Closed Stunned

[Aine Thompson]

For two lessons in a row, Aine had failed to perform the stunning spell. She'd been paired with a smug looking Ravenclaw boy - Valerius, that was his name, wasn't it? - who she was sure was looking down on her for not being very good at magic. But even if he was looking down on her, she had no real desire to attack him with a spell. Sure, he'd almost certainly block it even if she was able to hit a full power spell. Logically, she knew that. Emotionally, however, she didn't want to handle the risk of something going wrong. Wouldn't it make things worse if she actually hit someone? What kind of person would attack a twelve year old, anyway? Surely she didn't need to have to be able to use magical weaponry at this age. When she was a bit older, maybe (and that would certainly be a problem for future Aine). But something about it just felt...wrong.

Still, she had to try and at least do the spell. She'd looked around for a quiet place to practice and found the empty classroom. There were duelling chambers in the dungeons, something she was vaguely aware of, but she'd rather not have run in to anybody. So instead, she had to content herself with throwing the spell at a chair. "Stupefy," she grumbled, mostly annoyed that she was continually failing to do poorly at spellcraft. The chair was hit by the feeble light, scraping across the ground with an awful sound that made Aine wince in agony. "Sorry," she muttered, reflexively, even though the room was seemingly empty. One day she'd break the habit of apologizing for everything. That day was seemingly not today.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius had been looking for his unwitting dueling partner for a while now. He'd noticed her in the few classes they had together. She seemed hesitant of her magic, and he wasn't sure why. He had decided to tutor her. Why, he wasn't sure, but he was going to anyway. He had been looking for her most of the morning when in passing he heard a sound from the abandoned classroom.

Intrigued, he walked over and quietly opened the door, raising a brow as Aine apologized. To nothing? He stepped into the room and cleared his throat. "There you are. I've been looking for you," He spoke, giving her his most charming smile. He wanted to stay on her good side... for now.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine just about fell over the chair as she went to move it back in to place at the sound of a familiar voice. "Oh, shhhhh-ugar," she groaned, quickly censoring herself. It was the joys of being Australian - she was proficient in foul language. It wasn't a pleasant habit, and she wanted to curb it to try and be a bit more likeable. Hopefully.

Not that she'd have any idea what to do if she succeeded.

"Looking for me? Why?" She tilted her head in confusion at Valerius, quite surprised to see him. "Look, I'm sorry I've been a lousy duelling partner," she started, quickly apologizing, before noticing he was smiling at her. Oh God. What on Earth have I done? She had no reason to think he'd have any positive attitude towards her, after all.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius raised a brow and walked further into the room, letting the door close behind him. He was about to tell her that he had come to help her practice, when she rushed on to apologize. He raised a brow. "No need to apologize. I came to help you practice." He slid off his jacket, folding it and setting it down. "Not against me, of course, we would need a Professor for that," he chuckled. "But I did bring this." He held up a small doll. "I got it from Professor Corrins. Something she's trying to get approved in the bigger dummies, I think." He walked over and set the dummy down. "It's eyes light up. Green for a successful spell, red for a weak one, not at all if it didn't work." He told Aine.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine blinked a few times, opening and shutting her mouth as if to say something and thinking better of it, before giving up and simply tilting her head in confusion. "What." she stated, blankly. He wanted to help her? Oh God, somehow that's worse. I'm being pitied. "...why?" She realized she was being completely unhelpful in her responses, and the sensible part of her brain reminded her that well, maybe you should just be a bit grateful, Aine.

The other part of her brain was a fair bit more stubborn.

"I'm perfectly content being terrible at magic and completely unable to duel, or fly, or anything that would make me fit in at all at Hogwarts, actually," she blurted out, before slapping her hand over her mouth, shaking her head. "What I mean is, don't you have anything better to do?" No, that's not right either. She sighed in resignation, completely unable to express herself correctly. It was actually nice of him to go out of his way for her like this, really. Unfortunately, Aine's brain and tongue never seemed to work properly together.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius propped his chin in his hand, raising a brow and watching as Aine struggled through her emotions. He rolled his eyes and gave her half of a smile. "Right. A 'thank you' would suffice." He chuckled softly, leaning back and crossing his legs. "Like it or not, Aine, you're my partner. And you're clever. And you have potential. It would beneficial for us both if we figured out your magic." He brushed his fingers along his hair, making sure it was still in place. "Go on, then, let's see what you can do." He motioned towards the dummy.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine stared at Valerius somewhat helplessly, her mind jumping in about twenty different directions - and none of them seemed especially useful. It was kind of nice to have reassurance from someone her own age. It probably meant that they actually meant it a bit more, as adults usually just had to be nice to kids anyway. Unless he was setting her up to humiliate her in front of the class or something. Which, sure, it's not like it was a thing that had actually ever happened before, but you never know, do you?

"I mean, you could just, like, I dunno, partner with one of the others." They're much nicer and easier to get along with, after all, she thought, before letting out another deep sigh. "No, you're right, sorry. I mean, thank you." Her face reddened a bit, feeling strangely embarrassed about the whole thing, and she abruptly turned around to face the dummy, clearing her throat. Still, she couldn't help but worry about something going wrong, like her aim being off or backfiring. "S-stupefy..." she gave barely more than a whisper, letting out a feeble light that fizzled out on contact with the dummy. She wanted to succeed, to get this over with and to justify Valerius even spending the time to help her, but she also felt far too embarrassed to spellcast with any sort of confidence.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius raised a brow, watching as Aine tried to cast the spell. He thought a moment. "Lower your arm a little." He told her. "And be confident. Act like that dummy just insulted you." He tried. "You have potential, Aine, but absolutely no confidence. That's going to screw you up. Magic is tied to your emotions. If you don't believe it, it won't work well." He tried to encourage her. "Your magic is strong, even with your doubt you nearly disarmed me."

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine raised her free hand, tapping her forehead a couple of times. "Can you blame me?" she grumbled, unable to stop the words from spilling out as her embarrassment overrode her good senses. "It's not like I have a lot to be confident about." She vaguely gestured at herself, quirking an eyebrow. "And what the heck is up with this class, anyway? They're like, oh, if you're a 'muggleborn', you'll probably be killed by dark wizards, now go defend yourself. Like, what?" She moved her hand down, shoving it over her mouth. Dammit. Stop talking, Aine.

She knew deep down she was overexaggerating, but she was an emotional twelve year old, and it wasn't as though she really felt like she had any solid understanding of the wizarding world. She felt a bit like she'd been thrown in the deep end. She was vaguely aware Valerius was paying her a compliment in all of that, but Aine would focus on the negative. Ironically, however, thinking about how much she'd felt like she was cast out to sea without a lifeline managed to fuel a pit of frustration in her stomach, and she turned around to the dummy again, casting the spell and hitting it squarely in the chest.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius raised a brow as Aine spoke. "Indeed, I do find it rather inconsiderate that there's not an introduction to magic class," He offered. He smirked as Aine's frustration caused her to hit the doll. He pushed up in his chair, his grin wide. "Yes! See, that's what I'm talking about!" He smirked again at the girl. "You're in your head too much, Aine. Your magic is strong, you're strong, but you're too twisted up."

Valerius pulled over another chair. "Sit. Come on," He gave her a smile. "Forget your magic. Talk to me. What's going on in that head?" He folded his arms over the back of his chair. "And stop censoring yourself with me, Aine. I'm not going to judge you or get mad or whatever. Just tell me."

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine blinked a few times, looking between the dummy, her wand, and Valerius in confusion. "Uh, it was probably just a fluke," she quickly clarified, dismissively. Of course she wasn't a real witch, right? He was probably just saying that to be nice. For some reason. That she couldn't really think of, but surely there was a reason.

She awkwardly sat down in the chair, staring at Valerius' face for a moment, before realizing that she was probably being weird in doing so and quickly looked away. "But I always censor myself," she retorted, face hot with embarrassment at the whole thing. "Everyone always said I talked too much about useless stuff. Well, my mum and sisters did." Aine shrugged. It didn't really bother her as much anymore. It's not like they were here, at any rate. She pulled one leg up, hugging her knee to her chest. "I dunno, I mean, I'm the first magical person in my family and that's actually just a disappointment to them, 'cause now I can't be friends with the right kids from the right families at the right schools. But I've always been a bit of a weirdo." She gave a kind of self-effacing smile at that, a little amused at herself for being so honest. "And I keep saying the wrong things to people." She ducked her head. "This is embarrassing, can't you like, I dunno, reveal something awkward about yourself which forces us to be friends in fear of each of us making fun of the other?"

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius shook his head, but was pleased when Aine seemed to actually open up to him. He listened, trying to absorb what she told him. He considered her question. "Well, we could just be friends," he countered. "But if it makes you feel better," he considered a moment. "Alright. I'm set to inherit my fathers company and I'm terrified I don't deserve it," He offered slowly. "And I desperately want to be close to my elder sister but I'm afraid of letting her in." He nodded, deciding that was enough of his personal information. "You should stop putting yourself down so much, Aine." He countered instead.

 

[Aine Thompson]

"Yeah, but people aren't exactly lining up to be my friend so I gotta use dubious methods sometimes." Aine shrugged again, sliding her leg back down and sitting up a little straighter. She wasn't going to pry on his personal issues, it was bad enough she'd asked him to share anyway. Instead, she simply held out her hand for him to shake. It was perhaps a little odd as a gesture for a kid, but it felt appropriate. "You're pretty cool, actually." She was about to add that she'd stop putting herself down when she was pretty and successful, maybe, but that would never happen, but thought better of it, instead just making a non-committal 'eh' noise, shrugging again.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius gave her a small smile. "Well I don't care for large crowds anyway," He countered, reaching to shake her hand. "I much prefer one or two true friends than a dozen acquaintances." He settled back in his seat again. "As are you. You're very clever."