Defensive Study

[Tristan Collins]

When Tristan had signed up for the tutoring program, he hadn't done it for selfless reasons. All he had thought about as he had added his name to the list was how good this would make him look to professors, maybe even to future employers if Hogwarts kept track of such things. But the self-satisfaction he had felt didn't last forever, and now as he was waiting for his 'student' to arrive, he wondered if it was worth the trouble.

He had sort of hoped to be matched with Jessica, she was a year below him so it definitely could have worked out that way. Unfortunately, it had not. Though the girl he was matched with was in Slytherin too. He could only hope she wasn't the prejudiced type, but if she was and showed it this arrangement would be over before it started. He had sent the girl a note to meet up in the library, and he was waiting there now at a table near the door with his old Defence Against the Dark Arts book. He assumed the girl would have a book as well, but it never hurt to be safe. He glanced around as he waited, hoping they wouldn't overlook each other and waste more time than they already were.

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena hadn't exactly planned to sign up for tutoring, but for her Defense was not an easy subject and she would rather be safe than sorry. She sighed as she grabbed her textbook and stuffed it in her school bag, as well as her writing equipment and extra parchment just in case she needed to take extra notes. She swung the bag over her shoulder and left the common room, checking her watch to see that she was five minutes late. That had definitely not been her plan.

The Slytherin girl rushed inside the library, composing herself before walking over to the table she assumed her tutor was at. "Hi," she said and smiled. "Sorry I'm late." Athena felt the need to apologise, as she did not want the boy to get the wrong impression. She proceeded to sit down next to the older boy. Hopefully, he was friendly. "I'm Athena."

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan tried not to let his impatience with this whole deal show as the girl arrived. It was a first-year he didn't know, just as he'd expected. And she was late, which made it hard not to show his displeasure. "Were you lost on your way to the library?" He asked her, a sharp edge to his voice. "Well, let's get started. I'm Tristan, and you're having trouble with Defence" He made some room for her to sit. "Can you tell me what you're struggling with?" He opened the first-year book and flipped through it, glancing at her sideways. "Can you name the unforgivables?" He wasn't really sure how to figure out what she was struggling with so he asked her a somewhat random question to see how she would do. "I remember that being on the exam."

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena hadn't exactly been expecting the boy's comment to be edgy, but she really wasn't in the mood for a fight. Besides he was helping her so she should be grateful they were even here. Athena simply nodded at his words, and only spoke when he asked her the next couple of questions. The blonde squinted her eyes, trying to remember them. "Well," she began. "There's three. The killing curse, Imperius curse, and..." she hesitated. "I can't remember the third." She glanced at her tutor, hoping he'd help her figure it out.

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan let his annoyance at the girls tardiness go, it was no use at this point. He gave her a slight smile to make up for his pointed comment. He listened to her sum up the unforgivable curses, frowning slightly when she couldn't even name all three. It seemed like he had his work cut out for him, but he smiled quickly. He figured it was better to be nice, as it would be more productive. "The cruciatus curse." He told her gently. "Do you remember what they do?" He hesitated, reaching for the notes she brought. "Can I look at the notes you take during lessons? I think it might be the problem. It's not always easy to pay attention to what Professor Styx is saying, but if you can manage to note down the essentials you can look them over later, and find any information you may need yourself. It's a bit more work, but it's how I tend to study for Defence." He told her. "Could you point out to me what's causing the most trouble for you?"

 

[Athena Rey-Martinez]

Athena relaxed a little as her tutor didn't hold the grudge of her being slightly late for her first tutoring session. "Right," she said slowly, now the third curse coming back to her. The Cruciatus curse. His hesitation didn't necessarily encourage her to try to remember but once she did, she smiled. "In fact, I do. The first one I mentioned, Avada Kedavra I think, kills," she waited for the boy to roll his eyes at her obvious statement, but didn't glance at him to check his expression as she moved on. "The Imperius curse puts the caster's victim under the caster's control. And the Cruciatus curse puts the victim in extreme pain." That seemed to be all, and Athena sighed as she waited for the next part. Oh, of course, her notes. She opened her bag and took them out, handing them over to Tristan. "Um, well, sometimes it is following Professor Styx when he teaches. Specifically, I have trouble keeping up with him. I mean, not all the time, but..." she shrugged, she hated feeling helpless. "I think I'm missing some information." Athena hesitated. "Could you...help me to catch it up?" The first year sincerely hoped Tristan would, and not just hand over some more notes, because she needed to learn how to do it in the most effective way.

Ughh sorry it's rubbish

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan noted that even though the girl hadn't known the names of the spells, she knew their effects. "Forgetting a name isn't bad. You still know what they do, that's more important." He told her, figuring it was good of a tutor to react in a positive way. He took the notes from her and looked them over carefully. He nodded. "I see your problem." He told her, giving her a small, encouraging smile. "He talks a lot in some of his lectures, right? And he's not really the kind of person you ask to repeat anything. Believe me, I get it." He told her with a nod. "But that's why it's better to just take simple notes. By which I mean writing down key words and important phrases in a way you understand. Use symbols if necessary, but you won't keep up if you try to keep notes in full sentences." He pulled out his own notes from first year, glad he had kept them. He showed them to the girl. "See, at the start I tried the same. But I had trouble keeping up." His old notes were in ballpoint pen instead of quill ink, and he hoped the girl wouldn't comment on it in a bad way. He missed writing with the muggle utensils, but knew better than to go back to it. "Perhaps you can use my notes to add to your own, to fill in the things you've missed. That way at least you have a more comprehensive set of notes to study for your exam with." He hadn't been planning to offer anything like this, but he wanted to help her. "And in class next year you can think of how I did it and try to do it that way too. See if it helps."