opprobrium begets enmity PV | R. Marie

The end of the day approached with subtlety: hastily written color-coded notes, the endless droning of her professors, and the promise of a quiet evening in the library after the conclusion of a very entertaining charms class that left Robin with unspent energy. The past few weeks had been Robin's best at Hogwarts so far. The success of her team's first duel against the Slytherins had gotten a lot of positive attention from her peers. At first, the attention was unwanted - Robin was used to going unnoticed in the common room, usually by her own design. She was an observer, a fly on the wall. Or at least she was before she woke up in the hospital wing with her two new duelling friends, where she learned that her abysmal performance (despite their interjections to the fact) had not resulted in a horrific loss for her and her teammates. It wasn't until after some time that Robin came to accept the fact that she hadn't hit a single opponent with any spells, and that she was allowed to receive the positive attention from her housemates. Begrudgingly. The truth was embarrassing when she lingered on it, but with her friends' many affirmations, Robin was able to reframe her perspective on the duel. And hold a little - only a little bit of pride for herself for contributing to the win.

It also helped that the most fragile-looking girl, the first year Slytherin that happened to tower over Robin, had knocked herself out with a spell she had most likely been targeting at Robin. Even just thinking about that memory made Robin let out a guffaw as she sat at her desk, causing a few students to turn and look at her with irritated expressions. Smirking at them with obvious amusement and no apology, Robin began to pack her things as the class was ready to be dismissed. She'd spent the majority of her charms class lost in her head, barely paying attention to the lesson. Yes, yes, the freezing charm, whatever. She'd master the spell on her own later - she almost always worked best alone. 

Tugging her satchel over her shoulder, Robin followed the rest of the second years out into the corridors, mind still wandering but now with a sharp focus on dinner. The previous week, the house elves had served a soup that Robin had been unable to shake her desire for- Cullen Skink, someone had called it, and she'd nearly made a few impromptu trips to the kitchens to request it for herself. She hoped it was served today - just the thought of the warm smoked haddock and potatoes had her salivating and instantly quickening her pace. At this point, Robin was barely looking at where she was going. She was reminded of Mario Kart - the Nintendo game from home that she would always lose to her brothers as she wove in and out of the students who were walking way too slow for her one-track mind. She wished she could drop a few red shells to clear her path, amused at the idea of students flailing around the hall as she terrorized them in her mind. Despite the way she was flinging herself through the hall, Robin felt so lighthearted that she felt like nothing could ruin her day. Nothing at all. 

Especially not the tall, statuette of a girl with the dark eyebrows and empty green eyes that Robin had recognized as soon as she collided face-first into the way-too-tall first year as she rounded the corner. 

Robin let out a garbled curse word as her face made contact with the girl's collarbones, her nose taking the majority of the impact. The collision came as a complete shock; the force of her speed transferred into her hands as she thrust out at the slender and seemingly delicate girl, pushing the Slytherin away from her with a burst of adrenaline. Robin fixed one of her most wicked glares she could conjure on the first-year student whom she had just shoved out of her way, not really caring what the girl's reaction was. If it had been any other person, Robin would have continued to walk, not even bothering to look at the unimportant person who had been in her way. Just another obstacle on her track. But Robin was glaring at Livia Machavariani. All thoughts of food and dinner were wiped away and replaced with the inescapable need to make a joke about the last time the two had encountered one another. She grinned sardonically, eyes still narrowed as she looked Livia up and down.

Hand on her nose, confirming that her nose hadn't bled, Robin's grin grew into a depraved smirk, then a cackle, as she began laughing obnoxiously loud, her hand falling away to clutch her stomach. "Wow I was just thinking about you! Libby, is it?" Robin knew damn well what this girl's name was. "Oh yeah - I've gotta thank you. Really. You did us a solid by knocking yourself out at the match. Beautiful. You really showed us crows, huh?" Robin joked, eyes crinkling as she laughed. She wasn't one to overthink her interactions. Or even think about them at all, really. Not once did it cross Robin's mind that she was being an asshole - sarcasm was the language of her people (AKA her horde of older brothers back in Wales), and she knew how to use it like a weapon, with precision. And way more honesty than most people were comfortable with, to Robin's utmost ignorance. Wiping a fake tear from her eye, Robin gradually began to stop laughing, her body vibrating with the excitement of what kind of reaction she was going to garner from the younger girl.

Robin's seemingly innocent, large brown eyes narrowed as they connected with the undeterred green eyes of the Slytherin girl. The considerate question after Robin's wellbeing simply slid in one ear and out the other, the kind, civil question completely out of character for Robin's settled interpretation of the girl. The moment their gazes had touched, all warmth had instantly leaked from the snake's expression, and Robin could see it. There she was - not the friendly, apologetic clutz that she wanted another person in Robin's position to believe her to be.

"It's Livia," the girl corrected Robin with a soft intonation, despite the sharp change in her disposition. "Although I suppose you could call me Livvy, and that would be alright." Before the girl had finished speaking, Robin was already dramatically rolling her eyes. Her suspicion and paranoia dug their claws into her shoulder and held on tightly. This farce that Livvy was putting on was only irritating the Ravenclaw, and she wanted it to end. Before Robin had a chance to respond, the girl continued. Her voice was dry and slightly scratchy as she spoke, reminding Robin of her little sister when she was sick with a cold. Robin narrowed her eyes further as she listened, changing her stance so that she stood wider in the still bustling hall. The fact that the girl made her think of little Samantha - at home all alone with all of her clueless brothers and quietly broken mum... Her heart only sank a little deeper at the reminder.

The way the girl spoke did nothing to calm Robin's slightly rising temper; the thought of the warm meal waiting for her caused her stomach to grumble in protest at this conversation. At the word "doltish", Robin couldn't help but let out an uncharacteristically high squeak of impatient disbelief. The rest of the girl's words nearly faded away until she heard the phrase stunning spell. Who even was this girl? To use words like doltish and to possibly know the god damned stunning spell in her first few months at Hogwarts - something Robin's mind struggled to even comprehend. Her brain frozen solid and her cocky grin fading, Robin scoffed aloud with as much vitriol as she could muster and raised her chin in defiance.

"No way you can do a stunning spell in your first year. Not possible for a little thing like you, I'd wager. And why do you talk like it's fuckin' I dunno, sixteen fifty-two or whatever?" She articulated scathingly, her eyes still narrowed, and looking for every piece of body language she could decrypt from the girl. "Newsflash, Livvy," Robin added, opting to use the nickname the girl so graciously said she could use. She tried to say this with less venom, but was ninety-nine percent sure that she had failed. "It's nearly twenty twenty six. You can call people a dipshit to their face." She reached down to her boot with casual, slow movements, grabbed her wand from her sock, and stood up tall once more, the wand now tucked securely behind her ear. "That is, if you're willing to back it up, mind."

Despite herself, Robin's mind was still stuck on the claim that this girl could perform a stunning spell. Very, very advanced magic that Robin didn't even know. And Robin prided herself on knowing things. So this was concerning... Very, very concerning. If there were first years who could accurately perform a stunning spell when she herself had tried to master the spell herself and failed, couldn't... Oh, Gods, how many other first years were capable of magic she couldn't manage on her best days? The thought alone was so shameful that Robin had to block it out of her head at once. It wasn't good to dwell on the possibilities - she was lying. That was the only correct conclusion.

Robin shook the thoughts from her head and took a deep breath. She'd shut down at this point. The mask was raised. It was all defense; the only emotion left was the one driving her to kick this girl down a notch off her high horse. No laughing or smirking, but no visible frustration either. Robin was blank. Without moving a muscle or blinking once, Robin continued to hold eye contact unflinchingly. "I don't want anything at all from you. Don't think I ever will." She should leave. She should turn away. Forget this interaction ever happened.

But the one question that had clawed at her single most daunting insecurity day and night had squirmed its way thoroughly into the center of her brain like a fierce, hungry worm.

Could Livia really perform the stunning spell?