What am I doing here

[Guest]

It was a very simple spell. A spell that a fourth year could probably do with their eyes closed and Rose couldn't cast it.
"Oh, bugger it all!" she yelled, throwing her wand away from her. It clatter across the floor and her orange and white tabby chased after it. For the past hour she had been trying to summon the books that lay on the other side of the room and so far all she had managed to do was yell obscene words at the the walls and once at Peeves when he drifted through. He had dumped a bag of crushed chalk on her head. If someone walked in the classroom right then they would have thought her a ghost if they hadn't known any better. She groaned and hid her face in her hands.
"What am I going to do, Max?" she asked the cat, then scoffed at herself. "Great, Ro, you are talking to the cat...anymore of that and its off to St. Mungo's for you." Max just meowed and took another swat at Rose's wand. A few sparks shot out of it as it rolled over to her. She nabbed it off the floor. This wasn't fair. Why did she have such difficulty with magic while Rae had it so easy that she could do spells unheard of for a third year? The only upside was the fact that Professor Flitwick had given them a week to learn the spell for their test. It was only Saturday, so she still had six more days. Taking a deep breath, Rose decided to try again. She pointed her wand determinedly at the books, but before she could utter the spell, someone opened the door to the classroom she was in.
"Peeves, if that's you I swear," she began, turning to look at the intruder, but it wasn't Peeves.

[Damien Mathieu's]

Damien had been looking for an empty classroom. He had an assignment to finish and a magic spell to learn. As he opened a classroom door slowly he heard a girls voice. He peeked his head through the door to see the girl was alone. "Well I'm not that damn Poltergeist. But I am better than him," he said replying to what she had said. He entered the room slowly. "I'm sorry for interrupting you. I didn't realized the classroom was taken," he apologized oblivious to the fact he was talking to a Gryffindor and the houses despised each other. He didn't care as much as some of the other students, but he did have his own reasons for being a Slytherin.

[Guest]

Rose smiled grimly. Well, he was right on that count. He was better than Peeves. She brushed chalk dust out of her face for the twentieth time. "Ah, that's okay." she said. "I'm in here practicing myself." She took her hand from her face and saw that the boy was wearing the custom Slytherin colors of green and silver. Unlike most Gryffindors she had no dislike for Slytherins seeing as her little sister was one.

"Well, Slytherin boy, can I get your name and perhaps why you came in here in the first place?" she asked, settling down on a desk. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Max sneaking along the wall towards the boy with a mischievous look in his kitten eyes.

[Damien Mathieu's]

Damien smiled softly as she dusted off her face. He didn't know how many times she did that because he hadn't been in the room, but if he had of than he would probably only have laughed with her and handed her a tissue or something to wipe off the dust.

"I'm Damien Mathieu's Gryffindor girl. What's yours? I was actually looking for a place to practice my magic myself too," he replied turning his smile into a blank look. He didn't need to smile. He hadn't a reason to yet. He walked forward into the room even more than he had before and closed the door behind him and conjured a dummy with his wand.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked moving his wand so the dummy went into the center of the room. "If not I can go and I'll leave you with this," he added. He hadn't even noticed the kitten behind him.

[Guest]

The dust was finally mostly gone from her face and she noticed Damien smiling. Not a real smile, it was small. It probably was a little funny looking the way the chalk dusted her, but it wasn't as if he was laughing at her. That was a relief in itself. Rose had endured enough laughter to last a lifetime every time she butchered a spell.

"Well, my name is Rose Woode." she replied. "And if you're looking for a place to practice, this class is actually the best of any. It hasn't been used for much of anything in a long time." That was why she had been in there in the first place. No one really bothered with it because there were other more fun places to practice. The room had its advantages though, and being secluded was one. Rose rather liked privacy when practicing.

Could he join her? Rose tended to spend too much time by herself with only Max to keep her company. "Sure. I don't mind." she said. "As long as you don't mind the fact I throw my wand a lot. I have problems casting spells for some reason." While she'd been talking, she had temporarily forgotten about the sneaking kitten and when her eyes returned he had pounced onto one of Damien's shoestrings, purring like mad. "Hey, silly cat! Remember your manners!" Rose scolded, rushing to grab Max before he tore the shoelace to pieces.

[Damien Mathieu's]

"A pleasure to meet you Rose," he said after she introduced herself. He lifted his wand making a duplicate of the first dummy right next to the other one. "Well than I guess it seems like it would be the perfect place to practice as long as we move the desks," he replied. He didn't leave his spot to move the desks.

"I don't mind. I'm still getting the hang of things," he said chuckling as he accidentally moved his wand and it slid from his hand. He bent down to pick it up and felt a cat's paw swipe at his hand. He smirked. "Hey kitty. This is my shoe," he said to the kitten at his feet. Than he noticed Rose and lifted his wand and moved so she could pick up the kitten.

[Guest]

"Nice to meet you too, Damien." she replied. It would be nice to practice with someone for once. Maybe being a loner scholar was what was holding her back. That and the only one she talked to on a daily basis was Max. She glanced over at the boy remembering his smile that had so quickly disappeared. What had been with that? It was almost like he hadn't wanted to smile in the first place. She mentally shrugged it off and proceeded to move the desks to the side of the room. "Want to give me hand here?"

She set the wriggling ball of fur on the one desk she had moved and he actually sat there for a while. "I'm afraid my problem isn't just getting the hang of it, though." she said. "Most people I see try a new spell, it might backfire or do the opposite of what it's suppose to do. Me, well, nothing happens half the time." A very uncomfortable look passed briefly over her face. Her back was turned to Max who took the chance to pounce back onto the floor. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm really suppose to even be here." she muttered, then she shook her head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bothering you about my problems." Max pawed at Damien's pant leg. Rose sighed, not even bothering to scold her kitten. He was probably just happy to see another person after always being locked up with her while she practiced.

[Damien Mathieu's]

So now that they had made acquaintanceship they had desks to move. He figured that would be easy enough. "I'm not sure, but I think there is a spell to move desks and other furniture. Or maybe we could try Wingardium Leviosa," he said to Rose as he lifted a desk and carried it to the side of the room. The desks were heavy he realized after carrying the first one. Well heavy enough.

"Well maybe your wand needed to choose you. Usually the wand works well for the wizard or witch it chooses," he said remembering the feeling he got when his wand chose him at Ollivanders four years previous to the new year. He lifted his wand and looked at it. Than he looked at Rose. "I'd help you if I could. Maybe Professor Dumbledore can help you. He's smart," he said shifting his weight between his legs as he leaned on the desk he'd moved. He felt the kitten's paw and chuckled.

[Guest]

Yeah, there were spells. Unfortunately, most lasted a few seconds before crashing except for Wingardium Leviosa. That spell had always been the easiest for some reason. "Thanks. In practicing other spells, I actually forgot about that one." she said pointing her wand at the next desk. She said the spell and the desk floated easily over to the side. "That was one of the few spells I got right off the bat." she added. "I used it to fly things like quills and other small objects around to bug that little furball down there. He isn't bothering you is he?" She hadn't bothered to pick Max up again, knowing he would go right back to doing what he was doing.

Rose also remembered her time at Olivander's. The first wand he had picked had the right one. Ebony and dragon heartstring. It was a good wand and once she learned a spell it never failed her afterwards. The hard part was just actually performing the spell at least once. "The wand's the right one." she said. "I don't know, maybe I'm just defective or something." She twirled it absentmindedly before moving another desk. Dumbledore was a very smart headmaster, but most of his ideas were shrewd thoughts. Yes, he was right nearly all the time, but he had more important things to do than worry about one student's wand problems. "I don't want to bother the Headmaster." she said softly. "I'm sure this will pass on its own eventually."

[Damien Mathieu's]

"Well I couldn't forget any if I tried I think," he said chuckling. He grinned and pointed his wand at the next desk. "Wingardium Leviosa," he called moving his wand making the desk float to him and he moved letting it float down to the ground in front of him. He turned around to face Rose. "No it's completely fine. I used to have a kitten. Now I have an owl," he said bending down to pet Max and standing back up.

"I don't think anyone can be defective. Not really. Some people just take time to get hang of a spell. I thought I was going to snap my wand the first time I tried to do a spell," he said remembering his first year. He'd heard a crack of a twig and thought it was his wand. He had been rather concerned. "I can try and help," he said.

[Guest]

"Heh, owls make me sneeze." Rose said. There was only a single row of desks left. It was relaxing her finally talking to someone. Seemed like something she should do more often. It didn't matter if the person she was talking to was a Slytherin or from any other house beside her's. "You know, it amazes me that so many Slytherins and Gryffindors hate each other. If they could just ease up around each other or just simply say 'hi' maybe they'll find out some things." she said. She knew her sudden change of topic might be slightly confusing. Rose's mind was always changing from one subject to the next without warning.

Well if she wasn't defective there had to be something. Damien had only just met her and he was offering her help. That was awfully nice of him. Max finally walked over to a corner and curled up for a nap. "I'd appreciate that actually." she eventually said. "Normally I never really ask for help or anything like that, but I'm at my wits end." She chuckled weakly. "Any help would be very much welcome."

[Damien Mathieu's]

Damien was surprised to hear anyone sneezed due to owls. But he didn't say much. It wasn't really his place to judge what some girl did or didn't do. He noticed they were on the last row of desks and swept his wand across the room making all the desks float off to the corner of the room. He smirked at her words and shrugged. "It's a rival thing though. I don't care myself. I'm an outcast in my house," he said not really minding. He was bullied by his own family and it was just a relief to be able to talk to someone who wasn't a muggle.

"I don't know how much I can help, but I certainly can try," he said smiling now. He was relaxing now.

[Guest]

Rose chuckled as all the desks were finally swept away. "Yeah, guess nothing's better than good old fashioned rivalry." she said. She frowned slightly when he called himself and outcast. "Don't think of yourself as an outcast. Think of yourself as a unique individual who aspires to be indifferent to the set ways of other classmates beliefs." she said. "Don't ask me where I got that. I just randomly thought of it." She smiled and rubbed her hands together almost nervously.

"Guess we should get started." she said. "Um, what spell should we practice?" She tossed her wand back and forth between her hands, but stopped when sparks sizzled out.

[Damien Mathieu's]

He grinned as Rose replied and chuckled. "Well where would we be without a little house rivalry to win," he said shrugging. He didn't care much because he wasn't really accepted. He was a mudblood who had anger issues to do with his family and being bullied all of his life. He heard what she said about outcasts and frowned. "It goes a little further than that. I'm what the wizarding world calls a mudblood. My family didn't accept me so why should my house," he said a little annoyed bringing up the reason of he was an outcast. He tried to calm down and sat down on a desk. "Look I'm sorry about that. Just issues with my family," he said apologetically.

"Well what spell do you have most trouble with?" he asked as he thought of several spells. He watched her and swished his wand around gently making a desk bang accidentally. He stopped swishing.

[Guest]

Rose was a little taken aback. Having never had any kind of family problems, she didn't know what to say. She was suddenly more than a little nervous, worried she may have offended him. This was the reason Rose mostly kept to herself. Whenever she tried a spark of humor, it backfired. "I'm sorry." she mumbled. "I can't really say I know what that's like. My family is pretty decent except when my sister gets all the attention." She felt her cheeks warm and hoped he didn't think she was trying to compare their families. Rose wasn't like that at all. "Um, its okay. Anyways, I'm the one who should be sorry." she said. "I kinda assumed the outcast thing was more of a school problem and I shouldn't have." She chewed her lip and turned her head as if she was looking for Max.

"Well, lately I've been practicing the Summoning Spell and failing." she said. "Only thing I managed to summon was Peeves with a bucket of crushed chalk." She aimed her wand at the Hogwarts: A History she had borrowed and demonstrated. "Accio book!" Where earlier when she had been practicing, the book had at least wobbled a few inches, this time it shot right past her head like a bullet. She dodged it by a few inches, her eyes wide in shock. "Either it doesn't move or it tries to behead me." she squeaked as she went to retrieve the book once more.

[Damien Mathieu's]

"It's alright. I'm trying to leave my family if I can though," he said as she apologized. As she talked about her family he listened. He did get a bit jealous of all the families who had decent terms. But he was also overshadowed at school because of his blood. Most Slytherins weren't mudbloods. It was more of a hate for his family that got him into Slytherin. "It's okay Rose. A lot of people assume it's more of a school problem. And it kind of is. I'm an outcast because of my blood," he said shrugging and smiled at her.

Damien tried hard not to chuckle at summoning Peeves with a bucket of crushed chalk. She probably got really white from the powder. And it was a bit amusing to hear that. Although he didn't chuckle, his lips pulled up into a grin on one side. He watched her as she summoned the book and had to dodge it. "It didn't work the first time I tried either," he said walking towards her. He came up behind her and held her body straight as he held her arm with the wand in it. "Try to focus on the object you want to summon," he suggested holding her arm and moving it with her. He still let her have her arm.

Spoiler:

[Guest]

Rose still felt a little guilty about the assuming, but no as much as before. "Well, I know we basically just met, but if you ever need someone to talk to or just listen to you, I'm here." she said. "I'm a pretty good listener." Her face finally stopped burning.

She noticed him trying not to laugh at the joke she'd made about Peeves. In her opinion, holding in laughter was like holding in any other emotion. It wasn't good, but she didn't say anything as he stood behind her. There was another book for her to try to summon and silently she scolded herself for picking up the big books, but at the moment that had been all she had. She took a deep breath. "Okay." she said, visualizing the best she could that the book would fly into her hands and not her head or Damien's seeing as he was right behind her. "If I miss this all I can say is I am terribly sorry...Accio book!" The book rose gently but flew at her too fast for her liking. She caught it after it hit her square in the chest with the force of a well powered punch. "Um...I think I got it.." she gasped. At least it hadn't hit her head or flown past and hit him. There were such things as little miracles.

[Damien Mathieu's]

Damien actually felt a bit relieved to get all of that off his chest, but he wasn't going to full out admit something like that. He was still a boy after all. And men didn't exactly find it in them to admit stuff like that. "Thanks," he said appreciatively and smiled at her.

As he held her close he mumbled things into her ear about focusing on an object. He watched the book fly into the air and come pummeling right at them. Right as he was going to try and pull her away she caught the book. He grinned. He moved back and stood next to her. "Well done. Now can you try to make your book come at you slower and more gently," he said pulling his wand out just in case he had to save them both.

[Guest]

Rose nodded, feeling slightly proud of herself for saying that to Damien. She hardly offered help, worried that she would overstep some invisible boundary she felt around herself. "No problem." she said, smiling back. "That's the second smile I've seen. I know your family and house gives you some problems, but you should still smile when you can. Its good for you." She also recalled his small, almost held in smile earlier. "Holding a smile in is like holding back a sneeze. Your head'll explode." She chuckled, hoping he didn't find what she said too forward. She was still trying to keep a light mood.

There were two other books across the room. She summoned one that was actually quite small, focusing on making it go slowly and not hit her in the chest. At first it was slow and very unsteady as she listened to Damien telling her about keeping focus. Halfway it sped up and sailed almost smoothly to her, but it fell as she went to grab it. That hadn't been because of the spell, though. Rose had been neglecting to wear her glasses as of late. Reluctantly, she pulled the red rimmed spectacles out of an inside pocket on her robes and slid them on. "My fault there. I have no depth perception without these." she mumbled. "Um..how about we try something different. What spells are you having to practice?"

[Damien Mathieu's]

Damien didn't really know what to say to anything she just said. It wasn't that he was insulted by anything she said. He hardly could be. But he always did keep himself from smiling. Maybe it would be best to just let it out every so often. He smirked and chuckled at her. "I don't think it will explode. Just get over my head," he said raising an eyebrow at her.

He watched the book with a grin. He knew she'd manage. And he was there by her side if anything went horribly wrong. The book had nearly reached her and she'd seemed to just move her hand in the wrong direction. He saw her glasses and raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought everyone needed to keep their glasses on if they didn't want to make mistakes," he tried to tease chuckling at her. "Well I've been having trouble with Arresto Momentum," he admitted shrugging his shoulders slightly.

Arresto Momentum! ;
- - Slows the speed of a moving object that is falling.

[Guest]

She chuckled back. "Well, its still good for you." she said. Yeah, she could definitely get use to having someone to talk to. Damien was a pretty nice guy despite the problems he had at school. In a way, she could understand why he tried to hold his smiles back. She did it, herself, in class. "I know the 'head exploding' is kinda silly. Its just something my mother would tell me and my sister when we were trying to be mad at each other and all we wanted to do was smile and make up." She grinned briefly at the memory of Rae tackling her in a big hug.

"True, but I hate my glasses." she muttered. "They make my eyes look wider than usual." She made as if to take them off, but resisted. "Arresto Momentum, huh? I haven't tried that one yet myself, but I have read the theory of it." She tucked her wand behind her ear and picked up the fallen book. "How do you want to go about practicing it? I could find a pillow and toss it up or something." Max decided to make his reappearance and jumped up on what would have been the teacher's desk and curl up with his eyes on the two students.

[Damien Mathieu's]

Damien chuckled and grinned. "Well maybe telling children that is safer. Parents probably don't want a tantrum on their hands," he said smirking at her. "Though my parents just smacked me if I got upset when I was younger," he muttered under his breathe hoping she didn't hear him. It's not like he was abused all the time. It just lead him to hating them more.

"Than get a new pair," he suggested knowing it was easy to get a new pair in the muggle world. But he wasn't sure about in the wizarding world. He didn't exactly know her blood status and he wasn't going to ask her. "Yeah. I'm supposed to learn it for class next week," he said shrugging his shoulders. "How about a book or something to start with? The heavier the object the faster it will fall," he suggested thinking of how the book would fall.

[Guest]

Rose politely ignored the comment he had made about his parents smacking him. It was obvious that it was something he really didn't want to talk about. She wasn't one to prod too much into someone's personal life and she wasn't too keen to upset a new friend. "I never threw tantrums." she said smirking back. "I was the sweetest child in the house. Never ever a problem to my parents." She worked all she could into keeping a straight face.

She gave a slightly sour look. "Can't." she mumbled. Her glasses were her mother's old ones. The school her mother taught at wasn't well funded, so money for muggle things was very tight and that included her glasses. It wasn't something she talked about much and she wasn't going to say much more on the subject. "Um...anyways." she said brightly. "Okay, I'll levitate one of my books then and when you're ready I'll let it go." She cast Wingardium Leviosa on the last book she'd summoned and levitated it to the ceiling. "Just tell me when."

[Damien Mathieu's]

He chuckled and grinned. "So far by the looks of it you may be the sweetest girl I know. But why be so nice to a Slytherin when all they do is bring you hell," he said grinning charmingly. He looked her over forgetting her kitten Max even existed. He'd been quite less bothersome for the moment.

"Oh I'm sorry," he said frowning slightly. He knew it was expensive for glasses. But it wasn't like he was poor or anything. His family wasn't rich but his father did make a bit of money. So he never had to worry about costs of things. He got a lot of things he wanted or saved up. He grinned than and got ready. "I warn you I'm terrible," he said chuckling. "You can drop it anytime," he added holding his wand.

[Guest]

Rose flushed. Her sweet? Quiet maybe, but sweet? Maybe to some. But on another note, why did she talk to Slytherins? Most were rather rude and crude like Malfoy and his gang. Then again, not all Gryffindors were that great. "Well," she said slowly. "I suppose because I'm a risk taker." She smirked. "Besides, aside for my little sister you seem to be the nicest Slytherin." Again, another wave of embarrassment hit her, but she managed not to blush this time. Over in his corner, Max slept on.

She waved her free hand dismissively. "It's okay. Mom says that next year I might be able to get a new pair if- um, we come into some money," she forced the words out. There was no reason for her to be ashamed. Things were the way they were. She took a deep breath. "Okay, catch your book," she said, cutting the spell off.

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