Tomfoolery and Clumsiness: A Summation PV

Keep your head down and mind your own business.

Such was Robert's mantra for his Hogwarts experience. He'd witnessed a fair amount of muggle-born hazing, pranks up the wazoo, and various other instances of student culture that he wasn't particularly fond of. As much as he desired to make friends, it was clear it was best done in an individual setting. People just seemed more approachable then. As he exited one of his classes he practiced the keep your head down motto, books in hand as he made his way back to the study room. It was his full intention to get some homework done.

"Oh crap!"

He watched a boy who looked around his age, maybe younger due to his smaller stature, careen into the floor possessions scattered. The familiar look of embarrassment was plastered all over the dude's face as he attempted to collect his things. Robbie had a choice, to either keep walking like most were, to continue to mind his own, or to help. He spent a while considering these two options, even to the point where he slowed to a near stop as he approached Thomas, before ultimately deciding to assist.

Crouching next to his fellow first year, Robbie began wordlessly helping. He gathered some of the stray papers that had made it far from Thomas' grasp, mumbling under his breath, "My name's Robert, but you can call me Robbie. What's yours?" The introduction was fairly haphazard, as Robbie was focused on collecting his peer's possessions. "You have so many books. What year are you in?"

Thomas' face went red hot when he noticed someone had come to help him. Great, poor little Tommy was getting pitied now, fantastic.

"Tommy. Baines. Tommy Baines, I mean, that's my full name," came the clipped reply. The introduction was short, maybe even impolite by some standards, but he was mortified beyond measure. The fact that someone who he didn't even know was offering to help made him feel like a colossal loser. Hating failure was one thing, but resenting himself for getting help he definitely needed was quite another. Still, both sentiments found themselves painstakingly ingrained in his psyche, and it was honestly ruining the moment.

Belatedly, he noted that Robbie had asked him a second question, to which he replied, "First year." The comment about the number of books he had rubbed him the wrong way. Was it bad to be so excited about studying? He knew his peers in Ravenclaw would probably not think so, but it seemed like this fellow in the yellow robes disagreed. As he contemplated, he realized that he was being weirdly quiet as he packed up his bag, which was probably throwing off his peer who had come to his rescue. Starting to feel bad for his comparative rudeness, even though he was still affronted by the implications of the book statement, he offered Robbie a follow up question. "How about you?" The olive branch was weak, sure, but it was something.

"Really? Me too, actually!" Robbie offered Tommy an enthusiastic smile, sensing the tension and awkwardness in the conversation. Not that he knew how to ameliorate it at all; with confidence and extroversion often came complete and utter obliviousness to social cues. As he finished stacking up Tom's papers and handing them over, Robbie retained hold on a few of the textbooks, wordlessly offering to carry them for the boy. "Do you bring your books everywhere? Gosh, it's like you're a walking library!" The comment was meant in jest, of course. Robbie was mostly impressed at his fellow student's dedication, though the blue robes were a dead giveaway.

Tommy must be a smart dude! That's what his limited time as Hogwarts had taught him, after all. Slytherins were all jerks, Hufflepuffs were all nice pushovers, Gryffindors were all proud, and Ravenclaws were intelligent. He hadn't spoken to anyone drastically outside of those stereotypes, and so they remained unchallenged. In fact, most of the people he'd met thus far heavily upheld his vague opinions of the houses, though he'd yet to properly meet a Slytherin.

It was a notion he was unsure of how to feel about. While on the one hand, it was easy to simply base his opinions on others by the color of their robes, it felt like a hasty generalization logical fallacy. Especially considering he felt that he didn't fit the Hufflepuff archetype much at all. Despite the fact that many probably thought his placement made him some sort of softie, Robbie felt no great urge to prove otherwise. Instead, he remained content that he'd be underestimated. As he contemplated these thoughts on the houses, thoughts going through his mind quickly, he amended his statement, for fear of offending Tommy again with the usage of assumption to judge the other boy's character.

"Are you pretty smart? I've seen you in Potions before, you're always quiet. I've never seen you have to ask for help once!"

"Do you bring your books everywhere? Gosh, it's like you're a walking library!"

Just as he'd recovered from the initial mortification of making a fool of himself, Tommy felt red hot embarrassment flash up in his face once again at the statement. Though, with this embarrassment came a good deal of annoyance and anger that hadn't been kindled in the conversation at first. He opened his mouth to quip back with a scathing retort, probably calling Robbie a dolt in the process, but he was interrupted before he could even begin.

"Are you pretty smart? I've seen you in Potions before, you're always quiet. I've never seen you have to ask for help once!"

Unsure of how to respond to the... Compliment? That's what it was, right? Tommy just smiled awkwardly and stood up, possessions now firmly in his grasp. He realized it was one of those statements that he should probably reply to, and he hastily went on to say, "Well, I don't think I'm much smarter than anyone else in the room. I've just been doing as much reading as I can about the potions and stuff we're going over ahead of time. The subject's interesting, and it's nice to come in with a baseline instead of coming in with no background information." He didn't bother to mention, of course, that that was what he had been doing in all subjects. Tommy was decidedly fascinated by the learning to be done at Hogwarts, and as such was trying to learn it all as quickly as possible. Yes, even if that meant self-studying.

"What classes do you like? And are you gonna give me those books back?"

"Well, I don't think I'm much smarter than anyone else in the room. I've just been doing as much reading as I can about the potions and stuff we're going over ahead of time. The subject's interesting, and it's nice to come in with a baseline instead of coming in with no background information."

"Huh, go figure." Robbie was too busy being behind to get ahead, but he certainly could appreciate Thomas' hard work. Or, at the very least, his humility in the event that it was actually just natural aptitude. He couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed at his own academic performance in the presence of someone who seemed to know what they were talking about so frequently. Suddenly, it struck him that Tommy was starting to talk again, and he'd nearly missed the question(s) as he was deeply entrenched in his own head.

"What classes do you like? And are you gonna give me those books back?"

"Charms is cool," he noted. Transfiguration was too precise for his liking, and Defense Against the Dark Arts was vaguely scary. Astronomy was hard, and History of Magic was a snore fest. Potions was quite alright, but not unlike Transfiguration it required attention to detail, and Robbie's generally scatterbrained demeanor didn't lend itself to high marks. "And no, I'm going to help you with your books whether you like it or not." A teasing grin broke out on the boy's face, gesturing for Tommy to lead the way.

"Where to next?" He bit back the urge to add in a teasing, Einstein nickname, primarily because he had a feeling Thomas wouldn't like it much.

"I like most of my classes. Even the apparently boring ones."

"And no, I'm going to help you with your books whether you like it or not."

Tommy's expression soured considerably as he considered Robbie's gesture of kindness. What was this kid up to, anyways, going out of his way to help a stranger? To Thomas, this went beyond the typical politeness (holding doors, for example), and he couldn't help but think that the boy was up to something. It reminded him, in fact, of a certain Rosie Parker. "You can't make me accept any gestures of good will, just on the record. I'm just letting you help me because I can," he sharply clarified.

After a moment's pause, he added, "Also, the library. I was planning on doing some extra reading on gargoyles so I can do well on the History of Magic homework." He was tempted to invite Robbie to come along, but he much preferred to study in solitude. Besides, Thomas was still not convinced of the boy's sincerity. The last thing he needed was to invite the fox into his chicken coop, he noted.

Before Robbie could answer, Tommy already started to walk, casting a look back to the Hufflepuff boy. He'd never much been a fan of niceties after all, which showed in how he handled interpersonal relations.