Charlies completed homework lay in front of her on the table, and she leant back in her chair as she pushed her pencil behind her ear and took her glasses off. Even though she was actually finished with all of her studying, the sixth year found the Study tables quiet and calm, and a lovely place to just sit.

She left her parchment on her table before rummaging through her bag for a book of some sort. The Great Gatsby went on the bottom of the pile, followed by Pride and Prejudice and Rebecca. She'd read these all before - of course, they weren't as torn up and battered as her beloved copy of Romeo and Juliette, but still, she wanted something new.

Wuthering Heights? That sounded good.

Gwen had seen her name next to Charlie's on the buddy sheet. She was already regretting putting her name down. Not because she had any problem with the sixth year girl, but because it seemed weird. What was she supposed to say? 'Hi I'm Gwen and we've been assigned to be friends'? That would be super strange.

She spotted the girl at the study tables, recognizing her from seeing her around the common room and Great Hall. Deep breaths. This was normal. This was just like meeting a person. Charlie could help Gwen with homework, which, if she admitted it to herself, she really needed a lot of help with.

Arms full of schoolbooks, just after classes had gotten over, Gwen approached the older girl. "Hey, are you Charlie?" Gwen had no freaking idea how to pronounce her last name, and she wasn't about to try. She would only make a fool of herself. If she was lucky, the other girl might say it, or Gwen might hear someone else say it.

Gwen realized a second too late that she was interrupting the sixth year who was just beginning a book. Whoops. It was a big thick book too. The kind that Gwen wouldn't even bother to pick up. By Emily Bronte. Of course, Gwen knew all about classic books. When she was little, as bedtime stories her dad would read them to her. Her favorite was Great Expectations. However, the prospect of reading them herself was daunting. Maybe she should have picked a different time to approach Charlie. Like, when she wasn't just starting on a book. Or maybe it was better to catch her at the beginning before she got wrapped up in it? Ravenclaws tended to do that. Get wrapped up in books.

Eighteen-oh-one - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.

From the first sentence, Charlie knew she was going to love this book. There was just something about classics that she adored, and they made her ponder what it was like such a long time ago. How many people had read this same story in the last couple of hundred years? How many peoples lives had it affected, and how many had loved it?

She'd barely gotten past the first paragraph when Charlie felt eyes on her. The feeling caused her to look up from the page, and slide a bookmark into the crease of the paper. This was her buddy, right? Offering the younger girl a grin, she leant forward in her chair a little a placed the book down onto the pile.

On top of Romeo and Juliet, but not covering the title.

Then the... second year, was she? Spoke. "Charlie. That's me. You're Gwen, right?" Maybe she should have approached the younger girl, gone and found her and offered her help? It was too late to think about that, now, though. "Want to sit down?" There was a chair opposite. And just enough room on the table for Gwen to put her big stacks down.

Gwen dropped her heavy books onto the table in the empty space. That was okay, right? Charlie didn't need that spot? The twelve year old nodded. "Yeah, I'm Gwen. I guess we're supposed to be mentoring buddies or something." Stupid idea, putting her name on the list. This was the most uncomfortable meeting ever. Well, not ever, but it probably made the top 50 on the list of awkward meetings that Gwen would maybe ever have.

What was she supposed to say now? Gwen took the offered chair. It would have been rude not to. "Um, so you like reading?" There, that was brilliant. So you like reading? She was sitting there reading a giant book on a stack of other books. She obviously liked reading. Gwen glanced at the title. Weather something. Underneath it though was a familiar title that caught Gwen's eye and twisted her mouth into a frown. Romeo and Juliet. She had never liked that play.

So the younger girl was making use of the empty space. YAY! Charlie smiled, glad that the girl hadn't though she was going to be demanding an possessive of the table space. Nope, that little spot was all Gwens now. "Buddies. That's right. Sorry I didn't come and find you earlier, I... uh...." have no excuse. That would have finished off this awkward introductory meeting nicely.

Why had Charlie signed up for this again? It's not like she knew much about being a young kid at Hogwarts having... well, having never actually been one. Maybe she could just homework help and recommend books and clothes?

That sounded like a good idea.

"I... yeah, I like reading. Particularly the classics. Do you?" Read? Like reading? Like the classics? Charlie was practically begging the second year to give her something to work with here, and hopefully make this whole thing less strained. Speaking of strained, the frown that crossed Gwens mouth did no go amiss, and begged one to be placed on Charlie's features, too. "Are you okay?" Did she smell, or something?

"It's okay," the American girl smiled. "It's just, I saw you here so I figured I might as well introduce myself." See? It wasn't that she was upset that Charlie hadn't found her sooner. It was just making use of the opportunity that presented itself. A million thoughts were racing through her head and Gwen tried to sift and find something relative to the conversation they were having. There wasn't really much there. She could ask the ever important question about whether it was true elephants didn't have ankles, but Charlie would probably think she was way too weird after that question.

"I hate Romeo and Juliet," Gwen blurted out when Charlie asked her if she liked the classics. Immediately she wished she could take the words back. Obviously Charlie liked the play. Gwen's blue eyes got wide and she covered her mouth. She couldn't apologize for it, because she wasn't sorry. "I didn't mean that it's not good. I mean, I just don't like it. Not that your taste in books is bad or anything. I'm sure it's great. I mean, you probably read a lot of good books. You're in Ravenclaw after all. I've never read..." what was the book on top? "Wuthering Heights." She was just digging herself deeper and deeper into the hole by now and her face was bright red. She could feel the heat of embarrassment emanating off of it.

There was no way to fix this. Not that Gwen could see. There was that whole buddies thing gone. Now that Gwen had inadvertently insulted Charlie's choice in reading material and practically her intelligence on top of that, the older girl was never going to want to see Gwen again. And who was Gwen to criticize what other people read? She practically couldn't even read at all.

A smile was good, right? Charlie grinned back, noting the younger girls accent. "I'm almost annoyed with you for being so confident." When she started, Charlie was barely able to approach anyone, and she'd been in her fourth year. "You're from America, yeah?" Like Connor was. And like Elodies family. What was it like, where abouts, can I come visit?

All of the questions for you, Gwen.

Or at least, you'd have them asked soon enough. At her next words, though, Charlie was shocked, and it showed in her eyes, but at Gwen's reaction to her own speech, the seventeen year old couldn't help but smile, and almost laugh. And her little ramble, it was so cute! "I can understand that. I don't like a lot of good books." She shrugged a little, eyeing the pile before continuing. "Literature is subjective, not everyone's going to like the same thing." Like Dels and Lottie loved Game of Thrones, right? Too much gore and, ahem... for Charlie. She'd tried, a long time ago. "Well, if it's any good, I'll recommend it to you." Flipping the book over, Charlie motioned it towards Gwen. She'd even do lending and stuff if it was any good. There was, however, one burning question on the older girls lips.

"Why? I mean, what about Romeo and Juliet don't you like?" Book discussions were fun, you know. Unless she was going to make her cry over her favourite thing.

Annoyed with her for being so confident? Was it not obvious that Gwen was shaking on the inside, completely afraid of rejection? She shrugged and smiled like she was the confident girl Charlie was imagining. "My dad is a lawyer. Confidence comes with the territory." Because he was not going to stand for a child who didn't speak up. That was the nice thing about having a lawyer for a father. There was nothing Gwen couldn't tell him. And no rules were set in stone. If she had a solid argument as to why the rule should be changed, it would be.

The blonde girl nodded at the question. "Yeah. Sort of. I mean, my mom and siblings live in London now but I grew up just outside of New York City." Her mother had been from England in the first place, and she had cousins and grandparents there, but she considered herself American. She even had a little bitty flag hanging above her bed.

Gwen felt like she was talking a lot about herself. "Um, where are you from?" It seemed like an appropriate question. What Gwen really wanted to ask was 'how do you pronounce your last name?' but she worried it would be rude.

Literature is subjective. Gwen turned the words over in her head. That made sense. Because nothing was ever going to be so perfect that it spoke to everyone. Maybe just art in general was subjective. Literature was art, wasn't it? Ha! As if Gwen could read that huge book! Gwen wasn't a reader. Not that she didn't like books, she did, very much. Reading was just so difficult for her. Maybe she could borrow a copy from the library over Christmas and ask someone to read it to her.

Annora might do it. The problem with Annora reading though, was that Gwen couldn't close her eyes and lay back. She had to pay attention. Which wasn't so bad. Maybe her dad would read it to her. She was spending Christmas with him this year.

Gulp. What about Romeo and Juliet didn't she like? People didn't generally like to have their favorite things attacked. Gwen had learned pretty quickly that most Ravenclaws were different, welcoming the chance to argue their point. She just hoped Charlie was one of those kinds of people. "I think it's heralded as a great love story, and honestly? It's a story about hate, and teenage romance. It's about how the hate of two families caused their children to die. If Romeo and Juliet had never been forbidden to see each other, they would have dated for a few weeks and broken up. At that age of thirteen nobody loves another person enough to marry them. Hell, your brain isn't even fully developed at that age! Gwen knew that she wasn't about to get married in a year. It just bothered her that everyone talked about how much Romeo and Juliet loved each other, but it was rebellion and hormones. Not the same as love. They were stupid kids who threw their lives away for no reason.

Study tables… yup. These were tables, and she was going to be studying. Therefore, they were the study tables. Kate set her herbology textbook and a packet of parchment on an empty table and collapsed in a chair. This was where she was meeting her Ravenclaw buddy person, right? Kate was 90% sure of it. But the guy wasn't here yet, so maybe she'd gotten the day wrong.

Either way, she needed to do her herbology homework. Kate opened her textbook and stared blankly at a picture of a plant.

Homework. Despite Andrew's passion for learning and studious nature, he had never been a fan of being told precisely what to study, especially if there was a deadline. There was just something about being on a time limit that stressed Andrew more than it should. Stressing while studying often spoiled his appetite for the subject matter, - Not that Herbology had ever been his favorite subject - and made it difficult to focus. The one consolation was that at least he didn't have to stress alone. Today was the day he was going to meet his so called... 'Eagle Comrade'. Stepping up to the study tables, he spotted a young girl who appeared to fit the bill for the person he'd been partnered up with.

"Kate, was it?" He asked hesitantly, poking the girl on the shoulder. She didn't appear to be too interested in the book she'd been reading, so Andrew figured he was off the hook for so rudely disturbing the first year.

If Kate had been actually reading or concentrating on the book, she would have jumped. As she wasn't, she heard footsteps approaching and wasn't altogether surprised when she was poked. Turning her head to look at the older boy, Kate grinned, happy for a distraction. "Yep, that's me!" Kate said with a nod. "You're…Andrew, right?" Unless there were somehow multiple older students who randomly knew her name, she was pretty sure she was right.

Andrew smiled, letting out a sigh of relief and nodding at the younger student. He had been looking for Kate, and being a bit of a klutz, he worried he wouldn't find her. He was relieved at having found her almost immediately. There was much to talk about, but for now the next item on the list was introductions. "Yes, I'm Andrew." He confirmed, placing his heavy stack of books up on the table. He extended a hand for the first year to shake. "I suppose that makes you my... 'Eagle Comrade'." He said, taking a seat next to her. Glancing over at his stack of books, he let out a sigh, knowing that no matter how long their introductions took, homework was next on the list.

Kate shook the boy's hand. Oh yeah. 'Eagle Comrade', not Ravenclaw buddy. Kate eyed Andrew's stack of books. It somehow looked taller than her stack. Maybe that was what happened when you became a sixth year. Whatever it was, Kate wasn't particularly looking forward to it. But. She did have to get her herbology homework done. "Right. Eagle Comrade. Now homework?"

Not to be abrupt or anything, but the sooner they actually started doing their homework, the sooner it would be finished. "Have you looked at the herbology yet? I don't know which option to choose. I don't like options."

Oh boy. This girl got right to the point. Homework was on the agenda and there was no way around it. "Right.. Homework." He sighed and tried getting himself into the right mindset. It was best not to think about how much work there was left to be done, but rather about setting small goals and reaching them. Step one was apparently to have a look at the Herbology assignment.

Reaching into his book stack and dragging out the herbology textbook, he shook his head at Kate. "I haven't looked at it yet, no." He grimaced, not wanting to come across as a procrastinator. "Oh no, Options? I hate options!" He agreed with her, dreading this assignment before even taking a second look at it.

"A lawyer? That's cool - what kind?" You know, assuming that he was a Muggle lawyer. Charlie wasn't even sure if the Wizarding world had lawyers or not, or how a court process worked here. But Muggle lawyers she knew about: Valeria had her watching enough crime dramas to practically qualify as one. Not that she ever would be interested, however. Confidence was good, though. Maybe if her dad wasn't a locked-up herbologist she'd be able to come out of her shell a little more. "New York?" Charlie's eyes lit up at the city's name, and she leant forward, probably a little too eagerly. "What's it like?" Because, if she was going to go there for university, she wanted ALL of the opinions. ALL of them.

Unless Gwen thought that it was super horrible. She wasn't so sure if she wanted to hear about it, if that was the case.

Where was she from? Oh, yes, the long explanation of why she had no accent and a name that no one could pronounce. "My father's from Leicestershire, and my mama's from Poland. So I lived in Poland until I was... sixish, and then moved over here. I spend more time in London, now, though." It was pretty lucky that she had a sister with a flat there, and a pretend sister to live with when it got too lonely. Vinnie was such a good friend to offer her a place to stay during the holidays. It beat seeing her dad, anyway, although she'd loved getting to know her baby sister lately. Charlie was never sure, however, where she considered home - there hadn't been a set place where she'd grown up as she'd alternated holidays between the two places, and although she was so much closer to her mother, she had to admit that he father brought her up.

It was too difficult to pin anything down. Maybe one day, she could live in Paris. That would be home immediately, she knew. Paris, Paris, Paris. Perfect city that it was. Could she move there now? Would someone pay for her? Maybe she could do a collection.

"In my opinion," Charlie began, as her heart was crushed a little under Gwens precise analysis. "You're far too clever." When she was... what, thirteen? - she would definitely have been prepared to run away with someone who so much as looked at her the way Romeo thought about Juliet. She knew, of course now, that the whole thing was far too overrated, but feelings were strong and stuff. Charlie had been there. Not the whole marriage stuff, but... the other things. "You're completely right, of course." And ultimately one of the many reasons Charlie enjoyed the book so much. Gwen's swift interpretation showed the flaws of a beautifully written storyline. "It's actually a story about lust, and the power of hate. And the power of death." You know, the whole 'our kids died let's be friends now' ending. Even if the love scenes were sordidly cute.

She was just a sucker for sixteenth century language.

Jasmine decided that she would head to the study tables to complete her Divination homework assignment. She had chosen the Valentine card option because, well she liked doing crafty stuff. It also seemed to be the easier of the two options, but it really wasn't. Trying to decide who should receive her card was harder than writing an essay......at least she thought so.

Jasmine had brought her supply of pens, markers and such down from the dormitories. Claiming a table, she sat down and spread out her materials. Now for the hard part. Which Professor should she choose? Unfortunately her favorite Professor was not an option. Jasmine briefly considered making a card for Professor Culloden, but she knew that the card she was envisioning would not be suitable for him. Glancing at her list of choices again, she decided to make a card for Professor Domingo. That decision made, Jasmine began to think about what to put on her card.

So who actually used these tables? NOT Dima (mostly cause he didn't study very much), but he planned to do a VERY big favor to those true Ravenclaws who did. Toasty areas for good brain crunching, how did that sound? Really gross, to be honest, but he was sure the NERDS would appreciate it.

"Caelum Saepio!" He traced a large infinity sign over the wall nearest to one of the biggest tables, beaming to himself when some faint fog was emitted into the air. More over there? "Caelum Saepio!" Another horizontal eight later, Dima was watching more fog dissolving into the air.

Man, he was good at this.

Jasmine got back to her Common Room and went to the study area. Taking out her notes, she reviewed the spell to make bluebell flames. Now she had to practice. Jasmine reached into her bag and took out two jars that she had placed in there earlier.

Taking out her wand, Jasmine practiced giving it a wave. Then she practiced the incantation exactly as she had written it in her notes. OK, now she was ready to put the two together. Saying the incantation, Jasmine gave her wand a little wave. A little weak blue light came out of her wand, but that was it. No flame. So she tried again, but this time she really, really concentrated........for Charlie. Trying to keep her mind in focus, Jasmine repeated the spell. This time the blue light was stronger and yesssss.......there was the blue flame! Jasmine gathered it up and placed it inside the glass jar.

Just for good measure, Jasmine repeated the spell one more time. When it was successful, she put the second flame inside the second jar. Now all she had to do was get the flame upstairs to Charlie. Jasmine grabbed her bag and the two jars and headed off toward the dorm.