“Of course you can,” he smiled pleasantly. He liked how his name sounded coming from her lips. Samuel was used to people recognizing his last name, but he was well aware that the Thomas family wasn’t known in the USA. Their power was concentrated on Great Britain and other parts of Europe. It was somewhat off-putting to not being recognized at first glance or by name, he wasn’t sure if he would get used to that, or of he actually liked working for things. No, he definitely didn’t like it; he preferred to have everything brought to him just because he was Samuel Thomas. His grandfather wanted for him to expand the Thomas name to the USA, he wanted for the family to be known, at least at CHESS. He was certain that would make everything easier for him, and he planned on reaching the goal his grandfather had set for him. He still had time, four years of time of complete freedom before his family betrothed him to someone. Samuel was seriously planning on having fun in the States.
He couldn’t help but smile smugly at the realization that Miss Brair Velia was totally checking him out. He knew he was good-looking, he had good genes on his side, and girls usually looked at him. He had somewhat been odd looking when he had been a child, but the moment he hit puberty he started to grow-up into quite the good-looking young man. He was proud of it. It was ego-boosting for him to realize that she could be attracted to him. She had been checking him out and she had blushed. Those were definitely good signals for the hazel-eyed young man. She was interested. Excellent. Most importantly, she had agreed to spend time with him for the duration of the cocktail party.
Now, her answer to his question took him by surprise. He was fairly sure she hadn’t attended Hogwarts with him, he was sure he would have remembered someone with her legs. “What house and what year?” he asked. Samuel began going through his classmates and he definitely didn’t remember her. Maybe she was older, but she didn’t look a day older than 18. He narrowed his eyes at her, and tilted his head to the right. “I graduated from Hogwarts, too. What a coincidence.” His tone had a tinge of suspiciousness. Now this was interesting, very interesting. He could ask Hector if he knew her. It would be a way of unraveling the mystery that was Brair Velia.