Open aftershocks

[Victoria de Lacey]

All she'd wanted to do was to study, but apparently she couldn't even do that right. She hated textbooks, she didn't want to have to use them for studying too, but apparently a game with truth or dare wasn't the right way to go about it either. She grumbled as she slipped her bag off of her back and dropped it heavily (loudly) next to her seat and slipped into it. Text books made her feel dumb, they always explained things in ways she just couldn't seem to wrap her head around and though she knew she wasn't dumb, nothing that had happened so far this year had gone to plan and she'd only been here like two months. She dreaded to think what the rest of the year was going to be like. She sighed, leaning into her chair and pulling her potions textbook out of her bag. She should have just asked Jasper to study with her, he wouldn't have derailed it into...whatever that was. Demi had been so angry with her for trying to move everyone on and then they'd all just completely ignored her and she knew Kiera had gotten her question wrong on purpose. If they weren't even going to take it seriously, what was the bloody point.​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie hurried after Tori, calling her name, but the Gryffindor either didn’t hear her or didn’t want to hear her. Susie hesitated. She didn’t really want to leave the fun, but Tori was more important, wasn’t she? Even if she was probably being a bit dramatic… something had upset her, and Susie couldn’t just let that go.

She caught the library door and went inside. Tori wasn’t difficult to find. “Hey! Are you okay?” Susie asked, dropping into the chair opposite. “Was it something I said?” She grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori slid deeper into her chair as Susie caught up with her and sighed. She didn't really blame Susie, she hadn't actually been the instigator, Lumos had been the one to dare William first, and then Susie had dared him to kiss Demi and it had all sort of devolved from there to the point where she hadn't known what to do. She'd just tried to move people on and then people had been upset with her? Demi had thrown her such a mean look and she still couldn't process that. She'd only wanted to study, but since she hated doing that she had thought something fun would have been better. Yet none of her so-called friends had even tried to pretend to take it seriously. She realised she hadn't said anything to Susie and frowned. "No... not... not specifically? I mean you did sort of pile on, but it had already gone off the rails by that point. So... no, it wasn't something you said and no I'm not alright." She didn't really know how to explain how she was feeling though. There was a lot to unpack.​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie was confused. Wasn’t the whole point of truth or dare to be a bit stupid? To see what you could pressure your friends into? Had Tori really expected it to be serious? “They were just having fun,” she said. “You know what they’re like. But… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make it worse. I thought you were having fun, too.” To tell the truth, Susie had barely thought about Tori at all. Maybe she should have been more observant. “Anyway, it’s boring now. You’re not there. Unleeeesss you want to come back?” Maybe if Tori could think of it as a game, she’d be able to enjoy it like everybody else.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

It wasn’t hard to keep up with the girls. Tori had been out the room first so she was harder to follow, but Susie was providing a very useful bread trail towards the Gryffindor which the blond followed. She’d gone to the library, which was a peaceful retreat in comparison to the show that had just gone on in the student lounge. He was glad to have attended if not to expand his social horizons, but there was such a thing as too much and he could only take so many kisses between them, and threats of being caught up himself, before he’d abandoned the game.

Entering the library he walked across the room to the girls now sat either side of a table, and the boy slipped into the seat next to Tori. “When you said study session I didn’t think there would be quite so many lips involved,” he mentioned to them both.​

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

"I don't really want to go back to be honest, it's completely ruined now. I just wish I'd grabbed the cards," if only to not have them be there anymore. Maybe she was being kind of mean, maybe Susie was right and they were just having a bit of fun, but it had felt a little personal towards the end, and both Will and Demi had blatantly ignored her. Demi had always been giving her a weird vibe and she still couldn't understand why. It was all just a little too much happening a little too fast. "Think I'd rather stay here," she said, looking up at Eoghan as he arrived. "Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't mean for it to be like this. I genuinely thought it would be just a fun thing to do... remind me not to ever do anything fun or important with friends again." she frowned. That might have been harsh too, because Susie and Eoghan didn't deserve that, but she was upset and annoyed, she couldn't help it.​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie smiled as Eoghan arrived, glad she wasn’t the only one who’d come to check on Tori. Maybe that would cheer her up a bit - knowing at least two people cared more about her than some silly game. “We can have our own study session,” said Susie. “No kissing. What’s so great about it, anyway? You get all slimy.” She shuddered. She hadn’t had a proper kiss before, but she could imagine. “Eoghan, you can test us. Ask us something about Potions.”

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

It didn't offend Eoghan when Tori said she wasn't going to do anything with friends again. Is that what they were all supposed to be? As far as the Ravenclaw cared they just happened to be civil given the amount of time they had to spend with each other. "At least some people seemed to enjoy themselves," he mused, although he was unlikely to have attended another one in the future if Tori hosted again.

Eoghan's cheeks flushed pink when Susie spoke about kissing. He hadn't gotten all slimy, but that would involve admitting to the pair that he had already kissed someone and after the drama that had just occurred, Eoghan didn't want to them to think he was just as bad as them. It had been different, after all. For a brief moment, he thought Susie asked him to test kissing out on them although thank Merlin she was talking about study questions. The Ravenclaw frowned at her question, "But you're not even taking Potions yet?" he asked, knowing full well he only shared the class with Gryffindors.​

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith followed silently after her best friend, or what she could see of him anyways aka a head of blond hair in the distance. He entered the library and Lilith stood next to the door considering whether she should go in or just go to her dorm, perhaps take a nap, read a book? Who knows.

Against those thoughts she slipped into the room and sat down. "Hi and thank you, Tori for trying to make a study session for all of us, I'm sorry it took the wrong route." She said offering a smile to the Gryffindor girl. It had been a sweet idea and a good one, some of them just seemed to have different priorities than the others.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori was a bit surprised when Lilith showed up, but she smiled at her and pushed her book into the middle of the table. "If we're going to do it, I shouldn't be looking at that book. Will you need it Eoghan? I suppose we could take it in turns and go around asking questions," he was right though, Susie didn't have potions. Maybe they should do another class, "what classes do Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw have together? We can do that too, and we can do some charms stuff Susie, because that's the class we share as well." She didn't know if Lilith and Eoghan had looked into any of the charms class stuff yet, but they could sit those questions out if they wanted to, and Tori would sit out and questions from the classes that they shared that she didn't.​

 

[Lilith Ilves]

Lilith returned the smile, though it was an effort. Her brain was cloudy and she was very tired, the earlier truth or dare meeting had taken every bit of her social battery. She stared at Tori who was talking, her focus slipping in an out of the girl, she could not help but wish she had gone to dorms instead.

"I don't think I can do much studying today, I have an incoming migraine I think, I'm just gonna go take a nap, but please feel free to reach out to me whenever. As far as I am concerned we are friends now." She said giving both the girls a smile. Before getting up she gave a hesitant smile to Eoghan and then slipped away. She was tired and needed a date with her bed very badly.

 

[Susie Lagowski]

"That's OK. I could use a headstart." Besides, Susie was feeling pretty confident about her other classes. She wasn't going to be a straight O student, but she wasn't going to fail, either, and that was good enough for her. For a moment, she thought Lilith was joining them too, but the Ravenclaw wasn't feeling well. "Aw. Sure, we're all friends. I mean, works for me. See you later, Lil - feel better, OK?" It seemed like the truth or dare game had made everyone feel a bit off. Susie hoped it hadn't ruined any friendships for good, and hoped even more that she wasn't responsible. Sure, she liked to joke around, but she'd never meant to actually upset anybody.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan was surprised when Lilith joined them because he hadn't seen her following him. It was nice to see her talk to the others and could relate to being more open in smaller groups. That being said unlike Eoghan Lilith had spoken during the game so maybe she wasn't as quiet as he was. His pale blue eyes flickered between Tori and Susie as they debated whether they should practice more questions, although he was proud that not only did they think he was suitable to be the one to quiz them, but that he wouldn't even need the textbook either. He shook his head, a small smile appearing on his face. "I don't need that," he added, having read it for leisure already more than a couple of times. The same went with most of his textbooks and it's why he was already trying to absorb third-year material.

"I have Herbology and Transfiguration with Susie," he mentioned, knowing that he'd had to amend his questions to suit the girl he was asking. He didn't count flying. Sitting a little taller in his chair, he pondered over the questions and was about to ask the first one when Lili told the group she had a migraine and was heading out. He shot her the tiniest look of concern, but as she gave him a smile and apologised to the others Eoghan believed that above anything else Lilith was likely concerned at the possibility of upsetting them once she'd announced she was leaving. Not wanting to make a scene or make Lilith feel any more guilt, Eoghan just nodded her way, making a mental note to check in with her later.

"Okay Tori," he continued after a moment, "What happens to Hellebore when it's used correctly in a brew?" he asked her, giving the Gryffindor a moment to think while immediately turning to Susie. He would give them questions at the same time so that they didn't have to waste time waiting for the other to answer, "And Susie, what is the incantation to turn a match into a needle?" This should have been easy, they'd only just done it a few days ago.​

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori frowned in concern when Lilith decided she would be better off leaving, she hoped she just wasn't feeling well and not that she was upset. Not that she wanted the other girl feeling ill or anything, but she didn't want her to be upset either. When Eoghan didn't run after her, she assumed that she really must just be not feeling well, because she didn't think he would have stayed if he thought she was upset with any of them. That was good. There was already too much upset today. The question he asked stumped her and she frowned, oh, oh, "Hellebore... well it's poisonous... so..." oh she should know this, she liked potions! She frowned, her eyebrows dropping into creases between her eyes as she tried to rack her brains, "well they use it in like really potent potions, right? But it's poisonous... so... oh! It loses it's poisonousness right?!"​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie had heard of Hellebore. She was sure her auntie had mentioned it once or twice, probably to warn Susie it was poisonous, although naturally she'd forgotten this important fact. Now that she actually needed to know it for school, and not just for boring old safety reasons, she committed it to memory. As for the needle question, well, that was easy. "Flam... Flammeus Tortilla?" she guessed. "No! Tortaila. Tailtora? OK wait, don't tell me." She pressed her fingers to her temples. She totally had this. It was right there, squashed between a useless but rather entertaining fact about horse anatomy and a riddle she'd been trying to solve since last night. "Flammeus Tailora! OK, my turn to test you guys. Eoghan, name three different types of Transfiguration. And Tori - uh - what's the wand motion for Wingardium Leviosa?"

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

The smile on Eoghan's face grew when he saw the cogs in Tori's head turn, although she landed on the right answer eventually. "Yes, Hellebore loses its poisonous properties when it's brewed correctly, and ironically makes a lovely ingredient for the Draught of Peace," he added, partly for Susie's benefit. He raised his eyebrows at the Hufflepuff who he couldn't believe was being serious when she submitted a tortilla for her answer, the imagine in his mind of a flaming tortilla being used anywhere near a match was unlikely to have the desired effect. "Flammeus Tailora, yes." he agreed, knowing this time it was likely news to Tori unless she'd read the book, "It's a three-tap motion spell," he added. He was thinking of his next question when Susie decided to test him, and he felt a little taken aback by the Hufflepuff's thought that he needed to be quizzed. She clearly didn't know him very well. He could have given her all seven! "Inanimate to inanimate, much is the case of turning a match into a needle," he began, trying to think of some fun examples that would help the girls keep the facts in their heads. "Animate to Inanimate, although why you'd want to turn a poor living creature into something with no eyes, nose or mouth is absurd," he continued, unsure of how anyone didn't feel cruel doing such a thing, "and animate to animate. If you wanted to turn William into a toad after the game," honestly Eoghan wouldn't have blamed her, "you could do that too."​

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

"It's the swish and flick!" she said, pulling out her wand and aiming it at the potions textbook she'd shoved aside. "Wingardium Leviosa!" the book floated a couple of inches off the table before she pulled it back and it dropped noisily to the table with a thud. She flinched, not having meant to make so much noise and looked around to make sure no one came over to admonish them. "Oops," she laughed slightly. This studying was more than they'd done in that whole game. Flammeus Tailora was good to know and she put that in her mental vault for later, though she thought she might well forget it. She thought about it for a second and then nodded, yes, okay, she could ask them questions too. This time she decided to switch it up a little on Eoghan though, since she knew he'd read the text books and she was curious if he'd read all of them. "Eoghan, who is Gormlaith Gaunt?" she turned to Susie, "what does Depulso do?"​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Susie resisted the impulse to roll her eyes. This Eoghan boy was a bit of a show-off, volunteering far more information about each question than anybody had asked him for. Although admittedly Susie would be singing a different tune if any of this came up in their exams. And he did make her laugh, too. "I'd turn him into a slug," she offered. Demi might still kiss a frog; a slug was probably safer. Susie glanced nervously over her shoulder, but nobody had even looked up at the heavy thump of Tori's textbook. "Easy. That's the opposite of Accio. Like, Depulso William and Demi." Was that a hint of jealousy in her voice? No, no, absolutely not.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan's eyes widened as Tori posed to him a new question. She knew he wasn't taking Defence Against the Dark Arts, and yet this was the subject she'd chosen to go with because he clearly knew enough about those he was currently taking. A smile appeared on his lips as he answered, "Gaunt was a cruel witch who believed in blood supremacy," he glanced at Susie, "that means she thought those who were purebloods were more important than muggles," he explained in case she wasn't sure, "she was in Slytherin during her time at Hogwarts, and later when her niece married a muggle she tried to have her killed. Her niece, Isolt Steward and her husband were the founders of Ilvermorny, and one of the houses was named after Pukwudgie she'd befriended. Gaunt was eventually killed by the same Pukwudgie's poisonous arrows, and her family never mourned her. There was even a rumor that her great-niece hoped that the Gaunt line would die with her if she didn't bear any children of her own, so she didn't." Eoghan looked at Tori, wondering if that was enough to cover what she would have been told in her lesson.

The blond turned to hear Susie tell them she would have turned William into a slug, "Okay.." he nodded at her statement, unsure of what to do with that information. It dawned on him at that moment why some of the professors decided that things like "pretend potions" were suitable for lessons, and he silently sighed to himself and sat back in his chair, thinking about what other first-grade question he could nudge the Hufflepuff with. "Susie, what was the original Greek name for a Pumpkin?" he asked, wondering if she paid attention out in the greenhouse. "And Tori," he considered for a moment, "What colour is the Boil Cure potion?"​

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori wished she had the speed to write down all the information Eoghan was giving her, though this was pretty much what they had gone over in class, and they then dipped into the stuff in Ilvermorny, it was in a far more accessible way than she he gotten from Professor Waldgrave, she wasn't sure what that man was trying to prove by making everything difficult to understand. She always left the room feeling like she wanted to cry and she didnt want to cry because of a class, but sometimes she would just have to put up with it, wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night that she was sure had been caused by something the professor had said in class. Not that she could ever seem to remember whatever it was that was scaring her. She blanked slightly when he asked her about the boil cure potion though, had they learned that one yet. Her brow furrowed and she unconsciously leaned towards the potions text book, but didn't actually touch it. "Is it clear?" she asked, taking a wild guess or stab in the dark. Funny if she was right.​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

Merlin, he was like a walking encyclopaedia. How was anyone supposed to compete with a brain like that? Susie could barely remember what she’d had for breakfast, let alone memorise entire passages of text. Because presumably Eoghan was reciting something he’d read. She had to believe this was the case, because the alternative - that he was genuinely intelligent - made her feel even more stupid than she usually did.

"Greek name for a pumpkin? What kind of question is that?" she asked, forgetting the topic had come up in Herbology. She'd been too busy sulking about the fate of her pumpkin to remember anything she'd learned about them. "Pumpkinoseus. I don't know." She lounged back in her chair and studied her nails, as if getting the answer correct mattered as much to her as the dirt underneath them. There was more to life than being smart. Being likeable, for a start.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Tori was looking at Eoghan like a deer caught in the headlights, but he grinned as he saw the cogs working in her head. She'd almost reached for her textbook but thought better of it. It had been mean really, the Ravenclaw knew that, to ask her a question about a potion they wouldn't even learn until their second year. As Tori guessed clear, Eoghan shook his head, "It's yellow." He'd seen some for real that day he'd accompanied her to the Hospital Wing; or at least he was pretty sure he had. No doubt Tori would have been a little distracted with her ankle though to gaze upon the vials. "The main ingredient is Bubotuber pus," he mentioned, "that stuff smells disgusting, but it's thick and yellowy-green, squeezed from the bubotuber plant," he wasn't going to go into too much detail, in truth he wasn't looking forward to working with it next year.

The blond turned to face Susie, although he had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at Pumpkinoseus. The corners of his mouth still lifted though, but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of thinking she almost made him laugh. Susie was now giving him some sort of blase performance, as though she didn't really care to be here, and for a moment Eoghan wondered whether Susie was only here because she thought she had to be rather than because she wanted to answer questions. Lilith's words played through his head again in that moment as they so often did; One act of kindness is all it takes to change or save a life. Perhaps extreme in this situation but the point still stood. The first time Eoghan had met Susie, she'd tried to offer him a laxative and if that didn't sum her up he wasn't sure what would. "If you had a bucket of Bubotuber pus, right here right now, what would you do with it?" he asked her. It wasn't a question of magic or testing her knowledge of things they might have read, but instead, he wanted to test her creativity. His one act of kindness right now was to not assume that everyone around him wanted to learn in the same way he did.​

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Oh, she wasn't even close. Well, now she'd learned something, she quickly flicked open her textbook and wrote some notes in the margin, just so she would have them for later. She hoped Eoghan wouldn't mind if she writes it down because she would need it for later probably. She wondered where he'd managed to see boil-cure potion, "where'd you see that? The boil-cure potion?" It wasn't something that came up in the potions that she knew of, so she was a little surprised he knew it, but also not because she knew Eoghan to be quite intelligent so she was glad to have him on her side, if only to keep her on the straight and narrow, give her someone to compete with academically. There was another boy too, a Ravenclaw, she assumed was his roommate. He was good too. Then there was Jonah, she didn't like him very much at all, and Demi? No thanks. She raised an eyebrow when Eoghan asked Susie another question and she turned to look at her, wondering how she would answer the question, she was curious too, actually.​

 

[Susie Lagowski]

"Drown myself," said Susie, still looking disinterestedly at her fingernails. Was he patronising her, now? Giving her easy questions because she couldn't answer the difficult ones? Ugh - why had he even followed them in the first place? Susie just wanted to hang out with Tori, not some swotty, arrogant boy who thought he was Merlin's gift to earth because he knew bubotuber pus came from bubotubers. Seriously. What did he want, a medal? Did flexing his brain make him feel big and special?

Susie stood up and carefully tucked her chair under the table. She was livid, but only an uncharacteristic lack of eye contact gave it away. "I gotta go. Have fun, guys," she said. Where she would go now, she had no idea. Not back to the game - that felt like betrayal somehow. But she couldn't think of anyone else who might want to hang out with her. Oh, well - she was pretty familiar with her own company.

 

[Eoghan Blyth]

Eoghan's eyes were on Tori as she reached for her textbook, finally finally glad to have found someone who seemed to be as keen as he was to make sure he knew what he was doing while at school. "I saw it in the Hospital Wing," he told her, "The nurse had already made up a few things, I assume in case someone came in needing it in an emergency," it was hard to tell the scrawl of an adults handwriting at times, but Eoghan was becoming accustomed to that the more he would read notes by researchers. Maybe that's what he would be one day, although he wasn't sure what he'd be researching.

When Susie gave her answer, Eoghan just frowned. Apparently, unlike Tori there were people in this school that no matter what you tried to do for them it was never enough. Susie wanted the real questions but seemed bored and disinterested. Eoghan had tried to accommodate her and now she was just being rude. As Susie got up to leave, the first thought in his head was that he'd been right. The Hufflepuff was only here because she thought she had to be, she didn't actually care at all about spending time with them or learning something. However as he watched her walk away, he realised that was the second person in almost as many days that had left him. Maybe the universe was telling him he needed to stop pursuing people or friends and refocus on work once more, because the harder he seemed to try to work with others the more he seemed to push them away. "Sorry," he said quietly to Tori, thinking it may have been different if he just had left the girls alone entirely. ​