Closed Putting It All Together

[Aine Thompson]

As Aine approached graduation, there was one pervasive thought that dominated her thinking in an oddly reassuring way. Namely, that none of this mattered. For one, the wizarding world was still so far from the reality of the ordinary muggle world, holding herself to the standards and seeming expectations of the wizarding world was just a waste of time. Of course she wasn't ready to get married and settle into a career and essentially have her life sorted out. She was only eighteen, the very idea was laughable. For another, a lot of what she learned was not going to be that relevant once she left the school, so it wasn't worth panicking about. And naturally, she probably wasn't even going to see most of the people she came across again, so worrying so much about what they thought was just a waste of energy.

The answer should've been obvious from the very moment the sorting hat sat on her head and pondered her main goal in life. She would do things her way. Trying to empty her mind completely to protect herself wasn't really working the way she'd hoped. So, she'd approach it from a different way. At this point, there wasn't much left to protect from Professor Styx, so the desperation wasn't as strong, at this point she just wanted to prove she could do it because she knew she could. She was good at defensive spells. So she could be good at this, as long as she didn't force herself to do it the way she thought she had to. She'd do it the way she wanted.

She took a swig from her water bottle as she knocked on the door to the office - it was the right time, and it felt like a formality at this point, but she did want to respect formality at least a little bit. "I'm ready, Professor. I think I've got it this time."

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Styx was finishing writing to some of his relatives, approving and disapproving some proposals. Axel wanted to make sure he was doing the job right, and as far as Styx was concerned, he could have chosen someone else to help lead the family. Whatever, once the list was sent out, he heard a knock at the door and a familiar voice rang out. Miss Thompson. Was she actually ready to guard against him? He practically knew her inside and out now. He didn't care for muggles and such before, and now he knew more than he ever cared to know. He sat back in his chair and gestured with his gloved hand for the door to open to see the Head Girl. "We will see about that, won't we, Miss Thompson?"