Becoming the Usual Thing

[Veronica Willows]

Veronica felt a little thrill shoot her when she once again stepped back through the school's library doors after spending the two weeks away at home for Christmas. It was a little silly to be so excited about such a thing, perhaps, but she couldn't really find the will within herself to care about it too much. Although she'd devoted as much time as she could to reading all the new books she had discovered here last semester, Veronica was of course nowhere near to completing an exploration of the entire library collection - there were still so many wonderful new things to learn lying throughout these rooms! Though today her plan revolved more around resuming her studies for class than settling down with a random handful of books that had caught her eye, she was no less excited to get started on the day's subject matter. Veronica had already finished her History of Magic textbook during the holidays, which was unsurprising due to the interest she had always seemed to have in hearing about events that had happened in the past, so she had decided to go find other books that would expand on the chapters of the textbook, in the hope of extending her knowledge - or just finding out more interesting things, if she was honest. After conducting a quick search in the relevant sections, Veronica had found, well, too many books, really, and so retired to the nearest table to begin reading in earnest.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe had actually missed the library in the two weeks she had spent at home. She had almost wished she had stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas Break, though she had to admit she had missed her sisters a little. Still, she missed the magic and learning of Hogwarts more, even if they didn't learn nearly enough in all the time they were given. If it was up to her, she would have had all her classes in semester one so she could take second year ones now, but the school didn't work like that unfortunately.

Phoebe felt a jolt of happiness when she saw her favorite person from her house in her favorite place at the school. It made sense that Veronica was here, she was the only person Phoebe knew that liked figuring new things out as much as she did.

She was just about to approach her best friend, she spotted him. Tomas. Was that boy following Veronica around? How creepy. She knew her friend liked him for some reason but Phoebe didn't. He was annoying and not nearly on their level. If he joined a conversation with them he would only bring it down. She sped up her pace and took a seat next to Veronica, throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Hey there." She said with a grin. "What are you reading?" Maybe Tomas would move along now, she hoped so.

 

[Tomas Wode]

After wondering around the castle for a while, Tomas found himself standing in front of the library. It was one of the places he had been trying to avoid ever since the beginning of the year as he didn't like reading or being quiet, and since he never really did homework he had seen no reason to come to this part of the castle at all. But because he had promised his mother that he would try and do better in the second semester, the twelve year old figured that he should hit the library to study so he could tell his mother that he had at least tried to do better, even if he was probably going to stare at the pages for five minutes and then fall asleep. When Tomas walked in his eyes widened, shocked at the amount of books standing in rows of shelves. He had never seen this many books in one place ever before. The Gryffindor noticed there were quite a few people in the library already, some he figured were studying, others just reading for fun. Among the people he saw Veronica, but when he wanted to approach his friend he saw that Phoebe took a seat next to her and put her arm around Veronica. His smile faded when he saw her and grimaced. Tomas didn't like the other Ravenclaw girl one bit, she was mean and clearly did not deserve to be Veronica's friend because of it. He didn't want to spend his spare time with Phoebe but for some reason he continued to approach them. ''Hi.''

 

[Veronica Willows]

Veronica had just reached a really interesting bit in one of the books about one of the disagreements between Merlin and Morgana when she was startled out of the past by an arm suddenly gripping tight around her shoulders. "Oh Phoebe, hi!" Tucking the curtain of her hair away behind her ear, Veronica turned to beam at her best friend. "It feels like so long since I've seen you! Were your holidays fun?" She wondered if her friend had received anything exciting for Christmas, but she didn't like to ask just yet, as it seemed slightly rude somehow. Keeping her finger in the book so she wouldn't lose her place, Veronica flipped the cover back to show Phoebe the title. "I finished my history textbook already, so I thought I would try and find some more information to get a better picture of it all." Looking over at the pile next to her, Veronica was about to pull them over to show Phoebe as well, when she saw another of her friends approaching. "Oh Tomas, you're here too! This is wonderful! I'm so glad we're all together here at the castle again." Veronica beamed at the others, absolutely meaning every word.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe smiled at Veronica and nodded at her question. She ignored Tomas now, wishing he was going to walk past them without a word. "They mostly were, but next year you should totally come over." She told her friend with a grin. "My sister had like, three friends over, so my parent's can't say no." Phoebe was excellent at arguing. She laughed gently when Veronica told her she had finished the history book, she wasn't surprised. "Is it interesting?" She asked her friend, knowing that this might get her a very long response but not minding. Unfortunately, the Gryffindor idiot then decided to approach them anyway. She gave him an irritated look when Veronica wasn't looking at her. "Tomas." She said, not caring if she sounded cold.

 

[Tomas Wode]

Tomas nodded slightly at Veronica's comment. ''Yeah, really glad we're all back at the castle.'' he said sarcastically whilst sitting down on a chair at the opposite side of the table. Even though the eleven year old still wasn't a big fan of leaving his home back in England, the school, and everything around it, had become more interesting now that he pretty much knew the basics and wasn't that behind on the other students in his classes anymore. ''Phoebe.'' he said, mimicking the tone in the girl's voice so that he sounded just as cold as she did. The Gryffindor then looked back at his friend again and nodded at the pile of books next to her. ''Did you read all of them, or are you planning on reading them all?'' he asked. His eyes widened at the thought of having to read some many books just for fun. No, he would much rather play outside on such a nice day like this instead of being cooped up in an enormous, smelly room, and if it wasn't for the stupid promise he made to his mother, that's what he would've been doing right now.

 

[Veronica Willows]

Surprised, Veronica could feel her whole face light up at the idea of going to visit Phoebe during a holiday period. "Really? That would be amazing, you could show me all the experiments and things you've done that you couldn't bring to school with you! And, you could come visit me at my house too - there's so many things out in the garage that I'd never be able to fit in my trunk. And Dad could teach you about some of those machinery things I got mixed up when I was trying to explain it to you - he could teach both of us, if you wanted!" It was strange that Veronica had never really thought about doing things with Phoebe outside of school before, but of course visiting each other's houses was something friends did. It was exciting just to think about. At her friend's question about the textbook, Veronica nodded. "There were a lot of things that I already knew a bit about, but that's only because I've read so much on my own. We're going to talk about the Salem witch trials later in the semester, and that's a bit scary, but I've also never really looked up much about that." She paused momentarily. "Maybe I shouldn't though, you know, so it's all fresh and new during lessons." Waiting that long to find out might be a tough call though, she'd have to see how she went.

However her good mood slipped slightly once Tomas had finally joined them at the table. He didn't sound like he was happy to be back at school at all. Veronica knew he had been homesick last semester, so had he been so happy to finally return home that he didn't want to come back to Hogwarts? That thought made her sad - Tomas was really nice, and it upset her to think that he wasn't having a good time here. What if he left? But she didn't really know what to say about all of that, and so Veronica gratefully latched on to his question about her pile of books. "Not yet, but I will. I mean, I'm not reading all of them cover to cover, just the bits about what we'll be learning in History of Magic." A thought suddenly occurred to her, and Veronica beamed at both Phoebe and Tomas. "We're all taking that class together this semester, aren't we? That's exciting, we could all sit together!"

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Veronica's enthusiasm about visiting her at home made Phoebe smile. Veronica's house sounded really nice too. Even nicer, maybe. "We could go to yours too! Your dad sounds amazing, my dad can't make anything interesting." She sighed, why did she have boring parents? She smiled fondly as Veronica told her what she was doing. "Witch trials sound horrible. I wonder if any witches ever got revenge."

Phoebe caught the boy's sarcasm and gave him an annoyed look. Sure, suddenly he was no longer the sweet innocent boy. She crossed her arms and leaned on the table, looking at him as he said her name in the same tone she did. Nothing original about this guy. She snorted at his question. "You do know some people like to read, right?" She told him. "You don't have to look so shocked." She smirked. "I mean, you do know we have to read for history, don't you? Unless you are planning to copy notes..." She glanced at Veronica and frowned. Maybe that was why he was sucking up to her all the time? Veronica was smart but also naive. Her suggestion about all sitting together showed as much. "Sure." She said, shrugging. "But I want to sit near the front, because I want to learn things."

 

[Tomas Wode]

Tomas nodded his head when Veronica answered his question about the pile of books, though didn't understand why she would want to read more about the things they'd be covering in class when there was a book that covered most of the stuff they would be learning in History of Magic already. He looked up at Phoebe when she made a funny noise. ''I do know that people like to read, my mom loves to read, although she kind of has to for her job..'' the Gryffindor said. ''I know that we have to read for history, and no, I'm not planning on copying someones notes.'' he added, offened that she'd think that he would do something like that. ''I just don't care about getting a grade higher than an A on my exam - that's why I'm sticking to A History of Magic only.'' A part of him didn't want to do the reading for classes at all, figured that maybe if he didn't pass his first year they would send him back and make him forget about having magical blood and everything that came with it. Tomas grimaced at the thought of having to sit next to Phoebe for a whole hour. ''Sure.'' he said, agreeing reluctantly with all of them sitting next to each other.

 

[Veronica Willows]

Veronica pulled a piece of parchment towards her at hearing Phoebe's question about the witch trials. "Oh! That might actually be something to consider in terms of the intensity of certain trials - I never would have thought of that!" She scribbled the note out frantically, but then set down her quill to focus on the conversation between her two friends. Eyes widening slightly at Phoebe's suggestion that Tomas might copy someone's notes, Veronica quickly interjected, "He wouldn't do that!" The defence came more out of the belief that he could never do such a thing, however, than any actual knowledge of whether he really would or not. She nodded and smiled in relief as Tomas confirmed that indeed he wouldn't copy notes. "See, Phoebe? It'll be fine." She was glad that it looked like her two friends would get along with one another - they just needed to get to know one another a little bit better first. And now that both Phoebe and Tomas had both said they wanted to all sit together in History of Magic too, she just knew that they would know each better in no time. The thought of her two closest friends becoming friends with other as well made Veronica extremely happy, and she even went so far as to giggle in her enthusiasm. "Well of course we'll sit at the front! We always do. And don't worry Tomas, I don't aim for certain grades either - just do your best. That's all we do." She turned to smile at Phoebe, once again glad that she had met such a like-minded friend.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe smiled sweetly. "Good, I just wanted to made sure." She said with a shrug. "An A is just acceptable, though. I don't think I would ever be satisfied by being just acceptable, but to each their own, right?" She smiled at Veronica. "Of course you don't aim for certain grades." She said fondly, "but you still get Os in everything because you're brilliant. I'm glad you at least understand why History is so important. And interesting as well." She smirked. "Maybe sitting with us will help you see this too, Tomas." She said with a shrug. "But like I said, to each their own. If no one got A's, there would be no joy in getting an O for others." She knew she was being harsher than she should be, but she was really starting to wonder why Veronica spent time with this irritating boy. She couldn't imagine just going for an A and being happy with that, especially in a subject like this. Though in her eyes all subjects were important. She sighed, she would have to bite her tongue more or risk fighting with Veronica. Why didn't Tomas just leave them alone?

 

[Tomas Wode]

Tomas smiled slightly when Veronica came to his defence before he could even say anything about it, happy to hear that she thought that he wouldn't copy someone elses notes. He listened to Veronica and nodded his head when she told him to just do his best. It was nice of her to say that, specially since she knew how he was feeling about Hogwarts and everything. Tomas rolled his eyes at hearing Phoebe replying to what Veronica said. Such a bootlicker she was for constantly complimenting the other Ravenclaw girl's intelligence. He then narrowed his eyes at Phoebe's comment to him. Tomas doubted that sitting with them would make him see how important it was, because it simply wasn't. They lived in the here and now, so why would they want to learn stuff about things that happened centuries ago? Tomas sat back in his chair whilst tapping his fingers on the table. After a few moment the Gryffindor looked back up at Phoebe and said. ''Why not make my understand why History is so important right now? I mean, we're already talking about it, you might as well do it now since I probably won't be paying attention in class much.''