Best of Both Worlds PV: Elsian Cox

Something that Elsian Cox wouldn't admit freely was that he often forgot about things. Big, small, didn't matter. There was at least three times a week where his Remembrall would turn that deep red that meant he'd forgot something again. This time it just so happened to be something rather big.

Though, Elsian had been wandering. Which, was usually when he tended to space out so the argument from before just kinda...slipped his mind he supposed.

Wandering was something that he'd found himself doing rather early on in his arrival to Hogwarts and had quickly escalated into what could only be described as habit now. So finding his way to the library wasn't out of the norm. Rather he'd come here often enough between studying and free time. This time he'd simply stopped by to try and find a book on herbs since he was nearby.

Walking through one of the shelves for a bit before starting to move on when nothing caught his eye. At first he didn't even see her and she obviously didn't see him either since she didn't yell like the loony way she'd done before. But the moment he stepped out though he did see her. His mood instantly soured, lips twitching when they threatened to turn into a grimace and he turned away ready to nope his way out of there as fast as possible because he didn't expect the girl to actually be there and he did not want to deal with this right now.

So, robes fluttering behind him and hands bunched up into fists underneath his sleeves he started to move past her a few tables away, quickly moving when she had her nose buried in what he could only assume was homework. All the while cursing his life because of course she'd gotten a table near the doorway.

How had they not noticed each other! Was he that much of an airhead?

Defense Against the Dark Arts really was a bummer, and she was quickly losing interest and falling asleep. This wasn't due for a few more days and she had honestly made good progress in the homework. She made the decision that if Elsian didn't show up by the time she finished reading this chapter she'd head back to her Common Room. She couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness in her heart at this impression that she left on him about Wiccans, that she would presumably never get to fix. She pulled her legs up in her chair to sit criss coss, when her head resting in her palm as she read the book that was laying on the table.

As soon as she finished the chapter she snapped the book close, getting a scowl from the librarian. She looked up to do a final scan of the library in case he was here, and there he was. Trying to... sneak out?

She tilted her head a bit watching him try to slip past her, but assumed he just didn't notice her because otherwise that would just be rude! "Elsian! I'm over here!" She attempted to say it in the loudest of whispers without disturbing the people studying around her, and gave a small wave. "This library is so big, I'm not surprised that you completely missed me!" She let out a small giggle, she knew subconsciously that he was definitely trying to not talk to her, but she wasn't going to let that happen. She had to fix this.

He'd almost made it out the door. So bloody close.

Sighing under his breath he turned to Willow and walked over deciding to just face the music. He eyed the books lying scattered across the table with a look of confusion because these couldn't be from the library. Had she brought these from her home? Granted, the big one looked special. He couldn't help the lingering look he gave it as he took in the details because it looked so different than any book he'd ever seen.

It looked...really cool.

He wouldn't admit that aloud though. Not to her.

Grabbing one of the chairs he sat down, figuring if he was going to be here he might as well sit. Although, part of him knew he'd just be leaving in a moment. "what's all this for?" he questioned waving to the table, he had to fight back the urge to say fake magic just to get a rise.

"No offense but, I'm not sure it's a good idea for us to talk about this...wicca magic." He had a feeling it would just end in frustration for both parties. "Lets just leave it at a disagreement yeah?" he hummed, fingers pushing at the corner of the table as he got ready to stand.

This time, she was keeping a close eye on him to make sure she didn't tip him over. It was going to be a challenge since this time, he was probably already mad at her rather than coming in with a blank slate of opinion towards her. She caught the look he gave her grandmother's journal, a small grin growing across her face as she was really trying to throw the coolest stuff she had at him to pull him in.

She started to put all of her homework away neatly to leave just the two Wiccan books between them. "All of this, is for a more... productive conversation than earlier. I can get rather defensive very quick about this stuff, fake magic has been my whole life after all." She was hoping maybe some humor would be able to break this tense air around them.

"Lets just leave it at a disagreement yeah?" She shrugged in response, trying to play it cool while freaking out on the inside about how to keep him here. "Sure, we can leave it as a disagreement. But! Consider this, wouldn't it be cool to learn the uh.. how did you put it earlier? Folklore! First hand? A primary source is always the best one isn't it? Rather than hearing about it from Wizards who probably have never even seen Wiccans in real life."

She pushed the hand bound journal towards him, "This is my grandmothers. I was feeling homesick, so my parents sent an owl with the journal so I get to borrow it for a little bit before they need it back. I'm only a 3rd generation Wiccan, so my family still has a lot to learn but I do have some knowledge to share." She looked up from the journal, trying to gauge his reaction to everything. She really had to learn how to talk less.

He'd been a bit surprised when the other called it fake magic, repeating his own words that had probably actually started this whole thing in the first place. Surprise quickly morphed into a startled laugh that had him turning his gaze away to muffle the sudden laugh forcing it's way past his throat behind one of his hands. Barely escaping the wrath of the librarian as she scanned in their direction.

After that remark he'd started to look at her with slightly renewed interest. Fingers relaxing against the tables edge as he let himself slouch into the seat. All but sealing his fate when he propped his arm up to lean his chin against, eyeing moving over what she was offering and lingering on that journal because she'd basically gotten him hook, line and sinker with her little speech.

She had a point. What with hearing the info from the source rather than rumors. Sure he'd been able to see a little about wiccans when he'd found a story book about them but other than that there wasn't a lot of info about them at Hogwarts or his home for that matter. He found himself tilting his head from side to side mulling over her words, trying to find a reason to not stay but really, his curiosity of his had always been one of his downfalls.

"I guess you're right," he agreed slowly.

She talked a lot. But he couldn't say he hated it when others were talkative. Usually it meant he could leave the conversation to them. This one though, well he wondered if the Hufflepuff was usually this talkative or if it was a nervous tick what with how passive aggressive she was being about this whole thing.

Damn if it didn't work though! He'd give her that.

Dragging himself from his thought's Elsian perked up slightly when the journal was pushed to him. Fingers working out of habit to work it open gently once he'd gotten a closer look at the design though he paused to actually get past the cover since he wasn't sure if that would be alright.

"So it's homemade." he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"So what exactly do you have in it? Spells? Potions?" he questioned. His fingers tapped atop the wooden surface of the table as he started to think, gaze turning from his lock on the book back to Willow.

"Or is it rather a hot pot of info gathered together?"

She was nearly bouncing out of her seat in excitement that she got him to stay, and that he was actually interested in learning about this topic that had consumed so much of her life. She watched as he started to open the journal, but then stopped. "You're allowed to open it and go through it. I wouldn't put it in front of you if I didn't want you to open it."

She propped her head up in both of her hands, giving him a second to ask the questions that he had. "Yes, it's homemade. The journal and the notes inside of it. It starts off with my grandma talking about what this religion meant to her, and the ideals she wanted to embody within it. She was really trying to prepare to pass this on to the next generation. After that, its different spells and potions that she has notes on. She wasn't a fan of annotating within her actual spell book so she did it here. After awhile of using this, you kind of know where the different things are that you're looking for. We're still adding to it too, the journal isn't filled yet."

If Elsian were to open it, the inside cover would have words burned into the leather in cursive: "To Rowena, may your fire burn for eternity." After that, careful script outlining everything Willow had talked about. Just the values and history alone went for about 10 pages. Throughout the journal there were dried flowers and herbs taped or pasted to the pages to make sure they wouldn't go missing, along with their accompanying spell and potion that they were a part of. The annotations were a lot messier than the initial chapter, for someone looking for the first time it is absolute chaos within the pages.

As she let him look through it, she spoke up again. "I wanted to apologize for earlier. I really did lose myself, normally I'm not like that. Being here I've felt especially disconnected from this, it is a religion after all, that means a lot to me. It's a big adjustment for a muggle to come here, and have to learn everything about the wizarding world. Such as, what a muggle is. I don't even know much about purebloods, or even if you are a pureblood. So I'm sorry for even bringing that up. I think it was just the thing that broke me, and it wasn't fair to take it out on you." As she spoke, her eyes stayed focused on the pages of the journal, or her hands. She was extremely embarrassed of her behavior from earlier, and even though she had rehearsed the apology she definitely forgot a few things she wanted to say but she got her main points out and that was good enough for her.

"Alright," he hummed, flipping the book open. He lingered on the cover, finger tapping once atop the page as he skimmed the cursive before flipping it to another page starting to skim over the contents.

It was way different than anything he'd ever read before. A work of pure organized chaos. Not to say it was bad. Actually the opposite. He liked it, at least what he'd seen so far. Yes it was messier than the books he was used to but it did have a somewhat invisible order to it all. Something he really couldn't put into words if he tried.

The dried flowers and herbs were what really caught his attention though. Taped to the pages he let hs fingers gently skim over the plants, partly skimming over the spells and potions written on the page and the rest of his brain admiring the plants because they just looked so nice somehow on the pages.

He liked it. Really liked it but still. The rational part of his brain. The one pushed to always question the info given to him nagged at him to not get excited. It was fake. Just made up nonsense as long as there was no proof.

Hearing he speak he half heartedly dragged his attention from the book and back to her, green eyes locking onto her face as she purposely looked anywhere but at him. His mothers words rang in his ears, high and angry reminding him it was rude to avoid eye contact but he bit back the words that tried to slip past. Pushing her words from his head as he focused on what the huff was actually trying to say and...the apology was a surprise. One that made him feel slightly guilty. Apologies always made him feel that way.

"I'm sorry too then. I'm told I can sound...mean even when I don't mean to be. Still," he made a small wave between them, as if gesturing to the situation, "while this is interesting," more than that but he wasn't about to show it, "I still don't agree with you on it."

"With that said..." he flopped forward, elbows resting atop the table and head resting in his hands and gave her a sharp grin, pointing a finger at some of the spells he'd flipped to in the journal,"why not prove it instead?"

Green eyes wandered back to the dried plants, fingers toying with the edge of a page as he debated turning it before shrugging. His expression slipping back into the calm distance as he looked back at the pages, "course' you don't have to. I'm fine with just this much." he admitted, offering an easy escape if she didn't feel comfortable with it.

"just how many of these spells can you do without getting into trouble anyways?"

Her eyes returned up to his face once he returned the apology, feeling like ground was being made. Until he said he didn't agree with what she was presenting. "I think you're missing the point, I'm not trying to make you believe or agree with anything. I'm just showing you a piece of this, to give you a new view point." She was trying to not get frustrated again, she was just trying to share this with him. She almost boiled over again when he asked her to prove it. She started fiddling with her hair, a tick of hers when she got nervous or frustrated to occupy some of her energy.

"This isn't about... proving anything. I mean, first off the ingredients Hogwarts has versus what we need for these are completely different, and less mystical. We wouldn't necessarily get in trouble for them especially if no one believes in this in the first place here, like you. I was just trying to... share this with you. I mean, if you really want to do one I can just owl my parents for ingredients and stuff but it might take a while to receive it from them." As she mulled it over, she thought it might be fun to actually show him how it's done. But, if they did that it probably wouldn't change his opinion. This stuff has more long-term effects rather than instant effects. Especially when you have to believe in it in the first place. "If we go through with this, you have to have at least an ounce of belief in this. If you go in not believing it will work, it won't. So, if you want I can pick out a spell that I think would be harmless and more fun and I can owl you when I've received the ingredients from my parents." The ball was thrown back in his court, she was on the fence on what response she would be excited to receive for him but she'd work with it either way.

He wasn't so proud to simply brush aside what the other was saying so he listened. Quickly noticing what he guessed was a tick as she started fiddling with her hair. He'd seen it enough to pick up on it. Habits, that was. After a few years of being the one to cause it was usually easy to pick up when it was happening in front of him so he simply listened. Not daring to say a word until he was sure the other was finished because he usually got yelled at or sent people in a huff when he did.

Elsian fought down the grin that wanted to curl on his lips as the other started talking about actually doing the spell biting the inside of his cheek whilst mulling over the others words. He wanted proof, it was just his nature. If something was said he wanted something that proved the truth behind the words. Yet on the other hand he had to admit she had a good point on going in without at least a little belief.

Fingers tapped at the table and he stared down at the book for a moment, glossing over the pages without truly reading them before nodding, looking back to Willow.

"Alright. I get it, I'll try and keep an open mind to this whole thing," he replied, voice serious despite the small glint of childish excitement that showed with his smile.

Even if it didn't work. Even if it just strengthened his original disbelief about the whole wicca business...He wanted to try. Besides, it seemed interesting. He wanted more info on this whole thing but...

He gave the other a look of disbelief when she suggested he choose the spell.

"Shouldn't we pick one out together? I don't know how to judge wicca magic..." he admitted, trailing off. "Knowing my luck I'd end up choosing all the bad ones." he deadpanned entirely serious, "this is your warning, my lucks that bad."