A Little Bit of History PV Simon Tilia Finished

It was almost ironic that the one potion he would have great use of was the one he failed terribly in brewing. Thankfully, Professor Regan had been all cool about it, although she had pointed out that his Bruise Removal Paste was not acceptable and had to be remade. Professor Regan knew he struggled in Potions, he knew it, and his classmates knew it. Every lesson seemed to end with another bruise mark on his self-esteem and there were no pastes for that type of bruises.

He sniffed the arm of his robe. It still smelled of Murtlap Tentacles; a bitter reminder that he hade made his first mistake even on the very first step of the instructions from the chapter in Magical Drafts and Potions. He removed his robe and stopped in front of a glass cabinet in the corridor to check his hair. As usual, the steam from the boiling cauldrons had made his fringe curly, as if the humid air in the Dungeons was not enough.

The failure in Potions class was part of why he was looking forward to go to the library to study history. A subject in which he was well-read and exceeded with excellent results on his home works. When Alyssea owled him to study with her, he was a bit surprised. They had not spent any time together since they ended up locked in a broom closet after a snowball fight with some bullies before Christmas break. It was a nice surprise though. Simon looked up to Alyssea, especially in History of Magic.

He opened the doors to the library, adjusted the shoulder strap of his brown leather bag and looked around. Then he spotted her. A short girl with wavy, brown hair and a concentrated look on her face, waiting for him a bit further inside the library. Simon smiled as he approached her.

"Hi. Sorry I'm late. Had to find a bathroom to wash myself properly after Potions class. How's everything?"

late january 2023; interacting with @Simon Tilia

She heard the footsteps and looked up. She smiled as it was, indeed, the Ravenclaw boy from her history class. His hair was slightly curly and she wondered if that was his normal hair texture.

They had only spoken a few words every class, so this was their first proper meeting since Christmas. She smiled at the memory of that day. It wasn't what she expected at all, but maybe that's what made it all the more special. It certainly made for an interesting first impression.

Simon smiled. "Hi. Sorry I'm late. Had to find a bathroom to wash myself properly after Potions class."

Alyssea shook her head and offered him a smile back. "That's all good. I wasn't waiting for too long. How was Potions, by the way?"

They made their way inside and found an empty table near the history section to settle their books. She made a beeline for the shelf immediately after and stood there with one arm crossed across her body and the other leaning against it with her hand on her chin. Did she know where to start? Not exactly.

She started with a bit of small talk to ease them into a comfortable atmosphere. "Is your hair naturally curly? Or did something happen in Potions to make them curly? I can't imagine we've done any physical potions yet."

"That's all good. I wasn't waiting for too long. How was Potions, by the way?"

"The usual", said Simon and shook his head. "I got the recipe mixed up at one point, so I tried to fix it by increasing the other ingredients, but it was too late for that apparently. Had to redo it, from the beginning." He sighed. "But now to something more interesting – history!"

They went further inside the library and took their seat near the history section. Simon hung his dirty robe on one of the chairs (he would have to put it in the laundry basket as soon as he got back to his dorm) and started unpacking his bag; fresh parchment, his quill and A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot.

"Is your hair naturally curly?", Alyssea asked from all of a sudden.

She noticed, he thought.

"Or did something happen in Potions to make them curly? I can't imagine we've done any physical potions yet."

He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to maintain his usual hairstyle. "We did, yeah. It's just the environment down there and the steam from the cauldrons. It's the same when it rains. A bit annoying really. In comparison, I think I prefer the dryness of Professor Browne's classes." He chuckled. "Did I tell you that my mother actually wrote an article about the witch hunt. I don't know what it was about, but something about feminism and the view of women in Scandinavia around that time." He stretched his back and went over to the shelf to help Alyssea look. Standing next to her reminded him of when they were stuck in the broom closet together and he remembered how short she was as compared to him.

late january 2023; interacting with @Simon Tilia

Her heart sank hearing the event that occurred at Potions. She knew that feeling of messing it up on the first step and having to start again without even getting halfway. It was important to be very precise and alert while brewing potions, but sometimes, everyone has their off days.

She opened her mouth to offer some words of advice but shut it before she uttered a sound. Considering the emotional damage that kind of occurrence would have, would he appreciate some advice? It was tough to fail, and even tougher when you're in a house considered to be the smartest, Alyssea imagined.

Instead, she opted to sympathise with him. "Potions is hard. Once, I forgot to clean my equipment before measuring a new ingredient and it ruined the results. The potion wasn't even the right colour!"

She turned back to him as he brushed his hair back with his hands. "It's just the environment down there and the steam from the cauldrons. It's the same when it rains. A bit annoying really."

Alyssea hummed. "Yeah, you'd think they'd have the condensation issue figured out in the dungeons with some ventilation or something. Maybe this castle needs a reno."

As she searched the books, she listened as Simon told her about his mother. More things to add to her knowledge of Simon: he loves history, he likes 'spicing up life' (as they called it a month ago), and his mother was an academic! Even though she wasn't looking in Simon's direction, she raised an eyebrow and hummed. Maybe that's where Simon got his love of history from.

Soon enough, she found a book on one of the figures they had to study for the homework and another on the Hammer of Witches. She carefully took them off the shelf, tip-toeing for one since she was still pretty short for an eleven-year-old.

(She can still grow! She's still eleven!)

"What's the paper called? Maybe when we summer break comes, I'll read it back home. Shame we can't use electronics here or I'd have searched it up already, but I guess that defeats the purpose of magic, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, you'd think they'd have the condensation issue figured out in the dungeons with some ventilation or something. Maybe this castle needs a reno."

Simon chuckled. "That's exactly what I was thinking too."

Alyssea soon found something interesting on the shelf. He resisted the impulse of helping her bringing the books down. She could barely reach one of them when standing on her toes but she seemed quite capable and determined to bring it down herself so he did not want to interfere.

"What's the paper called? Maybe when we summer break comes, I'll read it back home. Shame we can't use electronics here or I'd have searched it up already, but I guess that defeats the purpose of magic, doesn't it?"

"I guess so. Honestly, I don't know what the paper is called. Mom talks a lot about her work, and some of it is pretty interesting, but if I were to remember everything I would need a notebook. Like, a big one. But I guess, if you search for her on Queen Margaret University's website, all of her papers will show up. Her name is Mette Jacobsen. Professor in Sociology."

He sat down by the table and looked at what Alyssea had found. Was it prejudice of him to be impressed that a first year Hufflepuff of all would have such an interest in history? He knew that the Hufflepuffs were hard-working, his dad being a Hufflepuff and all, but with Alyssea's attitude towards history you could almost mistake her for being a Ravenclaw, had you changed the color details on her school uniform.

"Speaking of my poor performance in Potions this morning... I hope you don't mind me asking, but is there any subject you find difficult? Because from all I know, you seem to be doing pretty good in all the classes that we both are in."

Maybe it was an odd question to ask, but he figured that it was hard to base a friendship only on knowing about each other's strengths and accomplishments and not knowing about each other's weaknesses and hardships also.

late january 2023; interacting with @Simon Tilia

She quickly wrote down the name before she let it slip through her head. Reading some academic papers that were probably (most likely) way out of her sphere of understanding, and also out of her academic range now that she was studying magic, would make for an interesting pastime during the summer. That is if she even gets a summer.

"Right, let's hope I remember to go search it up in the summer," she chuckled, "My summer looks fully booked at the moment but I'm sure I can spare some time."

She went back to her books and flipped the pages, skimming through and looking out for any relevant words that were also in the homework. Occasionally, she'd find a word that interested her and stop for a second to read it even if it wasn't relevant. There's something about absorbing new information that you weren't meaning to find that felt like an adventure of its own. If she had her phone and the internet, her rabbit holes of information would be endless and they'd be here way past curfew.

"Speaking of my poor performance in Potions this morning..."

Alyssea hummed and looked up at Simon.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but is there any subject you find difficult? Because from all I know, you seem to be doing pretty good in all the classes that we both are in."

Alyssea put her quill down and hummed, this time more as a way to express her thinking rather than acknowledging him. "Hmm, what subject do I find difficult? I think it's Transfiguration and... maybe Astronomy, but don't tell Professor Baird that," Alyssea chuckled, "Flying, I don't enjoy, but I don't hate it, you know? Like, I could do pretty decently even though I struggle half the time."

"Transfiguration, on the other hand, has so much physics involved and, tell you what, I hated physics back in Muggle school."

It felt a bit odd to talk about life before Hogwarts. It wasn't something that came up often in a conversation. Sure, she talked about her life as a performer, doing musical theatre and various shows, but to talk about her Muggle academics felt like it didn't belong here in Hogwarts.

"It's okay to struggle in something," Alyssea said with a small smile, "Considering the amount of compulsory subjects we take, it would be outrageous to expect everyone to be outstanding at everything, even Ravenclaws."

"Are you kidding me? I struggle in Transfiguration as well! And it bugs me, because I think Professor Aarden is a great teacher. Really passionate about his subject, same as Professor Fresnel. I absolutely get what you mean with the physics stuff. I guess that's why I have a hard time understanding it."

That was only half the truth, though. The other part was that Simon did not really see the point with some of the conjurations that they were taught. It felt like a waste of time, according to him. But he did not want to sound snobby or as if he blamed his own short comings on the syllabus, which he certainly was not. He was sure that there was a good reason for teaching them all this stuff. It was just that he did not understand it.

"It's okay to struggle in something." Alyssea smiled. "Considering the amount of compulsory subjects we take, it would be outrageous to expect everyone to be outstanding at everything, even Ravenclaws."

"Absolutely. That's what I'm trying to tell myself." He chuckled. "I wasn't very good at flying at first either. My friend Madison actually gave me a private lesson before our first real flying lesson. It's hard when you're tall and have such long legs... Felt like I struggled to find the right balance and get a hang of the leaning technique when turning."

It was comforting, hearing that his hard-working History of Magic classmate struggled in the same subjects as he. Perhaps Alyssea and Simon were even more alike than he thought. For some reason, they usually talked about their studies and the subjects in school. Neither of them gave the impression of being very open with their personal life. There was so much he did not know about her.

"I believe I've never asked you about your parents," he said, hoping that he was not stealing too much time from studying the Witch Hunt. "What is it that they do?"

late january 2023; interacting with @Simon Tilia

Alyssea smiled as he mentioned his shared struggle to understand the physics of transfiguration. He was right; Professor Aarden looked like he loved his subject and what he taught, which was probably good for them for their exams. It wouldn't have been good if they had teachers who weren't specialised and knew next to nothing about their subject.

"I love Professor Fresnel!" Alyssea gasped when he mentioned her, "I love Charms... maybe not as much as history, but you know."

She raised an eyebrow when Simon told her about his private flying lessons with Madison. Madison knew how to fly? She didn't do any sports as far as she knew, since the Hufflepuff sports rosters had pretty set teams. Maybe Madison wanted to do Quidditch or broom racing once spots were available.

Alyssea would hum in acknowledgement as he talked about his experience in Flying class. She was busy writing down the answers from the books she managed to get (she had to fill the rest of the word count for the questions with her own common sense) and passed the book to Simon, pointing at particular passages for guidance. She picked up another book on historical figures and skimmed through it.

"I believe I've never asked you about your parents," he said.

Alyssea looked up from her book and tilted her head. "No, I don't think so, either. Between the two of us, I think I only know about your mum." She forced herself not to laugh. That joke was dead ages ago.

"What is it that they do?"

"Hmm, " she began, "My dad works at Gringotts, and my mum works as a magical tutor and a Muggle English teacher. She spends more time being an English teacher, though, since Hogwarts is quite a popular place of education. They usually need tutors overseas when the smaller magic schools are farther away from the main eleven."

"That's why I was born in Australia and also went to France for a bit," she sighed.

"Anyways, what about you? If you're open to sharing, of course."

"Wow, that is so cool that she both teaches wizards and Muggles. She's almost like a double agent." Simon chuckled.

What about my family? Where to begin...

"Well, you know about my mom already. She's Norwegian, by the way. She went to the UK in her youth to study. Then she met my dad, she got an employment and they had my sister. She's a squib, and a bit of a snob. She has a health and beauty product company in London. My dad works at the Ministry, the Department of International Magical Co-operation." He thought about what else to add. "Oh, and my parents are married but my mom chose to keep her maiden name, Jacobsen. That's why they have different names. Honestly, I'm not a fan of Tilia either, but it's been in my family for generations. It's from the latin word for 'lime tree', because we have a lot of those around our estate."

Simon stopped to take a breather. He realized it was a lot for Alyssea to digest, especially since they were in the middle of their History of Magic studies, trying to find out more about Wendelin the Weird and elaborate on the "Summis desiderantes affectibus" document and such.

"Geez, I just gave you the whole family history, didn't I? Sorry."

His stubborn fringe fell down over his forehead again and he tried to comb it backwards with his fingers. He looked at his homework, what he had written so far and picked up his quill from the inkstand.

"I still don't get how people could be so... stupid back then... It's like they had no critical thinking. I mean, even though they were right about one thing – witches really existed – they quickly jumped to the wrong conclusions, creating their own narrative of all witches being evil and standing in a sharp contrast to the values of the church and to Christianity. And seeing women as dangerous. Classical misogyny."

Simon flipped through one of the books he had in front of him and pointed to one of the pages.

"Here are some testimonies from Sweden, for example. Testimonies from children, stating that they had been abducted to a place called Blockula where some women from their village were feasting with 'the Devil himself' during the nights. Everything in Blockula was 'backwards', according to these children. One boy states that the maid Anna Svensdotter hung upside down from the ceiling, with her bare butt being used as a candlestick. I mean, it's... it's absurd. And completely bizarr. Clearly it's just the fantasy and vivid imagination of children. But this was taken as truth. Can you believe that?"

This was one of those examples of social injustices that got Simon going. He could hardly imagine what it was like living back then. Especially if you were a girl or a woman. You would have to be careful with everything you said and did to not raise suspicions, even in your own family, even if you were a Muggle and completely innocent and incapable of performing magic in reality.