Lux sat in front of the fireplace, twirling an empty glass of champagne in his hand while enjoying an intoxicating buzz from the booze and the high from social interaction.
He wasn’t used to such a large crowd of people, and admittedly, he didn’t handle the situation well at the beginning. The noise and new faces, while constantly worrying about his upbringing, really made the experience pretty overwhelming. Then, a few of the upperclassman popped open some champagne to celebrate, which Lux took willingly as alcohol always provides a great social lubricate in moderation.
Lux had no idea what time it was, as the crowd had dispersed and the common room was empty, except for himself and a litter of food and empty glasses scattered throughout. The school made sure there were no classes tomorrow, well today, since it was well past midnight. As the average age of admittance increased, the rules had to evolve in order to accommodate the change in times. Sorting Day celebrations looked a little different when everyone could legally drink, and boy did they.
Lux gazed into the fireplace, thinking back on conversations as he sobered up, trying to make sure he didn’t slip up in any spots or if anyone let their ‘Purists’ intentions out on accident. He might have slipped here and there, but the context was lost in the cloudiness of alcohol and party noise. Lux didn’t feel like he met anyone that was overtly hostile toward muggle-born, either.
The door opened and a frumpy looking man walked out, his hair unkempt and oily, and was thirty or forty pounds overweight. He wore glasses that had easily gone out of style a century ago, and he ignored Lux and went toward a pile of trash at the sink, beginning to clean.
Lux tried to remember a conversation with him from the party, but he didn’t recall seeing him at all. The only time he had seen him was the first lunch after the Sorting Ceremony, where he meticulously organized his food for several minutes before eating at a snail’s pace.
Lux was pretty sure the man’s name was Caleb, but couldn’t really remember his last name. He gave him a few moments to see if he said hello to Lux, but after a few seconds of cleaning with no indication of a greeting, Lux said “Hey ya.”
Caleb turned around and looked in several different directions rather crazily like he was shocked to be spoken to. “Me?” He asked, confused.
Lux laughed and looked around the room. “Not a whole lot of options to choose from.” He joked.
“Would you like me to wake someone up, then?” Caleb asked seriously.
It took Lux a moment to realize the man was serious, that he had interpreted his lack of options joke as a statement rather than sarcasm. “No, man, I was just kidding. I meant of course I’m saying hi to you, no one else is in the room.” He explained, smiling.
“Oh, right, yeah that makes sense.” He chuckled awkwardly. “So, uh, what’s up?” he again laughed, like a nervous tick to fill the silence.
“Didn’t see you at the party.” Lux said as he stood up, beginning to help clean up the mess so Caleb wasn’t doing it by himself. The room swam slightly as Lux began the transition from tipsy to hungover.
Always, always go to bed before the hangover kicks in. That’s like, rule one. Lux admonished himself. Maybe there was a spell he could learn to cure hangovers…
“I don’t do well with big crowds.” Caleb said while returning his attention to the dishes, taking extra care to dry the dishes off for a few extra seconds and placing them perfectly back in place, always closing the cabinet between dishes, even if he was going back to put more silverware back in the same spot.
“Not really my thing either,” Lux admitted, bringing over some empty cups to the sink. “But, having a few drinks helped the situation.”
“I don’t drink.”
“Well, then yeah, I wouldn’t like the big crowd situation either.” Lux laughed, trying to make him feel better. They cleaned in silence for a few moments.
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“Potato.” Caleb said, his eyes widening in embarrassment.
“Huh?” Lux said, confused.
“Uh… sorry.” Caleb responded, looking down at the dishes, blinking in rapid succession.
“You okay?” Lux asked, concerned. He clearly was uncomfortable with the conversation, so Lux just wanted to make sure the guy was alright before excusing himself. He didn't want to continue talking to him if he was stressing him out.
Caleb took a deep breath, sighed, and turned to face Lux. He looked up toward the ceiling like he was trying to remember something. “I have what’s called Asperger’s Syndrome, or Autistic Spectrum Disorder. This makes me have ticks, which makes me say or do random things that might not make sense sometimes. I also have a hard time understanding sarcasm. Please excuse anything I have said or done that might have offended you or made you feel uncomfortable in any way.”
He finished his speech and looked back toward Lux, gauging his reaction. It was clear to Lux that not only had he practiced this speech over and over in his head, maybe with help from friends or family, but it was probably one of the first times he had said it. The speech was robotic, not fluid at all, like it was something he had only practiced in his head and he was just saying it aloud for one of the first times.
Although Lux didn’t have a ton of skills in life, he was very good at reading a situation and reacting accordingly. He could change subtle parts of his personality to better fit the person in front of him. Not changing so much where he was completely faking, obviously, but enough to put most people at ease around him.
That’s not to say Lux necessarily enjoyed doing it, it did deplete his ‘social battery’, so to speak. Still, that ability had allowed him to get along with pretty much anyone, even adults when he was just a kid. People told him things that they hadn’t told a single person other than their closest friends, even when he only knew them from classes online.
Lux only hesitated a moment before responding, “Oh, cool! I have an uncle who has Asperger’s, he and I get along great.”
Lux did not have an uncle that had Asperger’s, and although he wasn’t a fan of lying, his conscience didn’t weigh too heavily with this white lie. He just wanted Caleb to feel a sense of relief with his revelation.
Caleb blinked a few times. “That’s neat.” He said, unsure how to process the reaction he received.
"We all got our weird things ya know," Lux said, pointing down toward himself. "Like for me, I'm super weird about textures." He pointed at Caleb's jeans. "I literally, never, wear jeans." he said.
"You don't wear jeans?" Caleb asked, smiling slightly as Lux dove into his peculiar habit.
"Nope. Can't stand it. I have to wear sweats, dress pants, khaki pants, but never jeans. If I could wear shorts at all times, I would."
Caleb hesitated a moment before answering, "I only wear jeans. I even sleep in them."
Lux laughed, "You sleep in your jeans!?"
The two talked for another fifteen to twenty minutes, exchanging 'weird' habits about one another before moving on to talk about their day, mostly about the fight between Theo and Kate. Caleb had a real fascination with the Dueling Arena, talking intensely about the magical theories of how it was constructed, and the applications of the technology to other facets of life that could change the way things were done. It was interesting to hear him talk about it, it was clear he had a true obsession and fascination with magical artifacts, which Lux learned he had also chosen the same elective class as he did.
It was the only time during their entire conversation where Caleb exhibited little to no ticks when he was talking about the Arena, and his vocabulary and social etiquette was virtually normal when on the subject. This made Lux happy, seeing someone so clearly in their thing, in their element, when the world 98 percent of the time was so outside their comfort zone.
“Alright man, most of the dishes are clean, and I need to go to bed. The alcohol is now completely out of my system, and the headache is definitely completely in my system.” Lux turned and walked toward the first year’s dormitory.
“Night.” Caleb said, resuming his uncomfortable social skills, unsure of how to end the conversation.
“Hey, Caleb?” Lux said, his hand on the door, looked back toward Caleb. “Thanks for telling me that stuff about you. It meant a lot to me.” He said genuinely, before leaving without a response.
If anyone else had been in a room, they would have seen Caleb, smiling ear to ear with some tears in his eyes, enjoying the first meaningful conversation with someone outside of his family in his entire life.
“Potato.” He said softly.
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"Hogwarts-Ilvermorny has had to go through a series of changes over the last several centuries, partly due to the increasing age of admittance. As wizarding schools grew older in their student body, old laws and rules became ill-suited to a mature population. Home-schooling increased dramatically, as a majority of students felt their studies were tailored to a younger generation in comparison to what they could achieve with private tutors. Although the school is more equipped now than ever before to be attractive to the young-adult population, hurdles remain as the older generation clings to the traditions of an ancient school. - Janet Moore, Hogwarts-Illvermorny - a History.