What could possibly go wrong here? (Tag: Aislinn) on Transfiguration

John Umland

February 14, 2017 12:27 AM

What could possibly go wrong here? (Tag: Aislinn) by John Umland

The closer the meeting drew to its conclusion, the more certain John was that he was a bad person with a bad idea who would be doing a bad thing even if his bad idea actually worked out in his favor. What he had in mind was, after all, nothing more or less than taking information he had about someone’s feelings and using it to use that person for his own gratification. This was not Right. It didn’t matter that his intentions were harmless; it was still Wrong to use Aislinn just to make his seventh year a little less unpleasant. There was also the fact that it was a bad idea that might not even work out. John thought he could become friends with Aislinn, but beyond that lay territory he genuinely did not think he understood at all, to the point that he didn’t even understand why most people seemed to consider it superior to friendship. She might expect things he’d never heard of or which were against the Rules, and if that happened, there might be drama. That would not improve next year for either of them.

The fact remained, though, that he was pretty sure it was rude to just not acknowledge that someone had expressed an opinion about him. Plus, well – maybe he was planning to use her, but he would also be allowing her to use him. Wasn’t that what most of these relationships were, anyway? As long as he acted properly when it ended, it would be all right, he thought. So when the clock hand moved just a little further, he closed his notebook and looked around at the group.

“It looks like we’re out of time,” he said. “Thanks everyone for coming, and feel free to keep talking about the book until we meet next time. I’ll get the votes for our next book tallied and out to you by the end of the week. Good night, everyone.” Except one person, anyway. As people started to leave, he stood up and said, “Ah – Aislinn, could you stay back for a minute?”

Now came the difficult part: conversation in a non-official capacity with someone he didn’t know well that didn’t have a topic which John was familiar enough with to discuss academically. “Um – hello,” he said awkwardly. “You – uh – well, it had your name on it – sent me a paper…a while ago.” John decided this was rapidly becoming too messy a conversation, even though it was currently only two fractured sentences long. He decided to change tactics. “It was fun, talking about Transfiguration in classes, sometimes, when we were – in the same classes,” he said. “Would you like to do that again sometime?”

He had, he thought grimly, confirmation now that Joanie was not one of those rare people who exhibited latent magical ability late in life. If she had been, she would have Apparated straight into this school when he’d said that and would have started yelling at him. Since she didn’t appear to rescue him from the social situation, though, he figured it was a win-win: if this proposal was favorable to Aislinn, he had someone to talk to next year. If this proposal was not favorable to Aislinn, Aislinn stopped liking him and he didn’t have that to worry about anymore. Surely nothing could go wrong with that plan….

16 John Umland What could possibly go wrong here? (Tag: Aislinn) 285 John Umland 1 5

Aislinn

February 15, 2017 12:02 AM

The possibilities are infinite. by Aislinn

Book Club had been awkward ever since Sutton had sent that fateful candygram to John. However, Aislinn had continued to go so that she could show colleges that she had indeed participated in extracurricular activities. So far, she had done a wonderful job of arriving just before the meeting would start and leave as soon as it ended. It had seemed to be working so far. What she hadn’t counted on was John.

She froze for a moment. John had asked her to stay. John had asked her to stay. Aislinn had to process this for a moment. Why could he possibly ask her to stay? Was he going to ask her to quit Book Club? Was he going to tell her that she had to stay as far away from him as possible? Hadn’t she already been doing that? Was he going to tell her that she was an awful person, because he had a girlfriend? Or worse, that she was simply an awful person?

Aislinn glanced towards where Aladren’s entrance lie. She considered the possibility of simply making a dash for it as soon as everyone else left. All she had to do was make it up to her dorm and she would be safe. But curiosity got the better of her. She had to know what John wanted. Even if it were all of the terrible things that were going through her mind. Hesitantly, she approached closer to him. Now, it was simply a matter of waiting. She didn’t have to wait long though. Her hands clutched around the book she was holding, her grip tight enough to turn her knuckles white. Here it was. The moment that he was going to break her heart to a thousand pieces.

But it didn’t come. She blinked a few times in surprise. Acknowledgement of the candygram. Thankfully, glossed over. Then…there it was. Asking if she wanted to talk about Transfiguration. Before she could stop herself, hoping to say something much cooler, her words betraying her, she said, “Who doesn’t enjoy talking about Transfiguration?” It was said with such enthusiasm that the sincerity was obvious. Realizing though how blatant she was about it, she added, “Oh, yes, that would be fun. Um, perhaps, over tea?”

0 Aislinn The possibilities are infinite. 297 Aislinn 0 5

John

February 15, 2017 4:12 PM

But surely it couldn't all end in tears? by John

John strongly suspected Aislinn’s question was rhetorical – he really didn’t know why, but a lot of people really wouldn’t care to talk about Transfiguration – so he was already figuring out a response predicated on that suspicion when moderated her tone a little and changed directions slightly. John nodded, half-smiling because he thought it seemed the appropriate facial expression to make, relieved that so far, this did not seem to be the worst decision he’d ever made.

“That, uh, that sounds great,” he agreed, trying not to let his mind wander completely off-task into a debate over what was the worst decision he’d ever made. “Tea is good. I enjoy tea.” He sounded like an idiot. “At teatime,” he added, ignoring the fact that he sounded like an idiot. He actually enjoyed tea pretty much any time, but he much preferred to take his first few cups of the day in silence when at all possible. It took something remarkable to render him conversational before he was adequately caffeinated….

Of course, breakfast was doable, if he had all the morning tea he needed in his room before having some extra at breakfast just because it was there and he was there and this was an agreeable combination of circumstances. John had become an early riser because before he had started school, his mom had taken him with her to eight o’clock Mass almost every morning and this meant he had to make a choice between either getting up early enough to finish a cup before seven a.m. or doing without until after church. He could be accommodating if he knew ahead of time that someone wanted to have a conversation with him that required him to speak in complete sentences at breakfast. It really didn’t seem like the ideal set of circumstances for the beginning of…whatever this was…though, so he decided to stick with his suggestion of teatime unless Aislinn had some strong objection.

“Does – five o’clock on Saturday sound good to you?” he asked. “And – any specific area you’d like to – agreeto – discuss ahead of time?”

16 John But surely it couldn't all end in tears? 285 John 0 5