Miriam's POV   

   I ran through the tables of the great hall with renewed energy for the day.

   "HIIIIIIIIIIIII!" I squealed, leaping over a bench and latching onto an unsuspecting Bambam. Bambam shrieked and ducked his head under the great hall lunch table  in front of him until he saw that it was me. I guess he wasn't free of Jinyoung's hauntings quite yet. I was surprised to find that he was alone for lunch.

   "Agh, Miriam," He grumbled, then turned back to his roast pork. I sat next to him.

   "Jinyoung still watching you?" I asked sympathetically. He nodded. 

   "I haven't gotten any sleep at all," he said, turning his food with his fork. "No sleep, because Jinyoung makes sure I do all my homework."

  "Me and Iza thought his patronus would be a mama bear," I giggled. Bambam chuckled before shoving some food into his mouth. 

  "That's pretty close to his personality, but that's not his patronus," was all he said. I inched closer.

   "You know what it is?"

   "I might," Bambam grinned at me. I searched his face for answers and found none. I tapped my foot against the floor in frustration.

   "Well?" I asked. Bambam shoved another fork full of pork into his face before answering.

   "Fwesssswalll." He choked on his pork.

   "What?" My eyebrows scrunched. What?

   "Thresssfral," he tried again. I rolled my eyes.

  "Swallow your food," I grinned and hit his back. He choked again but got the food down.

   "Threstral," Bambam managed, then shoved another forkfull of pork into his cheeks.

   "What's that?" I asked. Bambam looked up at the ceiling exasperated before pointing to his stuffed cheeks and exaggerating his chewing.

   "Okay, okay. I was just teasing. I know what a Thestral is," I laughed. "The question is, how did he get such a rare magical creature as a patronus?" I murmered, then looked at the feast in front of me. Bambam didn't say anything for a while, just kept stuffing his face. After eating a bit of mashed potatoes, I turned back to him.

   "Are you okay? You usually don't eat this much," I said. Bambam's eyes went wide. "I mean, It's fine if you eat, like, a lot, you would still be skinny and super attractive, I just meant... you know?" I went on, trying to save what I had just said. Bambam shook his head.

  "I'm fine. Or will be. And, don't worry, I'm not offended or anything." He stirred some peas around his plate with his fork.

   "Are you going to tell me about it, or mope about it? Because it's better to tell me about it," I said, arching one of my eyebrows. He laughed and looked down at his plate.

   "Okay, but you can't tell anyone," he whispered. I nodded viggorously. He smiled at my enthusiasm.

   "I just feel kind of bad about someone. You know, I've been friends with Jackson for four years, right?" I nodded.

   "Is this about Jackson?"

   "No, not quite," He murmered, and went back to stirring his peas. 

   "It's just.... it's so stupid. No, I'm so stupid," he grimaced. "You're friends with Izara, right?" I nodded. I could guess where this was going.

   "I've been friends with Jackson four years, but... I never really noticed her, you know? Even though we're in the same year? And have classes together? And everything? I never said anything. I was too focused on my friends. And Izara... she's been ignored this whole time." Bambam kept stirring his peas. "I never really thought about it until know, what the Slytherin kids have to go through to prove themselves to everyone else. I was always told they were evil and messed up, and not to talk to them. But, now I'm thinking, what if I had been put into Slytherin? Would I still think that way?" The peas didn't stop moving. I just sat there silently.

   "You're right, I've never thought of that either. They must deal with a lot of crap," I whispered. Bambam nodded. We both looked over at the Slytherin table. Izara sat there, picking at her food but obviously not eating much. She was alone, just like she always was.

   "It doesn't help that Jackson's been treating her the same way as everyone else. She threw a fit on the quidditch pitch yesterday-" Bambam started, but I interrupted.

   "What?" I asked, suddenly upright. I hadn't heard of this.

   "Yeah. Not her fault, though, Jackson can be rude sometimes. Luckily there wasn't a crowd. Hopefully he'll start to be nicer to her now. I didn't know he was usually worse than that," he muttered. I clenched my spoon in my hand and looked at my mashed potatoes. I thought about how Izara had told me she didn't like spoons once, and only ever used forks. I started playing with my food like everyone else. I couldn't think about how Izara could have been mad enough to through a fit on the quidditch pitch.

   "That's... sad," I said. Bambam nodded.

   "I probably shouldn't have told you, but there. I know you probably wouldn't be mean to her just because she was unlucky enough to be put into Slytherin, right? I didn't think so. Jackson's lucky to have a sister like her. Did you know, after she was done, she fixed his fractured sholder blade and left? Just like that. She's too nice. I know I wouldn't have done that," he said. I hummed in response.

   "She's always away from everyone else. I am, too, but that's because I'm weird," I grinned, and Bambam nodded enthusiastically. "But, I thought she just didn't want to be around people."

   Bambam and I poked at our food together in silence until I asked about how quidditch practice had gone the night before. His eyes lit up when he talked about quidditch. I loved it when he got interested in something.

   "So, I'm the seeker, right?" Bambam had my full attention. I nodded enthusiastically. "So, I get so see a lot of the game while I'm looking for the snitch. Anyways, so last night's practice was really interesting and weird. Do you know what the ending scrimmage score was? It was TWO to TWO. TWENTY TO TWENTY! Griffindor vs. Slytherin! Can you believe it?"

As he droned on I smiled and ate my mashed potatoes.