The Second Meeting PV Cleo Cabello Finished

Ruby was a little glad that she had been able to find someone that she could talk a lot with about deeper things than in normal conversations – small talk exhausted her after a while. The opportunity to have an argument and convince someone with different views to try and see her side the way she did was greatly welcomed. After all, she did need to use her brain to formulate a convincing argument, and actual meaningful mental exercises were nice. Sure, maybe she didn't think that Cleo's points were as strong as her own, and maybe the other girl was being a little repetitive sometimes, but it was still quite nice and perhaps Ruby was being a tad bit unfair to the Gryffindor.

Cleo's bewilderment and complete confusion with what Ruby had said threw her off a bit. She almost laughed, but that might have come across as mean or rude. Her comment had apparently been misinterpreted. “I meant that we should finish our conversation first and either search for a professor right after that, or tomorrow, or something… sometime this week.”

“I'm not religious, no, but souls are real in this world, in case you weren't aware of that. Something like the Killing Curse damages your soul and splits it when it's cast. So, congratulations, your feelings that souls exist are correct. Also, Dementors can suck your… soul… out… yeah. If you're talking about fully knowing yourself, most people don't truly know themselves but there are ways to understand yourself and others very deeply – again, psychology helps. Regarding that rabbit thing, yes, I'm sure that's right, which is why there are reactions that the majority have, but I expect that someone would be able to explain why that difference occurred.” Right as Ruby finished her sentence, she was interrupted by Cleo's laughter.

She stared at the Gryffindor, slightly bewildered and concerned, but managed to insert a sentence regarding souls while Cleo was laughing after she had said about the apparent "silliness" of souls. “Souls are… real…” she muttered, watching the other girl and wondering what, exactly, had brought this on. One minute, Cleo was serious, making an argument, and sharing her beliefs, but the next, she was laughing and all the seriousness had apparently disappeared.

However, when Cleo started talking about a half-dog, half-toddler creature, Ruby took a moment to completely picture it in her head. Before she realized it, she was laughing too, her eyes shining. “That's a really scary or just plain weird image,” she commented, biting her lip ever so slightly to stop the laughter. “I can also assure you that your mind is far more advanced than that of a toddler or dog,” Ruby managed to add with a smirk, accompanied by a few chuckles.

“It's not a problem,” Ruby assured Cleo as the girl apologized. The Slytherin now had a smile on her face that lit up her eyes. “If you want, we could get off of all these serious topics and talk about something else,” she added with a shrug.

“Also, I'm glad I could help with a bit of positivity. If you would like, we could start planning ways to make changes and ask a professor about that too.”

“Oh okay.” Cleo laughed. She did tend to overreact sometimes. There wasn’t a particicular reason for it, it was just  a part of her personality. When Ruby mentioned the killing curse, Cleo almost laughed humourlessly at her own stupidity. Her mother had told her a bit about wizarding history and You Know Who’s rise and fall of power, but she hadn’t actually thought about what spells they would use to achieve that. But splitting your soul... she wondered if muggle murders split your soul aswell.

Cleo nodded when Ruby mentioned dementors- she’d heard of those. The killing curse she hadn’t, however, she decided that she didn’t want to bring it up with Ruby. She felt as if she was friends with the other girl now, but she didn’t want to have that conversation, and the fact that the girl would probably know all about it scared her a little. Cleo did feel some curiosity about the curse, though most of her mind shied away from the subject. She was only 11, and yet to know of some of the major cruelties of the world.

“Wow thanks for that! I’ve been here for a while now but there are still little things I don’t know that surprise me every day. I don’t find it unenjoyable though- the opposite actually. It’s like you can never fully know everything but that you should keep trying, and I like that feeling. It’s only natural that the wizarding world would have its dark side though, every complicates thing does, but it’s important to know about it too, I guess, no matter how much we may not want to. If dementors suck your soul out, do... do you die?” Cleo asked timidly, her voice trailing off at the end. Souls were an interesting topic to her and she did want to know, just to be prepared if she ever did meet a dementor.

“I guess you’re right that we can know what animals are thinking, we just can’t be 100% accurate. I like that though. I feel like the world would be a little tedious if everything could be explained down to the last point on a spreadsheet... Oh, right... do you know what a spreadsheet is? I suppose the muggle world is a detailed place aswell.” Cleo smiled. She’d known a lot of people in her lifetime so far who complained about how complicated and unfair the world was, but that was the precise reason that Cleo liked it. Cleo, unlike many, enjoyed the unexpected- unless it was something unexpected that would harm her or she was afraid of. She was usually glad to be where she was, and although her moods changed often, would try to remind herself of that. 

“I didn’t mean that I thought souls existing was funny, just that my mind can be weird sometimes.” Cleo said matter of factly.

“Oh well thanks for reassuring me.” Cleo retorted back, thankfully knowing that her mind was more advanced than a toddler’s. She wasn’t one to start sarcasm  or irony but did find it funny as long as it was in an unoffensive way.

“Sure, we should talk about something random... okay well I didn’t want to say I didn’t know what we should talk about because that would be seriously unhelpful, but I don’t actually know myself so I guess randomness is the answer to me.” Cleo giggled.

“Yes!” Cleo said, seizing the subject. “That’s what we should talk about! How do you change so many problems, we should pick one to start with I think and try and find a professor.”

Ruby smiled at Cleo's laugh. Overreaction could be dealt with easily as long as it was voiced and addressed quickly – otherwise, it could get rather out of hand. At least this time it had only been a small misunderstanding that didn't mean much, rather than something like the problem ending their first meeting… both of them had overreacted in that instance.

Ruby had been a little cautious while broaching the subject of Dementors and the Killing Curse. Although they proved the existence of souls, it could cause the conversation to end badly, depending on what Cleo knew and how much her mother had told her. Thankfully, Cleo just nodded and seemed to accept it – possibly absorbing some new knowledge. Ruby decided not to push the subject any more. Cleo didn't need to know about the horrors that magic could create. Ruby only knew about it to some extent, but she fully intended to learn more when she was older and had more access to things on that topic. After all, knowing only one side of something could create ignorance and an unbalanced perspective, and Ruby hated to be without huge chunks of knowledge on a topic as important as that one.

Ruby found herself smiling again as Cleo thanked her for the new knowledge. Perhaps the Slytherin had underestimated the other girl a bit. She hadn't really expected Cleo to be so interested in knowledge. Then again, Cleo had been reading right before they first met. Maybe the two girls were more similar than she had previously realized – that was something to consider. “Oh, no problem. Do you love gaining all kinds of new knowledge, like me, or are you just interested in the Wizarding World and magic? If you have any questions, I'll do my best to try and answer them. Regarding your question about Dementors, no, you don't die when your soul is sucked out. Apparently, it's worse than death… it's like you become an empty shell – merely a casing.” By the end of her comment, Ruby was almost whispering and her eyes were glittering – both of which made it seem even more dramatic.

Cleo's next comment made Ruby raise an eyebrow. “There is a reason why science and scientists exist, you know. Astrology, mathematics, and people that create new technologies to aid those things also go hand in hand with that,” she commented, not in an unkind way. “I know what a spreadsheet is, as well. My parents use them for their business work. They do use some Muggle things.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow at Cleo again. “Is that so…?” she murmured in response to what Cleo said. She still watched the Gryffindor carefully.

When Cleo retorted with sarcasm, Ruby almost grinned. Finally, some sarcasm. Ruby was frequently sarcastic, and being around so many Slytherins that used sarcasm a lot as well caused her to bring that out more often. When she was around members of other houses, particularly Hufflepuffs and occasionally Gryffindors – Ravenclaws even less – she had to be careful to not scare them away by using it too much, or she had to be careful that she wouldn't be misunderstood/misinterpreted. Well aware that Cleo was being sarcastic, Ruby cheerfully replied, “You're welcome! Any time, any time,” with a big grin plastered on her face.

Ruby found Cleo's supposed desire for "randomness" amusing. Was randomness really a true thing – was anything ever random? Perhaps randomness was merely a concept, a word that was created to describe something that seemed sudden or out of place, but had evolved into something that couldn't really be measured. What constituted randomness? What really made something random? Who decided this, anyway? What many people thought of as "random" had actually come up in conversation because someone had been thinking about something and they had made connections, so their thought process brought the topic of conversation to something that might seem entirely different. However, it wasn't really "random", because it had been thought through. Perhaps a complex chain of associations had led to it – or maybe it was a direct path from the original subject to the new one, based on what both of these subjects meant to the person that had "changed the subject".

She was quite content to figuratively retreat into her mind for a little bit while she puzzled over this, but Cleo quickly stole Ruby's attention again by speaking. “Alright, then. What would you like to change first? If you could change anything about the world, what would it be? We can discuss the possibility and probability of changing it after you choose something – it doesn't need to be final." When Ruby finished her sentence, she looked out of the window. After she had briefly watched the snow that was gently falling, she craned her neck slightly to try and find the sun's position. Moving closer to the window for a moment, she held up her hands and positioned them in a certain way, counting the fingers between the sun and what she could see of the horizon.

There was still enough time for them to talk for a while, thankfully, but she figured that they should arrange a time and place for their next meeting now. “Eventually, it's going to get too late and we'll have to go. Meet me back here, in the Library, in 2 days. As for the time, come here right after classes end for the day. We can discuss some more things and then look for a teacher. Does that sound alright to you?”

Cleo couldn’t help but smile when Ruby did- it was just infectious. It was like the other, cleverer girl was letting go some of her mask, and allowing her emotions to show through.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever love learning as much as you,” Cleo admitted in response to Ruby’s question. “but I do enjoy it and although I didn’t really used to be, since coming into the wizarding world I’ve been really curious about everything.” She paused, mulling over Ruby’s words on dementors. If she was honest with herself, Ruby’s reactions scared her a little. She couldn’t tell if the other girl was excited or terrified at the prospect of having your soul sucked out. “Do dementors ever come out of Azkaban then?” Cleo asked quietly. “Can they be stopped?”

Cleo grinned slightly when Ruby said that she could ask any questions. Inside she was still a little shaken up, and anyone looking close enough would have been able to see the chaos in her eyes. Truth be told, the idea of dementors really scared her. The way her mother had described them to her probably hadn’t helped. They live on fear, take your good memories until only the most horrific events of your past remain. Her mother had said. But don’t worry, you’ll likely never meet one.

Now Cleo wondered if her mother had lied, wanting to protect her daughter from fear. After all, nobody can be certain of the future, or so Cleo thought. However, Cleo knew that she would never willingly do anything that would give the Ministry of Magic a chance to send her to Azkaban. As cruel as it may be, fear is one of the best ways of controlling people. Cleo hated it, but it worked on her too.

“Okay, okay.” Cleo laughed with her hands in the air, happier now that she’d pushed all thoughts of dementors to the back fo her mind. “We can use science for nearly everything... but how was I supposed to know if you knew what a spreadsheet was? I bet lots of people here don’t.” Cleo said, smiling. In reality, she wasn’t that surprised. She’d like to find something that Ruby didn’t know.

“Oh it is so.” Cleo assured Ruby teasingly. “It happens or the best of us.”

When Cleo had finally used her mediocre sarcastic skills she caught the rise in Ruby’s mood. “And to think, where would I be without that? I owe you my life. At least I’m now fairly sure I won’t wake up one year old and two feet tall” Cleo said, jokingly putting a hand on her heart.

Cleo abruptly turned more serious at Ruby’s next sentence. “Well there’s more than one thing I want to change... but I think people need to remember that we don’t need to just solve humanity’s problems.” Cleo said slowly. “I love animals, and I believe they deserve their freedom just as much as we do. This might be just because I come from a seaside town but I would use magic to help save them. We learn magic for seven years here and will likely know hundreds of spells by the end. There must be something to get rid of plastic or to multiply fish to prevent overfishing. Maybe wizards and witches are doing something to help, but even if they are it doesn’t seem to be working all too well.”

Cleo watched as Ruby surveyed the landscape out the window. She didn’t know how deeply the other girl’s beliefs ran but she seemed to want to change things for the better. When Ruby seemed to  calculate the time using the sun it made Cleo grin inside. She was glad to have someone like Ruby on her side now. She was very smart- anybody could see that, and Cleo found herself becoming fond of the other Slytherin.

“That sounds great.” Cleo said enthusiastically. “I’ll be there... But isn’t there something you’d particularly like to change?” She added. Cleo knew that Ruby didn’t think in the same way that she did, but she felt that Ruby must have at least some priorities.

~ * ~

“Fair enough. It's good to be curious, though, even if it's limited to a few subjects. I just happen to be curious about almost everything. You know the saying "curiosity killed the cat"? Well, I think it's a shame that people use it. They forget that there's a second part to it – "but satisfaction brought it back". People shouldn't be discouraging those who are curious, especially when they're omitting the most important part of the saying that they're using to do so,” Ruby said matter-of-factly. Cleo then asked some questions about dementors. Ruby didn't know that much on the subject – after all, there weren't many people who would allow a young child near that type of content, but Ruby's insatiable curiosity had led her to find ways around issues of people not providing her with enough information. “They have come out of Azkaban before. There's also a spell that can stop them… well, sort of.” She didn't want to delve into the topic too deeply for fear of scaring Cleo too much – although, perhaps Cleo's imagination would scare her more than the truth would, but Ruby had no way of knowing whether that was the case.

“My slight indignance was not in response to the implication that I didn't know what a spreadsheet was, don't worry,” she replied with a small smile.

As Cleo said, “At least I’m now fairly sure I won’t wake up one year old and two feet tall”, Ruby chuckled. She pictured the Gryffindor suddenly waking up in the body of a one-year-old and had to take her mind off of it before she got too confused or imagined it too in-depth.

Back to serious conversation. Ruby nodded. “It would be changing the world, not only helping humanity.” Her mind drifted off to the logistics and magnitude of the whole thing and she almost burst out laughing at its absurdity. Saving the world for real. How would they do this? They were so, so young – but it wouldn't be that way forever. There was still a possibility of actually succeeding, even if it was slim. Besides, if they didn't even try, what use would they be? What kind of people would that make them?

“Of course there's stuff to change. There's a lot that I want to change, but–” she broke off to glance at the sun's position again– “that'll have to wait for another day, unfortunately, because I have to go now.” She rose from her chair and took a step in the direction of the door. “I apologize for the abruptness of my departure, but I'll see you in two days, and we can discuss it then.” A brisk nod from her followed her words, and she left with a small wave.

~ * ~

“I agree, curiosity did not kill the cat. Curiosity is great but you can also see why people could think that it’s bad in large quantities. Curiosity is how a lot of people learn, and if people encourage education, then they’d should also encourage curiosity.”

Cleo smiled, she was really beginning to like Ruby, who was very perceptive for an eleven year old. However, she suspected that Ruby was withholding some information about the subject of dementors, which, just this once, was fine by her- she was starting to trust the other girls judgement. 

Cleo’s smile grew into a fully fledged grin at Ruby’s statement about humanity. In her opinion, it was almost good enough to be a quote. “Yes, that’s all too true. People are often very selfish, myself included, and they don’t even realise it. You’re startlingly good with your words, you know. I’m thinking that maybe you could be some kind of speech writer when you’re older but you’re so intelligent that I don’t doubt that you could achieve anything you set your mind to.”

“Oh.” Cleo blinked when Ruby said she had to leave. “Okay then. I’ll see you at the library the day after tomorrow. I can’t wait for this ‘notion’ of ours to get underway.”