･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. .**.☽ .*
Since that day Lily and Caroline had been talking a lot more, and it had been nice. Lily was almost on the same intellectual level as Caroline, so when they talked they both found it very interesting.
It was breakfast, the first day of October, and Caroline had woken up early to finish the book she was reading the night before. It was 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. She was bursting with energy after finishing it, as one often is with reading, so when she got to the hall she walked over to Lily and sat down beside her.
"Well good morning," Lily said in surprise.
"Have you read this?" Caroline asked, putting the book on the table.
"Actually yes, last summer," Lily nodded.
"I just finished it this morning. What did you think of it?"
"Oh man," Lily picked up the book and flicked through the pages. "I think it's so clever, like the way that it's this insightful social commentary in the perspective of a child is brilliant. It's just so unbiased and...observational."
Caroline nodded, "exactly, that's what I thought. And man, the poignancy in some of those scenes..."
"Like in the courthouse?"
"Like in the courthouse."
"If I was to marry any fictional character, I would marry Atticus," Lily said.
"I literally said that to Eloise this morning and she had no idea what I was talking about," Caroline laughed.
"Hello, my Lily-flower!"
They both looked up to James Potter who had sauntered over to where they were sitting.
Someone sat beside Caroline, "bonjour."
She smiled at the voice, and looked at Sirius, "bonjour, Sirius. Comment allez-vous?"
"Je vais bien, et toi?" He asked.
James sat beside Lily and tried to talk to her but she was looking between Sirius and Caroline who, before that moment, she didn't know had ever even spoken. After a few more attempts James gave up and began to watch them too. What language were they speaking...French?
"Je suis stressé." Caroline told him, making him laugh. "Avez-vous fait les devoirs d'astronomie?"
"Qu'est-ce que tu penses?" He asked.
She laughed and shook her head before speaking in English, "you know it's due tonight?"
"Exactly, I've got all the time in the world," he grinned.
"I didn't even realise you two knew each other," Lily said, raising an eyebrow at Caroline.
"We have astronomy together," Sirius said, before winking at Caroline.
Caroline grinned before catching sight of Julian entering the hall and nodding her over. She took the book back from Lily.
"Gotta go," she said to them. "See you later, Sirius."
"Au revoir mon ami," he waved, making her smile one last time.
"So what? English flirting wasn't enough for you anymore?" James asked him.
"We just both speak French, it's a thing," Sirius waved him off before pouring himself some coffee.
"Well no more flirting, she has a boyfriend," Lily said scoldingly.
"Hasn't stopped him before, love," James snorted.
"Oi," Sirius laughed, but didn't deny it. "We've only talked like twice, I'm not into her, okay?"
"Whatever you say, mate," James said,
"Anyway, I've got a thing with Sarah Davies right now, remember?"
"Sarah Davies? Really?"
"What? She's got nice...uh, she's got a nice smile," Sirius said.
James laughed loudly whilst Lily shook her head at him.
At the front of the hall Caroline was just pulling away from kissing Julian on the cheek in greeting.
"I have news regarding my family drama," Julian said with a grin, tucking a hair behind her ear, making her heart flutter.
"Let me hear it!"
They sat down on the bench together. Luckily, Julian wasn't with his friends for once. When he was with them, she struggled at acting like she didn't hate them, which was hard but she didn't want to upset him by not getting in with his friends. It wasn't her fault they were idiots!
She poured herself some green tea and began to listen to him.
"So Auntie Pat turned up at Mum's house like all angry, like she was ready to fight, right?"
"Was she drunk again?" Caroline asked.
"Mum reckons she was, you know how she gets," Julian said, taking a bite of toast before continuing. "They got into another argument, and Mum could have sworn she was about to like...you know, throw hands, right?"
Caroline giggled and leaned her chin on her hand, looking up at him, "right."
"And, you know that really nice vase we have in the living room?"
"Um..."
"The blue one."
"Oh right," Caroline nodded before grimacing, "don't tell me something happened to it."
"Well I don't exactly know how it happened but-"
"Hey!"
They were interrupted by Will, Finlay and Harrison coming to sit with them.
"Hey guys," Julian said, a grin coming onto his face.
"You can finish the story at lunch," Caroline quickly said to Julian.
"Are you sure? You can stay if you want-"
"I'm okay," she kissed him on the lips. "See you later."
"I don't think she likes us, mate," she heard Will say quietly but she ignored it.
She got up and walked to the Ravenclaw table where the rest of her friends were, carrying her green tea over with her.
"Good morning," Archie greeted merrily as she sat next to him.
"Morning," she smiled, happy to be with people that she could stand.
"You okay?" Jane asked.
"Mm," she nodded, taking a sip of green tea. "How is everyone?"
"I'm so tired," Tyler said, staring at the spoon in front of him blankly. "So...much...homework..."
"You're telling me?" Eloise said. "I'm doing one more NEWT than you."
"And I'm doing four more NEWTs than you," Caroline said to Eloise bluntly. "What's your point?"
Tyler, halfway through a mouthful of toast, choked out a shocked cough, covering his mouth quickly.
"Ouch," Archie laughed into his tea.
"Carrie, feisty this morning," Jane giggled.
"Oh sorry," Caroline laughed lightly, and looked at Eloise. "I didn't mean for it to sound rude."
"It's fine," Eloise smiled, but it was a pinched smile, as if she wasn't exactly sure about it. "I'm gonna head to Muggle Studies."
And she left.
"Did I really say something wrong?" Carrie asked the others.
"Nah, she's just sensitive," Jane waved it off dismissively.
"Oh..."
"I think you're just very, I don't know...your intelligence is sometimes intimidating, you know?" Archie said, "and when you flaunt it...it's a lot."
Tyler hummed in agreement and Caroline raised an eyebrow, what did that even mean?
"It's just hard to feel smart when I'm talking to you sometimes," Archie said with a laugh.
"Oh...I'm sorry," Caroline frowned.
"It's not a bad thing, Carrie, don't worry about it, you're just very smart."
"So I'm...too smart?" Caroline asked, even more confused now.
"No, babe," Jane shook her head, chuckling slightly. "It's not that."
"It's just how you talk sometimes," Tyler said, trying to make it make more sense.
"I'm confused..."
"People don't like feeling inferior to others, do you understand that?" Jane asked, not unkindly, because she honestly didn't know if Caroline understood.
"Well yes, of course," Caroline nodded thoughtfully. "So what do I do?"
Jane shrugged, exchanging a look with the boys, "Just try to think about how you talk to others."
"So I have to change how I talk?"
"Yes, Caroline." Tyler said.
"So...how do I do that? What do I do?" She asked, really wanting to understand.
"Just...nothing, drink your tea," Tyler said, giving up.
"Okay," and she brought her mug to her lips.
"Maybe just bring it up to Eloise later?" Jane suggested.
Bring what up? Caroline said to herself, but thought it best to not annoy her friends further and just figure it out later, so she just nodded.
"So, Ty, how's things with Alice going?" Archie asked, trying to change the subject.
"Not great," Tyler sighed.
"Oh, I thought things were looking up?" Caroline said.
"Why's that?" He asked.
"You were sitting with her the other day, weren't you?"
He nodded unsurely, "Well yes..."
"Well that's great!" Jane said.
"It is?"
"Yeah man," she nodded. "What did you talk about?"
"Nothing too meaningful," he shrugged.
"But at least you talked," Archie said.
"I was reading a psychology book last year and there was a section on love that I remember if you want any help?" Caroline offered.
"Oh God, yes please," Tyler said.
"Ah," Archie checked his watch. "It's classes in five minutes, we should probably leave."
"We can do it on the way there," Tyler said to Caroline who nodded.
"I have Care of Magical Creatures now," Jane said, swinging her bag round her shoulder as she stood up.
"I have Herbology," Caroline said.
"Me and Tyler have it with you too," Archie reminded.
"Oh right, sorry," she laughed. "And it's Tyler and I."
"See, it's stuff like that!" Archie said as they left the hall.
"Like what?"
"Correcting people's grammar, no one ever wants it, that's what we were talking about before, about thinking about what you say before you say it?" Archie said.
"Ohh!" Caroline's eyes widened. "I get it now!"
"Hallelujah," Tyler laughed, swinging an arm round her.
"See you guys," Jane said, beginning to split off from them as they began to walk to the greenhouses.
"Have a nice morning," Tyler said sweetly, smiling after her.
"You too," she grinned, before turning round.
The three parted ways with Jane as they headed to their first period in the herbology greenhouses. After giving Tyler some carefully selected psychology facts about love that she had read the previous year, Caroline's mind began to drift...and she thought about Sirius Black for some reason.
It was nice, oddly refreshing to speak French with someone who wasn't a member of her family. He seemed harmless enough, friendly. She just hoped he wouldn't persist with the whole French thing during class; she couldn't afford any distractions for the next two years. If she was going to succeed and make her family proud, NEWTs had to be her priority.
"You know, Herbology is the one subject I can actually stand," Tyler said.
Archie snorted, "It's because you're a Hufflepuff."
"It's not-"
"Where does that stereotype come from?" Caroline wondered aloud. "Like...why does everyone have herbology as Hufflepuff's trademark?"
"Isn't it because our head of house is a Herbologist?
"I don't think so, I know my parents have mentioned it before and that was before Sprout was teaching here," Archie said.
Tyler made a thoughtful noise and they kept on walking.
"How's Julian?" Archie asked after a few moments of silence.
"Julian's fine..."
"You don't sound sure."
"It's just his mates really, they're kind of hard to be around sometimes."
"Mm, I get that," Archie nodded. "They're all just like...subtle dickheads. Like they never say anything that's too obviously disgusting, you know? They just about get away with it, but it doesn't make their micro-aggressions any less fucked up."
There was a stunned silence.
"Seems like you've been holding onto that for a while, mate," Tyler said quietly.
"Sorry...ever since I came out I can't help but hear the little gay jokes they make around me," Archie sighed, looking ahead. "It just sucks."
"I didn't know they did that," Caroline frowned.
"Arseholes," Tyler murmured, his eyes growing darker by the second. "Tell me if they say anything again, okay, Arch? I'll kill them."
"Me too," Caroline said.
"Thanks guys," Archie smiled gratefully. "But Ty, I thought you were a pacifist?"
"I don't care, I'd still kill them for you mate," Tyler grinned cheekily, swinging an arm round him.
"I appreciate that," Archie smiled, the tips of his ears going pink.
They got to the greenhouse and set up for the lesson. As Finlay, Harrison and Will walked in Tyler scowled at them but they didn't notice. Will caught Caroline's eye and winked, she didn't smile back.
She was done pretending she liked them.
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. .**.☽ .*