Studying Potions (Tag Sophie J.) on Library

Ryan O'Malley

October 16, 2010 5:15 PM

Studying Potions (Tag Sophie J.) by Ryan O'Malley

Ryan sat in the Cascade Hall, working on his potions homework. Since his mother had sent the Howler, he'd grown increasingly concerned with doing everything right in hopes that she wouldn't send another one anytime soon. Though this was probably futile and Ryan's mom was bound to send them even if he was the very top of his class and Head Boy.

Not that Ryan thought he would be either. He didn't consider himself to be very smart, and in fact, wondered if he was mentally deficient. His mother said he was but Aunt Jana claimed that most things his mom said were a load of....something Ryan wasn't allowed to say and always had been since the time his aunt and mother were children.

Plus, there were other, smarter people even if Ryan did work his hardest to get the best grades possible. Like Sophie. She had to be way better than Ryan at Potions. He could handle the practical parts of all lessons, though he tended to be best at Transfiguration-whether or not he got along with his mom, her family, the Brockerts had a tendency to be good at Transfiguration-but the essays were harder for him. Try as he might, Ryan was probably not much of an academic.

Plus, there were Aladrens in his year, and the vast majority of the time, an Aladren would be the smartest person in class. Ryan didn't think he could ever compete with the likes of Nova, James, David and Devlin. Even though he'd only ever talked to David, Ryan knew that they were all smarter than him. That's why they'd been sorted into Aladren.

Besides, Ryan didn't want to compete with them. In the off chance he beat them-and it was highly unlikely-they might resent him. Especially Nova who seemed kind of scary. Ryan didn't want her ripping his clothing like she did to Marcus in Transfiguration, his mother-who was even scarier than the Aladren girl-would punish him.

Head Boy was also a pipe dream, and the Crotalus didn't think for a second that he would get it. Ryan often felt that the other boys in his class would be better candidates and the girls in his year and house would be better prefects than him. But then, he didn't think about this much as he was only a first year. It only came to mind when he thought about what it would take to get his mother to think he was someone worthwhile.

Not to mention, Head Boy and Girl was voted on and Ryan didn't think himself all that popular either. The only people who he was sure liked him were Sophie and Neal. And Jordan, who thought he was cute apparently. Another thing Ryan didn't think about himself.

But no matter what he still felt his was necessary to do his very best on all his homework. Even if it meant asking for help, so Ryan had sent a note to Sophie asking to meet him here for help on his Potions essay. He hoped that he was right that she was his friend and that she would show up.

11 Ryan O'Malley Studying Potions (Tag Sophie J.) 176 Ryan O'Malley 1 5

Sophie J.

October 16, 2010 6:20 PM

Potions. Wicked! by Sophie J.

Sophie was having a great day. When she woke up, she found a fluffy little owl perched on her foot, its big grey eyes staring at her. She reached down to it, and it dropped a letter into her hand before flapping happily. “Thanks, Pegasus,” she smiled at the owl. Pegasus was her favorite owl, but her father didn’t think she could handle keeping her own owl at school, so he kept him at home.

Dear Soph, the letter read. It’s very lonesome with you at school. How are you liking it? Your godfathers and I want you to know that we miss you. Love, your father. Sophie sighed and scribbled down a basic response, saying that she was enjoying herself and that she missed her family too. “Here you go, Peg,” she cooed, strapping the letter on the little puff of white feathers.

Glancing about her, Sophie realized that she had no clue where her roommates were. Oh well, she thought. She suddenly remembered she was supposed to meet Ryan today and threw off her pajamas. Grabbing her favorite bright pink skirt, she donned her clothes for the day, her over-sized tee-shirt conflicting with the girlish look of the skirt and two different shoes. Smiling at her reflection, she pulled her blonde hair up into a ponytail, attempting to brush the bangs into the tie, but the hair was too short to reach, and the bangs fell back on her forehead.

Along the way to the library, Sophie wondered if Ryan was already there or not. She hoped she didn’t make him wait too long. He seemed to have some confidence issues, and she didn’t want him to think that she thought he didn’t matter or anything. The Pecari would have liked to consider Ryan her friend --her first real friend at Sonora. Ryan seemed to be a great kid; she had experience with bad kids, and Ryan was nothing like them.

Once she got there, Sophie smiled. Ryan was there, waiting for her. “Hey there, stranger!” she greeted with a friendly wave. “You said you needed help with Potions stuff?” Flicking her bangs out of her eyes, she waited for Ryan to respond.

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Ryan

November 02, 2010 2:06 AM

Very by Ryan

Ryan smiled up at Sophie, relieved. He had been so worried that she wouldn't show. Why should she waste her time on helping him on something? She was brilliant and Ryan was probably hopeless at Potions. Well, at least the essay parts. Actually he had some trouble on most essays. He never thought his work was good enough and worried that the teachers wouldn't think so either.

And, of course, neither would his mother. Even though the likeliness of her reading one of them was about as good as Ryan's of playing Quidditch. She had no interest in reading what her son wrote, would probably not even want to touch a paper that he had. Ryan even had his own (chipped, cracked) dishes that he ate off so his mother or sister wouldn't end up eating off one of the same plates as them. It was a Rule and if the house elves did not serve Ryan off these dishes, they would be punished right along with him.

He didn't mind, they were just dishes. Still, it hurt that his mother acted as if he were contaminated. Ryan didn't even know what he was contaminated by. He thought it might be because he was an icky boy and his mother said boys were dirty and gross and rough and she didn't want him to break her good china, the good china she insisted was used at every meal because Pearl O'Malley didn't think anything else was good enough for herself and Carrie.

"Hey," he greeted the girl that he hoped was his friend. Ryan was always worried about whether or not people really liked him, whether or not he was even worth liking. He'd been sort of brought up to believe that he wasn't. Sophie showing up was a good sign though.

"Yes, I'm having a really hard time with my essay. Could you read it over so far and make sure it's okay?" Ryan asked. He was really really worried about it. The Crotalus didn't think it was very good at all. He had so much self doubt and felt under tremendous pressure to do well. Ryan didn't know what would happen if he got poor grades, but he knew his mother would probably use it as an excuse to justify torturing him.

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