Zoe summoned her book bag and book to her, laughing. "Mmhmm, I am certainly alive and not exploded." She put away her textbook and wand, bringing the strap of the book bag over her head to let it rest on her shoulder. "You've been doing well, even though you think you'll blow something up you haven't had a spell go nearly that wrong in a long time." The girl settled onto the grass cross-legged, setting the still ticking clock next to her.

"I don't know Winnie," the Ravenclaw said glancing at her shoes. "I'm not one of you girly girls. I don't think I could hold a conversation about boys for more than a comment or two." She knew what these girls talked about. She cared about none of it. They weren't her 'group', but at least she could be friendly with them.

"But Winnie, you say that like I have no fun." Zoe smiled and looked up. "Maybe if you had gotten to know me earlier you wouldn't think that." She fingered the strap of her book bag. "I like Quidditch. I can't play for my life, but I go to a lot of the games and know a lot about the strategics." Zoe didn't mention that both of these were because of her aunt.

"I do like trying to think up enchanted objects, sometimes I send the plans to my dad and he tries to see if they work. I can't really enchant things myself, other than basics like Locomotor." Zoe paused, rummaging around in her book bag. She pulled out some rolled up parchment and unrolled the top of it to reveal what looked like a gorilla skeleton, made from wood connected by silver joints. "This is a picture of something I've been thinking about lately, a wizard robot."

Zoe unrolled the parchment further, revealing a long list of hard to read text, most incantations organized in what looked like flow charts. "Robots are a non-magic folk thing that's like a computer with a body. Over the summer I was hearing some talk about robots that did tasks for people and I was thinking if wizards could have something like robots with magic instead of technology."

Understanding how uninteresting this probably was to a brain that likely ran on fashion, she rolled it back up. "Haven't found a complete way to do it yet, especially because I want it to be able to take vocal commands. I guess I do like schoolwork, the enchantment things are schoolwork-like..." It felt like she had just become a much less interesting person. Was that really it? There were always muggle things, but she couldn't pinpoint a specific passion in one thing.

"I... I guess there's not much else...." Her voice faded as she spoke this last sentence from embarrassment.

"You don't have to be a girly girl to be friends with us, Zoe. Juni and Cy are really smart like you are. So I bet they'd like to help you with making enchanted stuff. I'm just not good enough at magic for them to talk to me about stuff like that." Winnie shrugged a little, offering Zoe a smile. She didn't want to make Zoe feel like she was left out or anything. Zoe had been pretty nice to her, and she was just wanting to include her. "I'm sure you know how to have fun. I didn't mean to make it sound like you don't."

Winifred looked at the picture that Zoe had drawn, but didn't quite know what to make of it. And Winnie had no idea what a robot was- but wasn't going to let on. "Oooh!" she said instead, sounding appropriately enthusiastic. "That looks neat." But then Zoe was explaining to her what a robot was, and it did actually sound really cool. "That's super creative, Zoe! I could never do something like that."

"And that's okay, to like school. I wish that I liked school as much as you do. And classes and stuff. I'd be a better student and a much better witch. I don't know how to do any of the stuff you know how to do. I guess people always wish they were like other people, though. But we can't help who we are. My dad told me to never be ashamed of who I am. He said he spent a long time learning that lesson. My dad- he's a squib. And his family disowned him because of it. But he's a really nice person. And he couldn't understand why a clever witch like my mum would love him. He talks to me about it a lot." Mostly because Winifred's dad felt responsible for her lack of magical skill. He wanted to encourage her. "He says that we are made just the way we are for a reason."

"I bet you were made clever so you could think up cool things like wizard robots. And so you could help people like me get better at magic. Even the teachers haven't been able to help me as much as you have." They also didn't have the time... And Winifred was usually so nervous and intimidated by them she couldn't focus. Winnie shrugged again, and looked up at the sky. "I just think that sometimes people can't see good stuff about themselves easily. But I think you have lots of nice qualities, Zoe. And I happen to like you very much."

"Cy is really bookish. She likes boys, yeah, but I mean her dad is Professor Trishna. So she would probably think a lot of the stuff you like is really interesting." Winnie wasn't particularly familiar with people outside of her own social circle, though, unless there was some gossip going round about them. "So long as you've got friends, that's all that matters. I think people need friends. And I'm sure you've got a few good friends, yeah?"

Winnie's words comforted Zoe. Though it didn't take a genius to recognize she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, no one could deny that the Hufflepuff's heart was always in the right place. Zoe liked that about Winnie. "Thanks Winnie. That's... that's really sweet. You know, you may not know this about me, but I think being nice is much more important than being smart. Honestly. Tell your dad, I'm sure your mum thinks the same." The Ravenclaw took the Hufflepuff's hand in hers. "If you ever find yourself wishing you were smarter just remember the wiser put their intelligence to thinking about the problems of other rather than arbitrary math problems on parchment." Zoe smiled, at first pleasantly but after a second like she was hiding a laugh.

"Yes, I have friends. There's Ayla, we've been friendly since the first train ride. I've become sort of friends with Alvis recently. And we're friends, right Winnie? I'm your tutor, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends." Zoe glanced over to the little hourglass timer. They still had time. "Then there's some of the non-magic folk girls back home."

Zoe thought for a moment. The serious topics were wearing her out, and she knew she wouldn't be talking with Winnie for a while, not like this until next tutoring session. "I think I'll try to hang out with you guys sometimes. See how I fit in." She looked up at Winnie, sitting up straighter, almost as if she was trying to be more proper. "Why don't you try discussing something you'd discuss with Juni and Cy with me? Right now, I'll see how I do. I've done enough testing for you, test me on how well I can be a girl."

Winifred smiled when Zoe told her that being nice was more important than being smart. She was glad that other people had that opinion. And she was a little surprised to hear that Zoe felt that way. "That makes a lot of sense," Winnie said to Zoe. "You sure are awful smart to be so young." She said more smart and wise things than a lot of the adults that Winifred knew.

"Of course we're friends!" Winifred exclaimed. "I like you very much, Zoe. You're nice. And you're super helpful. And you're right! Just because you're my tutor doesn't mean we can't be friends." Winnie was actually glad that Zoe wanted to be friends, she had always wondered whether or not Zoe actually liked her or if she just put up with her for the sake of the tutoring.

Winifred blinked a little when Zoe asked her to test on how well she could be a girl. Winnie had certainly not been expecting that. "I..." she trailed off. "Well, that's a little hard to do on the spot and all." Besides, Winnie liked to talk about boys and she wasn't sure that she wanted to tell Zoe her boy secrets if Zoe wasn't going to share some of her secrets, too.

She looked at the timer, then stood up and smiled. "How about you just come hang out with us. You don't need to practice to hang out with us. You're the same house and year as Juni and Cy. Just ask 'em next time we're having a girl's night. I don't mean to be rude by running off, but I've got some other homework to do. I'm trying really hard to make my grades better." Winifred smiled brightly. "I'll see you real soon, I promise!" she said before heading back up to the castle.

To be so young? Zoe blushed ever so slightly as the words came to her ears, responding with a, "Thanks," before her mind took over. Was it because of her parents? Because she was a Ravenclaw? No, house bias, scratch that one... must've been from her parents. "And, I mean, the whole thing's very opinionated," she added quickly. "Everyone has different values. Some are just more, well, depressing I guess."

Zoe's smile grew larger and her blush redder as Winnie continued to compliment her. It was strange, she was used to compliments, and always took them graciously, sometimes returning them, but they always made her just as embarrassed. "And I like being around you, Winnie. You can near literally light up a whole room." And that was just a truth.

"Ok, ok. I'll hang out with you three sometime. Bye." She watched her student of sorts disappear into Hogwarts before smiling and sighing. Someday, Zoe was sure Winnie would be a smart and kind witch. With a couple flicks of her wand and incantations, everything that was on the grass was packed up. Zoe, herself, started walking back towards the Hogwarts castle.

End of thread