An Impromptu Lesson in Muggle Studies
@Adeline Spinks
Speech
It had only take a couple of weeks for Edwin to come to the conclusion that formal education was not his calling in life, he was quite simply not built to apply the effort that Hogwarts demanded of him. Whilst the classes themselves all seemed easy enough, it was the homework that he had an issue with. Why should he write an essay on a topic that he so clearly understood? He was confident that he could answer just about anything thrown at him, and yet he had to write an essay to prove that. In hindsight, Edwins lack of preparation for formal preparation may have been obvious, having been through over a dozen different tutors before his eighth birthday, all of which either resigning due to being unable to work with Edwin, or being sacked on the spot if Edwin ever made a complaint that they 'were working him too hard'. Both Edwin and his parents had refused to acknowledge that all of these tutors, all highly capable and accomplished, were not the issue, and instead it was Edwin.
Today had been another monotonous day, made even more so by it having been a combination of his least favourite subjects. Potions had been the sole light at the end of this tunnel, a promise of something practical, an opportunity to do something except stare aimlessly down at parchment, rarely bothering to even lift his quill. This previously great opportunity had not turned out the way Edwin had hoped it would be, after having been paired with someone random. This person had turned out to be a Muggleborns, which wasn't an issue itself, or at least Edwin hadn't thought it to be. The Westbridge family had long since moved on from the dated pureblood idealogy that was shared amongst many older houses, and Edwin had limited exposure to these traditional views. He had a handful of cousins, particularly on his mothers side, who had maintained these views, but it was hardly a common topic of conversation, and so Edwin had entered Hogwarts without caring on the matter. And yet, after only his second encounter, every word his cousins had ever said were echoing within his head. The boy had seemed nice enough, but he had asked so, so many questions. Questions that seemed obvious to Edwin, questions with answers that anyone at Hogwarts should know the answer to.
The moment the class had been dismissed, Edwin had departed with a scowl on his face, not even having waited a moment to say bye to his partner. Having finished his final class of the day, he walked with no destination, instead walking through corridor, after corridor. It was childish of him, perhaps even hypocritical, but the incessant questioning had wound him up far more than he had expected, especially considering he was someone who rarely became annoyed. However, had the boy so much as even opened a book before starting Hogwarts, half of his questions would have been answered already. "Lazy," He began, in yet another hypocritical manner. "Stupid.." His voice trailed off, continuing to pace through corridors, like a man possessed.
"I mean, how can you not even know that?" His voice was quiet, but likely loud enough to be heard by anyone he passed by, though many would be lost without any kind of context for what he was discussing.
An Impromptu Lesson in Muggle Studies
Potions, while incredibly engaging and fun, was not Addie's strong suit. She meant well, of course, and it's not that she didn't care. There were simply too many steps, and too much precision expected. Not the girls most shining qualities. Today, she sat, fully focused, her quick-quotes-quill doing the legwork of taking her notes. such a good investment.. the young girl thought to herself, thankful to have the burden of note-taking removed from her task list.@Edwin Westbridge
speaking
thinking
After the explanation and ingredient list for the days potion had been covered, Professor Regan separated the class into pairs to begin working on the days assignment. Adeline's partner was kind, and quiet. A Gryffindor girl with a warm smile, and a passive attitude. Perfect for Addie, she wanted to get this done as quickly and quietly as possible- no extra attention drawn necessary. Behind her however, sat someone with a completely different view on the matter.
Behind her, Adeline heard a young boy rattling questions off to his partner. Addie cringed, these were not the most educated questions. Resisting her urge to pass judgement, Addie turned around to see a blonde-headed boy patiently answering each and every question the less-informed classmate threw at him. must be muggleborn.. Addie thought to herself, turning back to her partner. While Addie herself was not muggleborn, She had two sets of Muggle grandparents, and to be honest, way more experience with them than with magical folk. She felt sympathy for the poor boy, and was thankful that he had at least been partnered with someone kind enough to engage him.
After a few moments, Addie's thoughts were drawn back to the task at hand, and class continued as normal. Her and her partner finished their potions with no issues. What a relief. Addie slung her leather bag over her shoulder, said goodbye to her partner, and headed to the door- thrilled to be on her way out of these dungeons. Suddenly, the blonde boy from before rushed past Adeline, and as much as he tried to suppress it, a look of frustration painted his face. Addie couldn't blame him, she would be annoyed herself.
Adeline thought to say something, but let him go. She needed to get to the library to meet a friend, and didn't have much time to waste. Oh well. She sighed as she exited the classroom, watching the boy round a corner, disappearing out of sight.
Upon exiting the library, she began the long trek to Ravenclaw tower. The views were beautiful, she didn't mind. Hogwarts was a dream come true for the girl; she savored every minute. As the girl padded along, she was surprised to stumble upon a... familiar sight.
Before her was the blonde boy from earlier. She took that as a sign. He rounded the corner up ahead of Addie, and she instinctually broke out into a jog to catch up to him. As the distance between them shortened she faintly heard him mutter, "Lazy....Stupid..." Addie slowed her pace back down to a walk as he came back into view. "I mean, how can you not even know that?" He said to himself. Addie honestly felt bad for even listening, but her nosiness had taken her this far. She thought about jumping right in and addressing his predicament, but thought better of the bluntness. Instead she blurted out,
"Hey, you!" she took a moment to slow her breathing. "Better to have someone to walk with in these halls- never know what you're going to bump into." She chuckled, approaching the boy. She hoped her demeanor would break the ice.
"I'm Addie. You are?"
An Impromptu Lesson in Muggle Studies
@Adeline Spinks
Speech
Edwin heard the hurried steps of someone jogging behind him, and almost turned to check who it was. However, after only a moments deliberation, he opted not to, and continued with his aimless wandering. After all, if someone was jogging with the intent to catch up with him, they were moving faster than him and would inevitable catch up, but he doubted anyone was jogging to find him, after all, what reason was there for anyone to seek him out? Please, he thought, do not be that muggleborn with more questions. It was unlikely, but not impossible.
"Hmm?" He glanced back, as he heard a voice calling out, coming to a halt and allowing her to fully catch up with him. She was a brown haired girl, whose face he vaguely recognised from his classes, albeit not enough to place a name to the face. "Hey." He returned the greeting.
"Yeah?" He snorted at her warning, a grin playing at his lips. "I'm sure there's some real dangers lurking in these halls, but sure, walk with me." He drawled, his tone laced with boredom. Despite his tone, the grin did persist on his face, a far removed expression than the one he had left the classroom with.
"Edwin Westbridge." He returned the greeting, momentarily swelling with pride as he spoke of a surname, likely somewhat telling of his upbringing. "Nice to meet you." He continued to wander off through corridors aimlessly, assuming that Addie would follow him. "How'd you find that class? Was nice to finally get to brew something, except.." His voice trailed off, his expression twisted into a scowl.
A moment of silence hung, before Edwin eventually spoke again. "Did you hear half that stuff he was saying?" He began, assuming that she would be able to figure out who 'he' was. "How is it possible to not know that stuff? Got to be some kind of idiot, half of it's just logic.. I mean, we barely got the potion done, and I mean barely.. I had to grab his arm at least six times, before he dropped the wrong herbs into the pot." He rambled on, before letting out a sigh of relief. It felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulder, having finally gotten to rant to somebody about his grievances. "How do brooms work? What do Auros do? Why can't we cast magic outside of school?" He mocked the boys accent, his rant having only taken a brief pause.
An Impromptu Lesson in Muggle Studies
──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────He seemed nice enough. It came as a relief to Adeline that the boy now known as Edwin recognized her from potions class; if he hadn't this whole ambush thing would just be extra unusual. As the two of them strolled together, Addie hoped that he would be open to the question she was dying to ask, but Edwin beat her to the chase. "How'd you find that class? Was nice to finally get to brew something, except.." His voice tapered off, and the silence was palpable. Before Addie could respond, Edwin continued.
Reducio~
Reducio@Edwin Westbridge
Reduciospeaking
thinking
all other dialogue
"Did you hear half that stuff he was saying? How is it possible to not know that stuff? Got to be some kind of idiot, half of it's just logic.. I mean, we barely got the potion done, and I mean barely.. I had to grab his arm at least six times, before he dropped the wrong herbs into the pot." Addie winced a bit. It wasn't that she didn't understand, of course she did. From an outsiders perspective this behavior was unacceptable, maybe even slightly disrespectful to the other students. Addie let Edwin continue. "How do brooms work? What do Aurors do? Why can't we cast magic outside of school?"
Yeah, that was admittedly pretty bad. While Adeline herself had always known of the wizarding world and it's many facets, she was more than aware that others weren't so fortunate. The girl's grandparents, and many of her childhood friends were muggles, she was the weird one.
The young Ravenclaw took a second to collect herself before breaking the silence.
"I totally get it, if I were you I don't think I could have been that patient.." she began, turning her head to look up at him. "I think you should feel good knowing that someone like that felt safe enough around you to ask questions... even if they were admittedly quite, well, foolish."Adeline's pace slowed to a halt. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, a shift in perspective wouldn't hurt."
She hoped he would understand the sentiment.
An Impromptu Lesson in Muggle Studies
@Adeline Spinks
Speech
"Didn't know I could be that patient, either." He muttered, as they continued to pace through the halls. It wasn't an anger that he felt, just a lingering frustration that he couldn't quite shake, some part of him desperately wanting to seek out that muggle born and vent his frustrations directly to him. That would achieve, however, achieve nothing and Edwin was left with an unshakeable frustration that he could hardly justify holding onto.
Her following statement stumped Edwin, unsure exactly to take that assessment. His pacing slowed to match hers, allowing for a brief moment of silence, her words repeating on the inside of his head. It hadn't been a profound statement, nor was it some revelation about himself per se, instead it set his mind to work, trying to figure out how he could best avoid this in the future. "I need to seem less friendly then," He began. "That way I can't be asked stupid questions. I don't even know why I bothered to keep answering them, should of just told him to ask someone in his house."
"Quite stupid." He corrected her description of the questions as being foolish. "They were all dumb questions."
"Shift in perspective," He snorted, shaking his head dismissively, seeing no value any perspective but his own. Though, after a moments pause, he frowned, glancing over towards her, allowing a moments consideration to her suggestion. "What does that even mean? Shifting my perspective to pretending those weren't completely stupid questions? Because they were, I'm not going to pretend they weren't. The ones that I repeated to you don't even cover half of it, it was all lesson long."
His pacing eventually coming to a complete halt besides a bench, which he lowered himself down into, dropping his bag at his feet. Even if he was to 'shift his perspective', he hadn't a clue where to even start with that. He couldn't just pretend to not know what should be such basic knowledge, that'd make him an idiot after all. "Or did you mean to try and see through his perspective? As a muggleborn, I mean." He eventually caught on to her suggestion, which only deepened his frown. "But why would I do that? Even if I was a muggleborn, I'd know all that stuff, it's just self explanatory stuff." He continued, oblivious to any possibility that the only reason it was so self explanatory was because he raised surrounded by magic, a luxury that muggleborns hadn't been afforded.
An Impromptu Lesson in Muggle Studies
────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────────
Reducio-
Reducio@Edwin Westbridge
ReducioCorridors
Reduciospeaking
thinking
all other dialogue
Addie's eyes lowered as she watched the Gryffindor boy take a seat on a wooden bench, while Adeline remained on her feet, subconsciously trying her best to project the same confidence as her peer. Edwin was well spoken, intelligent and self-assured. Admirable. "I just mean.." The girl was cut off by Edwin's final remarks on the matter "Or did you mean to try and see through his perspective? As a muggleborn, I mean..." the boy paused momentarily "But why would I do that? Even if I was a muggleborn, I'd know all that stuff, it's just self explanatory stuff." Addie took a second to think, to lean into empathy.
"Muggleborns don't always have the privilege of knowing better.." Even saying that felt a little bit harsh. Addie knew better than anyone how clueless muggles and their children could seem; even after all of these years the girl's grandparents (and sometimes her parents themselves) found themselves dumbfounded by this world and it's strange ways. At the same time, Addie felt exactly the same about their world. Sure, magic made life easier, more interesting, but the simple novelties of muggle life had their own unique mystery. "I'm sure he has no clue how...stupid... he sounded." Feeling the need to connect with the boy, Addie decided to take a seat after all, plopping down on the bench beside him.
Trying to help him see this situation from the other side, Addie decided to turn the narrative back on Edwin. "Have you ever been to a dog park? Adeline grinned cheekily. "How about.. a hobby shop? Or a bowling alley? If I asked you to tell me about how an airplane keeps it's place in the sky, would you know what I'm talking about?" Feeling her emotions escalate slightly she took a deep breath and straightened her robes in an attempt to compose herself. "Imagine if one day you were picked up and placed into a world packed full of concepts you've never even heard about." She turned to him, wide-eyed.
"Do you think you would ask a kind stranger some questions?"
Reducio
struggled so hard to think of concepts he would be unfamiliar with LOL if any of them should be changed owl me!!!
An Impromptu Lesson in Muggle Studies
@Adeline Spinks
Speech
Part of him wanted to acknowledge that she was, in some ways, correct and muggleborns wouldn't be able to just know better. However, he'd of expected any muggleborn to have had the decency to research these things themselves, rather than pestering someone during a lesson. A practical lesson, no less, something that wasn't exactly common, and yet it had still been wasted over nonsense.
"They'd have known they were wizards, or witches for a while now though, you'd assume they'd of read something in that time, try and.. I don't know, bridge that knowledge gap a little bit." Although as he spoke, it did dawn upon him that perhaps muggleborns would struggle for reading resources before arriving at Hogwarts, not having access to any kind of library, and buying the books that would bridge that gap would likely end up being quite expensive. However, he needn't point out this floor in his argument, and provide more excuses for their stupidity.
"There's no way he didn't know how he seemed," He shook his head. "If you're asking that many questions, it'd be hard not to notice how you were coming across.. I guess it's whatever now, right? Just ruined that lesson for me." He shifted slightly across the bench, ensuring there was enough space for the two of them. "Our potion didn't even turn out well in the end, so no consolidation from that either." Truthfully, the potion likely wouldn't have turned out great regardless, as Edwin was rather average at potion making, despite his enjoyment of the practical side of the subject.
"Dog park?" He snorted. "What reason do dogs have to have their own parks? Just let them run around in normal people parks." While he had started strongly with his understanding of muggle terms, it ended as quickly as it had began, staring blankly towards her as she continued to list various muggle concepts. As she finished her listing, Edwin sat in silence for a moment, his expression a mix of confusion and concentration, trying to piece the concepts together with little avail.
"Why does someone need to buy hobbies, and then a bowl in an alley?" He began incredulously, slowly shaking his head. "Aeroplane, that I know." He said proudly. "Automobile of the skies, like a broom but bigger and more people.. I've saw them fly over London before, so my father told me what it was."
"I don't think so, no." He replied to her question. "I'd rather not be a nuisance, so I'd try and read about stuff, then maybe ask questions if I had a basic understanding, but this guy didn't even have basic understanding."
As he concluded, a thought suddenly struck him and he turned back towards her quickly. "How come you know so much about muggle stuff?" He asked, having assumed she had came from wizarding heritage, based off her sympathising with his grievances.