Closed Got to Figure Something Out

[Harper Alston]

The Electives Fair had been less helpful than Harper had expected. She'd gotten to catch up with some friends and talk to one of the Divination professors, but she still wasn't any closer to deciding her classes. Harper knew she still had the rest of the semester and the break before she had to make any decisions, but she didn't want this hanging over head. She preferred to deal with her issues head-on. If she eventually had to make a decision, why not do it sooner rather than later?

What she needed was someone who actually had experience with these classes, someone who was familiar with the magical world and could give her an unbiased opinion. When it had been time for her brothers to choose electives, they had had their parents as resources. Of course, her brothers hadn't bothered asking for advice, but at least they had had the option of doing so. Harper on the other hand couldn't exactly ask her muggle parents about things like ancient runes or transfiguration.

Harper was sitting in the Great Hall, picking at the remnants of her lunch and contemplating her classes conundrum when she spotted Chloë. She automatically shot the older Gryffindor a smile and was about to return to her thoughts when she realized the solution to her problem was sitting just a few meters away. Harper stood up, abandoning her nearly empty plate, and slid into the spot in front of the other girl. "Hey Chloë, do you have a sec? I could use some advice about classes."

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë found it hard to believe how quickly her fourth year was wrapping up. She wasn't too bothered by it though, actually looking forward to how close they were to the break. She was determined to make it a good one, even if she didn't really have any solid plans for it yet. What did bother her a little was came after the break. Fith year. OWLs year. It was impossible not to notice how students working on their OWLs or NEWTs near exam week seemed to be working a lot harder than the rest of them, looked more stressed about it all as well. Then again some of her best friends were in the year above her, which meant she had already been surrounded by OWLs-talk all year round so perhaps having lived through their experiences next year wouldn't be too bad. She could always ask them about it as well, which felt like some sort of advantage. Even just a little one.

Taking a break in between studying for the upcoming exams Chloë had moved to the great hall to get herself some lunch, almost ready to get up and get back to her work when she noticed Harper sliding into the spot across from her. She gave the girl a smile when she greeted her, a bit surprised when she seemed to have come to her for advice but at the same time feeling kind of honoured by it. "Uh, yeah, sure!" She nodded, not opposed to postponing her studying a little while longer. It could get pretty tiring anyways and she had already done plenty of revising. "What do you wanna know?"

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper was relieved that the older girl seemed to have a few minutes to spare. She knew that it was exam season, and as a fourth year, Chloë was probably very busy and had it a lot harder than she did. It was weird to think that in a couple years, that would be her preparing for her OWL year. Harper was tempted to ask about that as well, but she didn't want to waste any more of Chloë's time than was necessary.

"I'm not really sure how to go about picking classes for next year," Harper explained. She hesitated for a second, as she always did when she knew she was admitting her ignorance of the magical world. But she knew Chloë wouldn't say anything rude. "I've never even heard of some of the elective options before, and I don't know what will be useful or boring. I went to the Electives Fair, but all the professors were just trying to sell their classes," she added with a small laugh. "What classes do people usually take third year? What are you taking now?" It would probably help if she first got a sense of what the student consensus was on some of these classes and professors.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë smiled when Harper started explaining what she had wanted to know about classes. It had taken her a second to realize the girl would already be heading into her third year, which meant she would have to pick her electives at the beginning of next year. She chuckled when the younger girl mentioned how most professors just seemed to be selling their classes at the electives fair, which she guessed was kind of true. "That's.. a good question." She nodded when Harper asked what classes people usually took. If she was being honest she didn't pay too much attention on what classes people were in other than the ones she was in herself. It had never been a difficult choice for her though as she had always been quite sure of which classes she wanted to do and which were definitely not for her. "I picked astronomy and care of magical creatures. Mostly because I just like astronomy and figured care of magical creatures could be a useful class." She answered, trying to remember if there had been any structure in chosing her electives. She didn't think there was, as far as she recalled what she just said had been exactly her reasoning at that time. "Do you know what you want to do later? Like do you think you'd need any of the electives for that? Anything that calls to you? Divination? Ancient runes? Otherwise I'd say just pick what you like, since there'll still be the usual classes like charms and stuff as well anyways."

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper was suddenly very grateful she'd decided to ask Chloë for advice since she hadn't even realized that astronomy counted as an elective option. She would probably keep that — she enjoyed science and it felt like a link to the muggle world. "What did you want to use Care of Magical Creatures for?" she asked curiously. She couldn't really think of any practical uses for the subject beyond maybe magical zookeeper or magical veterinarian.

"I'm not sure, I've only ever really thought of muggle careers," Harper admitted. Besides, those career options had always been little kid dreams, stuff like secret agent and professional footballer. She knew they weren't actually realistic. "I always thought I'd figure it out when I applied for uni. But I guess that's not an option anymore... right?" She was pretty sure wizards didn't have university, or at least she'd never heard a seventh year mention university applications.

"Divination sounded cool, but the professor at the electives fair wouldn't give me a straight answer on how accurate it was. I liked maths back in primary, so maybe Arithmancy?" she asked with a small shrug. Harper still wasn't completely sure whether the two were even related. "Are there any subjects you're not allowed to drop?" If there was one class she wanted to let go of, it was Herbology. It had been absolutely useless their first year.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë hadn't spend too much time pondering over her electives before her third year, which made trying to explain her own choices slightly more difficult. She was still determined to help Harper to the best of her abilities though. "Nothing super specific, really." She smiled at the girl's question about care of magical creatures. It had never been something she had chosen because she had her mind set on using it for something, but she liked it and she did think it was a useful class to have. "I just think it's good to know what I'm dealing with if I ever run into a creature." She added honestly. "Plus my uncle's a magizoologist so I'm always hearing about creatures anyways."

It was easy to understand choosing electives when you'd never truly considered them or known too much about them could be a difficult decision. She also agreed whilst it was good the school had such a thing as the electives fair it wasn't always useful for everyone. Some kids might need some more help, although she guessed that's where their head of house came in. "Well you could still go to a muggle university if you want, you wouldn't be the first." Chloë answered. She didn't know anyone herself that went to a muggle university after graduating hogwarts, but she knew it was a thing people did every so often. "It would be more of a challenge though, since you've gotta keep the whole magic thing a secret and all." She continued with a small smile, not wanting to scare Harper off in case she would seriously consider attending a muggle university later in life. "There's plenty of interesting wizarding jobs though so I guess most people set their minds on one of those."

Chloë had to laugh when Harper mentioned the divination professor at the elective's fair not being too straightforward in answering her question. "I feel like that's the whole point of divination." She joked. It had always seemed curious to her but she was sure that people who had a knack for it could be as accurate as they liked. "Yeah, if you like numbers and all that you might be onto be something." She nodded at the mention of arithmancy, giving a small shrug at Harper's next question. "Honestly, I couldn't tell you for sure. I just kept all of them. Charms, transfiguration, herbology.. you name it,
I'm doing it." She chuckled, even if she knew her answer wasn't going to do much to help the younger girl out. "I'm happy to tell you everything I know, but I'd also advice you to try and make an appointment with professor Kingsley. She'd definitely be able to help you out even more."

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper had to wonder at Chloë's response. "Do you... expect to run into magical creatures regularly?" Magical creatures were in the same category as the Dark Arts in her mind — things she technically knew existed but was never sure whether they would actually be an area of concern outside of Hogwarts. After growing up in a suburban neighborhood with very boring wildlife, it was sometimes hard to believe magical creatures actually existed. But maybe that changed if you lived in a magical area.

She was a bit surprised to hear that some wizards went to muggle university. "Yeah, there's the whole secret thing, and it sounds like it'd be kind of hard to catch up after missing seven years of muggle school," Harper said with a small shrug. It had definitely come as a shock to her parents that she wouldn't be expected to go to uni. On one hand, it was exciting to think she could start her life at the age of 17. On the other hand, it had forced her to completely reevaluate her future plans — even the ones that just came in occasional daydreams. Uni had always been a given, and now it was not. "But I guess it's good to know that's still an option."

"So the mystery is the point," Harper concluded, smiling as Chloë joked about divination. She made a mental note to put arithmancy on her list though her eyes widened slightly as Chloë mentioned keeping all her classes. "Is it hard keeping up with that many classes?" She'd been doing fine at Hogwarts so far — there was actually a lot less work here than there had been at her old school — but she assumed that would change as she got older. Harper nodded at Chloë's next suggestion. "That's true though she might try and get me to take Ancient Runes," she joked before taking a second to consider her next question. "Tell me about Care of Magical Creatures. I think most of my friends are taking that." She knew it wasn't the best reason to take a class, but there had to be a reason why everyone was interested. "It sounds cool and I wouldn't mind seeing more magical creatures. You know, I met a centaur earlier this year," she said, eyes gleaming.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

"Who knows?" Chloë chuckled in response to Harper's question, giving a little shrug. It wasn't like she was expecting to run into some sort of dangerous creature every week but it still felt nice to have more knowledge about creatures. To know what they were like, what their weaks spots were for those classified as dangerous and to take care of the ones that weren't anywhere near being dangerous. She also felt like it being some sort of back-up plan. That if her current plans didn't work out she could always go and work with her uncle, help him out.

She nodded in agreement with Harper's statement regarding muggle university. She could understand why some people chose to take on the challenge, but in reality it just sounded like a lot of work. A challenge, sure, but a very difficult one at that. "It is. Although I'm sure there's plenty of wizarding jobs that might be interesting for you if you look into it. Some involve a training program as well, which is kind of like extra education?" She smiled at the younger girl, figuring she probably didn't even know too much about all of the options and different job opportunities there were for once she graduated.

Chloë needed to think about the girl's next question for a second, wondering if it had been hard to keep up with all her classes. "Personally, I'd say not really. I mean you've got to put in the work for sure, but I guess that's something you get used to." She eventually answered with a shrug. Most of them were classes she had been doing since first year and she clearly remembered working hard to keep up then, but she didn't recall ever truly struggling with her classes since last year. Chloë laughed at Harper's joke about her proposal to meet up with professor Kingsley. "Well I think it's a lot of fun." She started talking about care of magical creatures. "You start out with small creatures in third year and then already moe on to bigger creatures in fourth. Some of them are cute, others are quite intimidating. The professor's nice. Oh- and you're going to love the Flobberworms." She finished with a small chuckle, wondering if Harper had heard about the weird little things before.

 

[Harper Alston]

Chloë's answer was intriguing. Either she was planning on going into something adventurous or the magical world was a lot more exciting than Harper had anticipated. As the conversation turned to educational opportunities after Hogwarts, she decided to ask about the older Gryffindor's plans. "Do you know what you want to do after Hogwarts?" Harper wasn't quite sure what wizarding jobs were available, but it made sense that some would require extra training.

"That's a relief," Harper said when Chloë said it wasn't too hard keeping up with classes. Throughout their conversation, Harper had slowly started to get a clearer picture of what electives she wanted to take. Adding three classes while dropping one would definitely increase her workload, but she couldn't see a way around it. Sometimes it felt like classes were the only way she could learn about the magical world and the way it worked, and as a muggleborn, she had a lot to learn about this new world.

Care of Magical Creatures sounded interesting, and Harper decided she would give it a shot. But she couldn't say she was excited about the idea of studying worms. "Flobberworms?" she repeated. "There are magical worms? What do they do, breathe fire?" she asked, only half-joking. You never could tell with magic. She just hoped that magical roaches didn't exist.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë smiled at Harper's question about her future plans. There weren't too many people she had told about the plans she had for after school. In all honesty, aside from her parents and her brother it had probably only been Sully and Noel. "I want to be an auror." She answered with a small shrug. "Maybe do something fun first like travel or even try out for professional quidditch, but eventually that's what I want to do." It had been something that had been on her mind more and more recently. Especially because she had always planned on just going right for it once she had graduated but now started to realize that she might want to something a bit less intense first. Have some fun for a little while before attempting to get into the training program.

"If only they could." She laughed at Harper's response to the flobberworms. Imagining the slimy things actually being able to breathe fire did look extremely funny though. Especially if it were to come out of both sides. "They're like these thick, weird little worms with two identical ends. Like you can feed them from either side." Chloë chuckled, remembering that was pretty much the only interesting thing there was to say about the worms. "There's a whole lot of actual interesting creatures too though." She added with a smile, trying to make sure she didn't only discuss the dullest of creatures.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper wasn't sure what she'd expected Chloë' to say, but "auror" was definitely not it. Weren't those wizard police? The next part of the older girl's answer was more in line with what Harper had expected. "Both of those would be really cool. If you played professionally, you'd probably get to travel all over the world anyways for matches." She wondered if it was easier to go pro in a magical sport than a muggle one. For football at least, she knew most male professionals got their start at expensive training academies that they got recruited for at a very young age. "Why an auror?" Harper asked curiously. All she knew about the profession was what Styx had mentioned in DADA. He'd warned that aurors who used dark magic against evil wizards would still suffer the ill effects of using such magic. But it would be rude to ask Chloë about that.

At Chloë's description of the flobberworms, Harper frowned in confusion. "But if they have mouths on both ends then how — no, actually, don't tell me. I don't want to know," she said, firmly pushing thoughts about flobberworm anatomy out of her mind as she scrunched her nose at the grossness of the subject. Hopefully they would not go over that in CoMC next year. "What's the most interesting creature you've learned about?" She wondered where they even kept all these creatures. Then again, Professor Summers managed to keep a small army of chipmunks in his classroom, so it wasn't entirely implausible that there was a hidden zoo somewhere on campus.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë knew she wasn't the first person people think of when they heard the word auror, which was exaclty why she hadn't actually told a lot of people about her ambitions. That, and the fact that it was such an intense job with a strict admission requirements. Plus she knew Noel wanted to be an auror and always felt a little bit silly in saying the same thing when he seemed so much more fitting of such a job than she did. "Well if I ever do I'll make sure to get you tickets." She smiled when Harper mentioned playing quidditch professionally. She liked quidditch, loved quidditch, and it was definitely something she was wanting to try out first. Especially since she knew she might not even get through the application process to become an auror. Or through the training if she did. "It's just something I've always wanted to do, ever since I was little. I know it's tough but it seems so rewarding y'know? The idea of keeping people safe." Chloë answered Harper's question with a small shrug. "I mean I know I don't look intimidating, but I figured that might help with the element of surprise." She added jokingly.

Chloë couldn't contain her laughter when Harper seemed genuinely confused about her description of the flobberworms. She couldn't blame her though, it was exactly what her own thoughts had been the first time she had heard about the creatures. She nodded confirmingly at Harper's words, even if the other girl followed up by saying she didn't even want to know. "I don't want to ruin your plans, but you'll need to take care of one if you take care of magical creatures." Chloë chuckled before taking a second to think about Harper's other question. "So far I'd say the hippogriff. If only because it was extremely cool to meet one."

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper smiled at the offer of Quidditch tickets. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen a professional match," she confessed. She would need to add that to her magic bucket list. Hopefully she wouldn't have to wait until Chloë started playing professionally to see a match outside Hogwarts. Chloë then explained why she wanted to be an auror, and Harper thought the older girl's reasoning was very noble. She'd only ever thought of her own future career possibilities in terms of how much fun they would be, but maybe that was a childish way of looking at things. "That's very Gryffindor of you," she said with a light laugh.

"Oh, I didn't mean it that way," Harper said hurriedly when Chloë joked that she wasn't very intimidating. The older girl didn't seem insulted, but Harper still felt bad her question and surprise had given off the impression that she didn't think Chloë was qualified to be an auror. "I guess I've never given auror- aurorship- auroring? much thought. Styx didn't make it sound very appealing," she admitted, assuming that Chloë had gotten the same lecture. Harper wasn't sure if she was making things worse by explaining herself. "Then again, he's pretty negative about everything." DADA her first year had been a major bummer.

Thankfully conversation soon moved onto more steady ground. Harper jokingly gave a dramatic groan when Chloë warned that she would have to take care of flobberworms. "Well at least it won't come as a surprise." Her eyes widened slightly at the mention of hippogriffs. "Those are the flying horse-bird things, right?" She'd read about them; or maybe it was Hunter who'd mentioned them. Either way, she definitely wanted to meet one since they were one of the creatures that didn't seem to have any muggle legends associated with them. "I guess it's decided then, I'll take Care of Magical Creatures." The Great Hall was slowly emptying out as more and more students finished their lunch, and she didn't want to waste any more of Chloë's time. The older Gryffindor probably had a lot of exams to study for. Harper stood up. "Thanks for all the advice. This was really helpful," she said, smiling sincerely.

 

[Chloe Thompson]

Chloë's eyes grew a little bit wider when Harper mentioned she hadn't even seen a professional quidditch match. She was about to comment on that when she just in time realized the younger girl wasn't raised with magic like she was. At least that's what she had taken out of their entire conversation. Either way, that meant it wasn't too strange Harper had never seen a match. "I reckon you're welcome to tag along with my family next time we go. If you want." She smiled eventually. She had gone to matches for as long as she could remember. Definitely not as much as some other people she knew did, but at least a couple each year. Mostly with her dad and her brother but she was sure they wouldn't mind someone else tagging along. Especially not if she mentioned it was someone who hadn't ever been.

"I guess." She laughed when Harper commented on her reason for wanting to become an auror. She waved off the girl's next comment with a smile. She had been joking herself after all and even if someone would tell her they didn't see her being an auror she still didn't think she'd be bothered by it. It wouldn't be the first thing she'd think off when she saw herself either. "Styx doesn't make anything sound appealing." Chloë shook her head. Just being in that darkened classroom made things seem so much more serious and unappealing than they would in any other class. Then again, defence against the dark arts might have to be a bit more serious than some of their other classes. The things that were discussed there weren't fun and games after all. "I think he just wants people to know the seriousness of the job. Y'know, so it's harder to idolize it." She added, knowing sugarcoating the auror job wouldn't do anyone any good.

Chloë chuckled at Harper's response to having to take care of the flobberworms. She had quite liked the weird little things when she had to take care of it in her third year, but she guessed not everyone would be as pleased with that. "Yeah." She nodded excitedly when Harper asked about the hippogriff, definitely excited to be moving on to even bigger creatures next year. She smiled when she seemed to have been able to help Harper out with her decision about which electives she was going to take. At least one. Which was nice. "Anytime. And if you want to know anything else, I guess you know where to find me." Chloë smiled when the younger girl thanked her. If sharing her own personal experiences and slight knowledge was what it took to help someone else out she'd happily comply. Harper standing up did make her realize she needed to get back to studying though so she stood up herself as well, giving the younger girl a small wave before heading out of the hall.