Vincent Sean Goyle

Veronica never really made contact with the Potter kids, or the Weasley kids. She felt insecure enough without them casting a giant shadow over them. “Well you should get it a lot cause it’s true.” She really didn’t know what she just said, it just kinda slipped out.

"I bet it’s amazing isn’t it? I’ve always wanted to. But I don’t think it’s going to happen.  can barely ride a broom nevermind a hippogriff."

A little redness fell on the boys face, still avoiding her look. Something positive directed his way…That never happened. It was always something harsh or hurtful. He had no that such things existed. But he was grateful for it.  “Well thank you…It means a lot to me.” Once she mentioned the Hippogriff, the boy’s eyes slowly moved up.”Oh Merlin…Riding a Hippogriff is nothing like ride a broom. I’d try to explain it to you, but there aren’t words to describe such a feeling. I guess the only way for you to know is for you  to actually ride one yourself.”

She nodded. “Yeah, whenever I try to talk to one of the Potter or Weasley kids I get so nervous I just walk away before I embarrass myself even further.” Coming from the muggle world, she didn’t know anything of the Potter and Weasley family before she came to Hogwarts and when she did she was intimidated by them. A lot of people probably were. She just thought of herself as a nobody. She had one close friend, Alexandria. In the hallways she was always with her, but lately things had been different and people would now have their eyes on her. It was a bit nerve wracking really. “Well I never would have thought you were a nobody either.” Vincent seemed like the kind of guy most people would like. Handsome and friendly, not to mention kind and it puzzled her how he didn’t have more friends.

“They aren’t that bad…It just depends on which one you get. Like Molly and Lucy are alright. Even James or Rose, but the others…Not so much. I guess it all depends if they like you or not. At least that’s the way Albus is.” Vincent never really talked to Albus, but he just seemed that way. The reasonable thing to do would actually to go up to the Ravenclaw boy and strike up a conversation, but Vincent couldn’t do it. Albus wasn’t exactly his cup of tea. But he didn’t believe that about himself. That he didn’t seem like a nobody. Maybe it was just because he was used to things always being like this. “Thanks. I wish I could say that I get that a lot but I don’t…” He offered an awkward smile.

“I don’t see a probably with that….That is if you wanted to come down here on your way to see the Thestrals.” He shrugged as he shook his curly blonde locks. He really needed to work on his people skills. He slowly looked up to her. “Yeah I have, I actually do it quite a lot.”

"Oh? I’m not." She sighed with relief. Veronica worried she rambled too often. When she was little, she would ramble so much her brother would put duct tape. "Yeah nervous…" She kicked her feet a little in the dirt. "A nobody huh?..I know how that goes. I’m kind of a nobody too." Veronica was the black sheep of her family. Zach was known for his gambling rings in Hogsmeade and her parents were big business bugs who worked with Government officials daily. And then she was shy and invisible. 

The boy shook his head. “No…Not at all. But like I said, you honestly shouldn’t be, its not like you’re talking to James Potter or something.” Vincent cocked his head. He hardly thought of her as a nobody. Whenever he would see her in the halls, it always seemed that there was someone beside her or at least there was a group of students with their eye on her. Either way, Vincent  couldn’t believe that she thought she was a nobody. “Well if it makes you feel any better, I would have never of thought of that.” He shrugged as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Well,” Vincent pointed out, “I think you’d have to change a lot about your personality for that to happen.” His eyes quickly drifted down to the ground. “Well I’m always out here so you know where I’ll be at.”

Veronica stopped talking all of the sudden. She was dojng it again. “I’m sorry for my rambling. I do this thing where as soon as I meet someone new I get nervous and ramble..and i’m about to start doing it again.” She laughed. Veronica was hoping she hadn’t scared the boy off by all her talking. 

He quickly shook his head. “No...You aren’t rambling. At least you aren’t in my opinion. I actually admire you thoughts and opinions to be honest.” He shrugged he turned  on his feels and started to walk in a tiny circle. “Wait, you said nervous? You honestly have nothing to be nervous about…I’m a nobody.” It was true. He wasn’t as important as all those Weasley and Potter kids and he never would be. But that’s just the way life works. It was nothing he could change.

Vincent slightly nodded his head. That’s exactly what he meant but he couldn’t say it out loud. He knew that she probably didn’t act like all those girls, but he disagreed with here about her appearance. But he had no room to try and convince her differently. They hardly knew each other and why should she listen to him?”Yeah, those are exactly the girls I’m talking about. But I’m glad you aren’t like them…Maybe I’ll run into you more often out here then.”

Veronica nodded and looked into the bucket, then back up at him. “I’ve been seeing them since I came here, I come as often as I can. I’m surprised I’ve never seen you around before. You seem to know what your doing with the Hippogriffs. ” Veronica liked how careful he was with the creatures. He seemed to care a lot and she admired his passion. Not many people give these creatures the time of day and it was nice to see someone who did.

“But then again, who says he haven’t and not just noticed it. I know for myself once I’m here, I’m kinda focused on the animals only. I mean after all these years, it was bound to happen.” And there he was rambling again. That was one of the many things he had to work on. He knew he was probably boring her to death. He would be surprised if he saw her running for the hills after a moment or two more of this conversation.

“Well I’m afraid that if I tell you exactly what I mean, you might get frighten off. And it’s not often I get company up here, I couldn’t afford to jeopardize that.” A soft smile filled his lips as he kicked the dirt in front of him. “If you must know. Its not often you see girls whom look like you. Most others are worried about breaking a nail or something silly like that…And they also don’t want to get dirty.” Vincent was surprised at seeing her extend her arm. He gently took it and shook it. “I’m Vincent, Veronica. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

"Yes..I a-…" She sighed. She didn’t want to lie, he seemed very interested in magical creatures and surely wouldn’t find a problem with another student heading out to see Thesterals. "I’m sorry I lied, I mean I am going for a walk but I’m going to see some Thesterals, they do prefer red meat." She lifted the bucket. "Which is why I’ve got this." She lowered it. The Hippogriff came closer and she gently reached out her hand and stroked the creatures nose. She smiled, a genuine smile. Something she hadn’t done for a long time. 

“Oh, sorry I asked. It’s just not many people can even see a Thestral let alone go to visit them. But it looks like you know your stuff.” He pointed towards the bucket. There were times where Vincent felt like he was the only one who really cared about the creatures, but then he would run into people like this. And she couldn’t have been too bad of a person, otherwise the Hippogriffs wouldn’t have gotten as close as they did.

And just like that, the mysterious girl was leaving him. He should have known that she wasn’t going to stick around, no one did. But a person could only hope. Vincent turned back to the creatures as he heard her voice. The way she said it made it sound like she was offended and he never meant it like that. He was more surprised than anything. “What I meant was… well girls like you. Nothing bad or anything.”

             ❀ – Often times she would find herself unable to sleep after particularly tiring days. Today, she was forced to attempt flying on her broomstick, a talent that can be developed over time, according to her professor. It wasn’t flying that was the problem though. Mounting herself on the broomstick, levitating and moving forward — these were all simple actions. It was crashing that often led to her downfall, something her professor clearly didn’t understand as he had her practice the incantation twenty times each time she fell.

Listening to the snores of those around her, she made certain that all the others were asleep before slowly making her way out of bed. As her feet touched the floor, she thought through her excuses, what she would tell someone if she passed by them on her way out of the castle. She had a variety of options to choose from, since the last time she’d done this was last year. Still, this meant she was out of practice and needed to be extra cautious. Slipping on her shoes, she felt her way around the bed, grabbing her cane to make her way to the other side of the room, where her dog lay asleep. Gently placing her hand near his snouth, she felt his eyes open as he awakened. Her hand slid to his back as he stood up to stretch, apparently recalling the old routine.

Taking hold of the dog’s leash, she was led out of the common room and towards the staircase, where Peaches waited patiently before barking abruptly to let her know it was time to move. It was a shrill bark, though a rather short one, one she figured would awake the paintings. Her hand gliding over the railing, Alex shuffled down the stairs as quickly as possible, in attempts to avoid a scene. Once she was outside, it was much simpler. Peaches led her to the edge of Hagrid’s house, where she set her bag down and took out a small, nearly broken Muggle device and a few pieces of parchment. No sounds came from the house, no warmth nor smell, so she made her way into the forest without much of a thought to the noise she was making.

Seeing the girl in front of him, Vincent wasn’t sure how she found her way out here. Sure, he wasn’t technically allowed to be out her after hours, but he knew Hagrid would always bail him out. He watched as she turned around in a circle. She said she wasn’t lost yet it looked to him that she was. “Uh, you said you lost your dog? At this hour?” Vincent removed his hand from the creature and took a stand towards her. “This would be a strange hour for your dog to just wake up and wonder, don’t you think?”

There was something different about this girl, but Vincent couldn’t seem to place what it was exactly. He sighed as he looked back to the creatures and then to the girl. He didn’t think she would be the type to rat him out for being out during this hour, seeing that she was doing the same thing, but you never know. He had to make sure that she wasn’t just going to go off and tell on him to James or one of the professors. “And before you get the wrong impression, I have permission to be out here. I have a note from Hagird if you really want to see it.” Please don’t ask for it…Please don’t ask for it. He really had to stop adding so many details to his lies, especially the ones like this that would get him caught.

She had no classes at the moment which meant causal clothes. She wasn’t one to dress up. Veronica would never be seen without her black converse sneakers on and a pair of blue jeans to match. Along with that she had a baggy white tank top on. She carried a few hair elastics on her wrist in case she went for a ride on the Thestrals. 

The smell of the Hagrid’s hut was something she’d never get used to . The plants smelled fine but it was the aroma of the creatures droppings or fool that made her face twist every time. But after getting past it she managed to find the trail that lead her to the Thestral grounds. After walking for less than two minutes she stepped on a rather large branch, triggering a reaction around her.

After he realized he was gawking at the poor girl, he shook his head and brought his attention back to the creatures in front of him. After spending so much time alone and here away from the other students, Vincent sometimes found it hard to actually hold a solid conversation. “You’re going out for a walk with a bucket full of raw meat?” He raised an eyebrow as he peered at her out of the corner of his eye. He assumed that she wasn’t actually going out for just a walk but more or less to go visit and feed one of the many creatures that held a home here on the grounds, but what?

It didn’t matter where she was going because Vincent was never going to ask her. He always stayed to himself and that included now. The boy finished smoothing out a hippogriffs’ feathers and then took a step forward, he was carefully not to get to close to her. “Sorry, I’m just not used to seeing people out here during this time of the day, especially not students like you.”

In such a large school, it was easy for her to slip by without anyone really bothering with her, however. She was no one, and nothing, special. She was a simple witch who tried her best, did as she was told, and tried to keep herself out of trouble. It seemed as though, at this moment, she wasn’t doing such a good job. “I suppose it doesn’t.” she said calmly, her voice gentle as she spoke. “I’m not disappointed by your presence.” she pointed out, because she genuinely wasn’t. Even though he was less than nice to her, she had no issues with him. She had intruded, she understood that, and it was perfectly okay for him to be annoyed with her. All of the aggression he had towards her at the moment, she felt as though she deserved.

Lotte made an attempt to move towards him as he began to speak, and clearly changed his mind. She didn’t know the boy, sure, but she was a caring person. Although she knew he probably wouldn’t want to share whatever was on the tip of his tongue with her, she wanted him to know that he could if he wanted to. “It’s not nothing,” she protested, shaking her head slightly. “If you want to talk, I’m more than happy to. I’ve been told I’m a good listener.” she gestured to the hippogriffs, in an attempt to lighten the mood. “It’s okay,” she encouraged with a slight nod. “I really don’t mind. I don’t think they like me very much.” she said softly, though she had noticed how much they seemed to like him. 

“Its okay if you were…I know I’m nowhere near the company that Hagrid is… A don’t think there’s anyone else out there quite like him.” And Vincent really meant it. He never met anyone else who shared the same passion as he did for the creatures on Hogwarts grounds. Hagrid was a very loving and caring person, anyone would be a fool to think different. The boy often wished that he could be more like the older man, but that wasn’t in the plan of restoring his family name. Instead he had to be more like Potter, as much as he hated that.

He thought about her offer. Did he really want to spill out his heart and all his problems to another student? Especially a stranger? Vincent slowly shook his head, “Thanks for the offer, but I think I might pass on that right now.” Once the girl explained how they didn’t like her, he  couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “It could be because you didn’t bow when you first greeted them… They don’t hate you, they just don’t know you.” Vincent looked over to them as he patted their heads.