Library Study Area
 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../StudyArea.jpg

Way back behind the many bookshelves and bookcases a cozy area has been created for any Hogwarts student interested in his or her reading. It's a big comfy area with clusters of armchairs and tables surrounding magical reading lamps which give off different levels of light all appropriate for reading. The clusters are perfect for study groups or group projects.

Here and there a few lone armchairs and tables can be found for a student to enjoy some solitary reading, and a number of comfy sofas for any who wants to stretch out and put their feet up. Just, make sure they aren't muddy!

A soft glow of light is present throughout the area with more magical reading lamps in each possible reading space. Be sure to keep your voices down and respect those students who wish to read in quiet.

No food or drink is allowed in the study area!

Happy reading!

Okay, so Caelen wanted to study a bit of.... everything. She asked her aunt for some stuff and she had textbooks to go through and she wasn't going to be able to do this without some elbow grease. Which was the worlds grossest term by the way. She always thought of oil.

Throwing her bag onto the ground, she got out the books and propped them on the table. At least this place was cozy. The redhead was sure she would just die if the place wasn't at least a tiny bit comfy. Just die.

Anyway, the redhead took out the herbology notes from her journal and a piece of parchment. She was going to have to copy everything down. Because her other notes were impossible to read.

Dipping her quill into the ink, she started jotting everything down, setting it aside when she was done. She was going to have a lot of work to do.

Letting the ink dry on the notes, Caelen picked up her Herbology textbook and flipped it open. She felt like such a dork! She was like the only one studying in this place, though she was almost sure that more Ravenclaws were taking up the same action as she.

It took forever to read through... whatever the lesson was. The firstie didn't even know she had this much focus in her.

She continued for a while until she got bored and decided to wander around the castle. The redhead would continue learning later. Right now she had to get up and flex her legs.

Louis had to use both hands to carry the small mountain of books he had gathered from the bookshelves, most of them thick and bursting with every possible detail anyone could ever need to know about Herbology. One of the boy's weakest subjects.

Since the stack of books came up to the Gryffindor's chin, he had a hard time seeing past the cover of the top-most volume. He approached a nearby empty table, leaned over slightly, and released all 12 books.

With an obnoxious amount of noise, the dozen books fell straight to the floor, only a couple inches from the table, some of them falling in a perfect angle that guaranteed their landing on the boy's toes. OW. Louis had to roll his right hand into a fist and bite at his knuckles for a moment to keep himself from yelping. Who needs unforgivable curses when you can just throw books at people?! Not that he'd condone throwing books around like arrows but for Circe's sake had that HURT!

No time to whine, though. It wouldn't be long until someone arrived and kicked him out for causing such a ruckus, or worse yet, damaging school property. Though the books were still in perfect condition; but the same couldn't be said for his toes. Quickly, the Gryffindor boy began picking up the books from the floor and placing them - very carefully - on the table.

Feeling that she needed to brush up on Ancient Runes, Lux had made her way to the library again in order to get some peace and quiet. Carrying a few books she hoped would be helpful in hand, she approached the little study area and found a nice table to set her stuff upon.

Getting ready to sit down and read, she noticed a boy who had seemed to have hurt himself picking up a bunch of books from the floor. And boy did those books look heavy. Feeling sorry for the poor boy, she walked over and started helping him pick them up and put them on his table. "Are you okay?" Because if he had really hurt himself, she could go with him to the Nurse.

Louis looked up as a new pair of hands began to pick up the books he had dropped on the floor. UHOH. Was it the librarian?! Had she come to pick up the heaviest book to then hit him on the head with it for dropping the library's prized possessions?

Nope. It was a girl entirely too young to be a librarian. Louis sighed in relief. Picking up the last of the books, he got back up to his feet. "Thanks." When the girl asked if he was okay, he glanced down at his feet for a brief second before looking up at her again. "I'm fine. Might've cracked a bone in my toe but I think I'll live," he said with a dark chuckle. Yeah, no, that incident hadn't been funny at all. But he wasn't going to complain about it.

"I'm Louis, by the way." He might as well introduce himself.

It was a good thing that all of the books were picked up now. Offering the boy a smile, Lux was not sure if she really believed that he was totally fine. "Are you really sure you don't need to see the Nurse?" Because it would be a really bad thing if he was seriously injured and she did nothing to help him even if he was saying he was fine. She knew that sometimes boys tended to do silly things, and perhaps he was now?

"Nice to meet you, Louis! I am Lux." Now that she thought about it, he looked to be the boy who she had seen with Bay in Defence Against the Dark Arts class earlier.

"Positive," Louis replied with a confident nod when the young girl asked if he really didn't need the nurse. Nahhh. He wasn't going to go to the hospital wing just for a toe. Nothing a quick spell couldn't fix anyway.

Anyway.
The girl was introducing herself now. Lux? Interesting name. He liked it. "Nice meeting you, too," he replied with a smile, offering the girl a handshake. It was as he stretched his hand out, that Louis noticed the strange texture on his skin. Without realizing that he was probably being super rude by snatching his hand back before Lux could even touch it, Louis brought the back of his hand close to his face and examined all the fine little lines that had begun to texture his skin.

Um.
Where had THAT come from?
Louis brought up his other hand and examined it. It was the same thing! He was even getting spots on his skin, like those he'd seen on his grandfather and other people the old man's age. Ashamed of the unusual state of his hands, Louis hid them away in his pockets. It was probably just a temporary thing that would go away if he put some lotion on them or something.

Soooo.
"Uh. Sorry about that. So which House are you in?" But in all honesty, the Gryffindor wasn't really all that into the conversation anymore. The sight of his old wrinkly hands had left him rather disturbed.

Well, if he was sure he was okay...

"Would you like a Chocolate Frog instead?" Obviously not in the library because they would get into trouble, but she could still give him one later on. Seeing him hold out his hand, she moved to shake it when he suddenly pulled it away. Okay, that was weird and confusing. Why was he hiding his hands in his pockets?

"Errr... it's fine. I'm in Hufflepuff. What House are you in?" Louis seemed to be kinda... off suddenly. Or well, what she assumed to be off, since she had only met him and naturally had no idea what it was like to be around him normally.

Louis's large blue eyes lit up at the mention of chocolate frogs. "You've got chocolate frogs?" he asked in a low voice, as if he and Lux were making some shady business deal no one else was supposed to know about. "I mean, if you're willing to share... yeah, I won't say no." MMM. The boy loved chocolate frogs.

He couldn't help feeling a little guilty, though, for suddenly acting like a weirdo a minute ago. Lux seemed a little confused.

"I'm in Gryffindor," replied Louis. "Fifth year. But I just transferred, so it's really just my first year here at Hogwarts."

Lux giggled as Louis' eyes widened at the mention of Chocolate Frogs. People tended to do that, since they were so yummy. She totally was addicted to them, and she wanted Willa to keep with the candy packages so she would never run out. "Yeah, I will share with you!" She had absolutely no problems with sharing when it was for a friend or someone who was sad or injured.

Deciding to pretend the awkwardness never happened, Lux jumped at the new topic of conversation. "I am a transfer too, but in my Second Year, and you are just like my friend, Bay!" Wow, that was so cool and Bay was the absolute best.

"Ah, you're the best!" Louis grinned when Lux said she'd share her chocolate frogs with him. That was definitely nice of her; he doubted he'd be sharing much if he had his own chocolate frogs. Nope, he'd probably just stuff them all in his mouth and leave none left for anyone else.

As the girl went on to share that she, too, was a transfer student, the Gryffindor raised his eyebrows. Plenty of transfers here in Hogwarts, huh. Well, that made him feel better. At least he wasn't the only one still new to the whole experience.

"You know Bay?" Louis seemed surprised when she mentioned the familiar name. He grinned and ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly, momentarily forgetting about keeping his hands hidden. "I just met him recently. Real nice bloke. Funny, too." As he brought his hand back down from his head, Louis's grin faded abruptly as he saw: HIS HAND WAS COVERED IN HAIR. HIS HAIR.

WHAT?!
Panicked, Louis pulled very gently at a few strands of hair, only to find them fall right off and into his hands. And as if that wasn't bad enough in itself, half of those hairs were grey!

"What is going on?!" :whaa:

Lux highly doubted that she was the best, but smiled at him none-the-less. "I am sure that you would share yours with me." She was just being nice and making sure that he got some chocolate after he had hurt himself. Chocolate was very good for that, which was why she was going to give Professor Flamsteed a Chocolate Frog when she came by to give him his get well card and big Lux hug.

"I love Bay. He was my first friend at Hogwarts. And he looks out for me. He even lets me have sleep overs with his Pygmy Puff!" Bay, Sander, and Tessa were so nice to her, and she did not know what she would do without them.

Watching Louis run his hand through his head, she went mellow as what looked to be grey hairs came off and onto his hand. "Don't you think you are a little young for that?" Seriously, what was going on here with all these students?!

"Riiight, about that..." Louis muttered, looking unsure as Lux assumed that he would share his chocolate frogs with her. But then he chuckled. "I'm kidding. Yeah, I'd share my chocolate frogs with you. I think you've earned that much." She'd helped him in his time of need, showed concern, AND offered to share delicious treats. How could he not return the favour?

The boy listened as Lux went on to describe her friendship with Bay, blue eyes curious. "Sleep with his pygmy puff?" he repeated, eyebrow raised. "I didn't know Bay had a pygmy puff..." He didn't seem like the kind of guy that would walk around carrying one of those fluffy little creatures with him. Pygmy puffs were cute, though; he could see why anyone would get one. And why Lux would have it for sleepovers. It was kind of sweet. "That's really nice of him."

And as for the grey hair...
Too young for it? Of course! He was just fifteen, for Circe's sake! A mere baby!
"Is it noticeable?" the boy asked, pulling his hair back with one hand so Lux could take a better look at his roots. WHY was he growing grey hairs?! Despite his panic, he DID realize: he was not alone. He remembered in his last class how half the students looked at least thirty years older than they should've. What was this all about!?

Lux laughed when Louis joked with her. She sure would hope that he would share with her, because not sharing was something mean people did, and she was sure that Louis was a very nice person. "Well, as soon as we are done in here, we can have chocolate!" She respected the library and librarian too much to eat anything inside it.

"Mmm, special sleep overs because I love Ziggy and Bay is like my big brother." So she got special Pygmy Puff time which was awesome and even better when she did not have a Pygmy Puff of her own. It was a good thing she had not managed to lose Ziggy even once, because even though he was so nice to her and never got mad at her, she was still worried that if that happened she might lose her privileges.

Poor Louis! Lux frowned as she looked at his head closely, running her fingers through his hair. This was something that she did not normally do, but given the circumstances, she wanted to help him out as much as she could. "I'm sorry, but your roots are really grey. Like... more of them are than not." It was really weird because he was only 15. "Are you stressed about anything? Because I heard that stress can cause someone to get grey hair."

"Sounds like a plan," Louis agreed with a nod as Lux decided they could have chocolate only after they were outside of the library. As the girl went on about loving 'Ziggy' and Bay being like a big brother to her, he furrowed his brows slightly. "Ziggy's his pygmy puff's name, right?" 'Cause if she was talking about having a 'special sleepover' with an actual person named Ziggy with whom she was in love, then... well. He wasn't one to judge.

It was the girl's next words that crushed his soul. He had more grey hairs than brown hairs?! How could this be?! As she asked if he was stressed, the boy shrugged his shoulders.

"I mean... I guess I've been a little stressed about coming to a new school and kind of... having to start all over again... but not enough to be getting grey hair about it! And now I'm even more stressed because of the grey hair!" It was a vicious cycle! "I can't believe I'm going to have to start dying my hair this young." Sad, sad day this was. And he didn't even know how to do that. "You wouldn't happen to know any charms or potions for hair-dying, would you?" Lux was a girl, maybe she'd know about that kind of stuff? He did feel rather ridiculous asking.

It made Lux happy that the Chocolate Frog thing was all sorted now. "Yes, his Pygmy Puff is called Ziggy." Who else would Ziggy be? Silly Louis!

Poor poor Louis. Taking her hands out of his hair, she sighed. "I am sure everything will be okay. Though I really do want to know what is happening here. I'm sure that everything will be back to normal soon and your hair won't be grey anymore." Hopefully that would help him feel a little better even though things seemed bad at the moment. "I'm sorry. I wish I could help with that."

So Ziggy was the pymy puff. Oh, okay. That made more sense. "Got it," muttered the boy, nodding his head. He'd have to remember to ask Bay later on about this famous pygmy puff. He wanted to see it.

As the Hufflepuff went on to assure him that everything would be fine, Louis gave her a smile. He wasn't as confident that these strange symptoms would go away overnight, but he appreciated her good wishes. "You don't think the nurses would happen to know anything about a solution for this, would they?" 'Cause if they did, there would be a LOT less grey-haired students. The fact that this weird situation seemed to be out of the school's control rather terrified the Gryffindor boy.

"Mmm, he is so cute. He is blue." She was sure that Louis would meet Ziggy one day if he kept talking to Bay.

Lux bit her lip as he asked her a really good question. "I'm not sure if she does, but if not, one of the Professors might." then again, if that was the case she was sure that the problem would have been dealt with already. Huh. Why were things so weird here? Was it like that every Term? "Whatever it is, I'm sure everything will be fine soon enough. You just have to stay positive." Lux was starting to wonder why everyone around her was showing weird symptoms, yet she was not. Or at least, she didn't seem to be as of yet.

Louis seemed amused as Lux gushed about little Ziggy. "If I was Bay I'd be a little worried one of my Hufflepuff friends would try to kidnap my pygmy puff," he teased. And yes. Lux, you are that Hufflepuff.

As Lux guessed that perhaps a professor might have the solution to the strange problem, Louis's thoughts were the same as hers: if a professor did indeed have the solution, he or she would've made it known already, and everyone would be on their way back to good health. But such hadn't been the case. Sadly.

"It's all I can do," said Louis with a shrug as Lux suggested he just stay positive. But... that was a little hard to do when you were fifteen years old with a head full of grey hair. He needed a distraction. "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be able to get any reading done while I'm still thinking about this." He pointed at his hair. "I think I'm going to head out." But first he needed to put those books back. He began to pick them up off the table and turned to Lux once again, "Are you staying?"

Mansita! ^_^
 

Lux rolled her eyes in amusement. "I don't think he even considers that. He said it was even fine if I lost him because he's wandered off before." Not that it meant she wouldn't keep a close eye on Ziggy, she just figured that Bay was so laid back about things. He never even got mad at her when she made him eat a cucumber sandwich and he threw up.

Frown. "It could be stress. I don't know... I'm not showing any symptoms." At least she wasn't as of yet. A lot of her friends were, as were her classmates, but she was still.... the same old Lux. No greying hair, no wrinkles, she wasn't tired all the time, she didn't have joint issues, and she was not moody. Was it because she wasn't stressed? She had no idea.

Distracted by her thoughts, it took her a moment to realize he was speaking to her again. "I'll go with you so we can have the Chocolate Frogs if you don't mind." She would just need a few minutes to put back the books she had taken out. She could always come back later, and she wanted to talk to Louis some more. Of course if he wanted to head back to his Common Rooms, she wouldn't say no.

"Bay sounds like a forgiving soul," Louis observed with a smile as Lux explained that the Gryffindor boy wouldn't be upset with her if Ziggy ran off. Though he didn't know that much about Bay, Lou had a feeling his fellow Lion held a soft spot for the sweet little Hufflepuff girl. He could see why, though.

As Lux went on to mention how she didn't have any symptoms of sudden senioritis, the boy raised his dark eyebrows. "Consider yourself fortunate." He would give anything to be young again. And this weird illness hadn't even gone on for an entire day yet!

Whawasdat? Chocolate frogs? Did Lux mention the keyword once again?
Louis grinned, his very slightly wrinkled face lighting up at the girl's suggestion. "I like the way you think, Ms. Lux. I'll help you put your books back." Louis pulled out his wand and sent the smaller, lighter books back to their original places in the bookshelves with a simple spell. He wasn't skilled enough to risk the same spell with bigger, heavier books though, so he took those in his hands instead.

Delilah sighed in annoyance as she made her way to the fourth floor, adjusting the strap of her bag that was slung over her shoulder. She didn't like the fact that she had to study so much but it was worth it in the long run, yeah? The girl definitely did NOT want to be failing her OWL's. But still. Maybe she'll cut down her study time today. Only an hour or so.

The girl finally reached the study area when...

Alec was napping comforably on one of the many armchairs that were scattered around the area. The Head Boy was napping in the library. Why did she find this so funny? She almost burst out laughing at this scene.. but didn't. She didn't want to disturb him or anything. The girl smiled to herself and sat down in another armchair nearby and took out her Ancient Runes textbook.

Time to read.

Snoozing, he was. Laying back in the armchair with his legs draped over the arms of the armchair. He didn't even know how long he had been laying there with his mind in a dreamland. Dreamland... where he was wandering around happily until he found himself... surrounded by mirrors. And leaning closer, there it was. The thing he was dreading. Right... in... his hair...

... "N-no..."

Letting out a small grumble, Alec shifted onto his side with his back facing the back of the armchair. Of course there was no one sitting nearby. Not according to the eighteen year old who, happily, tried to force his brain to think of something else. Something much better and happier than mirrors and what could be seen in them. Or what he could end up seeing if he looked in one. ... No. Something else. Something like...

"Pancakes..."

Delilah looked up from her book, frowning a little. She could hear the boy muttering.. wait. Did he say pancakes? Was he dreaming about pancakes or something? Pancakes, she loved them. Who didn't? It was one of her favourite breakfast foods.. and she wondered if they were Jeremy's too.. Anyway.

She eyed Alec curiously for a moment before slowly getting up. Still holding the book in her hand, she made her way over to him and leaned down a little. Maybe she could hear more of what he was mumbling in his sleep? So that she could tease him about it later?

Yeah. Sounded good.

Yes, he was dreaming about pancakes. More, making pancakes. And did it include smashing open an egg? Not at all. Not smashing. In his dream, he, Alec Blake Summers, was a master chef who... didn't have difficulty cracking open an egg. "Mmm... pancakes..."

And spinach? Spinach was banned.

He made a small face at that before mumbling the word 'spinach' out loud too. He didn't like that. At all. ... And... he stirred, thanks to the spinach thought. Letting out a wide yawn, the boy rubbed his eyes and blinked them open only to see...

... "AAAAARGH!" What? WHAT?! Was he dreaming or...? Cue more eye rubbing and a confused look spreading across his face. He looked back at the girl and blinked a couple of times. She was really there?

"D-Delilah...?" Should he reach over and touch her face? ... No. That was a terrible idea.

Bay kept to himself for he was working on his History of Magic homework and man was it hard, Bay preferred to do stuff with his hands than writing about stuff.. but this was school right and he had to do what was assigned..

Taking out his quill he started to make notes on one piece of parchment so when it came time for him to actually write it he had all his thoughts in one area… no just his head.

Meh, why was the HoM work so hard?

Lux was much better at doing practical things than she was at writing essays and paragraphs. She would much rather be practicing the spell they had learned in class on more dolls than coming to the library to get her homework done.

Spotting Bay at one of the tables, she carefully approached him not knowing if he wanted her to bother him or not. He was working on the same thing she was trying to do. Stopping behind a chair at his table, she decided to speak to him. "Do you mind if I work with you, Bay? This is my last thing I have to do for homework and I find it hard because it's writing." She really needed to get this done, and the sooner the better.

Lux
 

Writing why oh why did it have to be writing… Bay scratched out a bunch of stuff on his parchment… "This doesn't even make sense" he spoke to himself. URRRGGGGGGGGG why!!! Bay moved his parchment over and put his head to his desk just staying there until more creative juices flowed from his brain.

Hearing a voice Bay was lost in his own little world but it sounded like Lux… if she's going to ask me to eat another sandwich I'm running away.. he turned his head over.. ohhh she needed help with her History of Magic homework.. perfect timing for he was doing the same thing.. "Pull up a chair Lux we can suffer through this together…" his head still laying on his desk, he wasn't going to move until Lux came back with her chair.

At first she wasn't sure if he even noticed she was there, since he seemed so lost in his own world.

Laughing at his response, she pulled out the chair beside him and took a seat before taking out her textbook, some paper, and a pen and placing them in front of her. "I have 30 points now, Bay. How many do you have?" She wanted to have a friendly competition with him over points because that seemed like a lot of fun.

Opening her textbook to the index so that she could have some idea what page to read for any information, she sighed. "So have you gotten any of this done? Because I've been trying and trying and I can't get it at all." She was not bad at History of Magic, it was more that she was not good at answering the kinds of questions the homework asked for.

hearing her pull the chair over Bay finally sat up and moved his notes back where his head was just resting. Bay thought for a minute.. how many did he have.. "oh I think I have like 19??? yeah 19 points now" surprised on how many Lux had.. "Wow thats a lot Lux…. I have a lot of catching up to do." he laughed.

"errrmmm I haven't really started.. I have my notes but… one topic is harder than the other..Topic number one: "Had you been in a similar situation as one accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials, what spell, if any would you use to assist yourself or others?" he read out loud to her.. he thought something when he was younger happened to him but it was hard to put down in words…

"and the easier Topic, number two "What other uses could you find for the Flame Freezing Charm other than saving yourself from burning at the stake? this one seems a lot easier than the first right.." he asked her while putting his hands in his hair and gave it a little pull.

Wow, she was actually beating him? That was a surprise, since she had figured he would easily have more than her. "You should stop gaining points so I can win." Giving him a puppy dog face and then laughing. She really did hope that she ended the year off with more points than him. "Oooh, we should work out what the loser has to give the winner." She had never considered that, and wanted to have some idea of what Bay would get from her if he won.

Nod. She agreed that the first one was definitely harder than the second one. "I can't even remember if anything like that happened to me or not, so I really can't say what I would do in that situation." Fortunately too, because she sure never wanted to be burned at the stake; the lesson had creeped her out because for a moment she had thought that was what would happen to her. "Oh, maybe the second one could be for if your house catches fire? So you won't burn yourself as you escape?" Hopefully that wasn't a stupid idea, because she didn't want Bay to think that she was dumb.

" You'll never win Lux" he said giving her an evil but playfully look. "How about if I win you have to come visit me during the summer… and my parents will love you, my mum's always wanted a daughter plus they will love you more because you eat the healthy stuff too" he said while laughing, he could only hope that what ever she wanted wasn't gross.

"Yeah same here…. but lets give this one a goo" he said while taking out his parchment again.

Bay moved the parchment over to Lux to read.. "Im not sure if thats what they are looking for but can you give it a read for me?" hoping that it sounded okay for him.

Pfft! She so was going to try her best to win this one. She was a hard worker, and she had all her homework in besides the HoM. Her odds were good. "That sounds good to me! I would love to come see you during the summer." She was sure that she would be seeing Bay lots regardless of if he won the competition or not. "If I win, I want to have Ziggy for a whole week." She loved that Pygmy Puff, and she wanted to have loads of time with him.

Watching him jot something down, she smiled and glanced at it when he was finished. "That's very good, Bay."

"sounds like a deal then, I win your coming to visit me.. you win you get Ziggy for a full week" he smiled and she pretty much had him most of the time anyways.. He left his pet in his dorm to rest, he's had a busy week. poor little fur ball.

"Thanks… now why don't you try to write something… did something like that happen to you… or maybe like your family member?" he asked her as he said he would try to help her out.

"Awesome!" So it was decided! "We have a deal." She held her hand out for him to shake so that things would be made official. It would be so amazing when she had Ziggy for a week, and she had known he would agree to it since he let her have the Pygmy Puff a lot of the time anyway.

Lux tried to think of something she could write for hers, but it was hard. "Well, I was called a freak and bullied by some Muggle kids before I came here, because I would sometimes do accidental magic when in public. But I don't know what I could use in a situation like that to help myself out." There were jinxes and hexes of course, but she didn't really want to put that down.

Bay shook Lux's hand and then looked over at her paper… hmmmm "well maybe you can say what did happen… were your parents around to help out or did you run and hide?" he gave her a pat on her back for being a witch or wizard was very difficult more now than ever because of all this technology.

"Maybe something to make you invisible? " he tried to give her more to go on..

Lux nodded at what he said to her. He was smart thinking it was best for her to tell what happened. "I ran away because I was a coward." Kinda irritating when she looked back on it now, actually. The pat on her back made her feel a little better. She quickly wrote down exactly what had happened to her when she was bullied and how she ran away.

"Good, idea. But I don't know what spell would make me disappear." She only knew about using Invisibility Cloaks for that. Why was so so bad at this?

"Awww no your not, we pretty much did the same thing" he said for he didn't want her to feel bad about it… either way they put it they both ran away.

"How about if you used the Disillusionment Charm? it makes what ever the spell is pointed too invisible?" that would have worked right… being invisible to run away from anything and everyone. That would come in handy during every day life..

Bay's comment made her feel a little better. He was a Lion, and he had done the same thing as she did. "I wish I was braver, because then I would have punched them in the face for being mean. Instead I cried and ran away." Like a child. Now she was braver, and she could actually punch people if they were being mean; though it would be nice to have even more bravery.

Lux quickly added down the spell to her story and put her pen down. "Thank you so much for the help, Bay. You are such a good helper." She gave him a big smile in appreciation. Him and Tessa were such good friends to her.

"your plenty brave Lux" he said encouraging her. "and you know punching people isn't nice right?" how many people has Lux punched??? Bay hasn't seen any of it…

"No problemo…. I'm here to help" he said working on his next part of the homework… "so do you know what your going to write for your next part???" he was thinking along the lines of who ever was using candles for lights or torches for lights they could use the charm to make sure nothing got burnt but they could still see.. and if they ever needed the warmth of the fire they could always end the spell.

Lux honestly didn't believe him when he said that. "I'm having so much trouble flying though Tessa says I'm brave." She was sure the older girl just said that to make her feel better about herself. That was so Tessa. "I know... I've never punched anyone before, but sometimes I want to." She blushed, suddenly feeling violet. That was what happened when someone made her mad enough though.

Lux gave him a big hug before thinking about her answer to the next question. "What if you are camping and your marshmallow falls into the fire? The spell could let you get it out again before it gets all gross and black." She made a face, because burnt marshmallows were gross.

"Awww see everyone just wants to help you" he said touching her nose.

"and you better not punch any one" he put on his brave face to let her know that he meant business.

"Bawhahah thats a great Idea Cucumber… but what about all the dirt??" he said laughing with her and not at her..

"super great start though… " he said.

Lux nodded at what he said. It was very true. "Everyone here is so nice to me." Gosh, Hogwarts was full of nice people and she gave Chocolate Frogs to them all. "Only two people here have been mean to me." That was a lot of progress from when she used to be bullied!

She raised her brow when he said she better not punch anyone. "And what would you do if I did?" Merely curious. Maybe he would get mad or something. The likelihood of her punching someone was pretty slim though.

"Huh, well good point. I didn't think of that. Maybe there is another spell that can clean the marshmallow?" Goodness knows if she had any idea what that spell would be.

Bays brows frowned… who's been mean to his----ergggg-----Lux.. "who's being mean?" he asked for maybe he would have some works for these people…. "and if you punched someone I would have to slap your hand…. its not nice…not at all" he said giving her the smallest little slap on her hand playfully.

Bay laughed… "I'm not too sure if theres a spell that will clean off marshmallows?" laughing… "But I think you have the right idea…. so now all you have to do is write it" he told her while touching her parchment.

Hmmm, maybe Lux shouldn't have said anything to Bay about this, because he was likely to get protective of her like Tessa or Sander would. But it was too late for that. "Well, this one girl is mad at me because I started with her for bullying Lucas and she blames me for her losing points. I think she was going to threaten me at the bonfire thing if she could!" It was a guess, but she had seen the look in that girl's eyes; she clearly had an issue with Lux now! "Oh, and this other girl was mad at me because I didn't know that Turkey was also a country and not a food and she is from there." Well, it was not Lux's fault that she sucked at Geography. D: At least the girl had become nicer to her again after she had apologized and said she didn't think she was a bird.

When he slapped her hand, she gasped and slapped his back playfully. "That is not nice either, Bay." Shame on him. She started to laugh now. Bay really was very silly sometimes!

Oh, well... that totally sucked. "You would think someone had done that already... so many wasted marshmallows." It was rather tragic. Sighing, she wrote down her answer. "Maybe one day if I become good enough at magic, I will invent that spell." Now wouldn't that be awesome.

"hmmmm thats not good at all.. and I'm totally surprised that you didn't know Turkey was a country" he said laughing.. she was young of course she might not know that… people these days.. being mean and such, "Well if it happens again you need to let me know and I'll help you talk to those two" most of the time all people really needed to do was to sit down and talk things out… and usually those people end up being friends.. thats what his father did when he has some issues with someone at the Ministry.

Bay laughed as she slapped his hand back. "oh I'm just joking around Cucumber." he told her while shaking his hands… man all this writing is going to do some damage to his wrists. "I know right… man someone does need to invent that because when we were in class did you see me drop my marshmallow? it totally sucked and i couldn't get it back out again because it was all dirty. and no one wants to eat a dirty marshmallow" laughing more now… ooopppss thats right he's in the Library.. he instantly started to use his "inside voice"

"I have complete faith in you… and when you do i'll try it out for ya" he said patting her on the back.

Lux turned slightly red. Yeah, that made her feel dumb. "I'm not good at Geography." In fact, she was terrible at it. She had felt so stupid when Mel had gotten mad at her. She nodded at what he told her next. She knew that he would want to deal with it for her. "But what if that one girl hurts me? She looked at me really threateningly." It was kinda freaky since she was older. Lux had been too engrossed with being scared of the fire at the time to think much of it, but now it was troubling her.

Laughing, Lux shook her head at him. He was being silly again. "Of course you were. You would never hurt me, would you, Bay?" He thought of himself as her big brother, and as a big brother he wouldn't slap her. "And I was actually thinking of you when I said that." She laughed again. It was funny. But she had felt bad for him because he seemed so sad when it had fallen into the fire. "I'm happy that you have total faith in me." It made her smile. He was so nice to her. "And of course you will, it means you get to eat lots of marshmallows!" She stuck her tongue out at him and thought about how all this talk was making her want some herself.

Spinach? Was he dreaming about spinach? Delilah grinned. Oh, wow. She .....

"WOAH!" The girl yelled and jumped back as Alec suddenly woke up. She'd obviously just firghtened the heck out of him. Unfortunately, as clumsy as she was, she ended up losing her balance and fell to the ground with a loud thump.

....... Groan. "Yes, Alec. It's Delilah." She managed to get out after a couple of moments of silence. Her back was hurting and she sort of felt a little dizzy. It was probably the shock. The girl slowly managed to sit up and leaned her back against one of the armchairs nearby. Ouch. So painful. Delilah couldn't blame Alec though. He probably thought she was a creep for watching him sleep or something. How embarrassing!

"I woke you up, huh?" Small smile.

... ... So... a lot of things happened when he woke up.

BLINK.

Alec's eyes widened and he gaped at the girl who had, moments ago, been standing near him and was now laying on the floor. Oh no. Oh no! No no no! That wasn't meant to happen. And it was his fault, wasn't it? Maybe he shouldn't have scared her. ... Did this mean that he was scary...?

... Not the time.

Getting up slowly, he headed over towards the fellow Hufflepuff and crouched down. "I... sorry. Erm... are you okay?" Dumb question to ask? Maybe. Because... just look at her! She had fallen over, hadn't she? And with that thump, it didn't sound like it had been a great fall, either. Was that why she was leaning against an armchair? Or... did she just like sitting near armchairs and leaning on them?

He let out a small chuckle before saying, "I guess? I didn't know you were standing there."

Alec felt bad. Her back was still hurting a bit, from what the girl had said. That fall must have been bad one then. "I... sorry. Erm... do you need an ice pack? I can summon one!" Nodnod. He was good for something at least. And since his knees and lower back were practically screaming at him for staying crouched down, the boy sat down slowly in a cross legged position. This was more comfortable. Yeah.

Was he okay? "Oh... yeah yeah! Erm... just had some weird dreams, that's all," he said, smiling at her. ... Why... was she apologising? And the blushing? Alec understood none of that. What he did understand was that she had heard him mumbling and... well... that was embarrassing. "No need to apologise!" ... Pause. "What did you hear?"

Ice pack? Yes, ice pack would be rather nice right now. Delilah nodded and managed a small smile. "Yes. I think it would really help." Because her back ache was getting worse. Ugh. She really didn't need this right now. Not when she felt sick enough already with all the tiredness and her headaches. "Thanks, Alec."

Weird dreams. Delilah tried swallowing on her giggle but a small sound still escaped her lips. It was rather hilarious, wasn't it? Him dreaming about food in the library. She felt bad for what she did.. but yeah. Definitely funny. What did she hear? "Well....." She eyed him for a moment before looking away. "...Uh. You said something about pancakes.."

*Looking around for a comfy spot Romulus headed right for an empty table. His arms as always were full of books. He had gotten a bad flu and missed a few classes. It would have been easier to go to the hospital wing and take a potion to clear it all away in a night. But that would mean seeing his cousin the schools healer. It wasn't that he didn't like Cece, he just knew that she would see him as being a whimpy Hufflepuff. No thanks, he heard enough of how Hufflepuffs were weaklings and cry babies over his holidays. No need go in and have Cece again go on about how this wouldn't happen if he were in another house like Slytherin, he wouldn't have turned all weak.
Still feeling a little under the weather Rom had tissues packed in his pockets and a very red nose and eyes as he got started on the homework he had missed.*
"Right... Potions ch-ch- AAAAACHOOOOO! *sniff* Chapter 2."

She needed an ice pack. Now that made Alec feel really bad. Pulling out his wand, he flicked it, hopefully summoning an ice pack from the kitchen. "Okay, I've summoned one," he said, trying to smile reassuringly at her, "I just... I need you to take deep breaths, yeah? You'll be fine." Nodnod.

... What... was that sound? He tilted his head and watched her curiously. It wasn't anything bad, right? Not a name, yeah? Because if he accidentally called Delilah his Dad or Chip, he might have to hide for the rest of the year. ... But... pancakes. A sheepish expression crossed Alec's face and he nodded slowly. "I had a dream I was making pancakes." Maybe he shouldn't have said that. "I was a master chef." Shouldn't have said that either.

Hair!ruffle.

A great place to relax. And study. This one was. She probably had issues with it last year but only because she was a bit stressed about the OWLs and all. Now it was less stressing and it may be that she gained more confidence in her abilities.

Enough confidence that she curled up in one of the armchairs and pretty much left the book abandoned before her. Yeah, she'll get to that later. Or so she's been saying that for a while now. Finally she willed herself to lean forward and peer at the book. Now she could see the page, much better. Now she just needed to keep her eyes open. Not her fault it was really cozy here.

For: Roudy
 

Time for his mandatory self-taught lesson on defense, cause he knew Romanos wasn't gonna do it this year either. He was alright with that, though. With his photography class, he could find someone take a compromising photo of them then blackmail them for the information later until he was proficient enough. Or maybe he'd blackmail them for some money to pay for the lessons. Yes. He liked this later idea most.

Cutty dove into the book shelves and a few minutes later he swam out carrying copies of; 'How to Defend Yourself Without Really Even Trying: A Guide to Passive-Aggressive Magic', 'I've Created A Monster!: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Wizard-made Creatures', '101 Strategies for Defensive Magic' by Gracielle Hornby and lastly, 'The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts' by Arsenius Jigger. He seemed to know what he wanted and or be very familiar with the layout of the library and it's placement of books. There was his prefect, nose in a book like she did last year for her OWLs. Could she be studying for another test?

"Hi Cassia!" He said smiling at her and taking a seat nearby. "You're always studying. So responsible! Nevermind what Nurse Brutalis says, I think you're the best prefect Slytherin could ever ask for." He said in a voice only scarcely above a whisper.

Luckily this certain creatures she happened to be reading about was interesting enough that she didn't drift to sleep and start snoring seeing that the angle her neck took would probably cause snoring. She liked Mister Kitridge too much to sleep in his library and be a total disappointment.

A distraction occurred and she always welcomed those.

Smiling broadly at her companion, Cassia angled her body to face him where he sat. "You flatter me too much," she told him chuckling when he got to the last part. Brutalis. She could totally laugh at that. No one was going to report it or anything, right!? And she also found it funny that she gave the impression of a studious girl. Heh. One doesn't correct people when they think that.

Registering the books he carried with him, the blond arched an eyebrow at her lil friend. "What are all these books for?" Was he going to read them all?! Or was he looking for something particular.

After placing his books down on the floor near Cassia's armchair, Cutty picked one of them up (it was the one about passive-aggressive magic if you're curious), then he curled up at the female snake prefects feet and put his head down at her knees. To anyone who didn't know him, it might look as though Cutty were Cassia's ever-loyal subordinate.

Which was exactly the look he was going for.

"Extra-circular studying, Prefect Somerlad. Extra-circular studying." He said casually, raising his head up and opening the book as he caught her raised brow. "How about you? I thought you were all done with your O.W.Ls?"

Delilah winced with pain. Was this serious? Because it had been half hour and she was STILL hurting. Oh, gosh. What if she had damaged her spinal cord or something? Okay.. Now, she was just freaking out. The girl took a few deep breaths and nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Alec. You're the best." Really. He was honestly one of the nicest people she'd met at Hogwarts.. and she was lucky to know him.

He had a dream he was making pancakes? Delilah snorted, forgetting her pain for a moment. Okay, she did dream about food too.. sometimes. So it wasn't THAT funny but what he said next was quite hilarious. "Master Chef?" She pursed her lips tight. Yeah. She really wanted to laugh.. but she didn't want him to feel bad. So. She just looked at him.

..... And burst out laughing. Ooops, so much for her self-control.

Little one had studying to do. And while she traveled around while she studied, Caelen was back here with her books again. Because she needed to learn and get ahead, and this was the place to do it.

Caelen considered herself not much if smart, and liked to keep up a reputation by reading a lot. School came easy for her. It was actually FUN. In a weird, nerd chic kind of way. She could pull it off. Okay, no she couldn't, but whatever.

Her Aunt had finally sent her a language workbook and she was going to learn some language and catch up on some school reading. Because blah blah, pursuit of knowledge blah blah.

Okay, textbook one. Herbology. She wanted to re-copy notes and read further into her textbook. Making sure that her topiary had nice cuts. And then potions and then Astronomy and so on.

So, grabbing some parchment and a quill -official- she started recopying things in her nicest handwriting. One of the perks of being right handed was that ink didn't smear all over her hand. Which was good. It didn't fix her still childish handwriting or the fact that she had a tendency to write sloped. In weirdly small letters.

Every couple of minutes the blue-eyed first year had to put down the quill and shake her hand out. Stupid hand cramps. Oww. But whatever. She still picked up the quill afterwards and worked. And one of the most ironic things about this was that she wasn't incredibly driven or motivated either. She was actually quite lazy at home. Espcially during the summer when homeschooling let out and she had time to herself.

But anyway, she was trying to get at least the Herbology and Potions notes done with her time. Because as her mother said, "Time worth wasted was time not worth it." And apparently she now lived by those rules. For some strange reason.

The snake watched him put down his books then pick only one, she tried catching the title and only managed to get the word passive. Interesting pick, she thought. Not that she expected any less from Cutty, she had great expectations of him.

Then he just went ahead and rested his head on her knees. That got a low giggle out of her, it was the library after all and she needed to keep it quiet. Jokingly she reached out and patted his head.

"I'm impressed," she told him. When she was his age she barely did anything extra. "I am done," She told him, tilting her head to get a look at his face. "I just figured I'd enrich one of my essays with more information," See she was supposed to be reading in order to put what she read in the essay. Definitely her Ravenclaw friends effect.

Cutty turned one of the pages from his book, pleased with this reaction from Cassia. "Just trying to remain practical, you know. Professor Romanos doesn't like teaching us very many defensive spells. I figured I should look into it myself." Hearing himself say this out-loud made him consider why. Why didn't Professor Romanos teach them defensive magic? Was she a dark creature herself? Afraid that they were going to team up on her and use it against her? That would be his approach if he were a dark creature teaching at a school for magical young children.

"You are? How'd you do?" He whipped around eagerly shutting his book in the process and revealing it's cover and title, How to Defend Yourself Without Really Even Trying: A Guide to Passive-Aggressive Magic by Azkadellia Montgomery.

Although she had high expectations of Cutty she still couldn't feel not impressed by him wanting to learn more and deciding that what a Professor taught was easier than he aspired to learn and gain. It was also other's opinion in DADA case. Cassia wasn't the kind to complain about not learning dangerous stuff. If anything she'd appreciate less chances of anything dangerous and uncomfortable which probably was the case with the dark arts.

"How smart," she nodded approvingly at his reasoning. If anything Cassia was curious about in DADA, it was why couldn't Romanos pronounce her lastname correctly. Always the extra 'n'. Always! "Why do you care about learning those spells a lot, though? Have lots of enemies?" she asked amused.

Oh, he didn't know about her OWLs? The blond grinned proudly at him. "Yup, and I was pretty pleased with my results," When she got them over the summer, that is. She did work hard for them. "I got two outstandings. Care of Magical creatures and History of Magic," she probably would have been disappointed if she hadn't gotten O's in her favorite subjects.

Alec frowned a little when Delilah winced. Was it that bad? "Anytime! ... Erm... anything to help," Nodnod. "If it gets worse, do you think you'll be up for a visit to the Healer?" He'd go with her, too. And probably make her pancakes. Maybe... with honey on top. Yeah... unless he went for the chocolate chip option with chocolate sauce...

... Right. Delilah.

The boy shook his head and tuned back into the conversation in time to hear...the younger Hufflepuff snorting. A sheepish expression crossed his face. It wasn't that funny, right? Maybe to Delilah but to him, there was the embarrassment factor added too. "Chef Summers. I had a chef's hat, too." More sheepishness...

... And then she was laughing. And before he knew it, he had started laughing too. "Is it really that funny?" Maybe it was.

And so Cutty nodded casually at Cassia's questions about the enemies, remembering what the Headboy had said about Sophie Newell bursting into the Prefects compartment on the train ride in and trying to frame him for a brilliant billywig based crime he hadn't committed. Sophie was a dark witch. She was a dark witch, but she didn't know she was a dark witch. She had good ideas, but didn't always know how to execute them. He felt that he could've helped her with that, but eh, what was it to him?

He wasn't interested in taking on apprentices until AT LEAST his fourth year. AT LEAST!

"I have a few. Mostly in the way of jilted, would-be lovers, though. You know, girls can be a bit touchy when they're turned down from the things they want." He explained this...well, I wouldn't dare call it a fact...idea outloud even as he sat there looking quite the shriveled Capuchin. He had complete confidence in his idea. He surely had complete confidence in his idea.

"Two O's?! Kudos to yer, Somerlad! Kudos to yer." He congratulated her twisting his head up smiling. This was somewhat an awkward position and so he got up and actually sat upon the cushiony seat available next to Cassia's. "History of Magic's always been an interesting subject for me. It's good to know all of the information. Shame about Professor Dursley, but I like McCormack alright. Accio!" Cutty took advantage of the distance between himself and his book pile to further practice the charm. He'd tried to do it wordlessly next time. You know. Just to see if he could.

"So, what do you think of the new Creature Teacher?" Which really meant, did you see the Augurey poop?

She almost winced at the uncomfortable angle his neck had twisted into. So she was glad he chose to sit on a chair and face her. Though him at her feet was both hilarious and cute. Trust Cutty to pull off those kind of things.

Not being able to help it, she giggled at his answer then tried to pull a serious face. "If you need any help, I have a badge that help," Frame someone with something, would she do it? The idea didn't seem all that horrible, though such acts needed to be carried out so care fully. And she, of course, wouldn't be offering such kind of help for anyone, only those special and close to her. Yup, Cutty had a place among those.

"Why, thank you," She grinned at him bowing her head. She really was proud of herself. "It is interesting," She agreed with him. "Oh, you were a fan of Dursley? The man was indeed decent," He had an issue with shoes as she recalls. "My favorite History Professor left when I was a third year," She told him as Scabior pops to her mind whenever history was mentioned. "He was great.". A couple of seconds of silence to wish the man all the good wherever he was.

And those second ended but she paused an extra couple as Cutty summoned his book. The boy never ceased to impress her all the time. Or maybe she still clung to the idea that he was the ickle snake selling candy.

"He's handsome," she casually answered him. Which couldn't be denied, right?!

And then she said it.

The thing he'd wanted to hear so much. That statement that no matter what words were used to say it, essentially boiled down to: Let me help you.


But the only thing Cuthbert offered in return was the small and temporary smile combined with these words, "If it gets more than I can handle, I'll remember to tell you."

He nodded at being a fan of Dursley. Odd, ODD Professor Dursley. Cassia had a favourite Professor, but in her third year, Cutty wouldn't have been there to have remembered him (her?). He was about to ask what the Professors name was when Cassia said something in response to the Care of Magical Creatures Professor.

"Wot?" He wasn't really asking a question as he brows furrowed and he seemed to take on a very disbelieving expression. He hadn't really gotten a very good look at Thompson. He was...fairly good-looking, Cutty supposed, though not as much as he found the comely Transfiguration Professor. Mostly for her bone structure, which Cutty didn't realize was a thing for him, apparently. "He is rather good-looking, I suppose." And here he readjusted himself on the seat, laying out on his back with his hands beneath his head for support and his legs flopped over one another and the seat's edge. "Not like Tobias Tempus, though." He sighed in an obvious manner.

Whit/Lux
 

Sander was working hard on his Ancient Runes homework assignment. He was having a little difficulty trying to count the number of runes in each line as his eyes were giving him problems. However, after spending a considerable amount time, he had managed to identify the weak spots in each task assigned.

Now all he had to do was to explain what the significance of each weak spot was.

He rubbed his eyes for the umpteenth time as he flipped through the pages of his textbook first looking for the meaning of what each rune represented and quickly wrote the description down. With that written down, he proceeded to write down what he thought each weak spot signified.

In serious need of help with her Ancient Runes homework, Lux had been hoping that Sander was in the library. After searching in other places, she was very pleased when she managed to track him down at the study tables. Smiling, she made her way behind his chair, moving as silently as possible. When she was right behind him, she put her hands over his eyes. "Boo!" Quietly laughing so that she wouldn't risk getting into trouble with Mr. Kitridge even though he was so nice.

Letting go of him, she pulled out one of the chairs beside him and sat down. "I need help, Sander." Opening her bag, she pulled out everything she would need.

Sander almost jumped five feet high in his chair when Lux came up behind him and placed her hands over his eyes. He barely had time to register her prescient behind him when she plopped down in the seat next to his.

"Hey Lux. Don't ever do that again. I could have had a heart attack and believe me in the state I'm in right now, that's a high possibility," Sander gently chastised the younger girl. He envied her. She didn't seem to be affected by this aging ailment that had affected others like him.

"You need help? What with? Girl/Boy stuff?" Sander smiled as he teased Lux.

Pout.

Lux had been wanting to have fun with Sander, not get told off. But it was her fault anyway; sometimes she forgot how her friends could easily have a heart attack. "Sorry, Sander." Feeling a little bad, she opened her text book and looked at the table of contents so she could find the page she needed.

Wait what?

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Were her cheeks turning red? Did he know how she felt about Bay?

Sander would have teased Lux more about what he had heard happened between Bay and Lux at the Tunnel of Love ride the other night, but one look at her told him that she wasn't ready to talk about it. So he decided to change the subject.

"Really? Maybe I was wrong. So what do you need help with? Homework? I'm currently working on Ancient Runes and once I'm done, I'm going to be working on our History of Magic homework assignment," he told the younger girl as he resumed writing his answers down.

Mentally Lux gave a sigh of relief when Sander dropped things. She really did not want to be teased about Bay right now, especially when he did not feel the same way towards her as she did to him. "Well, I need to do both, but I think I have more trouble with the Ancient Runes." Since the History of Magic was more applied, she had feeling it would be simpler; applied magic was always easier for her than essays and other written assignments. "I don't even understand how half of these Rune Wards are to be written, or how to do the Extra Credit."

Sander nodded acknowledging what Lux was telling him. "I agree with you. This Ancient Runes homework is a tough one. I'm having a hard time figuring it out myself, but I'll try to do my best to help you out as much as I can," Sander smiled down at the younger Hufflepuff.

Leaning down to look at the runes notated on the parchment, Sander first pointed out the lines to Lux.

"See this one here is a single line. According to Professor Botros the weak spot is the one right smack in the middle. For those that consist of two lines at an angle from each other, the weak spot is where one line branches off from the other. For the wards with three lines or more, you find the middle one of each line in the ward. Does that make sense? Why don't you try and identify them while I finish up on the extra credit assignment. Then I'll check your answers." Sander told Lux before picking up his quill again.

History of Magic Homework: Post 1 (preparation)
 

It was time to do the homework thing and to Vesper, that meant visiting the library. Yes, she could've done this in the Ravenclaw tower but...Well, that was a peaceful, happy place...and she didn't want to ruin it with negative things. Like homework.

Entering the library, the Ravenclaw curiously looked around before settling her eyes towards the back of the room. There. Study tables. Perfect.

While she was suffering the effects of the aging dilemma like everyone else, hers wasn't nearly as advanced and because of that, she was able to make it to the tables fairly quick. Of course, her knees did hurt...and her back felt tension beyond its years...Nothing too awful, though. Vesper was still convinced this was because she'd physically avoided her peers for so long. How wonderful it was to be a hermit...usually.

Taking a seat, she pulled out her notebook and flipped her the assignments section. Ves liked to keep a running list because she'd also gotten forgetful. Erm...maybe that was the old age at work, too. "History of Magic first, then." She'd already gotten the clay from the Professor's office...thankfully. She couldn't imagine that walk after the trek she'd just completed. Her knees needed a rest, gosh.

Pulling another notebook from her bag, there was more page riffling as she turned to her notes from the lesson. She needed to see her symbol for this amulet molding thing...and also because Vesper couldn't remember what symbol she'd chosen. There was a pause as the Ravenclaw rubbed her forehead. Had she always been this forgetful? OH. The Ankh. That was it. She beamed down at her sketch, remembering for a second that she hadn't picked the symbol for any reasons other than it's significance in her favorite Manga comics...

Ves enjoyed being muggleborn. Really.

Now, to start shaping this clay...

It was a relief that Lux was not the only one who was lost, and hopefully Sander would be able to help her even though he was not finding it easy either. Carefully, she listened to everything that he was saying to her and tried to take it in. "So I just write the weak spots down..." She could do that. Hopefully.

Looking at the assignment, she tried her best with it. When she was finally done, she showed him the paper. "Is this okay?" Crossing her fingers, she hoped for the best.

Sander looked up from his writing and pulled over the paper to examine what Lux had written on it. He checked each one of them carefully before nodding his head in approval.

"Absolutely perfect. If I'm not mistaken, you have every one correct. Sander smiled encouragingly at her.

"Don't forget to hand it in. I believe the deadline is just around the corner. I'm done with mine too. I doubt I have all of them correct, but my eyes are getting tired to check them again," Sander told Lux even as he rubbed his hands over his tired eyes.

"Do you want to do your History of Magic here or back at the House Study Tables?" Sander enquired. He really didn't have a preference either way.

HOM post 1
 

This was a place he never went so why was the second year here now? To do homework of course. Yes Bart Maroon was doing homework, don't fall over anyone. He looked around now where did he go? It was weird being in this place since he avoided it most of the term so far, but he was into homework now and being responsible and all that old stuff. So what better place to do work than the library.

Stopping and looking around he noticed a girl the more he squinted the more he recognized her. Shuffling his frog slippers over towards her he stopped right in front of her table. "You're that keeper claw girl, right? You can make some wicked saves." He had been impressed with her.

Setting his book bag down the brown eyed boy pulled out his notes and clay. Flipping through them he found the symbol he had picked in class. The only thing he really did before falling out of his seat and escorted to the healer.

Looking over at the girl once more he nodded, "History homework?"

It was a predicted answer. She knew Cutty to be one of those who tried their best to work out their own problems by themselves and not ask for help until it was really needed. She nodded at him understanding his logic.

Was he surprised by her answer? He looked like it. She wasn't sure what part of the person she was to give her opinion on. So she went with the first thing that caught her attention. The man's looks. And he agreed! See, their tastes weren't that different. She wasn't sure what that meant. But hardly anyone could not see that Professor Thompson was handsome. And other adjectives she refrained from sharing them with Cutty.

And now it was her turn to be surprised. Mainly because she didn't expect that answer. It took only less than a minute for her brain to picture Tobias. She knew the boy, of course. But she saw him as a kid, like she saw Cutty and kids were CUTE! She could not compare them with the professor. "Uh-huh," was all she answered.

"What about girls?" She asked a shifty smile pulling at her lips. "Any good-looking one or ones?" Would he entrust her with such information, she didn't know.

And now, NOW he was thinking about Tobias, THE Tobias Tempus on a broom, dripping sweat after a hard game whilst his beautiful honey-coloured locks glistened and blew against the wind. And of course, everyone knew that it wasn't only about how well you played, but your marketability as a player and Toby had plenty of marketability. These thoughts resulted in Cutty looked rather blissed out over the Library ceiling. The same old library ceiling that they'd all seen before. A reverie he wasn't pulled out of until he heard Cassia's simple, 'Uh-huh'.

It relaxed him, actually, to hear that sort of response from anyone else. For it meant that Tobias was his for the taking and he would have to exert no formal effort to weasel his way into the boy's life. There were, of course the small academic favours like partnering up for exercises, giving him potions and history of magic notes and other such things, but he saw these things as more of a protecting his investment.

For all his scheming and forethought, however, this idiot still had no idea how to rationalize the fact that he had feelings outside of the acknowledged ones for Tobias. Or, perhaps he had considered them some rainy morning in his dorm whilst Caleb, Angeal & the other boys were away and realized how very little it would do for him. Just because you like someone, does not mean they will like you back now, eh?

What all this meant for Cassia Somerlad was that either Cutty was planting information or he trusted the elder girl a lot more than he'd ever said.

"Girls?" He let lose a scuffled sort of laughter. "Well the Ravenclaw prefect is quite a pretty girl, aint she? Also, I've been waiting for you to hook me up with Lex. Bet her daddy got money, don't he?" He joshed and joked. Cutty would never used a term like: hook me up.

As she watched Cutty, it seemed like so much was going on inside his head. Cassia hated to interrupt but she was curious to know what caused that sudden silence. Not that the young snake was usually a loud kid but she still could notice the calmness that engulfed the boy. She found herself glancing to the ceiling to see that it was just the same. How stupid of her, of course he wasn't gazing up at the ceiling.

Soon, though, he seemed to snap out of it and return to her. And if she had the slightest doubt that his silence was caused by sadness or anything unpleasant, the doubt evaporated hearing his answer.

Forgetting where she was, the sixth-year giggled only to cover her mouth as she remembered where she was sitting. Shooting a glance around she was glad no one shushed her or glared at her. "Dora, huh? She is pretty," She agreed with him. One of her very good friends, this one was.

On to mister Cambridge now. "He certainly does," on the money part. "But I don't think It's best for Lex to buy lots of candy at her current state," With all the aging thing. Though, Cassia could feel the Gryffindor's eyes squinting at her for denying her the opportunity to buy more sugar goods. "Your business is still on and going?" She asked, leaning back and sitting her hands on the armrests like a queen or something.

He was somewhat expecting Cassia to push the question and probe him a bit for his opinions on the younger years. You know, girls his age. But he truly wouldn't have had an answer. Well, not a truthful one. As he didn't fancy any of the girls his age. There were some that he got on with better than others like Marissa, who always knew what to say to him or Sophie because she was a little minx, but by and large most went almost out of their way to make themselves a nuisance to him and he had a way of dealing with them and it didn't involve snogging.

Though, at that very moment he gave serious consideration to that strategy. Next time he saw Fern or Tora, he'd walk straight up to them and give 'em a big smooch right in their face! Yeah!

Oh, they'd be so confused and Cutty would delight in this.

Anyway, Cutty sat up toward the edge of his seat. "Dora? Is that her name? I don't know very much about her." A true statement. And then Cassia went and mentioned Mr. Cambridge's money and Cutty couldn't stop himself from perhaps looking more attentive than he had this entire conversation. "I thought she might be from a good home." Which to Cutty was defined as 'wealthy'. "The way she was talking about buying last year that day we met up with her. Seemed like she had no limits, but the ones we had to impose upon her."

"I'm still in business, but I'm trying a word of mouth thing this year. Just to see how far it could get." And also to test the chain of chat, to see who spoke to whom at the school. He waterfall-slid off of the edge of his seat onto the floor and skooted near his books which he began to rearrange into a neat pile to carry back to the front desk. "But I haven't sold to Lex in a while." He said getting to the heart of the matter. Cassia needed to hear this. At regular intervals. Yes, mother we're behaving. "Perhaps, this aging thing has made her less inclined to eat so many sweets." Though, he'd sooner believe Lex to have had a boyfriend who bought her candy, then the afore mentioned theory.

Charms Homework#2 - Post 1
 

Sander gazed at the students in the library. Some had their heads buried in textbooks, others were busy scribbling away working on their homework, while others were just chatting quietly among themselves. A majority of those heads, including his, sprouted grey hairs. As Sander watched, he wondered how many of these students had attended the recent Charms class. He suspected that if they had, they would soon be practicing the new spell Professor Fuller had taught them. The one that reversed the color of their hair from grey back to their original color.

While he waited for his friends to join him, Sander decided that he would practice the spell on himself first. If he was going to mess up, he'd rather it be him than one of his friends.

Opening his journal, Sander flipped to the page where he had written down the incantation to the spell and the wand movement for it. "Senectus Reversus....Senectus Reversus...Senectus Reversus," Sander read off the incantation, repeating it over and over again, until he was familiar with it. Checking to make sure he had the correct wand movement, Sander then practiced waving the wand in a circular motion first over one portion of his head and then another.

It was now time to apply both the wand movement and the incantation at the same time. And what better way to do it then to practice casting the spell. Pulling out a hand mirror from his backpack, Sander first examined himself in the mirror, brushing his fingers through his greying hair.

'All this definitely has to go. But I should work on one portion first, just to be sure I've cast the spell correctly,' Sander thought to himself.

Eeenie...meenie...miney...mo...Which of you shall I let go? Sander played the selection game until his finger landed on the left side of his head. He would start here first.

He placed his mirror right in front of the selected greying area. Tilting his head to the side a little, so that he could see his reflection from the corner of his eye, Sander waved his wand in a circular motion over the area while saying the incantation,"Senectus Reversus."

He watched as the greys began to change. The color of each strand getting darker as seconds passed until finally all the strands of hair on the left side of his head were now sandy brown in color. His spell had worked. Sander quickly ended the spell, saying,"Finite" and holstered his wand.

He studied his reflection in the mirror and began to laugh. He admitted that he looked comically funny, with one side of his sandy brown in color and the rest still grey. But Sander didn't care. He was just glad he now had a solution to his greying hair.

Now where were his friends? Sander was eager to help them with their greying hair too.

Charms Homework #2 - Post 1
 

Charms Homework #2: Post 1
 

Alex arrived at the library study area and began to look around for her friends. She spotted Sander and Lux and went over to find a table near them. "Hi guys", she said as she put her book bag down. Alex was meeting her friends to practice the hair coloring charm they had learned in class. She was glad that she would have some other heads to practice on besides her own.

Before she could trust herself to practice on anyone else, Alex figured it would be a good idea to test the charm on herself. She was happy with the results she had gotten when practicing the charm in class, but practice made perfect. Starting with the incantation, Alex repeated, "Sen-eck-tuss Re-vers-us, Sec-eck-tuss Re-vers-us". She then silently waved her wand over her head in a circular motion trying to produce the movements accurately.

Alex had checked her hair in the mirror before leaving the Ravenclaw dormitory so shew knew exactly where her gray patches were. Her hair had grown somewhat since her recent dye job. It was time to try the charm for real now. Waving her wand a circle over a portion of her head, Alex said, "Senectus Reversus". Yay, she was two for two. The small patch of hair that she'd addressed was back to it's natural brown. "Alright, who wants next?", Alex said.

Charms Homework#2 - Post 2
 

Sander smiled and waved Alex over when he saw her join them at the library study tables. He waited patiently for her to finish practicing the spell on herself and when she asked for volunteers, Sander immediately raised his hand before realizing what he had just done. He grinned sheepishly lowering his hand at the same time.

"Why don't we exchange heads...I mean why don't I work on yours and you can work on mine. I'm trying to see whether I can look like a badger by the time we're all done," Sander chuckled. Moving over to sit next to Alex, Sander examined her head before raising his wand.

"I'm ready to start. Hold still," he advised his name twin as he waved his wand in a circular motion over the back of her head and said the words to the incantation,"Senectus Reversus."

He watched as the hairs in the area where he had cast the spell on, begin to change in color, the grey strands first slowly turning a light tan and then finally a shade of natural brown. Saying "Finite" Sander ended the spell before holstering his wand.

Then he picked up his mirror, and held it up behind Alex's head, while placing her own mirror in her hand and raising it up until she could see the reflection of her head from the back mirror reflected in the mirror she was holding.

"Is this your hair's natural color, Alex?" Sander asked Alex hoping that he hadn't messed up the color of his best friend's hair.

Charms homework: Post 2
 

When Alex finished practicing the charm on herself, Sander volunteered to take turns working with her. Sitting down next to her, he prepared to work his magic on Alex's hair. She turned her head as Sander examined the back of it and tried to remain as still as possible. Hearing him say the incantation, Alex was anxious to see the result of his work. She looked in the mirror and was happy to see that the charmed portion of hair was perfectly brown. Yes twin, this is my natural hair color. It's perfect! I might need to make a standing appointment to have you do my hair.". Alex laughed at the thought of Sander being her hairstylist like Monte Bossa in Hogsmeade.

Then Alex turned to Sander and said, "Now it's your turn". She stood up while Sander sat so that she could adequately reach his head. "Hmmmm, where should I begin?" Saying, "eenie, meanie miney, mo", Alex decided on a patch of hair on the right side of Sander's head. Readying her wand, Alex made a circular waving motion over the target hair. Simultaneously saying, "Sinectus Reversus", she watched as his hair changed to its original sandy brown color. Handing Sander the mirror, Alex said, "Voila". "Well, what do you think?"

Turning to Lux, Alex addressed the younger girl. "Want to take a whack at my hair? There's plenty of gray to go around." Surely she needed to practice the charm too. Fortunate to have retained her fabulous natural hair color, Lux couldn't practice on herself.

Charms Homework #2, post 1
 

Bay made it to the Library finally.. his old bones were so tired… he made a mental note to pick the next place they all do homework.. "Hey guys" he said to his friends when he saw them.. noticing that only Sander, Lux and Alex were there… "hmmm I wonder where Tessa is?" he thought..

Getting a closer look at his friends he saw that they had started doing their homework.. "you guys… errrr…. look good?" he held back a laugh… seeing that everyone else was almost done he thought it would be a good time to practice while they were working on each other.

taking out his wand he started to move it in circular motions in front of him.. and he said to himself "Senectus Reversus…………………….Senectus Reversus…………………..Senectus Reversus". uggghhh Bay needed to sit down.. pulling out a chair he sat down and he was still practicing the movements and muttering the spell…. soon enough his friends would be great enough to let him try it out on them.

Charms Homework #2 - Post 2
 

Charms Homework#2 - Post 3
 

Sander waved Bay over the moment he saw them approach where he and his friends were sitting. He waited patiently for the fifth year Gryffindor to first practice the spell before offering to cast the spell on him.

"My turn...my turn. Can I try casting the spell on you now?" Sander asked Bay eager to practice casting the hair color reversing charm on his friend. Getting up from his seat, he moved over to sit next to Bay. Leaning over to examine his head, Sander showed Bay the area he would be working on.

"I'm going to work on this area if it's alright with you, Bay. It looks like it has the more greys," Sander pointed out the area to his friend holding up mirror and pointing out the area to him.

"Hold still," he advised Bay as he unholstered his wand. Waving his wand in a circular motion over the area of Bay's head, and said the words of the incantation, "Senectus Reversus."

He sat back and watched the spell work its magic on the greyed area. To his delight, he saw the grey hair turn a light tan, before turning different shades of brown until all the grey hairs in that area was gone.

"Hey Bay, can you check to confirm this is your hair's natural color?" Sander asked Bay holding up the mirror for him to inspect his head.

Alex noticed that Bay had joined them in the study area. "Hi Bay", she said as he began to practice the hair coloring charm.

Alex laughed at Lux enthusiasm toward practicing on her hair. Scrunching down as she approached, Alex offered her head and said, "I'm all yours". She tried to remain still while Lux went to work. Before she knew it, the job was done. Alex's hair was almost back to normal, but she still had a little Bride of Frankenstein thing going on on the side of her head.

Then addressing Bay, Alex said, "If you need someone else to practice on, you are welcome to my head.....that is if I can have a turn with yours.".

Charms Homework #2, post 2
 

seeing how awesome all his friends were doing, they all seemed to want to practice on his hair… "sure guys go crazy" he said replying to them all.. hoping that they would be doing it one at a time.. not just waving their wands at him..

Bay laughed at Lux.. "Lux.. you don't need to ask… feel free to use any spot on my head.." he turned to Sander "dude.. that piece looks grey to mee.." he waited for Sander to cast his spell… taking the mirror from Sanders hands he took a look.. "dude… awesome.. thats my hair colour all right" he said while laughing.. he might have to get Sander to finish off his head incase there were any more hidden grey hairs.

turning to Alex he laughed.. "theres ton of Bay's hair to go around" he said while looking at hers.. she still had some grey.. "mind if I get that bit first?" he asked her… but he had such an urge to do it he waved his wand over her head in a circular motion and said "Senectus Reversus" seeing her hair colour change he felt a lot better.. passing her the mirror that he had in his hand from Sander he passed it to her.. "take a look" he winked at her.

Charms Homework #2 - Post 3
 

Charms Homework #2, post 3
 

Bay laughed at Lux… she was being too cute.. looking at his hair.. "thanks Lux.." he told her with a big smile..

looking over at Sander after he finished with Bay's hair he stood up instantly going for a big chunk of grey hair of his.. "dude.. you still have so much grey.." he trailed off.. he knew Sander wouldn't mind him practicing on him..

taking out his wand Bay quickly warned Sander "alright Mate.. imma try it" he laughed… then stopped.. hoping that Sander wouldn't be put off from his laughing.. okay serious face now, waving his wand over the spot of grey in a circular motion he said "Senectus Reversus" watching the colour change back to Sanders normal blonde hair.. Bay reached out and touched it, "it feels better too" a lot healthier actually.

He was so happy that he started to look like himself again-ish.. too bad there was nothing to do about his achy joints and bones and always being so tired. blah…. he could go for a nap right about now.

Charms Homework: Post 3
 

Alex was glad that Bay was willing to let her practice on his hair, but he asked to start working on Alex's hair first. "Sure", she responded. "Charm away." They were all getting pretty good at this and Bay had quickly transformed her hair. Taking the mirror, Alex saw that he had done a very good job on his section of hair. "Thanks Bay, you did great. Now it's my turn.".

Alex carefully chose a portion of Bay's hair to work on and prepared her wand. "Senectus Reversus", she said while circling the wand over the targeted hair. As Bay's hair color began to change, Alex compared it to the already transformed sections. It looked good to her. Handing the mirror back to Bay, she asked, "What do you think?"

It was amazing to see how something as simple as changing hair color could help one feel better. Alex felt revived when her hair was brown again. Her friends also seemed to perk up when their hair wasn't gray. Now if they only had a charm to take away the aches and pains.......

HOM post 2
 

Alright well she was quiet so Bart looked back at his notes and the clay he had pulled out. Opening the bag that he had the clay in he pulled it out. Now what was he suppose to do with it? He started rolling it around the table. Hmm he figured he could make a snake out of it. Chuckling a bit he started rolling it against the desk making it longer and longer. "sssssssss" Wiggling it around like a snake across the table.

Next he started rolling into a circle leaving just a little out. Hehehehe he had a snail. Moving it around the table. This was fun, he felt like he was five again or something. That's when it hit him. He was in the library with an older girl right next to him maybe he shouldn't be doing childish things like making things out of the clay. Pushing it out and making it flat he made sure it was the way he wanted it.

Pulling out his wand he thought about the spell, Duro, it seemed easy enough, but he didn't have the best luck with spells so he wouldn't be surprised if it didn't work the first time. Doing the wand movement over the clay, "Duro" He touched the clay and smiled, it worked!! He had hard clay. That was awesome!

" Yes, mother we're behaving. " xD
 

He did not know her name. She wondered how come since he was the curious type and it'd have been very easy to find out. A simple 'what's the prefect's name' to a Ravenclaw would have done it. But maybe he just liked thinking she was pretty and not wanted to link a name to the pretty face. Like letting her presence define her other than a name. Or it maybe was so much simpler. "Well, it's Isidora but we call her Dora," And to be honest, sometimes Cassia forgot it was a nickname.

And it seemed the Cambridge family talk interested Cutty. That might be because it benefited him financially. "I assure you that no such thing had happened," she told him referring to the less inclined part. "I think it's navigating around the castle that's the obstacle. Since her common room is far from ours and all." That probably was it.

Watching him piling the many books he had gathered, she closed the one before her and crouched next to him. "Want help with these?" Was he going to borrow them all?

For Robyn
 

Bay loved his books and he knew that school was ending soon so what better place for him to be in.. running his fingers over some books he saw a flash of red.. Bending his neck around the corner he spotted Lux… she looked like she was reading something.. but it wasn't in a book….

Sitting down beside her he pulled the paper towards him… "Hey Lux… do you need my help" seeing that she didn't do the extra credit on her Muggle Studies homework… he knew what it was and he knew that she was scared… to be truthful that class scared him too.. he laid his hands on hers and gave her a big smile.