Marsha was happy. She was on the school's newspaper, which she had read last year when her semi-kinda Uncle Gabe had been the editor. In fact, she had even owled him all beam-y to let him know. She hadn’t heard back from him yet, but she hoped he would be proud of her.

So, here she was sitting in the library working on her first article. There were various books around her but she was finding it ridiculously difficult. She kept getting distracted in her hunt for information… all animals were so cool that she just kept reading the books instead of skimming the pages for relevant information… Whoops.

However, she was deep in the pages of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’, and unless someone actually interrupted her - she probably wouldn’t surface until she finished it.

Noel had spent so much time in the library last term that he had vowed to not do so for a while the time. However, Maddie was studying for OWLs and now she was at the library most of the time. And since she was now his girlfriend ... so yeah.

However seeing her deep in study mode, Noel turned away - not planning to be a distraction as he had promised. He'd wait for her to get done and so he decided to do some homework of his own. Pulling out his Charms book, the sixth year found himself a seat - only to recognize the person he was sitting next to.

She was one of the new members of Quill, like himself.

Noticing the book she was reading, Noel smiled. He had read the article she had written for the Quill. And it had been fantastic. "You know you have some really awesome writing skills," he casually commented as he opened his own book.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanialRadFAN01

Don't worry about it? He would well worry about a person trying to light books on fire for Merlin's sake.

His fellow Claw snatched a book he had been eying and was already waking off. Tucking his Mermish book under his arm he hurried after David. He was curious after all.

"Hey wait..." he said trying to catch up. When he got beside him with the same stride he whispered, almost sounding too hard to please, "I won't tell or anything."

Awkward, forced wink.

Oh he was following, was he? Davie had a smug expression as he settled into a study table, and piled up a bunch of books in front of him. The books were just a blocker so that the librarian, his HoH, couldn't see what he was up to with just a glance. These books Davie pushed to the very edge of the desk, so they weren't in fire-catching range. His book which had incendio and aguamenti in it, he propped up on the backside of the spare book pile so it was facing him.

Now, he settled in to his desk and shook his head at Milo's wink. "Okay, just... don't scream or anything. I know YOU already know these spells, because I saw you in Potions, but I need the practice." Okay, yes, Davie was admitting that he needed more practice with charms. BIG DEAL.

First was aguamenti, because duhhhhh you should never start a fire without knowing how to put it out first! Davie settled the small wastebin between his legs on the edge of the chair and quietly, subtly, moved his wand in a small sideways S.

"Aguamenti."

Nothing. Nothing at all, yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Oh he was following, was he? Davie had a smug expression as he settled into a study table, and piled up a bunch of books in front of him. The books were just a blocker so that the librarian, his HoH, couldn't see what he was up to with just a glance. These books Davie pushed to the very edge of the desk, so they weren't in fire-catching range. His book which had incendio and aguamenti in it, he propped up on the backside of the spare book pile so it was facing him.

Now, he settled in to his desk and shook his head at Milo's wink. "Okay, just... don't scream or anything. I know YOU already know these spells, because I saw you in Potions, but I need the practice." Okay, yes, Davie was admitting that he needed more practice with charms. BIG DEAL.

First was aguamenti, because duhhhhh you should never start a fire without knowing how to put it out first! Davie settled the small wastebin between his legs on the edge of the chair and quietly, subtly, moved his wand in a small sideways S.

"Aguamenti."

Nothing. Nothing at all, yet.

"I won't I promise." Milo whispered as he watched David set up a little wall of books to block whatever it was he was going to do at the table from others--oh, their Head of House Mr. Kitridge who wasn't too far away.

Wait, the other boy had noticed his spell work in Potions? That made Milo grin a tiny bit. He quickly stopped and watched David put up the last book. He didn't want him to think that he thought he was better than him or anything. "Oh, I can help you practice. My mom showed me a few things over the summer after I got my wand even though she wasn't really supposed to." So yeah, hopefully he wouldn't tell. Apparently the Ministry only worried mostly about the Muggleborn kids or if you used it in front of Muggles which wasn't what he had done.

The other Ravenclaw tried the water charm but nothing happened. "You have to do a movement like this..." he pulled out his wand and did an 'S' motion. "Like a wavy stream of water. Do it when you say the incantation."

Looking up as she heard someone talking to her, Marsha smiled wide at Noel who she found sitting next to her. Wide smiles for you, Mr Wallace! Though, when she realised what he had actually said, she blushed deeply.

She had been so nervous about her first piece that she hadn’t gotten used to receiving good feedback for it, from Sophie or any of the other Quill writers… Though it really was nice to hear that she had done well as it was listed as the first article of the year. HOW COOL WAS THAT THOUGH? First piece ever, and got the first article of the year… though, she guessed with her Phoenix theme and the rejuvenation of the school that it did WORK as the first piece of the year. Regardless, she found it a great honour and she was going to work hard for the rest of the year to make her other articles as amazing.

”Thank you so much! I think it’s more that I love Phoenixes and animals than my writing specifically? She was grinning at him though. She couldn’t believe that the older students were giving HER compliments. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee. ”Though, your article was amazing. I’ll need to remember your pointers when I get to my OWLs and NEWTs… ‘cause I think I’ll end up freaking out over them… they seem scary.” Were they? She assumed they were, even if she didn’t want them to be - ‘cause they were sooo far away. She couldn’t panic for that long.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanialRadFAN01

"I won't I promise." Milo whispered as he watched David set up a little wall of books to block whatever it was he was going to do at the table from others--oh, their Head of House Mr. Kitridge who wasn't too far away.

Wait, the other boy had noticed his spell work in Potions? That made Milo grin a tiny bit. He quickly stopped and watched David put up the last book. He didn't want him to think that he thought he was better than him or anything. "Oh, I can help you practice. My mom showed me a few things over the summer after I got my wand even though she wasn't really supposed to." So yeah, hopefully he wouldn't tell. Apparently the Ministry only worried mostly about the Muggleborn kids or if you used it in front of Muggles which wasn't what he had done.

The other Ravenclaw tried the water charm but nothing happened. "You have to do a movement like this..." he pulled out his wand and did an 'S' motion. "Like a wavy stream of water. Do it when you say the incantation."

Uh huh. David eyed Milo carefully just to make sure he knew how serious he was about not squealing about ANYTHING they might do back here at these study tables. Now, onto the spellwork.

"My mom didn't," Davie mumbled glumly. He didn't really NEED the help, he wanted to say, but his shoddy spellwork spoke for himself. He hadn't even gotten a trickle of water out of his wand yet. Davie watched the S motion Milo was making with his wand and shrugged. "I did that. See?"

He did it again and commanded, "Aguamenti!" to his trash bin. Nothing, yet. Maybe if he pictured moving his wand more like a wave... and if he pictured a BIG BIT OF WATER coming out of the end... "AguaMENTI!"

There! LOOK! A steady drip...drip...drip...

The library was definitely not Kaycee's normal scene. In fact, if it weren't for one particular Gryffindor, she probably would be avoiding this area like the plague.

But nope. She was here. And she was armed with highlighters and colored pencils and binders and she basically looked like a muggle stationary store.

She peered around the tables. Not finding who she was looking for, she grabbed an empty table. She sat down and waited.

Kody basically lived in the library at this point. You'd think that after so many long hours of doing homework and studying he'd be caught, or there would be no more books left to read on the subjects he was reading about... but, no. Here he was with a backpack full of books and notes and whatever else, and he was prepared to spend the night here. Or at least the next few hours until the library closed for the night.

He made his way through the bookshelves with the plan of going to the couches in mind. As he passed the study area, though, a familiar face caught his attention. He bee-lined toward the table that Kaycee was sitting at.

Stepping up behind her, he tapped the chair next to hers. "Are you saving this for anyone?"

Kaycee continued to look around. Where was he? He'd practically been living here since school started. Which kind of sucked for her.

OH! There he was. "It's all yours." she said with a grin. "I actually came to surprise you." She grabbed her bag and dumped a mess of color coded papers and binders on the desk. Scattered among the pile were the pens, highlighters, and colored pencils.

She then beamed in his direction. Go on, Kody. Ask what this was about. She had surprises.

Awesome. Kody sat with a smile, setting his bag on the unoccupied chair on the other side of him. He was just about to say something when Kaycee dumped her entire bag of stuff on to the table in front of them. His eyes widened slightly, taking in all of the supplies.

After a moment of pretty much pure confusion, he turned to look at Kaycee. "What'd you do, rob an office supply store?" He was only half-joking. Because he didn't think Kaycee would do such a thing, but he also had no other ideas as to what this could be for. "Because if you did, I don't want to be an accomplice." Just saying.

Did she rob an office supply store? Kaycee smirked. "Please." she said simply in response.

She then put on a game show host voice. "I'm so glad you asked, Kody." Which he didn't, by the way. "You've just won a study set." She made soft clapping sound effects -- can't be too loud in the library after all.

She propped up all the binders in turn. They sported the name of subjects he was taking NEWTs for. She grabbed one of the binders and flipped through. "There's tabs for subjects or time periods. The pink paper is for main ideas, yellow is definitions. There's calendar pages so you can make a calendar. There's matching sticky notes if you'd rather take notes that way and rearrange them on the page after."

She then smiled and shoved the binder at him. Happy studying.

He couldn't help but laugh at what could only be described as Kaycee's Game Show Host Voice. It was bad. But kinda great. And... oh. A study set?

Kody raised an eyebrow, listening to Kaycee and watching as she showed him everything that his study set came with. It was... actually pretty great the way she was explaining everything. The whole idea seemed really organized and helpful and he was kind of excited to start studying with it.

When she finished, it sort of hit Kody all of the sudden that Kaycee had done this on her own. Because of course she couldn't just up and buy a study set. That wasn't a real thing. So she must have worked really hard to put it all together and plan it out in a way that would be beneficial to him.

The lump in his throat wasn't there a few seconds ago, and it was making swallowing difficult now. How annoying.

"Wow," he said, his voice a bit rougher than before as he flipped through the binder. "This is. Um." What was the right word for it, exactly? "Really... great. Thank you, Kaycee. This is awesome." He totally wasn't emotional. Because this definitely wasn't one of the nicest things anyone had done for him. Nope.

Kaycee smiled and stacked up all of the binders on the table. Tah-dah. She watched his reaction. ... wasittoomuch?

"I did this for me." she said quickly. "Now I expect you to not spend so much time locked up in here." Which, was true. She did have a bit of a hidden agenda. Having a more organized study schedule meant less time studying.

Right?

Right.

She then nudged him. "We also need to work on your idea of 'awesome'" she teased.

Kody lifted his gaze from the binder to Kaycee, raising an eyebrow when she said that it was for her. He laughed a little, shaking his head and looking back down at the study set. "I see. I guess it should take me less time though, so there's that." Her plan worked. And he wasn't complaining about it.

He nudged her back, a smile playing at his lips. "Shut up. This is really nice, Kaycee." It was. "So thank you. I appreciate it."

Kaycee smiled. "It better." she replied. Studying was important, and she understood that. She just missed hanging out. Plus, it was still September. There was plenty of time to study later.

She continued to smile. "You're welcome." she said with a nod. "I just wanted to do something to help."

It sort of ended up ridiculous and over the top and colorful. Whoops. At least there was no glitter involved.

"Should I leave you to it then?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Uh huh. David eyed Milo carefully just to make sure he knew how serious he was about not squealing about ANYTHING they might do back here at these study tables. Now, onto the spellwork.

"My mom didn't," Davie mumbled glumly. He didn't really NEED the help, he wanted to say, but his shoddy spellwork spoke for himself. He hadn't even gotten a trickle of water out of his wand yet. Davie watched the S motion Milo was making with his wand and shrugged. "I did that. See?"

He did it again and commanded, "Aguamenti!" to his trash bin. Nothing, yet. Maybe if he pictured moving his wand more like a wave... and if he pictured a BIG BIT OF WATER coming out of the end... "AguaMENTI!"

There! LOOK! A steady drip...drip...drip...

His mom hadn't shown him any magic? Milo was pretty sure he knew who David's mom was as soon as they had met. The last name was one he was pretty sure he had come across in the Daily Prophet before had had hear his mother and other grownups talking about. "Wasn't your mother the old Headmistress though?" Maybe she was strict about rules of underage magic because of that.

He had ignored David's retort about already trying the wand movement but then tried to cast the spell again. Nothing, but once more and he accentuated the last syllable of the incantation. This time the tip of the wand beaded up with water and then began to trickle out slightly. "You did it some this time. Look water!" He said keeping his voice to a whisper as best as he can. "You'll need to say 'Finite' to end it and then you can try it again."

Right, Davie just needed to be more determined was all. More forceful with expecting magic out of his wand. Like him, it was proving to be a stubborn little thing.

"Finite," he stated clearly, watching as the drip stopped. Hey, cool! David looked over at Milo with a grin. "Oh, yeah, she was Headmistress. I'm glad she's not while I go here though. She's very strict and it would be weird if I were like, 'Hey, my mom's your boss,' to a professor or something." No, he very much wanted to be treated like everyone else. So anyway... "What do your parents do?" he asked curiously.

And without missing a beat, Davie went back to practicing. He moved his wand in the s shape again without as much hesitation. "Aguamenti!" A normal sized steam of water came out, FINALLY, and he yelped, "Finite!" so it wouldn't fill up his bin. Hehe. He could probably do the fire spell now. Look at all this water! It would be perfectly safe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Right, Davie just needed to be more determined was all. More forceful with expecting magic out of his wand. Like him, it was proving to be a stubborn little thing.

"Finite," he stated clearly, watching as the drip stopped. Hey, cool! David looked over at Milo with a grin. "Oh, yeah, she was Headmistress. I'm glad she's not while I go here though. She's very strict and it would be weird if I were like, 'Hey, my mom's your boss,' to a professor or something." No, he very much wanted to be treated like everyone else. So anyway... "What do your parents do?" he asked curiously.

And without missing a beat, Davie went back to practicing. He moved his wand in the s shape again without as much hesitation. "Aguamenti!" A normal sized steam of water came out, FINALLY, and he yelped, "Finite!" so it wouldn't fill up his bin. Hehe. He could probably do the fire spell now. Look at all this water! It would be perfectly safe.

See, he was right. Milo relished in his little victory of remembering small facts from grown-up conversations. It was probably best for David though that his mom was not still there as Headmistress, this little stunt they were performing in the Library with water and possibly fire would surely not make her happy.

"Oh, my dad passed away when I was six, but my mom helps run a Muggle cafe in our village." It didn't sound as fancy as Professor or former Headmistress of a Wizarding School but he was proud of her for raising and taking care of him on her own for so long. Plus he liked to go sit at the cafe with her and read on rainy days. He could people watch too.

It worked! "Good job, David. That was about right." Or as good as he knew. No one needed a huge shower of water when brewing potions. "Was that the only spell you were going to work on?" he asked hoping that it was true since they hadn't managed to damage anything yet.

Was Mr. Kitridge still over at his desk?

...oh. That sucked, that Milo didn't have a dad. Davie loved his dad, he was probably his most favorite person in the entire known universe. So what should he say here? Something sympathetic, right? Problem was that Davie often lacked sympathy, or failed at expressing it aloud.

"Ummm, your mum sounds cool," he said quickly instead. "So she's a witch?" She had to be, if she'd showed Milo some spells already. But then she ran a Muggle café? Was it hard to fit in with all the Muggles?! So many questions he could ask but didn't right now because he was still struggling with the whole how to be sympathetic thing.

So... onto the fire spell. "I really need to master incendio too," Davie confessed. "So just, like, y'know..." he made a 'cover me' motion and got his wand ready, already aiming it inside the trashcan. Ready? He peeked at Milo once more and then put all of his focus into the fire he was going to make.

"Incendio!" Davie whispered forcefully, watching with great amusement as a tiny flicker of flame appeared on the tip of his wand, like a dragon's tongue or a candle's wick. "Awesomeeee!!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

...oh. That sucked, that Milo didn't have a dad. Davie loved his dad, he was probably his most favorite person in the entire known universe. So what should he say here? Something sympathetic, right? Problem was that Davie often lacked sympathy, or failed at expressing it aloud.

"Ummm, your mum sounds cool," he said quickly instead. "So she's a witch?" She had to be, if she'd showed Milo some spells already. But then she ran a Muggle café? Was it hard to fit in with all the Muggles?! So many questions he could ask but didn't right now because he was still struggling with the whole how to be sympathetic thing.

So... onto the fire spell. "I really need to master incendio too," Davie confessed. "So just, like, y'know..." he made a 'cover me' motion and got his wand ready, already aiming it inside the trashcan. Ready? He peeked at Milo once more and then put all of his focus into the fire he was going to make.

"Incendio!" Davie whispered forcefully, watching with great amusement as a tiny flicker of flame appeared on the tip of his wand, like a dragon's tongue or a candle's wick. "Awesomeeee!!"

He hadn't meant to make Davie feel bad or awkward by telling him that his dad had died but it seemed that may have happened. He had asked about his parents so he told him. His new friend's reaction didn't bother him though, what was someone supposed to say about that? If it had just happened he could see something more but it hadn't. "Yeah, she is great. I kind of miss her, you know?" He actually missed her a LOT. Milo was definitely a mother's boy but he wasn't about to say that!

"Yeah she's a witch, but dad was a Muggle. We moved to a small village because she likes the quiet and there aren't any other wizards there." She could have worked at the Ministry he guessed or in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade maybe but Milo had no idea what she would do there. He liked how things were. She had plenty of time to spend the evening with him and the days when he was home.

They'd mentioned David's mom, the former Headmistress but what about his dad? "What's your dad like?"

All this parent talk, hadn't changed David's intentions to continue practicing his Charms in the Library. With a look over his shoulder from where Milo was checking to see if Mr. Kitridge had stirred, he heard the Incendio spell.

"You did it!" he said in hushed excitement. Now don't set any books on fire.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanialRadFAN01

He hadn't meant to make Davie feel bad or awkward by telling him that his dad had died but it seemed that may have happened. He had asked about his parents so he told him. His new friend's reaction didn't bother him though, what was someone supposed to say about that? If it had just happened he could see something more but it hadn't. "Yeah, she is great. I kind of miss her, you know?" He actually missed her a LOT. Milo was definitely a mother's boy but he wasn't about to say that!

"Yeah she's a witch, but dad was a Muggle. We moved to a small village because she likes the quiet and there aren't any other wizards there." She could have worked at the Ministry he guessed or in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade maybe but Milo had no idea what she would do there. He liked how things were. She had plenty of time to spend the evening with him and the days when he was home.

They'd mentioned David's mom, the former Headmistress but what about his dad? "What's your dad like?"

All this parent talk, hadn't changed David's intentions to continue practicing his Charms in the Library. With a look over his shoulder from where Milo was checking to see if Mr. Kitridge had stirred, he heard the Incendio spell.

"You did it!" he said in hushed excitement. Now don't set any books on fire.

"I do know," Davie admitted after a pause. He missed a lot about home, like his dad, and his mum's plants, and Gingy sniffing around and sitting on his lap sometimes, and all the books he had there, and his toy potions kit where he couldn't mess stuff up, and Grandad's basement laboratory when they were out in the country... yeah, he missed home sometimes. "Good thing we can go visit on weekends, right?" They just never seemed long enough.

Okay, so that made sense why they were living amongst the Muggles. "That's kind of cool." To be the only wizard around for miles? "And it seems kind of lonely," he glanced at Milo. He was probably pretty closet to his mum since those two were the only ones that could talk about magic in their village. "My dad is really patient. He's tall, and thin, and kind of quiet, but he's the most brilliant person I know. He's taught everything from Ancient Runes to History to Defense to Dragonology before." Very, very brilliant.

Hehe. Davie was feeling much more confident about his wandwork now, and he put his candle-flame out with a whispered, "Finite." There, see, no trouble, no mess. He'd just have to carry his trash bin back up to the dormitory without arousing any suspicion.

Armed with a stack of old yearbooks, Rooney was ready to continue his research on the art of prefecting. With the library home to his Head of House, he felt that here was the most appropriate area to show his true colours and his definite NEED for a badge in the coming years. It wasn't a want, it was a need. He needed one. Mainly because Miss Sophie Brown (Head Girl of Hogwarts) thought he could be one. And she had been one, and to marry her one day, he had to have been badged in school to even be 1% worthy of her.

He had a copy of every yearbook printed since 2065, a stack that was wobbling all over the place - because he still hadn't gotten used to using his wand to help him with book carrying. The yearbooks that would feature his Mama and Aunt Elodie were in his pile, and he KNEW they would give the best advice possible.

... Or not.

As he read through Aunt Elodie's interview, the Ravenclaw rolled her eyes. Only she could insult her fellow prefect and say he wasn't worthy. But her word was always true for Rooney, and so he believed that the male had actually not been worthy of his badge at all.

Rooney was worthy, right?

Ugh. Olly was bored. B O R E D. Bored.

He was supposed to be doing homework, but that was boring. He'd started out in his common room, but that had proved to have too many distractions. Not that he minded so much, because he didn't want to do his homework. But what if he didn't and failed out of Hogwarts? His dads would not be happy about that and he did not want to disappoint them. So he'd packed up and gone to the library.

It had been fine for a while. Slightly more homework was getting done, but it was still slow going considering Olly really did not want to have to do it. He kept glancing around. Out the windows. At other people quietly completing their homework like good students.

Finally, a boy entered the room. He was carrying a stack of books that looked ready to topple over at any moment. It was a welcome distraction. Oliver watched the boy for a moment before returning to his homework. Only, that was boring and he was much more interested in finding out what was going on with that boy. So, leaving his papers on his table, he walked over to the boy's table.

"What'cha reading?"

Turning the page, Rooney looked over the other interviews with prefects of Aunt Elodie's year and was in the middle of reading an answer to a question when someone approached the table he had set up on. "Yearbooks." Taking one from the top of the pile, Rooney offered it in the direction the voice had came without looking up. Research was vital and a distraction wasn't welcome unless it was someone he at least wanted to talk to.

However, he wasn't sure that this prefect was one he wanted to take notes from and turned the page, taking a moment to look out of the corner of his eyes. Ah. One of those kids from Potions class.

The one who had lied for the first year writing on the chalkboard.

The first year that Rooney had pointed at just to let Professor Culloden know the culprit.

"You could learn something from them." He mumbled, somewhat bitterly, about the disturbance in the previous class.