Open A Little Single Rose, Definitely Not Dancing

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie had wondered what Eric had thought of her rose, she knew it wasn’t something he likely would’ve wanted to receive, it was probably in his mind fairly lame, but she had thought it would just be nice to give it to him. She wasn’t sure where they stood, and she always half expected him to make fun of her, but she knew in other ways that he was right about things, that she would rather have his mother who according to him wouldn’t mind what he got than what she had. At the very least, as Minnie walked into the Great Hall for the dance she hoped that he had liked the rose. That he hadn’t immediately gotten rid of it. Even if he’d only held on to it for an hour she’d be perfectly happy. The Ravenclaw looked around the hall, trying to spot Emily or even Noel, but she couldn’t see either. THose were the only people she was willing to spend the time with. Instead of doing any of that, or looking much harder to seek them out she walked to the drinks table and helped herself to a cup of pumpkin juice. ​

 

[Simon Thorne]

Simon wasn’t sure why he was here. He hated dances, mostly because he had no one to go with and because they seemed to be far more trouble then they were worth. The Yule Ball had been awful and he wasn’t sure what he expected tonight. He wandered around acting as if he was looking for someone, making it seem like he wasn’t just here alone, until he spotted a girl he recognized from lessons. She was a Ravenclaw so definitely smarter than him, and was getting some pumpkin juice. Suddenly he also wanted a drink and walked over. “You’re Minnie right?” he asked once he was close enough. He acted like he didn’t remember her name, even though he knew he wasn’t wrong. But apparently acting like you actually remembered people seemed strange. “We’ve had some lessons together, although I just transferred this year.” he added as if she probably didn’t already know this herself.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie glanced round as someone was suddenly next to her and speaking to her. He seemed to know who she was, but he wasn’t really someone she knew. He was in her year, and the fact that he added in his introduction that he was new, had transferred that year was why she didn’t entirely recognise him. She put a smile on her face and held out her hand to him. ”Yeah, Minnie, you’re Simon?” she said the name tentatively, having run through in her mind all of the classes and all of the introductions they had done, and was sure Simon was him. She didn’t know him, they weren’t in the same house and Minnie kept to herself and kept her nose in a book. ”I’m sorry, I don’t really spend that much time in classes paying attention to the students,” she said by way of explanation for why she really wasn’t sure she’d gotten his name right and if he was in the classes with her, he would’ve certainly seen that she didn’t often look up from her notes or her books. ”How are you enjoying Hogwarts?”​

 

[Simon Thorne]

Simon accepted her hand for a polite shake and smiled. “Correct.” he confirmed, when she got his name right. She hadn’t sounded very sure but that wasn’t too surprising. It wasn’t like he had gone out of his way to make an impression before. “That’s alright, I wouldn’t expect you to pay attention to me. You’re smart and actually pay attention to what's important in class.” he said with a laugh. When she asked about how he was enjoying Hogwarts, he hesitated and hoped she didn’t notice as he searched for what to say. “It’s been an adjustment, that’s for sure.” He said, his voice sounding more strained than he intended. It wasn’t a lie but it wasn’t the complete truth either. He doubted she really wanted to listen to him complain about how he wished he had never come here. “But I think I’m starting to settle in.” He added quickly with a smile, and distracted himself by serving himself some juice.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie smiled at Simon as he confirmed that was indeed his name. She nodded a little, she wondered how obvious that she spent so much time in her books that she was never paying attention to the other people. She laughed politely at his joke. ”If it’s not in a book for class, I’m not interested,” the ravenclaw joking lightly with him. She noted that he took a moment to think about it. Think about how much he liked this school. ”It’s a pretty daunting school,” she said, with a little shrug, she found it a little difficult and she’d been at it from the beginning. ”Why did you move to New Zealand from England?” she asked, his accent was not kiwi, she was sure that it was an english accent, but of course she couldn’t be that certain about it. Though guessing was as good as anything else. ”if you need any help settling in and catching up in classes, I’m told I’m pretty smart,” she told him. ​

 

[Simon Thorne]

He chuckled when Minnie joked back. For someone as studious as she seemed to be, he was glad she didn’t take herself too seriously. “I don’t know if I’d make a good book. But I will do my best to keep your interest.” he said with a shrug, and found that his smile wasn’t feeling so forced. He took a sip of his drink as Minnie asked him more questions. Simon swallowed hard. “Oh, you mean moving halfway across the world and starting a completely new school shouldn’t be easy?” he teased, keeping his voice light. “I wish someone would have told me.” he said sarcastically and grinned. Moving had been a lot harder than he would ever want to admit, but it also wasn’t under particularly happy circumstances. “My father got a new job.” he said simply, when she asked why he had moved. It wasn’t a lie exactly but saying ‘my father was practically fired for royally screwing up’ required more explanation then he was willing to deal with. Especially now that he was starting to enjoy himself. “I may have to take you up on that. I am horrible at nearly every subject.” Simon admitted, with a self deprecating laugh.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie smiled a little as he joked with her. She couldn’t help but feel a little bad about what she said when he joked with her about it. Of course it wouldn’t be easy, she knew that. She had maybe never done what he’d done, but she could understand that it would be pretty terrible. ”It’s certainly something not even my books would help with,” she joked back with a little smile, hoping to keep the mood light between them. She hadn’t spoken to this boy before, though the same could be said for most of the people within her year, she was finding however that they all seemed nice. Her parents approved of none of them, but they didn’t need to know who her friends were. She reached up for a moment, nodding to his answer of why he’d moved and touched the new snitch necklace which Leda had given her. SHe wouldn’t be able to wear it at home. Minnie looked at the boy as he said he was horrible at every subject, he was laughing but she didn’t think it was a particularly kind thing to do. ”I tend to study a lot in the library, if you want help with homework or notes, just come find me Simon,” her joking tone was gone and it was replaced with a more serious one, keen to help out Simon so that he wouldn’t be as bad at the subjects. ”I’m doing all of the subjects so theres nothing I can’t in theory help with,” ​