The shy girl

You walk to where a girl with long black hair is keeping her head down. "Hi," you say, "I'm Eliza."

"Sapphire." she mutters. She seems awfully preoccupied, barely glancing at you, staying hunched over, and her face looks kind of red. Maybe there's something up?

⚀⚂ + 0 (Observation) = 4

No, she's probably just shy, like you. "I'm a first year," you try, "I was nervous about being put into this house, but you seem more normal than most of these people." She mutters something under her breath that you can't make out, and then extends her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Eliza. I hope we can become very good friends." You take her hand, and are a little surprised when she clasps it between both of hers.

"I'm sure we will." you say, mirroring the gesture. Her hands are shaking a bit, and she closes her eyes and lets out a happy sigh.

"Thank you..." she says softly. She must not have any friends, if she's thanking you for that.

"Witches and wizards in training," the voice is calm, like someone speaking quietly, only much louder. Whoever's speaking really knows how to project. "I am Headmistress Kess." She pronounces it "Head Mistress", but you don't notice. "You have all come here to deepen your understanding of magic, but also, I remind you, to deepen your understanding of your classmates. For this purpose, as always, students are required to form Bathas, to foster cooperation between the Houses. I also remind you not to focus so much on getting to know your friends that you forget to go to final exams. Petunia, Alex, Peter, Xavier, Eli, Francine, George." She looked from table to table, presumably at the students who had done that. "The first year students can only go into town on weekends, and all students must have permission from a professor before leaving campus. Duels are permitted only when supervised by a professor who has agreed to the duel. You are not allowed to hurt your opponent, or fellow students. I can't even believe I need to say that. Finally, I encourage you to ask for help whenever anything goes wrong. Both myself, and your heads of house are always available. We won't judge you, we have seen worse, and we won't tell you about it. There is a door to my office in common areas of every house, and for those of you who notice that that's impossible... welcome to Alexandria, try not to get lost." There's some applause, and people begin to get food and eat.