Unlikely Encounter

Thomas chuckled along with Isabella, he had to admit it would must be hard for Ivan to grow accustomed to the whole new life thing, it was a strain on him too, obvious from his lack of sleep. He thought hard to try and remember the name his mother had told him, and when he remember he mentally slapped himself for not remembering it sooner, "Simon Smith, after our father. He was born first so he was going to get our fathers name." he explained with a shrug, he never understood why, but it didn't matter. He shook his head lightly at her next question. "No, only Ivan. Mum and dad wanted more, I think, but he died before they had the chance I suppose." he said with another shrug.
 
Isabella 'ohh'ed quietly, which of course echoed through the dungeon walls, upon hearing what Ivan was supposed to be named and why. When he answered that he was an only child, or had been up until now, Isabella chuckled lightly. "Well I must say you're handling this whole new sibling out of nowhere thing much better than I did." She grinned at him playfully before sighing inaudibly. She didn't know what it was, perhaps it was the fact that they were only partially illuminated from her wand light, leaving another half of them hidden, but she felt very much at ease with Thomas around. She felt like she hadn't had a proper conversation with anyone these days. Of course she still talked with Alyssa and Nia constantly, they were her best friends, but it was nice to talk to someone like this. It was also very eerie that she and Thomas had a lot of similarities between each other.

"So your father passed away," she stated softly, her brown eyes looking up into his. "When?" she dared to ask. She knew this was a personal question, but she just wanted to know, or needed to, she wanted to see if she could relate to him. She didn't know how to act about her mother's death, she thought going to Abbey would help, but it had only backfired on her and they ended up saying harsh things to each other again. And then Bella had realized that she couldn't relate to Abbey as well as she had thought she would, Abbey lost her parents when she was extremely young, too young to remember anything really, a year old; Isabella had thirteen years worth of memories with her mother to remember - they were not similar situations. Perhaps Thomas' father had passed away when he was young too, Isabella hoped so, that way he wouldn't have to know what it felt like to have your heart ache every day with longing, or guilt.
 
Thomas chuckeled at Isabella's observation, it was true he was, probably a lot better than most but he had always been more understandable of things, far beyond his age. He mother always said he was more like a grown man than young bot, but he didn't mind. "Well I suppose being twins we have a sort of connection, or whatever it is they call it." he said with a shrug. If it was true a part of him probably always knew there was something missing, maybe that something was Ivan.

Thomas nodded his head lightly, "Yeah, umm on my 8th birthday." he said solemnly. "It is still a soft spot for me and mum, but as time goes on it gets easier. Wounds heal, all that stuff." he said gestering his hand in a rolling motion indicating time passing by. It was hard to believe that it was years already.
 
Isabella smiled and nodded her head in agreement at Thomas' explanation. Perhaps it was the fact that he and Ivan were twins that made him more quickly accepting of him, rather than just his maturity. Isabella had been a spoiled little girl as she was growing up, so having to share everything, especially her parents, wasn't as easy for her.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise when Thomas admitted that he'd lost his father on his birthday. "Wow, that must be tough," she commented airily. And she thought losing her mother on Yule Ball night had been tough, she knew Christmas would never be the same from now on. But then again, her birthday was on January first, not that far off from Christmas, so her birthday wouldn't be the same either. "So it gets easier with time?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Unable to look at Thomas, Isabella looked down before resting her head on her knees. "My mother passed away over the holidays, Yule Ball night to be exact," she decided to share with him. She wanted to talk about it but she didn't know to who and what to say.
 
Thomas shrugged lightly, "It was hard at the beginning. Mum handles it worse than me though." he said truthfully, it was hard for her, he knew that. They had been best friends for so long and husband and wife for a short time aswell, too short in his opinion. Thomas noticed Isabella had become a lot quieter, maybe he should change the subject, death was such a morbid one, especially in the dungeons, it wasn't exactly a bundle of joy.

He was about to answer her question but she beat him to the punch as she started talking again. When she told him about her mother Thomas made a small grimance, not sure what to say. He had always been the one on the receiving end of the sympathy, but still he figured he should say something, she had just listened to his life story it was only fair to repay the favor, he spoke softly and said, "I'm so sorry Isabella. I know it's going to be hard for a while and at times you feel things will never be the same and you just want to give up, but it does get easier with time, I promise." nodding his head reassuringly.
 
Isabella had to wonder how her father was handling her mother's death, he had seemed well put together the entire time but was it just a cover up, just like she had done for the first couple of nights before she finally broke down at the funeral? As she listened to Thomas console her and reassure her that things would be fine, she couldn't help but smile. Those words had been spoken to her repeatedly, though coming from Thomas they sounded different, they felt different. Everyone else had been saying them out of sympathy, not really knowing just how bad it felt. But hearing them come from Thomas, someone who had lost their parent as well, made her feel so much better. If it got easier for him, it would surely get easier for her. "Thanks," she replied with a genuine smile. After a small moment of silence, which surprisingly wasn't awkward between the two, Isabella chuckled lightly and said, "Alright we should find a better subject, something not so morbid and creepy down here," she joked, gesturing to their location.
 
Thomas smiled back at Isabella, it was strange how the two had so much in common but it was nice to have someone he could related to on a few levels. What was even more strange was how the two had learned all these facts about each other after such an unlikely encounter, but again he didn't mind.

He gave a light chuckle as she suggested a change of topic, "You read my mind." he said truthfully. Thinking of another topic to talk about he said, "What homework were you doing?" it was clear that Thomas was one, a bad conversationalist and two, a Ravenclaw. But he had hoped that she was doing homework from an elective class, he knew that time was coming that he would have to pick his electives but he didn't know what to do. The easy option of course would be to do them all, but he would like a good insight to them first.
 
Isabella smiled warmly back at Thomas again as she repositioned herself once more, sitting cross-legged once again as she had been when he first arrived. She giggled lightly at his question and glanced over at her abandoned homework but looked back at him. "Divination," she replied simply. "It wasn't hard, but my mind was just elsewhere, and you came along as a great distraction," she said warmly. "Have you given any thought to what electives you want to take next year?" she asked him. Of course the answer would be yes, for one, he was a Ravenclaw so he was probably always thinking about his classes, and two, he was a second year - what second year wouldn't be thinking of their electives already?
 
Divination It was one of the electives he had given the least thought too, he wasn't sure why though. When Isabella said he came along as a great distraction he scrathed the back of his head, something he always did when he was embarrassed, thankfully he never blushed, "Umm, you're welcome." he said with a awkward laugh. "Um electives? Yeah, a bit. I mean I figured I may as well go the easy route and take them all, but I would like to narrow them down. What did you take, apart from Divination?" he asked, wondering if she could give him some insight to a few.
 
Isabella smirked lightly when she realized Thomas seemed to be nervous or embarrassed at her compliment. She wanted to point out how someone as cute as him could not be used to all the compliments he surely got, just to see him squirm a little bit, all in good fun, but held her tongue instead. She laughed softly as he said the 'easy route' was taking them all and shook her head. "You're such a Ravenclaw," she teased. "How can taking all of them possibly be easier?" she joked. Though she knew what he meant, if he decided to take all of them he wouldn't have to choose, not choosing was the easy part of it.

"I took Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures last semester," she answered with a grin. Those two had easily become her favorite classes aside from Charms. She'd have to wait and see if Divination was as great as she imagined it to be.
 
Thomas rolled his eyes playfully at the Ravenclaw statement, "It just would be, that way I get to sample everything, but I don't really want to do that, just stick to two or three." he said with a shrug. His grades last year had been just fine, but last term he nearly failed his classes, he was determined to not let the same thing happen this term. But if he were to choose all of the electives next year, it was hard to tell if he would be able to keep up with the work. "Ah now Arithmancy with most definatley be at the top of my list. Is it really all it's cracked up to be?" he asked, hoping it was as good as his mother had told him.
 
Isabella nodded her head thoughtfully as Thomas said if he took every class he'd be able to sample them all. Sometimes she wondered what Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes were like, but she was just fine with the classes she had chosen. When he asked about Arithmancy, Isabella immediately grinned and said, "Oh definitely! It's an amazing class! You wouldn't imagine how eerily correct the numbers can be," she added, shaking her head as she remembered her own calculations for her life. "You should definitely take it," she suggested with an enthusiastic nod and a small giggle once she realized just how enthusiastic she had been about it.
 
Thomas laughed at Isabella's immediate reaction to his question about Arithmancy. "OK I get it." he said with a laugh. "Well if you say it's that good I'll definately do it." he said with a smile. It was always good to get recommendations from friends first choosing the electives. At least they were a lot less biased than the Professor. "So what about Care of Magical Creatures and Divination?" he asked, not completely fussed on Care of Magical Creatures, but Divination sounded fun.
 
Isabella chuckled lightly as he pointed out that she was rather passionate about Arithmancy but she didn't mind it, it really was a good subject. "Cool," she replied brightly when she managed to convince Thomas to take it. She pursed her lips in thought when he asked about her other electives. "Care of Magical Creatures is fun, super easy really," she admitted. "I'm a bit of an animal lover so it interested me," she explained with a small shrug and a smile on her face. 'A bit of an animal lover' was a huge understatement for the vegetarian who owned a countless amount of pets, but as long as she got the point across it was fine. "As for Divination, I'll have to get back to you on that one once I've had a few more lessons," she winked at him playfully. "What about the other electives, you interested in those?" she asked him.
 
Thomas listened to Isabella talk about Care of Magical Creatures. Super easy? he repeated her words to himself. To most people that would be the final deciding factor in the choosing of that subject but he was a Ravenclaw, not that Ravenclaws didn't mind an easy path every so often, he liked a challenge and if Care of Magical Creatures was easy, it didn't really appeal to him. "I don't mind animals, but I don't think it's an elective for me. Plus I heard the Professor is a Death Eater." he said with a small shudder at the thought of a Death Eater teaching in the school.

"I'll hold you to that." he said, returning the playful wink. "Well I think Ancient Runes is a good possibility. Muggle Studies on the other hand, not so much. I was brought up around Muggles so I think I know all I need to know." he said with a shrug. "Wow I think I've just eliminated two electives. Thanks Isabella." he said with a smile. Something he had been pondering over since he started second year was just solved in a few short minutes.
 
Isabella put her hand over her mouth to stifle her snicker when Thomas said that he heard that Professor Fletcher was a Death Eater. She found it funny how a rumor that she had created in her first year had still managed to be going around and believable! She considered telling Thomas the truth though decided to let the rumor live longer if she could.

Isabella nodded her head softly as Thomas talked about which other electives he liked and didn't like. For some reason Ancient Runes just hadn't interested her. She didn't really know what it was about, but the word 'ancient' made her think of history, and she wasn't all too good in History of Magic, so she doubted she'd be any better at that. Muggle Studies seemed like an easy class, though she just hadn't chosen it for some reason. She chuckled softly as Thomas said he knew all he needed to know, if she were brought up in a Muggle environment she'd probably think the same. When he thanked her for unintentionally helping him eliminate his electives she laughed and said, "No problem!" as if it were her intention all along, though really she was only making conversation. She didn't really talk about school too often so it only made sense that she have this type of conversation with a Ravenclaw. "Funny, my homework for Divination is to write an explanation as to why I chose the subject," Isabella decided to tell him, a small chuckle escaping her.
 
Thomas wondered why Isabella found the fact that a Professor in the school was possibly a Death Eater was funny, but figured it was best not to ask. When Isabella said that the homework to say why he chose it he asked, "So why did you choose it?" It only occured to him that he knew what her electives were, but didn't why she took them in the first place.
 
Isabella pursed her lips in thought as Thomas repeated her homework assignment out loud. After a moment she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know really. I just found it interesting." That didn't seem like a pretty good reason to decide to take a class, but then again, if Isabella figured that Divination wasn't for her she could just drop it next year, or at least she hoped. Her father had told her that he took Divination only because a girl he liked was taking it, and took it all the way until his fifth year when he later failed his OWL examinations on the subject and the girl chose another guy over him. "I'm not trying to be a Seer or anything," she said with a playful eye roll, "it's just something I've been curious about so I didn't see the harm in studying it," she finished off simply. She didn't like how her explanation made her seem like she had no clue about her future, and overall unworthy of being a Slytherin. Slytherins were known for being driven and ambitious, so the fact that she took a class 'just because' instead of having a solid reason, made her feel weird, though it didn't show on her face. "Hey, I guess I just did my homework," she pointed out after she had glanced down at the nearly blank parchment beside her. "Thanks Thomas," she said with a grin, much like he had thanked her for helping him choose electives moments ago.
 
Thomas rolled his eyes at Isabella's answer. Surely if you could fail that homework that would be the answer. But he could understand why it was so hard to answer, he wondered himself what would be a good reason to take on the electives and it was a hard thing to answer apart from, it sounded interesting. But he would let that bother him when it came to the time he had to do it, which was for another few months. He listened to her further her answer and laughed when she said she just did her homework. "You're welcome. Well who would have guessed such an unlikely encounter would turn out so rewarding." he observed with a smile. All he was planning on doing today when he went to the dungeons was to try and talk to Joce but instead talking to Isabella was a lot better.
 
Isabella thought about Divination some more, wondering if taking the class 'just because' was a wise decision. But then she reminded herself of Arithmancy. She hadn't really known too much about it at all and she ended up loving it. It had given her a bigger insight on herself, her past somewhat, mainly her present, and soon her future. She remembered Professor Manteia saying that Arithmancy did show you a bit about your past, but it was mostly revealing about your future. Perhaps Divination could help her discover more about her future and help her figure out who she was. Right now her teenage years were just starting out so many changes and phases were likely to occur.

She smiled pleasantly at Thomas' comment about their unlikely encounter being rewarded, it was sort of a compliment right? "I know right?" was all she managed to say back. It was then she noticed he was still standing against the wall so she asked, "Do you want to take a seat? You've been standing a while," she pointed out with a soft laugh.
 
Thomas gave a light laugh as Isabella agreed that it was a great meeting. But all good things had to come to an end right. He had spent much longer in the dungeons than he had planned. When Isabella he should sit he let out a small groan, there was nothing he would have liked more than talking to her but, "I would but I really should go. I still have a load of homework to do, and so do you." he said gesturing to her blank peice of parchment.

Pushing away from the wall he took a few steps away putting some feeling into his legs again. "Anyway, it's been great, catching up?" he said with a smile, not sure if it was catching up or not. "Let me know how Gracie gets on. See ya around." he said with a wave as he made the long journey back to the Ravenclaw Tower, hoping he would see her around again, it was nice to have a chat with someone different.
 
Isabella's lips frowned lightly when Thomas said he had to go, though thankfully the dungeons were so dim he wouldn't have noticed. She had been expecting it soon, though it didn't mean she was any happier when the time came. She chuckled lightly as he pointed out her blank parchment which only contained her name and nodded her head in agreement. She smiled as he said his final words, and when he mentioned Gracie she chuckled and said, "Thanks, I'll keep you posted," with a playful laugh before repeating his, "See you around!"

She watched him walk away and smiled to herself, happy that someone didn't seem to hate her even after her Gossip Magazine and that they actually had a lot in common. It was nice to talk to someone new that wasn't in your every day circle. Realizing she was now sitting alone in the dark dungeons with only her wand light to illuminate her surroundings, she finally decided to give her eyes a rest from squinting and gathered her things to go back into the common room and get around to doing her homework, after all he had helped her do it earlier anyway, all she had to do was transfer it on paper.

[END OF THREAD.]
 
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