the greatest time of year

"Excuse me, excuse me... coming through... hey! Out of the way, you idiot!" Camille exclaimed as she pushed past the people in Diagon Alley. It was strange how crowded it was during that time of year - people would think the summer was worse, but, in reality, it was just as bad as winter. People going around shopping, looking for things to buy their loved ones. . . and it was exactly what Camille was doing.

She had her shopping list in her bag and had managed to think of a few gifts already. Quinn, Tobias, Adam, Marcus, and a few other people. Right. It seemed her list wasn't as big as she thought it would be. Perfect!

"Ouch!" she yelled as somebody threw themselves into her and she went flying, bumping into a blonde girl along the way, before falling down.

Presents. Savannah had almost completely forgotten to buy presents. She'd been so busy taking care of Dia that she'd almost forgotten that there were other people in her life. Biting her lip as she made her way through the crowd, pushing people out of her way as she did. Oh, she hoped her little dragon was alright at home. She'd decided it was much too cold for such a firey animal to be outside.

At the sound of a yell, the Gryffindor turned round, barely managing to step out of the way before the brunette came flying past her. Blinking down at the girl for a moment, she moved all the shopping bags in her hands onto her arm, holding out an arm to the girl, "Are you alright?"

Someone offered her a hand and Camille took it, pushing herself up and brushing the snow off her clothes. She glared at the small crowd that had gathered around and crossed her arms, "Alright, who did that? I don't enjoy being pushed."

She waved them off moments later, though, for whatever reason they were starting to annoy her. Turning to the person who had helped her up, she gave her a small smile, "Thanks, I guess. I'm. . . fine."

Savannah gave her head a tiny amused shake, raising an eyebrow at the crowd that was forming around them. She felt almost famous. Or at least, someone around a famous person. Giving the girl a sidelong glance, the Gryffindor couldn't hide the smirk at her words.

As the crowd began to disappear, the fourteen year old gave a small frown. Where were they all going? She liked the rush that came with the attention. Turning to the girl who was now giving Savannah hers, she smiled cheerily, "That's good. That's very good. Being fine is good." She nodded, and gave a small wave of her hand around them, "Do this often?"

Camille frowned at the girl and chuckled amusedly, nodding. "Yeah, being fine is good," she replied and grabbed her bag from the floor - she really hoped none of the presents she had already bought, which weren't many, only two, had broken. Thankfully, she saw they hadn't.

"Depends, what do you mean by this?" she asked the girl.

"It really is, isn't it?" Savannah grinned, completely missing the frown on the older girl's face. Twirling around, she gave the sky a little smile. "Everything is just going great. I love this time of year. It's so - cheerful." Clapping her hands together with wild excitement, she hummed softly.

"Oh you know, the whole shopping part. Though I guess the whole getting knocked down in the middle of a crowd works as well." Laughing at herself, the Gryffindor have her head a little amused shake.

"Um, okay? Yeah. . . cheerful. . ." Camille echoed with a frown. Was the girl mental? At least a little bit out of her mind. Maybe it was the weather - she heard the cold did horrible things to some people.

She grinned and nodded, "Shopping? Definitely. Getting knocked down. . . not that often."

Now she noticed the frown. Her expression falling, she tilted her head up at the older girl, her eyes wide with an expression bordering sadness and regret. "Did I do something wrong? You don't seem very cheerful anymore."

Her bottom lip trembled, as if Savannah was about to cry.

"Shopping is nice," she beamed, "But I'm not such a big fan of the crowds."

"No, no, you didn't do anything, just - " Camille froze when the girl's lip trembled, making it seem like she was about to cry. Oh, no. "No, no, no, don't cry," she hurried to say, "Please, I'm serious, don't cry." She hated it when people cried. Not because she felt sad for them or whatever - it was just because she felt very awkward. She never knew what to do or say, not to mention it was very annoying. That was one of the reasons she didn't let anyone see her cry: she looked like she was weak, and she knew how annoying it was to be in the other's shoes.

"I love the crowds," she told her with a small smile, "It makes me feel. . . I don't know, like I'm a part of something?" Plus, it made for more audience.

If she'd angered the girl, or done something - wouldn't that just be here going back to her old ways? What if something bad happened to the brunette? Savannah didn't think she could handle having her bad luck come back again.

"Okay," she said softly, taking deep breaths to calm herself down, rubbing at her dry eyes absentmindedly. "No crying for me." Her lips tilted into a tiny smile.

"That makes sense," the Gryffindor nodded slowly. "You feel almost important, as if there's a purpose to it, as if you're making a difference."

Camille frowned at the girl's strange behavior, but then remembered it had been her frown that had made her nearly cry, and it turned into a worried look. "Are you alright?" she asked her, "Why were you almost crying in the first place?"

"You're weird, you know," she stated, looking past the girl into the crowd at Diagon Alley, "Very strange kind of person. But, for some reason, that doesn't annoy me. It normally would - but I find you. . . amusing. I think I like you - what's your name?"

"I just -" For a moment, she'd considered telling the girl everything. But then, almost as instantly, she realized how stupid of an idea that would be. She hadn't even told her best friend, for crying out loud! "I don't like upsetting people."

A slow grin spread across her face, "You do? Really? That's great!" The Gryffindor let out a little laugh. "I'm Savannah. Savannah Lerran."

Camille thought she saw the girl hesitate for a moment, which made her raise an eyebrow and become very curious. But it looked like she wouldn't say anything else, so the exchange student decided to just leave it at that. She'd find out someday. "I see," she said and shrugged away her thoughts, "Well, I wasn't upset so you have nothing to worry about."

"Camille Fortescue," she introduced herself, but the girl's last name left her frowning, "Lerran. . . where have I heard that name before?"

"Good," Savannah nodded, a grin etched on her face. Knowing that she hadn't upset people and that everything was fine was well, amazing. And she really had missed life being amazing. For the longest time, it'd been so dreary and boring and terrible.

"It's nice to meet you, Camille," the Gryffindor said with a tiny bop of her head. "Well, unless I've become suddenly famous, you've probably heard it because of my mum. She's the Deputy Minister for Britain."

Camille thought about it and shrugged, "Must be that. My dad works in the Ministry as well - French Ministry, but that hardly matters. It's pretty much the same thing." Though, now that Savannah had mentioned it, the girl knew where she recognized the name from. She hadn't been lying, it was from the Ministry. Just not papers she was supposed to read.

It wasn't her fault. She was only trying to find out what was it that her father did that took up so much of his time. He was only the Head of the French Department of Magical Games and Sports, not the Minister of Magic or anything. Not like he took his job that seriously, anyway. So, obviously, she had to do some scooping in his home office. Too many papers, information about so many people. Information she was almost sure her father wasn't supposed to have, which made her briefly wonder if he was doing something illegal. But after reading a couple of papers, and now she remembered one of them had the name Lerran on it, and realizing they were all things that had something to do with sports - or that Department -, she had quickly lost interest.

Ministry jobs were awfully boring.

"Or, you know," Savannah shrugged, a bright glint in her eyes, a grin pulling up her lips. "There's always the idea I like better. In which I'm famous in France. Don't know why, but hey, it's my fantasy. Why care about a little thing like details?" Giggling, she twirled around, humming a cheery Christmas tune.

Being famous by herself meant that she was more than just her mother's daughter. Heck, she didn't even like her mother all that much. She worked too much for her liking.

She hardly saw the women anymore.

Camille smiled at the girl and shrugged, "Who knows? Maybe someday you'll actually be famous, all over the world. Maybe someday we'll both be known for . . . whatever it is we choose to do."

And then, she'll have made her name. Of course, you had to start with the smaller things. Maybe when the older girls graduated, because Merlin knew all the sixth year girls were little divas, she would become the Queen of Beaxubatons. Seemed crazy, but who knew? With the amount of ambition she had, nothing could stop her. After that, she'd move on to bigger and better things. And when her name is known all over the world, then she'll have finally moved over her family. No that she didn't love them, she did. But she had never needed them, not that they had ever been there all the time.

Camille Fortescue: a legend. Herself. Not the daughter of that famous writer, or that man from the Ministry. Not one whose ancestor was the ice-cream parlour dude. But herself.

"I'd love that," she breathed, twirling herself around again.

But for what?

A small frown flashing across her face, she froze, tiling her head. She'd always loved magic. Especially charms. Why not become some crazy charm inventor? That'd be cool, wouldn't it?

But what about dragons? She could go tame them in Romania. She already had a head start, why not go do that?

Rubbing at her head, she sighed softly. "If only I could decide what to be famous for."

Camille shrugged, "You have time. Plenty of time until you finish school. Unless, you're a lot older than you seem to be."

"Plus," she continued, "it's not like I know what I want to be famous for either." There were so many things she enjoyed doing, but would she be famous for any of those? Boys - if you're famous for boys, you're a slut. But to have that as a job, she'd be a prostitute. Now, she didn't think there was anything wrong with being a prostitute, but would she want to be famous for that? Hell no.

She liked soccer and swimming. She wasn't incredibly good at either. Good, yeah, but not amazing. Not enough to gain stardom from it.

Dancing - unless she was a stripper, there was not much room for her. She hated ballet, that was out of the question. And she didn't have any style of dance, she just. . . danced.

Fashion was something that greatly interested her, but being a designer or model. . . she was worried she'd end up hating fashion after seeing it so much.

And she enjoyed partying, money, shopping, traveling, as well. To be famous for all that. . . She'd have to be a socialite. She'd have to marry someone rich and famous and then she'd be rich and famous.

But wouldn't that completely throw in the trash what she wanted in the first place, to make a name for herself? She wouldn't want to be so-and-so's wife. Ugh, thinking about all that was mazing her dizzy.

"I just know I want to be famous."

She let out a snort of laughter, shaking her head. "Nope, I like to think I actually sort of look like I'm a third year." Rubbing at her hands, trying to ignore the blistery cold, the girl hummed softly, nodding up at Camille.

If she didn't know what she wanted to do either, didn't that make her feel a little bit better?

Hmmm, maybe she could be famous for a sport instead? She'd been playing Quidditch since she was a child, and she liked to think that she was a pretty damn good Beater by now. She was sure that she was strong enough for it at least. And it wasn't as if she hadn't made the Gryffindor team.

And then there was ice skating. That was fun. Even though she'd only done it once, it had been pretty awesome.

"And rich," she added. "And loved and respected."