there were so many first-years at Hogwarts. Dominic hardly needed him, so he wasn’t obliged to be his friend? He was trying, of course he was trying, and he’d continue trying. He did want to be friends with Dominic after all. But that proved quite an effort.

Henry shook his head and smiled awkwardly. ”No, it’s okay. You sang, it’d be unfair if I didn’t sing too. I just…” He just hoped that it wasn’t a reproachable thing to sing such a song. ”It’s… I’m just not really sure what’s going on in the song, and it sometimes is a little creepy - I think - but…” He breathed deeply. ”I already heard it on WWN, so it can’t be that bad… I hope.” After all, the Wizarding Wireless Network wouldn’t play anything too reprehensible. But then he hadn’t heard the song often, two or three times probably throughout all the many years that he listened to the radio. They played a lot of love songs, and these were all just so silly and pointless that he had zero interest in them. So he had been kind of thrilled to hear the song he only knew from drunk Leaky Cauldron customers in the radio. It had made him feel a little bit better about liking the song. Though hearing the text clearly did not exactly help Henry understand what was supposed to be going on.

Once he finished - he hadn’t planned on singing the whole song, but once he had started, it had been sort of hard to stop - he was watching his friend anxiously, scared that he would be disgusted. Luckily that didn’t seem to be the case all too much. He more looked puzzled, and that was a reaction Henry whole-heartedly understood. He had tried to make sense of the song but then decided that it was more fun to just hum the melody while eating candy. It was a very good method to ensure that he didn’t eat more than ten bonbons in a row. ”Oh, yes, I guess it is,” he said. ”Do you think it’s a Christmas song? It’s only briefly mentioned at the beginning, I don’t know whether this counts. Christmas songs are usually about Christmas, aren’t they, you know, like ̓O Come, all ye faithful ̓. And that sounds so different. And I mean Whiskeys aren’t alive, so they can’t die in the first place.” That was what he had told himself when he had first realized that there were deaths in the song. But then he told himself that something that didn’t live couldn’t die - or only die in the same way a sweet he ate would die. And as food was inanimate, its death was not something he needed to worry about. He really hoped that this consideration was right, maybe he should ask someone older about it.

Henry tried to shove the thoughts about his father to the back of his head. It was something in the past, something he couldn’t change though he’d always think back to remind himself to never become like that. It was painful to think about him, but necessary. And it was not like his father had always been bad, there had been a time when he was all kindness, his aunt remembered it. But that was something he shouldn’t think about now. He turned his attention to Dominic and pondered his words. They appeared flawed to him. He didn’t want to accuse Dominic of anything, but he couldn’t find himself agreeing. ”How can you be happy if you don’t want to please others?” he argued back. ”We are always together with others, we can’t avoid it. Isn’t it better to try and be their friends and all be nice to one another? If everybody’d always put themselves first, there’d be constant struggle. And when you’re forever struggling, how do you want to find time to live your own life and be happy? Happiness is depending on the people you are together with, isn’t it? Without our friends, we’d be far more miserable.” He was rather certain that he was right. He was happy because he had his aunt, Gunther, Carin, Lizzy, and all his other friends. His life was about these people. He wanted to see them all happy, he also wanted to see Dominic happy, but how did the Gryffindor intend to be happy? ”How do you intend to live your life then?” he asked in an attempt to understand his friend’s point better. ”What is your idea of a happy life? And how do you want to achieve it?” On second thought, Henry considered his life more or less happy. At least, he couldn’t think of anything that he would like to change.

Henry almost replied that, yes, Dominic was being very foolish the way was reacting. And to get angry because of the very reasonable points that Henry thought he had made was even more foolish. But then he told himself that if he would say anything in that direction Dominic would most likely just get even more angry. And they were high up in a tree. If the Gryffindor got more angry, he would certainly also get more foolish, and who knew where that could end. He also had no inclination to make Dominic extra-angry. It would be far more preferable if they got along. Otherwise they might set a world-record for shortest lived friendship ever, and he had absolutely no ambition there. He wanted to get along with Dominic, and while he still was convinced that he was absolutely right, he could relent a bit in favour of his friend’s temper. If they were friends, they could have this discussion more often, and with time, Henry might find better words to make Dominic listen. ”There are reasonable and unreasonable ways to face your fears,” said Henry, trying to sound apologetic. ”And there are fears that need to be faced, and there are reasonable fears that are actually helpful. If you are afraid of heights for example, you can say, okay, then I don’t go anywhere where it’s hight, and that’s perfectly fine. But if you want to climb nevertheless, you must go about facing your fears carefully. Like, first, just stand on a chair. And once you can stand on a chair without fear, stand on a table. You know, step by step. Don’t climb on the highest tree at the first try. Because that would really be foolish. Probably that is what you meant, and I misunderstood you. I’m sorry for that.” It did seem that Dominic didn’t want to have an argument either. And Henry gave him a big smile. ”That’s what friends are there for. To look after one another.”

Henry half opened his mouth to say that he wasn’t taking any risks. It was just as likely that he’d fall on his nose when he was walking through the corridors of Hogwarts as that he’d fall from the tree. There was absolutely no risk in that. But Dominic didn’t seem to want to pursue the discussion, and in all honesty, Henry thought that this might be better, so he just muttered, ”I don’t take risks all the time.” He also didn’t know anyone who did, but that might be better not to mention or they’d start to argue again. Luckily he was soon diverted by the Gryffindor’s next comment. ”A what?” he asked, too confused to take in anything else of what Dominic had said. ”How would you make a rug out of a worm? That’d be…” Gross? At least the only way Henry thought it would be possible was to take a lot of worms and trample on them. Which was, well, gross. Very gross. Dominic had to be speaking metaphorically, but it still didn’t make any sense. ”No,” he said. ”I’ve only heard of rugs made out of wool and other fabrics, I’m not that sure what it all was, cotton probably. Do you mean because the bug is comfortable in the rug? Do you mean a rug made for worms? What…” It still was as weird as ever. ”What’s a rug to do with anything?” At least they seemed to be coming to a compromise on the grand whole. Henry didn’t like arguing, and even less arguing with a friend. ”Yes, I agree,” he said with relief. ”There’s a balance. That’s what I meant all along. I guess we just misunderstood one another. I hope you’re not too mad at me.” He was maybe not a hundred percent sincere. What Dominic had said previously wasn’t sounding all too balanced to him. But he wouldn’t say so now. It was far better to get along, and he could win nothing by pressing his point, only lose a friend.

”Er,” said Henry. ”I… well, wool is scratchy, but if you wear a shirt underneath it, it doesn’t bother you. So you’d have to produce garments out of wool that people like. And I suppose there are people who don’t like milk or can’t drink it,” like himself, ”but I’m sure that’s a minority. And you can make a lot out of milk, like cheese, yoghurt, or pudding, even some things I can eat. There’s surely something for everybody out of milk.” Or had he misunderstood Dominic? He had a feeling he was missing something. ”I’m fine, thanks, it’s nothing.” He gave the Gryffindor the thumbs up. He didn’t get sick from thinking about milk after all. ”Yes, it’ll be a great project,” he said, readily joining his friend’s enthusiasm. ”And we are going to have results very soon! Because I think it will be very difficult to find a new species. We’ll need loads of patience. It’ll be nice to have something that we can control ourselves.” He leaned forward and scratched Gunther under the ear. ”I’ll still give you your food, don’t be afraid. You won’t have to miss your salmon. Promise.” Suddenly unsure, he looked up. ”Gunther doesn’t have to join us, right? It’s just I have no idea what I could feed him if I can’t use the normal cat food.” Hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem. He didn’t want their project to fail because of Gunther, but then the cat always came first.

”Yes, absolutely,” said Henry, forcing his concentration back on the conversation. ”I was only thinking about the animals. You know, what we have to do first and what we have to pay attention to. I think we’ll need a lot of preparation before we can properly start.” Coming to his mind that this might scare Dominic off the project, he hastily added, ”We can start basic exploration of the territory I think, but I doubt that we will manage to identify new species before we make ourselves familiar with the already existing ones. We probably have to learn some basic Magizoology first. I’ll look things up in the library as soon as I can.” On second thought, they were doing this together, so Dominic would surely also like to do some work. ”We should divide some of the research I think to be more efficient. Are there any elements you’re especially interested in?” This project was already forming. He had a very good feeling about it.

Henry beamed at Dominic when he agreed to the study group. ”Exactly, and then there are the older students who are always willing to help! Hogwarts is like a big, big family.” Or at least he felt that way about his two best friends and their brothers. These were the ones he interacted with most. But all the other Hufflepuffs he had talked to had also been very friendly. He didn’t know that much about the other houses, but why should they be any different? There was absolutely no reason not to be nice to one another.

”I usually read to Lizzy after History of Magic,” he informed his friend. ”We don’t have the classes together sadly, but we’re still learning in the same rhythm, so that’s not a problem. And you are having the classes with Lizzy, so you can just ask her whether you can join her - you know, in case we’re planning something else.” They were trying though to repeat the History classes pretty regularly. Otherwise Lizzy would lose all interest because it was a lot of reading. He guessed it was good that the ghost he had heard about was no longer teaching, rumour has it he beat any sleeping draught. Then Lizzy would be completely dependent on the books, and he knew that this would be horrible for her. ”Carin’s sometimes there too,” he said. ”Depending on what homework they do. But they’re super nice too, you’ll get along great. But as said, it might be good to start just the two of us so that we know how the other learns and how we best help each other. What’s your best subject?”

Henry felt relieved that Dominic felt no pull towards the hospital wing. It would have been very awkward if it had been his friend’s wish to hurt himself. He had a feeling that there would have been something deeply wrong with that. But now it did make sense, and that was quite a relief because it hadn’t happened that often yet that Dominic made more sense when he talked longer. Henry really preferred things to be logical. ”Yes, exactly,” he said. ”There’s nothing wrong with the hospital wing when you have to go there. But it’s still not a place where you’d like to go to. Yes, that’s exactly my opinion.” He smiled at his friend. It was so much better to be able to agree on things.

Henry frowned but kept himself from commenting. He wasn’t that convinced of the Gryffindor’s assurance that he would be careful, not when he was gesturing around rather wildly. But to Dominic’s credit, he didn’t lose his balance and only seemed insecure for a very short moment. Deciding that if he pointed this out Dominic would only move more, he simply nodded to his words. ”It’s fun jumping from trees,” he said. ”The problem are the branches. If you’re too high above, you fall past them and that can be painful. It’s very important to find a spot from where you can jump safely. I haven’t done it though since I came here. And I’ve got a feeling the teachers wouldn’t like it. I suppose it’s better if we climb down from branch to branch.” Admittedly, the teachers might not be thrilled at all to find them up in this tree - adults could be weird sometimes. Henry had no doubt that he would reach the ground again as safely as he had reached the treetop.

It was starting to worry Dominic more and more that his hyperactive nature and his…wild imagination might actually end up putting off his new found friend. The Gryffindor boy wanted friends and he did like Henry, he seemed like a nice person, if he decided that Dominic was a bit too much it would deeply hurt the boy. If he was honest he was already a bit put out by the other lad’s comments about not being best friends did hurt him a bit and he did feel a bit patronised by the very very good friends comment. Despite that he did not want this friendship to end before it even got started. He made a mental note to try to reign in his imagination a bit.

Henry’s comment about his grandmother did offend him a bit, but he would let it slip. The last thing Dominic wanted to do was row with this Hufflepuff, especially when they were so high up on this tree. It was possible that they would fall down and both end up severely injuring themselves. Despite what he might have indicated others to Henry, the Gryffindor had no real desire to end up in the hospital wing, not if he could actually help it. Dom felt that it was very boring there and the nurse was a stuck in a mud in his opinion. She never let them have any fun while in the wing. Apparently, it was meant to be a place of rest and not a place where you have competitions to see who can bounce on the bed the highest or fling an empty bedpan the furthest. She was so boring.

”I suppose it might explain a bit…” the blond haired lad said, still not entirely convinced. His grandmother would know if the animal was extinct, she wasn’t stupid nor confused, but the 11 year old was getting the impression that it was probably best to let this one slip. He could tell that he was making Henry feel a bit nervous and uncomfortable with his mamgus tales and he didn’t really want to do that. Deciding that perusing his warnings about the Frankenstein monster would probably not be a sensible course of action he decided to leave it. Dom supposed that he did all he could to try and make the other lad aware of the dangerous of the beast, he didn’t seem interested in acknowledging his warnings. It was a bit unfortunate, but the Gryffindor supposed that there was not a lot that he could actually do about it for now.

The conversation moving onto pizza seemed to be a lot better territory for the boys. Dominic smiled at this friend. The Gryffindor first year pondered what would be his favourite kind of pizza, he loved a lot of toppings. Pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, ham, cheese of course. He supposed now that he was going vegetarian he would need to find some new toppings to enjoy on a pizza. Baked beans sounded nice, a pepper and mushroom maybe? Onions? Tomatoes?, fried egg? Rocket salad? Sweet corn? He supposed there was all kind of other varieties of toppings other than meat. Dom was deadly serious about becoming a vegetarian after all.

”I think some shop was trying to be be be clever and appeal to to to to children and and and the the like. I I I don’t think that it it it works verty well because it it it does sound disgusting even to to to me and and and I like sweeties.” he nodded. The blonde boy did have a very sweet tooth. His parents had told him that he cannot have too many sweets because it not very helpful for him. Apparently they were bad for his teeth and not a suitable alternative to having three meals a day. He even tried to allow him to have Smarties cereal for breakfast. Well, he says Smarties cereal, well he said Smarties cereal what he really meant was a bunch of regular Smarties in a bowl and them covering them with milk. He felt that would be the same as having cereal but apparently not.



”Well…” the youngster fidgeted a bit “…she saids I I I am already hyperactive…” he wondered if Henry would think any less of him for being hyperactive, then again if the Hufflepuff didn’t get that the little Welsh lad was full of energy by now he might never really get it. An embarrassed look came upon the Gryffindor face when Henry asked what he did when he was hyperactive ”Well, I I I I talk a a a lot and and and talk really fast. I I I don’t make a a lot of of sense and seem to to to have trouble processing my my my thoughts probably which is is why I I I end up talking really fast or or or or not making sense. Oooh ooh ooh I I I I also apparently stutter even more than I I I do normally.” he hoped that answered Henry question. Apparently he did other stuff when he was hyperactive as well but he really didn’t want to get too much in some of the stupid, embarrassing or down right dangerous activates he apparently does when on a sugar high. He was already scared of frightening his new friend away and tales about what he allegedly does when hyper was certainly to put Henry off him. Although, a lot of the tales where very similar to what he does normally anyway. Maybe sugar didn’t really have anything to do with it and it was just his natural state.

”My my my mam saids to to have less sugar, and and and to to calm down and and count to to 10 before taking any any action. But but but that is booring. I I I I mean if if if you keep pausing to to to count to to count before you do do do anything you would be be be reeaaaaallly slow.” he shook his head. Mothers could be so silly sometimes. Besides, he didn’t really consider himself to be that hyper or insensible. He might be a bit energetic at times but that was about it. If he was honest he did feel a bit hurt his feelings a bit that his family suggested that he was a little hyper sometimes. He knew that they had no malice in them suggesting that to him, that they were just concerned for him, but the Gryffindor felt that he could look after himself. He wanted his family to start trusting him. After all he had started Hogwarts and was away from his parents at least, he believe that he could handle himself.

It was a comfort to him that his year mate had told him that he was not hyper, it did reassure him and any annoyance that Dominic felt towards the Hufflepuff over his doubting of his grandmother ended. He gave his friend a small, grateful smile. It was nice to be re-assured about something like that. It made the 11 year old boy feel better. He was glad for it.

A tiny smirk crept on his face when Henry said he was right, and Dominic said rather jokingly ”Well, of of of course, I I I am always right.” he wasn’t being entirely serious of course but in this case the young lad believed that he was absolutely right. Allergies must work the way he said, it would make little sense for people to be allergic to one entire kind of food group, right? He was pretty sure he was right. ”I know, that kind of of of thing worries me a a a bit. I I I dread getting ill and and and and not knowing why. It it it it it it would be be be awful and and and scary.” the little lad shifted uneasily.

”I I I am glad that that you don’t have a a aproblem anymore” he was relieved that his mate was okay. A curious look crept over his face, a question had popped into his mind. Well many questions, thoughts and ideas came to his mind every time, but he didn’t always say even half of the things that came into his mind, it just sometimes seemed like it. He pondered if he should ask this question, and decided that he would in the end ”How is is is it like to to to have an allergy by the way?” the Welsh boy hoped he didn’t offend his friend, it was a genuine question. It must be terrible knowing that you couldn’t have certain food stuff and missing out of some food that other people enjoy. As well as always having to be on edge and careful a not to et the food stuff that might make you ill ”Also….what happens if if you accident have have milk or or or something like that?” he hoped that they were not too personal questions for him to ask his buddy.

He nodded when Henry confirmed that they were all very similar. It was very true. They did taste different, he supposed. ”I I I know what you mean. I I Idon’t really ask what I I I am having as as as long as as as it it it tastes nice. I I do love my my fruit in in general, oranges, apples, kiwi fruit, grapes, cherries, plums, peaches, pineapples, they they they all taste really awesome.” he nodded eagerly. Fruit was someone. Dommie nodded ”Yep, they they they are small, round orange creatures and and and they get skinned and and and they die. So you you you would know if if if you had one. They are are are too dumb to react when they they they get skinned alvie.” he shook his head sadly.It was such a tragic tale, but he supposed it was Darwin’s law. ”I I I think they are are worldwide creatures” he answered thoughtfully ”I I I I think that they they they are mostly in in in countries where they they they grow a a a a lot of of of oranges and and and the like.”

Dominic jaw dropped slightly he couldn’t believe that anyone, especially an 11 year old boy, could not know what a super hero is. ”Well…” he wondered how he could explain this without giving examples. He was bright enough to know that saying it someone like Superman, or Batman or Spiderman would not help as Henry seemed unaware of these people. Learning this news from his friend was actually a bit troubling for the first year Gryffindor. It seemed that his friend hadn’t even lived year. It was so tragic.

”….umm….a a a superhero is is like a a a eerrr……” his mind raced trying to think of a suitable description ”….muggle that that sort of have magical powers, like like flying or or or being strong enough to to lift a a building, or or having a a a really cool suit made out of of of iron or or or doing whatever a a a a spider can” he hoped this explanation would be enough for Henry to understanding ”I I I sometimes pretend to to to be a a a superhero in in my own mind, you you know. Make believe, playing like like pretend” he wasn’t too embarrassed by confessing this. Henry didn’t know what a superhero was after all.

”That does make perfect sense and and and I think it it it song from the the point of of view of the victim or the oppressed. Saying that that if if the person continues to to to do their bad behaviour, they they would have to deal with Quinn” he pondered for a minute ”I I I think it it it is a re-assuring song in a a a way. Because it it saids that that if if someone does you you wrong that they will get get their just desserts” it was re-assuring to think that the bad guys will be punished in the end of the day. He couldn’t think about anything more re-assuring than that.

The first year nodded when Henry said it was hard to get four people to sing together, it was tough to do. Especially with a canon, they could be fun but some people seemed relucted to do them. Maybe they just thought they had a really bad singing voice and were embarrassed about it. That made sense. ”I know, people are are are very hostile to to to singing,. Maybe they they are embarrassed.” he added with a shrug. Embarrassment with not a concept that the young boy was very familiar with.

”I I Ithink there is a a a choir in in the school….” his face lit up when Henry said that they should join the choir, if possible. ”YES” he exclaimed as he nearly falling out of the tree. He grabbed onto a branch to make sure he didn’t end up with a very nasty and painful landing on the floor. ”…I would love to join the the the choir with you!!! It it it would be sooooooo coooool” he said b bouncing on the branch slightly. The first year was already planning on dragging Henry to sign up to such a group. If, that is, a choir even did exist. The thought that it might not was a bit disheartening for the little boy.

Maybe Dominic overreacted a bit when he snapped at his friend. Even if he wasn’t he started to feel a bit bad about it. Obviously Henry didn’t really mean anything especially nasty by what he said. The Gryffindor felt, upon reflection, that he was being a bit unfair. ”Sorry….” he said shifting uneasily ”…I I I can e a a a little sensitive about stuttering and and stuff…” he looked a bit embarrassed ”I I I I know you are are are trying to to to be helpful and and and I apologise for for snapping. I I don’t know about my my mind having a a tune when thinking. I I I think it it is just what comes out of of my mouth.” he gave the other boy a weak smile. Hoping that he had not blown the chance of this friendship.

”Sometimes the the WWM can can broadcast some songs that that are a bit….odd and naughty sometimes.” he remembered a time that he got grounded for repeating a song from the WWN. He didn’t know it was bad to be fair. He still feels that he was being treated unfairly by his parents over that. Dominic still felt very bitter about being grounded for that reason. Dom listened to Henry carefully as he song and mauled over the song in his head. It was a very interesting song, but it was a difficult one to figure out what was going on with it. After some photo, the Gryffindor boy suggested his opinion on the subject.

”I I I think mentioning about Christmas, makes it a a Christmas song” he said rather logically. ”I I I think the the the whiskey are are are meant to to to be….umm……” he tried to think of what he meant ”…..representing people, maybe people who drink.” Dominic bit his lip slightly. Drinking was meant to be bad right? ”Maybe the the the song is a a warning to to people not to drink because it it it it is very dangerous and stupid and and and will get you you killed?” it was worrying that so many people drink. It was so so dangerous. Maybe people should try to ban alcohol. Dominic couldn’t think of anything that could go wrong with that. Nope, no way.

For a brief moment he thought that Henry looked like he was thinking about something unpleasant and painful. He wondered if he said something wrong to his fellow first year? It was not something that he wanted to do. If he had upset or offended his new friend that would be heartbreaking for the blond haired lad. Dom wondered if he should start apologising but he didn’t want to come across like his cousin. Donald apologised way too much. Still, he felt bad that he might have done something that could have upset his butty. ”Are you okay Henry?” he settled for showing concern and going from there if it was a problem that the 11 year old Gryffindor had done, he would go from there with any apologises.

As the conversation moved onto a more philosophical manner. He thought carefully about the point that Henry brought up before finally saying ”Well….what I I I am saying is that you should to to to live your life for for for yourself and and and to to to please other people.” he thought he was making some sense ”I I I don’t want to to to to come across as as as selfish”he didn’t want this Hufflepuff lad to think anything less about him. ”I I I think if if if you don’t put yourself first thnen other people will will keep using you as a a a door mat” he was sure that he was making a lot of sense with this.

”I mean I I I do agree that without friends we will be miserable but but but you need to to to live your life by by by our own terms and and and do things that that make you happy, raher than do do things just to to make other people happy.” he thought about what he was trying to say some more. ”You also shouldn’t pursue things that are are outside your control to to to try and and and be happy, I I I mean would getting on the the the quidditch team or or or getting a a a good grade or or or climbing the the highest tree. I I I I don’t believe that that pursuit of of outside things cannot make someone happy. I I I mean maybe for for a a bit but but really, you r happiness is is down to to to you.” he was sure that it made sense. Sometimes it was difficult for the eleven year old to know if he was being sensible or if he was talking nonsense. He felt that it was likely the latter, sadly the former was rare for him. Not that he really wanted to let that get him down.

”I intend to live my my my lif by by by not trying to to worry about things outside my my my control making happy or or or pursuing things to to to make me happy. You know?” again he wondered if he was really making sense with this. Perhaps he was being selfish with his views? The blond lad pondered for a while and looked over the lake, before returning his face back to his mate. ”I don’t know. I I I just struggle to to to see how trying to to always please other people or or or believing that that something will will make you happy will will not really make you happy in in in the long run? Maybe I I I am not talking sense?” he shifted uneasily on the branch worried that the other boy was now going to think badly of him.

The little Welsh wizard felt his temper flair up again, he needed to keep himself calm, he was being a bit too sensitive, but Henry had managed to hit two sensitive issues for the young lad. His stuttering and people thinking him to be stupid or foolish because of the way he is. Maybe it was the bullying he had over the years that did make Dominic feel a bit hyper sensitive over the issue. After managing to cool himself down slightly he decided that what Henry was saying wasn’t meant to be offensive after all. He gave his friend a sheepish and apologetic look.

He supposed that the Hufflepuff was right about there being reasonable and unreasonable ways to face fears, and to be fair Dominic didn’t think he was really arguing on that front anyway. Dommie carried on listening to his friend as he expressed his opinion. He wasn’t entirely sure that the Hufflepuff understood exactly what he meant and it was possible that Dom wasn’t making himself clear. However, he didn’t want to get into a fight with Henry, so he decided that it would be better drop the subject rather than get into a row with his mate. ”That is is okay.” he simply said when Henry apologised for apparently misunderstanding him. He felt that saying that would be the best solution. ”I know, and I I I am glad that we we are friends. You are a a good friend and and I am glad that you are looking out for for me” it was an attempt to show that there was no hard feelings towards him. He hoped that it worked.

When Henry muttered something he fixed him with a small glare. He didn’t know exactly what the Hufflepuff said but it did sound like something about not taking risks at all or something. Was he trying to provoke a fight? Dominic wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t going to bite even if that was the other boy’s game. It was one that the Gryffindor didn’t really want to play. He wasn’t entirely sure that it was something that Henry was really trying to do either. ”Well that is is is the point, you wouldn’t make a a rug out of of a worm, but you would of of of a a braver animal like a a a tiger” he considered this point for a minute ”Although making anything out of of animals is is bad. I I I mean why would people want a a a rug made out of of of an animal way?” perhaps that was something else the pair could consider boycotting, especially since they were no longer eating meat. It would be a case of in for a penny, in for a pound he supposed.

”I think we we we did misunderstand each other…” he said in agreement, glad that they were not going to get into such a big row over this. ”I I am not too mad at you. We we are friends after all, right?” he wasn’t entire sure that Henry agreed with him. In Dominic’s honest opinion Henry seemed to lean very heavily towards not wanting to take any risks, or at least he seemed to not understand that he was taking risks anyway. Getting into a fight over this would be pointless and not something that either of the lads seemed interested in doing, which was fine for both them.

Dominic nodded as Henry talked about milk and wool ”I know that that wool is is is very itchy, and and irritating. It it it can be so annoying to to to wear if without having anything on underneath. So you are are right to to suggest a a a t-shirt underneath.” he nodded in agreement. He was glad that his was apparently fine. ”Good, I I am glad to to hear it. If if you need anything from me, then you you know where I I am and and and I will always listen to to to you and will try to to to help you, as best as as as I can.” he looked at his friend with a large smile.

” I I I am very excited about the the project it it will be soooo cooool to to to see what happens.” it was going to be a really exciting idea. They would definitely get some good results from it and they could compare and contrast what was happening with it with each other. It was something that was the pair could have some fun with and it could be something else that could be just between them. Along with their monster hunting/secret exploring that they were going to do. ”I I I think it would be be cruel to make cats go go vegetarians. I I mean they they like to to to eat meat. Cats are are designed to to to eat meat aren’t they?” this entire project was about being nice to animals. This means respecting other animals right to eat meat if that is what they wanted to do or if they was what they were designed to do. It would be equally cruel and mean to force animals to do something that they didn’t want to or were not meant to.

”I I I know that that it it it might take a a lot of planning” he said in relation to their monster hunting idea. ”We need to to find out where the creatures might be and and and what to to to to look for. We we we might need to to to get some some bait to to to to help lure them out so so so so we can log them” a lot of ideas where now buzzing in his little mind. ”I I think that it it good idea to to do some basic exploration first.” he agreed He felt slightly disheartened that Henry said he would research some basic Magizoology first without him. While the young lad was not entirely enthused by the idea of research and had a very short attention span, this still was meant to be a joint project and they were meant to be working together. Before Dominic could challenge Henry on this, however, the other lad seemed to backtrack a bit. He decided that it was probably a slip of the tongue by this friend.

”Dividing up the research does sound like a a good idea.” he agreed with his butty. After some consideration of what elements he was interested in he finally said ”Well… obviously what sort of things the the creatures maybe interested in so so we can help lure them out. Oooh oh also what noises those animals might make, that might be important.” he said aloud ”I mean do they make noises like this….” Dom made a loud squawking noise “….or like this….” he said a noise like a monkey, a lot of birds from nearby tree flew off in fright ”…or or maybe this….” the blond boy mooed extremely loudly, a nearby squirrel ran up another tree to hide “…or perhaps this.” the youngster screeched at the top of his voice. A poor young boy by the lake lost his balance and fell into the lake with a splash.

Perhaps, rather wisely, Dominic decided against continuing making animal noise, and maybe more wiser he also didn’t want to attract to where they were sitting. Rather luckily the branches and leaves where covering up the two boys, or they might have ended up being blasted out of the tree. ”Whoop” he said quietly. He looked at Henry with a worried and apologetic note as the very wet boy cast a drying spell on himself and wondered past mumbling about pranksters to himself. When he was sure that the cost was clear, Dominic decided it was safe to continue his conversation.

”Aye, some of the older students can be nice…” he didn’t have an universally good experience with older students. ”…I am sure that my my my cousins could help. Both of of them are very intelligent.” he informed his friend. While they might be a bit boring or evening annoying at times, but they both where nice people really.

”Welll, I I I know that…” he said bluntly to Henry when he said he didn’t share classes with Lizzie ”…me and and Liz are are in the the same house after all” it was not him having a go at his friend. It was just a bit odd, in Dominic’s opinion, for Henry to say that he doesn’t share classes with Liz. ”I I do like Liz she she she seems very nice and and I I do want to to become friends with her.” he made a note to make more of an effort to talk to her after meeting Henry. He was sure that him and Liz would become great friends and it would be nice to have someone his own age in his own house to hang around with as well.

”I I I wouldn’t mind joining your study group if if if you already have one but but I I I think being read to does sound a a bit boring.” he gave his mate a tiny, apologetic shrug. However he felt that having a study group to go to might help keep him honest in doing his homework or studying for future classes. And it would probably be nice to have friends to hang around with while doing something boring, maybe in an effort to make it less dull for all involved. Plus they could support each other. This would be a win win win in Dominic’s opinion.

”Cairn seems a bit….” he wasn’t sure how to describe them ”….I am am not sure that they like me very much, at least that is is is the impression that I I I get from them.” he wondered if his loudness and hyperactivity was a bit much for Cairn. ”But I I don’t know, maybe they will warm up to to to me once they get to to to know me.” he tried to give a weak smile but he was not very sure it he was being entirely accurate with that.

The Gryffindor looked thoughtful for a while when he asked what his best subject was. He would say all of them and everything but he wanted to try and treat this a big more seriously if they were going to go ahead with this study group idea. ”Well…” he gave himself some more time to think ”II I quiet like Herbology…” he said with a grin. ”…I…I quiet like working with the the the plants and and and the soil and and stuff. It it it is very interesting.” he considered it a bit more ”I I think that Herbology would be be my best and and favourite subject.” he sounded a bit more certain now that he thought about it. Herbology was something that he really liked, and that he was best at.

”Indeed. It is is nice to have a a a good hospital wing. Being comfortable and in a a a nice environment certainly does help in recovery. I I I guess that is is the entire point of of the hospital wing. To to be comfortable to aid recovery as much as as possible.” he wondered if Henry got that he didn’t want to enter the hospital wing, that he was in no desire for it. ”It it it is not like that I I don’t want to to go there. I I I just think that that it is is very well done and and nice for for what it is you know?”

”I agree it it it can be so cool to to jump from trees.” he said excitedly, grasping his hands together. A painful look crept across his face when the boy mentioned about falling past branches and it maybe being painful. ”I I know want you you mean. I landed very painfully last year.” he said wincing at the memory. ”And and I agree, jumping off safely is is very important. You you don’t want to to break your legs or or anything. And and the teachers are boring enough to to yell at us for jumping down…” he looked down towards the ground from where they where. ”….although I I I do think that this would be a a bit too high to to to jump down from” not even Dominic was that crazy to jump from where he thought it was too high. Especially as the Hufflepuff seemed less comfortable about taking risks.


”Climbing down might be be be the most sensible thing….” he looked at the sight that they could now see. It was pretty amazing. He paused for a while to breath it in ”…although you you don’t want to to climb down yet do you?” he asked his friend with a slight bit of concern. He was enjoying it up in the trees and he was enjoying the company. Dominic did not want to climb down there just yet. He really hoped that Henry didn’t either, but if he did that was understandable. The Gryffindor supposed that some people just didn’t like heights, nor maybe Henry needed to feed Gunther. Dom looked at the cat, it didn’t look hungry but cats could be very deceptive sometimes. Or maybe it wasn’t a hint at all and Dominic was just reading too much into it. The first year supposed he would find out pretty shortly.

Any monster was scary in the abstract. That didn’t mean that Henry was afraid of any of the magical creatures he had read about in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them. He had learnt about the Chimaera and decided that it would not be wise to seek out one. These were apparently lethal creatures and should be avoided even by highly experienced and skilled wizards. But learning about the Chimaera had not made Henry fear that one would suddenly crawl out from under his bed and attack him. Chimaeras did not live under his bed, they would not fit in there. It was impossible to smuggle any real magical creature near him that could hurt him. There was no reason to be scared of the impossible. It was the unknown that was making his skin crawl.

This was what made Dominic’s monster so creepy beyond words. Henry had no reliable source to tell him whether this was the sort of evil that was lurking under beds. It seemed to be made of exactly the material Henry feared the most (not meaning now in the disgusting physical sense). It was something indistinct, a menace that could not be categorized and put in a rational perspective, at least not as long as he was in Dominic’s company. He was not about to say its, was in fact even very reluctant to think it, but the Gryffindor had not yet managed to convince Henry that his evidence could be taken at face value. He felt insecure because there was no chance to learn anything precise about the monster. From what he knew about Magizoology and the government, the whole story was very questionable. He doubted. But doubting was far from knowing, and so he was left with the uncertain. The fear.

He nodded at the other boy’s concession though he sounded even less convinced than before. He eyed his new friend nervously. Dominic still did not seem willing to embrace more logical explanations of the monster, and Henry was unsure whether this was just because he was attached to whatever he had been told by his grandmother or because he did in fact know more than he had said. Maybe the Gryffindor just didn’t know what was a solid Magizoological fact that would shed more light on this sinister tale. Henry liked theory. A solid structure that gave orientation and made everything more scientific. He also loved crazy experiments and suggestions that everybody told him were impossible. But then he thought it very handy to compare his ideas with what he knew for certain. Thinking was like climbing. It had to be learnt and there were limits that needed to be known. Henry might not have been able to put these concepts into plain English, but they were nevertheless there as was the impression that Dominic was not adhering to the same principles. It was slightly unsettling. Not as much as the monster and far less clearly, but it was there.

At least there was nothing profoundly unsettling about pizzas. It was confusing what Dominic was telling, but this was not dangerous. At least he had said nothing that would suggest that this sweet pizza would become alive and eat the fool who had bought it. He shouldn’t have thought that. Henry resolutely shook his head. No, children eating pizzas didn’t exist, no matter what the topping was. He hadn’t eaten that much pizza in his life, but from what he had eaten under the impression that it was called pizza, he had liked well enough. It was a good lunch he thought. He liked bread. He liked tomatoes. He liked cheese (and was very thankful that it didn’t contain any lactose). And the combination was called pizza though there could be other things added. But he was no expert on pizza, and Dominic’s account sounded far more reliable this time. This was something the boy had seen with his own eyes, and he had no reason to doubt Dominic’s eyes.

”I like sweets too,” he said. ”I think most people do. But pizza sounds more like something you eat for lunch… at least to me-” He of course had to keep in mind that he was no expert. ”-and I don’t want to eat sweets for lunch. But afterwards a piece of chocolate or a cooky, that’s good. And of course ice cream. Whenever we, my aunt and I, go shopping in Diagon Alley, I get a sundae at the end. That’s great. But I think if we ate sweets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we’d end up hating sweets because it’s too much. That’s why the pizza doesn’t work very well, right?” Henry was convinced that he had made a very good point. There were different kind of foods fitting different kinds of time and occasions. Whether he was judging pizza correctly or not had no relevance in this larger scheme.

Hyperactive was a curious word, one that did not mean much to Henry. It had to have something to do with activities. But hyperactive seemed to be negative, at least in the eyes of Dominic’s mother, and activities were good. Well, he supposed that there were bad activities, or at least activities that some (weirdly enough most often prefects and the like) looked upon with a frown. But in itself there was nothing wrong with activities, with being active. It was better to be doing things than just lie around and wait for something to happen. So it was the ̓hyper ̓ that made the activity bad. But then what did hyper mean? He had heard it before, that he was certain. Did it mean a quantity? A too much? Then hyperactive would mean too much action. But how much was too much that made something good bad. Of course, Henry knew that a too much could be bad. Eating was good and healthy, but if he ate too much, he’d get sick. But if he was too active, he’d only get tired. And then he’d do less. So he had the impression that the body should protect him from being hyperactive by informing him before it was too late that he was exhausted. Maybe Dominic’s body failed to tell him that much, and he was active until his body couldn’t deal with it any longer, and he collapsed? If his theory was correct, then being hyperactive could be very dangerous. Maybe Dominic would just suddenly drop from the tree out of exhaustion?

But then, Dominic didn’t say anything of danger. Henry eyed his friend with increasing worry. It just didn’t make sense to him why Dominic’s mother would find a fault in what according to her son was hyperactivity. Talking, no matter how fast, was neither dangerous nor anyhow reproachable. And stuttering was certainly nothing bad. It might be embarrassing for the one who was stuttering, but that was it. So why was Dominic’s mother so negative about hyperactivity? The only theory he could come up with, and it was one that appeared horribly wrong to Henry, was that she was ashamed of her son’s behaviour. He really hoped that he was misinterpreting the situation. Mothers should be supportive, like his aunt. Dominic’s mother couldn’t be the one pervert exception. ”Is it dangerous?” he finally asked, determined to make sure whether the Gryffindor was in danger and just didn’t know how to put it into words so that his mother appeared in such a negative light. ”Being hyperactive I mean. Can you… does it cause you really real problems? Or is just your Mum… complaining…” Mums were protective. Surely there was a reason why she worried about Dominic being hyperactive.

”But that sounds reasonable,” said Henry with slight surprise. ”If that’s all you have to do against it, then it’s easy. Have you ever really tried? Because-” He cleared his throat importantly. ”-you are overestimating how long ten seconds are, I think. So if you just tried, it might work very well. Mothers are very clever, aren’t they?” Henry shook his head in confusion. ”But I still don’t understand. Why is hyper bad? I don’t mean you are. Of course not. You’re not.” At least that was what Dominic had said, and as long as he felt that he had no idea what he was talking about, Henry thought it was better to trust Dominic to know himself. ”But then, who is? Is it like a sickness? Are you born hyper, or do you become one? And if the latter, how? But if all you have to do is count to ten… why would anyone be hyper…” It was weird. Well, maybe it was just a grown-up theory. Grown-ups were very clever and everything, but there was no doubt that they sometimes came up with problems just for problems sake.

Henry grinned in return when his friend joked to be always right. At least Henry was almost a hundred percent sure that the other boy was joking, because it was of course untrue. Nobody was ever always right, but it was still fun to claim the opposite. It would be no fun if someone was actually so conceited as to believe their own words, but Dominic didn’t seem this kind of person. Not to forget that he would be living in a very different world than he had always thought if every crazy thing the Gryffindor had said were true. Henry secretly hoped very much that his friend was wrong in a rather large amount of matters.

Henry nodded gravely at the thoughts about unidentified allergies. ”It’s not only scary for you who are sick,” he continued his friend’s thoughts. ”It’s just as scary for Aunt- your parents. And all other friends. Because they feel helpless and don’t know how to help.” He paused and thought about what he was saying. His aunt had told him that it had been really disquieting at first when his stomach was always upset. Luckily she found out really quickly, but then his aunt was a Healer and therefore really clever. ”If you can’t help someone you love, that’s really painful,” he concluded with a shiver. He was no longer thinking about allergies. There were so many other ways in which it was possible not to be able to help someone you loved. He knew his aunt would do anything she could to help her brother. But there was nothing she could do. Nothing Henry could do. And it was all his father’s own fault.

There were so many options to replace dairy that Henry had never had the feeling that he was missing anything. He had never needed to worry about his nutrition as his aunt had always provided him with whatever he needed. He had to ask when he got food from somewhere else whether there was dairy in it. His aunt never failed to remind him of that. He had been careful over the first few days at Hogwarts, but now he felt he knew exactly what he could and what he couldn’t eat. ”It’s actually…” said Henry slowly, unsure what to say. ”It’s just being a bit careful when eating. And if in doubt, I don’t eat it. But other than that… it’s not a problem. I don’t worry about it or anything. I don’t even know why we do need milk in the first place. You can make milk out of plants, and that’s good. I don’t know whether it’s as good as milk, but it’s… good.” He had compared price tags once. It seemed that it was a little more expensive sometimes to get for example chocolate without milk, but then he was maybe only eating less than he would otherwise. But he didn’t know and therefore didn’t care. ”My stomach just gets really upset,” he explained. ”And I’m a lot on the loo. But that’s about it. It’s not pleasant, but it’s not dangerous or anything.” He supposed it could get worse, but as he had never been as stupid to eat a lot of something he knew wasn’t good, he wasn’t all too sure. There was no reason to be overly dramatic, especially as he usually didn’t think at all about his allergy.

”Oh, but these taste very different,” said Henry. ”And they do look different. I don’t think anyone could take a pineapple for a cherry. But you’re right, they’re all really good. Kiwi fruit are funny to eat, don’t you think? And the green is very pretty.” But why, oh why, did Dominic have to give every single innocent subject a dark turn? At least he supposed he had never accidentally eaten one of these animals. It had to be really shocking to start to peel a clementine, and suddenly blood spurted at you. It was such a sickening idea. But then, maybe, these creatures didn’t exist? At least he had never heard of them, and it would make a lot of sense to give out warnings to prevent such needless brutality. But then, what if it was true after all. He felt his stomach turn. ”How do I make sure I’ve got a fruit in front of me or an animal?” he asked shyly. ”Is there a definite sign? Should I check its heartbeat?” He really needed to know, just in case. It was better to be too thorough than become an accidental murderer.

Super meant something was really good. But a hero was per se always really good, so it seemed silly to Henry to put such an adjective before the word ̓hero ̓. It sounded about as inane as ̓wet water ̓ or ̓sweet sugar ̓. And yet, Dominic had used the term as if it were completely normal. And while it was normal that heroes were super (why else would they be heroes?), it was not normal English in Henry’s opinion. It wasn’t proper English. It sounded dumb, and Henry didn’t understand why anybody would use a word that made them sound dumb.

”B- but…” Henry stuttered, completely baffled by Dominic’s explanation. That was one of Dominic’s weird ideas again though Henry was this time relatively certain that it was absolute nonsense. Muggles with magic powers? That sounded even more idiotic than ̓super hero ̓. And it just got dumber and dumber. ”Muggles don’t have magic powers. That’s why they’re Muggles. That’s what makes a Muggle a Muggle. The absence of magic and…” This was obvious enough, but the magical powers that Dominic had mentioned — they simply did not exist. ”Flying…” A wizard could fly if given a broom. And hadn’t he once heard of a wizard who had been able to fly without a broom. So he would give this the benefit of the doubt for the moment. As to uprooting buildings, there might be spells? Henry was doubtful, but he was too confused to feel like arguing against this. ”What’s magical about a suit of iron?” he asked instead. ”That sounds impractical. You mean an armour. Muggles wore that in the Middle Ages, but what’s it to do with magic? And do you mean animagi?” At least there was no other logical explanation to what the spider could refer.

Henry’s eyes became round and he stared at his friend. Dominic pretended to be one of these heroes that for some reason were super (though being super was more or less a basic requirement for a hero). ”You like to pretend you can fly…” he said, trying whether it made any sense when he said it out loud. Well, he guessed it made sense to dream about flying. Quidditch was very popular. But where was the connection with heroes there? And why dream of lifting large things? It made life easier Henry supposed. But what was great about it? Being an Animagus would be great, that much Henry could understand. But what would an armour be good for? It was all very weird.

The whole Quinn-song finally started to make sense. There was a victim and it was talking to their oppressor, telling them that Quinn would come for help. And then everything would be fine. Maybe Dominic could get him the whole text, that might be helpful. It did sound like a fine song, now that Henry was sure he knew what it was about. It was good to help the oppressed. ”It sounds like a very good song,” he informed Dominic. ”I like it. A lot. It’s nice to sing about helping others.” He paused, and then added, ”Why is Quinn an Eskimo though? Aren’t those the people that live really far north? Is the story set in Greenland?”

”Yes, I suppose,” agreed Henry. ”But it’s just for fun, so nobody gets angry at you if you sing wrongly. It can be even funny if you do it wrong. When you end up not knowing what you are doing and it’s just chaos. Then you can laugh together.” Because it would definitely not be good to laugh at someone else. That would be very rude, and it was very wrong to be rude, especially if those who laughed didn’t even know better. ”I don’t think I’m a very good singer…” He didn’t really know. Singing was nice, but he didn’t sing for an audience and he had no idea whether his performance was under- or overwhelming. Average he supposed. There was nothing wrong with being average. Most people were average.

”Be careful!” exclaimed Henry when the Gryffindor almost lost his balance just because he was thinking about joining the choir. ”We can - calm down.” It would be nice to sing in a choir, Henry didn’t doubt that. But his friend’s enthusiasm was more shocking than anything else. He hadn’t expected such wild reactions, and he thought it was exaggerated. ”Yeah,” he said as quietly and soothingly as he could. ”That sounds good. But we’re high up in the tree. Don’t… there’s no reason for hurry or…” He didn’t know what to say and simply continued with what he hoped were calming gestures.

”It’s alright,” said Henry with a grateful smile. He hadn’t really expected an apology, hadn’t really thought he deserved one, but he was happy that Dominic said he was sorry. ”I can understand that it’s not… nice to talk about it. I didn’t, I really didn’t mean to be mean or anything.” Had anyone ever made fun of Dominic for stuttering? That would be really cruel and would explain why the Gryffindor didn’t like the subject. Henry started to feel bad that he might have made Dominic think of unpleasant memories. ”It’s not really important, is it? As long as you’re fine, you are free to talk however you want to. Nobody can tell us how we should talk, right?” He wished he knew better what he could say to cheer Dominic up. He had no experience with stuttering and he had said all he could think of that might help. Maybe he could ask his aunt. She knew everything.

”I don’t know…” Henry said thoughtfully. He liked listening to the radio, especially when he was alone though that didn’t happen all too often. And many of his babysitters had loved to do so too and then jumped through the living room, singing along. That had been fun — at least with most babysitters. He had never payed all that much attention to the texts then though, so he was not all that sure what Dominic was talking about. He half opened his mouth to ask what other odd songs there were but then decided otherwise. Maybe it was wrong to listen to these songs? He didn’t think that listening was per se something bad. But then what did he know? Naughty was bad, and it would be bad to want to learn something about it. It was better if he didn’t dwell on it.

Henry listened to his friend’s arguments with a creased brow. Was one mention really enough to set a theme? Henry didn’t think so, it should tie in more to the overall story in his opinion. ”But it also mentions Easter,” he finally protested. ”Wouldn’t that make it an Easter song too? But how can a song be a Christmas and an Easter song? Then it’d be more of a festivities song… though that might make sense…” He wasn’t entirely sure but he had a feeling that at such times, alcohol was drunk more than usual, so there would be a connection to the rest of the song. ”People?” he repeated slowly. He had never thought about it like that. But that would mean… would mean… ”You mean it’s about dying?” He was suddenly alarmed. The text had always been a little creepy, but this would be really dark. And wrong! ”Are you sure… they don’t seem… it doesn’t sound as if it were really mattering that all of those Whiskeys… die.” Did it make sense? Wasn’t there a better explanation, an explanation that wasn’t as dark and grim? He shuddered and hoped that his friend had got it wrong.

There were things that he shouldn’t think about, because there was nothing he could change about his father’s past. What was done was done. It all had happened when he was a baby, or even before he was born. There was nothing he could have done. After all, his father had not even wanted him. Henry didn’t even know why he existed. It was not pleasant to remember this. He had thought about it more than often enough to know this very well. At least his aunt loved him. She had wanted him when he was a baby. Nobody else. He shook his head and smiled as sincerely as he could. ”I’m okay, thanks,” he said. ”I was just thinking about… nothing in particular… you know… just sometimes I have not pleasant thoughts, but it’s not important. Or relevant. Or… nothing.” That hadn’t sounded like the best of explanations. But what else could he say? ”Don’t worry,” he added, leaning forward and petting Gunther. ”I’m fine.” He smiled at the Gryffindor, doing his best to sound and look cheerful.

Now that they were discussing something as complex for what they were living, Henry had more trouble in following Dominic’s line of thought. It was the first time that the stuttering made it somewhat difficult to actually listen to his friend. ”I don’t think you’re selfish,” he said slowly, deciding to say the obvious first while thinking over the rest. ”But I’m not sure I understand,” he then said. ”I can live only my own life, so how could I live for someone else. That’s not possible. And it’s got nothing to do with helping others. If I please others, I’m still living my own life…” He didn’t get the Gryffindor’s point. His words, as much as he tried, just didn’t make sense to Henry. ”Nobody ever used me as a doormat. Why should I let them? That… just doesn’t… fit together.” The more he thought about Dominic’s words, the sillier they sounded. They didn’t seem to have anything to do with what they were talking about. Or maybe he was the one who didn’t understand what the subject matter actually was?

It didn’t become much better when Dominic continued talking. Henry listened with all his concentration, trying to figure out what made them misunderstand each other so much, because he was relatively convinced by now that all his confusion had to be due to a misunderstanding. He nodded whenever something undoubtedly sensible came out of Dominic’s mouth. Yes, without friends life was miserable. But he was still convinced that he couldn’t be happy if he did things that his friends wouldn’t like. Wasn’t it far more complex? Interconnected? At least it made sense not to wish for the unachievable. That was reasonable though he didn’t quite get whether Dominic considered getting on the Quidditch team, a good grade, or up a tree as achievable or not. He guessed the first as the other option would be quite depressing. ”Yes, you’re right,” he said at last, glad to hear something to which he could agree without a doubt. ”Happiness is something you find in yourself. But I do think that I’d be sadder if I didn’t have the outside world to support me… just imagine, if I hadn’t come down to the lake but went somewhere else, we wouldn’t have met. And that would be a pity, don’t you think?” He was glad to have met Dominic, and he was convinced that the other boy felt the same. At least he had trouble believing that the Gryffindor would have been happier sitting up in the tree alone.

”Oh, I guess you should be happy the way that suits you best,” Henry conceded. He didn’t understand his friend, but apparently Dominic didn’t understand him either. Maybe they would with time. They had just met, so it wasn’t that surprising that they didn’t just blindly understand each other. ”As long as you’re happy, that’s great.” He certainly didn’t want to dictate to anybody the way they should be happy. He just didn’t feel that Dominic’s way — if he had any grasp of what it really was — would be his own. ”Oh, if you’re making sense to yourself, I suppose you make sense,” he answered, scratching his head. ”I think I’m happy the way I live? I don’t know… it’s just important that you are happy I’d say.” He smiled. This was what really mattered, wasn’t it? That they were content with their lives, independent of what they thought of each other.

Henry almost exhaled with relief when it seemed that they had managed to move away from the topic of Dominic’s foolishness. Henry was not all too happy with the other boy’s reaction, but then he also didn’t want to row because of it. He didn’t think it was reasonable to react in what he considered a childish manner to something grave and serious. There was nothing wrong with not being reckless. There was also nothing wrong with being brave of course, but he could see little braveness in what they were talking about. There was a clear difference between courage and audaciousness, with the first being as obviously positive as the latter negative. But Dominic seemed to him to be missing this significant difference between the two concepts.

Still, he didn’t doubt that ultimately Dominic had the right principles. He was also trying to close the gap between them and to be more conciliating. And if Henry. wasn’t very much mistaken, it was more difficult for the Gryffindor than for him. So he was making an effort for their friendship, and Henry appreciated this. On the whole, it was good to see that they were so decided to get along. With time, they’d certainly learn to get along without starting pointless fights. They wanted to get along, and that was all that was needed. At least it should be, and Henry was determined that it would be. ”That’s what friends are for,” he said with a broad grin. ”I’m also glad that we’ve met. It’s fun. We are having fun up here.” He looked questioningly at the other boy. He thought that he was right, but then how could he know for sure? They had gone a little on each other’s nerves he was afraid. He was convinced that it was of no real consequence, but maybe Dominic was viewing things differently.

”What!” Dominic had to be joking and a very tasteless joke it was. ”I wouldn’t make a rug out of a tiger. Tigers belong in the jungle not… as a rug…” He was staring in disbelief at the other boy. He had no idea how this was supposed to work. Apart from the fact that now all Dominic had said previously made even less sense. ”If you say you want to be a tiger, do you mean you want to end up as a rug?” he asked, honestly confused. ”Why?” Dominic’s further thought at least made something like sense and Henry nodded along, exhaustion slowly starting to come over him. ”I don’t know,” he said. ”It sounds disgusting. Why would I have to want a corpse lying around? That’s sick.” How was it even possible? Tigers didn’t live in Britain, so how should they end up as rugs anywhere nearby. Now that he thought about it, an old neighbour who had babysitted him when he was very small had had the fur of a huge dog lying on the floor. He had always thought it was only looking like that, but maybe it had once been a real dog? Maybe her dog, who she had kept like that? He should have asked. But even if this were the case, she would have known the dog and it would have sort of staid where it had lived. But a tiger was a wild animal. It didn’t belong on a living room floor.

”Thank you,” Henry said with a weak smile. ”Of course we’re still friends. Friendship’s not friendship when a little bit of arguing is not possible.” He felt guilty that he seemed to have seriously angered his friend. But then he didn’t think that he was guilty of any real insult. He was still going to drop the subject and not to return to it any time soon. Maybe in the future, once he understood the Gryffindor better and their discussion might actually lead somewhere. Once Dominic would be more patient with Henry. ”It’s normal to disagree sometimes. It’d be boring if we just always agreed, don’t you think? Discussing is interesting.” He was entirely sincere. As long as there was no bad blood, it was a good thing to exchange different opinions.

At Dominic’s assurance of help, Henry’s smile became as broad as it could get. Yes, he had sometimes been annoyed at the Gryffindor during their short time together, it would be vain to deny that. But he had never doubted that they could indeed be very good friends, and moments like this proved to Henry how a hundred percent right he was. ”Thanks, I’m glad to have you for a friend. I promise, I will also do for you whatever I can.” Today was a good day. He had made a friend. There could be no doubt that Dominic, all weirdness included, was exactly the kind of person anyone would want for a friend. Henry was determined to prove that he deserved the trust Dominic put in him.

”Right?” said Henry, also thrilled at the prospect of discovering Magizoological wonders. ”Do you think we’ll already find something by the end of the year?” He scrunched up his face. ”Maybe that’d be too optimistic. But maybe we’ll find indicators. Things that lead us in the right direction. Oh, we’ll have to be very careful. We mustn’t miss anything, any detail can be important.” In his excitement he had slipped forwards on the branch, and for a moment he lost his balance and swayed. But he was still gripping the branch tightly and the movement brought him back to his senses. He sat back more securely and breathed securely. ”It’ll be great.”

He exhaled with relief. ”That’s good,” he said. ”I don’t want to say anything against Gunther, he’s the best. But I don’t think he’d be too thrilled to live on carrots. I’ve once tried to feet him tomatoes you know.” Henry shook his head at the memory. ”Let’s just say Gunther wasn’t a fan.” He would have needed to rethink their project if Gunther would have suffered. But if Dominic was fine with Gunther not joining them, then there was no hindrance to test a meatless lifestyle.

Henry nodded thoughtfully. Dominic was making important points, and he wished he had taken something with him to write. They would need to devise a strategy with clear steps of how to proceed. Back in the common room, he’d try to write down everything they now discussed. ”These are very good points,” he said. ”The where will be very important. It’ll be difficult to know what to look for… it’ll be like searching for something very small on the floor with closed eyes. But it’s possible.” He was determined. It would be difficult, but they could manage. They just needed patience and perseverance. ”Bait will be very important. The difficult thing’ll be what to use as bait. We might have to experiment on it. Hmmm, what do you think? We could try something completely random first. Like putting a carrot in the library. I bet nobody ever tried that, so who knows, maybe…” Henry knew it wasn’t a good idea strictly speaking. But it was an idea and that was all they needed for a start.

Henry had waited patiently for Dominic to say with what aspects he would concern himself first. He made a mental note that how bait was used in Magizoology would be something the Gryffindor could research. But then, just as he was also ascribing the importance of animal noises to him too, his mental notebook snapped shut and Henry just stared at his squawking, mooing, screeching friend. ”Er…” he said after Dominic had finally quieted down. ”Yes, calls. Very important. Yes.” What had he wanted to say? Still completely baffled he just looked in the same direction as Dominic, he saw a boy climbing out of the lake with a very angered expression. What was he doing in the lake? With his clothes on? In what kind of weird world was he living?

Henry looked back at Dominic, wondering whether the other boy had an explanation. But then the Gryffindor had a weirdly guilty look on his face, and Henry refrained from saying anything. Maybe it would be wiser to leave the discussion for now. He’d go back to the common room and write down all that they had said. That sounded like a better plan than Dominic imitating the whole fauna. Though now that he thought about it, maybe it was a good idea to just go to a place and imitate animals. It could lead to interesting results. Maybe. They would have to try at some later point.

”It is good to have family at Hogwarts,” he said. ”It must be really sad if you have no one. I… heard that being alone can cause really, really big harm.” He shook his head. He didn’t want to think of his father again. ”That’s nice. Then we can always go to them when we’ve got a question. Though it is important to think about it first ourselves. That’s how you learn. I bet your cousins have told you that too.” Atha had said that once, and Carin’s brother was very smart. And kind. And all in all one of Henry’s favourite persons on the planet.

”She is,” said Henry. ”We became friends while climbing up a tree. That shows she’s great, doesn’t it?” Trees simply were the best. ”But reading is part of the homework,” he said. ”So we have to read to each other. And it is more interesting than reading for yourself. And you can ask questions that we can talk about. It’s fun. Really.” Of course, Lizzy wasn’t the biggest fan of books too, but together he thought they had usually a good time reading. It did depend on the subject. Some things were boring no matter what, but it was still better together than alone. ”Carin’s super nice,” Henry assured his friend. ”They sure will. They’re really brave you know. And fun.” In his opinion, it was impossible not to get along with Carin. They always had the best ideas. ”Herbology?” Henry repeated. ”That’s great. I like it, but I wouldn’t say I’m that good. I think I’m really okay at Charms and Transfiguration. I like wandwork.”

Henry nodded. ”The hospital wing is very important, and I’m glad it’s all cozy and that the matron is looking out for us, exactly,” he said. ”But even the best hospital wing in the world is not the place you would want to go to, wouldn’t you agree? Because as nice as it is, you yourself are sick, and then you can’t really enjoy what’s great about your surroundings.” He grinned. Nobody wanted to be sick or hurt. Hogwarts was nice outside of the hospital wing too after all.

Henry looked down too and measured the height. ”I do think I’ve already jumped from higher trees,” he said thoughtfully. ”But as I said, there are branches in the way, so we would get hurt. And I know that my aunt doesn’t want me to jump. I think we better shouldn’t. The teachers are responsible for us, and they might feel bad if they think we almost got harmed without them interfering.” He didn’t want the teachers to be angry at them because they were being foolish. Jumping was fun, but not disappointing the professors was more important, at least in this situation.

”No, not at all,” answered Henry with a laugh. ”We can tell how late it is by where the sun stands. We just have to be back for diner. Until then, we can stay here. No need to climb down too early. It’s great up here, isn’t it? We can see so far. Over the water. To the mountains in the distance… Hogwarts looks beautiful from here, doesn’t it?” He shifted on the branch hand moved to lean against the trunk. ”You know what would be great? Building a tree house high up here. But…” He sighed. ”I don’t think the teachers would allow it.”

Dominic was really enjoying the company of his new friend. Henry seemed like a very nice boy, and he was glad that he had bumped into him and they had climbed the tree together. Despite having some differences, he felt that Henry would not be someone who would go out of his way to hurt him or make fun of him. If he was, the Gryffindor lad was pretty sure that the Hufflepuff would have mocked him by now. The fact that Henry was listening to the blond lad made Dom happy, it made him feel a bit more confident in himself, a bit more assured that he would make friends and could be happy while being himself.

If he was honest with himself the bullying, the being ignored by his fellow Gryffindor boys made him worry that he would never be able to make friends, made him concerned that he would be experiencing Hogwarts all alone. Even if Henry was in a different house, he felt glad for the company and glad that the Hufflepuff 1st year was giving him a chance. That he was not being put off by his hyperactiveness or strangeness. It made Dominic feel more sure about himself. Dominic gave Henry a grateful, friendly little smile.

Sure it seemed to the Welsh youngster that his new found friend still seemed a bit unsure of him, and the pair certainly didn’t see eye to eye on everything, but then where friends meant to do that? Dominic felt positive that it wasn’t the case that friends had to agree with everything. The fact that they could hang around together was something that was enough for Dominic. His only regret was that they were not best friends. Dom never had a best friend before, not really. It was still the case that he wasn’t quite good enough for someone yet. Suddenly he started to feel a bit sad again.

However, he quickly decided to try and not let that get him down. He wanted to be a positive sort, he wanted to be, what was it called? Happy-go-lucky? Whatever that meant. He wanted to be a cheerful person that didn’t let things get him down. At least, that is what he wanted to attempt to do. Sometimes not even he could be fully successful at that all of the time.

”I agree with with you” he said about the idea of a sweet treat pizza. It sounded daft, but it was a real thing that he had seen. ”I think it it it is a a a muggle invention. Muggles can be be be so weird with with what they put on on pizzas sometimes…” he looked thoughtful for a moment ”….or what they they they eat in general. Did you you know that that muggles have have jelly beans that that are only of a few select flavours?” it was crazy to the first years mind, everyone knew that jelly beans could be every flavour, not just 4 or 5.

”It is very boring I think, spoils the the the surprise of of finding a a a curry flavoured bean or or or or a a a toenail flavoured one or or or or rotten egg or or or yanesberry flavour.” he got excited at the thought of all the flavoured, and he nearly forgot he was in the tree and became overly animated yet again. Yet again he managed to stop himself just before the plummeted to the ground below.

”I knooooooooooow” he exclaimed in agreement ”…too many sweets can can be really really really bad for for for people. I I I don’t want all my my my teeth to to to fall out or or or or or to get fat.” he waved his hand in front of his rather slim belly as if to indicate it expanding and then, just for added effect, exploding, his hand movement simulating guts and blood spewing everything. He soon realised what he was doing and looked rather sheepishly at Henry ”Oh….eer….sorry” he said with a small, embarrassed shrug and an embarrassed grin on his face.

Why did he always have to talk to much? He knew that was his problem, he talked too much and blows his chance of friendship or even coming across as someone that seems to be relatively normal. The 11 year old felt that he was very much in danger of doing that now…and yet he couldn’t help it. Dominic was a very talkative little chap, he loved talking, he enjoyed it and it was something that he couldn’t help but do. Once the Gryffindor boy started chatting it could be very, very hard to shut him up. If he had his way the pair would probably send the rest of the school year up in the tree chatting away. Although, of course, he would that was not ever going to be even remotely possible.

The blond wizard felt a bit uncomfortable as his buddy looked at him with increasing concern. Was he sprouting cacti from his nostrils and not even realising it. Contracting Cactiticious was a very serious problem and could be highly contagious if not careful. He hoped that he wasn’t about to be patient zero of an illness that caused people to sprout cacti from their ears and nostrils. That wouldn’t be very fun at all.

His fears were not totally put to bed when Henry asked if it was dangerous, was he talking about Cacticitious? Or was he even entering the early stages of the Verdana scenario? That would be totally horrifying and not something that the 11-year-old even wished to experience ever. Heck he would never even want to wish that on his worst enemy.

Thankfully when Henry clarified he meant about hyperactivity, it put the youngster’s mind at ease. Dominic shrugged slightly ”I don’t know. I mean, I suppose that it it it could be….” he said unsure that he was doing the right thing by telling his Hufflepuff mate this. He didn’t want to scare him off after all ”…I mean, I don’t mean to be this way and I do try to control my my my impulsiveness and and and excitability, but sometimes it it it gets the the better of me and and and I do end up in in in difficult situations…..” he didn’t want to say dangerous, he feared that would really end his friendship with this boy and he didn’t want that. ”…but I I I am okay though, seriously” he gave Henry a tiny grin in an attempt to re-assure him. However, Dominic lacked the confidence in that himself.

Was he okay? He sometimes could not judge a dangerous scenario, or was overconfident he could overcome it. When he was especially hyperactive, he supposed that he didn’t care about the situation and just wanted to do something without thinking of what the possible consequences would be. It was not something he was really proud of, and the times he put himself and potentially his friends and family in danger because of his thoughtless actions did bring Dominic some shame to think of them. Perhaps he was better off without friends? Or at least people would be better off without him being his friend? He quickly pushed that idea out of his mind. The Gryffindor was sure that he could be, would be, was a good friend when given a chance. And that his own lack of impulse didn’t often cause that much trouble. Maybe it was something that others could get use to? He didn’t know. Dom decided not to bother his new friend with these concerns just yet.

The young lad frowned a bit, he was not entirely convinced at what his mother was doing was really that reasonable. His frowned deepened a bit when Henry said he was over estimating how long ten seconds was, ”Well, I supposed I could try it…” he said sounding a bit put out that his new found friend was taking such a tone with him. Having friends is difficult he thought to himself, not for the first time.

”I guess mothers are clever…” he supposed that he could not flaw the Hufflepuff with that idea. His mother was probably the most intelligent mother out there. She knew everything and could do anything in the 11-year-old’s mind. His mum could pull off miracles well beyond the magic that they knew. It was amazing, it really was.

”I think that that hyper is is is meant to to to be bad, because it it it it annoys people and and and puts people who who are hyper in danger, or or so my mum said. It it it it also means that I I I don’t have much impulse control and and and just end up ding silly things without even thinking about it it it properly. Apparently.” he sighed a bit. The last part was probably why his mother wanted him to count to ten before doing anything, but the lack of impulse control meant that he acted before he could even do anything. It was a real conundrum really. Certainly not something he could figure out. Perhaps I should ask Donald? he thought to himself He is usually smart enough to figure things out.

The little boy was happy that Henry took his joke in the right way. It could have been very awkward if the Hufflepuff lad felt that he was being serious. Of course, he knew that he was not always right, that would be silly. Even too silly for Dominic, who could be very very silly indeed. He grinned back knowingly at the other lad.

He nodded when Henry said it was scary for both the child and their guardian or parents and friends and family as well. It was tough being ill, especially when there was not much that could be done until you got better. ”Well, I I I guess that mams or or or dads or or or whatever can help by by by by being there to to to comfort us and and and make us feel a a bit better you know, even if if they cannot remove the the the illness, discomfort or or pain.” he pointed out, he thought somewhat reasonably, to his friend. His family had always been there when he been ill and known what to say, or do to make him feel a bit better in himself, if not been able to stop any ailments or injury that he had manage to acquire. And Dominic managed to get himself injured a lot.

He watched Henry curiously for a moment again. Despite how he might come across sometimes, Dominic wasn’t dumb or stupid, not as much as he made out. The occasional slip that he made in regards to his aunt made him wonder why the Hufflepuff was not living with his parents. It was not right to ask though. As insensitive and thoughtless as the blond youngster could sometimes be, even he knew better than to bring something like that up. ”Yea, not being able to to help a a a loved one must hurt…” he said slowly and thoughtfully ”…but if if if there is someone else there to to care and and support that relative, then I I guess that that can make the the pain somewhat less.” he added trying to make it sound as if he was passing on some sage wisdom to his fellow first year.

It was now Dominic’s turn to be worried about the safety as his friend. While he was sure that Henry was a sensible sort, it must be a constant risk that someone might accidentally consume something they are allergic to without knowing it, or for them to be a victim of an extremely cruel and malicious prank in which they get spike something with the allergy. It was a bit of a relief to hear that Henry would not eat anything that he wasn’t sure was safe. ”That seems like a a a a smart idea” he said nodding wisely. ”I I I never ever have tried plant milk before…” he wondered how you got milk from plants ”….ooh ooh oh is is is it like an udder on on a a a blade of of of grass or or or a a a special grown plant that that is is is watered by by by milk?” his mind started to race with all the possibilities.

His concern came back pretty quick when he heard of the effects of the allergy on his friend. It didn’t sound very dangerous, but it did not sound like it was very nice either. ”That d-d-does not sound like it it is very nice” he said biting his lip slightly. At least the Hufflepuff wasn’t going to keel over it he had milk. But needing to go to the toilet a lot must not be fun either.

”I I I know, kiki fruits are are are so furry as well, it it it odd but but extremely tasty I I I think. They they are one of of of my favourite fruit” he said sounding quite eager about the discussion of fruit. Most 11 year old probably would not be so keen on fruit and would rather talk about sweeties or other sugary food, but Dom was no ordinary boy.

Dominic was glad that someone took the risk of eating an Aliquamex. It was a very serious issue and the small boy wished others took it as seriously a Henry seemed to be. ”Welll…..” he started thoughtfully ”….you need to to to poke it with your your finger and and keep saying wakey wakey, wake up to to it. You need to to do this about ten times” he nodded, hoping that the young badger would take note of this. ”…if you succeeded the they should up and and and flee.” it is very possible that Dom might have saved a life of a fictional creature.

The Welsh lad frowned slightly ”Nooooooooooo I I I mean that muggles pretend to to to have powers like they they write stories about muggles having magic powers and and and saving the the the world.” he wasn’t sure if he could explain it any better than he was already doing so. ”I I I need to to to bring some of of of my muggle comic books to to to show you. Well I I I say mine, they they are are really my my my dad’s. He collects them you see” he told the other lad as way of explanation.

The blond lad nodded eagerly ”Uh-huh” he said. ”I I know that that we can fly now anyway with with broomsticks but but I never been flying my own broom until I I got to to Hogwarts, and and and I like to pretend that I I can fly unaided. I I I think there is probably magic or or or potions that allow us to to to do that too but but we don’t know that magic yet do do we?” he wondered for a moment if Henry was actually holding out on him and knew all sorts of awesome magic ”…and and and it is fun to to to play pretend sometimes. I I just stick my my hands out and and and run around. Pretending to to to fly.” now that he said it out loud it did seem kinda lame. Especially since they were learning real magic. Still, he had other imagination-based games that the first year liked to indulge in.

When the conversation moved onto Quinn the 11-year-old lad nodded eagerly ”It it it is an awesome song, it it really has a a good beat to to it too” he informed his butty with a grin. The song never really got into why Quinn was an Eskimo though. Was the song set in Greenland it was possible, he wasn’t too sure though. ”I I I always thought that that Quinn the the Eskimo was was travelling the the the world to to go on on an adventure. You you know to to see the the the world and and and he gets a a reputation for for saving people” he told his friend sounding thoughtful. It was very interesting to think about what songs mean and the stories behind them, about what the story that they were meant to be telling was all about.

”I I I think you are are a a a good singer” the boy said honestly. He didn’t agree with Henry about the round robin singing, but he didn’t want to get into a debate about it anyway. He didn’t see why anyone would get angry if someone made a mistake. That was part of the fun of it, wasn’t it? Having people slip up, even if you had to start again. It was not like that they were doing ti for seriousness anyway? Whoever heard of a band singing like in round robins.

After nearly plummeting from the tree yet again, the first year Gryffindor gave his tree buddy a slightly sheepish look. ”Soooorryyy” he said in a sing-song voice. Dominic knew it was foolish getting over excited on the tree at this height. Falling to the ground would result in him breaking a lot of bones, and probably cause a lot of other damage as well. It was not something that he wanted to happen to him. ”I I I will try to to to calm down…” he said as he stopped jumping about on the branch. He could see that he was worrying his friend, and if he was honest, he was worrying himself too.

If he ended up causing the Hufflepuff to fall because of his own hyperactivity, Dominic was sure that he would not be able to forgive himself for it. He didn’t want to feel guilty about another person getting injured because of how he was acting. That wouldn’t be fair, nor would it be fun. The Welsh wizard in training was also pretty sure that it would be a good way to lose his new friend quickly. After all, who would want to be mates with someone who was a liability to them and would risk causing them harm through their own stupid action. In fact, Dom would not blame Henry if he turned around and told the Gryffindor that he didn’t wish their friendship to continue any longer. Indeed he was fairly certain that was about to happen, so he braced himself for it.

When it became apparent that was not going to be the case the boy relaxed a bit ”Joining a a a choir would be be be so cool though, we we we should totally do that” Dominic would certainly do it if Henry did it too. It would give the duo someone else to do together. He did really want to do a lot with Henry as a friend. It was one of the things about having a friend right that they did things together? He certainly felt that was meant to be the case so he was hoping that would work out.

The Gryffindor lad was happy that Henry accepted his apology. He shouldn’t really be snapping at people who were only just trying to help him. It wasn’t nice, and it wasn’t something that he should be doing. It wasn’t like him. Just his stuttering was sensitive to him, he was bullied a lot over it, and it was something that he was very self-conscious of. He didn’t do it on purpose; he didn’t even know that he was doing it. It was just something that happened, especially when he was very excited about it. Dominic guessed that he should go and get some help over it. But he didn’t know how to go about it.

”I I I know that you you didn’t mean anything mean about it.” he said giving the other youngster a small smile. Henry didn’t seem like he was a nasty person, in the little time that Dominic had known him, he could tell that the Hufflepuff was nice. Henry didn’t strike Dominic as the type who would bully and make fun of people. In fact, Henry didn’t seem to have a malicious bone in his body.

”I I I guess you are are right….” he said sounding a bit uncertain now ”…but but you are also right that that people need to to to be able to to understand what I I I am sayind and and for me to to speak clearly.” it was really a difficult situation and he was starting to feel more like a failure over the situation. It was not something that he wanted to dwell on too much now. So, when the chat moved onto talking about the radio, he was very glad for it.

He wrong slightly when his friend said that he didn’t know. ”Well, I I I I like listening to to to the the radio anyway” he said with a shrug. He could not understand why his friend didn’t seem that keen or knowledgeable of it. Dominic decided not to push the issue, he didn’t think it would be interesting to get into an argument with Henry over something so insignificant.

Rather begrudgingly he accepted that Henry had a point about the song mentioning Easter, he did have a theory on it though. ”Maybe it it it is setting it up for it it it to happen during every holiday, after all, the the the next big celebration after Christmas is is is Easter” he hoped that what he said made sense to his friend. It made sense to him in his mind anyway. He couldn’t think of how else that could be taken or interrupted.

”I I I think that it it it is about people dying because they they they been naughty and and drinking alcohol too much and and and do a silly thing like like people who who drink do. You know” at least that is what he heard happens with people who drink too much. They end up becoming silly and do things which could hurt themselves. At least that is what his parents told him. He didn’t think his mam and dad would lie to him about such a thing, would they? ”My parents told me that that people who who drink a a a lot do silly things and and and could hurt themselves. So it it it must be true”he continued, hoping that the fact that his parents had said such a thing to him would be enough to convince Henry that it must be true and that his year mate could see where he was coming from.

The young lad looked with concern at Henry; he wondered what his friend was thinking about. It didn’t look like it was something pleasant and he wanted to make sure that his new found friend was okay. After all, that is what friends do to each other? But it seemed that Henry did not want to open to him over his concerns. Dominic wondered if he was overreacting and was worrying about nothing. But he was sure it was something. He supposed that the pair had only just become friends so it shouldn’t be too surprising or upsetting that his opposite number didn’t want to express his opinions to him. ”Well…” he said slowly ”…if you are sure. But if you you you want to to talk to to me, I I I am willing to to listen” he flash the Hufflepuff a smile.

It was a relief to hear that Henry did not think him as being selfish, the Gryffindor was deeply concerned that he had been expressing himself badly and that his opinions and viewpoints were not coming across as well as he would have wanted to. It did seem that they still were not being expressed correctly, but at least it was not as bad as he first feared that they might have been. ”No, no, what I I I mean is that people should not sacrifice their happiness for for other people. It it doesn’t work out for for for anyone that way.” he again felt that he probably was not being clear on his end goal with his. ”I I mean you can and and should help people, of of course you should, but but you also need to to to be happy too.” he worried that he was not making sense again. Sometimes he found it hard to put his views into words properly.

He nodded when Henry said that people needed the outside world too and that it would be a pity if the pair didn’t have this, very long and very interesting chat. They had managed to strike a friendship from it, and it was one that the 11-year-old was still eager to try and build up as much as possible. ”I I I was not saying that that we should not have the the the outside world too. I I suppose that that everyone needs to to to get a balance right between having both oneself and and and the outside world as as well.” he supposed that did make sense. Everything was meant to be in balance right? Everything in moderation? Then again, the blond boy did not see the appeal of moderation and balance. Sometimes he felt that the extremes and anarchy was a much more interesting and better option. After all, how can anyone have an interesting adventure if they were being boring all the time? He decided not to express that view though; he felt that it would probably go back to the challenging death argument that had. Dom felt that it was an argument better left buried.

It was clear that the two boys have come to a bit of an impasse on this issue. Dominic supposed that it was not a bad thing. If everyone had the same ideas and the same opinions as everyone else would be extremely boring. ”Well, I I I it is great that that we we all have different ways of of looking at things.” he said with a grin. ”I I I suppose that that that we we all have our own ways of of of of making ourselves and and and other people happy” The Gryffindor wanted to replicate his friend's good grace on such things. ”I I I agree that that that it it it is important to to to be happy.” he agreed, although he did note that his fellow tree dweller said that he didn’t know if he was happy with the way he lived. ”I I am not sure if if if I am happy with how I I I live. I I I mean, I am happy with a a lot of of of things, but being ignored and and and picked on in in the dorms is is not fun.” he gave a small shrug. ”But but but I am okay.” he added quickly, he didn’t want to appear weak after all.

The Welsh lad still could not understand why Henry could not understand his point of view on taking chances. It might have been that the Gryffindor had not been explaining himself clearly enough. Of course, he did not want to challenge death and risk his life unnecessarily, of course not. But at the same time, he felt that there was something to be said about being a bit of a daredevil, about putting your life at risk for the thrill and exhilaration of it. Although even then, he was sure that it was all done within all reasonable measures to make any death-defying stunt or adventure as safe as possible, it was still something that the youngster felt would be extremely exciting and fun to experience. There was no point in living your life boring, sitting at a desk reading books and studying all day in his opinion. Another part of the agenda as to why the first year was saying such a thing to Henry was because he wanted to sound courageous in front of him. Was that such a bad thing? Sometimes Dominic could do a bit of showboating, be a bit show-offy. Would he be so reckless and foolhardy to put his life in danger in reality? He didn’t really know the answer to the question; he suppose that it would be something that would have to be worked out if the situation ever really came up. In some ways he could that it never would.

A tiny grin game on his face when his the Hufflepuff said that is what friends are for. He was glad that he was not, well seemingly not, blowing this friendship. It made him even happier that Henry said that they were glad that they met and that it was fun. ”I am having fun too.” he confirmed with a massive smile on his face. He was very glad that they are having fun ”I am having fun too” he said bouncing on the branch a bit again. It started to creek a bit underneath his weight. He didn’t want to plummet down off the tree, so he stopped quickly. A serious injury was not on his agenda for the day. They were having fun up in the tree, and he didn’t want to end that by taking a nasty fall.

”It it it was something my my my mamgu use to say” he told his butty. His grandmother’s stories were featuring a lot in this conversation. Dominic wondered if his friend would think badly of his mamgu. ”I I I think her her muggle husband’s brother had a a a rug made out of of of tigers. I I II think it it it is really disgusting really, but but but apparently it it it was quiet common though.” he shook his head ”Muggles can be be be be so weird” was that a bad thing to say? He didn’t think so, muggles were very odd. He sometimes wondered how they ever managed to survive. Especially if they litter their homes with animal corpses. ”Personally, I think animals should be respected and and and not used as as as carpets or or or trophies.” it really annoyed th blond youngster to see animals mistreated in such ways.

He agreed with his friend's sentiments on this Maybe it was something his grandmother was making up, but why would she lie to him? He couldn’t think of any reason why over this, or anything else for that matter ”I I I think my mamgu is is right on on this too, and and and she did di warn me about that Frankenstein monster and and and I I I could warn you about it it it too.” he said to the Hufflepuff boy in a reassuring way. Trying to make sure that he was aware that he wasn’t making this up or lying about such a thing. While the 11-year-old Gryffindor might make up some stories, he wasn’t making up this. At least, he didn’t think he way.

Yet again it was a relief to hear that their friendship was intact. While it was a new friendship, Dominic did not want it to falter at this stage. He could sense that Henry would be a great friend to have and it was not something that he wanted to end before it began. ”That is is is good. I am am sorry if if if I am annoying you in in any way by the the way” he said trying not to sound anxious but failing. He agreed with the lad opposite him on friendship needing arguments to be friendship. ”I I I think you are are are right, friends need to to to be able to challenge each other and and and debate each other and and feel free to to to disagree with each other. Otherwise it it it would be be be really boring.” he was sure that was something that they both could agree on. It was not a controversial opinion, was it?

Yet another large grin came to his face when Henry said he was glad to have him as a friend. It was, surprisingly, something that Dominic had rarely ever heard, and it hurt him a bit. He would like to think that he was a good friend, and it was very true that the Welsh wizard would do anything for any of his friends. It was friends did after all. ”I I I I am glad that that you are my my my friend too…” replied, ”…and I II know that that that you would do do do anything for for me too. You are a a a good person Henry” he hoped that he didn't sound too sentimental in front of his new comrade, but it might be a bit of a failure on that front.

It to all of the 11-year-olds self-control to stop himself bouncing up and down in exciting on the branch at the thought of finding all sort of creatures as mini-magizoologists. It was a good thing as the branch was starting to look like it couldn’t really take much more of the blond boy’s bouncing up and down. ”I I I I think we we we are going to to to find 50 creatures by by by the the end of the year.” he said sounding rather excited at the idea of finding new creatures with this Hufflepuff. Even if he had an ulterior motive as well. He nodded early ”Finding clues would be be be very important, we we we need to to find and and search every nook and and cranny of of of the school and and and find things that that others won’t know.” he said before catching himself, the Gryffindor did not want to raise any suspicion. ”It it it is going to to to be fantastic” he told the lad.

Dom noted his friend’s look of relief on his face. It seemed like the young boy seriously loved his cat and Dominic could totally understand that. In fact the first year Gryffindor thought that it was rather cool. ”I I I heard it it it is bad to to to make cats eat vegetables” he told his butty. At least that is what Amy had told him. She had a cat, and he was sure that his cousin took good care of her cat. ”I I I can imagine that that that Gunther wasn’t very shy of of of showing his displeasure” he said as he reached over to the cat to stroke him. That was another thing that the blond lad had heard about cats. They were very forthcoming with their views. ”The vegetarian thing is is is just for for for us wizards” he told him reassuringly.

When the Hufflepuff said that he was making good points, Dominic’s face lit up. It was very rare for him to hear anyone tell him he was making good points. He often heard that he was talking absolute nonsense, or that he was annoying, or for him to shut the hell up. But really ….if ever, that he was making a good point. ”I agree that that it it is possible. We we just need to to to be focused and and and keep up at it. I I I believe we can do it thooooooooooough” he said with a great deal of eagerness. ”Bait would would be cool, but but but different creatures will will will need to to to to have different baits. And and and I like your library idea. I I I agree that that no-one would have tried it there…” he looked thoughtful for a moment as something occurred to him. ”….ooh ooh ooh we we would need to to to be careful in in what we put down, as as putting down something that that will upset others, like like something smelly would get us into into trouble.” he was pretty sure that he was being sensible for a change. It was a strange feeling; it scared him a bit.

It didn’t last too long as the Gryffindor decided to give Henry a rendition of his impression of various animal noises. After his return to weirdness, he gave his friend a bit of an embarrassed look from his outburst. ”Sorry. I I I guess I got carried away” he said apologetically ”…but but but you you are right they they are very important. But but but I won’t do them again.” at least he didn’t think that he would. It was not something that the little lad was planning to do. However, it was something that he could promise to do. He didn’t think that it was one that he knew that he would be able to keep if he did It, and the 11-year-old wasn’t about to make a promise that he wasn’t able to keep.

Dommie noticed that Henry did not seem to notice that the Gryffindor seemed to scare the other boy into the lake. He really hoped that the now very wet boy would not get hungry with them and try to attack them or even see Henry and blame the Hufflepuff for what happened. However, the other student didn’t seem to notice them. Breathing a sigh of relief, Dominic returned to his conversation with his butty.

The youngster nodded when Henry said that it must be nice having family with Hogwarts. He really supposed that it was. The Welsh lad started to feel a bit guilty, he supposed he could be making more of an effort to hang around with his cousins, to talk with them and be with them. Dominic also felt a bit guilty about bad mouthing Donald so much and calling him boring. If he was honest with himself, Donald wasn’t really that boring. Maybe a bit bookish at times, sure, perhaps a bit of a swot and nerd. But really, his Ravenclaw cousin was nice and a decent person. He knew that he could trust Donald and that he could depend on him. Amy, on the other hand, seemed to be a bit more fun than her little brother, but sometimes had a bit of a stern streak to her and could be bossy. However, she seemed to tolerate the blond lad a bit more and was always willing to stand up for him and take his side in fights. She was awesome as well; it was like having all the good parts of having an older sister, without any of the agro. The Gryffindor supposed that he was really lucky to have such good cousins.

”I it iiisss.” he said with agreement ”I I I like my my my cousins a a a lot and and and it it is good knowing that that you can have people there that that will stand up for for you and and be there for you.” he said with a grin on his face. That grin did not last long as he listened to his friend saying it must be hard to have no-one there for then, He didn’t want his friend to feel lonely or left out. ”Well, I I I I am here for for you if if if you ever need me” he offered to his friend with a voice that was very sincere but also sounded a bit concerned. He knew that it was like to feel lonely and he didn’t like to think of other people feeling that way.

”I I I I think that that we we can do that.” he said eagerly, Dominic wanted his cousins to meet Henry in any case. ”Ooh ooh they have told me me so much about Hogwarts and and and other things and and and offered to to to help me practice magic with with them if if I ever need to. They also debunked a a lot of myths about Hogwarts that that were having me me worried” walking around Diagon Alley before starting the school year, the 11-year-old had heard a lot of rumours from the other children who were talking to each other, either relying stories that their older siblings had told the or being warned about things by older students themselves. Amy and Donald had re-assured him that most of what he heard was complete hogwash.

”Oooh ooh ooh you you mean like how how we become friends?” asked him. Climbing trees seemed to be a great way of meeting friends; perhaps he should look for friends in trees more often. Did friends grow in trees? Maybe he could find a special friend tree and see if it was possible to cultivate some more. He made a mental note to search for one of those and ask the Herbology professor about it. However, sometimes the professors seemed to get a bit agitated as some of the questions that the first year asked them. For the life of him, Dominic could not figure out why that was.

Dom was still very sceptical about the whole reading thing. ”uh-huh” he said slowly. Maybe he would join the pair in one of their reading sessions one day, but he felt pretty sure that would not be the case. Reading seemed like a pretty boring past time to the little boy. He would much rather be doing some other stuff, like exploring the school or playing exploding snap or hunting for magical creatures or something like that.

”I I I not seen much of of Carin, I I I am not sure that that they like me me me very much. I I I suppose that that I I I used to to to not being liked though.” he tried not to sound too down or bitter about it, but he didn’t really achieve that. It hurt him to not be super popular, just as it was painful not to be considered good enough to be best friends with anyone. However, he guessed that he was expecting a bit too much from Henry from when they first met each other. Maybe they could become besties over time? That was something that he certainly hoped would happen. If not, the 11-year-old would end up feeling very, very hurt.

”oooh ooh ooh, I I like charms too, that that is is my favourite and and best subject. And and and and Transfiguration is is is also amazing too, I I I love that, it it my best subject and and my favourite too” if he was honest with himself, Dominic loved every subject, and he classed them all as his favourite. Well, apart from History of Magic, that was rather dull, and he did not enjoy that very much at all really.

He was glad that Henry agreed with him with about the hospital wing. ”Of of of course I I agree. I I I don’t want to to to go to to to the hospital wing. That would mean that that I I am either ill, or or hurt, or or someone that I I care about is sick or or inured. And and and I do not want to to have any of those things. I II just end up being hurt myself sometimes, it it just happens to to to me” he gave a very small shrug. He didn’t see any way out of it really. Dominic was just prone to injury, especially with his adventurous nature.

A frown came on Dominic’s face when Henry said he had jumped from higher trees. The Hufflepuff didn’t seem like the one to do that. Indeed he was the one that just lectured the Gryffindor about taking unnecessary risks. The first year was about to open his mouth to argue this point with his friend but decided against it. He believed that it would probably only trigger another fight between the pair and he didn’t really want to risk their blossoming friendship due to a petty little row, and even pettier point scoring. He made a mental note to keep that in mind for when the friendship was more secure so that he could use it to proof his point against his mate in a future setting. ”The the branches could be be very problematic, I I agree, we we could break our arms or or legs or or something on them and ad that would not be be fun at at all.” he concurred. That, even to him, seemed sensible. ” and and and I guess the the teachers would be angry if we we jumped and and did ourselves a a mischief. Although, I I I think they they will be pretty upset that that we have climb a a tree anyway.” he pointed out somewhat reasonably. The boys were already breaking rules by being up the tree as it was, of that the blond youngster had no doubt.

”Awesome” Dommie said, he was enjoying his company and he did not want it to end just yet. ”Aye, I I guess going in for for for our dinner would be be important.” food was very important, probably one of the most important things around. It was a reason for him to be jealous of the Hufflepuffs that they had a house that was so close to the kitchen. They could very easily go on midnight raids of it without having too much of a risk of getting caught.

”Th the the views are great from up here.” he agreed. It was one of the perks of climbing trees, in his opinion, that you got amazing views that other people very rarely got to see. Well, unless they climb trees too. It was nice to be sharing this experience with someone else. ”I I I wish we we could build a aa secret tree house here, but but youa re right the the professors would tear it down. They are are such spoilsports.” it was a shame, Dominic quiet like an idea of a secret tree house with a friend. ”ooh ooh oh, maybe we we can build one during the the the summer holidays somewhere?” that, to him, sounded like an excellent plan. He was sure having a lot of them today.

Life was full of surprises and this was what made it beautiful. Things didn't turn out as expected, instead there happened something not thought of before but it made the day. Henry had come down here to the lake solely with the intention of training his tree climbing skills. It had, so to speak, a professional trip. Something very serious. And it wasn’t like he had neglected his training. He had climbed up this tree, and he had done so securely and with a steady pace. All in all, he was content that his abilities were still up to the standard he expected of them though he’d try to improve. Improvement was always necessary. Not even the adults ever ceased learning, and tree-climbing was a nice addition to the otherwise slightly theoretical heavy school subjects.

But none of this was the reason why this afternoon had turned out so much better than he had expected — and he had expected that it would be thoroughly pleasurable. He had not thought that this would turn out so much better. Being alone could be nice every once in a while, but nothing surpassed being with a friend. It didn’t matter that he had just got to know Dominic today, they had spent time together and they had had fun. They were still having fun. There had been some moments when Henry had been unsure — actually, there had been countless moments where he had been absolutely lost. As confusing as this conversation had been though, there had never been a moment where he would have regretted that he had met Dominic today.

Whatever they talked about, it did turn out to be interesting. Maybe not always in such a good way — there was a little bit too much creepy stuff going on for his taste, but then he just said to himself that being at Hogwarts, he didn’t really have to worry about any of this (would he have to worry anywhere? At least in some points Henry had some mild doubts). Here at school, there were teachers and they were really clever and they would take care of all their problems. And at home he’d have his aunt and that was even better. So, all in all, it wasn’t like his life had changed because of what he had all heard. He would store what troubled him in the back of his mind, and then, one thing after the other, he’d try to find out what was behind all of these stories. He’d start with the scarier ones, the ones that would rob him of his sleep. For the rest he might take Dominic at face value.

It didn’t really matter what others put on pizza. He also had already decided that Dominic had enough prove that someone really created something as disgusting as this pizza. ”It looks like it,” he agreed with his friend. ”Very weird.” After all, they had invented that dish if he wasn’t very much mistaken, in Europe, in the South. ”Yeah, I’ve seen them,” he said, nodding sagely. They hadn’t found chocolate in the wizarding world yet that wouldn’t contain milk, so he felt quite competent where Muggle candy were concerned. ”Er… yes,” he said, slightly taken aback. Curry flavour didn’t sound too bad, but he neither felt that he would miss toenail nor rotten egg flavoured candy. ”What’s a- never mind,” he muttered. He’d try and figure out what a yanesberry was at a later point. Maybe Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans were not the best topic for a conversation with Dominic. Especially when they were so high up in the tree and Henry didn’t completely trust his friend yet not to slip and fall. He certainly wasn’t behaving like a knowledgable tree dweller, judging from his carelessness. And then he had another epiphany. ”I’d bet,” he said, excited about his discovery, ”that’s why they invented that weird pizza. Because I bet you there’s pizza flavoured Bertie Botts Beans. So they wanted candy flavoured pizza!” This made perfect sense. Henry was hugely relieved that they had found the most plausible solution to this Muggle weirdness.

”Bad for people,” he echoed weakly, watching as the Gryffindor first waved in front of his stomach and then started to gesture wildly, obviously risking to fall from the tree again. Henry started to doubt that it had been a good idea to go up this high with Dominic. He couldn’t help the suspicion that his friend might be a little accident prone. ”It’s okay,” he said with his best attempt at a reassuring smile when the other first-year finally stopped waving his hands in all directions.

Certainly, it wasn’t like with Lizzy that he had talked him into climbing up the tree despite him never having done anything like this before. On the opposite, Dominic had already been up there when he arrived. So it had been natural to assume that the boy knew what he was doing, wasn’t it? It hadn’t occurred to him that it might not be without risks to climb further up with him. Maybe this had been thoughtless. He should have made sure that the other boy knew how to behave high up in a tree. Or at least that he had in control how he behaved. Henry couldn’t say that he had never tried stunts on branches, but he would insist that he had always taken great care to ensure his safety. He would always be in control of the situation. Dominic on the other hand seemed to sometimes forget where they were and Henry was by now really worrying about his tendency to use the branch as a rocking chair. This was a very unsafe use in Henry’s eyes, especially as this was a tree he didn’t know too well yet. He was up here for the first time, so he’d have to get to know how the tree worked. Unless Dominic had explored this tree earlier without him (which from what Henry had seen and heard didn’t seem to be the case), he shouldn’t so blindly trust a branch. Henry was certain that he could communicate with trees. He couldn’t put it in words how nor did he have any proof that this was actually the case, but this didn’t change anything about his conviction that he was in fact on good terms with his most climbed trees.

The fact that Dominic was hyperactive, at least according to the mother, didn’t say much to Henry, but up in a tree it still was not a quality he liked ascribed to someone he was with. It could mean so much, and as long as he didn’t know for sure he’d make conjectures and worry whether the thus diagnosed Gryffindor was in danger. Henry was talkative and he didn’t have any reservations in addressing strangers he’d meet on the way. But he could be quiet. He could be patient. He had learnt this from Gunther. Sitting in one spot and letting the sun shine on him and doing nothing. Maybe Dominic needed a cat too. A cat might be a better teacher than a human. He’d suggest this at some later point. Right now, he’d only have to take care that Dominic would in the end return safely to the ground. And as long as they were where they were, the situation didn’t seem too dangerous. Even though Dominic’s words did not completely convince Henry that his hyperactivity made him suitable for tree climbing, he decided to let himself be calmed by the consolation that the Gryffindor at least knew what he had to be careful of. ”All right,” he answered brightly. ”Just try to breathe with the tree, that helps.” Henry hoped that the boy would understand what he meant. It made perfect sense to him, but he wouldn’t be able to explain how something like that would be accomplished. He was just sure that he could do so.

Trees and cats. The longer Henry observed his yearmate, the more convinced he grew that these two elements would solve all the boy’s problems. Neither liked it when there was too much babbling going on, but they did like quiet talking. Or that was what Henry had always had the impression. They didn’t seem bothered by silence either though… Still, they’d be great teachers for Dominic. Maybe he should try to write a letter to Dominic’s mom, explaining how important it was that she’d buy him a cat? He decided to talk about this with Dominic at some point. He didn’t want to do anything behind his back.

Until then, he’d have to make other suggestions. And he did feel like Dominic’s mum was having good ideas. Supporting these was certainly right. It was maybe better to first see that Dominic did as his mother told him before Henry made his own suggestions to her. If he could prove that he had been a good friend by helping the Gryffindor to apply her counsels in practice, she might be more inclined to consider his ideas to be as logical as Henry was adamantly convinced they were. ”Trying’s always good,” he said supportively. Dominic seemed a little put out, and Henry was not entirely sure why. He was sharing his ideas with the hope that they would help Dominic to better get along with his dorm mates. That was what he wanted after all. To be liked by the other boys. Certainly the boys liked him, Henry quietly corrected himself. His chatty friend might simply have a certain tendency to demand their attention when they didn’t have the time, which led to them appearing rude. Being in the way without meaning to was a quality that he suspected Dominic might have. He decided that he’d take care that there would always be enough room about himself that the same couldn’t happen to him. He could never forgive himself should he ever hurt his friend’s feelings in more than a passing manner. And he allowed this loophole only because the Gryffindor had shown an inclination to be rashly irritated.

Of course, mothers were clever. He nodded to the other boy’s words, trying to not let his smile get a little sad. He wouldn’t know, but he had an aunt, who was undoubtedly brilliant. Still, moments like this made him wonder what would be if he knew his mother. He had long told himself that he couldn’t imagine a better parent than Aunt Gigi, so meeting his real mother would most likely be a disappointment. And yet, he would give quite a lot if he at least knew something — anything — about her.

Henry gave Dominic a warm smile when he talked about how company could help when someone was sick. It was very wise of him to not focus on how many fears were connected with sickness but on the positive aspects. He had mainly mentioned parents, which gave Henry a small pang in his chest, but the sentiment was true nevertheless. It had been, well, not exactly nice, but very consoling when he was lying in bed with fever and his aunt would take care of him, cook all sort of special food for him, read to him, or just hold his hand. ”Exactly,” he agreed with his friend. ”You said that beautifully. I couldn’t agree more with you.” He knew — and he supposed so did every other child — that if they could, their parents, in his case, his aunt, would do anything to soothe the pain and there was nothing more comforting than to feel how much they meant to each other. He only wished he were as skilled as Aunt Gigi in treating a sick person. If she ever got sick, he would do anything he could, but he wasn’t all too confident that he might not end up doing something very stupid. She had always told him to be careful with the hearth. The idea of handling it without her was slightly unnerving.

He would be able to help her. No matter what might happened, he’d always find a way. Sure, he was only an eleven year old boy, but he’d learn fast and soon he’d be all grown up and taking on responsibility. Then, he’d do all he could for her and she wouldn’t need to worry about anything. She was all had. Unless a miracle happened, he saw no way that he would ever see his father in person nor discover who his mother was. There was nothing he could do for them because there was no way he would ever be able to reach them. And even if he should one day be allowed to see his father, he didn’t even know whether he’d seize the opportunity. He had done so many horrible things, and Henry had the dark suspicion that he was better off living with the picture that his aunt had painted of him. That was already dark enough, but at least he didn’t seem as villainous as his deeds.

What came next very much surprised Henry. “Yes,” he said weakly after a short pause, staring at the Gryffindor with big eyes. Sure, Dominic was a very likeable person, that Henry had never doubted, but he hadn’t expected such insights from him. What he had sad fitted his case so perfectly, he wondered for a moment whether his friend was related to seers. Maybe he’d ask him one day. But not now. Now they were here and Henry didn’t want to go over all his doubts again. And then, his father was a topic that he only felt somewhat comfortable discussing with his aunt. Everybody else certainly wouldn’t understand that a part of him was yearning to meet and learn to love a murderer — and then there was that other, more dominant part that was glad that he couldn’t do that. What he was very conscious of was that he didn’t want to risk his friendship with the Gryffindor by revealing who his father was. Though that was being insincere and that wasn’t good for friendship… Henry suppressed the thought. He’d worry later if he really had to.

His allergy was so normal to him that he couldn’t help but think that Dominic was giving this too much thought. Nobody needed milk, he didn’t see the point of worrying. Until they reached the subject of plant milk and Henry laughed out loud. “No,” he spluttered. “Of course not. It’s… it’s… you know, like when you have an apple and you squeeze it, there’s moisture. And if you mix an apple and then press it, you get apple juice. So if you do that with for example almonds, you get almond milk. You can also use rice or soya or oats or something similar. And that’s all.” Then he added as an afterthought, “Oh, and you should put the nuts in water for a few hours before mixing them. But you can also buy it in the shop without making it yourself.” He hoped that he had managed to explain this enough, for he had the suspicion that his friend would end up trying to convince his mother to water the geranium with milk. He didn’t really want his name connected to such experiments.

“Well, if the effects of allergies were nice, it wouldn’t really be an allergy,” said Henry reasonably. “Because then it’d be good to eat the things we are allergic to and that would be the contrary of what allergic is and… that would be something different.” He blinked a couple of times. He had somehow managed to confuse himself, and he wasn’t entirely sure how.

“Y- yeah, they’re fine,” said Henry, considering for a second to ask what kiki fruits were, but then deciding that it had to be the same as kiwi. That certainly was a simpler explanation than anything Dominic would say. Right now they were agreeing that food tasted good and that was the important point. He didn’t want to complicate matters that he was sure were simple.

Before he had noticed, their discussion had taken a turn and were now not only complicated but deeply disquieting. He might accidentally murder a living being when eating a fruit. He listened to his friend’s tips, not even daring to breathe out of fear he might miss an important detail. “Poke it,” he repeated. That sounded sensible. Then the animal would be warned. “And… and say ten times ̓Wakey, wakey, wake up ̓.” That sounded rather silly. But if Dominic thought so… Whenever he next wanted to eat an orange, he’d say this. Maybe one would really run away… that would be actually a little exciting.

Henry looked helplessly at his friend. What was he talking about? Muggles having magical powers and doing all sort of things and… that was just impossible. It took him a few seconds to process Dominic’s next bit of information and then deciding that it did make sense. “Oh, so these are just stories,” he said, feeling relief. It was weird that Muggles would come up with such ideas, but at least it wasn’t real. He hadn’t missed anything important about Muggles — that they had a weird imagination was something he was inclined to believe. And if they wanted to save the world, that at least didn’t sound like a bad goal. “Oh, yes, sure,” he said slightly surprised and not yet sure whether that was what he really wanted. “They do sound… em… interesting after all.” Maybe that would help in Muggle Studies. Were there even still Muggle Studies offered. He hesitated but then decided that it wasn’t worth overthinking it at the moment.

The whole tumble of words about flying was starting to make Henry dizzy — which he found slightly disquieting as they were up in a tree. And if he knew one thing, then that he couldn’t fly down from it. Pulling himself together, he tried to put all the things his friend was saying in order. “I’ve never been on a broom before Hogwarts either,” he said, nodding. That much they had in common. Good. “I think that I’ve read somewhere about a wizard that could fly without a broom,” he said hesitantly. It had been in some book. Some book about really grim stuff. He’d have to ponder this at some later point. “But I think the wizard was bad, so maybe we’re not supposed to fly without a broom? I think we can hover. Like, you know, putting a very strong Levitation Charm on ourselves, but that’s it. And I’ve never heard of any potion, but maybe there is.” There was so much that might exist in the world. Never having heard of something didn’t exclude the existence of said something. “S-sounds like fun,” he said in an attempt at sounding enthusiastic. That had quickly turned silly. Why would sticking his hands out and running be like flying? If he’d pretend to fly, he’d… he’d… he’d flap his arms and jump down small distances. Maybe he’d do that. But sticking his arms out? That didn’t sound very reasonable. Yet, he decided he didn’t want to know why his friend used to do such weird things. He felt that it would go over his head.

Songs had a meaning, even if it was a silly one. Many were just some adults singing about how they liked each other, but in terms that often appeared to Henry to be a little gross. So many songs seemed to be about how somebody looked like. As if that was important. But Dominic’s song was different and it was puzzling Henry. He was the longer the surer that its content was actually interesting. “Yes, it seems it does,” said Henry slowly. “And he must have required an awesome reputation since everybody knows him. It’s… it’s… apparently Quinn is someone everybody likes. So maybe he collects people and brings them to their friends and that’s why they’re happy when Quinn comes because it means they’ll see their friends.” There, that sounded reasonable. He was quite proud of having come up with such a coherent explanation.

“Oh, thanks,” he said and smiled, pleasantly surprised. Admittedly, it wasn’t a really difficult song, and Henry was unsure how he would fare if he tried to sing something more challenging. He did like singing, but that was restricted to children’s songs most of the time, and while he supposed this particular song was not exactly intended for children’s ears, it had still a similar structure. Maybe that was why it had stayed with him so well. The longer he thought about it, the less he understood why he liked it. Maybe because of the counting? Had he heard it shortly after he had learnt counting? He couldn’t remember, but at least it was an explanation that made him feel better.

There was something far more disquieting though, and that was the possibility of his friend falling from the tree. Henry didn’t really think that he would get seriously injured if he did, but it would still hurt a lot and he might miss classes, which would be very unfortunate at their very raw state of becoming wizards. If they were now not paying attention, Henry was afraid they’d very soon be miles behind of everyone else and he couldn’t let that happen. He had an aunt he had to make proud. Nor could he have someone else suffer such a tragedy. Dominic really shouldn’t injure himself. “Yes, good idea,” he said, glad that Dominic was finally sitting still — though he was almost willing to bet that in five minutes he’d start jumping around again. But then, he’d remind him once more that he needed to be careful. Then, he’d keep it in mind for probably ten minutes. And if this repeated itself long enough, he might be all calm in the end. That made sense, at least right now in Henry’s head. He only now slightly worried about his friend’s concerned expression as if he were fearing a rebuff. But he was calm right now, so everything was good. Henry didn’t know why he looked like that, and tried to smile as warmly and reassuringly as he could to let his friend know that, whatever he was worrying about, he didn’t have to — or he could confide in him if that helped. He’d try to do what he could to help.

Dominic did not ask for help, but he seemed to relax after a while. Whatever had bothered him didn’t seem important enough to occupy him for too long. That was a good sign. He didn’t want any of his friends to be in trouble. “Yes, that sounds like fun,” he said, happy to hear his friend excited about something instead of anything sinister like he had worried during the last few moments. “We’ve got to check the boards in our common room, maybe there’s a note on there. Or ask our Head of House.” There was a lot on the board in the common room, and he had never read through all the notes pinned on it. Maybe he should really use this opportunity to do so once. He only hoped that the Gryffindors had one too. But they had to. How else would they be able to gather all the information they needed.

“Of course, you didn’t,” said Henry reassuringly. Certainly, it had been annoying to be snapped at for trying to be helpful, but he had got an apology, and Henry didn’t know what more he could want. Mistakes happened, and criticism wasn’t always easy to accept even though he had never meant his words as criticism. But he wasn’t that familiar with Dominic yet. They might be friends, but they had only been so for about a quarter of an hour. You didn’t get to know everything about a person in this amount of time. So he couldn’t know how he could talk to the Gryffindor in a way that would never hurt but still benefit him. It seemed to him obvious that his friend was unhappy about his situation, and while he was certain that the dorm mates were also very much to blame there, it might be easier for Dominic at first to try and fit in better. If they were at least somewhat on friendly terms in the first place, they would also be more forgiving towards his quirks. And it wasn’t like Henry had the power to convince these boys to be friendlier with Dominic — he might try, he supposed he could do that — so he had to try and be of help to the one who might listen to him at least a bit, which at the moment simply was Dominic.

He nodded encouragingly when his friend seemed to embrace what he had tried to make clear. “Yes, right,” he said. “Because you’ve got a lot to say, and if you don’t have them listening it’s all for nothing, which would be awful. I mean, some of this stuff m- is really important like with the animals covering up as oranges.” His stomachs made a half-hearted backflip when he thought back to the possibility of accidentally killing a living being.

“Yeah, radio’s okay,” he said, wondering a bit wether the Gryffindor had sounded defensive but then deciding not to ask. He didn’t much care for the radio. He didn’t have anything against it, but on the whole also nothing for it. He didn’t complain when it was on, but if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t be the one to notice. He had never needed music out of a box to enjoy himself. There was so much else he could occupy himself with on rainy days. And Gunther wasn’t the biggest music fan, so he had often also turned the radio off again in favour of his cat’s presence.

“Mhm,” he said thoughtfully. “So like a curse? Every holiday they have to meet and die one after…” He winced. Now that he said it like that, the song really didn’t sound funny anymore at all. Why had he ever thought this song was funny? Because everything seemed to be treated in it like nothing mattered? He breathed deeply to calm himself. It was still just a song. It didn’t mean anything for him or for anyone he knew. Though, listening to Dominic expand on what he thought the song was about, a sickening feeling in his stomach made itself known. He started to feel really bad for enjoying it. “I guess that… that makes sense,” he said dejectedly. “I always just thought it was silly for silly’s sake. I’ve never thought it might want to teach a lesson.” He had been very dumb. There, people tried to teach him an important message, and he didn’t get it. But at least now, thanks to Dominic, he was wiser. “Yes, getting drunk isn’t good, I heard the same,” he agreed, still feeling very much ashamed of what a simpleton he had been. “That was very clever of you,” he said appreciatively when he found the inner strength to not endlessly wallow in his own embarrassment but give credit where credit was due. He made a very big mental note that he shall never drink alcohol, otherwise a lot of bad things would happen to him.

Henry weakly smiled when Dominic offered to listen to him. “Thanks, I appreciate it,” he said, “but it’s really nothing.” It sort of was. His father was better off if he didn’t feature in any conversation Henry had. It might be wrong to feel ashamed because of his father, but he couldn’t help it. He had done horrible things, and that although he had originally been a good person. Aunt Gigi had loved him. Yet, it hadn’t helped. And Henry didn’t know what had made his father do bad things, so maybe it could happen by accident? Therefore he had to be very careful. Whatever he did, it must not result in anything bad. He couldn’t disappoint his aunt. He couldn’t let her down after his father already had.

Maybe this was just a misunderstanding. He did not really know what Dominic meant, so everything seemed to point in the direction that he was not getting his true meaning. Half of what he said sounded reprehensible to Henry, and the other half made perfect sense. And his friend seemed to think that this was a whole. So he had to be missing something. That made more sense than anything else. “I guess that there’s no point in being unhappy for someone else. But that wouldn’t function anyway because the other person certainly wouldn’t be happy if you’re miserable. If you had to sacrifice your happiness for someone else…” Was that even possible? There were some heroic tales of self-sacrifices to save someone’s life that he had read about, but he was almost a hundred percent positive that Dominic wasn’t talking about that. What he said did sound like something that wouldn’t work out, so to that he could agree even though it made very little sense to him.

Whatever this strange conversation was, it was a good sign that after a complete initial disagreement, they were now mostly agreeing. Discussing things was very wholesome. “Yes, that sounds very true,” he said, once again impressed that his friend was capable of such wise insights. He might talk a lot, and a lot of the lot was at least questionable, but if he got past the superficial things, he also had something to say that made it more than worth to experience the rollercoaster ride that a large part of this conversation was. “It’s like climbing, life, isn’t it?” he said, still overwhelmed by the Gryffindor’s last words. “To reach the top you also need a good balance. Not every branch is safe and it’s vital to be careful about this… balance is everything.” And trees were perfect for everything. He had never thought about it before, but climbing up a new tree was exactly like life was, no doubt possible. The only amazing thing was that he had never noticed, and that after spending years climbing up trees. He felt a surge of gratitude towards his new friend. Without him, he’d have continued missing what grandiose likeness to life was before his very eyes.

“We’re all different, that’s true,” he said, once again amazed to what a well of wisdom his year mate had suddenly turned. It was very sad that so few seemed to take their time to get to know him. They missed out on so many interesting conversations. “And it’s what makes meeting each other fun. I guess it might be a little boring soon if we were all the same. And talking to you makes me happy, and we’re different, so there’s proof of that.” It was fascinating, really, that they as good as represented what they were talking about. It made the whole abstract matter appear so much clearer and concrete. “That’s good,” he said though slightly saddened that he had made Dominic think again of being not that well treated by his fellow Gryffindors. But maybe his tips would be useful. And if he could get himself a cat, his problems would soon be solved. There could be no doubt about that. He glanced at Gunther. He didn’t seem to be all too interested in what they were saying, so Henry supposed they were only repeating what he had known for a long time.

As honest as Henry had been lauding individuality and the need to be different for true happiness, he could not make himself agree with his friend where recklessness was concerned. Being different was good, they had proofed that much for certain, but that couldn’t automatically mean that all kinds of different were good. There was a bad way of being different, and this was very simply when bad things resulted from it. He wasn’t suspecting Dominic of wanting anything bad, no, he had learnt enough about him by now to be sure that he would never try to achieve something truly bad. But at the same time, he couldn’t rule out that the Gryffindor would be as safe from foolishness as he was from malice. Bravery was admirable and all, but there was a very thin line that separated this noble quality from sheer audacity. Henry didn’t want to be too critical because he wouldn’t call himself brave, so he wasn’t the ideal judge to decide where this line was. But he was sure that it existed, and he also worried that Dominic was not aware of this. And this could lead to real danger. Henry had no clear picture in what the danger might consist — he wasn’t even all too sure what it all meant — but that Dominic would sooner or later get into real trouble if he kept acting according to this philosophy seemed obvious to him. And he didn’t want his friend in trouble. But there was nothing he could do, at least now. He’d look out for him and try to keep him away from anything that would endanger him. For the moment, he didn’t think there was anything else left that he could do.

Maybe he’d know better in the future. They had just become friends, so they didn’t really know each other yet. But they had seven long years at school to try to understand one another. That was a very long time. He’d find ways to help Dominic that would work. He had already tried to do so, but he didn’t know whether anything would work because he still knew relatively little about the Gryffindor. With time, he’d learn and then he’d be of help a lot more. Because friends were there to help each other no matter what. And then, they were also just there to brighten each other’s day, and it seemed like they had both accomplished that. “We’re having fun together,” he confirmed the other boy’s statement. “Because we’re friends and it’s fun hanging out with friends.” He beamed at the other boy, wincing slightly when he worried for a second that the other boy was now going to cause an accident. But he didn’t everything was fine.

“Your grandmother’s brother-in-law,” he said slowly, translating the information for himself, “has a rug made out of a tiger… a rug made out of a tiger?” So that had been literal? There were really people in the world who put dead tigers on the floor and walked around on it… Muggles apparently… Why would they want to walk around on a corpse? And a tiger! Tigers were also cats, sort of, and therefore relatives of Gunther’s. But this wasn’t even the main disturbing thing! It didn’t make any sense why someone would want to walk around on a dead animal! It was lacking all… respect? It was impractical. An animal served no purpose lying around on the floor. Not one purpose. A normal carpet would certainly do just as well on the floor. And it would be far less disturbing. Why? “Y-yes, I agree with you,” he stuttered, clinging mentally to the words of sanity uttered by his friends. “Animals have to be respected.” It was so simple. How was it possible that some people wouldn’t understand it?

Humans might use animals for weird purposes, but that was nothing compared to what this monster apparently did to children who didn’t want to fall asleep. He so much wanted to believe that it didn’t exist. There was strong evidence that it couldn’t. And yet. What higher authority was there but a grandmother? “I s-suppose,” he said, automatically whispering as if afraid that the monster might hear him. “Warning. Important. Good. Warning. Yes, it’s good to be warned.” Why did nobody else give out warnings then? Everybody should prepare against such a monster if it were — was — real. So why did nobody want to enable them to do something against it? He had to find out what this monster was. There had to be some evidence of it other than the own from Dominic’s grandmother.

“You’re not annoying me,” said Henry immediately, surprised and shocked that the Gryffindor could come to such a conclusion. He stopped for a moment and thought over what he had just said. It was true, wasn’t it? Okay, he might have got confused once or twice — or a couple of more times, most likely — but that hadn’t exactly annoyed him. Dominic hadn’t seemed entirely reasonable all the time, that was, to be completely honest, probably a teensy bit annoying. But that wasn’t bad, was it? It did happen with the best of friends that they were sometimes annoyed at each other. And Dominic had said, people were different, so sometimes they disagreed and that could lead to something like this. But that was only a fleeting feeling and on the whole completely without consequence. So, yes, he was not annoyed by his friend. Henry sighed with relief. It would have been really bad of him if he had been. “I’m glad you think the same,” he replied with a smile, only to correct himself, “In this case I mean. It’s also fun when you disagree. But it’s great that we agree that we’ll sometimes disagree. That’s how it is between friends.” It felt good to have matters settled so satisfactorily.

He blushed at the next words of his fellow first-year. “Thanks,” he said. “I try my best to be… good…” He did. He really did. It would be so horrible if he turned out bad, doing bad things. It would break his auntie’s heart, and he couldn’t do that. Ever. But if someone like Dominic told him that he was on the right path, that was good. He was doing well. He’d make his aunt proud one day, and that was what was truly important. “You’re a great person too. I’m sure Godric Gryffindor would be proud of you.” Though he might lose his house some points Henry had the niggling suspicion. But maybe that was just how Gryffindors were. There were more important things than the house cup he supposed.

Henry tried to make a calming gesture when his friend began bouncing on the branch again. Hadn’t he told him to let this be? They wanted to get back to the ground in one piece. “It’s going to be really difficult,” he said, hoping to get the other boy to view things from a more critic point of view. “It’d be a success if we’d find certain traces of one unknown animal by the end of the year. We don’t know how many undiscovered species there are around here, but there’s not going to be many. And these are going to hide very well. We’ve got a lot of learning before us.” Once they started their research, Dominic would surely become more grounded. He didn’t want to be overly critical, but he was convinced that his more sceptical viewpoint was a little closer to what would happen in the end than the Gryffindor’s. “Yes, it will be,” he restricted himself to agree. Searching animals would certainly be exciting. He just hoped that Dominic would not be one to give up easily. They would certainly not have an easy start with their research.

He nodded along to his friend’s words. He had thought that must be the case. Gunther didn’t like vegetables, so of course they were also not good for him. His cat was very smart, he’d never refuse to eat something that would be healthy. “That makes sense,” he said. “He went straight away whenever I tried to hold the tomato under his nose,” Henry recounted. “Even though it was a very good tomato. I had eaten the other half.” And then wanted to share. After all, they were red. Meat was red (though Gunther’s food was usually brown). He had thought that it would work back then. “It’s good we can live on vegetables,” he said happily, adding, “At least I think we can. We’ll find out.” It felt good to have a scientific goal. He had already grown-up a lot ever since he had come to school.

“Exactly,” said Henry, frowning in concentration. Discovering animals would be very time consuming and they had to go about it very smartly. He hadn’t ever done professional research before. There was a lot of work before them, but this made it all the more exciting. “Of course we can do it!” he said with determination. “As long as we don’t give up at the first sign of difficulty.” He certainly wouldn’t let anything discourage him. “You’re completely right,” he said, getting ever more excited. “But this might even be an advantage. Maybe we’ll discover something completely unexpected just by using a random bait…” A bait that had never been used before. They should try this too because that might actually end up showing them unknown animals. He nodded gravely at Dominic’s next comment. Right. Their experiments shouldn’t disturb the other students. That would be rude. “We shouldn’t use anything smelly or loud or anything that draws attention unless we’ve got good evidence that there might be results,” he thought out loud. “Then we can ask a teacher to allow it.” That would be the best way to go about it. It was good that Dominic had brought up this important point.

“Er, yes, of course,” he replied once his friend stopped squeaking, barking, yelping, and howling, still a little taken aback. Now he wasn’t an expert on animal sounds, at least not yet, but he had an inkling that Dominic’s noise production would as it was now be of little help in attracting animals. But it was true that sound was important he berated himself. They would have to train that. It was only positive that his friend showed so much interest. “Once we have an idea of what kind of sound we need,” he said encouragingly, “you can start training. That’ll be extremely useful. That was a good exercise.” He hadn’t thought of this and even be a little weirded out at first, admittedly. But he was obviously in the wrong. There might be no point in the noises his friend had produced just now, but this would change with time and instead of imitating all sort of animals at once, it would be one at a time and that would attract the animal. It was good that the Gryffindor had thought about this so timely. It would certainly prove extremely useful in the future. That was the good thing of having another person with you. They often thought of things that he would forget.

The other Gryffindor boys might pick on Dominic, and that was horrible of them and Henry was very much concerned how it had been possible such a misunderstanding (because he stayed convinced that this was at the core of the problem) had escalated so much. He hoped that it would resolve, and now that he knew about the cousins, he was even more confident. His cousins would stand up for him and support him in a way Henry never could. Older students were far more listened to than younger ones. They had more authority and they would impress the other first-years simply by being all these years wiser. There could be no doubt that they would come to the rescue of his friend and his situation would soon get better. “That’s great,” he said. “They sound like awesome cousins to have.” At his friend’s offer, he smiled and shook his head. It was very good of Dominic to offer his help and he appreciated it a lot, but maybe his friend had got a picture that was a little too dark of his situation. He would like to have family, that much was true, and if it was just one cousin. It sounded like fun — to have someone of about the same age that was relation. But that was it. Things were as they were, and they were fine. “Thank you,” he said. “That’s — I really appreciate it. But don’t worry. I’m fine. Everybody in Hufflepuff is really, really nice. And my friends have big brothers and they’re great. It sounds great, having cousins, but it’s not like… I never had cousins, so I don’t really miss it. But i’ll come to you when I need you. Because you’re my friend. You’ll come to me when you need me too. And then we’ll be there for each other as friends do.” He was maybe a little repetitive, but he had a feeling like it might do Dominic good to hear the reassurance that they’d be there for each other.

“That’s great,” he said happily. “They sound great. My Auntie also told me a lot about the school, but she’s been here many years ago of course. So she didn’t know the teachers and stuff.” He hadn’t really been worried about anything specific. His aunt had seemed to worry, but apart from telling him to be careful, she hadn’t told him what was really wrong. That was a little creepy. It had almost sometimes seemed like she would rather he stayed at home. And that not because she was going to miss him though that was of course a huge drawback. If he had had someone at Hogwarts he had known, things might have been clearer. But at least he had already had Lizzy and known she had a brother and that he’d meet Carin. All in all, he had been a little apprehensive but mostly looking forward to going to Hogwarts.

“Exactly!” he happily confirmed. “Trees are the best, aren’t they? There’s no better place to get to know someone. Like now we’re friends. And all because of this tree.” He should probably point this out more often when discussing trees with adults. They were so important for socializing, they would certainly understand this. They mostly worried about the security anyway, and by now Henry really had more than enough experience that this argument shouldn’t count. He knew what he was doing, and he could take care of someone else too while climbing. Trees were perfectly safe despite the scepticism of some. Up here, nothing bad could ever happen.

Probably he should one day delve more into why Dominic seemed so unenthusiastic about reading. Lizzy he knew, she had trouble with the letters, and that made sense. There were a lot of letters and it was sort of amazing that the majority, him included, had so little problem making words and then sentences out of them. But when he read, it didn’t matter. There were exciting stories in their textbooks after all. “It’s fun,” he assured his friend. Books might look boring, but once reading them was easy, they were great. He would have to try to convince the Gryffindor of that. It’d help him a lot with school.

“Nonsense,” said Henry, alarmed. “You’re being liked. That’s…” He had wanted to say that his friend was only imagining being disliked. But that sounded sort of rude or maybe even condescending, and that was not how friends talked to each other. He was sure that the strained circumstances with the boy’s dormmates were all due to not being patient enough. Maybe that was a Gryffindor thing? It wasn’t bad per se, but if everyone was like that, it seemed very possible to him that it would easily spoil the atmosphere. What he was sure was that it was very unjust of Dominic to assume that someone — especially someone as great as Carin — he had never met before wouldn’t like him. “I’m sure things will turn out fine once we’ve been here longer and got to know each other better,” he said. “Everything will be all right.” They had talked about how the situation with the other boys could be helped. And he had cousins, who would look after him. How could not everything turn out just fine?

“That’s… great,” Henry answered. It was impressive how many favourite and best subject the other boy was able to have. He had to be a really good student for that, which was a little unexpected. From what he had guessed about his new friend, he’d have thought he wasn’t that bookish. And all classes — apart maybe from flying — did require books, though some more and some less. But without sitting down and concentrating quietly, it was difficult to make progress. Apparently he was a bad judge and Dominic was able to do that when necessary. It was all the better. Then it couldn’t be that difficult to get him to slow down a little when interacting with his peers.

“Yeah, it happens,” Henry agreed. “I once or twice sprained an ankle and stuff like that. But my auntie is a Healer, she could always fix this quickly, so the matron here certainly could do the same. I don’t think we’ve got to worry about injuries. But it’s still no fun having them. It’d hurt enough while going from here up to the castle. Or from anywhere. It’d still hurt some times even if it’d be fixed very soon. We’re better off not having to go to the hospital wing. It’s just good to know that we have one and that nothing bad can happen to us.” At least he thought that was the case. He had heard some rumour once about something that had happened during the last school year, but there were a lot of rumours around, so that didn’t have to mean much.

“There… is no rule that we can’t climb up trees, right?” Henry asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable. He had read the school rules after all, and he couldn’t remember that there had been anything about climbing. It was forbidden to go to the Forbidden Forest, that he remembered clearly. That was why he had come down to the lake in the first place. But some basic climbing… there was no harm in that, right? They might have climbed a little higher than adults were usually comfortable with, now that he thought about it. It wasn’t a problem for him, sure, but would he be able to convince a teacher of the same. He didn’t want to get into trouble because then they’d write to his auntie that he broke the school rules and then she’d worry that he was going bad and… and… he wasn’t going bad, was he? It was just being up a tree, there was nothing reprehensible about that even if it might disquiet a teacher. Maybe he should have asked first… maybe a Prefect… but Nick tended to be overly anxious too, so he didn’t usually feel like sharing all too much of his more adventurous undertakings. It was vital that he trained as a tree climber, how else would they be able to master the Whomping Willow. Why did nobody understand how important this was? Adults could be a little blind sometimes about what was really important in life. “As long as we get safely down again, I’m sure there’s not going to be any bad consequences,” he said, half encouraging himself. “We’ll be down again in no time. No harm done.” They wouldn’t be angry at them once they saw that they in perfect control of the situation. That would be silly. Admittedly, adults sometimes were silly. It was too late now anyway. They were up in the tree, and there was nothing regrettable about that, reasonably viewed.

They could just as well continue sitting up here until they had to come down for dinner, which was obligatory. That Henry remembered very clearly both having read and being told. “We should get down before it gets dark anyway,” he said. “Otherwise it’s going to be far more difficult. And I don’t think we need extra-difficulty today. And we really shouldn’t miss dinner. I’m sure that the others in our house would worry and start searching for us. We’d ruin everybody else’s dinner! And of course, dinner’s very good. It’s better to be back in time instead of being hungry up here. But we still got several hours until then, so we don’t need to worry about this yet.”

Henry sadly nodded to his friend’s words. He personally wouldn’t call a teacher a spoilsport, but he couldn’t deny that it was his opinion too that they wouldn’t be all too thrilled if they built a treehouse. But then he perked up. “That’s a great idea!” he exclaimed. “That’d be so much fun. Do you know any trees that’d be good for making a house in them? We cannot just choose any tree. I don’t have any suiting one where I live… we’ve got to think about this. Where… where… but it’s going to be a lot of fun. I mean it’s nice sitting up here like that, but to have a real house — that’d be the best!” And with this, Henry stroked over Gunther’s head once and then leant against the tree trunk to discuss this new, important matter with all the seriousness that it required. Tree houses didn’t built themselves of their own accord after all.

---

Words: 8904

---

End of Thread