Let's Hope the Stars Align PV Finished

H-hi. I am Raven- I mean, no, I'm not Ravenclaw, I'm Cecily Queen. I'm from Ravenclaw. House. Uh, what is y-your name?

Cecily was a bit startled as the girl turned toward her with an annoyed look. This girl definitely was mad at something. Cecily's mood completely changed when she emphasized her last name. She acted as if Cecily was some clueless, shy, dumb, witch! Okay, maybe Cecily was a little shy, but certainly not clueless or dumb! At this point, Cecily was not nervous to talk to her anymore. Cecily was never afraid to talk to people who were mean. She had never really encountered anyone who was mean, thankfully, but always made sure she would never back away from a person like Anastasia.

"Good to meet you, Anastasia Beckett," Cecily said standing up a little straighter.
If the girl put emphasis on her last name, she would want Cecily to put emphasis on her last name, right?

Before moving on to a question, Cecily studied the girl. She had brown hair and brown eyes. She seemed very slender and very very pretty. Yes, everything about her was very pretty. However, she definietly seemed annoyed at something. It was written all over her face.

Cecily studied her surroundings. She was for sure doing some kind of homework. Some kind of essay. Most likely astronomy. This made Cecily smile. Maybe they could be study buddies.

Not in a million years, Cecily thought. This girl was not her type. If she thought Cecily was some shy, clueless, dumb, Ravenclaw witch there was no way Cecily would study Astronomy with her.

Cecily did not leave Anastasia, though. She wanted to help Anastasia. She seemed annoyed at something, but what was it? Ah, how questions are such a helpful tool when wanting to help people. That was just the thing.

"Anastasia. Anastasia Beckett, are you okay? You seem very... disturbed about something. Is everything alright? Is it that essay you are writing?" Cecily asked.

It would be a little rude for Anastasia not to answer her question when Cecily was being so polite. Cecily would have totally understood if it was the essay that was troubling her. Sometimes essays were hard and long and tedious. Cecily was almost positive that Anastasia would say that she hated essays. Almost everyone at Hogwarts hated homework, especially essays. To this day, Cecily hadn't met someone who knew that homework was good for them and so therefore they did it without complaining. Sadly, that just wasn't too common at Hogwarts.

Anastasia glanced at the girl, rather offended by the way the girl said her name. The Beckett name was not something to mock! Honestly, who did this girl think she was? She was a second year at best, so it wasn't like she was far older than Anastasia or anything. Anastasia despised people who thought that they were better simply by virtue of them being older than her. Either you were better than someone or you weren't. For example, according to her parents, nearly all Purebloods were superior to most Half bloods and all Muggle borns. Age wasn't relevant in the slightest. This girl was likely a Half blood or a Muggle born, or maybe a poor Pureblood, but whatever the case, Anastasia didn't see why she should act as though she wanted this encounter to last longer than was absolutely necessary. 

"I'm positively peachy, thank you very much. And yes, I am in fact writing an essay, which I'd like to get back to, as I happen to find it quite interesting," Anastasia said, smiling tightly. She really hoped that this girl would take the hint and go back to whatever she had been doing. She knew that she was laying it on a bit thick, she didn't love to write essays, but she didn't hate them either. She preferred other kind of homework, but she liked homework overall, and liked to write.  

Cecily didn't know what to think. This girl seemed annoyed at everything Ceily said, even Cecily emphasizing her last name. She had emphasized it herself, and yet she seemed offended when Cecily said it the way she did. This girl already seemed too complicated.

Cecily was even more puzzled at Anastasia's reply to her question. So she was positively peachy? And she finds her essay interesting? No, she definitely looked like she did not the Astronomy homework. Or something else that annoyed her was making her not like it.

The worst part was when Anastasia smiled. No, that was not a smile. Cecily knew what a real smile was, and this was one hundred years away from a real smile.

Cecily decided to play along by being sarcastic.

"Of course you are. You are most definietly positively peachy. You've only just acted like I'm some sort of dumb witch that won't know how to say someone's last name. That's definietly positively peachy. Anastasia, something is bothering you, and I know it. I'm only asking what's disturbing you. I'm only trying to be helpful. Isn't there anything I can do for you? Or do you just want to act annoyed at everyone who comes by until you figure it out yourself?

Cecily might have been a little too harsh, but she wasn't thinking about that at this point. She knew something was bothering the girl. She knew she could help in some way, if only the girl would be friendly to her. Cecily was always understanding, or at least she tried to be to all her friends. Anastasia wasn't her friend, and Cecily didn't know if she would ever be, but she still knew that she was someone in need, and desperately wanted to help her. In any way she could.

Anastasia rolled her eyes so far back into her head she was surprised she didn't see her brain. Couldn't this girl take a hint? Anastasia had an essay to finish, and she really hoped she'd be done with that before her detention this afternoon. She had no idea how long it might take, and she wanted to at least have her Sunday off. This girl's relentless babbling was getting on her nerves, and stopping her from finishing the stupid essay. 

She managed to keep the tight smile on her face because she was worried that if she didn't, she might glare at this girl and that would be quite improper no matter what the circumstance. Her normal practiced smile looked a lot more natural than her current one, but her actual smile was quite different even from that.

"Do you really, truly want to know what's bothering me? You are," Anastasia said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. She had lost the small amount of patience she'd had, which hadn't been much to start off with, and just wanted the girl to leave her alone. She'd tried hinting at it, but the girl was too thick to get it, so she'd gone with a more direct approach. "I really just want to finish my assignment, and I'm not in a particularly social mood today."

Cecily sighed, waiting for Anastasia to answer. Maybe Cecily was being annoying. Maybe Cecily should just let this girl be. She definitely seemed very upset at something.

"Do you really, truly want to know what's bothering me? You are."

Cecily felt her face getting hot. She was going to cry. This girl was too much. Cecily felt water at her eyelashes, if she kept this up Anastasia would be seeing tears streaming down her face. No, she wouldn't let it happen. She wouldn't cry in front of Anastasia.

Really? Was Anastasia upset because of her? Cecily could believe it. She had made someone upset because she just said hi and asked them if there was anything she could help them with.

Cecily couldn't understand it. She didn't understand these kind of people at Hogwarts. There were plenty of people like Anastasia at Hogwarts who thought everything and everyone's life revolved around them.

Cecily couldn't stop the tears from forming in her eyes.

"I don't get you. You're bothered by me because I said hello to you and I asked you if there was anything I could do for you. You know, I just don't get people sometimes! I don't get how people could be bothered by that! If someone said that to me, I would be thankful! Thankful that people are looking after me. But no, you're just annoyed at me! Don't you realize I was just trying to be nice?" With that, Cecily broke down sobbing.

"I-I w-will leave you alone because I d-don't want to talk to you if you're b-bothered that I did s-something nice! I hope you're proud of yourself, Anastasia. Y-you just made s-someone c-cry because they did s-something nice for you. "
Cecily sobbed and sobbed, then gave one last look at Anastasia. She shook her head, still crying, and left for the Entrance Hall. Even though the Library was one of Cecily's favorite place to be when she was sad or discouraged, she could not stay there.

Anastasia raised an incredulous eyebrow when the girl's eyes began to fill with tears. Was she honestly going to start crying because of something a stranger had said? A stranger who was clearly in a bad mood and had already said some less than kind things? If it had been Ana, she wouldn't have thought all that much about what the stranger had said. So why did this girl?

Her smile was now more of a grimace as the girl's eyes began to brim. She really was about to cry. Why couldn't she just go do that in her room and leave Anastasia alone? She had homework to finish and after that a bloody detention to get to. She didn't feel like having to deal with some annoying crybaby. 

"Sweetheart, I didn't ask for you to help me or speak to me. I tried to hint that I wanted you to leave nicely, and you just were to caught up in your fantasy of me desperately needing your help, but you didn't get it. So, I had to be blunt," Anastasia said frankly. It really wasn't all that complicated. She had wanted to be left alone, had hinted at it politely, and when the politeness hadn't worked, she had been more direct. Maybe a bit more direct than she'd really needed to be, but it appeared to be working, so she didn't feel too badly about that. 

"Oh, my! I've made someone I find irritating cry. I've never done that before. Whatever shall I do?"  Anastasia said sarcastically. She chewed her lip, feeling a bit bored while the girl just stood there and cried. Did she not understand Anastasia's focus on her homework? She felt a tinge of guilt when the girl ran off, but not too much. After all, she'd only been honest when the girl had asked a question. Some people were just so bloody sensitive. No matter, she had an essay to finish.

Reducio

OOC Note - I feel kinda bad for Cecily rn! Anastasia isn't normally this awful, she's just in a foul mood. End then?