32 Chapter 14 - Banned (1/2)
”Stay safe,” Sister An gave Vincent a hug. ”I know you won't listen, but at please don't be too reckless.”
”I'll try,” Vincent smiled as he let go. He turned to Nim and gave her a hug. ”Don't make any trouble for Sister An.”
”Have more faith in me,” she muttered as she wrapped her arms around him, a green bracelet being worn, made of a strange material that almost seemed to glow.
Sister An beckoned to Arnya, walking out of earshot of Vincent.
”Your confused, uncertain,” Arnya nodded. Sister An sighed. ”I know the feeling. If you find it hard, you can always talk to me about it.”Arnya nodded. Sister An smiled as she gave her a hug. ”Take care.”
On watching Vincent and Arnya walk away, Sister An looked to the green bracelet around Nim's hand. ”Vincent's gift to you?”
”Yep, he said that it's a charm against injuries,” Nim smiled showing it off. ”I also like the colour.”
”Huh, is that so?”
...
”What's the point of this?” Arnya asked as she picked a a blue card off the table, the scenery out the window of the train passing by.
”Trying to see if I can improve my analysing skills,” Vincent answered as he grimaced. He placed the card back and pulled out several chess pieces. ”I'm trying to see if I can determine what you'll pick based on every bit of information I have on you.”
”That's possible?” she asked, feeling slightly doubtful.
”It is, let me give you an example,” Vincent looked outside their compartment and waved for Arnya to come over. He pointed at a fellow student who along with others, were finding empty compartments. ”You see that girl, just from observing, what can you tell me about her?”
Arnya, knowing her eyesight was better then Vincent, felt like this was an easy task and nodded. ”From the way she walks, she obviously comes from a wealthy family, graceful with a hint of pride. From her polished shoes and skin, she obviously likes to stay clean. Adding to that, her clothes are also neat, with not a hint of a crease. Her eyes look agitated and expectant, as if waiting for someone, but is unsettled by the atmosphere. It looks like she's a new student.”
Arnya looked back at Vincent, feeling confident that Vincent' couldn't make a better observation due the girl being a fair distance away.
Vincent nodded. ”Your eyesight is good Arnya, far better then mine, but there's still a lot of information you missed.”
”You see her wand, it's situated at the right, but in actuality, her dominant hand is her left. See, right there how her left hand raised a little when she waved at the trolley lady? It's appears to me that she's been trying to use avoid her left hand for greetings as it's considered rude. A habit that she's been trying to overcome.”
”See how uncomfortable she looks in the presence of other people, it's obvious how this environment seems new to her, so its obvious that she's a new student. Also that wave earlier to the trolley lady, it was stiff and more of a polite greeting. As you mentioned before, the girl is probably looking for someone, it's most likely a relative, a sister perhaps.”
”How can you tell?” Arnya asked surprised.
”Although I can't see her eyes like you do, her her way of looking around is similar to a child who's lost their parents. Considering that only students are allowed on the train, it's not her parents that she's looking for, so I'm guessing that it's a sibling.”
”So why do you think it's a sister?” Arnya asked curiously.
”Sisters usually get along better with the same gender then a brother,” Vincent shrugged. ”Not to mention, At this point, it's more of a guess.”
”It's still amazing that you managed to tell that much,” Arnya praised. ”So why choose to work on it now?”
Vincent scratched his head at the question.”During the fight with Roden, I realised that I couldn't keep up through brute strength alone,” Vincent admitted. ”So I tried to analyse his moves and predict what he was going to do next to get an edge over him. But, when he turned into a werewolf, his strength and speed rose exponentially, I started to panic a little, losing my concentration. If it weren't for you, I might have died. I neglected improving my analysing skill ever since I joined Hogwarts. I've been focusing on other things, and because of that, I've gone rusty with a lot of the skills I've learnt in the past.”
”That's why, I decided to go back to basics, to relearn everything I've had in the past.”
”Um, excuse me?” Vincent and Arnya looked back, seeing the girl that they were looking at approach them. ”Is this compartment taken?”
”We still have some room,” Vincent answered, opening the door further to let her in. ”You can sit with us for the time being.”
”Th-thank you,” the girl said politely as she sat down, looking questionably at Arnya's wheelchair. She turned away as Arnya looked at her direction, glancing up every so often. ”Such a pretty girl,” she thought, eyes sparkling.
”You a first year?” Vincent asked as he sat down. She nodded her head, looking a little shy. ”Do you like it so far?”
”It's amazing, the classes are all interesting,” the girl said enthusiastically before realising that she spoken too loudly and looked down in embarrassment.
”Ha ha, that's good,” Vincent chuckled.
”I'm, Astoria, Astoria Greengrass,” she introduced timidly.
”Vincent, Vincent Wong,” Vincent introduced in kind and pointed to Arnya. ”And this here's Arnya.”
”The Mad Scientist?!” she squeaked, making Vincent's brow twitched.
”I ain't mad,” said Vincent with a forced smile.”Oh, sorry.”
Astoria apologised, although looking more timid now. ”Please don't blow me up!”
”Where the heck did you hear that from?” Vincent asked.
”Well, I heard rumours that you made some potions of mass destruction,” Vincent winced.
”One that can create dragons that are just as powerful as the real thing.”
Stab.
”One that can blow up the whole school.”
Stab.
”And the most recent one where you created tree like men that are walking disasters—”
”Please stop...” Vincent mumbled through his hands covering his face. His heart felt like it was stabbed through multiple times after every comment. ”So that's really what people think of me?”
”Your reputation seems to be leaning towards the infamy sort,” Arnya commented.
”Not helping Arnya,” said Vincent as he leant back in the chair.
”Your a, muggle right?” Astoria asked hesitatingly. ”Yeah, a hundred percent,” said Vincent.”So how can you bare to stand among those different from you? Everyone else here holds so much more power then you,” Astoria wanted to know why a muggle, a being that her family despised, can have such accomplishments at his age.
Vincent shrugged. ”I never really cared, I mean, whether their a wizard or not, I shouldn't really care. In the end, their still a living being with their own unique traits right?”
”I never thought of it like that,” Astoria thought as she looked at Vincent and Arnya curiously. ”The Mad Scientist isn't as scary as others make him out to be, and Arnya, she seems like the quiet sort, but she's honest. Maybe my sister was wrong about these two after all.”
”So Astoria, what house are you in?” Arnya asked.
”Me?” Astoria squeaked, caught surprised by the unexpected question. She looked nervous as she answered. ”Sly-Slytherin.”
She looked up uncertainty, knowing Slytherins bad reputation among the other houses. She was surprised to see Vincent and Arnya's unchanging expression.”Really? So what's the dorms like?”
Vincent was interested in dorm room, hearing that it was directly underneath the black lake. He heard from Harry and Ron last year when they snuck in disguised, but he wanted to hear what it looks like from a Slytherins point of view. ”I heard that the Giant Squid appears every now and then.”
”Squids, they're pretty tasty,” said Arnya. ”Wonder what a Giant Squid tastes like?”
”No! The Giant Squid in Hogwarts is a kind creature,” Astoria said with panic. ”Killing is is like—”
”There's more than one Giant Squid,” Astoria stopped, blushing in embarrassment at her outburst. ”The Giant Squid in the black lake is rather domestic, whereas others around the world can be dangerous.”
”Hermione?” Vincent raised an eyebrow, confirming where Arnya got the information in the first place.
Arnya nodded in confirmation.Vincent nodded at Astoria to continue.”Well, it's not just the Giant Squid that's comes by the windows, Grindylows like to come by and and tease us at the windows...”
Astoria found herself enjoying talking to Vincent and Arnya as the train approached Hogwarts. The two of them seemed interested in what she had to say. It was an experience that was new, but not unwelcoming to her due to sticking with her sister for most of the time. While there were happy times, Astoria would always be feel that a majority of the conversations were rather bland, always insulting other muggle borns and students that they believe are below them.
As Hogwarts appeared in sight, the compartment doors opened to reveal a blond haired witch that glared at them.
”Daphne!” Astoria exclaimed in surprise.
”Let's go, you shouldn't be sitting with them,” Daphne muttered as she pointed behind her, telling Astoria to get out of the compartment.
”Uh, well, it was nice meeting you,” Astoria waved as she was walked out.
”Take care,” Arnya waved back as Vincent nodded.
As Astoria disappeared, Daphne glared at Vincent. ”You never spoke to her, got it?”
”Your sister's a good girl Daphne,” Vincent smiled wryly at the blond. ”And don't worry, I won't blab about this to anyone.”
Daphne's eyes softened for a split second before hardening again.
”You better,” she closed the compartment door before storming off.
”...She seems nice,” Arnya muttered before turning to Vincent. ”Yout two seem to know each other.”
”Potions class,” said Vincent as he leaned back in his chair. ”Helped her on a couple of occasions.”
”Just a couple?” Arnya raised an eyebrow. ”Who else did you help on the 'other' occasions?”
”Let's see, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, the Patil twins, Daphne, Brown, Abott, Nott, Corner, Davis...” Arnya put a hand out with a complicated look.
”Forget I asked.”
Astoria held her head low as she walked with Daphne who tapped on her shoulder.
”Daphne, I'm sorry,” Astoria apologised. ”I know that we're not supposed to interact with muggle borns and such—”
”Hey, I'm not mad, just...” Daphne sighed. ”Us pure bloods were raised to think that we were far superior to those of a muggle lineage. If anyone saw us interacting with them, you know the shame that would bring to our parents? Not to mention the scorn you'll receive by our housemates.”
”But...I can't believe that all muggle borns are inferior,” Astoria said as they stopped in the hallway. Daphne nodded as she looked back in the direction they came from, specifically the compartment that Astoria came out of. ”And, I think you know that too.”
”Wong sure lives up to his title as the Mad Scientist,” Daphne chuckled as they walked off. ”With all the times that he helped me in potions, I was forced to admit that he wasn't in any way, inferior.”
...One Year Ago...
”Anti-clockwise, not clockwise.” Someone whispered to her.
Daphne looked back in annoyance as Vincent held up his hands as a sign of peace. ”Hey, just saying.”
”Why don't you mind your own business?” Daphne snapped as she went back to her potion. She looked around to see if anyone else noticed. Thankfully for her, her friends were focused on her potion.
”Geez,” Vincent looked next to him and started panicking. ”Neville! Stop! Do you you want to blow up?!”
At the next lesson...
”Stir a little faster.”
”Shut up!”
Two lessons later...
”The heat is too strong.”
”I don't need your help!”
Months later...