Relaxation and rules of socialization

It has been about almost a month since the talk with the twins and things had been… good.

The lockdown had ended with no one the wiser about my actions, the twins had stopped following me and surprisingly enough Ron had stopped bullying Hermione.

Yeah, apparently the twins actually followed through on their words and talked to their brother. It was… pleasant, if useless to me personally, to know that my actions had resulted in her bullying stopping. Similar to the fuzzy feeling you'd get from helping an old lady cross the street.

Then there was the twins. Ever since they'd stopped following me I'd been able to finally wind down from stressed out state as I do things around the castle. Of course, that doesn't mean that they'd decided to leave me alone. No, for some reason the twins had decided that I was their friend now and insisted on doing things like sitting with me in the hall and such.

But while that sounds bad it really wasn't, for several reasons.

First, due to having enough essence for the foreseeable future I have a lot more free time than normal. This was partially due to me only drinking two or three doses a day to make the changing colours of my hair and eyes, caused from their consumption, seem more natural and partly since I don't have to sneak to the forest to grab animals to convert into essences which, while not the most time-consuming thing, also gave me quite a bit free time.

The second reason is that, ever since I've started drinking a dose or two of the 'troll liver' essence I've been needing less and less sleep. Now, I'm not absolutely sure that this sudden change was caused by the 'troll liver' essence, but the fact that I feel a burst of energy each time I drink it make me feel safe in saying it's related.

Regardless of the fact that essences made from magical creatures serve as pretty good energy drinks, it still meant that I had even more free time. Which was good for my studies and ritual skills progress, but it also resulted in me feeling something that I hadn't felt since my past life.

Burnt out.

Which was to be expected really since, as much as I enjoyed studying magic, I had hit the ' magical theory' part of the curriculum… or what was perhaps the driest thing that I've ever read. It didn't even help that I knew it was going to be supremely useful in the future, my motivation to study was at an all time low.

Which is where the another reason for why the 'twins trying to be my friends' wasn't a problem come in. They were actually really good companies… shocking, I know.

Despite their prankster reputation the twins weren't really all that bad to be around, possessing both maturity and a dark humour I wouldn't have expected from a pair of fourteen year olds. It was actually as close to talking casually with adults as I'd gotten, what with most actual adults treating me like a precocious kid at best.

But even more importantly, due to them being sons of a ministry official, even if it was from a 'useless' branch of the ministry, and purebloods they actually knew a lot about the nuances of magical Britain. Which was really good because I, and every other muggleborn in Britain, were completely shafted when it came to that.

Yeah, in a move that would surprise no one, the only way for innocent muggleborn children, such as myself, to actually fully learn the nuances of wizarding society was for purebloods to coach them in it. If for some reason that wasn't possible, like when most of the purebloods are racist or don't think that it's something worth teaching, the only thing the muggleborn would be able to do is go around and make a complete ass of themselves.

But on a more serious note, the twins did in fact teach me quite a few very important things about wizarding behaviour and etiquette while we joked around. Though the most relevant of which was 'hand etiquette'.

See, hand positioning and movement was actually very important to wizarding socialization. For example, if someone was to offer their hand to you and you didn't reciprocate or if you didn't also show your empty hand while you denied them it was considered very rude or offensive, at least in a formal setting.

There were many more scenarios like that one and, while they seemed somewhat arbitrary, they all revolved around one thing. Keeping your wand hand visible to others if you don't want to appear hostile. Which made sense in retrospect.

Wands were essentially guns but even more concealable, so talking to strangers with one hand out of sight is similar to putting a hand onto your gun holster. A good thing to know now, especially since I have a habit of fidgeting with my hands, and more than good enough justification for me to be friends with the twins.

Yes, I'm becoming there friend primarily because they are a valuable source of information, them being entertaining is a positive as well but not the main reason…

… though I will admit that the joke about witches and broom riding did have me in stitches, but only because of how unexpected it was.