It's good to see you

[Lilyanna Hope]

Lilyanna had had a busy semester so far. Many different things had happened, including the weekend sessions with Andrew, and so finding time to study was difficult. On top of that, the girl hadn't even been able to find time to spend with Tholomyes who was her only friend in the school. He was in his fifth year now which meant he had only next year and the year after until he graduated and Lilyanna wanted to make the most of it now before it went by too quickly. Packing away her textbooks into her bookbag after a good study session, Lilyanna made her way out of the library in search for Tholomyes. She wasn't sure where she was going but she knew the Ravenclaw common room was somewhere at the top of the castle and so that was where she was headed. She climbed the stairs one by one, looking out for him on the way. When she made it to the seventh floor she looked around in every room for him. There weren't many rooms on the seventh floor, and when she'd finished looking in them all, she considered finding a group of Ravenclaws and asking them where their common room was but thought against it and just continued to search, looking to see if there was anywhere she missed.

 

[Tholomyes Fontaine]

Tholomyes had spent the morning reading about the second wizarding war, it had been an interesting thing to read about mostly because he couldn't imagine being a part of any war even less a wizarding war. He couldn't imagine going to school in the backdrop of such hate, of such violence, of such death. If he was really thinking about it, he was as surrounded by death by some of them, but that wasn't the point that stuck in his head, mostly it was the fact that a baby had stopped the killing curse they had learned about in the prior year, the one that had killed the harmless spider in a flash of green, that couldn't kill the baby. The teen had sat himself in his favourite spot, sitting reading the end of the history book and considering how hopeless it all felt, the war hadn't really changed anything about this world, the reason that Emma had left was because of her family and the fact his blood was impure.

The teen felt somewhat motivated to draw because of it, it was pointless , this world had such hatred and he couldn't do anything to stop it, so why not paint it out, that was all he was good at after all. Tholomyes didn't think of himself as good at it, but it was the thing he wasn't the worst at. The teen reached the seventh floor corridor when he spotted Lilyanna walking the corridor. The prefect was instantly curious about what she was doing, so he decided to ask, sure everything felt hopeless but he had always enjoyed his time spent with Lilyanna, there was a bluntness to her that he enjoyed, "Lilyanna," he called with a small smile gracing his features as he walked over to her, "What are you doing up here?" since it was both far from her dorm, her sister's and the library. Theo was curious about it, but he felt a little better just talking to someone whom he considered a friend.
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[Lilyanna Hope]

After so long of trying to look for her best friend, Lilyanna had almost given up. But fortunately, it had seemed like she was luckily, and before she knew it, Tholomyes had appeared. The slytherin beamed at him as he asked her what she was doing. "I am up here because I am looking for you, but before that I was studying in the library. I don't need to look for you anymore." Lilyanna told him, figuring the last part was obvious but letting him know nonetheless. She had a lot of things to say to him but didn't know where to start and fiddled with her fingers before speaking again. "Did you want to talk about... something?" she asked him, hoping he wasn't too busy to not want to talk for long. They were out in the corridor and Lilyanna didn't particularly want people overhearing them, but she didn't say this and simply waited for an answer.

 

[Tholomyes Fontaine]

Tholomyes smiled at her, with a warmth on his face, usually reserved for the people he liked, and Lilyanna was definitely one of those people. He nodded as she spoke, as factual as ever, he nodded, she was looking for him, he wasn't used to people looking for him, Emma might've and his sister would've but not anyone else, "Oh yeah? What can I do for you Lilyanna?" wondering if she just wanted a bit of a chat, or if she wanted something specific. Tholomyes shook his head at her, he didn't have anything he particularly wanted to share with her, he didn't want to bring her down, though his mood just felt felt given all he'd been reading, a lingering hopelessness and pointlessness were not things he desired to share with anyone. He just looked at her warmly, "Do you want to walk and talk," he had no where to be, but he didn't if she wanted to find somewhere to just sit or if moving around as they spoke would be easier, he didn't know what she wanted to tell him, so he wanted to pay attention to what she wanted, he wasn't fussed about what they might do, whatever she wanted.
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[Lilyanna Hope]

Tholomyes was too kind and it made Lilyanna's heart warm. To know that someone around her own age was interested in what she had to say made her feel different, but she couldn't quite figure out what that meant. Feelings weren't easy for Lilyanna to understand and so she brushed it off as she listened to what Tholomyes had to say. Walking and talking seemed like a difficult thing to do, but Lilyanna nodded at him nonetheless as she continued to nervously fidget with her fingers. She then proceeded to awkwardly turn around and head in the opposite direction, taking a few steps down the corridor before she spoke again. "H-how was your day?" she asked, trying to avoid telling him what she needed to whilst also prolonging their encounter before he had to leave again. "And, um, how's Emma going?"

 

[Tholomyes Fontaine]

Tholomyes smiled weakly at the question, his day had been rather odd, of course not the worst of days, even if it felt like it, he was rather lucky in that he was always going to be relatively alright. His bad days were not as bad as the bad days of others, and he always tried to remember that, "It is moving forward," Tholomyes replied vaguely, thinking of nothing better to say to describe his feelings on the matter, he didn't want to bring Lilyanna down with his own current difficulties. The teen was also a little surprised that she asked about Emma, "Emma likes her new school, I know she still feels sad about her brother's death and I wish I could be there for her, but the world conspires against us," Theo lamented, "How are you? How is your love life?" he couldn't remember when they had last talked about that, and he was certainly curious to know how her life was going, how she was doing and if there was anyone, he knew that Lilyanna was a perfectly lovely girl and deserved all of the love from any good person. Though Tholomyes had no idea who Lilyanna was interested in, it wouldn't matter as long as she was happy.
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[Lilyanna Hope]

Lilyanna nodded when Tholomyes mentioned his day was moving forward. "Just like all of the other days." she added, not really sure why she asked the question in the first place, especially considering his answer was so plain and simple. What did she expect him to say? However, she listened as her friend told her about Emma. Lilyanna hadn't ever spoken to the girl but she seemed nice based on everything she knew through Tholomyes. The question in return about her love life struck her. She didn't really have one and it made her wonder whether or not she should. Nonetheless, Lilyanna tried to formulate an answer in her head for him. The first person that came to mind was Diane, although she wasn't really sure why. Instead, Lilyanna didn't want to answer Tholomyes' question anymore and so she decided she would get straight to the point to avoid any further interrogation.

"On the weekends I have been going out of school." she began, trying her best to be confident. "People are trying to... fix me." It made her sound like she was handicapped. She didn't want it to be that way but, to her, it was and so she didn't try to correct herself. "There's a reason why I can't... cast spells and stuff. It was all Daniel's idea and at first I thought he was being delusional, but he isn't." Lilyanna sighed, hoping Tholomyes was not going to see her in a different way after this. He was her best friend and, even though Lilyanna liked being alone at times, she didn't know where she'd be without him.

 

[Tholomyes Fontaine]

The teen nodded, it was true her reply the day was like all others, it moved forward, time was always moving forward and the people he'd been reading about were distant memories for most living in this country at least, and for anyone new to the magical world. He couldn't help but wonder if that would become of him too, eventually just forgotten to time, that eventually there would be no line of his, that no one would remember who he was or what he had done, though, in saying that it occurred to him that for even that to happen he had to do something with his life. But these thoughts were thankfully interrupted by his talk of Emma, and her talk of going out of school. He looked at her in some surprised, why were people fixing her? What exactly was wrong? Tholomyes didn't want to pry in, make her feel uncomfortable with curious questions, but he certainly wanted to make sure that she was okay, that she wasn't facing some problem with no friends at her side. It didn't even occur to him that she hadn't actually answered his question. He nodded, "Is that helping you cast magic?" he asked, thinking a first neutral question would be best. Nothing too pressing, but enough to perhaps get a conversation started in which he could either ask or be told what exactly was wrong, "I hadn't really ever thought that there would be things that stop people's magic being successful," he mused as an after thought, despite being in the magic world a while, it was clear there was still much he should and had to learn.
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[Lilyanna Hope]

Tholomyes was shocked and Lilyanna didn't know whether or not that was a bad thing. Did that mean he hadn't noticed that she acted differently to others and how anti-social she was? It slightly relieved her, especially considering he had not run away just yet. It meant that her case might not be that bad, but Lilyanna still wanted him to know more. "I don't know if it is helping me. I mean, all of this has only really just started." she replied, wondering if she'd ever actually be able to properly cast magic ever again. His next statement made Lilyanna think too. She hadn't found any books about mental illnesses in the library but she was sure the muggle world was full of them. After all, it was probably more common in muggles. "Aren't you a muggle-born? Maybe you can get some books about mental illnesses in a muggle library. Andrew told me that, with the particular illness he thinks I have, it means that I have poor motor skills and that could be why it's hard for me to cast spells, but I don't know." Lilyanna hated not knowing and it made her question whether or not she should've waited and told Tholomyes once she found out more, but she didn't know how long that would've taken.

 

[Tholomyes Fontaine]

Tholomyes keenly listened to her, he wanted to be sure that she was okay, that everything that she was doing was good and to her benefit, he didn't like the idea of Lilyanna not being able to get the help that would allow her to truly excel in magic. He nodded at her question, he was muggle born and he was sure he could get some books on mental illness, "Is it a form of dyslexia?" he asked, fairly certain that was a mental illness that maybe did something with the motor skills, he felt somewhat bad for her, magic was so much about the casting and the movement, surely the magical people had seen it enough times to help her with it, "I can definitely get some books, my brother's out in the muggle world he'll know where to go," he assured her, wanting to be a good friend and help her out, make sure that he was doing his bit to make sure that he was helping her, "And you know if you need more practice you can always find me, I mean I'm not the best but I can try," he told her honestly, sincerity clear in his voice he could certainly try his best and help her in what ever way that he could.
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