Studying in Silence ((cue Selwyn))

Amelia sighed at Selwyn’s response. Of course the boy didn’t know what aviators were; so few people actually paid any attention to the muggle world. Although she was far from connected to the muggle world, she was not unaware of the goings on there. She was an academic through and through – any knowledge was knowledge worth knowing to her. Except for divination. She couldn’t stand the subject, thinking of it as a series of guesses, each no more or less likely than the one prior to it.

It seemed as if Selwyn had indeed thought through is plan, though Amelia still didn’t agree with it. His defense of his ideas showed that he at least had the conviction to be the Slytherin champion, even if he didn’t have the manners for it. She supposed manners were not the most important of the traits required of the champions, but Amelia couldn’t help but picture Shacklebolt’s face if Selwyn behaved in this manner while performing the first dance at the Yule Ball.

His personal skills aside, Selwyn seemed to be intelligent. Augeo Sensus was an upper level dueling spell, one she was not unfamiliar with. She still believed that removing sensory input would be a detriment to the boy’s performance, but he seemed – as he had during the entire conversation – to be set in his ways. Amelia couldn’t say she was surprised by this, but it didn’t make it any less frustrating.

“It was just an idea,” she said, shrugging as the boy crossed his arms over his chest. It seemed the two of them had somehow traded places over the course of the conversation: she was now indifferent, he had become defensive. It was a curious exchange the two had been having, and it would become even more out of place with what Selwyn said next.

Was that almost a compliment?Amelia’s mind inquired, thinking surely she had misinterpreted what he had said. No one in the school thought more highly of Amelia than they did of Christabelle. The blond Ravenclaw champion was everyone’s favorite student. She was beautiful, charming, and the object of nearly every boy’s attention. Amelia didn’t usually bother to compare herself to other students – she was drastically different in so many ways that it seemed impractical – but when Selwyn made the comparison she was forced to reflect on it.

“I never meant to imply that I was better than you,” Amelia finally answered, pushing a curl that had escaped her ponytail during the hair-pulling incident, “If you interpreted it that way you have no one to blame but yourself. As for why I am not in Christabelle’s place, it is because I didn’t elect to put my name into the goblet of fire.”

Knowing that was not the answer Selwyn was likely looking for, and knowing the question that would naturally come afterward, Amelia knew a distraction was in order. Amelia crossed the room to where she had left her things, digging through her pack to find two identically feathered quills. As she walked toward Selwyn, she placed the nubs of the two feathers together, tapping them once with her wand to bind the two together. When she had returned to her place, Amelia raised the bonded quills to eye level, holding them between her thumb and forefinger of her left hand as she recited the incantation and performed the wandwork with her right hand.

“Quillus ut vas,” Amelia recited, watching as the quills glowed green for a moment before the light faded. Between her fingers was now pinched the center of a pair of muggle sunglasses, the aviators she had mentioned before.

“Here,” she said, tossing them to Selwyn from where she was standing, “Just in case you change your mind.”