Being in the library this early in the term wasn't unheard of from Tobias Tempus. In fact, every year he'd always started with the best intentions when it came to academic work; start early, knuckle down, get a head, succeed. Needless to say, these intentions never led to successful outcomes, as every single year Toby's focus would take a dramatic downturn a few weeks in and he'd be lost to the cause. But THIS year was going to be DIFFERENT. Toby could FEEL IT. Plus, it kind of HAD to be different, if he was going to get those twelve OWLs he'd promised himself he'd get.

Already armed with various textbooks and a schoolbag full of parchment, ink, quills and OWL revision guides, Toby beelined for one of the clusters of armchairs in the study area. Sure, he was alone, but there was always the possibility of impromptu company.

After setting his bag down carefully and arranging the books around on the table, Toby got some writing things out from his bag and immediately found his list.

There was work to do on all of these, Toby knew that. And he may not be as smart as some of the other kids naturally were, but he was positive that with hard work he just might manage to get those twelve OWLs. The goal was at least eight Outstanding grades, but the sky's the limit; it didn't hurt to aim for twelve.

The Hufflepuff set the list down in front of him and looked eagerly around at the books, ready to start.

Until, a moment later, when that expression was suddenly tinged with confusion, and then thoughtfulness.

How exactly did studying work. What were you meant to do exactly. Uhh... huh.

With that, Toby delved into his bag. The books his grandma got him, one of them would know.

With his wand in his hand Leo directed the four book carts trailing in his wake as he walked the short distance from the storage room to the study area. It was stock up day for him. Humming to himself the mop-haired librarian made his way between the aisles and up and down shelves as he methodically and with love and care put up the books from the carts.

Stopping to flick through a muggle book he had read in his youth Leo lost his eye on the carts which in consequence caused the four carts to continue forwards until they collided with a chair which a boy was sitting in. Noting his fault too late Leo called as he sprinted forwards. "Oh dear, I’m sorry. I didn't see you there. Are you all right?"

Still rooting around at the bottom of his bag, Toby had NO IDEA of the IMPENDING DOOM heading straight for him. No idea until, of course, it hit him. Literally. Or hit his CHAIR at least.

Not having a single clue of what was going on, only that something had bumped into his chair, Toby, perhaps a little dramatically, flailed and dove fowards off the seat. He was on the floor, still with one hand in his bag when he looked up again, blinking around for the source of the disturbance. It didn't take long, because the librarian was already rushing straight over.

"I'm cool, I'm fine," Toby reassured the man, disentangling himself from his bag and pulling himself back up onto the chair. "I'm alright, no harm done." He waved a hand in dismissal and grinned too, just to show he was okay, before glancing at the carts. Ah. Yes. Okay, that made sense.

Leo breathed in and out and didn’t let out a sigh of relief before the boy had really reassured him that he was fine. That last thing he had wanted to do was hurt a boy with a book cart. Cece wouldn’t have been happy with him if he had had to escort the boy to the hospital wing with injuries. Cocking his head a little to the side Leo asked. "You're Toby right, Sophie's boyfriend?"

Or did he prefer being called by his full name? Some did. He wasn’t one of them. He preferred Leo to Leobald any day. Gesturing to the carts he said "I'm just restocking the shelves with books that have been in storage room for quite some time and now deserve to be read again. Want to help me put them up or did I interrupt your studying?"

If that was the case then Leo could stock books all on his own.

Unable to keep himself from grinning, either out of amusement or perhaps from the mention of Sophie (or both), Toby nodded. He supposed it made sense that he was recognised that; the Hufflepuff knew that Soph had a penchant for befriending the staff, and he also knew that Kitridge was the Head of Ravenclaw.

"Uh-huh, that's me," he said. "Toby Tempus."

Toby looked to the carts when the librarian gestured towards them, and back to the man himself. He nodded once more, already getting up out of the chair properly and to his feet.

"No no, I'll help!" he said enthusiastically, a big smile on his face. Toby... Toby loved helping people. "I've, y'know, hit a dead end here anyway. I can come back to it after a break." A very early break, but shhhh.

Samantha had her arms full with a few books about Defense Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy along with old OWL exams. She found herself a lone armchair and table and gently placed the books and exams on the table. She sat down and removed her bag that contained her quill and some parchment from her shoulder and placed that on the table.

Sam didn't know where to begin. She was starting to struggle internally because she was doing this so she wouldn't fail her OWL exams this year.

Pushing the carts forwards a little to move them out of Toby’s way he smiled. "Cool, I'm restocking the shelves with books I never got to put up last year." Gesturing to the book Toby had been studying Leo asked curiously. "What did you reach a dead end with, Arithmancy calculations?" That was one of the subjects he had had trouble with himself. Calculations had never been his strong suit.

Grabbing an armful of books from the first cart Leo walked up to the nearest shelf. "Make sure the magic put on the shelf puts the book in the right place alphabetically after author’s surname." If it didn't then Leo would have to renew the spells.

Toby nodded as he edged his way around the cart, taking a closer look at the books that Mr. Kitridge was talking about as he did so.

Heh. Arithmancy calculations. The Hufflepuff looked back to his abandoned studying... place type thing, and gave a little nod. "Yeah. Well... trying to sort of work out... how to study and all, so I tried to do it all at once. Turns out that's not so easy."

But if that was frustrating at all, Toby didn't show it. He simply grinned and scooped up some books from the cart as well, and followed Kitridge to the shelves. "Okay, got it."

He was about to add a 'boss' onto the end of that, but managed to refrain just in time. Toby picked up the first book and looked around at the shelves for the general area it belonged to.

Studying. It wasnt one of Chance's favorite things to do. But, alas, here he was, at the Library. The smile he usually wore on his face wasnt there. He grunted as he sat down at one of the tables and pulled his books on top of them.

Opening up his Potions book. He looked over the Potion they had gone in class. The Hatred Potion. Chance needed some hatred in his life. He was too smiley. WHo should he hate? Ehh, Chance couldnt really hate anyone. He didnt even really hate his father who had left him.

Chance sighed and flipped to the next page of the Potions book.

Fern never thought she'd find herself in the library. Not since her second year at Hogwarts, when THAT librarian didn't think she was mature enough to help an injured to the hospital wing...like whatEVER!

But here she was, unruly hair pulled back by a glittery head band (in dark orchid, obvs), sleeves rolled up, and nose deep in one of the six books she had accioed from the shelves. Forget Mr. Kitridge, this Hufflepuff was on a mission. And not just any mission - a mission in THE NAME OF FASHION.

Agatha came straight from her Commom Room with not books, but magazines in her arms. Ballet magazines, of course. And they were so amazing and also had articles about different dance styles.

The fourth year spotted Fern and marched over to the table were the Hufflepuff was. "Hi." She greeted the girl as she sat down and placed the pile of magazines in front of her.

At Toby's comment Leo raised a brow. "Nobody can do everything at once. I suggest taking one assignment/subject at a time or your mind will get dizzy. I know mind would and did when I went here many years ago. Knowledge needs to sink in." He could multitask but when it came to something he had to put to memory it had never worked to stuff in info from a variety of subjects.

Grabbing up a new armful of books Leo headed past Toby to another shelf as he called over his shoulder. "So do you like to read in your free time?" And with that he meant books that didn’t fall under the school work category like fiction, non-fiction and multiple other genres. "Got any favourite authors?" It'd be a big plus to the day if he could get Toby to walk off with a book or two to read.

Toby nodded in between checking the author of the next book and stretching up on his toes to put it up on the shelf it belonged to.

"Yeah... I've never been very good at even focusing on one thing," he replied, tilting his head sideways so as to see the title and author of the next book a little better. "Recently that's been a lot better, so I thought I might be able to manage it, but..." But he didn't. That was probably obvious. Toby grinned over at the librarian. "Reckon I bit off a little more than I could chew."

Which was... essentially... the story of his academic life. Taking twelve OWLs? Man.

Toby was putting the last of his handful of books up on the shelves when Kitridge asked his next question, and he couldn't help but feel that now-all-too-familiar pang of guilt (that he quickly pushed away).

"I... well, yes and no," the Hufflepuff replied, going to pick up a new stack of books and glancing over. "I've never been able to sit down long enough to read, but my grandma always read stories with me. She still does sometimes. Wizarding fairy tales and stuff." He grinned, putting another book onto its right place on the shelf. "And muggle stories. Adventure ones. It'd be nice to try reading them on my own, too, now I can focus better." Maybe it'd be ANOTHER fun hobby. There were so many fun things out there that Toby didn't know about yet that he might enjoy. Reading could be one of them. He didn't think he could remember any authors right now though.

Jasmine had decided to give her fairies a little outing so she brought them with her to the library. At least they would have a change of scenery and she would have an occasional distraction from her books. Jasmine was very excited because her fairies seemed happy when she came back from classes. They flew around the jar excitedly when they saw her. It was nice to have someone to talk to besides her bonsai Charlie.

As she was studying, Jasmine checked her watch. It was time for the fairies to eat. She could have guessed that due to the way they were looking at her expectantly. Putting her book down, Jasmine searched her bag for their bottle of food. Once she found it, she took it out of the bag and opened it. Her girls were so well behaved now. They knew when food was coming and would not fly out of the jar once it was opened. Jasmine opened the jar and shook the little red sprinkles into it for her waiting fairies. Then she closed the jar again and watched as they ate their dinner. Since they were satisfied, Jasmine got back to work.

It was almost time to submit homework...but before he could, Gabriel had the animation process to attend to...He'd just finished taking them, actually...and before heading to Professor Fuller's classroom to drop them off, had stopped into the library.....so he could lay them out...and better focus on each picture. A calculation decision, kinda.

People didn't bother him here. So...there was that, too.

After laying each one out...side by side....Gabriel carefully pulled his wand. He was alone and he needed to be quick so that he could do this....and not have a fit with his spell performance. It happened. HAD happened before....

"Alacer." With a tap to the center of the first photo, he quickly moved onto the next. Gabe had his focused face on...So, best to knock them out back to back, right? While his concentration and "Alacer."

First two down....

He felt a little anxiety spike within and forced it back down. He was okay. There was absolutely no reason to feel....stressed. He was going to have the homework completed on time...He was going to be successful in this. There was nothing to worry about...

Breathing in. Breathing out.

"Alacer." Third photo. "Alacer." Fourth photo. "Alacer." Fifth photo.

Going back over his work, Gabe seen the fourth picture wasn't moving....and sighed. There was another streak of fear. It was okay. He could try again...It wasn't something that couldn't be fixed. It would be okay.....

Mental pep talks. It was how he hadn't ran away from this school, yet.

"Alacer." The tone of voice he used when speaking the spell this time was decidedly more FIRM.....and the images starting moving at once.

He released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in.

Gathering the photos back up and stuffing them into an envelope, Gabe carefully wrote his name across it with the contents and set off from the library to drop them to his Charms teacher.

Tessa didn't know what to think when she had entered the library. She sat down at a table and took out her book. She began to read peacefully tuning out the others in the library.

Marisol was tired. She had just completed a lot of homework, not learned anything of interest, and with sinkholes and all that, the second year needed a break. But that wasn't going to happen.

Before sending her daughter off to school again, Raquel Martínez had made sure of one thing: that Mari would practice her English during the year. The eleven year-old wasn't the biggest reader anyway, but she spoke with a heavy Spanish accent, and since moving to Scotland a year ago, she had been chatting more than reading. Ask her slang, swears? Sure. But her mother wanted her to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Marisol sighed and leaned across the table. The girl across from her was small-ish and dark-haired. A Ravenclaw. She was also reading some book, but Mari couldn't see the title.

"Whatcha reading?" Marisol asked.

Eden had brought all of her books--well, that was somewhat dramatic. She hadn't brought them ALL. Just her potions stuff--and her Astronomy stuff. The two subjects that gave her a lot of trouble. She was planning on trying to read up on all the stuff she wasn't very sure about. Hmph.

She picked an empty study table and glanced around quickly before pulling out her bag of candy to chew on while she read. It would help keep her focused--but she wasn't sure she was allowed to eat in here. Proooobably not. So she had to be SNEAKEH for once, heh.

Pulling out her books, she leaned back in her chair as she flipped through her potions book. What did she want to go over again....?

Kace decided to go explore the library because he needed to get in much studying as possible. I mean his OWLS were coming up soon. He needed much refreshers as possible. As he roamed the library he noticed a girl that looked familiar. Where did he meet her? He thought back to all the times and then it clicked!

OH!

He met her at the astronomy trip. Her name was Eden because she was his partner in the astronaut simulator spinny thing. He grinned and put his backpack down and joined her, "Hey Eden whatcha studying?" he asked curiously. But then he saw the potions and added, "I see your studying potions...I need to study that too.." he grinned sheepishly. "I hope his final and OWL isn't too hard.." he added as an after thought.

Eden hadn't really been paying attention to her book. She was READING the words--but not really comprehending. UGH. This final would be the death of her--the final AND the OWL for it, too. She probably needed Jun's help again, honestly.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up and smiled. "Oh--Hi, Kace--" she said softly, since they were in a LIBRARY. "YEah--potions isn't very natural for me--which is weird, since I'm okay with cooking and baking--" and often people compared the two, but Eden just thought it was soooo utterly different. Cooking didn't have to be so...exact. Not like potions.

"I know right? I'm kind of having a panic attack about OWLs...actually..." she said with a sigh and a nervous chuckle. Gosh.

Kace smiled when Eden greeted her and totally agreed with her. "Yeah potions isn't so natural for me either. I mean my sister can do it really well but not me. I am more into Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures.." he shrugged. He liked hands on stuff, not that potions wasn't hands on but it was too specific for his brain. "Yeahh I think cooking and baking is very different from potions but it can't really kill you if you eat it." he smirked. "Unless it could.." he chuckled as an after thought. He was totally kidding of course.

Kace raised his eyebrows and didn't think panic attacks were a good thing. "Well if it makes you feel any better, I am in the same boat as you. I am starting to stress out about my finals and OWLS because they can determine my future. I mean no pressure or anything right?" he laughed nervously and began to take out his book.

"So what are you studying from potions?" he asked. "Maybe we can help each other out?" he offered.

Eden nodded at him and moved her stuff to make room for him. "Well--I like Magical Creatures, too. That's actually what I want to go to school for," she told him with a little smile. "Specifically--I want to work with kneazles." She had kind of decided on it, actually. It made her want to get a kneazle this summer instead of another snake--but. She REALLY wanted another snake. Maybe she'd...work with magical snakes? The small ones--hmm--it was food for thought, that was for sure.

"I KNOW RIGHT." She said LOUDLY--and then covered her mouth as she ducked and glanced around. OOOPS. "I--sorry--I got passionate there for a MOMENT--" she giggled and opened her potions notebook. "In theory--food should NOT kill you--" she chuckled a bit. "In theory." Heh.

HA. NO PRESSURE. "I have a LOT of pressure from my family to do well--a lot-" She didn't really want to go into it right now, but yeah. Ugh. "But--I'm trying NOT to think about the pressure and just...you know...do my thing." Eden was not the type to perform well under pressure. Not at all. "I'm lookng over everything because it just--it's hard for me. I know I did lousy with Hate Potions--" she said with a shrug. "I made mine all wrong." It didn't cause her any hateful feelings either.

Kace raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Well that is awesome. I do hope you get your dream.." he told her honestly. I mean why not work with creatures? They were pretty cool things. Kace had an uniqueness with creatures but he really wanted to do well in Astronomy. "You know I want to do something with Astronomy when I get out of Hogwarts. I always had a fascination with the stars and space.." he grinned like the nerd he was. No shame right? "Did you have fun with the lesson with the Hippogriffs?" he asked her curiously.

The puffer laughed at her reaction and smiled. "Yup it is very different. I mean you can mess up in baking or cooking and it could be the best dish you ever created or the worst one.." he shrugged. "Yes in theory I mean if my food was killing me that would be an issue.." he joked with her just a bit. He heard Eden talking about pressure from her parents. He nodded and knew the pressure all too well.

"Well you know my parents really want me to do well. I mean they want me to just excel in the subject I am doing well in which is Astronomy surprisingly. I also do well in Care of Magical Creatures too. I am not into Potions too much but my sister wants me to try and see if I will excel in it.." he shrugged and grinned. He looked down at his book and didn't find studying it fun. Astro on the other hand was sort of fun learning the constellations. "I would say do your own thing because only you can make you happy.." he said giving her a pep talk. Aahh she was looking over Hate Potions and he wondered if he did well in that. It was all a blur to him really. He didn't even know if he went to that class or not. "Well let's help each other out shall we..?" he grinned and opened his notebook to see if he had anything on Hate Potions. Oh wait he did do the potion! He remembered getting very angry with Puck during the homework.

Eden nodded. "You like Astronomy? I like it, too. It's a bit hard for me, but still-" she shrugged. "It's enjoyable, and Professor Flamsteed makes it fun." She smiled. She could soooo see why someone would like that class and want to pursue the studies further. "Have you...even thought about University yet?!" It was a bit early, sure but STILL.

Oh--the hippogriffs--Eden nodded as she turned the page in her book. "I did. It was fuuuun. I have never pet one before so I was super excited--" she chuckled softly and slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out a bag of candy. Oops. PleaseKiteredgedon'tseethis. She pulled a piece of chocolate from the bag and unwrapped it slooowly. "Want one?" she asked, smirking, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh..why does your sister care?" Eden was an only child, so she didn't know what it was like to have siblings at all...hmph. It seemed like such a hassle. And ahh..see he was trying..but Eden sighed. "Yeah--I can try--but it's a bit more complicated than that." But she really did NOT want to go into it here. She scanned the next paragraph in her book about the hate potion--"I think my problem here was my lack of being able to do things exactly. LIke--wrong amount of stirs--stirring the wrong way--things like that." She siiiighed and shrugged. DUMB.