Things could be a lot easier

Apparently, he would be good on the Hufflepuff team.

But that meant he'd actually have to play. Jonathan didn't think that was something he could do. He's never thought so and he wasn't so sure his opinion would change any time soon. He knew a lot about the game but knowing things was different from actually doing them. He really didn't want to make a fool of himself because he'd be too scared to even kick off from the ground.

Jonathan couldn't help but think that the reason he was wanted on the team was because of his brother. Nathan had been a really good player, from what he'd heard, but he'd never really gotten the chance to see his brother in action. He didn't know how he would have felt if he had. A part of him told him that he probably would have enjoyed the match but then immediately ran away so as to not run into Nathan afterwards. Another part told him that he would have ran away from the get-go. He believed the latter because he wouldn't have wanted to give Nathan an opportunity to try to talk to him.

He sighed. He really wished that he wasn't so scared to talk to his brother. But after that night, it just got too hard to even be near him. Six years had passed since then, but the fear still remained. The fear always remained. Someday, eventually, he'd get the chance to talk to his brother without being scared out of his wits. Maybe.

Probably not.

At least for now, he had the common room, to distract him from those thoughts. He actually had homework he had to do and he liked doing it in the common room rather than the library, even though the library was probably the better choice of the two. Jonathan felt safer in the Hufflepuff Basement. Obviously. After entering he plopped himself down on one of the seats, crossing his legs and placing his work in front of him on his legs.

Nothing was the same since his fight with Ace. Studying was alright, eating in the Great Hall was okay. But he just.. He missed her. She wasn't even gone but he felt like he was pretty alone, even still. He had Charlotte, mind, so that wasn't an accurate statement all of the time. But when he was in the Hufflepuff common room, it hit him quite easily.

But it was lucky that he wasn't the only one doing homework that night. Or, he wasn't once Jonathan came in.

Christian recognized the third year, of course. Jonathan was nice, though he did seem relatively unable to handle, well, ... anything. Christian couldn't even imagine what the boy must have been like in classes like Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was something of a shame, really, considering Christian got the distinct impression that the younger Hufflepuff could have been quite successful in his classes.

The third year sat down a couple tables away, but Christian looked up to give him a polite nod in greeting.

"What're you working on?" He asked, more than happy to take a break from his Divination work.

If anyone had expected anything other than a jump to come from the third year when he was spoken to, sorry to disappoint. Jonathan had a habit of not noticing others when he, or they, entered a room. This was no exception.

He hadn't noticed Christian sitting in the common room at all and flinched when the older boy spoke to him. Jonathan looked up from his work, his quill hanging loosely in his hand as he drew his attention away from it. He blinked up at Christian, as if surprised that he was even being spoken to.

He didn't interact with others very much because a lot of people thought he was odd, even in his year (mostly in his year). But an older student actually taking the time to ask him a question, like he actually cared about it, was a lot more surprising than even people thinking he could be on a quidditch team.

"Um, homework." He tapped his fingers on the parchment in front of him, closing his eyes for a second when he realized that had been a stupid answer. "For Astronomy. An essay." That wasn't much better, but it gave more context.

(Is this set before or after Nicole/Jon?)

Christian nearly frowned, but then Jonathan explained properly. Briefly, sure, but still. The boy wasn't known for saying much of anything, so perhaps this was an improvement that the elder boy could not understand.

Of course, he felt a bit mad for asking at all now that he had been shut down, so to speak. A polite answer was not necessarily enough to work with, so at first, Christian just nodded. Astronomy was relatively entertaining if one studied it the right way, he'd found. Jonathan definitely was not doing it right.

"Have you ever studied up in the tower? In the evenings it's way more interesting than it seems after climbing the stairs to class each morning. It may hold some inspiration for you."

Sometimes he really wished he was someone else. Someone who wasn't afraid of every little thing, but unfortunately for him, he wasn't. He was little old Jonathan, Hufflepuff scaredy-cat.

Okay, maybe he shouldn't call himself that.

"Oh, um. No," he shook his head. "I haven't." Jonathan pursed his lips, but nodded at Christian. "I should probably try it." he added, his eyes darting from the older boy to his work. He'd put his quill down and had begun to play with his nails. Jonathan had a nervous habit of fidgeting and he'd found that playing with his hands or nails kept him from moving around too much.

"I'm not that good at Astronomy, though. Even if being up there helps me, I don't know if it would do much." Jonathan side glanced at Christian, as if asking for help. He didn't want to be turned down if he came out and said it, though.

(Y'know, that's a good question. I'm going to say before.)

Christian squinted. Nearly. But he felt that it might be thoroughly discouraging to the young lad who Christian rarely saw interacting with others. Maybe it was the fact that Jonathan was merely shy. But perhaps it was something else. Did his classmates treat him the way Apollo's treated him? Christian noticed, of course, though he knew better than to intervene. Apollo wouldn't have wanted that, the younger twin presumed. And he wasn't often wrong about Apollo. Take the whole situation with Lily, for example.

But anyway, rather than frowning, he just clapped his book shut and stood up. "Alright," he replied. "Then perhaps you should give it a go. C'mon."

Christian gestured towards the portrait door, the invitation blatant enough to be blunt. If Jonathan wouldn't go on a wee adventure on his own, Christian would organize it himself. Not half because he, too, was bored. But also because he needed to expand his circle of acquaintances and friends. Clearly. Because Ace was having none of it right now. At least, none of him.

For good measure, he went on. "I happen to enjoy Astronomy. Perhaps I can be of some help."

There. Not awkward, not obvious pity. Christian didn't really feel any pity for Jonathan regarding the class. But he did want to help him in other ways if he had the chance.

Why was he so darn back at this? Interacting with others had never really been his "thing" but Jonathan had never felt like he was that bad at doing it. But he barely knew what to say or do with Christian there, talking to him.

Maybe it was just because he was older and Jonathan felt just slightly intimidated. But it could also be that he felt everyone would be like Nathan. No, of course not. Nathan was a special case. He wasn't mean to him, at least he tried not to be, but Jonathan was pretty much just terrified of him because of something he had no control over.

Jon blinked at Christian, a somewhat stupefied look falling onto his features as the older boy closed his book and stood up.

Oh no, was he really- yup, he was. Oh Merlin.

Jonathan's quill slipped from his hand onto the parchment and the boy scrambled to pick it back up, his movements making it hard to get it back into his shaking hands. "Er.. are you sure? I don't-" he stopped, looking down. "I don't want to bother you."

Christian wasn't entirely surprised by the kid's shock, but more disappointed. He managed to hold it back, luckily, because he was concerned it might make Jonathan feel even worse. Christian  swung his schoolbag onto his shoulder, but held his hands up - book along with the left one.

"If you don't want to, mate, that's fine. I'm gonna go up there anyway. It's a pretty good sight to study in front of either way." Christian shrugged casually, turning his shoulders towards the door. "If you want to come with, you're welcome to."

So he offered a friendly smile, even though he was almost surprised with himself for being so sneaky. Perhaps it had been inspired, however subtly or not, by Ace. But he did hope it brought about some kind of result.

"Like I said," he added over his shoulder, "I like Astronomy a lot. So it's no trouble at all."

The offer was tempting and had Jonathan been anyone else, he would have immediately jumped at the offer to be helped. But alas, he was himself and that meant things were meant to go about the way they were.

Still a meek response was able to escape the third year's lips, "O-okay then. Thank you." As he lifted himself from his seat, his bag swung awkwardly onto his shoulder. Jonathan couldn't help but think that Christian thought he was just a little pathetic, and he honestly couldn't blame him if he did.

After all, he always thought that of himself.

But accepting help from the older boy was maybe a chance to get himself out of that shell he'd wrapped himself in, and any chances he got had to be taken. Otherwise he'd never get anywhere with his life.