She sat alone at a small circular table in the corner of The Three Broomsticks, a pewter tankard filled with warm butterbeer in front of her, as she silently read her book. She reached forward and lifted her pint for a drink, pausing and furrowing her eyebrows as she noted it was becoming increasingly more difficult to focus on the words on the pages in front of her as the noise in the pub grew even louder than usual. Even though The Three Broomsticks Inn was not a typical spot for the usual peace and quiet that a book lover would appreciate, Elle Gadeziento understood that it was easier to disappear in a crowd than in an open field.
She put down her butterbeer and turned her dark eyes to the head of the pub to where the source of the ruckus that was distracting her from her reading stood; she sighed and rolled her eyes, shaking her head, when she saw, to no surprise, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy beefing up against each other. She didn't know what the argument was about or how it had started, but what Elle did know was that she could see wands being drawn by both sides of the heated fight, including Ron Weasley besides his fellow Gryffindor and Theodore Nott beside his fellow Slytherin.

"Oh for goodness sake," she said with a huff. Furrowing her brow, irritated at the disturbance of peace and not liking the thought of the impeding violence, Elle slid her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at the group of Hogwarts students that were drawing worried and bothered eyes from all around the usually cheery pub.
'Accio wands,' she thought, calling to the magic instruments that would soon be used as weapons into her awaiting arms.
Light gasps and bewildered faces replaced the bickering as many eyes followed the path of the wands to Elle. She grimaced slightly as she realized what she had done and quickly forced a placid mask onto her now nervous body. She closed her book, slipping her own wand back into the pocket of her robes, and held it against her body in one arm, the other one holding the four wands she had just, in reality, stolen; though she would rather say confiscated in the name passive conflict resolution.
Taking a deep breath through her nose, she walked forward to the group of fellow wizard students, bearing an array of looks ranging from menacing snarls to udder confusion, and spoke calmly.
"Forgive me," she said with quiet grace, "but I think everyone will agree that here and now are neither the time nor the place for a battle."
She swallowed inconspicuously beneath her armor of calm as she saw the surprise on their faces once they heard her; Elle knew the first thing that would appear to them would be her glaring American accent.
"Who the bloody hell are you?" Draco Malfoy spat, turning towards Elle with a cruel gaze. "And who the hell do you think you are to take my wand?"
Elle met his threatening grey eyes with her passive ones, looking up from her short height, and fought the urge to step back as her heart fluttered in her chest with buried fear.
She cleared her throat nervously and turned away from him, handing Potter and Weasley's wands to a skeptical Hermione Granger and then Malfoy and Nott's wands to an apparently amused Blaise Zabini, both of whom had stayed out of the fighting.
Blaise looked at Elle curiously for a moment, his arms crossed casually across his chest as he leaned back against the bar counter -apparently having been watching the argument with either indifference and/or no intention of stopping the show -and the small hint of a smirk came to his lips.
Elle quickly averted her eyes from him after he reached forward and took his friends' wands from her outstretched hand. She walked towards the door and turned when there were several feet left between her and the freedom of the awaiting Hogsmead outside.
"I didn't mean to offend anyone or anything of the sort," she said apologetically to them, counting down the seconds to when she could escape from the trap she had created for herself in the crowed pub that was now watching her, "but I'm sure Madam Rosmerta would appreciate it if you refrained from any further fighting in her otherwise pleasant inn. There's no need for such fighting, especially not at the beginning of a new school year."
With that and a curt not, Elle pulled the hood of her cloak up around her face and turned with her book clutched to her chest, exiting The Three Broomsticks with a ding of the bell that hung above the door.

All those inside the pub looked curiously around at the bizarre scene that had just occurred. Hermione cautiously handed her friends' wands back to them while Blaise Zabini left his friends' wands on the counter, quickly grabbing his robe from the back of his chair and heading for the door, ignoring the protest of his blonde-haired friend.
Pulling his long cloak around him against the chilly winter winds that blew snow flurries up into the air, the tall, dark-skinned boy swept his gaze around the snow covered village of Hogsmead, searching for the girl with the book, to no avail. She was gone. He knew nothing about her besides what he had just seen; because it was a Saturday afternoon, none of the Hogwarts students were wearing their house robes, which included Elle, whose name no one knew. This left Blaise with only his memory of their brief encounter to identify her, he thought with subtle disappointment.

She had been pretty, he noted, but there was a quiet beauty to her. She wore no make-up to draw attention to herself, something he observed with interest. Her hair had been elegantly braided down her back, but he knew nothing else of it besides it being long and black. And inside of The Three Broomsticks, there had not been proper lighting to get a good look at her eyes, so he knew that they were simply not blue or green. Her skin had been a lovely shade of caramel, he thought, a slight irritation growing in him as he realized he knew nearly nothing about her. There were countless girls at Hogwarts with long, dark hair and tan skin.
Blaise was released from his thought when he turned around as he heard the jingle of the door bell as his two mates exited The Three Broomsticks. "Any idea who that girl was?" Blaise asked casually, looking at Draco's pouting face.
"Quite frankly, I don't care who that little bitch was," he snapped as the trio of Slytherin boys marched forward across the crunchy, white grass, "as long as she never takes my wand again. Girls shouldn't step out of their place like that. Let's just get out of here. I've seen Potter's face enough today."
"I was really looking forward to hexing that ginger blood-traitor," Theodore Nott said, smirking a devilish grin. "Maybe even the mudblood, if we got lucky."
"I say you two blokes are lucky that girl did something," Blaise said sensibly, not fearing the wrath of his long-time friends. "Getting your arses expelled from one of the only good places to get a decent butterbeer around here over Potter and Weasley is hardly worth it."
"Whatever," Theodore said, frowning at Blaise's logic.
They walked down most of the rest of the long path back to Hogwarts in silence.
"Oi," Theodore said a few minutes later, nudging his friends and pointing up ahead, "isn't that the American bird from the pub?"
Blaise's eyes shot up from where they had been gazing at the ground to ahead on the path where he saw a girl in robes billowing in the wind and her long, dark hair braided down her back as she hurried back to Hogwarts.
"Oi!" Blaise called out, walking ahead of his friends towards her. "Hey, you!"
Elle felt her heart shoot up to her throat in panic and forced herself not to turn around. She couldn't risk any further confrontation with those boys, the Slytherin royalty.
With a quick spiral motion of her wand next to her head and a fast incantation of the disillusionment charm, a veil of enchanted invisibility gently settled over Elle, making it look like she disappeared in the snow-laced wind. She nearly forgot to cast the obliteration charm on her dainty footprints on the snow covered ground as she hurried into the Great Hall of the castle, holding her book against her racing heart for comfort.
Because many students were away at Hogsmead or secluded areas of the castle, Elle decided not to leave it to chance and stayed concealed beneath her magic until she reached Ravenclaw Tower.

With a sigh of relief, Elle pulled off her cloak as she ascended the stone steps of the spiral staircase, waiting before the eagle door knocker as it came to life, spreading its winds and ruffling its bronze feathers as it awoke.
"Give me food, and I will live. Give me water, and I will die," it spoke in its old, metallic voice. Elle lightly furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes at the metal bird, thinking about the riddle she needed to solve in order to enter her house's common room.
After a moment of silence, she smiled and replied surely, "Fire."
Her smile spread to a triumphant grin as the door swung open with a welcoming moan. Elle had only ever failed at a riddle by the bronze eagle once, in her first year at Hogwarts.
'Never again,' she vowed as she entered the serine blue room to the friendly sound of the low crackling fire in the grand fireplace, 'will I be outwit.'
She turned around, a silent smirk on her face, and closed the door behind her.

The trio of Slytherin boys entered the Great Hall, shaking the light snow out of their hair.
'She's American,' Blaise thought, a renewed feeling of confidence growing in him at the thought of Theodore's words. 'This won't be that hard.'
He would find this girl, he decided, for whatever this strange new desire was.