While Heath thought most of his classmates' answers were good, he was growing annoyed with a select few of them. The ones who said empathy was a waste of time, made comments about therapy, and used others as an example of what empathy was not - Their responses told him all he needed to know about them! He was glad the discussion ended when it did; otherwise it was only a matter of time until he said something he'd regret.

He listened as Schmoe spoke again, unsure what to make of the subject. Empathy wasn't exactly something you could learn in a classroom, and if some of his classmates' answers were any indication, they wouldn't want to learn it even if it were. Still, he had to respect Schmoe for trying.

Heath stared at the paper in front of him, at a loss for what to write. Sure, he could always go with one of the Ravenclaw stereotypes… bossy, know-it-all, weird.* But did those really apply to him? The last one probably, but he didn't want to acknowledge it by putting it down on paper. Instead his thoughts turned to assumptions people had made about him specifically, and one thing stuck out in his mind. It was the thing everyone always thought of him before they got to know him, even back in muggle school. It was the reason so few people befriended him, and it hurt. But in some ways, having people believe the assumption was better.

Uncapping the marker, he wrote down:



If anything, the reverse was true. He didn't speak because he felt too much! He cared a great deal what people thought of him, and the only way to avoid saying the wrong thing was to say nothing at all. As he placed his paper facedown on the table, he wondered what would everyone think if theu guessed which paper was his? Would they use his emotions against him like so many others had done?