The smile was genuine. It's not like it was the first time someone called her smart (ego boost), but people usually threw that compliment out randomly judging her by her house without taking the time to test that theory. It was different when your professor admitted that after something you said. Louisa was savoring this when the lemonade suddenly tasted sourer than it had been a second ago.

Her smile faded just a bit as the record of her life in Hogwarts played extremely fast in her head. Elwood, Lafay, Vindictus and the others (even Scabior) were the main reason she became what she is now. The thought of letting go of this safety net where people would pat her back encouragingly or take points in order to keep her at bay, was both scary and sad. "Me too..." She had to clear her throat and swallow a couple of times before she could find her usual loud voice again. "I mean I don't just open my near future to anyone," she laughed, a faint attempt to keep herself from tearing up.

The common rooms news was not very different from what Louisa already assumed or knew of. She continued to drink her lemonade as Elwood explained a bit more, the cat Cuddles had abandoned her spot at Louisa's feet and was now positioned not very far from the desk... where Galileo's perch was. Uh oh. Cautiously the girl frowned at her cat and opened her mouth to interrupt the professor and warn her. But a series of crashing noise interrupted them both.

Louisa stared for a few seconds, confused, before quickly getting to her feet and after the professor she went. "Don't eat him, Cuddles," she called out at her small cat seconds before she made it to the door.