Birds of a Feather [Gilbert + Maria]

Sometimes the self-declared Prussian liked to take her bird with her everywhere. Class, common room, to bed, shower--it was like the two were stitched together.

Until Maria was forced to put her bird in the owlery because "she was not an exception to the rules even if she was an exchange student".

One of the teachers kept complaining about an allergy to owls (stupid, really, but they were just looking for an excuse to separate the two) and was annoyed at the constantly chirping Gilchicky did in class. In Maria's defense, Gilchicky pretty much just slept through the whole class and didn't bother anyone! Besides, having an owl allergy in the Wizarding World was stupid. Messages were delivered by owl and there was a potion for a such a thing... right?

Maria huffed, purposefully clanking her heels against the stone floors loudly, scaring some of the younger students away from her path of fury. When she reached the owlery, she stopped and took a deep breath before putting two fingers in her mouth and whistling.

"Gilchicky! Awesome incarnate is here~!"

(( Sucky starter, OTL ))

Gilbert wished that Hogwarts allowed internet connection, or, at the very least, phone calls. He loved the Wizarding World, but the primitive mail system was just stupid, and once he graduated from school, he was totally going to figure out a way how to introduce telephones or internet to the wizards and witches of the world. He didn't mind using owls though, he loved birds, which made sense considering his pet was Gilbird, the little canary, but it was so slow and Gilbert had to write and Hogwarts didn't believe in ball point pens which was beyond stupid.

But because he loved his parents, he suffered through writing with the quill (and smearing ink everywhere) and went to the Owlery to deliver his weekly letter. His parents were never able to reply, since their family didn't have the funds to own an owl, but Gilbert still wrote them. It was comforting to him, and it helped that this year he could actually send letters about the new friends he made! He already made four new friends, and he hoped the number would continue to grow. Before it had been just him and Ludwig, now it was him, Ludwig, Mattie, Lizzy, Roddy and Monika! It made him feel all warm and bubbly inside, like he drank Aero hot chocolate.

So that late morning, Gilbert walked up the stone steps (he was finally learning his way around the confusing castle) and to the Owlery. When he approached it, he could hear the soft hooting and rustling of feathers, as well as the smell of droppings and the putrefaction of unclean, dead rodents. Gilbert ignored the smell - honestly, he had smelt much, much worse - and stepped into the circular, drafty room, and paused when he saw someone in already in there.

The first thing that struck him was the pale hair, just as pale as his, and for a moment he blinked and stared. He never met anyone with the same hair as himself before, and for a moment, he was excited about meeting a kindred spirit who understood the woes of becoming hermits during the hot summer days, and the annoyances of poor eyesight. "Er, hello?"

The owl, smaller in size than the others and having a yellow tint of feathers, perked its head up from its perch and tweeted. Maria held her hand out as the owl swooped down and grasped her wrist, cheeping and hooting excitedly all the while. Maria laughed, reaching out to pet the bird and praising its feathers and style of grooming in German. As if the bird understood, Gilchicky puffed out her chest proudly.

"Er, hello?"

Maria whipped around at the voice, jerking her arm upwards. The owl lost balance and flapped aimlessly before settling safely on her shoulders again. Maria examined the student in front of her closely, blinking at his pale hair and complexion, much similar to her own. She cocked a silver eyebrow, crossing her arms slowly in a rehearsed manner.

"Hallo," she greeted, still eying him up and down. Living almost her whole life in the hustle and bustle of Berlin, Maria's accent was thick and heavy. Her English was acceptable--if someone could decipher it. "I didn't expect anozer person here today."

A difference. While someone looking almost exactly like her made her feel a bit flattered that they would want to be as awesome as she was, she still wanted to be, well, her own individual. The albino's eyes in front of her were red, which was usual for albinos, while hers were blue and purple. She grinned, showing off her sharp canines.

"Drawn to my awesome?"

Way to be conversational.

Gilbert was disappointed to see her eyes a 'normal' colour. It meant she had melanin which meant no eye problems. Oh well, there were varying degrees of albinism, so it was still nice to meet someone who was like him - Gilbert was still a bit 'special' though, since he was more albino than her. Heh. His disappointed look became swiftly interestd though at hearing the strong German accent. Wait...German accent, and Monika said she had came here with her sister- was this her? Gilbert didn't presume though, and instead raised his eyebrows at the egotistical words.

"Oh. Yeah," he said flatly. His own accent was a mixture of German and Turkish, from his years growing up amongst the Turkish communities. It sounded quite odd, even to his own ears, but it sounded even stranger when he spoke German, since he used the Eastern German dialect with the Turkish edge to it. "Your awesomeness was like a Siren call that beckoned me here. No, I'm here to send a letter because this place doesn't have Internet connection."

Maria's grin dropped and she sulked for a moment until he mentioned the words 'internet connection'. She perked up; Maria had a blog online that she would update almost every single day before school started. She didn't want to leave her followers unattended! People could suffer withdrawals without their daily dose of awesomeness from her!

As if sensing her thoughts, Gilchicky hooted and lightly pecked her head, a little signal for 'you're going overboard'. She turned her eyes to the owl for a second, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at it childishly. But she relented that train of thought nonetheless.

"Zis place doesn't have electricity! I could probably make a port or something for Wi-Fi if I had electricity. Really, stupid magic schools and zeir interference," she huffed. "Zere vas at least a small place back in ze town south of my old academy vhere zere vas electricity. I alvays brought my Macbook."

"Yeah, same," Gilbert nodded, eyeing the albino girl curiously. He brought his laptop to the school in Berlin where the magic there wasn't as...potent? Well, Hogwarts was a castle with millenia old magic seeped into its very foundations, and the Berlin Academy was, well, more efficient and not as ancient. It was a bit more lenient towards electronics, although Gilbert always had to go out far onto the grounds of the Academy to use his laptop. "Hogwarts is kinda primitive, which is so not awesome. I'm bored here."

He fiddled with his letter, and moved to the side of the room, where a few owls were relaxing on their perches. Gilbert hummed softly, reaching out to stroke a handsome barn owl, examining it to see if it would fly to Germany quickly, before tying his letter to its leg. "By the way, random question out of the blue here, but you're a Slith-in, right? Do you know a girl called Monika? I'm wonderin', coz she said that she came here with her sister, and you're obviously German, so, I'm wondering, did you go to the Berlin school too before coming here?"

"Slyzerin," she corrected, though her accent just made it more exaggerated. Sometimes Maria wished she could speak without all the z's and v's in the way. "And ja, I know of Monika. She's my awesome schwesterlein! Isn't she ze cutest zing you ever saw? I bet she is~"

Maria was one of those doting siblings who liked to fawn over their younger brothers or sisters. She took every chance she could to brag about Monika and her feats. "She owns zese ginormous dogs and, really, I don't know how she keeps zem from eating her but zat's vun of ze reasons vhy she's so awesome!" Maria stopped her tirade for a moment to focus a hard glance at Gilbert. "You don't like her, do you? Becuase ve might have a few problems, hm."

Gilbert looked slightly amused at the girl's gushing, but he quickly looked confused at the question. "Well, yeah, I mean, of course I like her. She's my friend." People liked friends, duh. Of course, Gilbert, being the rather asexual boy that he was, didn't understand the implications of 'like'. He was never physically attracted to people. Yes, he could intellectually register that someone was 'handsome' or 'pretty', but he didn't get crushes or sexually/romantically attracted to someone due to their looks. His mother joked that his hormones were simply still asleep, but Gilbert knew he'd never be like the boys that would huddle around skin mags in the dorms late into the evening - although he tried to be like them to be accepted, even if he didn't quite see the appeal to staring at naked women.

Why would you? It was mortifying anyway, catching anyone naked. It was just...bleh.

"But big dogs? God, she really is like a clone of my brother. He has his own dogs too, and he can be pretty adorable, even if he's such a grouchy bastard sometimes." He finished tying up the letter, and then gently shooed the owl away. The brown feathered owl hooted and launched itself from its perch, flying through the Owlery window and into the steel grey sky outside. "Monika- er, your sister, isn't that grouchy though, so she gets more points than Lutz. Heh. Oh, you probably know my brother, actually. He's in the Slith-in house like you. Er, he's pretty damn tall, blond hair slicked back, blue eyes? Seen him?"

Maria was expecting a) embarrassed flushing and horrible lying or b) a blunt "Yes, do you have a problem?" Perhaps it was because she put too much faith in her little sister and always imagined that she'd be the one to fight off the crowds of boys (maybe girls) that would want to date her. Kind of like Monika's knight in shining armor or something! Maria had always wanted to be a knight when she was a child and went around waving a toy sword, too. And then she'd rescue the damsel in distress (who was always Monika) and they lived happily ever after.

"Lutz? From your description, I zink I've seen him vunce or tvice," she replied, going deep into thought. "Just little glimpses in ze hallvays? I'm not even sure it's him--I mean a lot of people have blonde and maybe slicked back hair. Ozer zan zat, no. And I know practically every exchange student in ze Slyzerin house!"

"Well, he keeps to himself," Gilbert said carelessly, shrugging one shoulder, absently stroking the closest owl's feathers. He loved birds. He envied the way that they could take off and fly away whenever they wanted, and they always looked so cool and their feathers soft. Needless to say he had an affinity for birds. He used to go to the park close to the Turkish community and if he sat still enough under the tree, some birds would perch on his knees or shoulders - Gilbird chilling out on his head probably helped to show the birds that he was harmless as well. That was why here, in Hogwarts, where everything was so foreign and different and when speaking English so much gave him a headache, he always went to the Owlery to just relax and enjoy the company of the birds he loved. He wished there were more than owls though, like maybe Waxwings, or Vireos or Wrens; birds with pretty voices.

"It's a shame though," he suddenly laughed. "I mean, all the other German students have gone into the Slith-in House. And I'm stuck in the, the, uh, Griffin's-In-Doors House all by myself. Not that I mind, I mean, I don't need to stay with my brother all the time, and I don't mind being alone, but s'kinda odd that most Germans go into one House." He tilted his head with a frown. "Isn't the Slith-ins the 'evil' House or some bullcrap like that? Are they trying to make like, a tasteless joke or something?"

"Griffs-in-doors...?" she repeated slowly, then grinned and covered her mouth as she started laughing. "Griffin's door! Or Griffs indoor--or, or--meine Gott!" Perhaps it was rude for her to laugh at a foreign student's pronunciation like that, but at the moment, Maria didn't care. Though she wasn't one to talk (or laugh) since she had a heavy accent most people had trouble deciphering. She stopped her tiny fit of giggles after a while and took in a huge gulp of air. Knowing her, she would probably be using that to refer to Gryffindors from now on.

"A-Anyvay," she continued, trying to hold back a very large grin. "It's not ze 'evil' house! Have ze ozer Gryffindors--Griff indoors--" she paused for a moment. "--told you ve're evil or somezing? It's ze awesome house! Eh, vhat did zat old hat say about Slyzerin... cunning, sly... you know, like a snake. Kinda means zat ve're able to use or apply our knowledge for ourselves or ozers and not for the sake of only knowing such zings. Like zose Ravenclaws!"

Gilbert's face felt hot when the girl laughed in his face. So what if he messed up the pronunciations? At least most people just corrected him and moved on! Gilbert glared at her, his cheeks red from embarrassment, and withdrew into himself in an obvious sulk. He hated people laughing at him. Loathed it. Always laughing at him because he messed up his spells, or misread things easily, or at his very clearly second hand books and robes. What did it matter anyway? He didn't laugh at them for messing up spells or wearing threadbare clothes. Unless they deserved it. He distracted himself by stroking a grey owl's feathers, muttering not so flattering things under his breath.


Unfortunately, when it came to being laughed at, Gilbert had a hair-trigger temper. He was very sensitive to being mocked in any way, and either responded by drawing into a rather cold shell, or exploding at the provoker in a dangerous fashion. Gilbert fell into a sulky silence instead, because he didn't curse girls.


"I know that," Gilbert said a bit snappishly, still sore at being laughed at, even more so when she mockingly used his way of pronouncing the Gryffindor name. "But it's just what the other Gr- people, say. I know it's not true because my brother sure as Hell ain't evil or shit like that. You're pretty damn mean though," he added in a low, sulky mutter, pouting to himself as he stroked the owl's feathers. It hoot softly at him. Who knew Monika had such a mean sister?

She only flashed him another grin. "Oh come on," she said, leaning forward a bit. "You're German, ja? You must have heard of schadenfreude! Because zat's ze situation as it stands right now. Kinda like vatching a tourist reading a map and laughing vhen a vaitress slips and all zat. Of course, unless you're vun of zose really, really nice guys..."

She paused, blinking as if just realizing something, before stepping back and analyzing him again. Well, he was in Gryffindor, the house of the brave and all that. She crossed her arms, and put all her weight on her left foot. "Now zat I zink about it..." she started. "You are in Gryffindor... so I'm assuming are vun of zose nice guys who do stuff for everyvun even vhen zey don't ask for it or somezing like zat."

(( Oh hey, just go here for what schadenfreude means. ))

Carrying the suspicion that the girl had just quoted Avenue Q's Schadenfreude, Gilbert stared at her flatly. Gilbert was a nice guy, sure, but he didn't do stuff for free or without asking. If it was like with the case of Mattie, where he got stuck in a trap stair, then of course he was going to help him out, it was what any decent person would do, plus he was his friend. If this Slith-in girl was going to try and rope him into doing something for her, for free mind you, she was going to be sorely disappointed. Years of growing up doing small jobs for every scrap of money had made Gilbert surprisingly shrewd and thrifty.

"I think you're confusing me with those Astropuff's, they're the friendly lot. Why do you ask anyway? If you think I'm gonna do something for you just because you call me a 'nice guy', you've definitely been sniffing too much glue."

Maria blinked. The last thing on her mind was for him to do a favor for her. One, they didn't even know each other's names; and two, she would be pretty stupid to ask for such a thing after laughing at him. Speaking of one... "You, do somezing for me? Really now, I'm pretty sure I can do zings by myself. Even so, I don't even have a job for you," she said, quirking an eyebrow. "I'm not in a rush or anyzing. Unless you'd like to provide me viz a steady stream of alcohol for ze rest of ze school year because zat vould be awesome. I haven't had a good bier since school started."

"Besides, I don't even know your name. Ve haven't even properly introduced ourselves," she continued then stopped and drew herself to her full height (well, full height and heels). "I'm Maria! Maria Beilschmidt. Too late to say 'nice to meet you' but vell, nice to meet you!"

Gilbert slowly raised his eyebrows. Beer? She wanted beer? Well Gilbert could happily direct her to that shady pub in Hogsmeade that served up alcohol no matter what age you were - Gilbert had tried it out - but they didn't have Muggle, German beer. They had that awful 'Firewhiskey' or other magical alcohol. Gilbert thought it was a crime. Why tamper with beer with all that nonsense? It ruined the natural awesomeness of the alcohol! He kept silent on it though, because one, he wasn't feeling too warm towards her at the moment, and two, information was very pricey, so Gilbert only handed it out when it benefited him.

"Beilschmidt?" Gilbert blinked. Monika didn't give him a last name. What were the odds of meeting another German with the same last name as his dad? Gilbert personally introduced himself as Weillschmidt. He disliked Beilschmidt, especially as it was a name that represented the magical family that his dad hadn't been able to be a part of, due to being born a Squib; but because he couldn't really pick a whole new last name, Gilbert used a varied form of it. Ludwig huffed at him about it, but Gilbert didn't care. "I'm Gilbert Weillschmidt."

"Weillschmidt?" Maria repeated, as if testing the name on her tongue. "Just... just a 'w' and an extra 'l' apart. Huh. Zough I guess my family is pretty big and is spread out zrough Germany. Like Professor Aldrich is my... grand-uncle? He's ze brozer of my grandfazer! Maybe you could be one of my relatives I've never known? Or maybe it's just a coincidence..." Maria trailed off, lost in thought. There were a lot of family members she never met. She remembered during Christmas once her grandfather had invited some of the Beilschmidt family to the house but she was six then and didn't remember much of it.

Whether she showed it or not, Maria did like knowing about her current family. Alaric, her grandfather, used to go on everyday about how generations ago they did this and they did that. The self-declared Prussian was much more interested in people who were still alive that she could meet.

Well except for Uncle Fritz. He was always an exception.

Gilbert wrinkled his nose almost unconsciously at the mention of 'Uncle Aldrich'. "Grand-uncle? Aldrich is my uncle. He's the brother to my dad," Gilbert explained. "I guess we're...like, cousins twice removed or something." So that meant he was distantly related to Monika as well. Ah, he thought she looked too much like his brother. Well that was alright, really. It was...nice to see more of their family, although Gilbert didn't really feel happy about it. He was fine with just him, Ludwig and his parents. They forged their own life without the need to rely on magical surnames or shit like that. Mother was muggleborn, father a squib, they lived using their own sweat, blood and tears, and Gilbert was proud of that.

Yes, he did hold some bitterness towards Purebloods. He could admit that much. But he had some very nasty run ins with snobbish Purebloods back in Berlin. As if your blood and parentage determined your awesomeness. Ridiculous! Gilbert was awesome because he made himself awesome, there was nothing more to it.

And then maybe Gilbert had some more reason to be bitter towards Maria. They were cousins, in a sense, but she was a pureblood and he was a half-blood. Maria never actually held their blood lineage towards anyone since she really didn't see the difference. As long as they weren't total jerks and were awesome and could do their own thing, they were OK in Maria's book. Wherever that book may be and what common sense it uses. Besides that whole blood thing, though, she did like a big family.

That did not mean, however, that she would like to have many kids.

Or any at all.

Or getting married for that matter.

Maria stopped that train of thought. "Hey zat's awesome! I alvays vanted to meet some ozer relative around ze same age as me. Vhat year are you in?" she asked eagerly. "I'm sixz year! Maybe ve could hang out sometime or somezing! I could bring Monika along and you could bring your brozer, Lutz!"

"I'm sixth year too," Gilbert replied, blinking at Maria's sudden enthusiasm. "Er, I could try to drag him along, but he'd just be grumpy over it. We have a better chance of including him if we meet up in the boring library. It's his new home," he joked wryly, rolling his eyes a little. Ludwig should've gone to the Raven's Claw House, rather than the Slith-in one. He practically slept on a bed made from books with how many he sequestered from the Hogwarts library.

"But, er, sure, we can hang out. Me and Lutz and Roddy go off and have adventures anyway, so, the more the merrier, as they say." Monika filled out the girl part of the adventuring troupe fine, but he guessed they could have two. They'd probably end up like Scooby-Doo sans the dog and the Mystery Machine van. He had a feeling Monika would be Velma and Maria Daphne, though.

If Maria had heard his train of thought, she would be offended. Sure Monika was smart, but Maria could hold her own in a fight. Without wands. She even had the scars to prove it (though a few nasty bar brawls aren't anything compared to giant spiders and whatever the hell is in that Forbidden Forest). Then again, drunk men were just as dangerous as magical creatures if not more so. Drunk magical men was the worst thing Maria could have come across since she wasn't as quick with her hands than with her wand.

"Adventures?" Oh now she was even more interested. Boredom conquered most of her days at Hogwarts. Homework was and always will be the last resort that will never be used. A change in pace was always welcome. "I'd be glad to come! Maybe I could convince Monika. It could be... training exercise!"

"Aha, don't worry, Monika's already agreed to come along to adventuring," Gilbert said proudly. "I invited her a few days ago. And it's adventuring not training. Training's lame." Training was boring. Gilbert disliked training for anything. He had made up the Adventurers Club, and he intended to keep it firmly as Adventuring. They were filled with quests, and tricky situations, and vanquishing monsters with magical swords - you know, like in the stories. Those were the Adventures that Gilbert wished for. Training was full of gruelling repetitive tasks that just made you want to curl up and go home. Which totally wasn't fun.

The owl that Gilbert had been stroking hooted again, and he suddenly found it fluttering up onto his shoulder. The owl was bigger than his pet canary, and he grunted a little as the heavy bird's talons dug into his shoulder. He withstood it and kept his balance, letting the bird use his shoulder as a perch - he was used to it by now, even though he had only been a perch for smaller birds. Owls were bigger and heavier than people thought.

"Vhat? Nein! Training's awesome and Monika and I try to do it all ze time! It's fun and helps your body and all zat ozer stuff," she argued. She huffed and crossed her arms. "Training helps you get better at stuff--like spells or just normal hand-to-hand fighting! Monika's kinda like a drill sergeant sometimes, but I try to plan most of zem. Have you ever tried training before? Not just normal drills like sit-ups and push-ups and all zat. Zose are boring."

Maria watched amused as the male in front of her tried to adjust to the new weight on his shoulder. Upon seeing the new owl, Gilchicky flapped her wings lightly, cheeping and clicking its beak at the other, hoping to invite friendly conversation (or whatever it is that owls did together). "Making friends, liebling?" Maria cooed to her owl and Gilchicky chirped back, adjusting her talons on Maria's shoulder.

Gilbert unconsciously copied Maria's body language, crossing his arms and letting out a huffing noise. "Training is just hard work, and I get enough of that as is without doing it during my off time as well." From a young age, he and Ludwig did odd jobs around the Turkish communities, and it involved deliveries and heavy lifting. Well alright, when they were around ten, they didn't pick up heavy objects, but it had been heavy to him. After each job, Gilbert always returned home sore and weary, and sometimes horribly sunburnt if it had been sunny that day (not even sunscreen helped), so training on top of that would've finished him off completely. He practised his spells though, but usually in the same fashion as everyone else, repetition and concentration. His physical well-being was healthy enough from the summer jobs he did, as well as joining his brother in his morning jogs.

Gilbert winced when the owl shifted on his shoulder when Maria's owl hooted, and his frown became curious as he looked at the rather small bird. "Is that your owl, then?"