A shelf full of... French? PV Ruby Cazares Finished

The conversation flowed and as they went from speaking about one thing to another, Mahlioz wondered how she'd gotten here. When she'd first sat down to read a French comic book, never would she have expected someone come and talk to her. Let alone a fifth year who also spoke French and had similar interests to hers. Sure, they didn't really know each other, and Mahlioz didn't know if they'd see each other again soon, but she was still glad the encounter had happened (as scary as Ruby was).

She nodded as the older girl explained what she liked to draw. She wasn't exactly surprised that Ruby liked realism, although she was interested now. Realism was hard, at least in her opinion. She knew everyone had different talents and some people found realism decently easy, but that was in no way Mahlioz. She always admired people who could pull it off.
"C'est chouette, ça,¹" she replied, as much about the realism and art as the observing skills. "Je fais aussi parfois du réalisme, parce que je le trouve assez intéressant, mais pas tellement souvent.²" The piercing look the girl had now made sense, what with her observing all the time. Mahlioz could relate, to a point. Observing and listening was a great skill to have, though she was still refining it, because she'd found it boring for most of her life. But ever since she'd gotten here... there was so much to notice, so many interesting details, and Mahlioz didn't want to miss any of it.

"Oui, j'essaye,³" the young Slytherin responded when Ruby suggested she practice in order to get into the duelling team. It was an obvious tip, and Mahlioz did it regularly, but it was difficult when she couldn't get past any little mistake she made. Every spell took her twice the time to learn than for other people, because she needed it to ber perfect. Of course, it was helpful once it came to actually casting it, where she would do so nearly flawlessly, but she wasn't sure if it was worth it, what with beating herself up for every imperfection. Also, magic was confusing, and she could never find the sense in it. The muggle side of her kept trying to find logic in how it worked, in vain.

A few moments after they'd introduced themselves, the other Slytherin spoke again, except this time it was in English. It was a little weird to hear her speak the language for the first time - accents and all - and she wondered why she'd switched. She didn't dwell on it, though, as Ruby told her she had to leave and wished her luck with the duelling team. "Thank you," Mahlioz said back, wanting to say something else but not really knowing what. She watched as Ruby got up and left the library, before sticking her nose right back into her book. As interesting as that conversation had been, books were a lot more so.

¹ "That's cool."
² "I also sometimes do realism, because I find it pretty interesting, but not really often."
³ "Yes, I try."

Mahlioz has left the thread.