Get Over Yourself
“Study buddies!”
Victoria sneered. “Study associates at best, Marsh.”
“Study cronies!” Kate chirped, even louder this time - which earned her a shh! from the librarian.
They were sitting at a table far in the back corner of the library. Well, the back corner of the not-restricted section, anyway. Victoria had a stack of astronomy books next to her, and Kate had a binder, two notepads and a single wide, thin booklet.
“Sorry!” Kate whispered - the librarian gave her a last glare before walking away.
“That was fast,” Victoria said, propping her head against her hand and wishing that she had never decided to do this. “You didn’t last twelve seconds before getting shushed.”
“I’m excited!” Kate chirped, only a little quieter. “This is gonna be so much fun!”
“This is going to be torture,” Victoria said, voice deadly flat as she shifted her stack to the side. “Now, we should establish some kind of schedule for these meets. I think every other day should be more than enough. We’ll switch our topic of focus with every meeting. We’ll do astronomy first-”
“What? Why?” Kate said, smile falling.
“Because it’s far more interesting, and I said so,” Victoria said. “Now, as I w-”
“But don’t you need help with Care?” Kate said, voice rapidly losing any hint of cheer. “I thought we were hanging out to help you?”
“No, we are not,” Victoria hissed - Kate shifted back in her seat at the sudden, unexpected venom in her voice. “We are in a mutually beneficial study relationship. That’s how deals work.”
There was a moment of profound quiet.
“Now,” Victoria said, straightening again and adjusting her tie, “we’ll cover astronomy first. It would be best to-”
“But I thought we were study partners,” Kate said - Victoria made a noise of barely-repressed anger. “I should get a say in this, right?”
Victoria, for a moment, looked close to strangling her.
And then, she deflated - and her eyes went dead blank as she balanced her head against her palm.
“...Alright. Fine. Have your say.”
Kate blinked.
“Uh… Victoria? I didn’t upset you, did I?” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to-”
“Firstly, it’s Chase,” Victoria said, baring her teeth slightly. “Secondly, we are not friends. Upsetting me is not a concern. I do not get upset because of people I despise. I get angry. I get malicious. I don’t get sad. So, have your say, and then I’ll have my say. That’s what you wanted, right?”
“...I wanted to help you out,” Kate said softly. “I wanna do Care first because it’s the subject you have trouble with.”
“...What?” Victoria said - and, between the thick droplets of venomous malice, genuine confusion seeped from her voice. “This isn’t - what?”
Kate blinked.
“This isn’t a friendship,” Victoria said, expression shifting rapidly from angry, to confused, to dead blank. “This isn’t an association where we want to help each other out. You’re a mudblood Hufflepuff. I’m a purebred Slytherin. We don’t help each other out.You help me out, because you get something out of it. That’s how associations between enemies work. So what the hell are you talking about?”
Kate stared at her silently, for a long, long moment.
“...Is that how you think of yourself?”
“What?” Victoria said.
“Purebred?” Kate said, voice soft and thick. “Is that what families like yours do? Breed people?”
Something very strange touched the bottom of Victoria’s stomach.
“That’s not - why are you focusing on that?” she said - quickly stamping out the strange note in her voice with a malicious sneer.
“Because it’s the important part of what you said,” Kate said, voice matter-of-fact. “All the rest was just Slytherin stuff.”
“I - you - what?”
Kate shifted her tie a little, and rolled her nails once against the desk. “That was all just Slytherin stuff. Oh, I can’t have friends because I’m Slytherin. Oh, none of my relationships can be healthy and positive because I’m Slytherin. Look at me, so edgy and reserved. Yes, Victoria, you’re very mature, and we all think you are very powerful and in-control. But please get over yourself. Because I like you! And I’d like to be friends.”
“Wha-- that’s not-- I’m not-”
“So we’ll do Care first?” Kate said with a sweet smile. “Let’s talk about nifflers! They’re really cute, even if I have to take off my rings whenever I wanna pet one. They’re on the fifth page of my binder…”
And that was how Kate took over all of their subsequent studying sessions.
Dear diary,
The first study session with Victoria went really well! She only called me a mudblood 4 times, and she sneers a lot less when she’s focused on work! She’s really smart, too, even if she’s kinda bad at showing it.
I think the only reason she has a bad Care grade is because of the practical work. Maybe I should get her a pet! Or let her pet Alice.
Oh, yeah, Alice is doing really great too! She’s gotten a lot less nervous since I got her, and after meeting everyone on the train she seems to really like Max! Brooke’s always really nervous around her, though.
Brooke’s been kinda weird in general recently. I talked to Max about it on the walk up to Hogwarts our first day back, but she wasn’t really much help. She kinda just said I should let this play its course. I wish I could help her, though.
Max kinda acted a little weird too. Ever since I got back from my study session with Victoria, she’s been really quiet and thoughtful. Even more so than usual. I asked her what was up, and she said that nothing was wrong, but when I asked Brooke, she said that Max just had to ‘figure herself out.’ Whatever that means.
I hope my friends are okay.
Dearest diary,
I’m back. Again. The string of annoying thoughts never end.
Max is gay, apparently, though she hasn’t quite come to that conclusion herself yet. And she’s got a crush on her best friend. Who just got herself a date. Real horrible situation. Unfortunate that it had to happen to Max.
Kate’s invited me to go visit ‘Webster.’ That also happens to be what Mr. Jackson called the acromantula he showed all of us. This detail alarms me slightly.
Other than that, not much has happened. Steph asked Chloe out on a date. I have no doubt she’ll be coming to either Rachel or myself for fashion advice soon. Steph, not Chloe. Chloe will go to Max for advice.
Steph is quite likable, and one of the two people I have a good relationship with who I am not attracted to. Which makes her a good sounding board, and study partner.
Max apparently dueled Nathan Prescott. And won. Well, she says that neither of them won, but Prescott broke the rules, so I consider it an automatic win for Max. I’m quite proud of her. And curious about how she did it.
Outside of sexuality crises, Max also seems to have something else on her mind. Well, I haven’t noticed this, but Kate confronted me about Max in general - something about her being ‘more thoughtful than usual.’ I pinned the blame on the sexuality crisis at first, but Kate also mentioned something about her seeming… off, ever since the welcoming feast.
And I must confess, she’s right. I’ve been a little suspicious myself. Her schedule was drawn up wrong, she seems to forget things a lot more, and just today I went back to get something she’d apparently left behind in class, only for it to not be there at all. It’s possible that it really was just at the bottom of her bag like she said, but…
Perhaps it’s nothing.
But then again - perhaps it’s something.