[center][hr][h3][color=white]Lucinda Láidir: [b]Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions[/b][/color][/h3][hr] [/center]

Lucinda was relieved when the other girl took her hand and smiled. Not a total social faux pas then. The confused look on the girl's face made Lucinda wonder if she had said something wrong. It was now Lucinda began to regret the lack of contact with other people her age, it was all very well being able to talk to adults but you never felt their equal.

Hufflepuff, Gryffindor...and no house? Either her mother was from abroad or...disadvantaged. Lucinda decided not to dwell on it, it must be hard enough for the family to cope with as it is without strangers poking at their problems.

[b]"My Father's side have been Ravenclaws forever - except great grandfather Sean who was a Gryffindor - and my mothers have been all houses but she was in Slytherin."[/b] Lucinda traced back her family tree in her mind, it wasn't difficult. The west wing lounge had a family tree on the wall...she had spent more time quizzing each of those little paintings on their lives than her parents approved of. The most successful of her family had been Ravenclaws...but then the majority of them were so that wasn't such a surprise. 

[b]"I suppose there is a good chance I'll be a Ravenclaw too...but my father said that the houses are there to help you grow, not to fit you in a mould so wherever you end up is right for you. The logic is, I think, that you strive to be like those you're around...so you go to the house where the people are most like you..."[/b] Saying this Lucinda wondered if there was [i]anyone[/i] like her.

[b]"I'm Lucinda"[/b] She said, smiling back at Valentina. [b]"And no...I'm an only child. I don't know about any tests but I [i]have[/i] read about the sorting hat. It can read your mind when you wear it - Legilimency - and it sifts through everything and sees what you have the potential to be...then puts you where it thinks you should go. Sometimes it seems like it has got it wrong at first but then it turns out the house was exactly right in the end. The hat is [i]so[/i] interesting."[/b] Lucinda got a little carried away, the hat fascinated her so much.

[b]"What were the tests your sister talked about?"[/b] Lucinda wasn't too worried...but she hadn't heard of these before. Perhaps they were meant as a surprise...