Brooding...

Coral sat in an upholstered chair in the Ravenclaw room with her cat on her lap. Her hands were folded just under her chin, and she appeared to be in deep thought. As usual, she sat with perfect posture. She had been sitting like that for at least an hour. She did not like wasting her time in such a manner, but she felt it was necessary after what had happened in her Potions class. She needed the time to collect herself.

She knew that what had happened would not make a very good impression on her peers, but it couldn't be helped. In any case, going to Hogwarts was STILL a lot better than going to Beauxbatons where she would have to put up with her sisters. She seemed to tense visibly at the thought of them before forcing herself to relax. Perhaps what she needed to do was engage in a game or create mathematical problems to solve or perhaps she would write down all that she had observed that day.

The day had been surprisingly quiet up to this point. Lorcan hadn't tried to bother him all day. It was strange, really strange that he hasn't even attempted anything. Maybe he wasn't feeling well or something. Oh well too bad for him. Lysander was just happy that he finally got a break from his idiotic brother. He'd been fed up with having to take his tormenting since they were little boys. All Lorcan ever did was make fun of him, or do bad things to him. Things like pulling pranks or talking about him behind his back.

It was like a never ending cycle of misery, for Lysander. His brother alwaya won at whatever they did, Besides playing drums and guitar. Whenever they had competitions on that, Lysander always won. He was also much smarter than Lorcan, he did after a get his mother's brains. Sighing the blonde haired boy walked up to the Ravenclaw Tower quietly. As he entered he stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed a girl sitting in there alone. His mouth opened a bit as if to say something, but his stomache began to churn and the familiar feeling of shyness he got when he was around girls took him over, and Lysander merely stood there now gazing at the floor.

Coral's head turned upon hearing someone else in the room. She seemed to be studying him, as though he were merely a specimen under a microscope. Lotus perked up, and his light blue eyes glanced in Lysander's direction. The cat hopped off of Coral's lap and made a little purring noise as it rubbed up against the Ravenclaw boy's legs. Coral glanced downward at the pure white cat. "His name is Lotus. He likes you." She glared at the cat and crossed her arms over her chest, looking annoyed. "He likes everyone." This little detail caused her no end of frustration. She would really prefer it if Lotus liked her and only her, but that simply wasn't the case. Lotus was a very friendly cat, even to her sisters. Still, she cared a great deal about him.

She got out of the chair and walked towards Lysander. She outstretched her hand. "I am a transfer student from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. My name is Miss Coral Marchand. How do you do, sir?"

Lysander nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt something rubbing up against his legs. He looked down and saw the white cat that had been with the girl rubbing himself against his legs. He crouched down and pet the cat gently. "Hello Lotus." he said softly after the girl told him what the cat's name was. It seemed like he was ignoring the girl, which is something he didn't like to do, but he couldn't figure out what to day to her, his mind just went blank. He didn't want to seem rude but he couldn't help what his mind did.

When he looked up again the girl was in front of him and he jumped up. It was as if he'd never seen anyone of the opposite gender before. Lysander stared at her hand for a long moment before tenderly taking it. "My...n-name..." he began stuttering. "I-is Lysander.. S-Scamander." he managed to say through multiple stutters. "It's um... It's nice to meet you... Miss Marchand.." he added somewhat quickly. Just as he finished his sentence, his cat, Lucio, trotted into the common room and meowed at him before his attention was directed to Coral's cat.

Coral didn't seem to be phased by Lysander's stuttering. She shook his hand only once using a firm, polite grip, and then let go. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Scamander. Forgive me for being frank, sir, but it appears you are very nervous, perhaps owing to the fact that I am of the female persuasion or maybe you are just shy around people, in general. I noticed you did not stutter while you were introducing yourself to my cat, so I can only assume this is not a general speech issue. Am I correct?" Her expression changed only slightly from the fake pleasant demeanor that she normally put on to that of someone who is curious.

Lotus stopped rubbing against Lysander's legs when he noticed Lucio. He happily walked over to the new cat and began to rub against him in a very friendly and somewhat playful manner. "Meeeeow."

Lysander bit his lip a little as the girl spoke to him again. "No..." he said softly. He cleared his throat and trying his best not to stutter, he began to speak back to her. "It is not.. I.. um... You see... I am.. what you said before..." he said, not making much sense. He tries again. "I am just shy... As you said. But more so around the female gender." he explained softly, without much more stutters. Lysander felt somewhat weird, it was that normal shy feeling he usially got, but there was something more in there as well. He didn't know what it was, but he felt very uncomfortable.

The fourth year glanced down at his cat, who was swinging his paw at the other cat who was now running himself against him. "His name is Lucio. He isn't much of the playful type, only when he wants too he is." Lysander explained with less stutters again. Lucio continued to swing his paw at Lotus's head, each swing becoming more playful. Lysander smiled down at the cat as he noticed that Lucio wanted to play. The only other friend he had was the female cat of a Gryffindor girl who Lysander was sort of friends with. But his cat had been getting lonely without Isabella being near him to play with.

Coral was momentarily distracted by the cats. Lotus started to match Lucio's swings with his own paw, seeming to be enjoying himself. "I like cats," the Ravenclaw girl said, with the utmost certainty and conviction. She glanced back at Lysander; her eyes opening up with more curiosity. "Shyness is understandable. Some people have trouble talking to others. What I must ask, if you do not mind and if it pleases you, is why you are more shy around girls?" She paused a moment, a flash of memory coming to her. She had thought she had seen a boy that looked like Lysander while she was in the hallways once. Her eyes narrowed a little bit, giving her a more focused look. She decided she'd wait to see what Lysander said before acting on what little information she had and forming her own theories.

Lysander looked down at the cats playing as Coral asked him why he was more shy around girls. He felt his face turn a shade of pink and he focused on the cat for a long moment. He finally looked back up at the girl, his face still pink, and he shrugged. "Dunno." he said simply. "I've been like that ever since I was born. My stupid brother is the one who talks to girls a lot. He's not so shy around them." he said softly. Somehow, even without him actually being there, Lorcan had come into the conversation. He always came into it, one way or another. Lysander frankly, just didn't like him being in everything he talked about.

The boy felt his face turn a deeper shade of pink, both from the embarrassment of having told Coral what he had and from the anger he felt toward his brother. He turned his attention back to the cats just to calm himself down. Lucio seemed to notice that Lysander was uncomfortable, or rather angry at something, and the cat tilted his head to the side as he stared at his master. The Ravenclaw boy smiled at his cat and Lucio turned around and continued playing with Lotus.

Coral gave a little nod. With just a few words, Lysander had confirmed what she was thinking. "It sounds like the root of your problem is that you feel overshadowed by your brother. He talks to girls a lot, you feel like you can't quite compete, and so you clam up and get nervous. Further exacerbating this effect is that some people are cruel and find that nervous, shy people make for easy targets." By this point, the fake pleasant demeanor had been dropped. Her facial expression had hardened and turned fierce, and she took another step towards him. She was short, only coming to about 5 feet exactly, and she lacked any kind of muscle definition. It was practically certain that one push would probably knock her over easily, and yet somehow, she managed to come across as straight and solid as an oak tree. "If you want to change, you are going to have to realize that you can compete... no, that you MUST compete, or your brother will overshadow you for the rest of your waking life." She turned sharply and walked away from him, heading towards a shelf against the wall.

She pulled out a board game, Wizard's Chess, to be exact. She began to set it up on the table. When she looked back at him, her fake pleasant expression had returned. "I am in the mood for a game of Wizard's Chess. You are very welcome to play with me, Mr. Scamander, sir, but do not feel any pressure on my account. I am more than happy to formulate new strategies by myself."

Lysander shook his head quickly. "No that's not the problem. It's just my personality now." he said. Lysander felt a small bead of sweat falling down the side of his face from his embarrassment. "My mother told me before that I wasn't like this when I was younger. I don't believe her though, for as long as I can remember I've been shy around girls. But it is possible that my personality changed as I got older. I just wish it hadn't changed this way." the blonde haired boy said. "Because of the way I am, I doubt I'll ever get a girlfriend or anything..." he stopped quickly but it was too late. He'd already said what he'd been meaning to keep to himself.

Cursing internally to himself, Lysander sighed and looked down. His face turned a different shade of pink, darker, almost a red color. Her words made him feel a bit uncomfortable and he swallowed hard. Once she turned away from him, the fourteen year old sighed again and kept his gaze down toward the floor. He looked up at her as she set down a game of Wizard's Chess and he smiled a bit awkwardly. He took a step forward his first actual movement since he had stepped into the common room and he walked toward the girl. "I'd love to join you, Miss. Marchand." he smiled awkwardly again.