The other girl - who turned out to be Sam - confirmed that Jera probably did see her at Violet Firth. For some reason, that felt like some small sort of victory: Day One and she was already recognizing people from her building. That couldn't be bad.

While Jera struggled to think of something to say - she had never been very good at starting conversations - Sam mercifully stepped in before the silence became drawn out and asked what she thought of the school so far. "So far so good," Jera replied initially, while giving her brain time to think of a less generic answer. "My bed's comfy, the toilet flushes, there's a pool..." She was quite excited about the swimming pool. She'd never lived at a place that had a pool on site, so that was a first. "The professors I've met seem okay, so, yeah, it's looking good, I guess."

She was aware that in a previous stage in her life she'd been more eloquent, but recent years of seeing Jessie in uninterupted proximity seemed to have led to deteriortaion of her vocal skills. The fact that she'd spent a decent portion of the last year speaking Romanian may not have helped matters.

After another comforting sip of Butterbeer (it was somehow a familiar drink, and therefore good to combat her unfamiliar surroundings), Jera asked Sam, "So what are you planning to study?" Hardly breaking any conversational moulds, but the Jera had no desire to be extraordinary in these circumstances. besides, she was genuinely interested to discover what had drawn other students to this particular institution. That was perhaps another question she could ask Sam later, if she didn't already answer it of her own accord.