Sympathy and Respect

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur was starting to get settled in at Hogwarts, and she was adapting to speaking English all day fairly well. Sometimes she missed her parents and siblings, but it wasn't as frequent as she had feared beforehand. Her lessons were fun sometimes, mostly Charms and Flying. Flying especially was something she really loved and enjoyed, but she had some concerns about it too. Two students she in her year wouldn't fly during lessons. At all. She had to admire their daring in coming to the lessons just to refuse to take to the skies, but Professor Cliffeton hadn't seemed very happy. She hoped he had been understanding in talking to Bradley and Lenore when he asked them to come to his office, but as she hadn't been there she couldn't be sure.

She hated injustice, and hated doing nothing to help others. She wasn't sure if her offer of help would be appreciated at all, but she had decided to seek out one of the two kids. After some deliberation, she decided it would be a good way to get to know the Hufflepuff boy. She already knew Lenore, and if Bradley was on board she would talk to the Gryffindor girl too. Spotting him in the courtyard, she headed in his direction and fell into step with him. "Hey there, you're Bradley right?" She asked him with a smile. "Hufflepuff? Brave enough to stand up to Professor Cliffeton instead of doing something you don't want to?" She asked him rhetorically with a grin. "You seem pretty cool. I'm Fleur. Also pretty cool, if I say so myself." She joked, hoping he wouldn't take it as real arrogance.

 

[Bradley Ahn]

Despite some current events bringing him down, Bradley was still in pretty high spirits about things. He was actually just surprised that he was managing to cope in this new environment with magic and all these weird people saying words he didn't understand and talking about flying on brooms like it was a completely normal thing for people to be doing. Well, he didn't think it was very normal and was not afraid to say these sorts of things out loud and refuse to take part in them himself, which had ended up getting him and some other girl into trouble, but he hardly cared about that. It was not like he was going to ever fly again, no one could pay him all the money in the world to willingly get on a broom and fly anywhere. And that was just never going to change.

He was heading back inside to grab a couple of things from his dorm room when someone suddenly started walking beside him. The Hufflepuff blinked a little in confusion, a small frown slipping onto his face as he turned his head to see who was exactly following him now. "Yeah, that's me," there was not any other first-year Hufflepuff's called Bradley who refused to fly that he knew of. It took him a moment, but he did recognize the girl, he was pretty sure she had tried to help him in said lessons, encouraging him to get on the death stick. Weird girl. "Not many people would say I'm cool," more stupid if he was being honest, but he had never cared what other people thought about him. "But if you say so, I guess."

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur noticed the boy's frown, but didn't pay it much mind. He seemed like the type of person that always found a reason to be frowny. From what she had seen, at least. Her smile didn't waver. "Awesome. I'm Fleur." She said with a grin. "And who cares what 'many' people would or wouldn't say. I think you're cool, from what I've seen so far at least. It's not easy to just defy professor like that. Was he cool about it?" She had no idea what to make of him. If she were a flying professor, she liked to think she would be a little sympathetic to people that didn't like the idea of flying. "I totally respect your decicion not to fly, but if you do ever want to try it out outside of the lessons I could help." She offered. "It's really quite fun, once you get over the idea of being on a tiny broomstick in the air." She paused, reconsidering. "But I'm not trying to be pushy. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing. To each their own, right?" She added with an easy smile. "Found a subject you do like so far?"

 

[Lenore Harvelle-Ateara]

Today Len went to the courtyard to get some peace of mind. She pulled her hair over her ears and hoped the wind wouldn't reveal her extra extremities. When she finally got outside she spotted some familiar faces. She didn't want to spend her day outside all alone so she decided to join them. ''Hello'' Len said and waved. She kind of had thing with Bradley in the flying lessons. They both didn't want to fly and thus had to go to the Proffesor his office. The professor had been a total idiot to them, so Len still hated him.

''How are you guys doing?'' Len asked politely, she was genuinely interested. She hadn't heard the start of their conversation so she hoped she hadn't ruined something. Len smiled and waited for them to answer her question.

 

[Bradley Ahn]

Fleur. Alright, just another name he was probably going to end up forgetting in a couple of days. Was the Professor cool about it? Bradley had to laugh a little at that, shaking his head from side to side. "Do you honestly think he would be cool about it?" Of course he wasn't, he basically just told them to fly or he would fail them. And, of course, he had chosen the failing option. Because yeah, he totally cared whether he failed some stupid class and didn't even like. And then she was offering to help him and his frown just deepened. "Yeah, thanks, but no thanks. I'm not getting back in a broom anytime soon," and that was the end of that. No amount of threatening or pushing was going to make him change his mind about it. "Not really," he continued with a small shrug of his shoulder, "All the lessons here are pretty dumb." It was magic, of course, it was going to be dumb.

His head turned a little to the arrival of a new voice, small smile on his face as he noticed who it was. "Hey," he greeted, "I'm doing good. How about you?"

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur shrugged and grimaced at his question about Professor Cliffeton. "I don't know him, he could have been cool." She said with a shrug. "I'm optimistic, I guess. Did he punish you badly?" She asked curiously. It seemed unfair to her, but the boy didn't seem too bothered by the memory so she assumed he wasn't too upset by whatever the professor had decided on. She had expected his reaction to her offer, and she respected it. "Sure, just wanted to offer." She said with an easy smile. Brooms weren't for everyone, she knew that. "It's not that important, honestly. I don't know why it's required. Merlin knows how my little brother is going to cope with these lessons when he is sorted in a few years. He's not a fan either. Though I don't think he's going to be as brave as you are in defying the professor." That thought made her pause. She may have to be the one to have a talk with Professor Cliffeton if he tried to force Lars to do something he didn't want to. But that was a few years away. There was no reason to worry about that now.

She snorted when he said all lessons here were dumb. She wondered if this guy ever saw anything from a positive side, but she doubted it. "Alright. I quite like charms. The professor is funny." She remembered the incident where she had stolen his quill fondly. He was by far her favorite professor so far.

Lenore headed their way and Fleur grinned at her. "Hey! I was just talking to Bradley here about how unfair Professor Cliffeton had been to you." She said with a shrug. "Doing pretty well, yourself?" She asked. She liked Lenore, she was one of the girls from her dormitory and she seemed very nice and funny. Bradley seemed happy to see her too, and she wondered if the two had become friends over this incident.

 

[Bradley Ahn]

Bradley just shook his head, scoffing a little. "Yeah, he's certainly not very nice about things," it was basically his way or the highway with no consideration about how he might be feeling about things. "Basically just failed me and told my head of house and sent a letter home as well," not that he was bothered about any of this. He hardly cared if he was failed and the matron back home was not going to care that he wasn't playing nice, either. It had worked out pretty well, in the end, though he was just a little annoyed that the Professor hadn't been very cool about things and it was either that or he would have to get on a broom and fly. And that was simply never happening.

"What I can say is that if your brother doesn't like flying he's going to have to do it, or end up in the same boat as me," not that Brad found he cared whether this girl's brother got into trouble or not. But he could at least agree that the lessons were pretty dumb and he didn't know why it was required when he had no plans of playing Quidditch or flying anywhere when there were walking or cars and buses and trains and other means of transportation readily available. And they were all far more comfortable than sitting on a stick of wood as well.

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur sighed, rolling her eyes. "Sounds like a case of someone with limited imagination to me. Like he can't understand why someone wouldn't want to fly. It's silly." She said. "You don't seem too bothered or upset, though. Which is good." Failing a class wouldn't really bother Fleur either, she herself hadn't really done too well with most of her subjects so far. Flying, ironically, was the exception, but everyone had their own talents.

Fleur nodded when he mentioned her brother would be in the same boat. She jokingly put up her fists. "Well, if Professor Cliffeton wants to be mean to him he'll have to get through me first." She said, pretending to lightly punch the air like she was fighting someone invisible. "Seriously, though, I have a few years to start preparing him for the possibility of failing it." She said, putting her fists down again. "Do you have siblings?" She glanced at them both. "Both of you, I mean. Are they at Hogwarts?" Being the oldest, Fleur tended to be the first to do anything compared to her little brother and sisters. It wasn't something she minded, at least she could pave the way and prepare them for things like this. "I have three, but they're all younger." She added.

 

[Lenore Harvelle-Ateara]

Lenore looked at Fleur and Bradley. She felt more safe with them than with anyone else at Hogwarts. Some girls literally walked over her, but Bradley and Fleur gave her the time and room to talk too. ''I doing fine.'' When Fleur talked about Professor Cliffeton she shrugged. She wasn't scared of him, but he was just mean. ''I am so glad he isn't my head of house, that would have been horrible.'' Len giggled and looked at the other two. ''He just tried to make it sound we almost committed murder, but we just didn't want to fly.'' Talking about flying still made her uneasy. Flying was horrible and she was glad that subject was closed for her.

''Well, he could always do it like us.'' Len paused ''It is not like we were harmed in the process and we are still here alive and kicking.'' Lenore winked, she did care about grades, but the grade for flying wasn't something that was on that list. She wasn't going to use the skill anyway, it was completely and utterly useless. ''I am an only child'' Len muttered, she was glad she was. She didn't want her fate on anyone else. While saying that Len fidgeted her hair to make sure it still hid everything. To a normal person I just looked like that someone was obsessed with hair. She fidgeted a lot with her hair especially when she is stressed. ''Ah when will they go to Hogwarts and are they as cool as you'' Len giggled, she hoped she had made friends for life.

 

[Bradley Ahn]

"Even if he was my head of house I don't think that would have made much of a difference," but he wasn't, and now that he never had to fly again he doubted he would be speaking to that professor again. Which was perfectly fine with him because he didn't really want to get told off again about refusing to get on a broom. "Clearly he just really loves his flying. Must be the biggest attachment in his life," because if he loved his dumb class that much and got all upset when someone didn't want to fly it, then he couldn't see how he could love anything else more. Which was pretty dumb and Brad was not afraid to call him out of that.

"Just so long as he doesn't mind having a failed class on his record and a stern talking to," he added with a shrug of his shoulder. Neither of those things had bothered him very much, clearly, but he couldn't say the same about some people. He knew how uptight people could get about their grades for no reason. Though the conversation moved to siblings and Brad felt a muscle in his jaw tighten, standing just a little stiffer as he looked between the two girls. "I don't even have parents," which probably answered the question about siblings. No, he did not have any, he didn't have anyone and he was mostly fine with keeping it that way.

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur nodded in agreement when Lenore said she was glad Professor Cliffeton wasn't their head of house. "Right. I'm glad we have Professor Kingsley, she seems pretty chill." She told the smaller girl. "He sounds a bit too attached to his stupid subject." She said with a smile, nodding in agreement at Bradley. Then she frowned "I can't believe he got me to call flying stupid, I actually really like it. I just don't like people being forced to do things they hate." She said with a shrug.

She smiled and nodded when Lenore told her her brother could just do what they had done. She didn't think Lars would be that brave, but that didn't matter right now. Lenore asked about her siblings and Fleur smiled. "My brother will come in... three years, unless I'm counting wrong. He's not very cool, but he's sweet." She said honestly. "And my sisters are only six, they're twins." She had trouble even picturing them at Hogwarts. They were still so young. Bradley's answer to her question took her by surprise, though. For a moment, she really didn't know what to say. She ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry." She told Bradley, meeting his eye. "I guess I didn't consider that may be a sensitive question for some people." She gave him an uncertain smile. "Are we cool?"

 

[Bradley Ahn]

He didn't even remember the name of his head of house, it was something his brain had deemed not that interesting, so he had simply forgotten. But at least he could agree that he was glad it was not the flying Professor. "Well, no one can force me to do anything I don't want to," and no amount of threatening with detentions of losing hose points or writing letters home would be able to change his mind. When he didn't want to do something, he was not going to do it no matter how much trouble he ended up getting himself into because of it and most people ended up finding out this about him the hard way.

Brad just shrugged a shoulder, shuffling his foot a little against the ground. "It's fine," he mumbled in response, "I never knew my parents, anyway." He had never gotten the chance to get attached to them, if he had, losing them would have probably hurt more than it already did. It was not an easy thing knowing that you were unwanted. But Fleur was fine, she hadn't hurt his feelings by bringing it up or anything. There was no point being all sensitive about it. "But your siblings sound cool," he piped up after a moment, trying to move the conversation away from parents which had never existed in his life, "What's it like having siblings?"

 

[Lenore Harvelle-Ateara]

Lenore felt sad for Bradley. He hadn't had parents nor siblings. She felt like she had a sucky life, but this topped that. ''Same, Flying isn't useful in our later lives and we don't need it for our jobs'' Len paused ''Except if you want to be a Professional Quidditch player, but that is not a job career I will persuit.'' Lenore giggled and smiled. ''It is awesome you have twin sisters Fleur, that sounds so cool'' Lenore wondered if full blown goblin twins existed, but then again it was hard to spot the difference between female and male goblins.

Len wanted to give Bradley a hug. She felt bad for him, but at the same time didn't know what to say. ''I can't relate to you Bradley, but that sounds rough'' It was the only thing she could say. She couldn't envision growing up without parents. But then again who would take a part goblin in their house.

 

[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur smiled when Bradley said no one could force him to do anything he didn't want to do. It was a good attitude to have, and she admired it. She shook her head when Lenore said flying was only useful for Quidditch players. "I want to work with dragons one day, it will probably be pretty handy to be able to fly then." She said quickly. "But for the most part I agree with you." Lenore's comment on her sisters made her laugh, though she focused on Bradley first. Him saying he never knew his parents made her feel worse for him, but she didn't think he was the sort of guy that would appreciate her pity. "It is pretty cool to have twin sisters, I guess, but it's also just sort of hectic." She said honestly. "They're not identical, so it's not like we have trouble keeping them apart or anything. They're also very different. Emma is very hyper and Iris is quieter." She figured that was pretty much as different as six year olds got, though. She was sure they would show more of their personality as they got older. "And my brother is pretty quiet too. He's sweet, sensitive. That's why I'm pretty protective of him." She admitted with a shrug. "So if Professor Cliffeton is a jerk to him like he was to you guys, I'm going to have to fight him." She was joking, but only partly. She obviously wouldn't attack a professor, but she would definitely talk to him. "Or anyone else that's mean to him. Can I count on you guys to help me? I bet we'll be very intimidating as third years." She joked with a grin.

 

[Bradley Ahn]

How could they even be thinking about what jobs they were going to be doing in the future? That just seemed so far away and honestly, he hadn't even started thinking about that kind of thing yet. It was impossible to think about it, he was still only eleven and he had never really had plans with what he wanted to do. But something that Fleur said did rather grab his attention, eyes widening just a little. "Dragons? Dragons are real?" He was certain they were just a story told to kids, something from medieval stories with princesses and knights. Not that they were actually real life creatures. He wasn't buying it. He just shook his head, pushing that from his mind for the moment. It was something he would have to look into later. "Not so bad," he just responded to Lenore with a shrug, "At least it's not just me all by myself." Though sometimes he did have to wish it was just so the matron and the other kids would leave him alone. In that regard, he really wasn't jealous of Fleur at all as she started talking about her siblings. That just sounded wild and hectic. "I don't really think that their years are intimidating, but sure," he just offered with a small smile, "I guess I can help out."