Ad Rigorem [Sammy]

[mathilde manon poole]

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April 27th, 2029

This corner of the library was cold and solitary; the furthest from the entrance and where the librarian was typically perched, watching students with her eagle eyes and indiscriminately shushing them whenever they dared to think of uttering a word. Tilly really didn't care about the librarian, or even think of the ancient broad all that much, except she had been given a dangerous glare when she entered all because she accidentally sneezed while walking in. She didn't have enough energy to give the old bat attitude, as the Quidditch practice that morning had drained her. Hiding away in the back corner was her solution, and also because one of the Vectors wanted to skim her answers from the Potions assignment.

Tilly, for the life of her, could never remember which was which. Even though they were different enough and not even in the same house, it all took effort. She had more interesting things to think about. Remembering which was Sammy and which was Scottie was difficult anyways. All she knew was that one was in Slytherin with Theo and the other wasn't.

Her Potions homework was spread out in front of her. Tilly had no clue if her answers were correct or not. Usually they were, but she had a habit of slacking off from time to time. It drove her professors nuts because they knew she had it in her to get high marks. She knew that too. All of this nonsense for end of year exams was the same. Repeat questions from other tests over the last few years of school. Never mind the fact that they all had a disjointed education because some assholes decided they wanted to light the school on fire. Biting on the cap of her pen as she waited for whichever Vector it was she'd agreed to help, Tilly mulled over her work in a bored, cold silence.

SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR ● 317

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR]

For some reason, Sammy simply could not come to terms with potions. Like, in general, as a subject. It seemed so pointless to him when you could probably just cast a charm or a spell and get the same results. With a lot less ingredients and a lot less mess. Though admittedly, he did enjoy classes because he'd been paired up with Theo this year, but that did't make Sammy more keen on potions in general. All in all, it was a complete waste of time, which Sammy often used for hatching nefarious plots and dodging playful spitballs from his twin brother.

Since Idele was so rudely doing her best to pretend he didn't exist this year, Sammy had to look elsewhere for help with his potions homework. Scottie and Theo were about as reliable as a chocolate teapot, which had led Sammy to Tilly. She looked sort of confused when he'd asked if he could have a look over her homework - 'just to come to terms with it all, you know,' - but she did agree to meet him in the library. Sammy hoped she wouldn't bring that weird rat of hers, but they all just sort of put up with it because Tilly was the only girl in their year who had any sort of patience for the boys.

Another unreliable thing - Sammy's timekeeping skills. He checked his watch and cursed, realising it was nearly twenty minutes after the time Tilly had agreed to meet him in the library. He burst through the door, looking rather more disheveled than usual. He smoothed his Gryffindor tie and shot the librarian a grin. She'd been halfway out of her seat to reprimand him, but sat back down and gave him a stern look instead. Sammy wandered around the library in search of Tilly, finally spotting her in some draughty old corner. In the weak April sunlight, she almost looked like a corpse. But, Sammy supposed, she was probably aiming for that look. "Alright, Poole?" he greeted, collapsing in the chair opposite her. He fixed his gaze on her eagerly. "Thanks so much for this, by the way. Can't trust Theo or Scottie for even a single brain cell," he added after a moment, pulling his own homework out of his bag.

mathilde manon poole

[mathilde manon poole]

▲

The occasional quiet shuffle of a book being removed from its shelf off in the distance was really the only noise Tilly could hear aside from her own breathing. The recent addition of pollen as the new spring growth popped around the school grounds had left one of her nostrils perpetually stuffy. Never both, thankfully, and it only seemed to afflict her when she was hunched over a desk or trying to fall asleep. The soft whistle that escaped her plugged nostril was annoying, but so was most of her existence to a number of people. Especially the Quidditch players on the other house teams. Her flying aggravated them immensely. Thinking about her last match made her grin stupidly over the homework she was reviewing. A non-zero number of her opponents would have loved if she’d missed more time from her little practice accident. Blood and missing body parts weren’t enough to stop her, unfortunately for them.

She was dragged out of her thoughts as she heard someone getting closer to her. Surely her stuffy nose wasn’t loud enough to draw the ire of the librarian all the way back here. The voice didn’t match the nearly dead librarian’s typical rasp, and Tilly glanced up to see the Vector boy taking a seat across from her. She still didn’t know which one he was, despite the red of the Gryffindor robes. Thankfully, that was solved for her quickly as he mentioned not being able to rely on Theo or Scottie for help in Potions. That made this Sammy. She made a mental note about it, which was sure to be forgotten by the end of the day.


”Slytherins,” she said in response, as if that explained everything about the other two. There were plenty of smart snakes slithering about the school. Despite his quirks and failure in Potions, Theo wasn’t the worst in the world. ”Did you just want to copy it or actually go over the whole thing?” Tilly asked as she flipped back to the first page of her work. Now that she looked at it, her handwriting was a scribbled mess. She was probably going to have to feed him the answers line by line, because there was no way anyone but her could decipher it.

SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR ● 379

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR]

Sammy nodded sagely with a hum of approval as he dropped into the seat across from Tilly. "Slytherins," he echoed, as if Tilly had imparted the most groundbreaking knowledge. They were both fully aware of the reputation that clung to the house like smoke. Sammy had cried when Scottie had been sorted into Slytherin rather than Gryffindor like himself. They'd been so convinced! But Sammy had grown to realise, and surely Tilly had too, that Slytherins were not as bad as they had once been made out to be. Still, they were hardly helpful with homework. At least in Sammy's five years of magical education.

Pulling Tilly's homework towards him, Sammy opened his mouth to reply. But as he glimpsed the veritable chicken scratch on the parchment, he snapped it shut again. He stared at the near unintelligible writing for a long moment. He had wanted to copy it - in no uncertain terms. He'd change bits so their professors would be none the wiser, but the less effort he had to put in, the better. "Tilly," started Sammy gently. "I don't mean to be rude. But have you ever learned the nuances of holding a quill?"

Sammy tried squinting at her homework to see if that helped. It didn't. "How d'you expect the potions master is going to read this?" he added after a moment, glancing up at her. He slid the paper back towards her before taking his own quill, prepared to demonstrate the skill which she so clearly lacked. "See you hold it like this..." he grinned. "I'm only playing. Well, sort of. But er, yeah. I was a bit confused on..." Sammy trailed off. He was confused about all of it. The idea of slicing up dead caterpillars and potentially getting muck stuck under his fingernails made Sammy want to heave. Even if he could rectify the problem magically. "I've never even heard of the edurus potion, let alone what it does. I guess knowing Latin would help, but how does it even have anything remotely in common with the strengthening solution? And just how am I meant to compare and contrast something they cover in class so poorly?"

mathilde manon poole

[mathilde manon poole]

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Some would say she didn’t really fit into Hufflepuff. To be fair, the only patience and hard work she had ever put in was towards Quidditch, but all because she was naturally gifted in the sport. A Ravenclaw, she most certainly was not, and there was little to no bravery involved to be a Gryffindor. Strangely, Tilly could see herself in Slytherin too. She liked rats. That seemed like it was close enough to belonging there, right?

Scot-Sammy was saying something about her handwriting, and how there was apparently a correct way to hold quills and pens. Tilly stared at him as he continued to ask her how the professor was meant to read any of her work, and then went on to show her proper penmanship with his own quill. She simply stared at it, blankly, and not registering why any of that was important. If she were to stay in the magical world after graduation, she was going to be playing Quidditch. The only time she’d pick up a quill going forward was to sign playing contracts or giving autographs. ”It works for me,” she shrugged after a moment’s pause. ”If I get marked off for it, I make it up elsewhere. It’s not that difficult to do.”

The underlying problem with the homework seemed to be with the difference between two of the potions that they’d been learning. Sammy wasn’t wrong about one thing; the lessons had been given to them in a half-assed manner, and she had been equally confused until she did the reading that accompanied it. It became a lot clearer after that. ”Isn’t the edurus potion like endurance? So endurance against damage…and then the strengthening solution gives you more physical strength.” It was fairly easy when she broke it down like that, at least in her opinion. ”If the edurus one didn’t literally make my skin change when I drank it, I’d probably take it before matches,” she added. Totally illegal, but it would prevent any further loss of teeth this term. The eight or so that had been smashed out were back to normal, if not better than they had been prior.

SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR ● 360

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR]

Sammy pursed his lips thoughtfully as he commented on Tilly's dreadful writing. Clearly, she hadn't spent any of her youth learning how to write properly. Oh well. Not everyone could have a mum as thoughtful as his. Tilly remarked that it worked for her, and he let it drop. He knew better than to continue badgering her about it, lest she get annoyed and not let him copy her work. And Sammy was really cutting it fine.

Instead, Sammy switched tact and went right into the meat of their homework. If he had been paying attention in class, he might have been able to puzzle it out himself. However, when it came to potions, it all went in one ear and out the other. "Many feet could use lessons from Zabini. On how to teach," said Sammy with a frown. He had no idea what the edurus potion was supposed to do, so he would have to take Tilly's word for it. "Right... edurus... endurance... strength... muscles..." Sammy muttered as he started his essay. He managed to eke out a few sentences, listening closely as Tilly intoned that edurus made her skin change.

"What, why does your skin change?" asked Sammy, completely distracted for the moment as his face screwed up in distaste. "Surely endurance is more of an internal thing?" he added, scribbling a note about the skin change thing Tilly had mentioned. "Maybe try a gum shield?" said Sammy after a moment, glancing up at Tilly with a smirk. "I think those are allowed," he added.

mathilde manon poole

[mathilde manon poole]

▲

Professor Zabini was brilliantly scary. That was the best way Tilly had managed to describe him to her siblings. Her parents didn’t really understand what the Dark Arts were, or why defending against them was important. One time, they even went as far as to ask her if it would just be easier to transfer into a normal, muggle boarding school if it meant she could avoid having her arts darkened. For being medical professionals, they frequently asked stupid questions. It had been that day that Tilly realized they thought it was a class where they did black and white artistic composites. Not learning how to battle against dark creatures and magical folks. How they managed to get through four magical children and still not understand any of it was beyond her.

Vector seemed to understand her description of the two potions, starting in on his work finally. It didn’t take long before he stopped and asked further questions, like why the edurus potion adds the strange rocky layer to the body. She shrugged at that. ”I don’t know. It just does,” Tilly answered. She didn’t have all of the answers either. ”Now you’re sounding like the nurse,” she rolled her eyes at him. ”You ever tried to stick one of those in your mouth before? It’s like a brick of rubber. I spent half the time chewing on it, to the point where I needed a new one every match.” While addictive, she flattened out the ends of the mouthguard instantly. It provided very little protection for her molars at that point. ”And anyways, I doubt that would have stopped the bludger much. Unless you think I should be wearing a full face-shield too?”

Cutting down on her visibility sounded awful. Exactly the kind of advice that someone in Gryffindor would offer up to. ”You aren’t a spy for your team, are you?” she asked. Her eyes narrowed at Vector. If it was Scottie, he’d know better than to ask these sorts of things. So this was absolutely, one hundred percent Sammy. That and she was pretty sure she had seen him write his name down at the top of his assignment.

SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR ● 363

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR]

Sammy blinked at Tilly's flat response. "Well, that doesn't help my essay," he replied shortly, frowning down at his paper. Though he supposed he ought not to complain, since Tilly could very well get up and leave him to flounder. He didn't much like the idea of changing his skin. What if he was left with unsightly pockmarks after the fact? Scottie may have been the more vain of the pair, but that didn't mean Sammy wanted to walk around ugly. Besides, no matter how much mummy loved him, he didn't think she'd be able to cope with having an ugly child.

Under the (very wrong) impression that he was being most helpful, Sammy suggested Tilly try a mouth guard to keep her teeth in her mouth during Quidditch. Tilly swatted the idea away at once, with a perfunctory tale as to how she chewed he mouth guard so much she needed a new one every match. Sammy made a face and made a mental note to tell Theo about this fact. He was pretty sure that - for some mad reason - Theo fancied Tilly. He hoped she wouldn't chew his lip off or something if that one day did... develop. Sammy scowled, not wanting to dwell on such discomfiting subjects.

"Maybe you should. I have no idea why there's so little protection in that damned sport," said Sammy as he glared down at his parchment. He scratched out another sentence which was likely entirely bollocks. "I don't see how it would negatively affect gameplay." A stranger might have thought Sammy had at least some idea what he was on about - but they'd be mistaken. The only thing Sammy knew about Quidditch was that seemingly everyone was obsessed with it and there was a lot of mud involved. No thank you, he'd stay with his neatly pressed robes and pristine wardrobe. Sammy shot Tilly a scathing look. "If I cared about Quidditch, surely you'd know by now," he said. "I'd just rather my friends not be toothless. Or otherwise... disfigured," he added delicately.

mathilde manon poole

[mathilde manon poole]

▲

Neither did poaching answers off of her for the assignment, but here they both were doing so anyways. Magical theory was honestly boring. Tilly knew where her time and attention needed to be. It was unfortunate that Hogwarts wasn’t facilitating her needs more than it currently was. Being on the house Quidditch team was one thing, but unless she absolutely flopped when it came to try-outs with a pro team, she was going to end up somewhere. They didn’t call her the rat queen of Hufflepuff for nothing. No one actually called her that. Just she did. In her thoughts. But she wished people would because that would be pretty sick. Maybe if she scared a couple first years into starting a rumor…

Back to Potions and mouthguards though. That was why she was here after all, trying to help Vector pass the class. ”You’re allowed to wear however much protection you want,” Tilly corrected him. ”But you lose a lot of speed when adding on equipment that isn’t air resistant. Usually Keepers will have the most because of their role…but yeah.” She didn’t feel like she needed to tell Sammy everything, because he probably already knew. They were just spit balling why a little extra protection wouldn’t hurt. She supposed she could try wearing a mouthguard again but knew the end result was only going to be the same as it was the last few times. Gone in under a minute either by gnawing or spitting it out onto the pitch.

”Awww…I’m your friend?” she asked. Were they? Tilly honestly didn’t know. All three of the Vectors tended to hover around her throughout the day. She thought it was more that Sammy was with Scottie who was with Theo who definitely was her friend. So friends by association. ”I thought I was the antithesis of all things Vector? You know, weird, often dirty, my best friend is a rodent. And then there’s my pet rat…” She would never miss a moment to take a stab at Theo. It was better when he wasn’t around to defend himself. ”Anyways. I’ll keep it in mind. Since you think it’ll protect my pretty face, I’ll wear one from now on. And I’ll make sure to tell everyone that it was Sammy Vector’s idea. Okay?”

SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR ● 382

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR]

Tilly seemed off in her own little world, which suited Sammy just fine. So long as she didn’t bring up those rats of hers. He continued silently trying to discern her chicken scratch writing, pausing here and there over a particularly illegible handiwork. He paused at Tilly’s correction, and glanced up at her. ”I suppose that’s fair,” he allowed, sensing that arguing with her wouldn’t make a difference. He didn’t really see how wearing a mouth guard made you less aerodynamic, but that wasn’t really his business. He just nodded in silent agreement - he thought Ozzy was a keeper. But he didn’t wear extra protection. At least he wasn’t a member of the troll opera.

Sammy grinned. ”Course. You’re a pretty permanent fixture,” he observed, pointing his quill at her. At the end of the day, they were friends likely by virtue of proximity. But though Tilly represented many things Sammy disliked - which she aptly pointed out a few moments later - he could ignore these things in her favour. ”All of these things are true. Though I wouldn’t be so kind as to call Theo a rodent. That’s rather a step up,” he replied with a frown. ”Weird is fine. Dirty… well, I haven’t got to share a living space with you, so I don’t mind quite as much.” Sammy shrugged. ”Yeah, the rat thing though…” he trailed off. Mummy had taught him not to be rude, and Sammy couldn’t think of a single nice thing to say about the rodent. So instead, he was grateful that Tilly made a jibe about protecting her pretty face.

Exhaling a sigh of relief, Sammy replied. ”Do, I’d appreciate it,” he said with a grin. ”Yes, make sure everyone knows that it’s my handiwork. It was really disheartening when no one believed me when I charmed the suits of armour to sing ‘Rule, Britannia!’ whenever the Ilvermorny kids passed,” said Sammy with a frown. It had been his first year, but it wasn’t that impressive magic. He’d just had to understand their magical signatures, and imbue the armour with the charm. Yet of course it couldn’t be the work of a precocious first year. Unbelievable.

mathilde manon poole

[mathilde manon poole]

▲

”And I’m pretty?” she stated, ignoring every other word in the sentence. These were the kinds of fun jabs that she liked to take at the Vectors. Mostly because whenever she tried them with Theo, he effortlessly bounced them right back at her. She supposed having comfortable conversations like this is what made someone a friend in the first place, though her point still stood about being a counter to the Vector image. ”No, I agree. He’s more of a slug.” It was all in good fun though. Tilly quite liked her time spent with Theo. There was never a point where she was disappointed by any of it.

She wasn’t surprised that Sammy would have an issue with the pet rat thing. Weirdly, a lot of her classmates seemed to take issue with it. The school allowed it, why couldn’t she have one when others could have cats? If anything, Squeaks was a more reasonable pet to have at school. He barely took up any space, was clean, and never strayed far from her or his cage. She knew that the real reason was because it meant that all of the cat owners had to be responsible for the actions of their feline friends. ”Hmm…” she hummed, deciding not to pursue it any further. The Vectors had all been very clear about the rat, so there wasn’t a reason to push why. She knew where it originated from.

”That was you? I could have sworn someone told me it was your brother…” Though to be fair, Tilly could have heard Sammy and immediately had her brain default to the other. It had been a brilliant prank, and far more complicated to execute than a first year should normally be able to pull off. That was probably why no one attributed it to him. Tilly knew for a fact that she never would have been able to do that at that age, and maybe even not now. ”So how’d you even do that anyway?”

SAMUEL LEONHARD VECTOR ● 334

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0