Open Studying Blanket Forts

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie hated that she had even gotten the books out of the library for this. She hated it. But Minnie was sat just outside the fourth floor, with a few books in front of her on blanket forts, they were books about children’s birthdays and fun things to do. One book was just the history of fort building, and she’d come to learn, it had nothing to do with blanket forts but military forts. Minnie felt stupid, she felt utterly ridiculous, but being in a class, watching others manage just fine, and actually finding it hard, not knowing where to start had been hard. Of course she just hadn’t done it as a kid and now she was faced with not knowing where to begin. There was no guarantee that the professor would make them do it again in the next lesson, but Minnie was pretty unwilling to risk it. She could just sit there with the book open, read it over away from everyone and never have to think about how utterly silly this felt. She was wasting study, revision to time, to read up on how to build blanket forts. If her parents knew she was wasting such time for such a thing they would not be happy at all. ​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric had homework to do, but he didn't feel like it. But he was still on his way to the library with his book, knowing he needed to sit down to write his essay before it was too late. But as he headed through the fourth floor corridor, he spotted Minnie sitting on with a bunch of books. Was she working on the assignment he was going to have to do? Maybe she would let him borrow a book. Or maybe not. He headed over to her, frowning at the titles of the books in front of her. "Did I miss something?" He finally asked her. "Or do you take a secret class on forts?" It was very likely that Minnie had classes he didn't have, but he doubted any covered this subject.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie looked up the voice covering the books from the person who spoke, rolling her eyes a little at his comment, but she uncovered the books slightly and shook her head at it. ”You haven’t missed anything,” she told him before looking at the books and feeling her cheeks redden, she could just leave it there, and not tell him why she’d been reading them but she didn’t mind talking to Eric and she’d always ended up being honest with him, even if she did sometimes regret it a little afterwards. She just sighed a little, moving the books next to her away so that he could sit down with him. ”You were in charms right, where the professor was making us build forts,” she said with a smile but it was forced, ”Probably unsurprising I never did build any blanket forts when I was growing up,” Minnie didn’t say anything else hoping he might fill in the blanks of what she was saying. ​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric sat down with Minnie, though he kept a distance between them. He looked at the books as Minnie explained what they were for, and actually let out a disbelieving laugh. "You realized you made a crappy fort and your first instinct was to find books on medieval fort building techniques?" He asked her, his eyebrows raised as he held up one of the books. "These are not going to help you." He told her. "Listen, it's a bit childish, but I used to make them with my mother and brother." He admitted, not something he thought he would tell her. "Not because I liked it, but my brother used to get scared sometimes, especially during storms. So it would help distract him and stuff." He admitted. He then made a decision. "Aren't there blankets in the student lounge? On some of the couches?" He asked her, as he wasn't entirely sure. "That's on this floor, I'll show you the basic technique." He told her. "it's a very complicated practice of throwing a blanket on something tall and huddling underneath it." He added with a smirk. "I'm not sure if you'll be able to grasp it, honestly." He added, clearly not meaning it.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie rolled her eyes at him and nudged his knee lightly with her hand. ”There are medieval forts that are still standing today,” she countered but, there was an oddness to all this, an oddness that she found with each new interaction with Eric. It was like a tentative friendship, one where she felt she would do almost anything for him even if she didn’t admit it. The ravenclaw shrugged a little as he said they weren’t going to help, she had thought they wouldn’t, each one wasn’t particularly helpful, but that didn’t help her feel at ease. She reached up and lightly touched the snitch necklace trying to figure out what her next step would be. She didn’t expect Eric to begin talking about how he had once built blanket forts like that, she had to think there was more to his story than just the brother, but even then it was sweet. She lowered her hand away from the necklace and rested them upon the books, letting her gaze sit on him, taking in the story. ”There are,” she told him, she looked towards it and then bit her lips a little, ”I’m supposed to be studying…” she trailed off towards the end before shaking her head lightly, ”But, I’ll always rise up to a challenge, let’s go,” she closed over the books and picked them all up. She got to her feet and looked at him expectantly waiting for him to led the way.​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric snorted at Minnie's words. "Yes, and none are made of blankets." He argued back. Though he couldn't help but think it was kind of nice to just joke around with her, and he was glad deep down that she wasn't offended with his words. He got to his feet when Minnie agreed to try building forts together. He smirked a little. "You were studying medieval forts a second ago, you have time to learn to make a proper blanket fort." He told her. "It's hardly a challenge, I could do this as a little kid." He told her with a snort. "You're going to do this easily." He led Minnie to the student lounge, immediately grabbing a few chairs and a few blankets off the couch. He dragged things over to an empty spot in the lounge, near an empty table. He then looked at the different blankets, trying to figure out what the best ones would be. "Okay, grab the big one." He told her.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie shrugged at him, ”I’ll use my new knowledge of medieval forts to build far superior blanket forts, just as soon as you show me the basics,” Minnie joked back, but she followed him into the student lounge and placed the books she had down on the first available surface, watching vaguely as he grabbed a few chairs and a few blankets taking them to the emptiest spot in the room. She followed him to it and took the big blanket when he told her to, holding it and standing a little awkwardly trying to figure out what she was supposed to do with it, ”What do I do with it?” she asked him, she was sure he would show her how to, and be able to show her all the little bits and pieces of what to do. She wasn’t sure if she should make conversation with him as he did this. She didn’t want to interrupt his process or take away from anything he might tell her about what to do. ”The book on medieval forts said it should be star shaped, with thick outer walls, but also several layers of walls to help prevent people from breaking down one easily and being straight in the fort.” Minnie said, though she was sure this would have nothing to do with that. ​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric snorted at Minnie's joke, trying to imagine using any of those techniques on something that really just boiled down to having blankets and chairs, or anything relatively tall to tie the blankets to. Eric ignored her question at first, setting four chairs in a square quietly before snorting again at her next words. "Listen closely, this is much more complex and difficult than all that." He said with a serious face. He pointed to the chairs. "Tall things." He then grabbed the other end of the blanket Minnie was holding, and stepped back. "Blanket on tall things." He said, draping it over the chairs. He secured the blanket in place with a few heavy books and tying them to the chairs in some places. Then spreads his hands. "Ta da." He said dryly. "A basic blanket fort." The boy then gestured to the other blankets. "We can use those for the walls." He said. "If you want to try making it star shaped, I'd have a laugh watching you try." He said with a slight smirk. "But I think we're better off just throwing them on and hoping the whole thing doesn't come down. It's an aged technique." He scratched his neck. "Do you think it's possible you find this stuff difficult because you're maybe, just maybe, overthinking it all a bit?" He asked her. "Sometimes its better to just try things, instead of turning to books."

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie watched him move the four chairs, put the blanket on top and tie a few of the ends, she was surprised, visibly with how simple it seemed to get a structure, there was certainly no need for what she had been thinking about which was making it bigger and admittedly she knew her first step would’ve been to build a more star like structure. ”I’m impressed,” there was a little lightness to her tone but she still very much meant it too. She took the blankets for the walls and after watching him for a second she then copied what he had done. She smiled a little at his question and gave a little shrug, ”I’ve learnt pretty much everything from books, trying something without being prepared seems….” she trailed off looking at their simple structure, she didn’t know how to say that she couldn’t really do much without giving something a quick read about it first, even if the books were awful and useless, she could learn how to not do things as much as she could learn how to do things. She just focused on giving it walls and then stood back just looking at it. Minnie grabbed a few pillows from the sofas and placed them inside. She climbed into their small and basic fort and couldn’t help as she giggle lightly, looking at the structure. It was small and cosy, she could understand why Eric’s brother would’ve liked it when there was a storm outside. ”Can we make it bigger?” she asked Eric eagerly. ​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric felt oddly embarrassed when Minnie said she was impressed. He shrugged a little, brushing it off. He watched as she added blankets to it, and listened as she talked. "It seems?" He asked her quietly. Then he gestured to what she had done. "You're doing fine. Sometimes it's just better to try something." He told her, though he knew he was repeating himself. A smile tugged at his lips as Minnie sat in their small blanket fort, though he didn't join her. When she asked if they could make it bigger, Eric was a little surprised. He'd expected her to want to get out of his company as soon as possible. He shrugged again. "Sure." He said after a moment. "I'll uh, grab more chairs." He headed over to one of the tables and started dragging a few chairs closer to their fort.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie hadn’t known how to finish the thought when she had first started it and couldn’t do more with it now, she didn’t know how to explain to Eric that for her being unprepared for something, to not read up on something was just not how she did things, she had technically read a little before doing this with him, so she couldn’t even say this was an example of it. She felt like if she didn’t go in knowing a little she would feel out of place, unsure of what she was doing and mostly just a little terrified of getting it wrong. If she couldn’t do it then that would be a bad thing, like how she’d gone into Charms that day and though they would only learn charms when in fact they had done something completely different. She was pleased that he seemed to think she was doing okay and even agreed to making it bigger. She climbed out of the fort and watched him grab more chairs and much like how she’d watched him do it before she put the blankets on to make it more fort like. It was quite fun to be doing this, to just be having fun with eric, she wasn’t sure he found it as fun, but she certainly did - even if she was going to need to study so much later to catch up. Once the structure was a little bigger she smiled and crawled inside, ”Come join me in here, it’s the last thing I’ll ask you do today,” she added the last part because she was concerned now as she make him build more that he wouldn’t want to. That he would want to go and not have to be around her. She figured that hanging out with her would probably not be something he wanted to do.​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric helped Minnie with the fort a little, then nodded as it looked bigger. She seemed to have the basics down, and he figured she'd use it to study in now. Or maybe she would just leave it to return to her studies in the library. The last thing he expected was her to ask him to join her. He blinked, staring at her for a moment before shrugging. "Sure." He said then, moving into the blanket fort and sitting down next to her. He crossed his legs a little awkwardly, making sure not to to dump into her. This was already kind of strange. "So... uh, are you satisfied with this?" He asked her, vaguely gesturing to the blanket fort around them without looking at her. "Why did you care so much anyway?" He added with a slight frown. He hadn't thought her the type to care about stuff like this.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie had thought that he might not actually join her in the little blanket fort, but she was happy when he had. She moved a little so that they both had space to sit in the fort, admittedly it wasn’t a particularly big thing. It had just enough space for them both. She smiled at Eric, she wouldn’t have held it against him if he’d opted to just leave then. At his question, she nodded, ”Very,” she said ”I can see why it would be good if there was a storm outside,” she told him, she was looking at their structure and smiling lightly. At the question she shrugged, ”I don’t know, because I couldn’t enjoy it like everyone else was?” she wasn’t sure why it had bothered her so much, but it had. She knew it was silly, that if she’d given it less thought in the class she might’ve managed something a little better. ”I’m definitely over thinking it,” she joked lightly, since that had been what he’d accused her of doing. ​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric smiled a little as Minnie said she could see why the blanket fort would be good when there was a storm. He almost wished there was one, though he couldn't say why. Eric snorted at her next comment. "I didn't enjoy it." He commented, though he guessed that wasn't a surprise. Even if he had enjoyed it, he would have worked hard to appear as if he didn't. No point in going all excited over some stupid lesson. He smiled slightly when she said she had been overthinking. "Just a bit." He said, raising one eyebrow a bit. "But I wouldn't be too surprised if you somehow manage to build one like a medieval fort sometime. If you put your mind to it." He shrugged. "Though I was surprised you even had time for this, with all the studying you do." He commented, then winced. Why was he pointing it out to her? He hadn't meant it as criticism, but figure it probably sounded like it.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie laughed a little nodded, as Eric had refuted her statement of everyone else enjoying it. She had never thought she’d be on that side of things with him, but it took a fort building lesson for her to not particularly enjoy a lesson. She felt a little warmed by the fort, she knew that it was why so many of the class had seemed to really like it. It felt childish, but she knew she often forgot that they were still kids. In her mind they were all far above and older that. Perhaps it was just that Minnie had never felt like a kid in the way she’d observed others doing so or read about. ”Don’t challenge me Eric,” she joked, she certainly didn’t have the time to focus on building a blanket fort of a medieval fort shape. He seemed to clock on as much. She felt her smile fade slightly, ”I don’t have time,” she replied simply, ”If my parents found out I wasting revision time on something like this,” Minnie sighed slightly, ”But I wanted to do this. It doesn't hurt to have a little fun. I’ll make the time up elsewhere,” She told him, knowing that she would and letting a small smile fill her expression, nervous and sure that he wouldn’t get it entirely but she never minded telling him. ​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric laughed a little as Minnie said he shouldn't challenge her, and shrugged. "Well, maybe I'd like to see you try." He joked back. Minnie always seemed to have a determined focus with everything. If anyone managed to make something like that, it was her. He kind of regretted bringing up her schedule when he saw the smile fade. "Well, good thing your parents aren't here." Eric said, frowning a bit. "For more than one reason. They're jerks. They have one of the smartest kids ever, and still it's not enough." He shook his head. "That's not how parents are supposed to be. I can't imagine my mum putting that sort of pressure on me or Connor" He told her, looking away. He didn't mention his dad, because he had no idea what he would have been like as a parent. Maybe it was better that he left, rather than stick around and be a crappy parent. He nodded when she said she would make it up. "I doubt you need it. You'd ace the exams with half the work you do." He told her shortly. "And even if you get an E once in a while, it wouldn't be the end of the world." He paused. "Well, it shouldn't be the end of the world." He corrected.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie smiled a little at him, perhaps when she had more time - whenever that was - she’d do it. She would need to pay more attention to this one they had built and then from that be able to figure more of it out. But that was a challenge for a different day. Minnie looked towards Eric as he spoke, she knew that he didn’t care much for her parents, but she was a little surprised by his words. For one, he called her smart. She knew that a lot of parents weren’t like hers, but that didn’t mean they were bad parents; they were just strict and they just expected a lot from Minnie. ”My parents just want me to do well, and I want it too, I guess,” she then added, her voice quiet, she knew he was right. That she never did enough to ever please them enough which definitely wasn’t how they were supposed to be, but they were her parents and she knew she needed to do perfectly. ”It shouldn’t be,” she agreed with him. Of course she did. She knew it wouldn’t be the end of the world for her to get a less than perfect grade, but she didn’t want to find out really. ”But if it is, I’ll just be sure to save us all by continuing to get O’s” she didn’t want to linger too much on it, and rather just lightly joked. ”I’ll be saving your life Eric with every O I get,”​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric scowled and shook his head. "Your parents want you to be perfect, and while you come pretty close, no one can be perfect." He snapped, annoyed with her parents, not with her. "Doing well is one thing, but you have to have fun too. Like, you could actually have some friends and have a normal Hogwarts experience." He said, gesturing at her. For him, that stuff was out of reach. Everyone hated him already, and he hated most people too. He snorted when she went on to joke the world would end if she didn't get O's, but smiled a little too. If she could joke about it, maybe she was doing alright. "Listen, I think the world could handle a few E's." He told her. "I know you're joking but... the fate of the world doesn't rest on your shoulders." He told her, still rather serious. "Sometimes it looks like you feel like it is."

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie smiled softly knowing that what Eric was saying was true that she couldn’t be perfect, but she had to try, her parents needed her to try. She knew that having fun and making friends was part of school but she’d never had a normal school experience before hogwarts why would she now. She didn’t even bother to retort anything, knowing he was right, given that this was some of the most fun she’d had all year. It had been so simple, wouldn’t even affect her studying that much and it was one of the first occasions that she was doing it. She was pleased to try to lighten the mood even just a little, but it didn’t last long, he was rather serious and she really watched him, unsure what to say, things with Eric were always so hard. He was being so nice to her, had been all year, she’d even go so far to think he cared and she’d be lying if the feeling wasn’t somewhat mutual. Minnie sighed a little and wiped at her eyes surprised that they came away a little wet. She reached out and lightly touched his hand, ”I should go study, thanks for this Eric,” she told him with a sincere tone, matching his own serious one. She let go and slowly moved out of the blanket fort, not really glancing back as she grabbed the fort building books and headed to the dorm.​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric fidgeted uncomfortably in the silence that fell after his words. Had he gone too far? Had he been too personal? Clearly, he'd been stupid. He was frantically trying to think of something to say, not quite looking at Minnie. But when he finally did glance at her, he saw to his horror that she was wiping at her eyes. He'd made her cry. Something that made him feel a sharp twinge of guilt. But before he could even start to think of an apology, Minnie was saying she should go and study. He nodded quietly, watching her go. After sitting in the fort by himself for a moment, he got to his feet and angrily kicked over one of the chairs. The whole fort collapsed behind him, but Eric didn't care. He stomped out of the room, suddenly in a bad mood.