Let's Conspire to Re-Ignite [Amina]

[Matthias Dreher]

Come ride with me, through the veins of history
^{I''l show you how god falls asleep on the job}

Matt woke up to the sun hitting his eyelids. He resisted the urge to just roll over and go back to sleep. Saturday or not, he wanted to get most of his work that was due in the upcoming week done today and sleeping in wouldn’t help him in the slightest. He sat up and slowly rolled his left shoulder that always bothered him in the mornings. It was an old injury; he had dislocated it in Muggle primary school during a fight and now he had to stretch it every morning.

He got out of bed and padded silently to the shower he and the other boys in his room shared. One of the many benefits to getting up early was access to the shower for as long as he needed it. There was an incident in the first couple weeks when the other three had woken up late because of a celebratory Quidditch party and all three had tried to cram themselves in the tiny bathroom at once. Matt had merely watched and laughed at them trying to share the small mirror to shave, brush their teeth, and fix their bedhead. Now, the room had a very useful schedule of who had use of the bathroom when.

Matt ran through his to-do list in his head, he had that Potions essay and this week’s reading on Transfiguration. He picked up his towel from next to the sink and wiped any remnants of shaving cream from his face. He knew that there were spells to do it for you, but he was raised without magic and because of that there were just some things that felt better if you did them on your own, shaving was one of them.

He moved back out of the bathroom and over to his trunk. He rummaged through his clothes and settled on a sweater and slacks. He pretty much wore this kind of thing every day, but that didn’t bother him. He dressed just nice enough that the purebloods didn’t sneer down their noses at him, but not nice enough to draw unwanted attention from the opposite gender. It wasn’t that Matt wasn’t interested in women; he just didn’t know how to interact with other people as well as he should, something he was working on.

Matt left the Common Room and started to make his way up from the dungeons to the Great Hall so that he could brag breakfast before heading to the library. He was going to be in there for quite a while, and since he might miss lunch he wanted to make sure he had at least a couple slices of toast for now. He walked through the large doors to the hall and furrowed his eyebrows at what he saw. There were actually quite a number of people awake, something that rarely happened on a Saturday. Did everyone have the same thought of getting work done ahead of time as he had?

He sat at a relatively vacant part of the Hufflepuff table and started to butter and eat his toast a little faster than he normally did. He didn’t want to get to the library and find not only his usual table taken, but most of the other tables taken. He hadn’t made plans with anyone to work on the essay together, so he doubted that he would be able to find someone to share a table with if that was the case, so instead he ate faster in hopes of getting there before the masses.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to look at a second year from his house whose name he could not recall. “Hi Matt, I’m struggling to understand something on my Charms homework. Could you take a look at it and possibly explain what I’m missing?” “Sure, I’d love to help. Why don’t you take a seat here and we’ll work this out.” Well, so much for that idea, but this was good too! This meant that the younger years weren’t afraid to come up and talk to him; that he might actually be making a difference, or at least that’s what he wanted to think.

Matt walked swiftly down the hall leading towards the library. By the time he had sufficiently explained the topic to the second year, the Great Hall had mostly cleared out. This meant that the library was probably already crawling with people. He sighed and hoped that luck would be on his side as he quickened his pace even further. Luckily, most of the information that he needed for the essay was in the textbook, so there wouldn’t be people fighting over the library books.

Matt walked into the library and stopped short; every single table was taken, no luck today it would seem. “You leave five minutes after you wanted to and suddenly all your plans for a day in the library are ruined,” he muttered to himself. Shaking his head to dispel the negative thoughts, he looked around to double check the tables. Maybe he would be lucky today and someone would have already called a table for the usual group that was in the library all the time. He didn’t see any of the people he normally sat with, so he was going to have to ask someone he didn’t know to sit with them.

There was one table, in the back corner, that only had one girl sitting at it. Surely she wouldn’t mind him sitting at the other end of the table. He walked over slowly; he didn’t actually know this particular girl, strange. He looked closer, she looked kind of familiar, but he couldn’t place her. He reached the end of the table, and she hadn’t seemed to notice him. “Do you mind if I sit here?” He meant to sound confident, it was a simply question, but all that came out was a mumbled garble and he resisted the urge to slap himself on the forehead. Real smooth, Dreher; you’re a great example for the younger years, can’t even talk to someone you don’t know.

And how we can win when fools can be kings
^{Don't waste your time or time will waste you}

(WORDS) 1,020 (TAGGED) Amina 
(NOTES) I hope this is okay!
(CREDITS) THIS IS BY DYLAN of CAUTION 2.0! Lyrics by Muse - Knights of Cydonia!

[Amina Krane]

”How does this keep happening to me?” Amina asked herself as she moved back and forth between her desk and her bed quickly. Ridley was on the bed across from her, no doubt enjoying the sight of her friend in hysterics for completely forgetting about a potions assignment. Amina supposed it was payback for the little amusement she got watching Ridley get over a hangover at the beginning of the term, but somehow, this seemed so much worse in comparison. This was a matter of passing or failing, something she was riding on the brink of already in half of her classes, while Ridley had been a migraine with no serious consequences. Shoving an empty piece of parchment in her bag, one she assumed would be long enough for the assignment, Amina checked to make sure she had everything she needed. “Book, parchment, quill, ink,” she muttered aloud as she flipped through her belongings. Once she was sure she had everything, she slipped on her shoes and threw the bag over her shoulder and moved out of the room without even a single word to the still amused roommate. She would have said something to Victoria, except her best friend happened to have gotten out earlier than Amina had even gotten up this morning. She assumed it had something to do with job interviews or maybe she had forgotten to submit one of her applications. Who knew.

Taking the steps two at a time, her normal fashion, Amina made it down the stairs in record time, out of the portrait, and went barreling down the halls like she was on fire. For a Saturday morning, there were quite a few people up and that scared her. The last time she had made it late to the library on a Saturday, the result had been dire. No seats, not even a small working space, and every book she needed had been pulled off and used. She had been stuck with an edition eight years old that took her far too long to find the right information in. Merlin, she missed the days when she was more like Victoria. Up on her homework the moment she got it rather than falling behind. Even when she was in training mode she didn’t fall this far behind. Though ever since Halloween, nothing had been exactly normal. Her life had become far too hectic and even with her using the time in between phasing to work on homework, she still couldn’t keep up. She imagined it had a lot to do with the professor’s loading on more homework for her being gone for days at a time. One day wouldn’t be so harsh, but usually it was three to five and given she missed both the lecture and the homework, they found it only necessary to pile everything on rather high. This last shift had been rather difficult for no apparent reason which made her time to work on homework that much less. While she thought it would get better over time, it had only gotten worse. She had made a note to talk about it with Tobias before the next cycle, but that was creeping up on her quickly and at every turn, there was another thing she forgot to do that pushed back her schedule.

As she slid into the library hallway and through the door, she found herself in a half empty library and thanked her stars that there was a table open. Throwing her bag down on the table, she immediately went to the potions section and grabbed the two books she always used to help her get an idea of what the professor was even looking for. She only hoped that if she needed more, they would still be there at that time. It took her less than five minutes to spread out over half of the table and start on the essay, but only another ten to realize she was in far over her head. She could never quite understand why most subjects came easy to her, and others only after she did a little of work, yet Potions seemed to cause her plenty of problems. The theory behind it seemed simple enough, yet when she tried to explain it, the words didn’t come out. And when she tried to make it? Let’s just say she was no culinary master and probably wouldn’t be any time soon.

After a half an hour, she had finally begun making progress on the subject. It was focused on the differences between various types of roots and what effect they would have if you substituted one for another. Thus far, she had at least managed to identify each of the roots. Now began the work on figuring out the differences among them. “Do you mind if I sit here?” Amina nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice, but as she looked up, she realized just how enthralled she had been in the books. She hadn’t realized that her hand had become so intricately laced into her hair that it was starting to get tangled, but she managed to slip it out and shake her head quickly. “No, not at all. Be my guest,” she responded, motioning for him to take a seat as she condensed some of her stuff to a smaller area to give him more room. That was when she realized just how busy the library had gotten. A glance at the clock told her that time had been going by faster than she had thought. Instead of the three quarters of an hour she thought she had been sitting there, it was actually along the lines of two hours. It seemed like in that time, nearly every seat had been taken except for the others at her table. Glancing back over at the boy who seemed to be making himself at home, she quirked an eyebrow. Did she know him? Of course she did. “It’s Matthias, right?” she questioned, crossing her arms on the table as she leaned forward. “Anyways, feel free to get comfortable. And let me know if I bother you. I tend to get frustrated with potions too often,” she added, unfolding her arms and grabbing her quill, dipping it in ink and holding it over the parchment for a moment before she began to start her tidy scrawl across the page.

Words | 1,068
Tag | Matt
Outfit | Click

[Matthias Dreher]

Come ride with me, through the veins of history
^{I'll show you how god falls asleep on the job}

Matt watched as she jumped after he spoke; she must have been extremely involved in her book. “No, not at all. Be my guest.” He smiled at her and sat down and began to pull out his parchment and ink, settling himself in for the long haul that writing a Potions essay usually was. He pulled his textbook from his bag and began leafing over the pages with the topic he needed. Fairly straightforward, a roll of parchment on varying root types and substitution in brewing, he was pleasantly surprised to find this essay would not be as bad as some of the others had been. He would simply write briefly about the difference and similarities between some of the more popular root types and then spend the bulk of the essay discussing the possibilities of substituting between roots with similar effects. Then to finish, he would write about the fact that no substitution will have exactly the same magical properties and the dangers of adverse reactivity between the base ingredients and a substitution which could lead to dangers like explosions or making the potion toxic to the drinker. It wouldn’t be a difficult essay to pound out; if he was lucky he would even get in that reading for transfiguration before dinner.

Now, Potions was not his favorite subject, but it wasn’t one that he disliked particularly either. It was a subject that held a certain degree of fascination for him, so he happened to know quite a bit about the theory behind potion making and the way that ingredients would hypothetically react when combined. That was why he did so well on the homework that was assigned. But even though it was rather interesting to learn about, there was a disconnect from the page to the cauldron. He still did well in the class, but that was because he was studious and as such studied, a lot. He strongly believed that Potions was one of those things where knowing the subject wasn’t enough to excel, there had to be a certain degree of natural affinity. Matt’s affinity was for spell work and he knew that, so though he still made certain that he did well in his Potions classes he wasn’t terribly disappointed when he wasn’t at the top in that particular class.

He opened his textbook to the section he needed for the first part of the essay. “It’s Matthias, right?” He froze for a second, and looked up at her. She knew who he was, why hadn’t he recognized her immediately? She looked at him expectantly, “Oh, yeah. You can call me Matt though, if you want.” He glanced at her face again. She was looking back at her book and slowly working her hand back into her hair. “Anyways, feel free to get comfortable. And let me know if I bother you. I tend to get frustrated with potions too often.” He nodded in response, but she wasn’t looking. She did look familiar; Matt tilted his head to read the title on the spine of her textbook. It was the seventh year Potions book, so it had to be someone in his class; in fact, they were probably working on the same assignment. She wasn’t a Hufflepuff or else there would have been no question as to who she was. She was probably not a Slytherin; she seemed to be much friendlier than any he had talked to. That left either a Gryffindor or a Ravenclaw. He stood and walked over to the row of books that he could use to supplement his textbook, mentally running through every face in his Potions class.

He quickly found a copy of the book he needed. It was a popular resource for the seventh years so the librarian had ordered a few duplicates to keep the peace. Merlin forbid a Slytherin had to share with a Gryffindor for an assignment; the library would be torn apart in a matter of minutes. He reached for the book he needed when his tablemate’s name came to him. He snapped his fingers in recognition and lightly hit the palm of his hand against his forehead. Krane, the Gryffindor who transferred in during their sixth year. He smiled triumphantly at the fact that he didn’t need to make a fool of himself, or worse insult her, by having to ask for her name. He walked back to the table and sat, arranging his materials around him so that he wasn’t constantly shuffling between sources and parchment.

“And you’re Amina, correct? I don’t think we’ve formerly met before now.” Matt glanced quickly between her and his parchment as he began to write. As this didn’t look as though it would take too much effort to write, he thought that maybe some small conversation wouldn’t be amiss. Perhaps he would walk out of the inconvenience of getting to the library late with a new friend. “What exactly is it about Potions that frustrates you?” Perhaps he could help her in some way, he was well aware of how aggravating it can be to study for any amount of time and get nowhere in what you were supposed to be learning.

And how we can win when fools can be kings
^{Don't waste your time or time will waste you}

(WORDS) 866 (TAGGED) Amina (OUTFIT) Here 
(NOTES) Sorry that took so long :/
(CREDITS) THIS IS BY DYLAN of CAUTION 2.0! Lyrics by Muse - Knights of Cydonia!

[Amina Krane]

“Oh, yeah. You can call me Matt though, if you want.” It wasn’t quite often that Amina shared a table in the library. Even less often was it with someone who actually would respond to her at her initial contact with them. “Good to know,” Amina replied with a smile as her eyes turned down to her spread of parchment again. She knew practically everyone’s name in the castle, at least the one’s in the fifth through seventh years. It was far too common for her to address someone with their name when they didn’t even come close to knowing hers, and she had never really cared. It was partly her job as prefect to know the students, but it was mainly just part of her own character that gave her the ability to know so many names. She had to know the people around her to feel comfortable in her environment. But since she was so used to no one responding to her, she didn’t even bother to hold out for another response. Instead, her eyes traced the words on the book in front of her, figuring out all of the uses for wormwood. How many times had she used this root and she still could not remember what it was used for? Merlin, what was wrong with her? It was like the moment potions was even mentioned, her brain suddenly went blank and she had no recollection of anything that would be useful. It was pathetic. As she repeated the root name and its uses over and over in her head, her free hand found its way back to her scalp. Suddenly her fingers were lacing themselves in between her hair like before, getting deeper and more lost as she repeated the words in her head over and over. It was pathetic how easily distracted she could become, and how even easier she could get frustrated, with just this one subject. It was enough for a sigh to escape her lips as she set down her quill and turned the page to the next root that she was supposed to be comparing to.

She flipped the page back and forth repeatedly, scanning the words and after the third flip, she still couldn’t find what she was looking for. A large sigh was about to heave its way from her lips until a voice spoke up again. “And you’re Amina, correct? I don’t think we’ve formerly met before now.” Amina’s eyes turned up from her book to the man across from her. They were slightly wide with shock. Not only had she not expected him to respond to her, she hadn’t expected him to know her name. “That’s me,” she responded, her eyes returning to normal as she offered him a smiled. Despite her frustration with the potions book in front of her, she could never deny a pleasant conversation with other people. She glanced back down at the book once again and bit the inside of her lip to keep that same sigh from trying to make its appearance. “What exactly is it about Potions that frustrates you?” Looking back up, Amina chuckled and shook her head, setting down the quill. “If you find out, be sure to let me know,” she responded with a grin as she leaned forward on her elbows and put her head in her hands, a smile still on her face. It was sad that she found her own struggle funny, but she couldn’t help but react to it in any other way except frustration. She had been showing enough negative emotion lately in connection to her werewolf problem. She didn’t need to show any more if she could help it. “It’s stupid really. For some reason, I just have a hard time connecting the dots sometimes,” she responded, lowering her voice as she heard a ‘shh’ come from a table nearby. Her head came out of her hands as she glanced over to see a Ravenclaw glaring in her direction. She mouthed ‘sorry’ before turning back to look at Matt.

“No big deal, though. A little frustration never keeps me down,” she added, a smile coming back as she sat up a bit to look over her own stack of books at his. “Ahh, and it seems like you’re here for the same assignment?” she questioned, sitting back correctly in her chair. Her hand went for her quill automatically as she began flipping through the pages again. Suddenly, she saw the one word that she was looking for that helped make the connection. It became a problem that her quill couldn’t write fast enough. Her hand was moving as quickly as possible but she couldn’t get the words down quick enough. And, once she had, suddenly her train of thought hit a brick wall. She had gotten down everything she could think of in connection to these two roots and surprisingly, it was enough. It satisfied the requirement for them. Now she just had to move on to the other ones. “Well, one of three pairs down. At least that’s something,” she muttered to no one in particular. It just felt good to say that she was part way done. The good thing was once she at least got started, potions became a little easier. Sometimes it just took that little bit of work in the beginning to get her where she needed to be.

Words | 903
Tag | Matt
Outfit | Click

[Matthias Dreher]

Come ride with me, through the veins of history
^{I'll show you how god falls asleep on the job}

“It’s stupid really. For some reason, I just have a hard time connecting the dots sometimes.”

He flinched slightly at the hushing from the table over. He looked in the table’s direction and nodded, putting a hand up in apology. “I don’t think that’s stupid at all.” He mumbled, not wanting to raise his voice any louder and anger the Ravenclaw further. The feeling of how full the library was came back and he glanced around over his shoulder to make sure that no one else was being disrupted by the conversation he and Amina were having. He would feel terrible if he was impeding someone else’s work. He placed his hand back on his thigh and began to drum his fingers silently while he reread the magical properties of valerian roots before comparing it to asphodel root in his essay, as both are used for the sedative qualities. 

“Ah, and it seems like you’re here for the same assignment?”

He smiled back, “That I am. I just wanted to have it finished by tonight so I don’t have to rush through it tomorrow; quality isn’t as high when I’m rushing.” He watched as she flipped through her book once more. When it clicked in her mind, her face lit up and her quill began to fly across the page and he smiled again before going back to his own paper. He wrote in silence and liked to double check his facts before actually writing them down, so sometimes it seemed as though he wasn’t getting anywhere when he was actually making quite a bit of headway. Once he was sure everything was sound in his reasoning he began to write more continuously without all the breaks to flip pages and when he stopped to dip the tip of his quill in his inkwell he noticed that he was roughly halfway done. She spoke again, but it seemed as though she was only talking to herself. He wasn’t sure whether or not to say anything so he just stayed quiet and looked back at his parchment with uncertainty and frowned. 

Social interactions just weren’t Matt’s thing; he never really learned how to behave in them. When he was in primary school he wasn’t able to really talk to the other students the way most children learned. They had all heard about “the freak” from the other students after his repeated instances of accidental magic at school, and he usually just kept his nose to the ground in the hopes of making it home without another injury. It wasn’t even very serious magic the first time; he had fallen while running around and scraped up his knees and palms, much to the amusement of the other children. While he sat on the ground with his face burning in embarrassment, his skin started to knit back together and the kids he had been playing started yelling. That had only escalated things, he finally figured out as he got older that his magical outbursts as a child were linked with the times he was greatly embarrassed, and as he became more upset his magic became more uncontrolled and one of the children ended up hanging for dear life from the tallest tree in the playground. He was six and that was right before the first time his family moved. After a few more failed attempts at making friends, he just kind of gave up. He found friends in the books he read, and eventually became comfortable buried in homework not talking to anyone.

He could talk about schoolwork; that was easy. He could talk to the younger years; that was easy too. Students around his own age were not as easy. He tried, truly tried, as he got older to talk more often, but he had become so used to being quiet that it was a hard habit to break. He had even tried to talk to Amina a few minutes ago, but now he was treading into unfamiliar territory. Most of his friends in his own house were the type to talk for as long as they had breath while he just put a thought or two in every so often, and that worked for him. He frowned morosely at the parchment in front of him; all these thoughts about the past weren’t welcome in his head anymore. He thought he had moved beyond all of that, but apparently not. Perhaps he should have slept in this morning. He looked back up at Amina and opened his mouth to say something to break the silence that was slowly driving him back into the recesses of his mind, but wasn’t sure what to say.

And how we can win when fools can be kings
^{Don't waste your time or time will waste you}

(WORDS) 718 (TAGGED) Amina (OUTFIT) Here 
(NOTES) Let me know if you need more!
(CREDITS) THIS IS BY DYLAN of CAUTION 2.0! Lyrics by Muse - Knights of Cydonia!

[Amina Krane]

“I don’t think that’s stupid at all.” Amina looked up at her table partner with a smile, one both genuine and mischievous. She could tell he had lowered his voice in an attempt not to alarm any of the students in the library further. The Ravenclaw in particular was still eyeing them. Despite having her back to the girl, Amina could feel the stare against her back. She knew those types of girls, and she respected them. Studying was number one in their books and nothing else mattered. But Amina also knew they could get a little snippy and sometimes they deserved to not get exactly what they wanted. The thought made her spine freeze in place, making it impossible for her to even move anything but her mouth. “Glad to hear it,” she said, matching his voice level as she tried to look like she wasn’t about to have an internal conflict with herself. It took effort for her face to turn down to the book but once it had, she attempted to look busy and not like she was focusing on her last thought path. This werewolf piece of her was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. She constantly felt like judging people from the outside first before even getting to know them, a problem she had never faced before. Judgment was never something Amina had ever placed on someone even after she had gotten to know them. After all, when did someone ever spill their entire life to even a friend? You never knew the exact reason why anyone did anything without knowing every detail. Even then, who was she to put any judgment on one’s actions? It wasn’t her life to live, so they were welcome to act however they chose. Sure, she chose not to be around some people who made bad decisions, but that didn’t mean she judged them. It seemed like any values she had previously had were being torn down by the wolf inside. Would any shred of her old self be left when it was done hollowing her out?

Biting on her bottom lip, Amina decided to push her prior thoughts of the Ravenclaw from her head. It wasn’t herself and she knew it. At least she hadn’t gone so far as to state it out loud. Inside her head, the thoughts were safe from criticism by others. Rolling her shoulders, she released the tension that had been caught between them. Finally her spine released and she regained total movement, just in time for her to look up at Matthias as he responded to her question. “That I am. I just wanted to have it finished by tonight so I don’t have to rush through it tomorrow; quality isn’t as high when I’m rushing.” Smiling, Amina nodded. Didn’t she know it. Often she heard from professor’s that her work was particularly sloppy, both in the way of handwriting and ideas. Every time she heard that was a result of not doing her work until the night before. “I wish I knew how some people managed to get good grades by doing everything the night before. So unrealistic,” she responded in a hushed voice, throwing a glance over her shoulder at the Ravenclaw who had finally turned her nose back to her book. Amina felt a pang of guilt as she realized just how much she had wanted the girl to have kept staring how much she wanted to show her ‘look, I’m the better person, abiding by your ridiculous request to keep quiet’. Merlin, what was wrong with her? Turning her head back to her book, Amina began to scan the pages once again, but she couldn’t find the focus she needed. Her eyes crossed and uncrossed multiple times as she tried to blink them to bring her focus back. Unfortunately, every time she tried to do it, she only found herself losing focus even quicker the next time. Why were potions so much of a pain in her ass?

She attempted a few more times to get her eyes to focus on the words she needed to look at, but Amina quickly realized they had no intentions on staying focused. Apparently she didn’t get to look up the rest of the pairs she needed in order to finish the paper. Letting out a sigh, Amina looked up to find Matthias looking in her direction. Her expression quickly changed to a smile as she laced her fingers together and leaned forward against the table, her arms completely covering all of the things under her. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to work for a while. When she got this far into studying, her brain tended to shut off for a bit of time so it could recover and get ready for the next onslaught of terms and definitions she needed to know. With how long she had been sitting there without a break, no doubt it would take a bit longer than normal to recover. Deciding to close the gap between them, Amina slid out the chair next to her and slid over into it with ease, finding the distance a much easier space to communicate across. Now maybe the Ravenclaw wouldn’t complain. “Not to distract you or anything, but I figured I’d make small talk while my brain tries to recover from that torture,” she said, shooting a glance to her potions book before settling back on him. “Tell me something about yourself. And don’t say there’s not much to tell. Give me anything better than that potions book,” Amina added, looking at him hopefully. Normally she wouldn’t do this, go up to someone and start asking about their lives, but another thing the werewolf brought along with its judgment problems was its confidence and curiosity. Those two were going to be a problem mixed together. She could see it now.

Words | 983
Tag | Matt
Outfit | Click

[Matthias Dreher]

Just as Matt was going to give up on the idea of talking to Amina because he could not for the life of him think of something to say, she looked up and met his eyes. She slid from her own chair and into the one closer to him. He blinked at her for a moment, confused as to why she moved away from her work. “Not to distract you or anything, but I figured I’d make small talk while my brain tries to recover from that torture.” He smiled in understanding and chuckled at the look she was giving her textbook, “That’s completely fine with me; I should probably take a moment to collect my thoughts on the subject anyway.” He looked between his assignment and his textbook to finish the sentence he had hesitated during while he was lost in his thoughts. He closed his book then, after slipping a piece of parchment in to hold his page, and turned to face her. He felt it would be rude if he continued working on the assignment while they talked and since he had already written a good chunk of it there wasn’t any harm in taking a small break.

“Tell me something about yourself. And don’t say there’s not much to tell. Give me anything better than that potions book.” He raised his eyebrows; that was a fairly forward question considering the fact that the two of them hadn’t been formally introduced until this afternoon. Matt didn’t think even his closest friends in Hufflepuff knew that much about him. At least nothing more than the basics you used during first introductions. “Um, a-about me? I mean there isn’t much to—you just told me not to say that.” He felt his face flush at his misstep, and he smiled sheepishly. “Sorry,” he shrugged and rubbed his palms on the tops of his thighs to get rid of the sweat that was beginning to coat them.

Something about himself? Was there even anything he could talk about that wasn’t as boring as the textbook she was seeking escape from? He truly doubted it; considering her friendly nature he was quite sure that she had heard much more interesting stories before. His brow furrowed in frustration, 'Why couldn’t they keep talking about school work? That was a safer subject than the one they were currently treading into.' He brought up a hand and smoothed it across his forehead and letting out a small sigh. Matt was a listener, he let people talk at him for as long as they needed to, and often he retained what they told him. He learned about the people he listened to and he remembered; something that they tended to appreciate. This turn around felt analogous to looking down the barrel of one of the shotguns his grandfather had once collected, and that was something he did not like. “Alright then. Um, well, you probably already know that I’m a Hufflepuff. Um, I’m a uh-Muggleborn. Oh, I like Charms, it’s much easier than Potions,” he paused at that and after a moment of hesitation he spoke exactly what was at the front of his mind, “I’m clearly finding this conversation rather difficult.” He laughed at himself in a self-deprecating manner.

Matt smoothed his hand along the line of his jaw and made a decision. If you wanted to get better at something then you had to go and do it. He wanted to become better at interacting with other people about subjects other than school, so he was just going to have to grit his teeth and go for it. This was the perfect opportunity because Amina seemed like a nice girl who wouldn’t be too judgmental. So he took a breath, cleared his throat, and gave her his best grin, “Let me start again. I’m a Hufflepuff and proud of it despite what other houses think of us. I’m Austrian, born and raised, and I’ve been attending Galaxia for all seven years. I’m a Muggle-born and though my family doesn’t really understand my magic they are very supportive, which is more than some can say. I’m not what most would consider talkative, but it’s something that I want to work on.” He stopped for a second, hoping he wasn’t bombarding her with all this information about himself. The doubt nagged at the back of his mind, but he forged ahead, “Now, I’d also like for you to tell me a little something about you, if that’s alright?”

Words:753
Tagged:Amina
Notes:Let me know if you need more

[Amina Krane]

Amina knew well enough that she shouldn’t be distracting him. She should be talking in the library at all actually because, no doubt, she was upsetting some of the people around her. So many people loved their pin-drop silence. Unfortunately, Amina wasn’t one of those people. A lack of sound was actually more distracting than an abundance of it which made it much less of a problem for her to be talking at the moment. However, she did hope her new found companion wasn’t upset with her talking. If he was, he didn’t show it. “That’s completely fine with me; I should probably take a moment to collect my thoughts on the subject anyway.” Amina smiled. Either he was being genuine, or just being nice by agreeing to her interruption, but honestly Amina didn’t know. She had just met him and it took her a little bit of time to be able to read someone, if she ever even got a chance to. Hell, there were some people she knew for years and yet she still couldn’t read them. Her parents were included on that list. So she most certainly wouldn’t be able to determine if he truly wanted to talk to her or not, but somehow she imagined he was the type that didn’t mind. He was Hufflepuff, after all. And when had she ever met a Hufflepuff that didn’t enjoy the company of others to an extent? Sure, he seemed slightly uncomfortable which probably meant he was like Tobias, not too good with the social aspect of life, but no time like the present to change that.

“Um, a-about me? I mean there isn’t much to—you just told me not to say that.” Chuckling, Amina placed a hand over her mouth to stifle the sound to avoid another comment from the other students. How many times had she gotten that reaction from people? Anytime she ever asked someone to talk about themselves, she knew well enough it would come back that there wasn’t much to say. She knew better. There was always something to say, so starting as a teen, she had added that caveat. That no one was allowed to say there wasn’t much to say. Of course, there were still some people that tried to get away with it, and every time she had reminded them of the rule. Matt was just smart enough to remember it before she could remind him. ”Sorry.” Amina mimicked his shrug and leaned forward on her elbows, anticipated to see what he would come back with. For a moment, Amina had thought he wouldn’t come back with anything, that he would just leave it at that. She would be more than disappointed if he did and would take it as he didn’t want to talk, but somehow she imagined it was more than that. Maybe he really did have a hard time coming up with something? Just when she was about to question him, he opened his mouth to speak. “Alright then. Um, well, you probably already know that I’m a Hufflepuff. Um, I’m a uh-Muggleborn. Oh, I like Charms, it’s much easier than Potions.” Muggleborn? Well, that was certainly something she hadn’t been aware of. And the fact that he loved Charms meant they had something in common. She smiled in response, but noticed he wasn’t done.

“I’m clearly finding this conversation rather difficult.” Leaning back into her chair, Amina crossed her legs at the ankles and just offered him a knowing smile. “It’s alright,” she replied coolly, crossing her wrists across her legs. She had actually been pleasantly surprised that he had said that much. Not many people could find even that much to say about themselves. It was a welcome surprise to find someone that could. She had expected him to retort with a requirement for her to answer the same question, but Something else seemed to be going on instead. She watched his hand follow his jawline and what she could swear was a battle going on behind his eyes. Was there something else he had wanted to say? Or was he debating on running out of there and leaving her to her own devices? She wouldn’t blame him. Amina had always been such a straightforward person when she was bored and that led to many people running off. Then again, she had also earned plenty of friends that way, and she knew when enough was enough. She had gotten close to deciding the line had been reached with Matt, but now she wondered if that was true. “Let me start again. I’m a Hufflepuff and proud of it despite what other houses think of us. I’m Austrian, born and raised, and I’ve been attending Galaxia for all seven years. I’m a Muggle-born and though my family doesn’t really understand my magic they are very supportive, which is more than some can say. I’m not what most would consider talkative, but it’s something that I want to work on.”

Halfway through his recitation, Amina uncrossed her wrists and ankles and leaned forward, placing her head on her hands as she listened to him and waited for him to finish. By the time he was done, she couldn’t help but just stare at him, slightly with awe, mostly with understanding. The fact that he had talked that much, even with being so uncomfortable with it, was quite brave of him. Was he in the right house? The thought made her smile. Oh these Austrians and their house system… She hadn’t understood it in the beginning but now she was beginning to, and even adapting to it. “Now, I’d also like for you to tell me a little something about you, if that’s alright?” Her smile widened as she sat up straight in her chair, her fingers lacing together as her arms laid on the table in front of her. “Of course it’s alright. It’s only fair,” she began, raising her voice a tad too much and suddenly hearing the whispers of the Ravenclaw. She was debating about whether to tell the librarian to throw them out. Another benefit of being a werewolf was the hearing that came with it. She made a mental note to keep her voice down here on out. “Gryffindor Prefect who really never used to care for this whole house system but I seem to find myself adapting to it too quickly for my own liking. I transferred here last year from the US. I was born and raised in the Florida key. I am a pureblood, but not the kind that feels like blood type makes one better than anyone else,” she added quickly, knowing full well how some purebloods treated muggle, or even half-borns. They were never too kind to anyone without pureblood, however Amina had never felt that way. It was one thing that had upset Gavin, her willingness to accept muggles so easily. The thought of Gavin nearly threw her off her train of thought but she quickly pushed it away and continued.

“I also should note that I am an extremely talkative person when I am bored and this subject happens to bore me easily, so I have no problem assisting you in breaking out of that shell, however if I start to get too talkative, you’re probably going to have to tell me or I won’t notice.”

Words | 1,231
Tag | Matt
Outfit | Click

[Matthias Dreher]

Matt took a deep, cleansing breath, before looking up to find her staring at him with a smile. He cleared his throat and looked down to fiddle with his quill, not sure what to make of the intent gaze. He probably had said more than she wanted to know, but to be quite honest she had asked for it. With graduation looming ever closer, there was no time like the present to work on his people skills. If he ever wanted to be successful, he would have to force himself to learn to be at least marginally social. She seemed genuinely interested, at least more than she was in her Potions assignment anyway, and that was something. 

“Of course it’s alright. It’s only fair.” She started to talk a little louder than before and Matt’s eyes glanced over to the other students in the library who were actually trying to get their studying done. He saw one of them whispering to the person next to them and looking back and forth between their friend and the table he and Amina were sitting at. He wished for a moment that he could read lips so he knew what they were saying. He looked back to Amina, and gave her his full attention. If the other students were truly bothered, then they could have the librarian ask them to leave. It would be his first time being ejected from the library, but he supposed there was a first time for everything.

“Gryffindor Prefect who really never used to care for this whole house system but I seem to find myself adapting to it too quickly for my own liking. I transferred here last year from the US. I was born and raised in the Florida key. I am a pureblood, but not the kind that feels like blood type makes one better than anyone else.” He had tensed when she said she was pureblood, he was more than slightly worried now because he had already admitted that he was Muggleborn. He only relaxed a small amount after she added that she was a tolerant pureblood. He wasn’t frightened per se, fright was the wrong word, but one of the first things he learned in this world was that there was a good amount of pureblood that had no desire to even acknowledge the existence of Muggleborns, let alone be nice to them. But it was in his nature to give her a chance regardless, so he marginalized that fact and refocused on her other points about herself. His brow furrowed, she didn’t care for the house system; he wondered what kind of system they used in America then. Her pause ended and she moved to speak again. “I also should note that I am an extremely talkative person when I am bored and this subject bores me easily, so I have no problem in assisting you in breaking out of that shell, however if I start to get to too talkative, you’re probably going to have to tell me or I won’t notice.” 

He chuckled and leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table in front of him and crossing his arms on top of it. “Well thank you for the opportunity. I will be sure to let you know if I notice. You mentioned a dislike for the house system; can you tell me more about that? This is the only way that I know of. How did they do it in Florida?” It was something that had always been in effect at Galaxia, so it was hard for him to imagine a school without houses. Although, as he got older he found a certain amount of distaste for some of the things that accompanied the separation of students like this. He began to develop an idea that there was at least some part of every house in every student, but confining them to a specific house while still a child almost forced an over-development of that house’s traits. He had wondered on more than one occasion that if he had been sorted into a different house whether or not he would be a different sort of person now. And he wouldn’t even begin to get started on what he thought about house rivalries. He was curious to learn more about the way another school set things up and what sort of affect that had on the students there. He hesitated as he regained his train of thought before continuing. “I’m afraid I’ll have to admit that I haven’t really a clue where to go from here in this process of ‘breaking out of my shell,’ so I think I’ll let you lead in that.”

Words | 784
Tag | Amina
Notes| none

[Amina Krane]

It would be difficult for anyone not to see the obvious discomfort on Matthias' face. He wasn't exaggerating when she said he wasn't exactly good with this kind of thing. Amina couldn't relate, because she had always been a people person. It seemed like she was born with the destiny to be friends with practically everyone she met. It was an extremely rare occasion that someone didn't like her, didn't take to her ever changing personality. When that happened, Amina was actually the one who was uncomfortable. It didn't sit right with her to be disliked by anyone, but it did happen. The Slytherin's were her problem right now, and they had been since her breakup. Another thing that didn't sit well with her but she didn't dwell on the idea. Focusing on that day in any fashion always caused her mood to sour quickly, so she changed her focus back to the male in front of her. It was kind of cute how shy he was, just because he was actually rather attractive. There was no reason why he should have any sort of problems with other people, let alone the other gender. Part of her wondered what had caused it. Did he have some sort of underlying problem with people? Maybe it was a result of a bad relationship? Or maybe something stemming from parent problems? Could be related to his family being muggle while he was a wizard. Amina had heard stories about how the appearance of a magical gene could ruin a family. But even if she wanted to know, Amina was in no way or form going to ask. That was his personal life, his personal information, and she had no right to ever go after it, so she kept her mouth shut.

She paid attention to his reactions as she told her own story, or at least the overall view of it. The obvious reaction came when she had said pureblood, the reaction she always got from someone who was of a 'lesser' family, at least as the Slytherin's would see it. Amina never judged one by bloodtype, however. She was not fond of judging people based on the family and life they were born into. Who would she be, a pureblood turned werewolf, to judge someone because of something they couldn't control? It would be too ridiculous to fathom. As she explained her viewpoint on their differences in blood, she could physically see him relax, though it wasn't as much as Amina would have liked. She didn't want him to be tense around her for any reason like that. There was no need to. She was friends with everyone ranging from pureblood, to muggle, to werewolf. Though she hadn't befriended a vampire yet, mostly because she hadn't even met one and their races were supposed to be rivals, Amina imagined that she would eventually find one that she could become friends with. If there was anyone who didn't care about blood, it was Amina. But she imagined he would relax further into their conversation, if they actually got to continue it. They were being rather quiet, even by Amina's sensitive ears standards, but the girls in the corner didn't seem to agree that their volume had dropped enough. Again she could hear them mutter, "I give it another five minutes. If they don't quit by then, report them and get their asses thrown out. Serves them right." Had she not been sitting with Matt, she would have rolled her eyes or scoffed at them. The librarian didn't throw people out because of low chatter, didn't they realize that? The library was not reserved for strict silence. Group projects took place in here all the time, requiring chatting. Sure, their conversation wasn't necessarily school related, but it had been at one point, hadn't it? She had referenced her potions essay and how he was working on the same thing. That was enough for her to justify their conversation. Too bad the girls were just too ignorant to understand. Amina cringed internally once she realized it had been the wolf in her head. It was tainting her thoughts again, putting such a negative spin on them. Merlin, she needed to get this thing under control soon.

“Well thank you for the opportunity. I will be sure to let you know if I notice. You mentioned a dislike for the house system; can you tell me more about that? This is the only way that I know of. How did they do it in Florida?” Shrugging, Amina brought herself back to the conversation at hand, forgetting that the wolf had its moment ragging on the girls who couldn't just focus on their own work instead of intruding on her and Matt's conversation. "I've just never been fond of classifying people based on a certain trait. Relates back to blood types too much if you ask me, but I've kind of started to see how it helps. Place certain people together in the same room, and you're bound to find connections between who will be friends and who will be enemies. So in reality, it works to separate out people into groups that will live together nicely, but it's just different. We didn't separate people in Florida. We just comingled amongst ourselves, but our school was on a much smaller scale and we all lived at home so a very different setting than here." Again, rambling. Why was she always rambling when she was bored? Fortunately, he seemed interested enough so she wasn't too distraught by it, but the muttering in the corner got slightly louder. The wolf grinned, Amina didn't externalize its elated thoughts. “I’m afraid I’ll have to admit that I haven’t really a clue where to go from here in this process of ‘breaking out of my shell,’ so I think I’ll let you lead in that.” A smile spread across Amina's lips, slightly tainted by the humor of the werewolf, but mostly at his willingness to have Amina help with him becoming more open. "I'm flattered," she responded, sitting back into her chair. "I have to ask, because it changes how I can help, but also because I'm curious. Is your 'shell' limited strictly to the female gender, or people overall?" She considered her question for a moment and shook her head. "Now that I've said shell, I keep imagining you as a turtle." She chuckled softly, her head still shaking.

Words | 1,078
Tag | Matt
Outfit | Click

[Matthias Dreher]

“I’ve just never been fond of classifying people based on a certain trait. Relates back to blood types too much if you ask me, but I’ve kind of started to see how it helps. Place certain people together in the same room, and you’re bound to find connections between who will be friends and who will be enemies. So in reality, it works to separate out people into groups that will live together nicely, but it’s just different. We didn’t separate people in Florida. We just comingled amongst ourselves, but our school was on a much smaller scale and we all lived at home so a very different setting than here.” He listened with rapt attention as she spoke and spoke, and he smiled as she rambled. He didn’t mind because he was interested in what she was saying; he had always lived in Austria so any information about other places was interesting to him. He wondered if she would still be as open as a person if she hadn’t grown up in Florida. “That’s a wonderful view; it definitely makes me feel a little more comfortable talking to you.” He spoke without thinking and immediately regretted it. “Not that you were making me uncomfortable, but, I mean, I’m sure you know what it can be like for a Muggleborn when they’re talking to a Pureblood; not always the safest thing.” He closed his mouth with an almost audible snap; once he started sometimes he couldn’t stop. He fiddled with the parchment that was holding his place in his textbook while they conversed and looked up at her like a dog that’s waiting to be kicked for doing something wrong. Open mouth, insert foot.

“I’m flattered. I have to ask, because it changes how I can help, but also because I’m curious. Is your ‘shell’ limited strictly to the female gender, or people overall?” He was glad for the change in conversation stopped to think about his answer for a second before he said something stupid again. He wasn’t actually sure off the top of his head. Was it only girls? There were some that lived in his neighborhood at home that had tried to start conversations while he was home for the summer, but he hadn’t been able to string words together for coherent responses. He didn’t want to think it was only girls; he was talking to Amina just fine right now. But he was fine with the guys when they came around to get a backyard soccer team together. He grimaced mildly at the thought of being an adult about to graduate from school and not being able to make conversation with the opposite gender. “Now that I think about it, I fear it’s just the female gender actually.” He cleared his throat a little self-conscious now. “How does that change it exactly?” Now it was his turn to be curious.

“Now that I’ve said shell, I keep imagining you as a turtle.” He started laughing at her statement. Over her shoulder he saw one of the girls at the table that had previously chastised them for being too loud staring him down. He immediately quieted himself, but he couldn’t prevent a low chuckle from continuing, glare or not. “That is quite an interesting image, I’ll admit.” He glanced back over to the other table and flinched slightly at the multiple glares he was receiving. “I don’t think those girls are very happy with our chatting.” He was becoming frustrated with their intolerance of their low chatting. It wasn’t a crime to talk in the library as long as you were being polite about it, which they were.

Word|| 611
Tag|| Amina
Note|| Sorry it's so short! Message me if you need anymore.

[Amina Krane]

He was sweet not to call her out on the excessive talking she was doing. A few people would have told Amina to shut up a while back, told her to stop rambling and just get to the point. Make it short and sweet her mother had told her when she was a child. Rambling was in her genes though, nothing could change that. Boredom resulted in rambling and that was exactly the instance here. Potions just did not interest her enough to keep her focus. If only it did, if only she could put as much into it as she did charms, then maybe she wouldn’t have such a poor rank in the class. Unfortunately, it just did not work that way. As long as she was able to pass, though, Amina was ok. She didn’t need potions to pursue a good career. It was only required in a select few of them, none of which she intended on going after so why care? The only real time she ever got the energy to do potions was after Professor Talbott called her into his office to discuss her grades. Normally it came with her monthly tonic as well, but she always was freaked out to go in there. She hated discussing her grades. The energy to work on potions only worked for a few days after that, though. Not enough to really make a difference. Maybe this was a good indication of why she was doing so poorly. Her interest was so easily diverted, obvious by the fact that she had no problem talking to the person across from her in the library that she had never even met before. So easily distracted…

“That’s a wonderful view; it definitely makes me feel a little more comfortable talking to you.” Amina was slightly taken aback by his comment, but she didn’t show it. She knew what he meant. She was pureblood, him not so much. Everyone in the magical community knew the social stigma that came with being pureblood. All of them were supposed to be against anyone not pure, to want to rid the world of anyone who could taint the bloodlines even further with muggle blood. It was just a shame that the stigma spread to every pureblood. Amina never had that point of view on bloodlines. “Not that you were making me uncomfortable, but, I mean, I’m sure you know what it can be like for a Muggleborn when they’re talking to a Pureblood; not always the safest thing.” Amina couldn’t help but chuckle at his attempt to recovery. “Don’t worry about it, I understand. It’s sad that we have this social stigma in our world but who can help it when there are cruel people out there?” she replied with a shrug, dismissing his words with a grain of salt. She could understand his assumption, though she didn’t like that she was being lumped in with people like that. People like Gavin… She frowned slightly at the thought of how he was so similar to the people Matt was afraid of. But she knew why. It was the way he was raised. It was a shame people were in that mindset. Life was so much better when ou weren’t hating people all of the time.

She watched as he contemplated her question, trying to decide which option it was. It was amusing to watch him think, mostly because Amina was sure he had never considered the question before. “Now that I think about it, I fear it’s just the female gender actually. How does that change it exactly?” “Easy. If you had a problem with everyone, then it would mean it’s a problem with your people skills in general, that you just need to talk to people more. But women, now that’s another story. Though, you’re talking to me now so I guess it’s not nearly as bad as it could be, huh?” She smiled at him as she heard the chatter on the other side of the library increase a bit. One of the girls was saying she was going to go tell the librarian. One of her friends supported her opinion. The other girls seemed to be disproving the idea, saying it was a bad idea to get on the bad side of a prefect. Again, the wolf was elated. It loved the idea of people being afraid of it, not wanting to get on its bad side, but it also loved the thought of someone wanting to start something, even if it wasn’t physical. Amina suppressed it again. “Fortunately, all you need is the opportunity to talk to more women. That part I can certainly help with. I have enough friends that I could introduce you to one a day and I swear, you will never have a problem talking to women again,” she added, winking at him as she chuckled softly. “Seriously, though. I have a ton of friends who I’m sure you’d get along with no problem.”

“That is quite an interesting image, I’ll admit.” Amina grinned at his comment, nodding in return. She saw his glance behind her at the females at the other table. He obviously saw that they were increasing their volume as well. In fact, their voices were starting to get louder than Matt and Amina had been. How ironic. “I don’t think those girls are very happy with our chatting.” Amina smirked and shook her head side to side. “Not at all,” she replied just as the scuffing of a chair across the floor echoed in her mind. Quirking an eyebrow, Amina turned and looked over her shoulder, watching as the girl moved from the table and walked I the direction of the librarian. The girls who had been telling her not to do it, to just get back to work and ignore them, were now covering their faces while the other one, the one who had been pushing her to do it, was grinning at Amina and Matt, obviously pleased that they were now going to get reprimanded. Rolling her eyes, Amina looked back to Matt. “Looks like the ‘not happy’ has gone over the edge to ‘fed up’. If we didn’t have these essays, I’d say we could go elsewhere, however that isn’t the case.” Shrugging with a sideway smile, Amina scooted out of the chair and moved over to the chair she had originally been in. “However, we shall continue this conversation on another day whenever we aren’t being monitored?” she asked, offering him one last smile before she grabbed her quill and looked back down to her paper, just as the girl began relaying the story to the librarian. The old woman looked up from her desk over to Amina and Matt where the only thing she saw were two people working on their essays. Amina couldn’t help but grin, mostly because the wolf inside was dancing at the entertainment being offered. It wasn’t her that was being rude towards the girls. If it was just her inside her head, she would have stopped talking a while ago and wouldn’t be regarding them in the way she was, but the wolf had part of her mind, and it loved to put in those negative emotions. One day she would get a handle on it. But for now, she just tried to resist the scoff that wanted to come out as the girl passed by the table on her way back. The librarian had told her to just ignore it because since they weren’t currently talking, there wasn’t much to be done. Good librarian. Looking back up at Matt for a second, Amina gave him one last smile before going back to her paper. She blankly flipped through pages as she tried to finish the paper while ignoring the overly pleased wolf. This paper would never get done at this rate…

Words | 1,319
Tag | Matt
Outfit | Click