Winnifred Wilkes calls all the trolls Bob. (ex_winnifred257) wrote in enemies_rpg, @ 2013-01-16 21:24:00 |
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Winnie was excited for the chance to study with Sebastian. Not only was he a Quidditch star, but he just might help save her marks in Muggle Studies and she could use the help. The first two years it had been fun, but this year it was more work than anything else, and all terribly confusing for the most part. She wasn't lying when she'd said she needed help, hence the two of them taking up an entire table in the library with Muggle studies notes, books, and a couple of magazines spread out around them. As they studied, Winnie had a hard time keeping still, she kicked her foot against her chair, wound her curly red hair around her fingers, and occasionally hummed softly to herself under her breath, in between asking Sebastian questions and watching him from under her eyelashes. Oh she was going to completely fail Muggle Studies at this rate. Sebastian was only taking Muggle Studies because he felt he was certain to get an O, and he liked having that reassurance. While magic wasn’t exactly new to him at this point, there were still times that it felt overwhelming, so studying something familiar, like plugs and cars, was really nice. It was silly, sure. And probably a little bit lazy, but Sebastian really didn’t care. So while Winnie was sitting there stressing about all the things she had to learn, Sebastian was sitting back in his chair, flipping through his book idly and not really paying attention. He was there to help her, to walk her through the things she didn’t understand. He didn’t really need to read much of the text himself. Sebastian looked so carefree, and it made studying both easier and harder in a way. "All right," she said. "I've read through it, and I think I have a bit more understanding. It's amazing, isn't it? All the things Muggles have to invent because they don't have magic. There must be whole books of it somewhere. Look at this." She pointed to a drawing in a book. "All these weapons, just for hurting other people." Her eyes looked concerned as she looked back up at him. "They look so ugly and awful." “It’s not that different, if you think about it,” Sebastian said, looking at the drawing she was pointing to. “Think of all the different spells we have, just for hurting other people. They’re just all channeled through the wand, but they’re different spells. They do different things. They don’t have the wand, so they have to a lot of things to do a lot of things.” Shrugging slightly, Sebastian looked up, noticing that Winnie seemed a little distressed by the idea of all the weapons. “Most people don’t have any of these things, you know,” he said after a moment. Winnie wasn't really convinced about that. She tried not to pay attention to anything at all regarding the war, but from what she had heard there were an awful lot of people involved, and all those bombs. "My father doesn't like me reading about things like this," she confessed. "He was upset enough I signed up for Muggle Studies, but I convinced him it would be useful if I wanted to work for the Ministry." She sighed. She didn't really want to work for the Ministry, but she didn't know what else she was going to do. “I don’t understand that,” Sebastian said immediately, before pausing suddenly because he was afraid he’d said something a bit offensive. “I don’t mean anything against your father or anything,” Though, if he didn’t want Winnie studying Muggle Studies, he was probably a lousy sort of person, but Sebastian liked her far too much to say that, “but I don’t really understand the attitude of not wanting to know about this huge population of the world. It seems like we’d all benefit from a little more universal understanding. Or something.” Winnie shrugged. "I don't know," she said. She bit her lip, looking back down at the book and the guns, not sure what to say or how to say it without sounding dumb in front of him. She wasn't a Purist like the Walburga Blacks of the world, but her parents had raised her with a strict sense of the Wizarding world being superior to the Muggle and the importance of separating the two. "I think sometimes people are scared," she said finally. "Of something that's different. I mean, I never met Muggleborns before I came to Hogwarts. But there's Jane, in my dorm, and you, and you're both awfully nice, and even if you didn't know anything about magic before you came here you're magical now and that's what's important. Right?" She looked up at him, her big blue eyes strangely serene, because things were that black and white to her, and it was hard for her to believe bad of anyone, whether Muggles or, contrary wise, Purists. Sebastian was quiet for a moment, thinking over what she said. She was probably right about that first part. People do tend to be scared of what they don’t know or things that were different. He remembered quite vividly his own father’s reaction to the idea that he was a wizard. It hadn’t been terribly pretty, so he supposed he couldn’t fault people for being concerned about muggles. But at the same time, it was really annoying to have people tell him that he wasn’t good enough because his parents were normal people. “I don’t think we’re all that different,” Sebastian said finally. “We’re still people and we have magic, so I don’t see why any of the rest of it matters much.” Winnie secretly agreed. Because obviously Muggleborns weren't Muggles, even if she didn't understand how they got their magic they obviously had some. "I don't pretend to understand," she said, thinking about how Ophelia had made a point to indicate some boys were better than others. As long as they were cute did it really matter? "I mean, I'm glad you're here. And I bet Gryffindor Quidditch is too." Sebastian couldn’t help but smile. “They only are when we win.” The rest of the time, Sebastian wasn’t always convinced that the majority of the team even liked him all that much. Oh well. “But I’m glad that I’m here, so sometimes it doesn’t even matter if other don’t. It’s their problem, not mine.” Except when they were tying him to trees and leaving him for dead, which Sebastian was convinced had to be the work of an angry Slytherin and definitely because of his blood, even if the whole thing was still confusing in his head. “Is there anything you’re really confused about,” he asked after a moment, before gesturing at the books. “About muggles and the coursework, I mean.” Winnie looked back down at her notes, feeling slightly rebuffed at his last comment, wondering if that meant he was looking for an excuse to leave. Had she said something wrong? "Um. Maybe just a quick explanation of the electricity again? One last time?" She looked back over at him. "I mean, if it's not a bother?" “It’s not a bother at all! I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were getting some help out of this, but if you want a break or anything, we can do that too,” Sebastian said quickly, looking at her. He hadn’t meant to imply that he didn’t want to help. “I don’t mind helping with as much or as little as you want.” Their eyes met for a minute and Winnie had to quickly look down before nodding. "I'm getting a lot out of it, really. You're so sweet to help. But we'll study again maybe? It will give me time to look over more things and come armed with loads of questions. Like, how do those stop light things work, and why don't Muggles fly everywhere if they have aeroplanes." Her lips twitched at the corners. "I promise not to ask you about Muggle cosmetics." Even though that pancake makeup looked brilliant. “You can ask, but I don’t think I know much about it,” Sebastian said, with a grin. “I haven’t taken to wearing cosmetics. But we don’t fly everywhere because there’s isn’t room. Aeroplanes tend to be pretty big and need a place to take off and land.” Actually things would be a lot easier if they could just all fly on brooms all the time. Magic was really handy. It really, truly was. “But we can definitely study again, Winnie. Any time you want!” "Good." On impulse she leaned in and gave him a hug, then smiled at him again, a bit shyly, and turned back to her books. Sebastian Black really was a very nice boy. |