Closed What fools use for reason

[Tilly Drage]

Over the break, days before she’d boarded the train for school, Tilly’s dad had a long conversation with her about an uncomfortable topic- pureblood supremacy. Sure, she’d learned about it in her first year, but it seemed like something that was historical and old-fashioned. That Voldemort guy had died over fifty years ago, after all. Her dad explained that his own mother, the one who’d died when he was little, was extremely prejudiced. Even worse, her granddad used to think the same way. Tilly was horrified; she couldn’t even imagine it now.

Tilly’s mind had been reeling ever since that discussion. Normally, she didn’t care to read. That said, she checked out a history book on the subject from the school library and carried it out to the Great Lawn.

It was a warm, sunny September day and the Hufflepuff soon found herself under a tree. She sat down and propped her back against the trunk. After opening the book, she knew it was well above her reading level. Even reading one paragraph made her brain tired.

@Harper Alston

 

[Harper Alston]

It was a beautiful day, and Harper had decided to spend as much of it outside as possible. She was presently reading a action novel in the upper branches of her favorite tree. Its wide branches and abundant foliage — even in the colder months — meant she could rest easily up here, tucked away from the world. No one ever looked up, and it was the closest she got to having her own private space. As much as she loved living with her friends, sometimes she needed more privacy than the curtains around her bed could offer.

Now, though, Harper was looking for something else to do. She'd reached a good stopping point in her book, and she wanted to save part of it for later. Tucking the battered paperback under her arm, she leaned over and was surprised to see another girl at the base of the tree. When had she arrived? The other girl looked like she was in the middle of reading something, and Harper didn't want to accidentally startle her. At the same time, she couldn't stay in the tree forever.

Harper started to rustle some leaves and branches to announce her presence as she began her descent. Things were going okay until she realized that she was causing a small flurry of leaves and tiny twigs to fall on the unsuspecting person below. If the rustling hadn't caught the girl's attention yet, Harper was pretty sure the small storm of falling plant matter had done the trick. "Sorry!" she called, wincing. Harper stopped shaking the branches and quickly climbed down, doing her best not to further disturb the tree or the girl. She landed on the ground next to the girl with a small thump. "Sorry about that. I was trying not to startle you," she said sheepishly.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly wasn’t expecting to be showered with leaves and twigs. She brushed these off her robes, but the rustling got louder. The Hufflepuff yelped as she looked up to see a girl in the branches. Then, laughing, she said, “Didn’t uh, realize you were up there.”

Tilly craned her neck to get a better look at the branches. They looked sturdy, and perfect for climbing. That said, she was increasingly mindful of the limits of her size. She’d grown several centimeters over the school holiday, both upward and outward.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve given up on this book already.”

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper was glad to see that the girl wasn't too upset. If anything, she seemed to have a sense of humor about the whole situation. Harper gave a small laugh of relief. "Yeah, I would've warned you, but I didn't notice you sit down until you had started reading." She would have to be more aware of her surroundings in the future. Still, it was hard to remember to look around when she was ensnared by a good book.

At the mention of the other girl's book, Harper looked down, her eyes widening slightly as she recognized the cover. After the DADA lecture on Voldemort, Harper had gone to the library, determined to find out everything she could about blood supremacy and wizard-muggle relations. It was absurd that when the magical official had arrived at her house to deliver her Hogwarts letter, they had completely neglected to warn her about this darker side of the magical world. Instead, she had to seek out that information on her own.

Harper's efforts had been hampered in part by books like the one the girl was reading. She didn't have a lot of experience doing research using books — that's what the internet was for — and all of the ones she'd managed to find had been very dry and very dense. "That's about blood supremacy, isn't it?" Harper asked. "Why are you reading that?" She was pretty sure the other girl was also a second year, so the book definitely wasn't for class. Octavia, as nice as she was, didn't really do a great job of covering stuff like the Second Wizarding War and other wizard-muggle(born) clashes.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly was relieved that she hadn’t disturbed the other girl’s peace. She was tired of having hostile interactions with her classmates. It was getting old. Not that deep down, Tilly wanted to see the good in everybody and loved when others responded in kind.

Tilly held up the book. “This-” she wasn’t sure how much to say, not to a stranger. “I wanted to learn more about it. My mum’s a muggleborn.” She took a breath, and then added, “Doesn’t make sense that people would hate her just for that.” As a preteen, Tilly would never admit it out loud, but her mum was pretty awesome. Anyone who despised her for being alive could go hug a Whomping Willow.

Smiling, TIlly asked, “What were you reading?” The chances of their having read the same book were astronomically slim, given that Tilly rarely read anything.

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper wasn't completely sure what she'd expected the girl to say, but that definitely wasn't it. "Oh," she said, her gaze softening. "Yeah, all that blood purity stuff is messed up. I still can't figure out why it's even a thing." With other forms of discrimination, especially ones based on physical differences, she could at least understand how those prejudices had arisen — not that she agreed with them, of course. But there was nothing fundamentally different between a pureblood and a muggleborn as far as she could tell. Disliking someone because of their parents' magical blood (or lack thereof) made as much sense as disliking someone because their parents' kidneys were bigger. How could you even tell?

At the other girl's question, Harper flipped the book around so that the cover was visible. "Alex Rider. It's an old muggle series about a boy who becomes a spy for the British government." She'd always thought being a secret agent would be the coolest job ever and had lately gotten really into spy fiction. "Have you read it?" She wondered if wizards ever read muggle books or if all their stories were set in the magical world.

 

[Tilly Drage]

Tilly nodded. “It’s creepy and weird. I don’t understand it, either.” She stuffed the book into her shoulder bag- she needed to return it to the library. Tilly listened to Harper’s description of Alex Rider. It sounded interesting- someone could probably convince her to read it if she was forced to sit down with a novel. She shook her head. “No, haven’t heard of it.”

“Do you read lots of Muggle stories?”

 

[Harper Alston]

Harper wasn't that surprised that the other girl hadn't heard of the series. Even if she had grown up in the muggle world, the series was kind of old. Harper herself had only discovered it while looking for alternatives to James Bond (she'd enjoyed the movies but the books were still a bit too difficult). "Well if you like action, they're pretty good. I could lend you the first one if you want." She was pretty sure the Hogwarts library didn't have it.

It was getting a bit awkward just standing there while the other girl was seated, so Harper sat down across from her. She nodded at the girl's question. "Yup, I usually get my books mailed from home. I don't really know any magical authors or stories." She'd once made a half-hearted attempt to look for some in the Hogwarts library, but all she'd found were textbooks and other dusty non-fiction tomes. Plus she'd never really been the biggest fan of the fantasy genre, and wouldn't all magical stories automatically be fantasy? "What about you? Do you usually read a lot of history books?"