Sure Isn't Like Home (Open)

Rhys was from a small town in the farming part of Wales, so nothing could prepare him for something like this.

A giant room. Full of People. Instead of walking to his table, Rhys stared at his surroundings, his face pulled into a glare he didn't even know he had.

"L't 'ff pe'ple." He grumbled,

J. J. walked into the great hall and was about to go to her table when she noticed a fellow Hufflepuff staring - more like glowering - at the room in general.

She wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be interupt, but she felt she should offer something. He may be lost or... something.

If not he could just tell her to get lost - its not like she'd care either way. Well she might but she'd get over it.

"Hey there," she called stopping just beside him, "You looking for something?"

Rhys' thoughts were interrupted by a girl's voice. He looked at her, his grouchy expression turning into a surprised one. He pointed to himself, as if asking, "Me?"

Shaking his head, Rhys gave her a thumbs up.

" 'm goo'" He mumbled in his heavy accent, his unhappy face returning, " Tanks,"

J. J. smiled slightly, "Yes you."

The girl couldn't help but giggle a little and mirror his thumbs up as she responded.

"Well if you're sure," she said slowly and started to walk towards the table before stopping.

She turned around and flipped her hair slowly over her shoulder as she did getting annoyed at it.

"Do you want to sit down?" she asked cautiously nodding at the table, "Grab something to eat... chat a little."

She gave a little smile and added in a whisper, "Its what we usually do in the great hall."

Rhys nodded, shuffling over to the table and sitting in the corner. He looked at the girl as if her wanted her to sit with him, and then decided that was stupid, so he looked away to his plate.

Looking over his choices, Rhys picked up an apple and a muffin. After taking a large bite of the apple, he looked back at the girl.

" 'm Rhys. Rhys Haines,"

J. J. smiled as the boy silently sat down. It was a start - at least he wasn't standing about any more.

She watched with curiousity as the boy looked at her for a moment and then looked away. She shrugged deciding not to dwell too much on what to do and walked up to the table.

"Nice to meet you Rhys," she responded as she slipped into a seat across from him. "I'm J. J. Jones."

The girl looked about the table trying to decide what to take. Finally she settled on a peice of toast which she chewed thoughtfully as she looked at her new companion.

"So this your first year at Hogwarts, Rhys?"

Rhys nodded slowly, taking another bite and leaning again the table. He avoided eye contact with the girl, but otherwise seemed content.

" Yup," he sighed, wrapping his muffin ever so carefully, " Y'u?"

His voice cracked loudly, but he didn't acknowledge it.

J. J. felt like giving a frusterated sigh at his one word answers. He didn't seem like much of a talkative type. She was here now - so she'd just have to do the talking for both of them.

"This is my second year," she replied, "I remember being a first year; I use to get so lost... its an odd adjestment to go from home to here. Its a little easier this year."

She paused for a moment thinking of another thing to ask the boy, something he would have to say at least one word in responce, "So, Rhys - where are you from?"

Rhys swallowed his muffin and sighed. Darn, he was going to have to talk, wasn't he? Looking up at the girl, he swallowed a lump in his throat that wasn't really there.

" 'm fr'm Wales," He said, his voice unusually scratchy, "Th' f'rmland p'rt, s' this is 'll n'w t' me,"

He gestured to the room around him- to all the people.

"L't 'f people,"

J. J. listened to the boys response; it was true that his voice was heavily accented but she kind of liked it. It was different.

"Wales? That's cool," she nodded easily, "So did you live on a farm? Do all that farm-y stuff, mucking the stables... gathering eggs... other things I can't think of." She laughed at herself.

"I'd image this would be a lot of people; I came from a sort of small town but... there was still a fair amount of people there. I couldn't imagine this being my first taste of crowds."

She shook her head. Learning about magic was hard enough to deal with.

"So - do you have any siblings out in Wales?"

Rhys smiled softly, thinking back to his quiet, country home.

"Yea'," He nodded, "I liv' 'n a f'rm. We d'n't 'wn cows 'r n'thing though. 'Nly a f'w h'rses and ch'ickens... I muck st'lls a l't."

He paused when she asked about siblings. "A br'ther, b't he doesn't liv' with us. He's m'rried."

He looked at the girl and gave a bright smile- grinning ear to ear.

"I th'nk I w'll surv've here thou'."

"Really, do you really have horses?" J. J. got excited by the thought. "Do you like... know how to ride them and stuff? I always wanted to ride a horse - it always sounds so-so-so..." she was getting so worked up that she could even find the word she was looking for. Finally she shook her head and gave him a bashful smile, "it sounds fun."

"Wow - your brother must be a lot older..." she paused to think about any of her own siblings being married but the idea seemed so ridiculous that she ended up giggling, "I guess my oldest brother Simon might be old enought to be married... but I don't know who'd want to. He's a bit of a stick in the mud."

J. J. couldn't help but smiling back when Rhys smiled. It really made a change to his face.

"That's a good thing. I believe it would be a harsh death to die by way of student overload."

Rhys chuckled at J.J.'s exictment, shaking his head as if they were old friends, not random people.

"Y's, I rid' th'm," He took a bite of his food befoe continueing. "My mum us'd to rid' pr'fessi'n'lly. I rid' my 'wn h'rse though,"

Rhys took another pause, but this one had more weight behind it. He tapped his fingers on the table, debating what to say.

"He's 'nly 18. He g't marr'ed 'cause he g't a g'rl preg'nant," He shrugged, "My br'ther isn't sm'rt."

J. J.'s eyes lit up at the thought, "Really and truely? That is so.. cool."

The Hufflepuff girl sighed whistfully, "I wish I knew how to do something cool. All I ever do is sit around and read about cool things."

She blushed a bit at his response. Leave it to her to put her foot in her mouth.

"Oh," she said looking at her plate for a moment, before taking a drink of Pumpkin juice, "Well... I love kids; they're so cute - not that... you know I want one or anything, and being the youngest child I never really had any around but... yeah."

She let her hair fall over her face for a moment before shoving it away and giving the boy a small bashful grin.

"Have I made enough of a fool of myself yet?"

"T'anks," He nodded, putting his hands in his cloak pockets. Rummaging around, he finally pulled out a wallet and unfolded it. Inside the flap was a small picture of him, about 5, and a young, bay foal. The horse stood on wobbly legs and Rhys seemed to be trying to hold the animal up. His mother was laughing in the background.

Showing it to JJ, he said, "Th's 's my h'rse. H's name 's Card'ff,"

Rhys shook his head, frowning. "No. I und'rst'nd. I l'ke k'ds too. D'n't feel bad,"

"Your welcome," she responded with a nod, and cranked her to look at what he was showing her.

"That is so cute," the girl gushed, her whole face lighting up with a silly grin, "I am completely jelous right now. All I ever had was a cat..." she pouted for a moment then her eye light up again, "Well I do have an owl now. He's not cute or anything... but I just love him."

She bit her lip as she grinned up at the boy.

"Sorry; my mouth kind of goes off without my brain sometimes."

Rhys chuckled at the girl's reaction. He grabbed his cup, sniffed it and took a big glug. He listened to her talk about her owl and nodded as if he wanted to hear more. Being naturally quiet, Rhys found it better to make others talk instead of himself.

"I l'ke wh'n you t'lk,"

J. J. blushed and ducked her head at the comment.

"You know, you will probably come to a day when you regret that comment," she joked to avoid her slight discomfort at the praise.

Because her brain was on the topic she continued with her owl, "My mom wasn't too happy to have an owl in the house; I had to keep him in my room. She thought it was a funny pet to want - an owl." J. J. took a sip of her drink and shrugged, "She's a muggle so I guess she just doesn't get it. Admitedly I don't really get it either, but I love Hermes anyways."

Rhys shrugged, finishing his glass of juice. He paused to watch it refill, then continued.

"Nah. Yo' can t'lk f'r me," He said, joking slightly. He watched J.J. carefully, smiling at her overenthusiastic. " 'm not all'wed a 'wl in the h'use e'ther. It st'ys 'n th' barn."

J. J. smirked a bit at his joke, "Would I just follow you around, and speak for you in all your classes. I'd be like you 'people'"

"A barn, that would be handy," J. J. said punctuating her words with a tap on the table, "We don't have one of those - so it's just my room for me. Its not so bad; I kind of like the company - though he does get grumpy if I close the window on him when he's out at night." She shook her head and smirked, "Hermes can be a bit of a Drama Queen."

She paused, tapping the table mindlessly as she had exhusted that topic and tried to think of another.

"Isn't funny how animals can have a personality? I never really thought about it until I had Hermes hovering around me all day," she started to ramble as the thought just struck her, "but then you know - he totally was almost like a human. He's really smart too - smarter than me..." she trailed of and blushed, "And now I probably sound bonkers talking about my owl like he's my friend or something... which.. he is.. but.. yeah..."

"Yo'd be my m'nag'r." Rhys chuckled.

"No, I und'rstand," He was becoming more comfortable now and it showed. Rhys relaxed in his chair and spoke at a normal volume instead of the quiet one at the beginning. "Card'ff h's a p'rsonal'ity too. All an'mals do. 't's n't s'illy- 't's true."

"Manager? I like the sound of that - do I get paid?" she laughed.

She smiled. Rhys seemed to be warming up to her - or at least the situation - and she was glad of it.

"Animals are easier to get along with than humans sometimes," she finally concluded with a nod. "Less complicated - they either like you or they don't."

She played with her empty plate as silence fell again.

"So," she made the 'o' sound last until she could think of something to follow it up with, "What do you do for fun out in Wales?"

Rhys shrugged slightly, leaning on the table.

"W'rk. R'de. Play F'otb'll. Rugby," He shrugged again, "Not a l't t' d'."

"Wh't d' you d' in..." He didn't finish.

"That sounds nice just the same - easy, simple," she smiled in responce.

"Yorkshire," she filled in his questions for him, "Whitby to be exact. Nothing exciting really; read, write - get lost in the Moors." She sighed a little whistfully. She missed the nature there - her summer hadn't been enough to satisfy her desire for it.

"Play with my siblings," she added - not that she spent a lot of time this summer with any of them but Zach, but that was besides the point. She leaned forward on the desk and added in a whisper, "You may not believe it but I got a mean competitive streak in me."

"'t's a s'mple l'fe," He agreed, "I love 't though,"

Rhys cracked and grin and leaned in close as well, their noses almost touching.

"Br'ng 't 'n," He whispered lightly, a competitive glimmer in his own eyes. " 'd play w'th you anyt'me,"