[September 8, 2016: Thursday, Week 1. It's the evening of the same day as that, ahem, eventful Transfiguration class. Eliana ate dinner alone, since everyone was avoiding her, and now she's walking back towards the common room alone, since everyone is still avoiding her.] [Begin!] #06* Eliana did in fact eat dinner alone, and it was tasty but she ate less than she had previous meals. Just wasn't that hungry. She's heading down the halls to the dungeons (early, again not that hungry), doing a good job not looking affected by the whispers and glances her classmates were giving her. #06* Vesper slips up beside Eliana, apparently from nowhere. He's just there, walking beside her, when he hadn't been a moment ago. "Hello, Eliana." #06* Eliana starts and whirls before his voice registers. She relaxes, a little, though she's still on edge. "Hi, Vesper," she says, looking ahead again. #06* Vesper looks much as he always does, which is to say, calm and collected. He ignores Eliana's start. After a few seconds with nothing but the sound of their footfalls on the stone floor to break the silence, he looks down at Eliana and observes, "People are avoiding you." #06* Eliana actually rolls her eyes. "*Really?* I didn't know." #06* Vesper raises an eyebrow at her sardonically. Then he veers off down a side hall. Eliana probably has an inkling that the star room he showed her before is in this direction. "Come on. Let's talk." #06* Eliana eyes Vesper warily, but she follows anyway, clutching her book (she read while eating) close to her chest. #06* Vesper doesn't actually speak again, though, until the door to the little room is shut behind the two of them. He takes a seat in a comfortable blue armchair and waves for Eliana to do the same wherever she likes. #06* Eliana looks at Vesper for a minute, then sits on the edge of another armchair, looking ready to leave at any moment. #06* Vesper raises both his eyebrows at her this time. "Relax. I'm not here to yell at you. Tell me what happened." #06* Eliana eyes Vesper skeptically, but she says, "Okay." #01 You want to know why I got double detentions with Professor Sykes over the weekend. Basically. And why there are such wild rumors circulating. #06* Eliana rolls her eyes. Again. "Yeah, okay." #06* Eliana sighs. "I punched James Potter in Transfiguration." Pause. "A few times." #01 He was being *annoying* with his friends and telling stupid jokes that weren't even making any sense, and I was trying really hard to turn straw into a needle... I didn't manage to do it, either. I think I might not be very good at magic. #01 But they weren't helping. So I told them to shut up. #06* Vesper doesn't respond to the eyerolling or the sighing. He listens to Eliana perfectly calmly without interrupting. #01 And then he said, "My needle is better than yours. Unless you have one stashed in your pocket or something." #06* Eliana adopted James' general inflection and accent for that statement, though her voice is still very clearly Eliana. #01 And while I was trying to figure out exactly what he was trying to say, the two guys behind him told him to tell me something, so he said, "It's not really a secret. Slytherins cheat. Just get it over with so we can all move on." #01 And I got really, *really* angry. I'm not a cheater, and I've never cheated! Ever! #06* Vesper 's eyes narrow in anger, but he still doesn't interrupt. #06* Eliana realizes she's yelling, and she says much more quietly, "So I punched him." She pauses, then smiles at the memory, just a little, before she also remembers who she's talking to and that she's in serious trouble. "I knocked him right off of his chair." #06* Vesper rubs his lips, studying Eliana. After a few quiet seconds he says, "Mm. You're going to have to learn to channel your anger more effectively." #06* Eliana scowls at Vesper. "I think I was pretty effective." In the short term, maybe. I'm sure it was extremely satisfying to knock him out of his chair. But now everyone sees him as a martyr, and you have double detentions your very first weekend at Hogwarts. You can be more effective than that. #06* Eliana hugs her book to her chest, but she seems to be settling into the chair a little more. She just looks at Vesper, waiting. #06* Vesper settles back a bit too, watching Eliana carefully. "Slytherin is a house of cunning. Subtlety. Punching someone in the face is a pretty Gryffindor way to get back at them, really. If you're clever, you make sure they don't get any benefits out of it, and it doesn't cost you anything." #06* Eliana thinks about that, relaxing a little more as she does so. #01 That makes sense. But I was *really* mad. I just... I just wanted to do something. #01 And usually if I punch someone, they leave me alone. #06* Vesper nods, frowning in thought. "That might not happen this time, though. James Potter has friends, and followers just because of who he is. I don't know if *he'll* stay away from you after this, but it'll cost you with others." #06* Eliana rolls her eyes. "I don't care. Most people don't like me anyway." She frowns a little, thinking, but the frown passes. #06* Vesper studies Eliana some more, thinking. "Maybe. But other people can be very useful, if you know how to interact with them. And they can also be a major hindrance, if you make too many enemies or the wrong enemies." #06* Eliana nods. Reluctantly. She looks like she's thinking about something else. #06* Vesper waits to see if she'll say whatever it is that's on her mind. #06* Eliana is silent for a while longer, then, before she finally says, "I'm not that good at dealing with people. Or knowing what they're gonna do." #06* Vesper smiles faintly. "You can learn to be better. It's a useful skill." #01 Yeah, I bet. #01 Are you sure you're not going to yell at me? #06* Vesper smiles more. "Yes. I'm sure you've had quite enough of that, and it's not going to help anything." #06* Eliana smiles back, clearly relieved now, and more genuinely relaxing. "Thanks." You're welcome. #01 I know you don't think I did the right thing, but it *did* feel really good at the time. Even if I did get double detentions and... I don't know what else is gonna happen. I totally scared all of those stupid boys. #06* Vesper grins a little wryly. "Scaring people can be fun every once in a while. It's just not useful to do it too much. And there's nothing wrong with being angry when someone insults you, but it's better to control your temper so you can be smart about how you respond." #06* Eliana nods, then says, "I'm not good at that," as though that weren't obvious enough already. #06* Vesper nods, then tilts his head, thinking. "Tell you what. If you can, next time someone makes you mad, try to control your temper, and then come to me and we'll figure out how to deal with it." #06* Eliana 's eyes widen. "Really?" #01 My parents tried to make me see a counselor after I set Eric Cooper's pants on fire - that's when Uncle Nerius found out I had magic - but she was dumb and told me that I shouldn't be that angry in the first place. #06* Vesper considers this for a moment. "That's not very useful advice. If you're angry, you're angry. You just have to be angry in a smart way." #01 Well, she suggested stuff like writing or punching a pillow or talking to her, but how's *that* going to help anything? Hm. Punching a pillow is better than nothing, I guess, but...I haven't done that in years. #06* Eliana tilts her head. #01 But you get mad, right? #06* Vesper snaps out of whatever memory he was drifting off into and re-focuses on Eliana. "Of course. Though not many people here are stupid enough to make me mad any more. One of the benefits of good people skills. But anyway, when I get mad I just stop and think of the best way to deal with whatever made me mad. Usually it ends up being a lot more satisfying than just jumping at it." #06* Eliana nods. "Okay." #06* Vesper 's lips quirk. "So, do we have a deal?" #01 Yeah. I'll try. #06* Vesper nods. "Ready to face the commons room?" #06* Eliana glances down at her book, considering, before she looks up at Vesper and asks, "Are you gonna go in with me?" #06* Vesper looks at Eliana and a smile spreads across his face, brightening and crinkling his eyes before it reaches his lips. There's a mixture of both approval and warmth in it. "Yes." #06* Eliana smiles back, shyly. "Then okay." #06* Vesper nods again and rises, tilting his head to invite Eliana to lead the way. #06* Eliana hops to her feet at the head tilt and scoots out of the room. She's going to show Vesper that she knows how to get back; no hesitation, even with the change in the fork two thirds into the path! #06* Eliana does, in fact, lead Vesper back without any issues at all. But she hesitates before saying the password at the wall. #06* Vesper looks down at Eliana and gives her a small reassuring smile, then says the password himself. The wall swings open, revealing the common room about half- full. Vesper steps inside, then glances back at Eliana. #06* Eliana stares in, but she walks after Vesper after another moment's pause. #01 [The din in the common room dies as various students look over to see who entered, but it starts up again after a momentary pause, now with additional glances at Eliana.] #01 [In a far corner of the common room, a seventh-year student looks over and waves to Vesper.] #06* Eliana 's knuckles whiten as she clenches her book more tightly, and she gives Vesper a brief glance before walking off at a quick - but not too quick - pace to her room. #06* Vesper waves back. Seeing that Eliana's heading to her room, he heads over to his friends. It's the same small group of sixth and seventh years he's often found with, and they've saved him his usual thro-*cough*chair. He settles into it and there are greetings all around, and then an enthusiastic argument about advanced Transfiguration continues where it left off. #06* Eliana reappears under ten minutes later, books and parchment and a live toad in her arms, along with a couple of muggle pens in her hands. She glances around, but there was no interruption with her appearance this time (perhaps coming in from the dorms is less of an announcement, what with the lack of a sliding wall?) and scoots around the sides of the room to near Vesper. #06* Eliana settles in close by, setting Wort down on a small table and opening her (first year) transfiguration textbook. Time to read and take notes about basic magical theory. #06* Vesper spares a glance for Eliana as she settles down nearby, but since she hasn't directly approached him, he doesn't say anything. A couple of his friends give her more dubious glances. But then they glance to Vesper, and as he seems to be carrying on without taking any special notice of the possibly-crazy girl, they take their cue from him and do the same. #06* Eliana reads and takes notes, working on her (to seventh years) remedial stuff, but it's increasingly difficult with the talk of advanced transfiguration going on. After half an hour she's barely reading at all, but rather watching the older students discuss something she hardly understands. She keeps taking notes, however, about how what they're talking about is possibly related to what she was just reading. #06* Vesper is ignoring Eliana to all appearances, and eventually his companions forget she's there. Certainly, none of them notice when she stops paying attention to her book and starts paying attention to them. They're too engrossed in debating the relative merits of Gamp's technique versus Thibodeaux's - and bantering with each other on the side. #01 [End!]