Meant To Be

Eli looked around at all the stores around him, wide-eyed. The indistinguishable Russian characters sent a rush of excitement through the small boy, and he looked around at all the strange people. After a couple moments, he realized that Professor Juniper was gone.

The strict witch who had brought him here was nowhere to be seen. He'd probably be in big trouble once they got back to the school, but he didn't really mind. After all, the boy had been lost before, so he knew that she would find him when she found him. He might as well explore a little while he was off her leash. If she asked he could say he was looking for her.

After not too long, he came across a shop that held some interest for him. It appeared to be a joke store, much like the one in Diagon Alley that his friend had pointed out to him. He stood by the window, gawking at the extensive display of magical items that he had never seen before.

This whole world was new to him, and he loved every bit of it. Even the scary, dangerous bits brought a bit of excitement to his life. This was where he belonged, and he had known it from the very beginning.

"Those will only get you in trouble you know," the girl stated in prim russian as she glanced at the young boy, wonderstruck by the joke shop display. He was a few years younger than herself, and for some reason looked out of place in the whole area.

She ran a hand through her long blonde hair, which was flying out in every which way as she looked the boy. Based on what she saw, her next sentence came out in an accented english, "You are not from around here, yes?"

Eli gazed up wide-eyed at the girl in front of him, who to him was even more fascinating than the store. The foreign language flowed out of her mouth with a type of mysterious grace that the boy had never encountered before. Not only that, but she seemed older than him, not to mention incredibly intimidating.

The boy nodded, barely noticing that she had switched to English. He took a couple more seconds to stare at her, then took a deep breath, ""Wow... Are you from Russia? You sound Russian. Do you live here? How old are you? Are you a witch? You go to Durmstrang, right? Madame Bouchant said that Russian witches go to Durmstrang. Do you practice Dark Arts there? Does that mean you're you evil? Ooh! Do you have a cool tattoo? Can I see it? I really hope it's not a snake 'cause I think snakes are gross. Do you like snakes? Can you talk to snakes? I hear Harry Potter was the last person to talk to snakes but I bet there are other people. Is you're hair always like that? What's your name?"

Eli looked up at the girl with an expectant smile, still breathing normally. A million other questions were swirling through his tiny head, but he didn't want to be rude. A lot of time teachers yelled at him for being rude, and he liked this girl already, so he didn't want her to yell at him.

Kallie raised an eyebrow expectantly at the boy as he continued to blink at her. He almost appeared a little slow. But perhaps her accent was thicker than she had perviously thought, and he had merely not understood her.

And then suddenly they all came at her in one rapid fired moment, she wasn't entirely sure she had caught all the questions or not. It was her turn to stand bugged eyed as she tried to figure out just what the boy had wished to accomplish by drowning her in questions.

"Does every thought you have come out of your brain always? Or are I just special?" she shook her head. She wasn't even sure she could remember all his questions to even begin answering them.

She did not understand this social thing. Brock always tried to get her out of her shell more but... Books were easier than people. Books never asked you this many questions.

"I go to school in Russia here; I grew up in Finland," She frowns slightly, "I not have a tattoo, and even if I did you certainly can not see, and... what wrong with my hair?" She unconsciously touched the untamable mane as the boy meantioned it.

Eli giggled, "Not every thought. Then I'd never stop talking! But I do talk a lot. My teachers say it's because I have an overactive curiosity, but I think that's just a nice way for them to say that I'm annoying. That's okay though, because I don't mind. I like who I am even if other people don't, because I'm me, and I can't change me. Not even if I really wanted to."

There was another reason, too- why he didn't mind if his teachers thought he was annoying. It was because even if they were bothered by him, no one was scared of him, and all the adults he knew were there to help him. That was special for Eli, who was only ever used to being hurt.

He shook his head, "There's nothing wrong with it. It's pretty, and special, and I like it." The boy smiled, for once, he was unable to think of anything else to say.

"There are more thought than just that... in that head?" she frowned, her eyes lighting up with slight surprise. She had not meant it to be quite as insulting as it seemed to otherwise come out. IT merely surprised her that anyone could think so much at one time. "You are not annoying, just... energetic, yes?"

She didn't really understand why she felt the need to defend the young boy. After all, he even seemed to have more of a self esteem that she had for herself. She could never quite bring herself to say she was completely happy with herself. There was always one thing or another she'd wanted to change.

Ducking her head, she felt a blush growing across her cheeks, "Oh... thank you... then."