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I reach up and touch the neat plait thrown over my shoulder.Not really. I don’t say as much out loud, it’ll come with a lot of questions that I don’t want to answer.
“I like the colour, by the way, is it natural?” she asks when I don’t say anything.
I shake my head. “Mum makes me a potion to dye it.”
“Can’t you do that yourself?”
I grimace. “I’ve never learned how, I think she’s hoping I will now I’m here.”
“Ah, so you’ll be taking Charms and Potions, then?”
“Yeah, it’s my first class.” Something I’m both unreasonably nervous and kind of excited for.
“It starts in ten minutes,” Nati points out.
“I know.”
“It takes seven to get from here to the classroom, you’d better hurry,” she says in a matter-of-fact tone that makes me wish I had her confidence and view on things.
“I don’t even know where it is.” I should have memorised the map on my way here, but there’s been so little time that I’ve not had a chance to. And I’m terrible at directions anyway, so there’s a good chance that even if I had it in front of me, I wouldn’t be able to get to the right classroom.
“Come on, I’ll show you, it’s on my way to Divination anyway.” She flashes me a smile that seems genuine.
I nod, relief filling me. Partly because at least this means Nati can’t be too insulted by my questions about her snakes. “Thanks.”
“Your mum must be a talented witch,” she says.
“What makes you say that?” I hope she’s not going to say she’s heard of her, though I don’t know how that would be possible. As far as I’m aware, there are only a few people who are aware of Mum’s name, and most of them are looking for specific medical potions when they discover it.
“It’s hard to make purple natural.” She gestures to my braid.
“Oh, right.” I grab my satchel and throw it over my shoulder, only remembering to grab my phone at the last minute.
“Don’t get caught with that,” she warns.
“I won’t, I have enough practice messaging under the table.” Not that I’m going to need it. I doubt I’m going to have many messages.
“So, why purple?” she asks as we leave the room.
“It’s my favourite colour,” I respond. “You’re very interested in my hair.”
She shrugs. “Most people have a lot of questions about mine. I guess it makes me feel better that I can ask the same kinds of questions.”
“That’s fair. Your hair is...” I trail off, not too sure where I’m going with the statement.
“You can say it,” she responds.
“It’s pretty. I like how the scales reflect light.” It’s not even a lie. It’s not conventionally beautiful, but I can see that it’s nice, and it suits her. Or I think it does, I’m aware we’ve only just met.
“That’s a new one,” Nati responds, but I can see the pleased surprise in her eyes. “So, what’s youractualhair like?”
“It’s silvery-white.” The admission comes out of me before I mean it to. I don’t normally tell anyone about my hair, especially not the first time I meet them.
“Because you’re secretly a crone in disguise?” She leads me down a corridor.
I snort. “And that’s the reason I dye it. Being called a crone is one of the nicer things people have said to me.”
She lets out a bemused laugh. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much now you’re here. Silver-white hair isn’t even going to scratch the surface of weird here at Blackthorn.”
