Jonah failed a class last semester. If he were really honest, he probably would have failed more than just the one. There was no other way to explain it - he was magically inept. He’d had two - no, three - classes last semester that involved spellwork. All of which he’d done almost horrendously at. He just didn’t like the Herbology professor slash Hufflepuff Head of House. Not after all the things that happened in the last semester. His dislile of the professor though was unfortunately translating to not wanting to be in his class. Transfiguration and Charms. Jonah had been looking forward to them. Only to find that he had zero talent for both. He’d gotten a failing grade for Charms and he was pretty sure he only passed Transfiguration because the professor felt bad. Jonah hadn’t succeeded in performing a single spell in Transfiguration. And for Charms. Well. He’d succeed… eventually. Somehow. Which is why he’d found himself sneaking away to practice.
Technically, Jonah didn’t have to sneak. But Elijah had made it his mission this semester to keep both eyes on him. A far cry from last semester. And normally, Jonah would have loved to spend time with his twin. But ever since that day on the Quidditch Pitch, the Hufflepuff found it difficult. The holidays of course had forced both of them to make up of sorts - his kaa-chan was force of nature if she demanded to be. But Jonah… he didn’t really… he felt weary being in close quarters with his Ravenclaw twin. And it made him feel sick to feel that way. But things were supposed to be okay so they were okay even if it felt like ants were crawling under his skin whenever Elijah would study with him. The feeling only worse whenever Jonah would realize that he understood whatever he was studying instead of floundering about last semester. Apparently, not only can he not compare to Elijah, Jonah needed him to function well in school too. And with the Ravenclaw keeping an eye on him, it was wearing on Jonah somehow because apparently he can’t even be trusted to be his own person anymore. He was hoping this sneaking away to practice and get Charms right would help him feel less of a failed copy and more like Jonah. But the stupid book in front of him refuses to levitate. “Wingardium Leviosa. Wingardium Leviosa. WINGARDIUM Leviosa. WingardiumLeviosaWingardiumLeviosaWingardiumLeviosa!”
Lumos did not often frequent the Second Floor corridors unless he was heading to classes. There weren't any classes on this floor so he tended to avoid it. He was much more comfortable outside, or trying to keep out of his siblings way, sometimes, if he could be bothered to go that far, he would even show up at the Pitch to watch Bailey or Veronica train. Most of the time he went there with Nox, sometimes Tori went too, but mostly it was him and Nox - today though he'd not gone to grab Nox, and so on the way back from the Pitch he'd even walking up to go and see him when he's made a pit stop on the second floor... though he couldn't have said why at the time. It was the sound of a voice he tried to ignore most of the time that really made him pause and when he heard the sound only getting louder and more agitated, he quickly took off down the corridor until he noticed the Hufflepuff standing in the middle of the corridor trying to... get something to levitate maybe? It was a spell Lumos was pretty good at, and he paid attention in Charms because he liked the class. "Stop! Jonah you're going to blow something up like that!" He said, coming to a stop in Jonah's field of vision, so he could see who it was he was talking to. He was wearing Nox's robes this morning, but he knew Jonah would notice he wasn't Nox because he was one of the few people that could tell the twins apart. "Are you okay? The more agitated you get, the worse it's going to be."
Jonah had started this practice hopeful. It didn't really last long. The first attempt failing didn't surprise him. The second one had triggered a nerve. The third had his heart pounding. And with every subsequent failed attempt, he could hear people calling him stupid louder and louder in his head, which was causing him to be more and more agitated. Frustrated was probably an understatement as he could feel anger surging within him, a loud pounding in his ears, and tears threatening to build because why can't he just do anything right? He didn't even hear anyone arrive, as fixated as he was on attempting to cast the spell over and over and over again. Not until someone entered his field of vision, making him pause mid-cast, and his wand arm just slumped, defeated. But someone was here, and Jonah was supposed to be fine, so he rolled his shoulders as if he was just stretching and turned to look at the intruder, who turned out to be Nox. No. Jonah blinked. Not Nox. Lumos. "Hi," he says with a strained smile, ignoring the question. "I... I like to review the spells since I don't get them right every time." More like he never gets them right. But he didn't want to admit that. He didn't want to admit that he failed a class last semester, especially not to Lumos who was smart. It was bad enough that his family and his Head of House knew. A lot of people already thought Jonah was stupid. He just didn't want Lumos to think that too. Or maybe he already did since he saw all that.
"Oh, yeah me too - I don't like some of the classes because they don't explain the spells right," he said, frowning. Sometimes he felt like the school was only really helping them with the classes they were already supposed to know, or only the muggle born students. He was from a magical family sure, and his dad taught at the school but that didn't mean it should be solely up to his dad to teach him magic, or his siblings even. He could understand a little how Jonah was feeling, and he did look very distraught when Lumos didn't like. They weren't really friends, he wasn't sure how he'd describe their relationship since he'd mostly avoided the Hufflepuff, but he couldn't just leave him to stand here like he was going to cry - not that he was going to say anything to that. "Maybe I can help? I'm pretty good at charms, I mean I've only really started recently, but I've had some pretty good success." Maybe that was an under exaggeration, since he'd been doing very well with charms, and the levitation spell was indeed a charm, one he'd learned already. If Jonah would let him he might be able to help, because he understood that not everyone got spells like everyone else, sometimes they weren't so natural.
Jonah wasn't sure he believed it when Lumos said that the classes didn't explain the spells right. He would like to believe the Slytherin, but considering it was only Jonah who was failing the classes miserably, it stood to reason that he was just not understanding the material. It was frustrating because he'd thought he wasn't stupid. He didn't have the best grades in Mahoutokuro, but they weren't bad. And then he got into Hogwarts New Zealand, and everything just went down the drain. Much like everything else, so, it wasn't really new. He would have been a little envious of Lumos being good at Charms, but Jonah was already tired of feeling anything remotely close to jealousy. Growing up with siblings like Elijah and Sayuri tend to do that. Nowadays, he'd just accepted that he would never really be good at anything, and he'd just have to settle for being... nothing. He was happy though, that Lumos seemed to have found something he liked since he'd looked bored for most of the first semester, or at least at the few classes they shared last semester. "I don't mind your help," he said because he really doesn't - not like he's allowed to mind much, considering he'd been told he needed all the help he could get. "Might end up wasting your time though. I'm not very good at all," he warned. It was just better to warn Lumos to not expect anything from him before he got frustrated with the lack of progress. After all, his siblings were getting frustrated. Elijah might be trying to hide it but Jonah knew. Sayuri doesn't bother hiding it at all. Lumos was barely a friend - someone Jonah would like to be his friend but doubted that the feeling was mutual - this was just the Slytherin being nice and polite probably.
Lumos smiled at Jonah, happy that he can be of some assistance. Honestly it would be nice that he could help someone, and he's really good at charms so he doesn't see why he can't help someone else try to get better. Sometimes the classes can be a little confusing, that much he had picked up pretty early on, whilst some of the classes require almost no effort, maybe for some people it was harder than for others, and that was okay. Lumos couldn't say why, but since the kiss during the study session he'd wanted to try and avoid Jonah, but clearly that wasn't correct. He wasn't sure why Jonah seemed to be stressing over something like this, but maybe he could ask him later, when it wasn't right now. He seemed like he was frustrated right now and that wasn't the way to get people's attention when they were going through something. Maybe if he just sort of tried to spend time with Jonah, he would feel more comfortable with it. "I don't know if I'm a very good teacher, but... maybe we can try?" He said, looking back at him with a shrug. "What specifically are you having trouble with? You okay with Lumos? Is it just Wingardium Leviosa?" His name, that was kind of funny. Jonah having trouble with a spell he was named after might have been some kind of comment on something, but he was too young to really know what that might be, and mostly he was just trying to figure out what might be the best move here.
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