War Casualties and Public Embarrassment

Finn had been studying because that was what she did. Ducky led the group, Nora made the occasional sassy remark, Alisha told the truth, Tris talked to ghosts, Caspian played Quidditch, and Finn studied. She knew that her friends liked to study together but she often found herself distracted. Besides, despite having been apart of the close knit group for awhile now, she was still not the sort of invite people along with her. If she was with them, or ran into them, sure. But she was not like Ducky, sending notes flying through the hallways in search of his friends, or running about to corral them all before dragging them off and on to the next adventure. She had her own routines and she allowed them to be disrupted by her friends. She was just not the sort to be the disrupter.

Besides, she was fairly sure she was the only one of her friends taking Ancient Runes, and if anyone else was, they weren't in her class so it would not be particularly helpful to study with them. She studied better in quiet, anyway, and her friends were not particularly quiet. Not together, anyway. So she poured over her notes, her books, her past work. Her exam had seemed so far away the last time she had worried about it. And now, with mere weeks separating herself from it, she felt as though it were right on top her. The fourth year felt her tired brain warning her that she had been reading and writing too long, that she was overexerting herself, but she had to keep on. Her father was expecting near perfect scores and she wanted to deliver on her promise. He would not be terribly disappointed if she did not live up the expectation, of course. There was not much she could do to make her father unhappy with her. But she had her own expectations to live up too.

She had just turned the page to a new chapter when, all of a sudden, she heard a loud yell. “I know you’re keeping her here! Let her out, you monsters.”

Oh no. She knew that voice. That wonderful, obnoxious voice. She pulled her books in front of her face and lowered her head down, letting her hair fall as a curtain between her and the world around her.

“Young man, this is a library-“

“It’s a prison, I tell you! A prison for children who believe that appeasing this institution’s need for high marks will better their lives. It’s all fallacy, I tell you! Now let me take back my countrywoman, and I’ll leave you be.”

Ducky somehow got past the librarians and Finn lowered her head even more, hunching until her nose was practically touching the book. She heard her name being called and, without really planning on it, she flopped her head into her book.

“Finn-face! There you are!”

Finn had been discovered, so she saw little reason in hiding. She sat up straight and looked at her friend, the infamous Ducky Baker. Now that she thought of it, she didn’t think she had ever seen him in the library, in their friendship. The only evidence that she might not want him there was the slight pink to her cheeks. She loved seeing her goofy friend – but not when it meant having an entire roomful of people staring at her. The attention was not exactly pleasant for her.

“Hello, Ducky,” she said cheerfully, forcing any embarrassment out of her voice.

Ducky threw himself into her lap and looped his arms around her neck. “Babe, I’ve come to save you.”

Finn winced. “Well, currently, you’re crushing me.”

“With love,” Ducky whispered. Despite this, he jumped from her lap, sitting instead on the table – right on her book. “Come on, I came into the belly of the enemy to save you. Let’s go steal some ice cream or something.”

Finn smiled. “As much as I appreciate your valiant effort, soldier, the enemy of Ancient Runes will only be vanquished through rigorous study.”

Ducky blinked. “Study? What’s… study?”

Finn leaned in. “Something you should learn. Now get out of here before I die of embarrassment.”

She smiled and he let out a groan, allowing her to drag him off her book. The librarian had finally caught up to him and was giving him a mighty glare. He thrust his two wrists out towards her and said, “Take me away, Commander. I realize a lost battle when I see it. YOU WIN THIS TIME, ACADEMICS-“

“SHH!”

And the librarian dragged him out of the library, shooting Finn a glare on the way out. Finn smiled weakly and looked down at her book. The pages were nice and rumpled now. She reached forward and attempted to straighten them. War casualties, she supposed.

Now Ellery had always made time in her day to study. With the end of the year so close, she had scheduled an extra couple hours to spend in the library for studying. Who knew transfiguration would be kicking her ass so hard? And so she mindlessly stared at a huge shelf of leather bound books while sighing her cares away. There was no use in studying. She knew she would only pass with a mediocre grade because she didn't like the class enough to retain any information. Turning, Ellery walked down the aisle, trailing her finger tips along the leather bindings that revealed titles and authors and volume numbers.

She pulled out a piece of paper she had and unfolded it. Squinting at names of authors on her paper and then squinting at the bindings, Ellery realized she should probably get reading glasses. But that would have to be at some other time. After all, squinting wasn't too big of a problem. Then a loud voice took all of her attention.

Oh no. She knew that voice. That annoying, obnoxious voice.

Ellery tip toed to the end of the aisle and peeked out cautiously. She did not want any sort of attention brought to her by him. This was the one quiet place that she would never in a million years have guessed Ducky even knew about. He seemed far from the book type unless he was using the pages of one for recreational joint rolling. And there she spotted him. Running past librarians, not even seeing her as he passed her aisle, and for that she was grateful. There was only so much Ducky she could handle. And she wasn't even sure about handling even that much. But even so, they were friends in a strange sense.

When her gaze met Ducky's destination, she grinned and quickly went back down her aisle and around the bookshelves so that she would not catch his gaze. Ellery grinned small to herself at Ducky's proclamations that bounced within the library walls. She could almost feel the librarian simmering as she caught up to Finn and Ducky's spot. Ellery walked quietly into an aisle where she could vantage from as Ducky was pulled mercilessly out of the library by the angry woman. When the sights were clear, Ellery walked up to Finn as she was straightening pages Ducky had most likely been the cause of wrinkling.

"Sure knows how to leave his mark, eh?" She smiled at Finn. Ellery was fond of her. Quiet and simple in a way that reminded her of past times years ago with Lilly Potter. And the scene now even reminded her of such. A quiet, studious place with books and final classes approaching. She glanced over at her original aisle of searching before looking back at Finn while she sat down. Something always felt strange about Finn, but Ellery didn't dote on it. She had a lot of "felts" about people and never any proof of what. "What were you studying for before big mouth took a swing at your book?" she inquired.

Finn would have loved some form of transportation that got her out of this horribly embarrassing situation that Ducky had arranged for her. If it had been Nora, or Alisha, or any of their other friends, they probably would have found a way to thrive in the environment. Finn, however, was the odd one out. She was the one who had to work to find her own friends. She was the one who took studying seriously. She was the one who did not actively welcome attention. She was the one who just did not know how to react normally to most social situations. And Ducky wasn't a social situation. He was the social situation.

Still, none of the blame fell on Ducky. As usual, it was herself that took the berating for being unable to handle to looks of the others in the library. Why can't you be more comfortable? Why can't you be more confident? Why can't you be more like Nora? Why can't you be more like Ducky? More like the sort of person Ducky could actually find a marked interest in? It was all the usual thoughts, never ending and ever harsh. Her father would be horrified to know she thought herself inferior to her perfectly mortal friends. He would reopen his lecture on Vampiric Superiority and probably ask her to drain one of them just to get the message across. And this was why she did not tell him these things.

Besides, it had nothing to do with vampires, and all to do with ducks.

A voice rescued her, pulling her as she drowned in the waters of her own criticism with a fond voice and sassy words. Fiona looked up to see Ellery Dixon join her. Ellery. A friend of hers. A friend of Ducky's. Of course. Everyone knew Ducky. Everyone liked him. Surely there were plenty who loved him too. There came that feeling of inferiority again.

"It's sort of what he does," Finn said, her voice quiet to make up for all the chaos she and her friend had caused. She smiled, glad to have an ally that could distract from the looks. Now that the Grimm girl had company, she was less interesting to stare at. They would forget she was ever involved. The story would go So, Ducky went into the library today and was messing with someone - Who? Oh, um I can't remember. Anyway- She didn't mind. Ducky had earned the right to be loved. What had she done to make the populace of Hogwarts give a rat's ass.

You've kept your father from making a point and killing all your friends. That has to count for something.

No, Fiona. For normal people, that doesn't count. That should be a given.

Right.

Ellery asked after the subject and Finn sighed, running a hand over the pages of her book. "Ancient Runes. With exams coming, I'm on a cycle for which subjects I study. I also need to cover Defense today, and Herbology. Living the life." She smiled a bit weakly.

Ellery gazed at Finn curiously. She wondered what went on in the girl's head. She just seemed so opposite of Ducky that Ellery wasn't sure just how they were compatible as friends. Maybe he admired her quietness? Since he obviously lacked any. Or possibly Finn admired his openness and willingness to accept others? That seemed more plausible to Ellery, but she hardly cared about Ducky's life. He could do whatever he wanted and she would just try to stay away. Almost impossible being the same year, and house, but she tried hard. He was just so irritating.

When Fiona answered her question, she realized her face was beginning to meld into a scowl as she thought about how intolerable Ducky was. Ellery gave a sympathetic smile. "If living the life is running around like a chicken with no head, then I would much rather study," she commented. Ellery nodded in agreement with herself. "In fact, I'm here to study for transfiguration. Class is kicking my ass." She rolled her eyes in exasperation.

She stood and straightened her clothes. "If you give me just a minute, I'll be right back with some books," she smiled. "We'll study together." And with that Ellery took off back to her original aisle and managed to find her piece of paper.

Now with a plan of action in mind, Ellery made swift time to find some books by the authors on her parchment. She grabbed three that looked promising from the cover and brought the armful back to where they were seated. She edged over another little table and set her books on that. Ellery smiled over at Finn. "This is the class I'm the most worried about. If I don't study at all for it I'll pass with a A, but if I study like normal I'll probably get a E - but mostly I want an O. I already know I'm going to do well in my Magical Creatures class. And Potions, probably. But this class..." she trailed off as she started flipping through the book on top.

Finn smiled, but her lips tightened as Ellery made a comment that was sort of a dig at Ducky. She forced her lips to curl up into a smile and let out a singular laugh. “Yeah,” she managed. Her smile did not look genuine, but it could definitely be chalked up to classic Finn awkwardness. The girl was often lost for what to say, so it was not horribly odd to see her looking so compromised on her face. She swallowed and glanced down at her books, before smiling and lifting her head. There – all better.

It was just this… thing. She could not really talk badly about any of her friends, especially the most buoyant of them all. And, sure, Ellery did not mean anything by it. But something about being talking poorly of Ducky turned her stomach. The same thing happened when they flattered him too much, too, though. So she was in a bit of a bind, really. She unfurled a better smile – third time was the charm, right? “I’m always up for studying.”

Ellery excused herself to go collect books and Finn sighed into her own book, gently dropping her head into the open book. She quickly sat back up, afraid someone would notice her idiosyncrasies. Normalcy was much safer when navigating the dangerous waters of adolescence. She cleared her throat and blinked rapidly, trying to force her attention back onto her work. She needed to study. Why was life so hard right now? The struggle… it was so real.

Ellery returned and began prattling on about her grades. Finn shot for the highest grades she could get, so she understood the need. She nodded, saying, “Well, I’ve got mostly O’s and E’s on my Transfiguration papers and spellwork, so I can help you out, a bit. It mostly has to do with the laws of magic. Once you get those down, it’s easier.”

Ellery gave Finn a warm smile. She loved how kind-hearted Finn was. It was a refreshment from all the annoying people that seemed to take up Ellery's days around Hogwarts. "That'd be wonderful! I'll turn to you when I get stumped," she said with a quick nod before bringing her eyes to the text book. So many words, was all her brain seemed to comprehend at the moment.So she blinked a couple times and focused on the first paragraph on the page.

Chatter rose a bit in volume around them suddenly. It was a quiet chatter - library, of course - but the buzz was consistent and caused Ellery to look up. Her eyes widened at the sight of parchment flying through the air steadily toward each student. No matter how magical she might be, being a muggle-born she just could not get used to papers that flew around. She glanced at Finn to see the girl's reaction before her attention was grabbed by the piece of paper flying towards her.

"Wha..?" she let it fall into her open palms and glanced at Finn again with questions in her mind. This hadn't happened before, that she could remember. Was this some sort of new PA system? Ellery fumbled with the paper a moment before reading it. "Miss Monger? What in the hell?" she mumbled quietly after reading through the introduction. She didn't quite like the voice of whoever wrote this. They seemed a bit too snooty. She snorted at the "new best friend" this anonymous writer claimed to be.

But as Ellery read, her inner animalistic tendencies were enjoying the bits of gossip written on the page. What kind of person didn't like a little gossip now and then? Even the boys did it - and they were bad liars about it too. A smirk on her face, Ellery kept reading for a bit until she got to... her name? Any sort of enjoyment dropped from her face. Having been very quiet for around two years in a row, Ellery had though people barely even knew her name. And yet here it was, on this parchment, for all of Hogwarts to see, right? Everyone seemed to have gotten one anyhow. Reading on, Ellery felt her face get hot and was sure that it was a bright red.

With an angry growl escaping her mouth she stood up and ripped the paper in half. "I'm gonna kill that duck!" She ripped it again. A shh came from some sort of distance away, but Ellery hardly heard it. She sat back down in an angry plop and held the paper for Finn to see, eyes wild. "First, he basically attacks me while I'm trying to get a good fly in and now whoever this Monger-whatever is tries to make it sound like we were snogging or something?!" Ellery threw the papers onto the Transfiguration book. Ellery slowly let out an angry breath, attempting to calm herself against all instinct to find that Ducky Baker and toss him off a tower. She took in a quick breath with an idea. "He had to have told someone something about it and they took it the wrong way! Had to be that. There was no one else there." Ellery brought a hand to her face and let out another angry huff. How could something like that be taken so wrongly?