Parlez-Vous Francais? [Cordelia]

[Deleted]

RJ didn't spend a lot of time in the common room. There were always too many loud people in there, and he always felt like he was being silently judged. It wasn't true most of the time, but he did stick out like a sore thumb, and the old fears didn't want to die. Luckily for him, the common room was blissfully empty today. He curled up in one of the plush lounge chair by the fireplace, laying Les Misérables as flat as possible in his lap. It was such a long read, but it was one of his favorites. He tried to tuck his legs into the chair, but, as large as the chair was, he was still larger. He settled for crossing his legs and leaning back in the chair.

The only sound in the room was the gentle rustling of pages as he flipped them. It was still much to warm to light the fire, though the ambient noise of crackling flames coupled with his turning pages would provide a lovely background music. His eyes trailed over the words, and he felt a smugness about being bilingual. Most of his pastime reading material was in French, and he could read it just as quickly and easily as he could English. His father had never really picked up on the French language, but his mother had insisted that Carcer and RJ be taught French from birth. RJ caught on to it like lightning, and he often switched between the languages without thinking about it. It was something he had that very few others did. It was almost like a superpower, as naive as that sounded. But if he wanted to curse someone, he could do it in French. Flustered about his homework? Complain in French. Stumbling over his words? A few French syllables would fix that right up.

He laughed softly to himself and continued reading. Superpowers, sure. He had an enhanced build and strength and was impervious to most simple magic, but speaking French made him a superhero. He looked up and around the common room and saw a girl standing there. Now he suddenly wished he had the power of repulsion. His face turning red, he averted his gaze and mumbled, "Um, hi."

cordelia regan smith

[cordelia regan smith]

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It was a quiet day. That was nice. Quiet days meant less stress and anxiety for Cordelia and she really felt like she could relax without any problems occurring. Constantly fighting the demons in her head that told her she had to be scared of other people and causing her to stutter was exhausting, so days like this were the best way to de-stress after a long week of classes. She had just spent several hours in the library alone, reading mostly, but also sitting around and not doing anything. It was extremely nice out, so all the other students were outside doing things. That also meant that she wouldn’t be able to take pictures in peace. Someone always had to approach her when she was trying to do that and inquire about it. She knew it was all in good faith and they were only interested in it, since there weren’t too many photographers, let alone muggle objects that worked inside Hogwarts. And it also wasn’t like she didn’t want to respond to their questions either; she simply couldn’t. At least not when she was put on the spot like that. If only they sat silently and watched instead of walking up and asking questions immediately, then she’d ease her way into warming up and talking.

A couple charms books in hand, Cordelia made her way back down the four floors and dungeon level to the Hufflepuff common room. She had intended to do studying on her own, learning the basics for a few charms she hadn’t been able to practice in class, as well as some new healing spells she had been wanting to try out. Her mother had recently written back and given her the names of a few books that would more than likely help her out in that regard. It was nice to have someone else show her the way, plus Cordelia was more than positive that her parents were thrilled that she was ambitious about something other than photography. Hobbies were wonderful, as they put it, but they didn’t always put food on the table, even for those that were the best. A stable job was necessary first. She still had this year and next to figure things out, but it was better to be prepared early than to be caught off guard in the spring of her seventh year.

Entering the common room, Cordelia was surprised to see that it was empty. That had been happening a lot recently, it seemed like. Quietly humming to herself, she decided to that she would take a seat in one of the big chairs. They had a certain kind of comfort to them, mostly because she was able to sit down and get absorbed by the giant cushions. Approaching the chairs, suddenly a quiet laugh came from the one, and she realized that there was someone else in there, hopping backwards as she heard it. Freezing momentarily as her feet touched back down, her eyes made contact with the boy sitting right in front of her. She really wanted to turn around and leave now, the little seed that had been planted in her head that she was going to be all alone in the common room had been burst open. As he spoke, Cordelia noticed that he had looked away from her, like he had been expecting to be left alone. Yet he still said hello to her. Books wrapped in her arms tightly, she responded quietly as well. “H-h-hello…”

@rj ● 585 ● Force by Alan Walker

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0