Redemption and Repentance

Thomas found himself in the library again, idly looking through texts that snagged his interest, even if for only a few seconds. He doubted coming back here so soon would be a good idea, but he felt like he would rather be here than a lot of other place right now. He had liked the library since first year, but he hadn't frequented it as much as he would've liked to. He made sure there wasn't anyone nearby before taking about three or four books and heading to a table out of everyone's way to read them. He'd rather be safe than sorry after all. He still made sure his wand was in easy reach on the table though, again, better safe than sorry.

Andy, having just barely scraped through a Potions essay from Hamilton, desperately needed some texts on the matter. Though the formal assessment was technically done for that particular potion, he knew that he if let it slip, with gaps in his knowledge, it would definitely come back to bite him. He was nearly a fourth year after all, and something like this would surely come up in the OWL exams. Andy would much rather get the knowledge he needed now, than to rest on his laurels.

He turned a corner in the vast Library and saw a familiar boy garbed in silver and green. Andy narrowed his eyes slightly, but then took a deep breath and released it. He was here to study, not to get into another fist fight. Sesides, the last one didn't end up so well for the Ravenclaw.

He tried to not make eye contact, but was sure that the Slytherin boy would notice him. He just hoped that they could make amends, or whatever it was that his mother had told him to do when he wrote to her about what happened. She was all about solving problems with words, something that Andy was beginning to learn, was far less painful than it's alternative.

Thomas had raised his eyes from his book for just a moment, but that was as long as he needed. he saw a flash of bronze and blue robes, and then realised who it was, before freezing. His mind started to go into hyper-awareness, trying to think of ways to get out of the situation, before taking a couple of breaths. He didn't seem to be wanting to rip him to shreds this time at least, and he hoped that meant he might get through this unscathed.

He tried to make eye contact for a moment, only for that to fail him, so he bit his lip and stayed where he was. Better to not aggravate him trying to apologize and just stay where he was.

Andy knew his feeling was correct. He happened to glance back at the boy and saw that he was watching him. Better get this over with, Andy thought as he walked over to him.

Once he was over there, however, he really didn't know what to say. He didn't want to end up in another fist fight, but he couldn't go on with the thought that he should watch his back and keep his guard up wherever he went. He wanted to make amends, but didn't exactly know the best way to go about it. Andy stood before the Slytherin, probably looking like a halfwit and hoped that the other boy would say something before it got so awkward that Andy had to leave.

Thomas noticed Anthony starting to walk over and tried to keep himself from running. He'd been the cause of this mostly, it was only fair for him to end it too. He waited nervously for him to make the first move, but after a moment realised that wasn't going to be the case. He wondered whether to jump straight into the apology or not... That idea had failed completely with Brianna, so he decided to not take that approach with Andy. "H-Hi." He said timidly, unsure of anything else he could really say that wouldn't lead to him rambling like an absolute idiot.

"H-Hi."

Andy looked down at the boy as he stuttered a greeting. He pushed away the urge to raise an eyebrow. He was going for pleasant, not condescending.

"Hi," Andy replied. "Can I take a seat?" Andy kept his tone of voice light as he took a seat opposite the boy anyway. "Whatcha reading?" Andy was definitely avoiding the metaphorical elephant in the room, but he decided that some meaningless chatter would be a healthy ice-breaker into the more pressing matter of making good of the mess of a situation they were in.

Thomas kept reminding himself to not run or to take his wand. He wasn't about to let this end on the same note as last time. He downright refused to let it happen. He nodded uncertainly at Anthony. "If you really want to." He mumbled, trying to think of something to say before Anthony came up with a topic for them any way. "Just a potions textbook, I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd come to the library and read." he explained. "What about you? What're you doing here?" he asked.

Andy reached forward and looked at the spine of the book the boy was reading. It was the exact book Andy had been looking for.

"Do you mind if I borrow that book after you?" he asked. "Got to actually know what I'm talking about before I write an essay in future."

He placed his elbows on the table. "I came in here looking for that book, actually."

Thomas let Anthony look at the book before bringing his eyes back down to read the end of the sentence for a moment, and then bringing them back up. "You can have it now if you really want to, I'm just reading whatever looks interesting." he said, before pushing the book towards him and picking up another one, Charms this time. "Ah." was all he said in response to why Anthony was here, he now felt lucky for picking the book up, it gave them something to talk about at least, which meant things weren't too worrying. "Any others you're looking for?" He asked as an afterthought.

Andy smiled. "Brilliant. I may actually know what the properties of a Blood Replenshing Potion are, after reading this. I sort of fudged my way through the Potion essay last week. How did you go with it?"

Anthony was rather pleased with how the conversation was going. They were being civil to each other, and it wasn't that hard to do, surprisingly. He was actually beginning to wonder how the boy before him could have been capable of saying such nasty things to Bri. A changed man? Who knows.

"Nah, just that one." he said, nodding to the book on the table. "Thanks though."

Thomas bit back a small grin at Anthony's next comment. "Eh... I didn't do too badly... But I swear Hamilton wants us to know Seventh Year stuff already." he shrugged, the Potions Master was a bit of a slave-driver at times, but he probably had his reasons, maybe he was just trying to push everyone to do their best... Or he could just hate children.

He was thankful that neither he or Anthony had started to seem irritated with the other, perhaps this could go a little better than he thought. He hoped so at least, he would much rather try and be friends with Anthony over being enemies.

"No worries, and you should probably look at the ingredients for it as well, I've found that looking at basic properties of ingredients, as well as the ways they're used, sometimes can give you an idea at what they'll be used for." He suggested.

Andy grinned. "I know, right? I seriously wanted to throttle him when I saw what he expected from us. I'm surprised I didn't flunk it right then and there!" He was glad that they had some common ground to chat about until one of them got the courage to actually address the situation at hand.

Andy flicked through the book, nodding at what Tom recommended. "Good idea. I'll definitely remember that."

He placed his hand on the cover of the book, and looked over at him. "Look," he began but then shut his mouth. "About the other day... I..." Andy was struggling and he knew that he sounded like he was inapt at speaking. He just sucked it up and said something.

"I didn't want it to escalate quite like it did."

Thomas nodded in agreement. "I bet the only reason he's here is because it was here or back to Azkaban or something. He's mentally stable though... So maybe there's some minor prison." He thought, mind going off topic for a moment. He thanked Merlin they'd been able to get along this well so far, and it hadn't blown up in their faces. He shrugged at Anthony saying he'd remember it. "Nothing that important really, just a little tip I figured out." he said, brushing it off.

He almost winced when Anthony started to talk about 'the other day.' It was painstakingly obvious what he meant, but for some reason Anthony was the one apologizing, after Anthony stopped talking for a moment, Thomas shook his head. "None of that was your fault at all. I insulted Brianna for some reason I doubt Merlin knows, I was the one to act so haughty the other day in the library, and it was me who cast the curse at you when your back was turned. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. And I am. I am truly sorry for the absolutely idiotic way I acted." He let out all his words in a rush, trying to make sure he couldn't be interrupted along the way. After he had said his piece, he wondered what would happen next.

"If you want to punch me again or hex me or whatever, go ahead." He added. "Merlin knows I'll deserve it for the complete dunce I've been acting like." He meant it too, Anthony could do whatever and he'd tell no one, he'd just walk off and hope that it helped the situation in some way, shape or form.

Andy remained silent as Thomas spoke. He had the feeling that the boy would have preferred to get everything off his chest without Andy interrupting him. He was assured, that Thomas' apology was heartfelt and not just empty words. He shook his head at the invitation to hex him.

"No," he said. "That won't happen again. We're both to blame for what happened but that's in the past. I, for one, would like to move beyond it. What's done is done. Besides, I think you'd be a good person to befriend. A little fist fight shouldn't get in the way of that, should it?"

Thomas felt the impulse to be stubborn start to attack him, but with the situation, he gave into it without a second thought. "No it wasn't, if I hadn't been such a moron and such a pathetic excuse for a Wizard, then I wouldn't have insulted Brianna. If that never happened, our confrontation would've never happened." he argued. He didn't know why, but he didn't like the feeling of Anthony thinking any part of it was because of him.

He stopped at that though, seeing as there was more to answer. "I think I'd be extremely thankful for that, though I'm not sure if your girlfriend will like the idea..." He paused. Brianna blamed him in the Corridor when that Emilia girl sealed it up, no doubt she didn't want to see him again. "I'm up for trying it if you are though..." he ended uncertainly. He had acted a fool before and he wasn't going to just throw away the opportunity to move on from that and maybe somehow make things better.