 be curious, not judgmental
He was SAYING she didn't need to be defensive with him, but Sophie was unsure of that, based purely upon how fidgety and nervous he currently was. But she understood the dismissiveness behind his tone, so she dropped it, too. Still, she was sorry. Soooorry.
And then he said it: you should make sure you are running towards something... rather than away from. His words resonated with her deeply and a pensive expression graced her features, considering that mantra for many long moments before responding, "That's very good advice, professor. I'll keep that in mind." It might have been just what she needed, actually, and the hint of redness in her cheeks gave away just how right he may have been in accusing her of running away from things.
"Thanks," she added as an afterthought, just as the professor pulled an object from his breast pocket, and... what... in... Merlin's name...
The Ravenclaw's expression gradually turned from confused, to curious, to beyond ecstatic over the span of about three seconds. "No way. Is that...? Lemme SEE!" She LEAPED UP from the piano bench and hurried over toward the professor, her hands extended and making grabbing motions as she approached - and when she was close enough to confirm that it was what she thought it was, she gasped.
"This is one is SOOOOO COOL!" Her first thought was that she wanted to borrow it, her second thought was that she'd better get Tobes in on the action, too, or he'd be super jealous later, and her THIRD thought was that Flamsteed would look MEGA cool with it on his own hands - and her sparkly, elated eyes drifted to the man's fingers at the very thought. "D'you want me to do your nails? Where did you GET this color? I've never seen-- I mean, I've NEVER--" Her eyes were wide and bright with overwhelming excitement, and she was facing a severe inner struggle between keeping her composure enough to be mature in front of a professor whom she greatly respected and COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT OVER HIS GLITTERY, COLORFUL, SUPER NERDY NAIL POLISH.
"The appeal is that it's awesome and when you're WEARING nail polish you feel like you're, like... an invincible SUPERHERO. It's EMPOWERING and looks fancy and adds extra style and PIZZAZZ to complete your look and I swear I'll give you a galleon if you let me and Tobes borrow it." No matter how complicated things were with Tobes, she would NOT leave him out of fancy nail times.
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