A Nice Summers Day [OPEN]

Ben was wondering down Diagon Alley. He had bought pretty much everything that he needed. He ran through the list of what he needed in his mind. Parchment, quills, books, robes. He already had a wand from last year. He seemed to have grown a lot over the summer though. He didn't have many galleons left. His parents gave him some galleons to buy school stuff and was allowed to spend the rest. He wished he didn't have to buy new robes, but they really were too small for him.

Ben reached into his pocket to count how many galleons he had left. Not enough. He wanted to buy a broomstick, second years were allowed their own brooms. He really wanted to make the Quidditch team this year. He thought he would be a good Beater, though would try for any position if it meant a place on the team. He loved Quidditch and always had. He had been an avid supporter of the Appleby Arrows all his life and it was his dream to someday make it onto the team. He wasn't much good at a lot of magic, so he had to place his hopes on a more likely career.

Almost bumping into someone brought Ben back to reality. He hadn't been paying attention, as usual. He looked up and saw a boy, a lot older than himself. He thought he might have seen the boy around Hogwarts but wasn't 100% sure. Almost everyone went to Hogwarts though, so it wouldn't be surprising if he had seen him around. "Sorry." he apologized, looking up at the boy. He wasn't that intimidated by the older boy, oddly enough. Then again, Ben didn't find many people intimidating, he was quite an outgoing person. "How are you?" he asked, trying to distract the boy from thinking he was a clumsy idiot who went around walking into people.

Ben was a bit surprised when the boy seemed to reply. He had expected a reply, but a shorter one. This boy seemed to actually want to talk to him. A lot of older students looked down on younger kids and thought they were superior to them. Ben was glad this guy didn't seem to be one of them. He hoped he wasn't one of them anyway.

"I'm Ben." he introduced himself. He kept to his nickname. He never introduced himself as Benjamin Macmillan, though his parents still did sometimes. He didn't like his full name, it sounded odd. Benjamin. "You might have seen me around." he responded, wondering how old this guy was. Ben didn't think he was a Hufflepuff, he would have recognised a Hufflepuff from around the common room. Unless he was one of the older ones, perhaps. "What's your name?" he asked, returning the boy's question. He might recognise the boys name, though he doubted it, as he looked a lot older than himself.

Ben didn't ask many questions usually, unless it was to keep a conversation going. He was quite a social person, but he wouldn't pester people with the basic how old are you, what house are you in sort of questions. He would just ask about a Quidditch team or something which actually led to a conversation. "Do you play Quidditch?" he asked the boy. It was worth a go, he thought.