Gryffindor Common Room. Home to many different little nooks for doing things. Quite useful, especially when you were a fifth year who's freaking about your OWLs. Pft, totally not talking about Zander Adair over here.... Or actually.

Either way, the Gryffindor was tired of staying cooped up in his dorm room, so he grabbed both his Runes textbook and his Charms textbook-- as it was mainly Charms day, but it was ALWAYS Runes day-- and carried them down the ever-so-looping stairs. There. Now erm, study tables. Those always provided a pretty good place to get working on things. Besides, a lot of the Gryffindors tended to stay away from those which made it a nice quite spot for... taking a nap.

AHEM. Studying. A nice spot for studying. HA HA HA oops? Studying that's what we said. Not napping. Pffft.

Zander absentmindedly waved hello to Pride the Rock as he made his way over to one of the long tables, also avoiding eye contact with a certain former Head of House's portrait because it was much too early to get distracted by ahem. Anyways. Charms. That's what he was going to work on.

Originally Posted by iBeJenn

Originally Posted by Optimist

So... He had his book open... And he was-erm- looking at it... That was a start, right? Maybe not exactly comprehending all of it, but hopefully just plain staring would allow him to absorb some of the information by the process of diffusion or something. Yeah, could that be a thing. At least he was trying, okay? That's more than he could say for the likes of some. Just wanted not to fail out of Hogwarts that's all. Besides, he was probably doing a lot more studying than Bart and Aegis. So at least he wouldn't be at the bottom of the Fifth Year pool, right?

Just as he began reading the same paragraph-- mindlessly-- for the fourth time, he heard some footsteps. Not bothering to look up, the Gryffindor began the passage again. Merlin, this book was so dense. Might as well be a drilling manual, you know? You'd think that wizards would be advanced enough to create a spell that'd help you learn everything without having to read through pages upon pages of boringness. Sigh.

Huh? Okay. That was definitely the chair next to him. Did Gryffindors not know about movie theater etiquette? If there's an entire theater-- in this case, study table-- with empty chairs, you do not go and sit right next to someone else. There were so many other options and... And... AJ had to come sit at this seat? Wait-- AJ?! The Gryffindor didn't know whether to be completely terrified or thrilled. Things were always... Interesting whenever she came along. "Uh, hi?" When someone said 'sup' they didn't really want the whole 'how are you' thing right? Like... It was just a greeting... Right? Merlin, he needed to learn this hip lingo stuff. Maybe Damien could give him a lesson or something. And then he'd learn how to do the fist bump that AJ always insisted on.

Speaking of which, they could hold off for that right? And.... Why'd she have the spiders? "Proposition?" he lifted his eyebrows, trying to hide the ultimate concern that he had when it came to AJ. Merlin, he had thought she'd forget about the whole 'suggestion' thing she brought up at the welcome party. Though, wasn't everything always too good to be true? Gah. ".... Does it involve your spiders?" You know... Just taking a wild guess here.

Originally Posted by iBeJenn

"I was trying to do study some charms, actually." Trying being the operative term here. He was trying. And failing. And then failing even harder because it was real hard trying to study when there was someone around who was obviously trying to keep you from trying. But, again, it was AJ. And he had promised her that he'd be around and willing to help... Was it too late to take that back? Because -uh- he wasn't aware that she'd actually use it. Which was stupid because again, it was AJ. There were a lot of unexpected things that he should expect from her. Always.

One way of looking at it? The Gryffindor tilted his head, hoping for an explanation. But again, it was AJ. An explanation probably meant some sort of unicorn speech again, and you know what... On second thought, maybe things were better off left unexplained. Yeah. "I'll try... But keeping an open mind isn't as easy as it looks." He would know. He reeaaaally tried to keep an open mind when it came to this girl. Really REALLY tried. But if the fact that he jumped into a pile of mud meant anything at all, then at least he really was trying, y'know? Yeah. He really REALLY was.

"Get them big again?" The Gryffindor considered asking why, but again... Maybe it was best he didn't know. Probably had another whole unicorn speech behind it. So yeah, never mind. "I guess that'd help me with my studying 'n all... Since I'm working on charms and everything. So yeah-uh-why not!?" See. Open mind. He was trying. "You should probably take them out first though, don't want them to get squished in the jar." MHM because that definitely would not work out. "But all it is, is a simple point of the wand and the incantation is erm... Finite!" The only tricky part is that 'Finite' is the counter spell for a lot of other spells and.... That meant that you really, REALLY had to think about exactly what you were trying to undo. Or else it just wouldn't work. Zander would know.

You know, most normal people would've taken the "trying to study" thing as a hint that they were oh, you know... Trying to study. But not AJ. Nope. She was not a normal person. Which wasn't a bad thing, just a uh... She was... unique. He'd give her that much. "You wanna help me study?" He must've been giving her the most skeptical look ever. No offense, AJ but... You just don't like the sitting down and studying type? But then again, neither was Zander. First time for everything though. Ahem. "But uh, yeah... Sure, if you want." It was nice of her to offer anyway.

The Gryffindor was about to continue when-- Whut. A cool dog? Where in Merlin's name did that even, "What?" tilting his head even MORE this time. Though, he'd take it as a compliment more than anything else. He like dogs. They're great. The best even. Not like cruppy level BUT ALMOST. Anyways, now HE was the one getting distracted and... Where were they? Oh yeah. Her open mind stuff. Whut. "Yeah, uh maybe?" he scratched his head, but tried to sound as convincing as he could. Though uh. Yeah.

Zander just watched couriously as she talked to her jar!spiders. Hm. Interesting.. Opening his eyes widely as she turned back over to him, he gave her an encouraging smile. "I am!?" No one had ever called him smart before, well besides Sophie Brown but she probably didn't really mean it. Just trying to make him feel better about himself. But AJ, she sort of meant it right? This made the Gryffindor slightly straighten his back and he couldn't even try to restrain the smile on his face. "Well, it, uh... Was nothing special, actually. I only remembered because I just went over that part in my notes," they had used the same spell to practice on with their jars and... Writing things down seemed like a good idea since the Ravenclaw Prefect did it so often. And he's A RAVENCLAW!

"It just takes a bunch of concentration though," he nodded. Merlin, he was actually enjoying this teaching stuff. Made him ACTUALLY feel smart, you know?

Of course she did? What. Who in their right mind would want to studying?? Granted, she probably just wanted to do the helping part and not the actually studying which meant-- Hey! That's actually real nice of her. Huh. The skeptical look he had been giving the girl only moments earlier faded into a small grin of appreciation as he pushed his book towards her a bit. "I'm only trying to memorize this list of charms and what they do," he said pointing to the whole lot of 'em. It was going to be a long day, okay? "So maybe quizzing?" That'd be the best approach. She could say the charm and he'd have to remember what it did and Merlin. It may actually end up being very difficult. Sigh.

AND also, how come everyone always said he reminded them of a dog? Or a puppy? Or hmph. He didn't want to be seen as a helpless little puppy. Maybe a crup. But not a puppy, y'know? There was a difference. ".... Is uh... Is that supposed to be a good thing?" Just checking. 'Cause you could never really be too sure with AJ. Never ever.

You know, for someone who had walked over with all the intention to keep him from studying, AJ was actually some really great company. Again, he found himself smiling in gratitude. Huh. "Thanks, I'll... I'll keep that in mind," he embarrassedly looked down at his textbook for a moment before looking back up. "Anyways, glad I could help. It's the least I could do since you offered to help me and all too." Look at these lions helping each other out. Hufflepuffs weren't the only kind souls around here, okay? This was proof. Or just about it, anyways.

Letting out a a small chuckle, he watched as she cast the-- Oof. That didn't do anything did it? Uh. "Alright, erm, you've got to imagine it exactly how you want it to turn out... Since 'Finite' is kind of a counter spell for a lot of things... You've got to be real specific." Or uh, at least that's what Zander figured. Though, uh, it did make a lot of sense, right? Had to. Try again, AJ! Zander was rooting for you MHM.

You know, AJ Valentine was full of surprises today. Actually, wait no. She was like that most days, except today it was a good surprise as opposed to just a surprising one. Did that even make sense? Uh. Where were the Ravenclaws when you needed them? Sweet Merlin. Um anyways, right where was he? Surprises. Yeah, AJ offering to help with his studying was pretty surprising, but very much appreciated. Still smiling at her he pushed over his notebook, "I've got most of the ones we've talked about written down here..." he explained while flipping through a couple of the pages. "And incantations are on top, with what they do written underneath," he pointed at one just as an example and everything. His handwriting could be hard to follow sometimes... Oops. He tried to keep his cursive nice and neat though, well, for the most part. O____O Smack with her wand? Uh. But before he could even protest, the jelly bean thing got his eyes all big and happy. "Ooooh jelly beans! Yeah, that's brilliant." Forget the smacking thing. He was going to eat every flavor of Every Flavor. Mhm.

This method also sounded a lot like the way he had to train his cruppie over the summer. Gave her a treat every time she did something right and soon enough she'd learn that you're not supposed to pee anywhere inside the house. Except Zander already knew that so this kind of learning was for more knowledge stuff. Ahem. And not that he particularly minded being trained like a dog because apparently being called a dog was a good thing? "Just checking," dogs were his favorite even AFTER he knew about this whole magical world so being compared to them wasn't all that bad, actually.

O_____________O

And that's when AJ got the spell right and the spider grew to THE ENTIRE SIZE OF THE TABLE???? UH. Is THIS really what she was imagining?? Zander wasted no time jumping up from his table, taking a good three steps back in the process before turning to her with a bewildered expression on his face. "UH. AJ..... Why in Merlin's name do you need a spider this big?" Please say for a school project. Or for homework. Please.

"Uh, do I?" he scratched the back of his head as he gave his notebook one last sweeping glance. Well the handwriting got a bit wonky as you got further down in the notes, but only 'cause his hand started cramping half way through. Though he was quite proud of this set. It took a while too actually and he didn't write a single word of it during class. But, suppose that's what he's got to do now since OWLs and all.. "I tried to model them off the notes my friend Lottie sent me to be honest... Just need something legible for exams this year, they're not normally this neat. I pinky swear." Because did having neat notes make him look nerdy? Because he wasn't nerdy. BUT if AJ was going to call him smart again, he wouldn't protest to it. He liked being called smart, actually, despite how he may shove off the compliment entirely.

Anyways, he took his eyes off his notes finally as AJ began to read through them herself. Aparecium. Um. That wasn't the first on his list. Merlin, he should've known they weren't going to go in order. AJ wasn't exactly the conventional kind girl now, was she? "Erm.. Wait DONTWHACKME! I know this one," he did just had to think for a moment, okay? "That's what the old gossip magazine was called... Because... It makes invisible ink appear!!" RIGHT? That HAD to be it. Just incase he shrugged down a bit because if he was about to get whacked, then might as well be prepared y'know? Ahem. Not that he expected to be whacked or anything. Ahem. But he did want one of those jelly beans she was taunting him with. REALLY REALLY wanted one and to show it, he eyed them very intensely, licking his lips as he did so. He hadn't eaten dinner yet, okay?

...
..
.

Uh.

How was a boy supposed to react to the words 'giant spider army' exactly? Because Zander must've been doing it wrong. There was a lot of blinking involved. And a lot of questionable looks. And he was still trying to process all that AJ was saying because uh, had she gone ABSOLUTELY INSANE OR WHAT?!?! "Uh.... I don't think you can exactly train a bunch of wild spiders, AJ... What if they turn on you?" Just trying to be practical here. Because wasn't that the first thing you had to think of when training a giant spider army and-- Okay so maybe not. But when exactly had Zander Adair been logical? This was just a step forward for him, alright? He was also avoiding the question. Could she tell?

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline