Concentration was key. Ellie was determined to get it right this time. She wasn't a very patient person and if it took her more than one more try, there was a possibility of spontaneous combustion.

Taking another deep breath, Ellie scanned her eyes over her picture and her drawn picture frame. She concentrated on what exactly she wanted the outcome to look like. Every detail as she traced her wand around the photo... "Statua Habitum."

Ellie watched as the paper transformed and folded itself around the photograph, creating her finally perfect picture frame. A huge grin appeared on her lips and she clapped her hands together like a seal. Now, she just had to give it to Dallin. And hopefully he would like it.

Studying wasn't exactly foreign to Stella, even if she didn't have OWLs to worry about this term. She still had classes to worry about, especially certain subjects, and she'd promised to help Matt study for his NEWTs as well. Both situations meant she seemed to frequent the library more when she wasn't bringing her books and notes out to the grounds, and seeing as the weather was getting colder, studying outside seemed less appropriate. Therefore, she was back in the library, and after a trip to the stacks to locate a book she'd needed, she headed over to the study tables. Might as well be officially studying, in case the professors still are itchy to take points away, she thought, even though she'd rather just curl up in one of the more comfortable chairs elsewhere in the library.

As she neared the tables, however, a smile appeared on her face as she saw who was there. Walking up behind Matt, trying to be as quiet as possible, she laid her books down on the floor before standing up again and leaning over his shoulder to look at what he was reading. "Studying? Should I worry, if you feel the need to make sure you're more knowledgable about Runes?," she asked, lightly teasing him before moving back again so she could pick her books up again and then take the seat next to him. Maybe he could help her, seeing as the first Runes lesson was coming up and she'd rather not feel completely stupid when she attended it. And she had a feeling he could help her understand them more than the book she'd pulled from the stacks.

Since he was rather distracted by the textbook and having finally found the notes from the previous term, Matt hadn't noticed that anyone decided to join him until he heard Stella's voice which just caused him to chuckle; it was quite interesting that the first person he had seen in about a week had been his girlfriend but at least this was yet another chance for them to spend some sort of time together. Even if it meant that there was going to be be more studying than talking, he wasn't about to complain. Not at all. "I wouldn't be that worried, I'm just trying to review everything because I haven't had the time lately with having to deal with other things. I got around to sending an owl to my dad about the holidays, I'm still waiting to see if he has a problem with the idea of me staying here for the holidays." He said and then quickly picked up a quill to start taking a few notes of a couple of Runes that he seemed to have a challenge remembering.

"So, how have things been going since the last time that we spoke?" Obviously he was curious and it gave him an opening to talk about something that wasn't school related; as much as that would have been interesting to hear, he was not exactly one of those to exactly talk about classes and whatnot after having spent all of that time in the library studying. After another few moments of taking notes, he set the quill down on the table and turned his attention to the Ravenclaw girl; reading was going to wait for now because he had done more than enough.

Vickers entered the library his book bag slung over his shoulder, his wand playfully rolling between his fingers. He settled for the table at the far corner, away from the bookshelves and just slightly closer to the stained glass windows.

Opening up his bag he took out the parchment, a quill and an inkwell. He placed the items onto the desk before bending down again to take out his Transfiguration notes, setting the stack of parchment beside him. He gave it a quick once over before focusing his attention back onto the parchment.

Now to draw....

Angelina smiled at Glenn’s statement about coming over this summer possibly. She loved visiting people during the summer, no matter who it was. Luck for her she was quiet enough, and didn’t disturb much so the parents where fine with her, but she didn’t want to go bragging about it like an annoying person. Angelina looked down at the table a little spacing out thinking about her friends she made, she didn’t want to be rude, but she wondered what their blood status was, not like she carried, she just wondered.
Smiling Angelina said to Glenn, ”It’s kind of easy isn’t it?” It wasn’t too hard, just finding something good to pick was the problem.

Vickers rummaged through his bag again for a simple ruler, then drew his hand across the parchment to straighten it out. He lined the four sides with the ruler, thinking of setting the parameters of what the frame would be shaped like. He was sticking with the rectangle, although he had began to wonder if he should be more daring and try another shape instead. Problem is he doesnt remember if the Professor said the same spell can produce round or irregular shaped frames. Another Professor to give a visit to...

He began scribling over the outside lines to give it a bit more flair. Granted he wasnt particularly artistic, but he wanted to see if he could actually come up with something more than just a plain rectangular frame that he produced in class. After a while he paused and rummaged through his bag again, pulling out one of his Nature books and flipping over a few pages, looking for something he can try to copy onto the parchment....

.... After a while he straightened up and squeezed the crick out of his neck. The nautilus turned out better than he hoped. He scribbled something very quickly at the other corner-- a bird, no specie in particular, just to balance it out. When he was satisfied with his scribblings he lay the quill down beside the ink well and leaned back onto his seat. Ok, artsy stuff is done, now of the transfiguring...

Stella couldn't help but grin as her arrival elicited a laugh from Matt, even though she was the tiniest bit curious why he'd laughed anyway. Granted, she'd been teasing about the Runes book he'd been studying, but it seemed like it wasn't entirely that. He didn't seem bothered abotu her interrupting, though, either, so she made herself comfortable in the seat next to him. "I won't be then," she replied, glancing over with a smile as she swiveled to face him. "You're still better than me at Runes anyway." The topic of the holidays was an entirely different story, and her expression turned more curious. "My parents seem alright with me staying. Of course, I had to pretend it was for a school event, but there might be one anyway," she confessed, before looping a strand of hair behind one ear. "It's alright if you need to go. Plans change and everything," she added softly, as he'd shifted his attention to his notes. That was definitely an awkward subject, but she also knew he knew she'd understand if he didn't want to wait to see his mother with everything that was going on.

She blinked as the subject abruptly changed, however, even as he'd spoken while still focused on taking notes. At least that hopefully would keep him from noticing her surprise. She managed to get back to normal by the time he'd turned his attention back to her, as well, giving him a slight shrug. "Things are okay. Classes, mostly, homework... Talia keeps owling me about every little thing that goes on with her in London, and then Risa does the same. Apparently neither one of them thinks I can go a week without an owl," she concluded with a quiet giggle. As far as she could tell, her best friend was already anticipating what might happen next summer, even though she was still a little nervous about the redhead meeting Matt. Even more than she was nervous about him meeting her parents and Carter.

Vickers reached out for his notes and read through them, practicing the wand stroke in the air and mouthing out the incantation. He's done it before. Should be easy-peasy right?

He ran the outline of the parchment with his wand and uttered "Statua Habbitum." The parchment began to rise and take shape, forming into a silver rectangle. It looked pretty similar to what he did in class.... except of course he wanted it to have a bit more flair. His scribblings? Stayed flat and paper-like, some even disappearing entirely in the plain silvery finish of the frame. Sighing disappointingly, Vickers cast the Reverto spell to put the parchment back to how it was. So maybe producing a decorative frame wasnt as simple as he thought...

"Yeah," Glenn said, biting her lip as she thought of a sentance for 'I', "It actually isn't that bad." She scribbled a sentance for 'I' down on the parchment and moved on to the next one. Sophie was being quite quiet, she was probably working hard on her homework. "I need to check my notes..." She murmured, pulling her journal towards her and flicking until she found the notes she had made just after Muggle Studies class. Glenn read through them a couple more times then continued with her work.

It seemed like not studying for a few minutes had been annoying Matt and he quickly went back to reading; apparently the books wanted to take his attention away from his girlfriend which honestly wasn't cool at all. But, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to contribute to the conversation; that would have been rude and he wasn't that. "Well, I'm sure that you'll do much better in Runes this term. I promised to help you out and I'm going to keep that promise. Outside of what I can explain to you now, I'll let you borrow my notes which explain basically what you should know for exams." Sure that was a bit early to be thinking about exams, but he was the one all concerned about NEWTs; even if there were other things to be worried about right now. Like what was going to happen with the holidays. Speaking of which.. "Well, I'm sure that my dad would completely understand that I want to stay at the school. He was the same way when he came to Hogwarts, not wanting to graduate. But anyway, I should know for sure in a couple days." If he had to go back home while she stayed here, that wouldn't have been much fun. But, going back home meant that he got to visit both his mom and his uncle that were hurt in one way or another.

As she went on to talk about getting owls, it reminded him that he actually had to owl Addison about some stuff; possibly send his brother the Christmas present that he had packed away in the dorm. Of course that depended on if he ended up staying here which seemed to cause him to return to his earlier train of thought. He looked away from the textbook again and stared at the table for a second; finally realizing that he still hadn't said anything in over five minutes. "Oh, how is Talia? And honestly getting owls isn't a bad thing; mind you it can get a little annoying after awhile. But I suppose, they both just want to keep you updated." At least that was what he thought, he had gotten a few owls himself from Jakob and Rachel; even though the latter had still been trying to ask him on a date when she very well knew that he already had a girlfriend. The mention of her best friend had just made him go back into thought over what was to happen in the summer, honestly; as nervous as he had been to be meeting some of the most important people in her life, he was also excited since it was a huge step.

Angelina smiled at Glenn then sat there and looking around the library. She thought she would just let the two work for now. After a while a thought came into my mind, "Hey do you all want maybe meet in Hogsmeade sometime when we go in a few days?" she asked while turning to Glenn and Sophia who was very quiet. Angelina was trying to meet up with all her friends on the trip to Hogsmeade, she wondered if she could meet them all in that time while she wanted to go looking around as well.

He bit his upper lip unconsciously and drew his hand across the parchment again. He wanted to have those flourish come out properly if not really pretty! Rubbing his fingers anxiously against his wand he gritted his jaw and set his mind to actually visualize the frame in its completed form....

"Statua Habbitum!" he uttered the spell more decisively, drawing the wandwork around the scribbled paper. This time the parchment popped up a few inches into the air all silvery and solid like before settling back down gently, still the midst of transforming. Vickers peered closely, unaware that he was holding his breath in anticipation if this time he would actually come up with a frame he wanted....

Even though she tried to hide it from him, a tiny frown flickered on Stella's face as Matt's attention went back to his books. She'd said she understood his focus on studying, and that she was willing to help, but in the same respect she couldn't help but feel a little slighted by the moment. And at least he'd still replied to her about Runes, which appeased her for the time being. "Alright. But I still don't know if I'm going to get that much better at them. Anything would help though," she said, glancing at her own small stack of books. She'd already seemed to get past her failure in Potions, even if it had taken a lot of drama and fear of Professor Lafay to manage that. Runes was her last hurdle, and she actually had the fear that the subject wasn't going to be as easy to figure out as Matt seemed to still think. She'd definitely try, and she had a feeling his notes would help a lot.The subject had quickly changed again, however, to the much more neutral idea of the holidays, and she nodded at his words. "Hogwarts really seems to do that," she said with a smile. Make people not want to leave, although she had a feeling she wasn't going to have too much trouble wanting to graduate next term. It was going to depend on how things went, since he wouldn't be there. "You'll tell me when you find out, right?"

At least her talk of owls seemed to get his attention back from the books, even if it had only moved to the table. "Sickle for your thoughts?," she asked, before he'd broken his own silence to look over at her with another question, and she blinked again. That was odd. "Talia's good," she said slowly, "Mostly just still worried about her classes and everything." That and continually telling her about the trouble Bogie was getting into, left alone while her sister was at the university during the day. At least the puppy couldn't bother Lyra, or even get into her room at her sister's flat. She'd charmed the door shut just in case before she'd left to come here. "I suppose," she agreed, breaking free of her mental tangent as she realized she might have caused an awkward pause herself. Even if it seemed like he was lost in thought again as well. "Risa keeps asking me questions," she said randomly. Just to break the silence again.

Having not being able to concentrate in his last working spot, Kennedy had gathered his things and decided to go to the only place that offered him quietness and the company of lots and lots of books.

After setting his things down on an empty table, Kennedy took out all of his utensils. He let out a content sigh and began drawing. First he drew a square and at the center of it he drew another square that was about a quarter smaller than the first one. Then he drew big, round circles in the outside of the small center square.

When he was done with that, he shaded in certain areas. This drawing was much better than the first one he had tried drawing.

"Yeah, that would be heaps of fun!" Glenn looked up from her work, "I'll need to stock up on chocolate frogs and butterbeer." She smiled. Glenn had little bit of an addiction with chocolate and butterbeer. Her father would buy bottle of butterbeer for her when she was little, he just gave her pocket money to buy her own at Hogsmeade now though.

Smiling Angelina said,"Yes it would be! I haven't had butterbeer in abling time so I might get one... Or a couple." she said with a giggle. The last time she had it she remembered it tasted really good, she hoped she still thought it tastes good once she tried it. Now just talking and thinking about it really wanted some!

Sophie stopped paying attention to the two girls when she had an idea for her CoMC/HoM homework. She wrote it down as fast as she could, but it ended up being too long, so it took her a little while to be done. When she finished, she dropped her quill and held up her parchment. "I'm done!!" She exclaimed happily. "One down! Just a few more to go!" She smiled at her friends.

She noticed they were talking about Hogsmeade! "Oh cool! Yeah, we should totally meet up!" Sophie wanted to see all of the stores there, everybody said they were all nice!

As he peered closer with bated breath the frame has settled down solidly onto the desk again, now a rectangular, metallic piece with a greyish luster. The design he scribbled started to take on the three-dimensional features, standing out clearly against the mettalic surface, and taking on a slightly darker tone than the rest of the surrounding metal. The eagle sketch grew to overlap against the glass, as did the nautilus. He winced a little, he wanted to keep those on the border of the metal frame, but after a while he grew to like it. It wasnt what he had planned, but it was starting to look better because of it.

He leaned back in his seat, satisfied with the way the frame looked in its final form. Reaching out for his notes, Vickers flipped over a few pages to see what he was supposed to do next....

So he was supposed to give this to someone? His lips creased against his cheek trying to figure out who to give it to. A part of him wanted to keep it for himself, as it was his nature to catalog and store his projects big or small. His thoughts drifted to the few friends he had. Maybe they can do a grand swap of frames? Then again who will he swap with? And what photo should he place in there if at all? He felt oddly uncomfortable about placing his own photo and giving it away to someone else.

He could hear the clock tower sound off. He'll just have to figure that all out later. He collected his things into his book bag and gingerly lifted his newly transformed frame into his hand, then quietly made his way towards the exit.

He only kissed her to get back at a girl he...used to be with?

"So basically...he used you?"

That almost made Anakin more angry than it would have had the kiss been because the Ravenclaw, Dallin, had liked her in that way. But to pull her into his petty argument with an ex? That was low, An thought. Something that sounded more of what a 5th year would do...were they really fellow 7th years?

Though, he couldn't say much...Anakin was probably as immature as they came...

"Well, regardless. You still should. He wouldn't have used a girl who wasn't smart and beautiful to make another girl jealous..." At least, he didn't think anyone would. Anakin didn't really know...he'd never tried any of those tactics. And he didn't plan to start to.

He couldn't help the frown that settled on his face when she called him 'the best', but he refrained from arguing more. Because that wasn't entirely the point of this conversation at the moment. "Are you...sure? I don't want to be like...holding you back or anything." He sounded pathetic. He knew he did. And he hated it. "The important thing is, you're alright yeah? He didn't do anything other than that...right?" Like, hit her or something, because when he'd come in she'd seemed really really down.

He'd offer to talk to him, but knew she would shoot that down. And Anakin was going to do it anyways, so he'd rather just...not mention it so he wouldn't have to do it behind her back.

Good plan.

It sounded worse when said out lout and like that, but really, Vashti wasn't sure how it could be said to make it sound okay so she shouldn't have been surprised. She nodded in reply but didn't say anything further because...well, she didn't really know why. She just didn't really want to keep talking about it now.

"You never know," she said in response to the rest of what he said about it, shrugging. She was still sure that Dallin hadn't cared what girl he happened to kiss and so he wouldn't care whether she was "smart" or "beautiful." But she didn't care much about continuing on about this since she knew now Anakin wasn't mad at her. It was just...awkward to talk about, and she really wanted to just forget it had ever happened.

Hold her back? "How in Merlin's name would you be holding me back?" Like really? It wasn't like she didn't do things apart from him, and vice versa, so why would he think that?

"Yes, I'm alright," she replied, nodding. She was now that she wasn't hiding what had happened from him and now that she knew he wasn't angry with her or prepared to break up with her or anything like she'd fretted he would do. "He didn't do anything else." Except talk to her, of course, but that was before the kiss and there hadn't been anything wrong with that.

Though...she did remember something else, now that she thought about it. "He did apologize, actually," she added. She hadn't really given it much acknowledgement though - she'd been too surprised at the time to do anything except get away from both him and Ellie as quickly as possible.

It seemed like as soon as he went back to studying, Matt suddenly felt like there was something wrong; huh curious. As much as it seemed like the books were trying to win over his attention, he didn't want to just spend this time that he was supposed to be talking with Stella. So he just lifted his eyes from the textbook and closed it to show that he was finished reading for now, there was plenty of time to study later. "You will be. You just have to trust me, I tutored a few people back at Rygal and they ended up passing their exams without a problem." He was trying his hardest to convince her that she was going to be able to deal with Runes much better than she had been able to before, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that he was right about this either; no matter what he wasn't about to see her fail. But as soon as she went back to speaking about the holidays, he just nodded at what she had said. "Of course I'll tell you when I find out either way, I wouldn't be surprised if he just said that he wanted me to come back. Only because of the current situation." Honestly, he hoped he was going to stay. There was still plenty of things to do at Hogwarts over the holidays, which obviously included doing some investigations once again to see exactly what; if anything had still been hiding around the school.

"Oh um, I was just thinking about what I was going to do with the present that I have for Addison. Since I don't know what's happening yet. But it just might be better off if I owl it to him either way." He really wasn't looking to bring more things home with him that he needed to, only if he was going back to Los Angeles. At least it would have been better than spending the holidays with Raven since last year it was.. interesting, and that was just one way to put it. When she mentioned how her sister was, he nodded once more; well there wasn't much to say there. However, after a few moments of what seemed like awkward silence between the both of them; his eyebrow slightly rose at what she had said. Now this he couldn't help but ask about. "Oh? What kind of questions, if you don't mind me asking." There wasn't a need to ask about something that he possibly shouldn't have known about or something along those lines; that was exactly why he had tacked on that little bit at the end.

Even though she still felt bad about her disappointment with Matt focusing on the book almost more than their conversation, Stella almost felt guilty when he'd finally closed the textbook to look at her again. She hadn't wanted him to feel like he couldn't study, even if he'd been reading about Runes. Quite possibly especially if he'd been reviewing that subject, since they'd continued discussing the idea of him helping her pass the class. Or more accurately, it seemed, he'd applied himself to trying to convince her the idea wasn't hopeless. She still wasn't as certain as he seemed to be, but she gave him a smile anyway. "I do trust you. Always," she assured him. Maybe it was just that she didn't trust herself in this case. She didn't really want to think about that, however, so the discussion about what might happen over the holidays was entirely welcome. Once they knew exactly what was going on, and she nodded at his words. "I can't say I would think otherwise either. I'd completely understand if he wanted you home, even if I'd like you here too," she replied. It would be a bit lonelier for her if he did have to go back to California, with her pretty sure she was staying at Hogwarts, but she could handle it. It would be like practice for next term.

Another thing she hadn't expected was for him to have so easily told her what he was thinking about. She smield again at the words, though. "At least you wouldn 't have to worry about remembering to bring it with you if you did have to go," she agreed. "Do I really owe you a sickle?," she added with another soft giggle. She'd give him one if he wanted, but the question hadn't been entirely serious in the first place. Thoughts about that were pushed back as he'd reacted to her comment about her best friend, and she'd grinned in response to the look on his face. "Of course I don't mind. Considering she keeps asking about you," she said in amusement. Mostly curiosity about next summer, since she'd had to tell the redhead about her plans. At least it wasn't a continuation of the questions about if she was crazy for being in the relationship, as Risa had finally realized Matt made her happier than she'd ever been with her ex.

"Thanks,"Gustav replied as he took them from her. He would sneak a peek of what Jezz was doing as he wrote some notes for himself. She seemed to not like arithmancy by the way she act.
"Are you sure you want to read that?"he asked. He couldn't help but utter a slightly sniffled laugh.

Jezz just laughed. "I really don't think I'll take notes." She pulled the book open and let it stay open on whatever page she flipped to. "But it never really hurt anyone to pretend to take notes." She commenced her doodling.

It seemed like he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong here while he just looked at Stella, but Matt wasn't exactly able to figure out what but it wasn't exactly important either; what was important was the whole conversation that they were having about Runes. Which seemed to turn into yet another round of trying to convince people that he was right, even if that didn't happen all that much. "Well good, cause if you didn't trust me; I do believe that there might have been a problem here." He already had enough people in his life that didn't trust him for some reason so at least he knew that there was one more person outside of his family that actually trusted him, speaking of his family; it seemed like the subject of the holidays had made it's reappearance which honestly was a welcome shift in discussion topics after school subjects. "I just wish that there was a way I could both spend time with you over the holidays here and go back to Los Angeles to see my mom and my uncle. Unfortunately it's not possible. At least I don't think so." A slight sigh escaped from his lips after he spoke, honestly why did this have to be rather frustrating? Being forced to choose between spending time with his girlfriend and his family.

"That's true. I think I might just send Gidget off with the present later on. It might be early but at least he would have it." He couldn't help but chuckle at the next thing that was said, it was rather amusing. "Actually no, I would much rather have a dance with you." And of course he was being cute again which wasn't a problem, not at all. As soon as she brought up what her best friend had been asking, he chuckled again; that was pretty amusing to him since he wasn't used to it. "She asks about me? And what exactly is it that you've told her about me?" Now he was curious since he didn't think that anything bad would have been said but at the same time he didn't know what was said. Oddly that reminded him about owling Jakob and Riley back about what was going on at his old school as well as just about life in general.