New Year, New Friends PV | A. Campbell Closed

interactions ⭒ @Koko Riddle

𝓦ith the school year coming into full swing, Amadea had fallen into a routine of going to classes, hanging out with her friends, and generally attempting to figure out what the heck she wanted to do with her future. She had thought there might be a reprieve in between her fifth and sixth year since she had just completed her O.W.L. examinations, but so far, that did not seem to be the case. As usual, her professors had just began the year off the same as always: with lots of work. Amadea was doing her best to take it all in stride; some of the pressure had waned since she had gotten the results from her O.W.L.'s, giving her an idea of how to proceed with potential career goals. Of course, she still had no idea at all, but at least she could rule out things she didn't want to do or wasn't qualified for.

And despite this knowledge, Amadea was still feeling extremely pressured to know exactly what she wanted to do right now. Her professors had switched years from O.W.L. preparation to N.E.W.T. preparation, even though she wouldn't be taking those examinations until her seventh year. Plus, it didn't help that people in her life had their entire future mapped out (yes, she meant Cecily, her Ravenclaw best friend who had planned on becoming a professional Quidditch player since...well, Amadea wasn't sure how long this had been Cecily's plan but it felt like it had been since she had first picked up a broom). Amadea felt envious of her peers who knew what they wanted to do; her problem was that she had too many interests and was overwhelmed by having to makea. decision that would affect her for decades to come. It was a lot of pressure for anyone, especially a fifteen year old girl.

That was why Amadea had found herself pacing the corridors in between class. She wasn't exactly sure what she was doing here. Maybe she was looking for a professor to talk to, perhaps her favorite professor and self-dubbed mentor Professor Galim, for some guidance about what she should do or maybe she was just hoping that someone would tell her that it was too early for her to be focusing so much energy on this decision. After all, it was only like...the second week of classes. Why was Amadea getting herself all worked up about this? God, her brain hurt from this tug of war going on inside of it, the guilt of thinking about these vast topics so early in the school year grappling with the overwhelming anxiety of the future.

Her brain was so tired that Amadea failed to notice the other girl walking toward her. Amadea's brain snapped into the moment a millisecond before it was too late, and she was able to swerve enough so she did not crash directly into the girl. She was wearing Slytherin robes, and Amadea did not recognize her immediately. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," she said, putting a hand over her mouth. She really needed to focus; her worrying mind was causing her to actually run into people now! "I was entirely lost in my thoughts. Sorry about that. I'm Amadea," she added, sticking out her hand to shake. She wasn't sure if the girl was in a mood to talk, but she felt like the least she could do after almost running her over was to offer the olive branch of conversation if that was something that the other girl wanted.

Koko's shoes clicked against the floor as she paced aimlessly, her gaze traversing the ceiling as she thought about anything and everything that came into her head. She pondered her exams ─ it was OWL year, after all ─ and then thought about how she would much rather be out playing Quidditch instead of being indoors. She was meant to be studying. Productivity had once come easily to the now-fifth-year, but after having seen that arachnid, Koko was too distract to form coherent thoughts, let alone read a book.

She was so preoccupied with her quickly-thrumming heartbeat and her larynx climbing into her mouth that, when another girl appeared in the corridor, Koko didn't have time to move. She tried to, at least, and as they collided, she thought maybe this was the most human error of all. Humans tried to inconvenience one another the least they could, and sometimes their inability to properly read body language could make a nicety turn rather awful.

The impact hurt initially, but Koko had taken far worse hits from bludgers. She remained standing and adjusted her bag to ensure she hadn't dropped anything. Once she had ascertained that all of her belongings were in their proper places, she glanced at the other girl and tried to put on a reassuring smile. She had gotten a lot better at that recently, finding that she tended to put people at ease even when she herself was very much not at ease calming presence.

'It's not your fault,' Koko answered, her voice light and even-toned as she tried to figure out what to say. 'I was also lost in my thoughts... Really wasn't paying attention.' She laughed, a small, choked laugh that probably didn't sound all that natural even though it was. 'I'm Koko.' Koko would offer her hand. If Amadea took it, she would give a firm but quick handshake.

Koko would remain quiet for a few more moments, surveying the situation. She hadn't properly talked to anyone in a long time, at least outside of things like Quidditch. She hadn't even attempted to talk to people in even longer ─ often, she had to be sought out, and Koko, being relatively averse to conversation, tended to be about as difficult to find as she could possibly manage. After all, not everyone could find her in the sky, where she preferred to spend her free time.

She glanced at Amadea, and her smile faded as worry once again overtook her thoughts. Their run-in had hurt Koko a bit, even if only minutely and only because she hadn't been paying attention. It would be rude if she didn't ensure the other girl was also okay. 'You're not hurt, right?' she asked. 'I'm okay, but I just wanted to make sure you were, too. What made you come out here, anyway?'

She asked the question purely out of curiosity. The corridors were mostly empty now ─ few students seemed to enjoy loitering in them. Perhaps that would change as they got older. Nonetheless, Koko hoped Amadea wouldn't think of the question as rude or prodding. Koko thought for a moment about amending her words in some way ─ she could emphasise that she meant well, that she never intended to offend ─ but she thought better of it this time. Awkwardness was not something she wanted to identify with.

@Amadea Campbell

interactions ⭒ @Koko Riddle

𝓐madea smoothed her curls back as she listened to the girl in front of her insisting that their run in had been her own fault, not Amadea's. Of course it was the kind thing to do, but in the back of her mind, Amadea knew that her lack of attention was what had caused their collision. It was ironic, almost; over the years, Amadea had had many of these instances where she physically ran into people but despite that, she hadn't learned her lesson. At least nothing horrible had happened in all of the years of collisions; no one had to be sent to the hospital wing. The worst anyone came away with was a little bruise from the impact.

"Nice to meet you, Koko!" she replied, cringing almost immediately at the sentence. She felt the need to clarify that it wasn't nice to physically run into the girl, but before she could open her mouth to clarify anything, Koko was asking her another question. Amadea's brain seemed to be running at about 80% speed currently, so she took another second before replying. "No, I'm not hurt!" she quickly clarified, hoping that her slight pause was not taken in a different way as if she was lying or something. She definitely wasn't. "Honestly, I've just been thinking about the future a lot," she said with a slight laugh as she answered Koko's second question. "I'm a seventh year," she added for context, unsure if Koko was the same age as her; from the looks of it, she looked to be around Amadea's age but these days, Amadea could never be entirely sure. "I've been finding that pacing around and thinking helps me to formulate my thoughts. I've been thinking about stepping into a classroom to talk to one of the professors about things, but right now I'm just pacing. That's why I'm here!"

Amadea hoped she didn't sound too insane. From an outside perspective, it probably was a bit weird to admit that she had just been pacing around thinking about her future and debating whether to go seek out advice from a trusted professor, but there were plenty of other weirder options too, so she settled for hoping that Koko would not think twice about her purpose of being here. "What about you?" she asked.

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As Koko slowly lost the adrenaline from her initial run-in with Amadea, she was better able to listen to the other girl and understand (albeit slowly) that the other girl was not hurt, which was definitely a good thing. She stood, staring almost blankly at Amadea, before she broke into a slightly-too-late grin. Amadea had said it was nice to meet her ─ and although she might very well have been lying, at this point, Koko was willing to take anything that meant possible companionship.

She listened as Amadea mentioned she was a bit older than Koko and was thinking about the future, and she chewed her lip slightly, her grin fading. The future. Koko had thought of it like light at the end of the metaphorical Hogwarts tunnel, but it seemed that the light wasn't just that: it was the real world, and it was coming into focus far more quickly than Koko would have liked.

'I'm a fifth* year,' Koko said. 'A bit worried about OWLs, but nothing like... the real future.' She sighed, her chest tightening as she sympathised with the other girl. 'It's not very fun to think about. I very much understand why you would be pacing.'

She paused when Amadea asked why she was here. Koko glanced around her surroundings in a vain attempt to come up with a better excuse than, 'I saw a spider', but she found nothing at first. 'I was going to the library,' she admitted, 'since it's never too early to start studying for OWLs. I saw a.. Er...' Koko hesitated. 'I saw a spider on the stairs. I did not want to be near it, so, ah, I came over here. And there you were.'

If Amadea was older than Koko, maybe she had some sort of advice on how to study for OWLs. Koko had never been the greatest at studying ─ it was a wonder she made any Os at all ─ and she couldn't help but worry she would fail her OWLs, which she definitely needed for the future. 'Speaking of OWLs... You said you're older than me. Is there anything you'd recommend I do to prepare throughout the year?'

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@Amadea Campbell

* As the thread's set in September 2022, I assumed Koko'd be a 5th year and Amadea would be a 6th year, but I can change things if you would like!