Is it ever going to end?

[Patricia Styx]

Patricia dragged her book bag along the Fourth Floor corridor from the Hufflepuff House and the semi quiet Student Lounge. There were a few people in the Student Lounge but Patricia didn’t mind just as long as they kept quiet and let her have peace to get on with her work. If they didn’t she could always pull her Prefect powers and make them be quiet, but Patricia wasn’t that type of person even though the idea did make her snigger slightly as she took a seat at one of the completely empty tables. Setting her book bag down on the table with a dull thud she pushed her seat into the table and with a sigh started to sift through her books to see what work she had to do. It was only week three of the second semester of her sixth year and she was already behind on her homework. She hated that she had found herself so far behind already but she had been so busy with a lot of other things she didn’t seem to find the time to sit down and concentrate on her work without something else popping up.

Sure she had the same about of work on her plate that she had had for the past few years; Prefect duties, yearbook pages had to be done up, the Arts Club needed to be lead, Quidditch practice – those things she had become used too albeit she still found them time consuming. Although this semester had brought her an extra responsibility; although it was one that she had brought upon herself. With Patricia having recently figured out her future career path she had started to do things that could help her along the way. To help her become a Healer she had Niccy training her while she as home and reading various medical books from the library and asking the nurses for extra help on things that she couldn’t understand. Then to help her with her dream to become a History of Magic Professor she had asked Professor Spenser about an apprenticeship that some Professors offered. Luckily he had accepted to take her on and as such teach her things that weren’t on the curriculum and things in general that would help her being a Professor; although according to Professor Spenser she was a natural. Staring at her books she buried her head in her hands. “Urghhhh!” she sighed as she ran her hands through her hair and inhaled deeply...she was tired and a tad stressed.

 

[Alexandra Johansen]

Alexandra passed by the library, the cliffs and a couple other spots in the hallways that were usually her favourite places to do homework, but they were all full of talking, annoying younger students. Even the Slytherin common room had more people in it than she'd like to do her homework in peace and quiet. There was some stuff she wasn't understanding, and she needed her solitude to get it done right. Alex entered the Student lounge with sore shoulders from her heavy backpack being there the whole time she was walking. Not too many people, seems like a good place. She thoguht to herself as she scoped out the room quickly, arms crossed. Her hazel eyes scanned the room for a table that was empty, and she noticed a hufflepuff that she had class with. Patricia. Patricia Styx, is her name. She recalled from her excellent memory, and held her breath as she took a step towards her classmate.

Alexandra had always been a very shy girl. Growing up with strict parents didn't help much, and the only friends she did have were her teammates on her football team back in Spain. Her teammates wouldn't necessarily be her friends; it was all one big competition to see who would get scouted during the showcases. Alex didn't want to get scouted, she already knew what she wanted to do once she was done with Hogwarts, but didn't tell anyone about it because she didn't want more competition for her dream of being an auror.

She walked up to the table, and took her black backpack off of her shoulders, placing it on an empty chair. She rolled her shoulders, warming them up, and looked at the Hufflepuff, softening her harsh expression. "Is this seat taken?" Alex asked quietly, fighting the temptation to look at her feet.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Letting out another deep sigh Patricia decided to stop feeling sorry for herself and get on with her work. Looking at the list she had made that contained her classes for this semester along with the work that she had to do for each of those classes. It didn’t seem as bad as she had first imagined; which was good for her but she still had a bit to do. With that in mind she pulled her Herbology books closer to her and some spare parchment. She had decided to go with Herbology first because she didn’t dare let herself fall behind on that, knowing what he father was like and she didn’t want to disappoint him. She had been one of the few who actually achieved the grades necessary to take on Herbology as a NEWT and she wanted to maintain those good grades. Dipping her quill into her ink she began to write out her essay for their last class. Hoping to have it done before she left seeing as it was due the next day. What’s happening to me? I never let myself get this far behind! she said to herself. She was hard on herself when she let her homework and/or grades slip. She was proud of the high grades that she had kept since she started Hogwarts New Zealand six years ago and with just over a year left she didn’t want to jeopardise those grades; especially seeing that her last year was her NEWT year and there were the most important exams as there are what everyone works too throughout their whole school career.

As she continued on with her essay she heard a voice over her. Looking up she saw a familiar face, albeit one that she didn’t know very well. Alexandra Johansen; a Slytherin and a fellow sixth year. Patricia had never really interacted with Alexandra in the past and only knew her because of the classes that they shared together over the past years. “Help yourself.” Patricia said with a smile to Alexandra. Seeing the girls book bag Patricia laughed slightly, “Catching up on homework too?” she asked, if she was maybe the two girls could help each other; many hands made light work.

 

[Alexandra Johansen]

Alex gave a weak smile, and nodded her head to Pat's question as she sat down in the seat. Taking note of which books Patricia had out, Alexandra took out her Herbology ones too. Better off doing the same work in case either of us has questions. She thought to herself, but deep down she sort of hoped that neither of them would have questions. That was one of the two qualities she hated about herself. Being anti-social. She always thought that she had some sort of disorder, and when she was younger, her parents took her to psychiatrists to get her head checked out only to discover it was part of her personality. The other part of herself she hated was that she lacked self-confidence and was almost always too worried about failing to do stuff. That she blamed on her parents, who hardly ever praised her, telling her that being hard was for her own good.

Alex took out her gray quill, and dipped it in her black ink. She wrote down her name at the top of her paper, and slowly began to write her essay. Half way through, she äsked at random, "Do you know what you want to do for the rest of your life?" It wouldn't have necessarily been a random question had they known each other, but the end of the year was coming, and that meant NEWT's next year, then work and jobs the year after that, which made Alex nervous. She wanted to be an auror, though she hadn't told her mother that, yet. She realised that she should probably expand on her question, maybe Patricia was as hushed as she was about her ambitions. "I already know what I want to be, I'm just curious about other people's ambitions, in case mine doesn't really work out for me." Alexandra continued, truthfully, but kept her voice steady.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Patricia dropped her eyes back to her work once more as she saw Alexandra nod her head at her question. Patricia didn’t really know Alexandra at all. She was fairly quiet in classes and kept herself to herself any other time. Patricia had made it one of her goals to at least have talked to the majority of her year if not everyone on a somewhat personal basis so she would have more memories of her seven years. It was all well and good having her best friends but it was in Patricia’s nature to be friendly with at least everyone (or at least try). The Herbology essay wasn’t taking Patricia as long as she had expected as she was nearly half way done according to her plan that she had wrote out covering all the notes that she wanted to include in her essay meaning it was done to the best of her ability.

Patricia looked up at Alexandra when she asked her a question which had thrown her off guard. She had originally thought that the Slytherin was going to ask her a question about the essay but clearly it wasn’t that situation. Smiling brightly Patricia nodded her head. She was so happy that she now was able to give an answer to this question as a few years ago she had talked to someone else about it and she didn’t have a clue. It hadn’t helped her that the other person seemed so sure of what they wanted to do and they were younger than her. “Well after graduation I want to work in St Mungo’s as a Healer, although I’ve yet to decide which area. I’m thinking in the Potion and Plant Poisoning Department as Herbology and Potions are fairly strong subjects for me, but I’m not too sure about that yet.” she said with a shrug. “My mother is already teaching me some simple healing spells as she was a Healer herself when she was younger.” Patricia added in a nonchalant voice as it had become somewhat old news for her now. “After doing that for a while I want to go into teaching for a bit. Professor Spenser has taken me on as his apprentice as I want to go into History of Magic.” she added. Her stomach knotting as she got excited about starting her career; or careers rather. “What do you have in mind?” she asked Alexandra.

 

[Alexandra Johansen]

Alexandra felt like an idiot. She kept thinking to herself over and over again, Why did I ask about after Hogwarts, you're doing a Herbology essay for crying outloud! She was terrible at making small talk, but had almost no friends, and few acquaintances so she had to do something. She kept her eyes down at her paper, which was still only half done. Her roots turned a dull pink with embarassment, (though she wasn't exactly sure what she was embarassed about) as she listened to Patricia's life, basically. She took a glance up from her paper, "You seem to have your life in order." Alex began in a quiet voice, and took a small, quick breath.

Her dark hair fell into her face (roots still pink), and Alex lifted her left ankle and untied the pearly white ribbon that was around it. As she lifted up her hair, to tie the ribbon around it, she continued slowly, feeling nervous. "I sort of want to be an auror. It'd be nice to do some good in this world, when there's a lot of destruction happening." Alexandra finished, on a serious note. The destruction she was referring to was sort of more on a personal level, with her sister. Alexandra still had a hard time believing that she wanted to be just like her sister. The same mother and a love for potions were the only things they had in common, and Alex wanted to stop her from ruining her nieces life. Though her mother doesn't know, Alexandra's grandfather in Spain sent her an owl telling her what had been happening, and that Aphrodite was there now with Athena to lay low, making occasional trips to Bulgaria. Alex knew that her sister was evil, and her wanting to becoming an auror was to expel of all the filthy Death Eaters that ruined their families lives.

 

[Patricia Styx]

While Patricia was behind on her work and she wanted to get it done before her classes so she wouldn’t get in any trouble for not having her work done she didn’t mind the small distraction from Alexandra. Patricia was always worrying about her work, but in the end she always got it done. Plus she had been over doing herself as of late and she felt a small break; and if she got some work done in the process then that would be even better. Patricia looked down at her paper to see where she had left off. She was almost done with just a few points left to cover. As she told Alexandra about what she had planned for herself in the future she set her quill down and rested her head on her hands as she looked over at the other girl. She noticed that the roots of Alexandra’s hair had turned pink, They weren’t always like that, were they? she asked herself but decided to stay quiet on the whole thing in case they were like that before and she just hadn’t noticed.

Patricia nodded her head. “I guess I do!” she said with a broad smile. She loved that she had her life sorted for the most part; she never thought the day would come. Then again she had a lot of other things to figure out in her life. Although it was the smaller things that, at 16, she didn’t have to worry about; such as a love life like getting married and having children, that was something Patricia wouldn’t be worrying about for a few more years. Although if her Ancient Runes class held to its she would have a love life sometime in the near future, That should be interesting. thought the Hufflepuff, seeing as she never had a relationship before. Patricia’s eyes widened with surprise when Alexandra told her what she wanted to do later on in life. “Wow Alex, that’s so cool, and for a very good reason.” she said with a small nod of her head. “What does your family think of you wanting to be an auror?” she asked?

 

[Alexandra Johansen]

Alexandra was fiddling around with the quill in her hand, and ink was dripping on the table, so she wiped it with her sleeve. The conversation quickly changed to the topic of her parents, and Alexandra's eyes sort of widened. "That part of my life is a bit complicated. See, my father is a muggle and doesn't know that my mother, brother and I are, magical. I haven't told my mother that I want to be an auror, yet. I was hoping to get to it this summer if I pass my apparation exam." She explained. It sounded absolutely ridiculous that her mother had kept this secret for twenty years, but her mother was full of secrets, and so was Alex. Alexandra hadn't even told her mother that she knew about her older sister, something that she still hadn't been told about, which she hated.

Alex couldn't help but noticing that Patricia's expression had changed in the past few minutes, until she came to the horrific realisation that her hair had probably changed colour. That was another secret she kept from people; that she was a metamorphmagus. Her eyes wide with a sort of fear, that Patricia, a near stranger, would now know her second best kept secret. "My hair is blue, or green or some other colour, isn't it?" She asked, slowly but also a bit sarcastically incase it wasn't (so she could say she was joking). She then put her quill down, having still played with it and it now got on her shirt.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Patricia was now intrigued with what Alex had said about what she wanted to do with her life after Hogwarts. She didn’t know anyone who was an Auror but she always admired them for what they did. They were the muggle equivalent of the police and that was one of most important jobs someone could have back at home and it was the same here. She didn’t like reading the Daily Prophet an awful lot because of the stories that were clearly made up or the lies and scandals that were pressed instead of the more important things in life; like the truth. Although when she did read it she would catch an odd story about how some Aurors captured a Death Eater or two and she always thought it was very commendable work that they did, keeping the World safe for people like her and her friends and family. She knew that her half brother, Jaken, was an Auror in Training for a while but after an accident at work he couldn’t return back to it, she felt sorry for him as he seemed to like it for the most part but he seemed to be happy now too and that was all that mattered.

When Alex said that the family part of her life was complicated she frowned her eyebrows, it was never easy having complicated family matters having a few herself in the past, she could somewhat relate. “I know what it’s like having a muggle parent, actually a few of my brothers and my step dad are all muggles, but they didn’t react badly to the news.” she said, wondering if her magical powers had been kept from her father because they feared he wouldn’t react well to it. “Are you nervous about the apparation exam?” she asked out of curiosity in case the family topic was too much for her. When Alex asked Patricia about her hair being a different colour Patricia raised her hand to her own roots to show Alexandra where she was looking at. “You’re roots or sort of pink.” she told her, not sure if Alexandra actually knew they were a different colour to the rest of her head or not.

 

[Alexandra Johansen]

Alexandra was sort of relieved to know that she wasn't alone, in having a muggle family. The people in Slytherin weren't exactly known for being supportive of that kind of family life. She never talked about her life with anyone, and really never got along with her own housemates sometimes. There were a few bad incidents in the past with her fellow Slytherins, so she tended to stay away from them not wanting to cause issues and lose housepoints. When Patricia confirmed her sort-of fear that her roots were a different colour, Alexandra go made at herself, and quickly turned them back to her natural colour. Just a few years back she had taught herself to control her emotions better so her physical appearance wouldn't change to reflect them, but sometimes they got the better of her. Though, she was relieved that the Hufflepuff didn't ask any questions about it, and that she had changed the subject.

"The Apparation exam, I'm sort of looking forward to it. How about you?" She asked in a quiet voice, beginning to feel comfortable with the conversation. Her brain began to calm down and her parents were pushed out of her mind. She took a moment, and thought about her assignment, and quickly jotted down a few sentences as they came to her, and put the quill back down to prevent ink from flying off the tip and onto her shirt. Alexandra read over what she just wrote down quickly, and nodded her head slightly to herself.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Patricia was surprised that Alex had come from a muggle family as she knew enough Slytherins to know how prejudice they could be. Heck a lot of her family were very prejudice as most of them were Pure Blood and came from a long line of Pure Bloods, and Slytherin’s for that fact, she was quite a loner in her family, but she loved them nonetheless. She had so often been called ‘A Hufflepuff who should be a Slytherin by her bloodline.’ She didn’t mind the occasional name calling being picked on because of it as she had become so used to it now and there was really no way for her to deny the truth because that’s what it all was, the truth after all – heck her dad was even the Slytherin Head of House now. When Patricia mentioned that Alex’s roots had indeed changed colour Patricia tried to divert her eyes so it didn’t look like she was staring. Patricia noticed the colour changing again out of the side of her eye but she thought it best to not say anything as Alex seemed to avoid the subject herself. Patricia wondered what was up with Alex’s hair as it seemed to change colour with no trouble at all. Maybe it was a spell or a potion, either way Alex didn’t seem to want to talk about it so she let it be.

Patricia shrugged her shoulders lightly at Alex’s question. “I’m looking forward to it for sure. I can’t wait to be able to apparate by myself and not have to side apparate with someone else.” she said, hating the thought of having to bug people to take her somewhere and pick her up again – if someone couldn’t take her home form where she was going too. It also meant that she had some extra freedom now as she could go where she pleased without anyone knowing where she was going; apart from Hades of course as he seemed to know where everyone at all the time. It was creepy that he could do that but Hades was definitely one of Patricia’s favourite brothers as they had a sort of strange relationship between them, but she loved him regardless. “But I’m nervous too.” she added, how could you not be nervous, you could fail or splinch yourself and neither were something Pat wanted to do. Noticing Alex write down something she asked, “What’cha doing?”

 

[Alexandra Johansen]

Apparating seemed to be the ticket to both of their freedoms. Alexandra could tell that Patricia was probably also limited to where she could go by herself. Alex was excited, she could finally just apparate to go and visit her grandfather from no matter where she was, and for sure next Christmas she wouldn't have a problem with going back to Sweden, as she could just disappear in the bathroom for ten minutes, and then apparate to her Grandfathers' in Spain; At least, she hoped that was how it would work. Nervous. Alex repeated to herself in her head. Thinking about the exam didn't make her nervous, but she knew that just before her moment came to apparate she would get some butterflies in the pit of her stomach, and the hairs on her arms would rise.

Alexandra looked up, at Patricia when she asked what she was writing. "I just remembered something that I wanted to add to my essay. How's your essay on Devil's Snare going? Wait..the essay is on Devil's Snare, right?" She asked, worry growing in her voice near the end of her question. She then started to frantically scan through her memory, trying to remember exactly what Professor Styx had said. Alex felt comforablt around Patricia, so she let her guard down and didn't hide her emotions from her expressions and voice, which would always take a strain on her.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Patricia honestly couldn’t wait to be able to apparate on her own. She knew that anyone in her family and her older friends who had she had side apparated with in the past had no squirms about taking her wherever she wanted but now that she was getting older she preferred to have that freedom; plus if she was going to be living with Luna soon she wouldn’t have anyone around to apparate her anywhere if need be. It was almost like the muggle equivalent of getting your drivers license when you came off age. Although Patricia had never been fussed in learned to drive even when she was younger and knew nothing of the Wizarding World it had always been her preference to not learn to drive. She thought that it was strange that she still compared things in the muggle world to that in the Wizarding World after almost 7 years. She was experiencing new differences nearly every day although they were getting smaller and more obscure as the days went on but she supposed that was just the way it went and there was nothing that could be done about it. While Patricia loved her life as it was in the Wizarding World there was times she would still think about her life before all of this happened, she liked that she never truly forgot where she came from as it was part of her life for so many years beforehand.

When Alex said that she was doing her essay on Devil’s Snare for Herbology, Patricia looked down at her half finished essay. “Eh, it’s going alright.” she said, she had yet to finish it and had only really just started. There was times where she loved and hated Herbology. She loved it because it was a great subject and all and she really enjoyed it at times. On the other hand she hated having her father for her Professor. By now she had sort of gotten used to the fact but it was something that couldn’t be ignored at then there were times that it made things slightly awkward. People always assumed that she got special treatment because of it but that was a lie, if anyone knew her father they would know that he doesn’t give special treatment to anyone – not even family. “Yeah it was on Devil’s Snare.” she reassured Alex. “Although I think it’s stupid of dad to make us do an essay on something that we’ll probably never see.” she said shaking her head. She had gotten used for called the Herbology Professor, ‘dad’, just as long as it was outside of the classroom.

 

[Alexandra Johansen]

Alexandra had forgotten that Patricia was Professor Styx's daughter, and realised that she probably had it harder than other students. Alex couldn't imagine having her mother working here, teaching potions, though in a way she did have a relative teaching her. In their second year, Alexandra's half-sister taught her Potions for a very short time, though she didn't know it was her sister until she had finished her exam, which was when she also found out everything. Shaking the thought off, not wanting to think about it, she kept her attention on the essay, and was relieved to be reassured that she was writing about the correct plant.

Alex thought a moment, before opening her mouth to respond. "We probably have to learn about this because it is easily mistaken for Flitterbloom." And then she smirked to herself, glad that even though she was slacking with her homework, the information she was learning in class was retained in her head. "I'm guessing it isn't your favourite class?" She asked curiously, her eyebrows raised, and her naturally hazel eyes a little wider than usual. Herbology was one of her favourite subjects, along with Arithmancy and Potions. Right now, she didn't really have a least favourite subject, the rest were just neutral to her. She used to hate Transfiguration a lot, until she came to reality and her head deflated when she realised that just because she was a metamorphmagai it didn't make her a master at transfiguration.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Patricia scribbled down a few more things as it came to her that she hadn’t thought of before, she figured that Herbology ran in her veins so it came naturaly to her. Sure her dad was the Herbology Professor so of course she knew about it, but her mother – her muggle mother – was well known her for her green thumb and she took a lot of pride in her gardens and plants, shrubbery and the likes that could be found in her gardens. It was strange to think that both her parents had that one small thing in common, the only thing bar having Patricia as a daughter that they had in common. Patricia was a little sore about the fact that her birth parents both hated each other and that she was what people would call a ‘mistake’ but she had comes to terms with it and what it meant for her, such as never having a full blooded sibling, but she loved all of her half siblings so it didn’t matter so much to her after a while.

Patricia nodded her head at Alex’s answer to her question, “Mhmm.” she murmured as she made sure she had that comparison down on her notes of things to cover in her homework; she had. Setting her quill down once again at Alex’s question she shrugged lightly. “Not really.” she answered truthfully. “I enjoy Herbology and I have knack for it,” she added, a scoff to show that she understood why she had a knack for it, “It can just be a little bit awkward with having your father as your Professor, but for the most part I’m used to it by now.” she finished with another shrug. She was trying to make it be like it had been for her first, second, third and fourth years before she knew that Professor Styx was her dad; some days it worked and some days it didn’t work so much. “No, my least favourite class would be Defence Against the Dark Arts, not for the class, just the Professor.” she said, shaking her head at the thought of Riley. “What about you, any classes you don’t like?” she asked, thinking it was a harmless topic of conversation.

 

[Alexandra Johansen]

Alexandra shook her head, thinking about when Aphrodite was teaching here, and mumbled, "Yeah, it can be awkward." Even though at the time she was being taught, she didn't know they were related, she still felt awkward to know that she had blood working there at all. For some reason, when she thought about the word 'blood' it reminded her about something for her essay, which didn't even have to do with blood. She picked up her quill, and dipped it in the black ink, jotting down what came to her head. Sometimes when thoughts came to her like that, she was sure she was going insane, like one of those mad geniuses.

When Patricia said that she sort of had a knack for Herbology, Alex couldn't help but thinking that it was the same with her and her mother. Alexandra's grandfather told her that her mother used to love brewing potions, and she also found out that he was a potions professor for one of the private schools in Spain before he worked for the ministry. Alexandra contunied to listen to what the Hufflepuff prefect was saying, that is what Alexandra loved to do the most. She loved to listen. Listening was a great way for her to gain knowledge, information, and even secrets sometimes. Of course, the latter she always kept to herself.

When it came to her opinions about classes, she didn't really have a least favourite, but Patricia brought up a valid point about not being too fond about Professor Smith. "I completely understand what you are talking about. Though I don't usually get bothered by professors, I just feel that he is too inexperienced to be teaching us, who are only a few years younger than him." She sort of vented, which was strange because she didn't actually have a problem with him, though she was almost positive she had seen him in The Medley at Makatu Mall.

 

[Patricia Styx]

Patricia wondered if Alex was talking from experience or if she was just sympathising with Patricia when she said that it can be awkward to have family teaching you in the school. Then again Patricia was used to it by now and that was saying something when you had an uncle and your father as Professors. Although she didn’t have Prodan; or rather Professor Zhefarovich, anymore – yet he had rightly embarrassed her at the last Halloween Ball when he and Professor Spenser had a dance off. Of course now she could see the funny side of it but Luna and she had watched the show with looks of absolute horror and embarrassment as they watched their uncle’s dance, and not very well either, in front of the whole school in those ridiculous cowboy outfits. Patricia shook her head at the memory of it and directed her attention back to Alexandra, feeling bad about going off into her own little World when she was talking.

Patricia was glad that someone else agreed about Professor Smith, or rather the excuse for a Professor. He really didn’t do a good job; he was just doing enough to give the sixth years what they needed to work on from themselves, so they were definitely going to earn their grade in this class. Maybe that was his plan, to do a crappy job and make the sixth years (and no doubt every other year) work extra hard so they were definitely going to learn and earn their grades at the end of the year. Then again, Patricia doubted the man boy was capable of even being that smart enough to think of that plan. “I agree completely. At the most he is only two years older than us. Now I know Professor Weasley is around the same but she’s a much more reliable Professor having done training for a while under the Professor before her. Smith looks like he was just thrown in, how he got hired I’ll never know.” Patricia said, shaking her head, she really didn’t like that Professor and it wasn’t just because of his teaching skills.