A Little Help? pv: Katie Williams

No matter what he thought, no matter how scared he was, he still had to do his duty. As a student, that was. He would do whatever he needed to pass his classes, because he needed to meet the expectations set for him. If he couldn’t do that, he was hardly a man. But, he was sure his heart wouldn’t be in it quite as much as before, not that it had been invested in the first place. He was left with a deep sense of melancholy. As if he had lost something that he had never truly had, but now that he was aware of its departure, he felt the lack of it most keenly.

But Katie would help. It would be alright. He didn’t want to think about it too much.

“If it isn’t any trouble to you,” he murmured quietly. Oliver’s voice was high-pitched for a boy’s, but smooth and gentle, like oil and honey.

Katie was a lovely person. He would aspire to be as enthusiastic about helping others as she was. Being around her would do his soul some good. He had been quite ungrateful the past few days.

If everything went well, he might actually be able to get his History of Magic homework done.

"It really isnt." she said, truely appreciating his voice for a second. it still sounded young, a child's voice, like her own, but where hers was soft and quiet, soft-spoken even in her yells, his seemed sure of himself. It was gentle, soothing, but still sounded like he knew who he was and what he stood for.

it was pretty.

Katie opened the book to chapter five, after recalling exactly what the assignment was about. write a scroll about the differences between the myths of ancient magic and the realities, comparing them to highlight and correct misconceptions. easy as pie, once you knew where to start. "start by making a list of all the expectations vs realities in a T-chart, like this..." she drew one on a scrap scroll he had "and then when you're writing the scroll later you can just go from one to the next until it's full. start at the beginning, keep it chronological. that'll make it seem like there's a structure when Professor reads it." she smiled at him.

soooo.... i think Katie might have a crush. sorry. (she's bi but hasnt ever had a crush before eighter way). at the very least, she likes his voice.

After pulling out his own scrap of parchment, Oliver followed along, sketching out the chart that Katie described. He was good with charts. He liked charts.

The way that Katie described it made it seem easy. Of course, running through it systematically would make it more organized. Perhaps he could actually have a decent grade for a paper for once in his life in History of Magic. He hated the class. Then, he mentally cursed himself for his ungratefulness, giving himself a mental reminder to check off tranquility again. He supposed he could allow himself some explanation: he was in a new environment, with new people, new tasks. He was bound to slip up a few more times than normal, but he should still strive to hold himself to as high a standard as he could.

“Should I just go down events as described in the chapters, or by some other category?”

He brushed a lock of hair behind his ear, leaning forward slightly to squint at Katie’s handwriting. Reading was like chasing jackrabbits, pinning them down, and just waiting until they stopped squirming. Then, you had to look at them carefully, shuffle them around until you got them in the right order, before you finally made sense of it.

Ollie’s sort of pan, but he only falls in love with people smarter or more talented or more moral than he is. But, he’ll be completely clueless for a long while if you do decide to pursue Katie’s crush. He’s never really interacted with anyone other than his family, and won’t know what to look for for romance.

katie smiled as he copied it. he was good at this, she could tell how he lit up when she said the word chart. holding hers out to him, myth written on one side and reality written on the other, she answered his question. "well, do it however makes sense to you. this is a chart to organize your thoughts. but the way I like to do it is go through the book and read, and if i hear a myth write a note about it. then when i find a reality to match it with, i fill it in. plus, make sure you include page numbers, so you can easily go back to it later, you know?" Katie had made hundreds of these throught her life.

"need me to read what my words say? my handwriting's awful. My grandmum called it chicken-scratch when i was a kid, because our chickens could scratch more neatly than my writing." it was a joke in her family, one that had been long-running even after she'd improved. of course, she was 90% sure it was just his dyslexia acting up. but just because it was the truth didnt mean she had to SAY it.

oh, katie'll be just as oblivious. i'm not gonna force anything, im just saying she might be developing one

Oliver knew that it was because his brain wasn’t working like it was supposed to, and Katie’s handwriting probably had nothing to do with it. He didn’t exactly like the fact that she was pretending that wasn’t the case. One should be honest in all things, especially those few people you consider your friends. His family was always honest with him if he was doing poorly or wasn’t living up to expectations, and he liked that. It helped him know where he was at, how much he had to grow, etc…

But, he wouldn’t make a fuss about it. Even if Katie felt it necessary to patronize him for the sake of his feelings, Oliver was distinctly aware of his new lack of capability. He would keep his limits in mind. His face remained placid and calm, even for his displeasure.

“Yes, that would be helpful...” he confirmed, looking at the Ravenclaw girl expectantly. In any case, he needed to get this paper done. Any problems that arose from this encounter could be corrected at a later date.

His hazel eyes were two-dimensional, hardened, but trying their best to portray gentleness. Oliver always did his best to never portray negative emotions, as most of his family did. As a result, he had a habit of stuffing everything down.

Katie really was just trying to help. She wanted him to see that he was still really smart, and could be if he worked at it. Dyslexia doesn’t make a person dumber. She wasn’t trying to be patronizing (really her writing was terrible) she was just trying to be helpful, and teach him. Patient, like when Kaden taught her to read. Not uptight like Kaelin’s attempts at teaching her. She hated that.

She read him the words, and when she was sure he’d gotten them down she opened to chapter five and began reading. The words were framiliar, but reading aloud was kind of fun. It was in low tones, to keep the library quiet, but she wasn’t speaking as if she was talking to a child, but more like she was communicating information to a friend, speaking levely, if a little quietly. She was a soft-spoken person always, and her voice gentle, but it was clear she wasn’t reading a storybook. She was reading homework aloud.

Every so often her voice would pause, and she would punctuate it with an “oh!” and write whatever the latest thing was down. she was getting something out of this, too. All of the information had been new before this week, and reading it twice allowed her to learn new things. She highlighted words (it was her copy, who cared) and made her own graph, letting him see it and reading her words aloud for him. But she was clearly enjoying this, and wasn’t just doing it for him.

When they were done with the chapter, she smiled. “look, that’s everything. Did it make any sense?”

Oliver knew that, but the fact that he needed anyone’s help to do something, and even have it sugar-coated, was a bit damaging to his unadmitted ego. It truly was unadmitted. If Oliver had truly done some soul-searching at that moment, without any of his dancing around the issue by saying one should always be honest, he would have been horrified with himself. Probably would have thrown himself on his own quill for his honor. It wasn’t in an Italian’s nature to commit seppuku, but Oliver was a rare exception.

It just stood to show how much Oliver might come to regret his own mind set. He held himself to an incredibly high standard, and when he couldn’t fulfill his own expectations, well, he could be quite the slave driver.

He knew that Katie had no bad intentions. She didn’t seem to have ill-meaning bone in her body. It was the mere fact that he had to be in this sort of situation at all that made him so deeply disturbed. However, he would not waste his own concentration with searching through his own emotions. That would be rude.

So, he settled down to pay attention. Katie really was good at reading aloud. She had a calming voice, just slow enough to keep everything understandable, just fast enough to keep him engaged. She didn’t run her words together either. Oliver’s mother would flick him sometimes if he started slurring. All in all, after the end of it, Oliver was sure he had gotten ten times as much work done as he would have without the Ravenclaw’s help.

“Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. Thank you.” He smiled politely and earnestly, running his hand over the organized page of notes that was just itching to be turned into a full paper.

"no problem." she said, closing it up and very excited to continue reading. "this was lots of fun, ollie! we should definitely do it again sometime. I actually think i learned a lot more the second time arpund, you know? I accidently skimmed that whole bit about merlin's beard and that." she didnt want him to think it was a waste of her time, it really wasnt. she'd truely and deeply enjoyed this, and she wouldnt mind a bit doing it again. in fact, she wanted to.

"It's like my brother always says. there's always more to know." really there was. she liked that quote, because it captured everything she believed so consicely. there was always more out there to learn. if you never went looking for it, it was your loss. and you would lose. the oppertunity to be smarter and wiser than before. nobody knew everything, and that was one of the coolest parts about loving to learn. you would never... run out of meterial. Katie loved it.

"do you have that potions paper due in like two weeks? we can knock that one out too." Or maybe it was just her class doing it, Katie didn't quite know.

Well, Oliver felt glad that he wasn’t much of a bother. He noticed her newly-booned nickname for him rather intently. And he decided he liked it. As long as it wasn’t demeaning, he supposed he would be fine with whatever someone decided to call him. He wondered why his brothers had never shortened it to ‘Ollie’. Well, he wouldn’t ask about it any time soon.

In response to what she said about her brother, Oliver nodded solemnly. “‘All that I know is that I know nothing,’” he said, quoting Socrates. He didn’t know much about the philosopher, or much about philosophy other than what his parents told him, but whenever he had acted like he knew more than them, they quoted that at him. He quickly learned that he needed to be humble while pursuing knowledge.

Then, at the second comment, Oliver froze. His face adopted a rather horrified expression. “Do I have a paper due?” He struggled to remember. He honestly had no idea whether or not he was supposed to be working on that. Was the curriculum the same for every class?

Anxiety was mounting, and he looked to Katie for answers. His eyes were not panicked, but quite far from being calm and rational.

Katie’s eyes widened as he quoted Socrates, in excitement. She always did this, unconsciously, when she knew something. It was a general brightness that seemed to fill her eyes and her smile at the understanding that her work was paying off. “Socrates.” She cured, mostly to prove she knew what he was on about. “It’s a good quote.” Her parents had it pinned to the fridge, along with a miscellaneous assortment of inspiration. Literally. That was what they called it. The miscellaneous assortment board of inspiration. It was cheesy, but she loved it.

When he freaked, she immediately realized she had to calm him. “Woah. I was asking because I didn’t know if you’d gotten it assigned yet, or if you were there yet.” There was the off chance that they were taught different things, but Katie doubted they would have more than one first-years potion course. As for speed at which a class got through things? Far more plausible. After all, her class was ravenclaws and hufflepuffs. They were kind and helpful to each other, and smart. As a class, they were fast.

“You probably just haven’t gotten it yet. You should ask next class.” She suggested. “Mine isn’t due until the week after next. So yours is probably not do for a long while.”