In Search (Naomi)

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Phil was in deep admiration so far of Naomi. She was cool. Cooler than the other girls he’d met his own age (excluding Corienna and Ellie that was, oh thank the gods they couldn’t remind minds because if they heard him think that). Wait. Phil was ready to slap his hand against his forehead; for all that was good and holy, he didn’t even know if she went to Hogwarts! What if he never saw her again? Be calm dumby, and just think this through-.

“The feelings mutual,” he said smiling.

“Do you go to school at Hogwarts?” He blurted out with wide eyes, realizing he was finally realizing the importance of that question, “I mean it would make sense if you did cos you’re here and all that but I just now realized I’m making assumptions and assuming things is rude because to assume is to make an ass of you and me which is stupid cos you’re not an ass- I’ll stop now.” He cringed realizing how awful his word vomit was.

“Monkeys are terrific, and so your Da-d must be terrific to,” he was ready to mimic her words in saying ‘Da’ but realized that it was an Irish thing and he didn’t want to cross that kind of invisible boundary, “good taste in nouns.” He added. He looked over at the old school clock that was on the wall with a wince. He was gonna be late to meeting Corie, but he didn’t want to leave Naomi’s presence. She was fun- lighthearted and nice. Really nice too. Plus they had so many things they liked in common!

When he watched her flush in embarrassment he realized she was doing what he’d been doing the majority of their conversation and just grinned.

“No worries Naomi, I’d love to go rock climbing with you.” He informed her earnestly. “I’m sure there’s just a handy-dandy cliff here in Scotland- I’m pretty sure that’s where we are at least.” He added biting his tongue and trying to think about it. All he knew was that he’d floo’d in and soon he had to meet his best friend to floo out.

“North of Ireland?” He made a show of nodding as if he knew where that was. “Well your accent is cool beans.” He told her with a shrug. “I’m from Tullibody, Scotland, but my mum’s from America and I’ve mostly gone to school with British kids.” He added, “to be fair, I’m not good at geography anyway so I barely know the distance between Ireland and Scotland,” this he added a bit sheepishly with a small smile.

When she answered that he smiled, and wanted to say that he liked how powerful of a character Fiona was - how she wasn’t like the other impish, graceful princesses; she was abrasive. He thought that was pretty rare to find in a princess. Instead he just nodded and smiled.

“Psshaw,” he made that noise and made a nonchalant shrug, “I’m positive you’re a great artist. I’ve got a gut feeling about it and my gut feelings are only like 20% wrong.” He gushed and then grinned and nodded too. “Eh it’s nothing big,” he didn’t really think it was. Plenty of people learned to draw by themselves. He let out a heavy sigh of relief, “thank the gods, I was terrified, I thought these books were a required reading list or something.” He admitted sheepishly. “You’d probably do great, I’d be drowning in words.”

When she didn’t press him further for Quidditch information there was an ease that settled back into his jubilant body. “That’s super awesome. Speaking of your da, should we get you back to him? Y’know so you can get these books?” He asked jostling the books in his arms. He didn’t want to admit it but the books were getting heavy. By her seventh year, Naomi was probably gonna be like some book body builder.

“They’re always fighting, is that like a metaphor…?” He trailed off squinting and trying to imagine before listening to her continue with wide eyes. “Hold up!” He almost shouted in excitement his jaw starting to hang lose. “Are you trying to tell me that your flowers are like alive? Well I mean are they like Mandrakes? Y’know moving and um um -antromorp-anthropolo- (anthropomorphic)? Whatever you know the word that means something not human can do something human?” He asked in rushed excitement. “Don’t be sorry.” He said quickly. “I’m pretty sure if I got paid for every word I said, I’d be the richest guy ever.”

Guest

Nodding, Naomi grinned. "I'm starting my second year this year. I'm guessing you'll go there too, since you asked?" His entire speech about assuming made her laugh. "It's a nice change. Usually I'm the one who can't stop saying everything wrong." Naomi could have hit herself. "Not that you're saying everything wrong, it's just you keep backtracking and I do that too and look, we're a matched pair."

Naomi grinned. "Awesome! I'm sure there will be some sort of cliff somewhere around the school for us to climb on. Maybe we can climb the school itself!" She was mostly joking. Detention would be worth it if she could actually climb Hogwarts itself.

Phillip's life sounded complicated. "Wow, that's a lot of places. And geography isn't my strong point, although I know enough to know about the places you're talking about at least."

Cheeks continuing to be flame red, Naomi just let the subject of art drop and focussed on his comments about books, laughing. "Oh, no, there are only a few books required for classes. I mostly just spend all of my pocket money on books." She sighed when he pointed out that she should probably be leaving, which she should. She could distantly hear her father calling her name, so she shouted "Coming Da," before turning back to Phillip.

"Anthropomorphic?" Naomi asked, pronouncing the long word carefully. "Yeah, they are. I thought most wizarding gardens were...?" She wasn't really sure, she hadn't seen any other wizarding gardens. "They behave around Muggles, but as soon as a witch or wizard's around, they tend to wake up and half of them start fighting each other. It's worth it though, nothing's prettier that the wizarding breeds of flowers."

They reached the front of the store and Naomi carefully took all of her books back, sliding them on the counter before turning to hold her hand out to Phillip. "It was nice to meet you, Phillip, I hope you find the book you're looking for. I'll see you at Hogwarts!" She paid for her books and left with her Da, telling him about Phillip and all the books she'd bought. Then she remembered that she'd forgotten to pick up a book on kelpies in the chaos of running into Phillip.

Bugger.

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