Learn your History so you don't make the same mistakes (Open)

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Apollonia hadn't always been such a sucker for History, be it her own or that of the world, she hadn't really thought much of History as a young child, to her it had been just more stupid information to read about their family until she had actually sat down, by herself, in their silent library and pretty much devoured the Leandros' Family history books and tomes.

It had been her first foray into History and it had stayed with her even to this day - she doubted she'd ever tire of learning about History. It was the one thing that just kept her entertained for days on end. If she could, Apollonia would, more than likely, abandon the rest of her lessons and only take History ones so that she could learn as much as she could.

She couldn't though so she made do with the books she currently had, two of them on her own family history and the rest she had just randomly grabbed from the library. Right now though, Apollonia was, once more absorbed in her family History, or more specifically the history of King Leonidas and Ancient Greece, the place where the family originated from.

It was such a fascinating read that with every time she read the book, she understood more and more of it - some of the terminologies were still hard to grasp but she was slowly getting there.

Currently, sat by the fire in the common room, she was reading through the chapter about the Battle of Thermopylae where her ancestor, King Leonidas of Sparta had lost his life to Xerxes as a result of being betrayed by one of his own. It was a fascinating read and to Apollonia, it showed just how much of a Leader and General Leonidas had been to have survived a 7-day siege against Xerxes and his massive army.

Quidditch was fast becoming a mission on it's own, truth be told. Mimosa Harrington-Clement was the devil reincarnated when it came to being on a team. She was the worst person to be partnered with on the Beater's team for Slytherin because she truly believed the sun shined out of her backside. And, of course, it didn't help that her Jacques always told her how very good she was at Quidditch, and that she was the best Beater the school had known.

Clearly, Nikolai reflected as he hurried on ahead of the rest of his team, his mood foul as he tried not to go off his rocker at Mimosa for her stupidity, her precious Jacques had never heard of Joshua Murray and the terrifying things that man had done with his own Beater's bat over a decade ago now, otherwise her Jacques would know that Mimosa was not at all the best Beater known to the school.

Nikolai was right, of course, the whole team knew he was right, but because she was a damn princess they had to keep her on board so that they kept getting the support they needed from the Palace. It didn't matter that Mimosa had nearly taken his head off with her terribly aimed swing as he hurtled after the Bludger to send it back the other way, which had only been avoided by nose diving much too hard on his new broom which hit the ground with a resounding thunk and threw the boy a good ten metres further along by the time he'd stopped his momentum.

Ego heavily bruised, Nikolai Kessler had thundered from the pitch, mumbling bloody murder all the way back to the castle. It had somewhat fizzled out by the time he got to the stone steps, the anger was still there, but the brunette was now less aggressive with it. He couldn't even go to his dad about it, because he and the stupid board had implemented these things over the last couple of years which meant that money allowed all of this privileged nonsense to be in the first place.

And Merlin's beard it wasn't fair.

The Slytherin Common Room had come in to vision not soon after this thought had finished, and after throwing the password at the door, he'd been allowed entry. The Kessler boy moved straight to a chair by the fire, not caring for his mud encrusted clothing touching the chair, or the subtle hint of sweat that clung to his Quidditch Robes as he brooded at the fire.

It was... perhaps, a good five minutes later before Nikolai realised he wasn't alone by the fire. His eyes fell upon the witch in another arm chair who's flaming auburn hair had always been something of an outlier in her character. Apollonia Leandros was very clearly a Greek name, but the witch had no look of a Greek about her. It had always made the witch... interesting, but from afar. Nikolai was never one to seek the attention of others, the attention of others, namely one Mimosa Harrington-Clement, had found him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were here. I hope I haven't disturbed you... And, if I haven't before, then I just did..." The boy explained, frowning to himself because he'd just found a flaw in his own logic. He blamed it on her being pretty very quickly, though, because Nikolai didn't make mistakes. "I'm Nikolai." He added, not using his last name because if you couldn't associate him with the Headmaster, that made his life much, much easier.

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She had not expected anyone to really approach her or talk to her - she had been in Slytherin for five years now but had little to no friends really. The muggle-borns were much too afraid of approaching her due to the rumours surrounding her family, though they were no rumours, and offending her. As if they could.

Solemnly gazing into the fire, her book forgotten on her lap, Apollonia's lips pulled into a frown, eyebrows furrowing and forehead creasing in thought as countless of emotions flashed across her eyes, too many to name or count. Her siblings had warned her that she would have a hard time with the Muggle-borns at Hogwarts due to their surname and what their family really was, descendants of King Leonidas, but she hadn't expected that they would avoid her as soon as she came anywhere near them. It was infuriating but she understood their hesitation - she would've been in the same boat had Jacques and Elenore Clement been at Hogwarts.

It irked her that so many potential friends and acquaintances were wary of her but she wasn't going to force anyone into becoming her friend if they were going to be too afraid to speak their mind around her, that wasn't what a friend was about either way.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were here. I hope I haven't disturbed you... And, if I haven't before, then I just did..."

The voice had been distinctively male as it penetrated through her thoughts and brought her back into the present, making her focus on the teenage male who had sat down in the chair beside her. Her nose wrinkled slightly at the mud-caked Quidditch uniform but otherwise, she didn't comment on the fact that he was literally giving the House Elves more work, it's what those little creatures were for after all and they did love the work they were given.

"You didn't. Disturb me that is." She elaborated a bit further on her answer even as she curiously eyed her fellow Slytherin, wondering what had urged the boy to even talk to her, though for once she was grateful to have the chance to speak to someone who wasn't a stuttering mess around her. "Apollonia," She replied in kind, forgoing her own surname even though everyone and their mother probably knew it, just like many people knew Nikolai's surname as well.

She understood his sentiments though in not voicing it out - if you didn't say it, you could at least pretend that your surname wasn't tied to someone like the Headmaster for Nikolai and King Leonidas for her. It just made life much easier to bear and people much easier to stand.

The witch's voice had something of a melodic beauty to it, Nikolai registered as she ensured him that he had not disturbed her. He doubted that very much, in truth, but at least he hadn't put the witch's back up. The softness of her voice, though, showed him that there was very little malice in her words, though, so it meant he could proceed, even if a little cautiously. Slytherins were known for their bite, after all.

The polite offering of her name had been unnecessary, how could anyone not know who the redhead was? But, Nikolai acknowledged it with a small nod, happy that the beautiful witch before him was even giving him the time of day.

The boy's eyes trailed away from her features, though, knowing it to be rude to stare for too long at women. Even if it was hard to draw your gaze away, you had to. His eyes instead landed upon the thick books the witch was currently looking over in that moment. History. Yuck. The witch before him was obviously very much like his father, interested in the things that had passed, rather than living in the future. It had almost killed his father when he'd been stupid enough to contract Tomb Sickness, and yet the older Kessler did not see it fit to look to the future rather than the past.

Perhaps Apollonia was just like the Headmaster?

Destined to die looking backwards, rather than forwards?

"Homework?" Nikolai questioned casually, trying to work it out. He didn't know what was on the fifth year's syllabus, so perhaps she was just reading for study rather than fun. Perhaps then he would let the witch off, not jump to conclusions, and mayhaps they could be friends. Of a sort. But Nikolai was leaning more towards the idea the witch was a historian, based on the fact he could see the references to Greek history in her books.

It would boil down to her answer, though, and whether it was compelling enough to interest the boy.

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She watches him cautiously, curiously as he seems to avert his eyes from her features. She wants to laugh, she really does but she bites the inside of her cheek to hold back the giggles that want to escape her lips. He's probably one of the first guys to ever avert his eyes from her face and not look anywhere else, many found their eyes trailing a bit further down but Apollonia's wand or her hand kept their eyes up and not down. No-one wanted a fuming witch as their conversation partner after all just because a guy couldn't keep his eyes off of her cleavage.

She flicked her eyes down to her book and quirked a smile at the younger Slytherin. A historian she was not, and she didn't think she would ever be, yes she read the books because they fascinated her and their history was something that she would never tire off but she couldn't see herself studying history in the future nor could she see herself making a career out of it, it just wasn't engaging enough to keep her focus for more than a few hours.

She didn't read about history to be lost in it for hours on end, she didn't read it so that she could relive the past; she read history so that she could understand why certain things happen and why those certain things keep happening.

"Family History." She instead answered, tapping her fingers on the cover where the insignia of King Leonidas had been engraved, it had faded with time but you could still see the Royal Insignia and the Greek letters underneath. "About my many-times-great Grandfather." She didn't know if he would understand her words, family history meant much to Apollonia but no-one ever cared to enquire her about it. She doubted he even knew who King Leonida's was or who King Xerxes was. "A King of old whose accomplishments even interested the foreign."

The correction of the book not being homework but instead being her family's history made Nikolai pause for a second in his thoughts. Having a book that thick on your family history meant you were someone of relative importance. Not a Pureblood, though, Apollonia didn't carry herself in such a manner, which made her a little more of a curiosity to the boy.

"And, who was your grandfather?" Nikolai asked, pushing judgement a little further back until he had a little more information than he currently had. Especially with the mention of being a King. There were too many connotations to that word, and whether he was an actual King, or a man who liked to think of himself as a King was a completely different matter.

Still, the tome in front of her seemed quite sizeable, so perhaps she wasn't too far wrong with her ideas of Royalty mentioned before. Only information could tell, though, so Nikolai would wait until he was offered more, and hope to Merlin that Apollonia could tell a much more interesting than Mimosa could.

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'I doubt he'd be interested in the history of my family...'

Apollonia paused in her thoughts as Nikolai's question was voice, making the older of the two giving the younger Slytherin a look of slight curiosity. That hadn't been what she expected of Nikolai, or anyone else for that - people who saw her with her family history books just brushed her off by claiming that her history couldn't be that amazing considering she was nothing more than a half-blood. It made the woman grit her teeth in anger and her blood boil in her veins but she just brushed off the comments and went about her way.

To have someone even slightly interested in what was the Leandros history made Apollonia appreciate that person a little bit, even if it turned out that Nikolai wouldn't be that interested in it.

"King Leonidas the First of Sparta." She watched Nikolai with a wary gaze. "He was a great military leader during Ancient Greece and he won his fair share of battles and wars during those times." She softly continued, brushing the embossed insignia with the tips of her fingers. "He was also a crafty politician whose words just encouraged all of the Spartan citizens when they needed it the most... he's... considered a hero in Greece."

She trailed off, unsure if she should continue or just shut her mouth - thankfully she hadn't rambled about King Leonidas' but it had been a close one. She should learn to hold her tongue slightly when talking about her ancestor, not everyone would enjoy having their ear talked off about Ancient Greece and their bloody battles and wars.

Nikolai listened to the very brief outline of the history that the witch was reading with little to no change in his expression. There was very little to go on, with what had been presented to the boy, and he had not heard of King Leonidas at all. Which, if you asked Nikolai, meant he couldn't be that great of a hero if he wasn't overly well known.

But, of course, Nikolai would admit that he didn't know much about Greek history, so perhaps that was why he did not know the name?

"I thought Alexander the Great was the biggest hero of that time." Nikolai posed in return, not trying to be argumentative, but simply offering his view. Everyone had heard of Alexander the Great and the conquest of Asia and the North of Africa, hadn't they? But, as Apollonia had pointed out, the King Leonidas was the first of Sparta, perhaps they were of different eras?

The younger of the two didn't know, truthfully, and thus had very little to offer on the subject.

But, there was something that stuck out.

"If... your great, however many times, grandfather was the King of Sparta, though... That makes you... someone of importance in Greece?" The boy asked, before a smile touched his lips. "Though, the Clements recently took Greece, didn't they? So I guess... your title, if they still existed before this time, have been snagged from you now?" He asked. "I'm not meaning to cause offence, of course, just asking where you stand now."

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"Completely different eras." Apollonia replied to that, her head tilted just a bit as she turned her eyes away from Nikolai to stare into the fire that was raging in all sorts of reds, oranges and yellows. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips were pursed even as she placed the book down beside her on the seat. "My, many times great-grandfather was born before Alexander the Great." She replied to that. "Alexander was also a King of Macedonia which was to the North of Ancient Greece while Spart was further down South."

She shook her head and turned to smile at Nikolai.

"Never mind that, it was many aeons ago." She loved reading about her family history but she could tell, even from so little time spent with Nikolai, that her fellow Slytherin wasn't really into this history stuff. Not that she could blame him. "Both King Leonidas and King Alexander did pretty much the same thing, fight for their kingdoms and try to create a unified Greece." Which eventually happened even though neither of them was alive to see it.

The older witch quirked her lips into a curiously amused smirk as she sat back and crossed one leg over the other. "The Clements have Greece, yes, and they are loved there, there's no doubt about that but my title still holds. It's mainly a muggle title after all." She watched Nikolai with curiosity in her eyes. "They can have Greece but they can't have my title. Not while King Leonidas' blood runs through my veins. I may not be the Princess of Greece but I still am a Princess of Greece. It's just like with... well... any other country who has a royal family but are governed by someone else." She shrugged a shoulder and tapped her fingers on the book beside her. "Not that it matters but... our Manor and the Fort where King Leonidas' resided is still there and I do plan on heading there during my summer holidays to visit where I come from."

She had no particular opinion on the Clement Dynasty to her they were just like the British Royal Family, popular but not really important to her. Apart from Mimosa Harrington, Apollonia didn't know anyone else of the Clements. She knew of them but she didn't know them.

"You aren't. Causing offence that is. As to where I stand now... my family, my parents and siblings that is, don't particularly care that the Clements have taken Greece... as for me... Well, I'm descendant of a King of Sparta, and pretty much the only one who has any sort of ties to Greek royalty. There's no need for a Royal Family in Greece but my ties to that country are strong and while the Leandros' are known in Greece we haven't been there for so long that only about nineteen per cent of the Greeks are still loyal to the last of King Leonidas' line."

"They're both Greek." Nikolai pointed out with a knowing grin. So they were from different parts of Greece, that didn't truly matter, did it? Nikolai doubted it, but his forte was more with animals than history, so he couldn't be sure that he was saying the right things. So far, though, he hadn't been rude, and he didn't have any intentions of being so, either.

Nikolai left it unsaid that both men had tried, and failed, to achieve the same thing in the next moment. He didn't have enough grounding in the subject to be truly capable in this argument, so it was best to leave it alone. Until one had further knowledge, anyway.

It was as Apollonia spoke of the Clements that Nikolai got an idea that... perhaps, she wasn't so fond of them as many people were. A lot of people liked Jacques Clement, most especially of the female variety. The other Clement... Elenore, Nikolai believed, didn't seem to have quite the same appeal to the masses, and then there was Mimosa. Had the last Clement not been so well placed and useful, Nikolai would have written her off years ago, but she was a Clement, no matter how intolerable she might be.

"I would imagine it wouldn't be all that nice, having your ancestral home taken from you in such a way. I mean... it's not the same, but our home got burgled a number of years ago. My dad hasn't been the same about things since. So over the top with security, and stuff like that. A whole country... I couldn't even imagine." Nikolai commented, before leaving that there. Best not to over do a point when you had one.

"What does your home in Greece look like?" Nikolai asked out of curiosity. He'd never been to Greece, he'd been to a number of other countries -- Japan and Egypt being the main two -- but never Greece.

Apollonia's comments on people being loyal to a single family was almost alien to him. Were there really that many people within a country who would rally behind her family if they had left the country? Interesting thing, power...

"It's good, that you stay true to who you are." Nikolai commented, giving the witch a small smile before letting that topic drop. Whilst interesting to know all these things, he doubted the witch wanted to sit and recount her whole family's history or the current affairs of it. Hanging out dirty laundry was never a good thing, after all.

"So, what about you? Your great, however many times, Grandfather was going to change the world. Are you?" Nikolai asked, though it might sound like light teasing, he was genuinely interested in knowing. After all, she was a Slytherin, and in every great Slytherin, there was an element of cunning, and a plan to be more than anyone could ever see coming.

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» Dont look back (OPEN)
» Learn to Live a Little (Open)
» To Make a Friend (OPEN)
» I could make you happy, Make your dreams come true (One Shot)
» Make your jaw drop, make you say "Oh My God" (Jazalea)