somebody that i used to know

Dory tended to hurry to Cosmo’s side in Muggle Studies. She wasn’t exactly in his group, per se, but the two had known each other since before Hogwarts, and for a pureblood he was oddly very good in the subject, something the idealistic dreamer never questioned in her mysterious friend.

Today’s subject was especially exciting too. Each table had a variety of muggle games, from board games in cardboard boxes to little handheld battery-powered video games. The assignment was to interact with as many of them as possible, and then later write an essay on one or two of them and how they reflected the unique advantages and disadvantages muggles may have without magic. And they’d be working in pairs.

Dory immediately tried to make eye contact with Cosmo, but the professor continued, announcing that the pairs had been predetermined. Oh, bother. Dory was a sociable person but not exactly popular nor well-known. There was always anxiety she’d be placed with someone she would struggle to speak to.

“Le and Montez.”

Double bother.

Triple bother.

Mayday, mayday.

Dory’s eyes snapped over to CeCe, a girl she’d once considered one of her best friends. Someone she would struggle to speak to was an understatement. She had no idea what to say to CeCe. Apologize? Catch up? Confess?

Her face had turned pink and her throat was dry. The professor told them to get to work and Dory fumbled with her things as she collected them, hurrying over to CeCe as her heart pounded.

“Hi,” she said, her voice more squeaky than she had anticipated. “Um… yeah, hi. We’re partners!” Her voice was bright and way too optimistic, even more than usual. She swallowed. “Um… may I sit?”

Muggle studies was one of the classes were Cecilie seemed to do pretty well, mostly because she did grew up more in a muggle environment than a wizarding one. Her father was a muggle. Anyways there was some stuff she wasn't all that familiar with. She listened to what todays topic was and she sighed. She barely played video games, she has played some board games but barely. 

When the professor announced the pairs then CeCe was just starring at the professor. Did she really assign her with her. She took a deep breath and wondered what will happen now. She used to be friends with the girl but suddenly they stopped talking. They kept a distance, and still to this day she is confused what happened.

She has heard rumors about her but she isn't sure what of them are true.

"Oh, hey," she said quitely without any emotions. To be honest she barely seemed to smile or even show something these days. "Yes, you may sit," she added with a weak smile, what was forced, she tried to seem friendly. This was quite awkward. She wasn't sure how to ease the tension between them at all.

People mistook CeCe for an emotionless person, but Dory knew she was just controlled. They’d been close, and Dory had seen the well of emotion deep beneath the girl’s placid face. Dory was always shining with emotion, and she felt deeply, but she wouldn’t discount anyone else’s depth because they knew how to keep the light hidden.

She nodded, clumsily slipping into the chair and dropping her bookbag next to her. She folded her hands on the desk, changed her mind and put them in her lap, before setting them palm down on the desk.

Yeah, she was nervous.

“So… this seems fun?” she suggested, struggling between the urge of sinking beneath the floor and studying her old friend’s face. “Um… do you have a preference? These video games look fun, but I’ve also played Battleship and it’s, um, fun.”

Doyle was rummaging through his office. He was looking for something. That much was obvious. But he couldn't find it. Okay, knowing him, he probably left it somewhere and someone picked it up, but he was sure that he did not put it far away from his office. This time. But, the thing is - almost no one in this school would know what it was or what to do with it because it was a Muggle video game console. He'd grabbed the newest Nintento Switch so he could play Pokémon games and just as he was about to face the big guy - it disappeared. And no one... and then it hit him.

Without a word, he limped out of his office and headed to his destination. Of course that's where it was, no one else in this whole bloody castle would know what to do with it except... whoever it was; okay, Wilson would too, but he'd return it to him.

In an instant, he found himself in front of the Muggle Studies classroom and burst in with a bang, using his cane to open the door. ''You!'', he pointed his cane at the professor, whom he did not know. He then limped a few steps inside and looked around the room. He saw two girls, a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff, based on their robes, and almost ran towards them, as much as a man in his conditon could actually run. He pushed between them, made a mess of the desk, pushing things around and then grabbed his console, which was turned off. He quickly turned it on to check if everything was fine and luckily for everyone - it was. He then looked at the professor once again. ''You take my stuff again and I'll throw something inside this classroom so you won't be able to enter it for a year, is that understood?!'', he growled. ''Idiot'', he murmured and then looked at the two girls. ''I don't know who you are, but if I don't catch Arceus, you're both failing Potions for the rest of your lives'', he said and then simply left the classroom to enjoy his game.

Cecilie looked at Dory and listened to what the girl said. Even if yeah she didn't say much. Before she could even begin to reply this one guy entered here, not very good way. She was quite taken back. She looked at that professor and just sighed. He knew that this professor was a very odd one. Anyways it didn't matter at this moment much.

"To be honest no prefences. I haven't played much of muggle video games. Never found them really interesting. Father never allowed to use is computer," she said simply back to the girl. "And what thing did this odd professor took now?" she asked.

Before CeCe could answer the door slammed open. Dory jumped in surprise, looking around. She followed the interaction with wide eyes, and shrank under his intense look as he towered over the too. She nodded her head numbly and squeaked out a, "Yes, sir."

She watched him leave and then swallowed, looking back at CeCe who had just moved on like nothing had happened.

"What was that?" Dory hissed. "Is it just me or was that terrifying? I think he took one of the game systems, a 64 something."

Cecilie just did take a deep breath there now. It was still so awkward to talk with Dory. Even if what just happened was even more odd. She looked at Dory and just didn't know what to say right away.

"No clue," she said to be honest. "Yes, terryfing," she agreed with this. Even yes CeCe's face didn't show much of it. She didn't really show much of her emotions these days. Anyways she looked at the table. "Oh, okay. It sounded like our professor stole it," she said.

Dory chewed on her lip at CeCe's unenthused answer. She knew better than most that CeCe could be subdued, more than a little restrained. But Dory had seen the Gryffindor on good and bad days, too. With a shining smile and a cloud hanging over her. She'd seen the range and to be closed out of that part of her life brought the sting back of their separation all over.

Dory looked with worry at their professor, whispering, "I hope we won't be in trouble because we can't try out what he took." She shook her head and looked back at the pile. "Anyway. Um... Do you wanna play one of these games then? I know Operation, I could teach you that."

Cecilie was not the same person who Dory once knew. She barely showed her emotions, even yeah she had began to do it slowly again thanks to those some new friends she found the other day. They have been trying to make her feel included. Something what she misses a lot.

"Well yeah same. It's not our fault in the end," she said with a sigh. She looked at that game called Operation. "Oh yeah sure we can give it try. What kind of game is it even?"

Okay, at least they were back on the topic of things that did not require them delving into the complexities of their failed friendship. Focusing on work was nice.

She opened the box, sliding out the board and carefully dropping the pieces into the correct holes. "So it's a hand-eye coordination. You have these tweezers and have to pull out these little pieces, which are shaped like bones and whatnot. It's like silly surgery. The trick is, there's this metal on the edge of each of the holes. If you touch it, the game buzzes and you lose the turn."

She pulled out some cards from the box. "Funny, I don't remember cards from when I was a kid. We just took turns trying to get the pieces out." She picked up the tweezers and carefully extracted the Butterflies in the Stomach piece, before tapping the tweezers to the metal. The game immediately buzzed. "See?"

After a pause, she held out the tweezers towards Cecilie. "Want to try?"