It was the weekend of the first week of classes, and Bilbo was on his way to the library. Going down a spiral staircase of one of the towers he noticed a couple of sixth year students intertwined like Devil's Snare in an alcove, snogging actively and enthusiastically. Asphyxiation was a jolly real danger for these two, and Bilbo cringed. He understood they were hormonal teenagers, he was mates with Thea Martin, which pretty much guaranteed any bloke being stiff twenty four seven, but surely there should have been some rules regarding PDA.
It was actually the reason why unlike his schoolmates Bilbo was on his way to the third floor instead of joining a merry motley crew on their way to Hogsmeade. The first few weeks of each year it was all drama, snogging, reuniting after summer, finding out someone shagged someone' girlfriend on holiday and so on. There were duels in the Hog's Head, barneys in the street, last year a student had to be escorted out of Tomes and Scrolls for trying to break another's student's nose over his boyfriend. Bilbo twitched his nose in annoyment.
The library was empty just as he expected, with the exception of one person sitting at a table by the window. It was the new girl, Wren Leary, her flaming hair in a messy bun on her head. He joked internally that it was like a beacon, easily noticeable from far away. There was a quill sticking out of it, while another one was scribbling something on a parchment near her left elbow. She herself was absorbed in one of five giant volumes opened in front of her, while there was a stack of at least twenty more on each side on her table. With surprise Bilbo understood she was using the Evelyn Wood method of speed reading, her hand swiping up and down pages, and judging by the movement of her eyes and the tapping of the left hand fingers on the wood she was also going through Advanced SQ3R steps. It was amazing, she wasn't muggle born, and wizards and witches normally used alternative methods, mainly the Legere Velocius spell presumably invented by Rowena Ravenclaw herself. Bilbo had learnt the Wood method and SQ3R three years ago, he was still more comfortable with muggle science, and he shortly wondered whether his eyes were doing the same barmy thing when he read.
He quietly moved to one of the shelves and picked up the volume on magizoology he had planned on reading today. He tucked himself behind a table several rows away from the girl and tried concentrating on the text. It was difficult, he had to constantly remind himself to keep his eyes down. Bilbo was no idiot, he understood he was being a typical boffin, staring at a chick from afar, but he was a hormonal teenager and she was female. And new, she was new, and maybe Bilbo hadn't had much action in his life, but he had a formed and hardly flattering opinion about most of his schoolmates. She was the unknown.
He had been studying the students in Hogwarts for years, and he thought the fact he was muggle born had given him a pretty objective and detached perspective on the going-ons in the school. Overall Bilbo thought they were all mental, with a small number being an exception.
The first three years in school were a torture for him, he hardly noticed anything around him, mostly concerned with bouncing off spells the Slytherin Rat Pack was throwing at him and trying to avoid being dunked in the loo head first with a deft use of Wingardium Leviosa. The Rat Pack, as he called them, with Thorin Durinson as its head and his sidekicks always following him, were mostly bullying Gryffindor students, the animosity between the Houses still a tradition in school, even after all these centuries and the Second Wizarding War.
And then one day August Anderson stepped around the corner, Durinson's wand flew from his hand and before anyone could say anything the Quidditch Captain yelled Tarantallegra! It was a strange choice but the view of Durinson tapdancing would forever stay one of Bilbo's favourite memories. He considered using it as his Patronus inducer but then he changed his mind. There were other memories to cherish. Fundinson and the ginger prick who were always accompanying Durinson were dealt with by Thea, and she just used her elbow and knee. Then she and Anderson pulled him out of the toilet he was suspended over. They all got detention, but one thing could be said of Thrain Durinson. He was fair. Points were taken only from Slytherin, and the Headmaster's son received double punishment, apparently his rotten nature was clear to his father even then. Bilbo then thought that his torment would stop, and it did, but Thea and Auggie didn't disappear from his life as he had assumed then. The three of them started spending most of their time together with the exception of Thea's sexcapade times and a few months last year when Auggie was actively dating a girl from Slytherin. It didn't work out, and Bilbo assumed everything would go back to normal. And then the Leary girl was invited into their compartment on the Hogwarts Express.
Bilbo didn't like change. He didn't like adventures and irregularities, he just wanted to spend time with his friends, finish school in peace, and find himself some nice comfortable job, preferably of a librarian. Bilbo loved his books, his parchments, and he would really like a comfortable armchair. Auggie would laugh and say Bilbo needed an Ageing Potion so his outside would match his inside, and although Bilbo would puff and glare at his friend, he would internally agree. Bilbo only wished the mature age would come sooner and the teen angst he had to tolerate around him every bloody day would finally be gone.
At some point, he once again raised his eyes at the redhead, in a thousandth time in the last ten minutes it seemed, and he suddenly saw she was looking back. He jerked and immediately dropped his eyes into his book. He wasn't reading and was praying to all deities possible that she would go back to her reading, when he heard a delicate cough above him. He gulped loudly and slowly lifted his face.
She was rocking on the heels of her feet in front of him, her hands clasped behind her back, and she wore makeup. A lot of it, there was black stuff around her eyes and bright orange lipstick. Most girls at school were compensating for the strict rules of uniform and no makeup after classes and on weekends, but hers was… crikey!
"Hi, Bilbo, I'm sorry to bother you, but I saw you… And decided to say hello," she had an even friendly tone, and Bilbo suppressed a hiccup. He had no idea how to talk to girls, even Thea would frighten him sometimes, but in the last three years he just learnt to block out her swearing and talking about sex and delegated it to Auggie to handle.
"Hello," that was all he could master, and she smiled to him. She did have an odd face, and he decided after certain consideration that she was not pretty. The mouth was very wide, and although she had a nice smile, she reminded him a bit of a lizard. The same angular face, pointy chin, high cheekbones, and strange slanted eyes. She was also very skinny, and the giant baggy sweater with a looped scarf made her look like a ten year old in her mother's clothes. Or grandmother's, since she was aiming for that bleeding annoying hipster style, with her sandshoes and skinny jeans.
"Well, I'll be studying there… But if you feel like a break, let me know, we can have tea together or chat… Or something..." Her tone was unsure, and she suddenly blushed. Bilbo had quite a different impression from her from before, and he wondered why she suddenly seemed so shy and insecure. In the train and in the classes through the week she was haughty, cold and snobbish. She was very smart and astonishingly knowledgeable, especially for someone who had no previous formal education, and she didn't miss a single chance to prove she considered most students inferior to her. She had the typical Ravenclaw attitude, she seemed to be getting along with Rivendell and Mirkwood very well, and they quite obviously had taken her under their wing. Being a new girl didn't harm her growing popularity either.
She rocked back and forth couple more times and turned around to go back to her table. She seemed to be slouching a bit, and he suddenly heard his own voice, "I can have a break now." She twirled sharply and looked at him, smiling widely. She looked so happy and relieved that he suddenly felt very hard, "Do you want to go for a walk? It's nice outside." And there he thought she couldn't smile any wider! Merlin's beard, she had a big mouth.
They were sitting on the grass in the yard sharing a Liquorice Wand she had bought on the Express but was apprehensive to try before.
"I don't normally fancy muggle liquorice, but this is ace," her cheek was sticking out from the sweet, and he smiled to her. She was surprisingly easy to talk to. He could hardly use the hackneyed phrase that she was 'like one of the blokes,' since Auggie was the only other bloke Bilbo talked to much, and Auggie was… special, but she was nice. Maybe because she wasn't pretty, or didn't jump at him asking hundreds of questions about Auggie, which had happened before, or maybe because she was also well-read, but they spent half an hour discussing classes and how they were not certain the Hat even knew what it was doing.
"It asked me actually, where I wanted to go, you know," Wren bit another piece of the wand and chewed thoughtfully, "I said Gryffindor, because, I mean, you guys seemed ace, and I'm brave..." She threw an askew look at him, probably feeling that was boasting, but he nodded agreeing. She did feel like Gryffindor material, "I get it, I'm a swot, but you are too. I mean, no offense..." She blushed again, it seemed to happen to her a lot.
"None taken," he brushed her concern off, "I know they often doubt the Hat's choice with me… I know people often doubt me. And they're right, I often think of just finding some quiet corner and hiding there." She was listening with a serious sincere face, and he wondered again why she was so easy to talk to. "When we have those active classes, you know, like flying classes or Magical Creatures, I miss my books, and my parchments, and my armchair in the common room. See, that's where I belong. I don't do well with brooms and… hippogryphs."
"I am horrible on a broom," she suddenly said, leaning closer as if sharing a secret with him. He looked at her in shock. He didn't go to the tryouts, but of course he assumed she was on the team by now. "I am complete rubbish when it comes to Quidditch." He shortly wondered if she was taking the mickey, or maybe even just trying to comfort him with this outrageous lie, but she suddenly smiled. "I lied to Auggie when he asked if I wanted to try out. I said I had had an injury and didn't play anymore. The fact is I never even tried. I fall off brooms all the time." Bilbo stared at her not knowing what to say.
"Wow… Blimey..." Bilbo had nothing, and she giggled.
"They all think I am like my dad, but why would I be? And the first thing they say is that I would be a great Seeker, just because I'm strong and quick." She suddenly spoke in a batty voice, nasal and croaky, "Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not." She laughed at her own joke, but then choked on her laughter when she realised he wasn't joining her. "Oh, blimey, it's from a muggle film..."
"It's Master Yoda, yeah. I know," he felt that was the most bonkers thing he'd ever seen, a girl in Hogwarts impersonating a Jedi master. It was bloody surreal. "I'm muggle born."
"I once spent a term in a Septic muggle high school," she seemed to be boasting and complaining at the same time. "That was one big class of Care of Magical Creatures, believe me."
He laughed, shaking his head. She was odd. And smashing. Perhaps Bilbo didn't mind this change that much.