The Past is in the Past

[Amber Chou Wilson]

When Amber had signed up for the tutoring program, she hadn't really thought about it too much. She liked most of her subjects, so she had chosen a subject to teach that she had noticed not a lot of people liked a lot: History of Magic. Amber was always eager to help younger students, and she had been excited to see the list with the groups on the bulletin board, but had been shocked to see she had been paired with someone in her own year. Not only that, but it was a girl she didn't have a very good history with. The last time Amber had met Elt, she had been mistaken for a thief and kicked by the smaller girl, quite hard too. And now she would have to teach the girl history. Great.

Still, Amber wasn't one to complain. She set up a table in the library with the History of Magic books from the first three years, as well as her notes. She was going to do this very well. As far as she was concerned, Elt would be getting an O in History this year.

 

[Elt]

When Elt had seen who was going to be her History of Magic tutor, she'd nearly insisted she be paired with somebody else. It wasn't that she didn't like Amber - she did! - but the only time the two girls had ever really interacted was when Elt had kicked the Hufflepuff on the shin. In Elt's defence, she'd thought Amber was trying to steal from the trophy room, but still the goblin couldn't help but feel as if she'd acted inappropriately. After all, she never saw anybody else kicking people, even if they had done wrong.

At the appointed time, and with a pout on her face, Elt went to the library. Even if things were a little awkward between them, Elt was determined to do well in History that year; and besides, it was high time she apologised for her behaviour. Only, when she reached Amber's table, 'sorry' and all its synonyms dried up in her mouth, and she was left once again feeling irrationally angry at the bigger girl. Climbing into her chair, she folded her arms, glaring hard at her tutor.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber's hope for this session to go well died as soon as she laid eyes on Elt. The girl didn't look like she was ready to put their past encounter behind her, was she really still angry at Amber for 'stealing'? Or maybe she had just decided she didn't like her. Which wasn't fair, Amber hadn't doen anything bad to her.

Still, she was no longer the timid first year she had once been. She only gave Elt a slightly cooler smile than usual in response to her glare. "Hello Elt." She said, nodding to the girl. "I suppose I'll be your tutor for a while. I'm sure together we can fix up your History grade in no time." She picked up one of the books. "Maybe you can tell me what your problems are?"

 

[Elt]

Thinking Amber must not yet have perceived her subtle exhibition of grumpiness, Elt stuck out her lower lip and scowled harder. "I don't have problems," she said, misunderstanding the context of Amber's question. "And you can't fix my grade, it isn't broken."

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber could tell that the girl had mistaken the meaning of 'fix' because English wasn't her first language, and she smiled at her. "Sorry, I should have been more clear. With problems I just mean what you find difficult about the subject, and what you want me to help you with. I know your grade isn't broken, but maybe its lower than you want it to be? And I could help with that." She hoped that Elt would turn around a little, she didn't see the point in tutoring someone that didn't want to be tutored. "I know it can be a little bit of a tough subject because of all the information you need to remember, but maybe I can help you find ways to study more efficiently."

 

[Elt]

Elt's scowl softened considerably at Amber's explanation. "Oh," she said, cocking her head and considering what that meant. Unless she was much mistaken, Amber wanted to... help her. After everything! Such persistent displays of kindness were not familiar where the part-goblin came from. In fact, displays of any kindness at all were scarce to come by. Suddenly the Ravenclaw smiled. "Will you make me be good at remembering everything, like you? You remember all the things. It's like you have a super-brain!" Suddenly remembering she was supposed to be cross, Elt quickly scowled again, waiting eagerly for Amber's response.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber was confused and slightly amused by the changes in Elt's expressions. The one moment she looked sulky enough to rival Amber's sister, then the next she looked all happy. Amber had the feeling she didn't mind this as much as she was pretending, though why she was doing that Amber didn't know. They had had a rocky start when they first met, but she knew that Elt had just misunderstood her intentions, just like she misunderstood some English words. And her compliment about Amber's 'super-brain' made her blush slightly, though she couldn't deny feeling pleased. She worked hard for her grades, but it was still nice to know that wasn't always obvious. "Well, thank you for that." She said with a small laugh. "But I don't remember all the things, really. I just study hard and find out which parts are important to remember and which parts aren't." She smiled. "We can try to see what works for you, everyone learns in a different way."

 

[Elt]

As Amber laughed, the Ravenclaw's frown began to soften again, until finally she gave it up completely - it was too tiring pretending not to like Amber, anyway. "I study hard too, but I don't ever know which bits are important!" she said sadly. "How do you tell?" The goblin looked around, and then grabbed a History textbook, opening it to a random page. Perhaps if she read a passage to Amber,
the Hufflepuff would tell her which parts were important and how to identify them. "History - isn't - really clear - about - the - actual - reasons - the rebellions began," she read, "but it is - widely known - that Goblins have been - treated - unfairly - by wizards. They are - forbidden - to - posses - wands - and are - shunned by the Ministry." The Ravenclaw's jaw suddenly dropped. "What?!"

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber nodded. "We can see what bits are important together. I think it must be harder for you since you're still learning English. Though you're really good!" She smiled encouragingly. She watched as Elt took a book and started to read out loud, but it turned into a grimace when she realized what the part-goblin girl was reading. This would be upsetting to her. She bit her lip. "Wizards have been awful to goblins." She said, something she had already learned while reading through her history books. "You didn't know..?" She felt bad for Elt. "Maybe we should focus on another part... like what we covered in our second year."

 

[Elt]

Elt sat back in her chair, her shoulders falling slightly. Of course, she'd known that Goblins didn't like humans very much, but she'd never quite understood why. She had supposed it was because humans weren't very trustworthy, or were less intelligent than their pint-sized counterparts. But this? Humans shunning Goblins? A rebellion? Just when she'd grown to like a few of her human friends, she found out that they were nasty, mean creatures. But that couldn't be; Amber wasn't nasty - she was nice, even after Elt had kicked her. Ignoring the Hufflepuff's suggestion to move on, she said, "Do you hate Goblins?"

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber could see that what Elt had read had affected her greatly, and she pitied the girl. It must be hard to hear that wizards were mean to a type of creatures you were related to. She couldn't relate exactly, but she could imagine how the girl felt. Elt's question took her off guard, however, and she had to think of how to respond. "Well, I've never met any goblins." She started carefully. "Except for you, I haven't met any other half-goblins either. But I don't hate them. I think it's silly to hate a whole group of people anyway, how could you hate all of a certain group without having met them?" She shrugged. "And I don't hate anyone." Though as she said it, Rory's smug face popped into her mind. "No one I haven't met and that wasn't horrible to me, anyway."

 

[Elt]

Amber's words of reassurance comforted Elt slightly, though there was a lingering pain in her chest that she thought might never go away now that she knew how much humans despised her kind. Still, if there were only one or two people like Amber in the world, that was enough for Elt. She didn't need everybody to like her. Just Oona. And maybe Amber. Suddenly the part-goblin frowned. "But... I was horrible to you," she said, forgetting to pretend she was still struggling with English now that the topic had turned serious. "I kicked you, and I didn't even say sorry. I really, really am! Sometimes I just don't know what to do or what to say, so I make people think I'm stupid, and then I won't have to figure it out." She sighed, feeling a weight lift from her chest all of a sudden. "Except now I've made everything worse, because I'm a liar, and that's bad. Now nobody likes me, and they never, ever will."

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Amber hadn't meant to make Elt feel bad, she had honestly just been thinking about Rory. "Oh Elt, no." She said quickly. "You weren't horrible. Sure, you weren't nice... but you misunderstood my intention and I misunderstood yours. It was just that, a misunderstanding. Nothing really bad. I was talking about this awful boy in our year who is truly horrible. He's just mean. You aren't." She listened to Elt's confession about making people think she was stupid so she didn't have to figure out what to do. It felt oddly... familiar. Amber hadn't ever done it that consciously, but she had sometimes been slightly more peppy and oblivious than she felt just to pass by difficult situations. "I never thought you were stupid." She said. "And I like you, even if you lied sometimes. Everyone does that, it's the fact that you're sorry what matters." She smiled at the smaller girl. "You and I could be friends, if you want. I would like that."