“Fisk,” Ari put in as they walked - well, limped - towards the castle. Ben, or Benedict Sterling as he had just affirmed, sounded slightly worse for wear the further they went, so Ari quietly tried to take a little more of his weight, and tried, too, to distract him with a little more conversation.
“So what are you, Ben, a - second year?” Ari guessed, keeping a straight face as though he was quite serious. It was not that far off a guess, realistically, but Ari had a hunch he’d seen the Slytherin starting in some of his OWL classes in the last couple weeks, and he knew he hadn’t been there last year. (He was too loud to miss, that was obvious.)
But just as any fourth year would bristle to be called a third year, so he suspected a third year would be indignant about being called a second year. Although - with how daft he’d been being on the cursed broom back there, Ari thought he might’ve even called that first year behaviour. But, it turned out, he found he liked Ben Sterling too much already to say that.
“So what are you, Ben, a - second year?” Ari guessed, keeping a straight face as though he was quite serious. It was not that far off a guess, realistically, but Ari had a hunch he’d seen the Slytherin starting in some of his OWL classes in the last couple weeks, and he knew he hadn’t been there last year. (He was too loud to miss, that was obvious.)
But just as any fourth year would bristle to be called a third year, so he suspected a third year would be indignant about being called a second year. Although - with how daft he’d been being on the cursed broom back there, Ari thought he might’ve even called that first year behaviour. But, it turned out, he found he liked Ben Sterling too much already to say that.
