Good Day.....Bad Day

[Drew Thornton]

"Yeah. I know," Drew answered with curt sarcasm. He scratched the back of his head and winced a bit, not believing he was going to ask her what he was about to ask. "Okay... tell me the damage. Did I pass anything?"

[arianna]

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course," Arianna replied with an encouraging smile. Drew had barely passed that one, but of course he wouldn't have failed it. Even after the events of last school year. "And Care of Magical Creatures."

"I don't think I want to trade you for these," she pushed the paper over to Drew with an almost apologetic smile on her lips. It wasn't her fault, but she felt bad that Drew had done so poorly. Maybe she could have done something to help him do better.

[Drew Thornton]

"That's it?" Drew asked, picking the paper up. Okay, he was expecting a pass in Defence (though he thought he had done better than an A) and Creatures was a give away, but he had really thought he would have gotten at least a couple of more passes. Even his Runes grade was Poor.

He pushed the parchment away from him again, grunting with frustration. Yeah, his dad was working on getting him a retake, but would he really do any better?

[arianna]

"I could help you study," Arianna suggested carefully. She's offered doing so before, but Drew rarely took her up on it. Arianna wasn't sure if this time would be any different, though the prospect of OWLs pretty much determining what you could do in the future Drew might consider it, right? "I know you can do a thousand times better than that. You were just having a really really bad week."

[Drew Thornton]

"Bad week. There's the understatement of the year," he answered with a wry smile. No, he wasn't mad at Arianna. He was mad at himself that he had let the whole thing get to him so badly. He had let Shaw win.

"Yeah, I could probably use the help," he admitted. He knew that he knew the stuff, but having someone to go over it with him could only make it easier to get it all back.

[arianna]

"Okay," Arianna smiled. So she wasn't sure how much help she could give Drew, but it wouldn't hurt, right? Anyone could do the flashcard stuff and she could help him with spell practice. And they'd both already taken the tests once, so they knew what was coming. That certainly was a benefit. "And maybe you can help me with this Quidditch Captain stuff."

Arianna wasn't quite ready to accept that she was now in charge of the Ravenclaw team, but she had to start somewhere. This year could certainly be an interesting one.

[Drew Thornton]

"Yeah, I could do that," Drew answered with a small shrug, figuring that Ari was given the badge and not him for a reason. If Raynor hadn't thought she couldn't do it, the Deputy wouldn't have given it to her. "First step is to start beliving you deserve this, okay?"

[arianna]

"Well...I have played every position except keeper..." Arianna muttered. Maybe that could be a benefit? If she knew how each position worked, she would find it easier to give pointers, right? But it had been a while since she had played anything but seeker and she certainly wasn't going to give that up. "I...suppose I do... I just...never thought anyone else would think so."

[Drew Thornton]

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Drew told her, starting in with the omlet stuff because Ari seemed preoccupied and he was getting hungry. "The problem with that is you keep it up and it becomes a vicious cycle. Okay, everyone has a few moments of self doubt, but if you really believe it for any length of time, it ends up being reality, you know?"

[arianna]

Arianna sighed. She knew Drew was right, but it was hard to convince yourself that you deserved something when nearly everything else you have ever thought you deserved went to someone else. It didn't help that she hadn't ever really wanted to be quidditch captain. Let someone else deal with the pressures of practices and whining teammates and worrying how well your team would do next game.

"So how am I supposed to convince myself that I'll be a good Captain?" Arianna asked, feeling a little silly and embarrassed to have to ask.

[Drew Thornton]

"I don't know," Drew answered honestly and he busied himself with beating the eggs. If she couldn't figure this out, then as a team they were in for a rough season. Maybe she was right. Maybe she wasn't ready to be captain. The thought worried Drew but he kept it to himself. "It's just there and you have to get it out of you. I don't know."

[arianna]

Arianna frowned slightly. At least Drew wasn't faking knowing how to get her to believe she could be captain. It was also good that he hadn't made his thoughts known. It was bad enough that Arianna was thinking along the same lines. She needed to know someone thought she could do an okay job with the team.

"Well...Raynor thinks I can do it..." Arianna said this more to herself than to Drew. It was a start, wasn't it? Raynor would have given it to someone else if she hadn't thought Arianna could do it. That was enough to quench the doubt a bit.

[Drew Thornton]

"Yeah," Drew answered, agreeing on that point. Raynor's trust said a lot about it actually. She didn't give out pity badges like some of the other Heads of House were inclined to do.

As she mulled it over more, he placed the egg mixture in a pan, starting up the omlettes. Ari would come around to the right conclusion eventually. He was sure of it.

[arianna]

Well, whether or not she felt good about having the Captain's badge, Arianna was going to have to live with it for a while. Raynor trusted her to be the right one for the job and Arianna would have to prove she was just that. Even if she wasn't 100% worthy at the moment, she would try to be. Arianna definitely didn't want anyone to think she had gotten Quidditch Captain because someone felt bad about not giving her any of the other badges.

"You know I like everything in mine, right?" now that she had decided to give the job her all, Arianna wandered over to the stove to help with the cooking. As Drew had said, she would eventually figure out why she was given the badge. It might come slowly, but she'd get it.

[Drew Thornton]

"Who said this was for you?" Drew asked, looking at her with a sideways smirk as he threw a little of everything on top of the egg mixture. "So besides breakfast, what else are we doing today?" He was hoping to hit the beach, dressed as he was, but that was just him.