She, a third year, was about to study with a fifth year. Obviously this made sense because she WAS smart and everything! So what if it wasn't homework or anything like that? Duel reasons were important. She would pick some and try them out, maybe on Phillip and Ava because they were challenging enough for her but she also knew she could beat them. That was a good balance.

Despite her racing thoughts, Char was paying attention, so she did notice the pink ears, but didn't chalk it up to embarrassment. Probably he was just a little warm?

"Oh. You're welcome!" It was true too. "I think everyone should smile more, It makes everyone look better, but some people just have the best kinds of smiles, don't you think?" Char beamed at him and sat down, and once again opened the book he had given her to a random page.

Sitting down across from Charlotte, Dalton rearranged his books slightly, pulling a spellwork theory one towards him. That would work well with her book of suitable duelling spells, to study, right? Although he wasn't sure what studying with people actually meant, and he hoped Char didn't expect him, as an older student, to teach her anything. He couldn't exactly do the work himself, most of the time, let alone teach someone.

He nodded absently as she spoke, mind moving to whether or not he ever really acknowledged peoples smiles. "Yeah, I guess..." Glancing back at her, with his rather odd 'I promise I'm smiling' grimace. "I don't think I've ever seen you without a smile."

And he guessed she was pretty when she did so.

Disillusionment would be too hard still, Char thought, eyeing the page in front of her. She could still maybe work on it for the future though! She flipped a few more pages, still browsing.

"Well sometimes I don't smile, but usually I do because I have lots to smile about. I am lucky." she knew she was, even if it was also her nature. "And sometimes I just smile because it makes other people feel better.... and sometimes it makes me feel better too." Charlotte admitted, leaning forward and lowering her voice to a whisper like itswas some huge, secret confession.

"And I have figured out how your smile works."

Pulling out a notebook and pen from his bag - Dalton still hadn't mastered the art of using a quill and parchment, probably because he'd never actually tried - he settled on a page about the theory behind hexes. And then he clicked the pen a few times. Click. Click. Click. Click.

And once more to enable him to actually write things.

"That's good. That it makes you feel better." Dalton said, nodding. "And it's nice of you to do it to make other people feel better." Although sometimes, too much smiling made him slightly uncomfortable, he admitted to himself. So far, Char hadn't reached that level, though.

He raised his eyes from his book, and raised one eyebrow slightly at Char's next comment though. "Oh?" He hadn't realised it needed figuring out.

Oooh Purple Firecrackers? Maybe she could do that one. Conjuring things was kind of tough though, but she could work on it! She had ropes and blindfolds sorted now after all. Charlotte flipped the other way in the book and looked up at the clicking. Oooooh he used a MUGGLE pen! That was interesting!

"You should try it some time if you ever need cheering up yourself. Make yourself smile until you can't help but smile for real." She suggested, giggling slightly. It was silly but it worked.

"Yup. When you don't think about it, your smile is a lot more, like the real you is shining out. But then if you overthink it, its like you smoosh the parts that are you down, and get self-conscious. Like this:" Charlotte managed a faaaairly credible version of his more restrained smile-grimace, except less charming, and more ridiculous.

She had been watching, okay?

Hugo's main challenge this year was to cast non verbal spells. He had been practicing over the summer and was getting good at it but the duelling club was going to be the ultimate test to see if he indeed could do it. And yes, he was sort of nervous, that was why he decided to go to the library. To read about them. As if he hadn't done it like a million times before.

In fact, he decided to practice becaue what better place to do it than the library? Of course he was going to cast simple spells but whatever. He grabbed a book of spells and started to try them.

It wasn’t as if Brooklyn was too familiar with the library. Especially as she doubted that the librarian felt the need to stock up on her preferred books. Studying was something she only did when she absolutely had to. Most of what had gotten her through the OWLs had been things she’d picked up not from books. Listening gave her more information than anything else could have, and if anyone had ever accused her of being quiet, she would have laughed. She was observing, taking in the details. She was quiet intentionally, and not because she was shy. Information was power in the same way respect was.

However, between the charms challenge this term and her desire to further her knowledge on potions, a trip to the library seemed inevitable. She’d resigned herself to that fact, knowing she could get her frustrations over the work out through violin practice later, or ballet. Either one worked as a stress reliever, since it didn’t seem as if she had many other options.

Heading over to the potions section, though, she caught a glimpse of someone in the stacks and paused. “Wouldn’t it be easier if you had someone to try it out on?,” she said idly, leaning delicately against the shelf next to her as she watched Hugo. She might not like studying, but she respected the books. That and she wasn’t about to get caught anywhere en ear an accidental case of destruction.

Elsa was avid for information on Wes, even though she didn't know why. She had thought about him, and the mere thought of him made some weird feeling arise in her stomach - but she had no idea what that was. Nor she felt inclined discussing it with anyone. So the prospect of seeing him made her insides turn and she even looked a little green. "Oh he is?" she squealed a little higher than she at first intended, completely thrown of track.

Her attention was quickly brought back to t he matter at hand and she moved even closer to Azura and continued whispering "It's a magical book that has been hidden for ages. Kitty believes we can find it and discover some mysteries about life and magic in it. It's supposed to be very cleverly and dangerously hidden inside the castle. I'm gathering intel that can help you pinpoint it's exact location" she ended with a nod, looking around to make sure no one was listening on their talk. This was very serious spy business.

HAH! She had caught her! Hahahahaha!! Elsa liked Wes! The casual mention of him, the too high voice when Azura had said he was coming, all of it pointed to the fact that her friend liked Wes.. Though now Az was wondering if she really wanted to hang out with her.. or was she just wanting to see Wes.

"Mmmm, he'll be here soon." She said as she looked around and sighed a bit. At least she got Elsa off the track of how she was.. So that was good.

A magical book? Azura raised an eyebrow.. Could something really be at Hogwarts? She wasn't sure.. and if it was.. it most certainly wouldn't be in the normal library bookshelves.. "It would probably be in the restricted section." She said logically.

Dante was so there in the shelves watching Hugo and Brooklyn. He happened to be in the library and happened to see them together. What are the odds of that happening. Besides that this is exactly what he wanted to happen. He had been trying to get these two together with no luck so far. Mostly for his own amusement and to see what would happen. "Now say something smooth, Mr. Smooth" Dante whispered to himself. He did not really even care if they saw him he would just smile and wave.

Who was he kidding Hugo was not mister smooth. He was the type to annoy the person til they answer him. Like Dante but in his own way.

Dante was also hiding behind a desk that was way to small for his six foot two frame.

Not awkward at all.

Elsa shook her head when panic stroke her. She wasn't even remotely presentable. All that Kitty talk about clothes, hair and make up had her really going for her looks, but that exact moment she wore nothing more than face cream and her hair pulled up in a messy bun. "Oh, that's cool. Though I was really hopping we could have some alone girl time?" she added hopefully with a honest small smile. She still thought something was wrong with her friend, and the best she could do was just be there.

"Yes, Kitty thought that too and.." she lowered her voice even more, she was now just mouthing words "... she already took a peek in there. Seems this book is usually very well guarded with magical enchantments" she put a straight hair behind her year "because it's powers can be used both for good and evil". She nodded gravelly, as she did so she noticed something she hadn't noticed before. Azura was changing, just like she was! She looked older, taller. Tall people reminded her of Wes. Wes reminded her of boyfriends - go figure.

"Hey Az, how is that boyfriend of yours?" she asked in a lighter tone, a huge grin spreading on her face. She wasn't sure the two of them were still an item, but she was curious what it was like having a boyfriend.

"Sorry."

He couldn't help but mutter the apology when Char looked up at the sound of his clicking. Which, was, in a sense, unusual for Dalton, as he rarely cared about whether or not he'd annoyed people, even if he knew that such an act was infuriating when anyone but him was doing it. So, Charlotte should feel special: that little word was obviously a sign of the friendship she'd so determinedly settle on back on the train.

As he dropped his eyes back to the book, he couldn't help reflect on the fact that, at Hogwarts, he didn't really have any male friends. Guys got bored making the effort with him. Girls didn't seem to. "I'll try it, yeah." He managed an actual half smile at her little giggle, and found himself not too annoyed at her company.

Because he totally had been a while ago.

"Riiiiight." He raised an eyebrow at Char's in-depth analysis of his smile. "So, I shouldn't try to smile when people expect me to?" Because that was what he did. He chuckled slightly at her impression, though. "Excellent. You should be an actress."

"Oh its okay! Don't be, its cool! I bet you could basically make a whole band out of muggle stationery, and pens would be the best for percussion." All like TAP CLICK TAP, TAPPITY CLICKY TAP. She did a little chair dance in conjunction with the sound effects in her mind and smiled congenially. Probably some people would find it annoying, but not her. Distracting, sure, but not annoying.

... ummmm what had she been doing again? Oh yeah! Talking about his smile. The studying, for now, was forgotten.

"Smile if you WANT to, but don't feel like you have to. Just be you. You're pretty great the way you are you know, without forcing anything at all." Char shared some wisdom with him. She was helpful like that, and wise. That was why she should have been a Ravenclaw, obviously.

"An actress?" Her? "Nah! Its just that maybe I learned stuff from Rooney, he's a very good actor." And Liv too, probably. Important people always rubbed off.

Azura bit her lip as she watched the panic cross her friends face and she sighed ever so slightly to herself.. She wasn't sure she believed her friend when she spoke.. but.. "Well, we can until he gets here." She said with as much of a smile as she could muster. She could hug Wes later.

Azura's purple eyes were wide as Elsa mouthed that Kitty had already checked in the restricted area! EEEEkkk!! No more losing points for Ravenclaw, they were already dreadfully behind as it was, thanks to Daxton and the fight at the opening feast.

At least it hadn't been raining? Meh.. Azura would have preferred the rain over the points losing.. She wondered if she could find any extra credit to do or something like that. "Well.. then I doubt it would be out in the open in the Library.. Maybe somewhere outside?" Or in the Chamber of Secrets? Was that thing even still.. a thing?

Azura's thoughts were pulled from the book when Elsa spoke again and for a moment, she blinked her purple eyes.. A boyfriend? When did she have a boyfriend? Did she mean Jace? Cause they were just friends and he was really busy right now.. or did she mean..

"Ohhh. Cyprian? Yeah.. That didn't last long." She said softly. "He.. didn't really like me after all it turns out." She sighed as she ran her hand through her hair and stared blankly at the books on the shelf behind her.

Dalton snorted. He full on snorted, and then began to laugh. "Now, that's a market that needs to be broken into." Charlotte was bloody funny, he had to give her that. He riffled through his notebook for the added sound effect, before shaking his head slightly and turning back to the page he'd started on, although it still lay blank and unwritten on. They had better things to talk about, apparently.

"Uh..." The tips of his hears nearly surpassed pink to full on crimson, and he averted his gaze from Char's, hoping she wouldn't notice his embarrassed, uncomfortable chair shifting. "Right. So. Just be me." And he wouldn't admit that being him was being surly and annoyed all of the time.

Even though it was probably pretty obvious.

Rooney. He was the Prefect right? Ravenclaw, or so Dalton thought. "Well, your impressions are good. Maybe you could teach him something," he said with a wry smile.

You know what was a nice thing and she had just decided this? Making Dalton laugh. That was a thing for the list. A plus. A point. Maybe even a point and a half. He was going pretty well really. So far only Brian was as high on the list. Frankie and Hugo weren't far behind but Char hadn't spent nearly as much time assessing them either, and now that her and Olly had plans about THINGS, she was probably not going to bother with Hugo. At least not for herself. And besides, right now? Totally focused on THIS Slytherin. The one with the crooked, self-conscious grin and the cute red ears.

"Yes." She agreed. Be him. Him was good. He was nice and friendly and hadn't been even one bit mean to her.

...... she giggled and then tossed her hair proudly, shooting a somewhat sassy smile at the Slytherin. "Oh, I have. I have taught him things." Nothing to do with acting either. Nope. Juuuust snogging. All sorts of that.

"I'll bear that in mind." Once more avoiding the Gryffindor's eyes, Dalton turned a few pages in the textbook and copied the title of the chapter down. Pretending to be busy was going to help him right then, he decided. He wasn't sure why Charlotte was being so nice to him, or why she was paying attention and saying the things she was, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know, either.

It probably meant she was up to something, right? And he wasn't being part of some prank or conspiracy theory.

Maybe she was just being nice. Maybe. It wasn't something Dalton really usually considered. Cue that self-concious smile.

Now there was giggling. The fifth year was going to pretend he wasn't completely curious as to the sassiness, too, but offered a real smile up at her. "Oh yeah?"

Char took that queue to look down at her own book, and actually read a line or two about how this firecrackers spell worked. Definitely WAS a possibility right? Totally within her abilities, especially if she spent some time practicing, which she was always willing to do for dueling.

"Mhmm!" Char said, looking up again. (So good at this studying thing). She elaborated casually: "Me and Rooney, we snog sometimes. He's very charming and nice to me." It was true. Also he let her wear his badge sometimes, which she liked very much. All the glitz without the burden of responsibility! Win win.

After they'd moved on from the snogging topic - which Dalton had done quickly, for talking about other peoples kissing habits weirded him out slightly, and for some reason he didn't want to admit that he'd only actually done so with one person - he'd looked at some of the theory behind the firecracker spell, writing notes about how the inflection controlled the magnitude of said spell. Because that was what Charlotte was looking at.

Eventually, he closed his charms textbook and shoved his notebook in his bag. "I'm gonna check these out and then go down to dinner," Dalton managed with a glance at his watch. "You... Erm, coming?" That was polite, wasn't it?

Elsa's grin dropped a little at Az's sad forced smile. She let the preppy act fall and looked into her friend's purple eyes intently "Is everything ok? You seem a little.. off. You've been like this for quite a while. I'm worried" she admitted with a slight frown.

"Yeah, I'm not sure either where it can be, I was looking for a book that could give me some more information about it, yeah?" Elsa explained "I'm thinking about doing a castle sweep, start from he dungeons, make sure I check every room and stuff? I hear there's also a pool in the castle, have you heard about it?" she truly hoped that was something Azura would find interesting.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Elsa bit her lip. Was that something uncomfortable to bring up on a casual conversation? "I'm sorry Az, he's a bag of Hippogriff dung for not liking you" she nodded furiously as to prove her point.

Azura just shrugged a little as Elsa spoke.. She wasn't sure she would ever be okay.. EVER.. But no one else got to know about that. "I'm all right, I just didn't get sleep last night.. Family troubles.. that's all." Family troubles indeed..

Azura blinked a little she looked at Else for a moment.. "A pool? I.. haven't heard about that actually." She thought for a moment. "Have you tried the Room of Requirement? Surely that would be a place to look for something that's hidden. Right?" Wouldn't that be a good place to start? And then if it wasn't there, then search the castle.

"It's all right." Azura said with a bit of a shrug.. she got pains every now and then when she thought of Cyp.. but at least he didn't have to deal with what she was going through now. Really, the boy lucked out and she wished him all the happiness in the world. "Oh! No he's not! He just wasn't feeling it. I don't blame him really." Jace didn't like her either.. Neither did Noah..

She must just be unlikable.. Even her...

Nope.. wasn't going there.

Hugo was interrupted by....Brooklyn. Which was a surprise because he rarely saw her around here, not that he lived in here but you get the idea.

He shrugged, "Yeah but I just wanted to do it on my own for now" he thought if she was suggesting him to try out with her, well, he sure was a bit scared she dared to hex him on purpose. Did Brooklyn had a reason to do it? Probably not. She just had a look that said "Be careful".

"How are you?" he asked. Hugo noticed someone behind a desk but didn't paid much attention and looked back at Brooklyn.

SPOILER!!: AM NOT

As he made to pull another book off of the shelf, Daxton glanced down at the now ranting and riled up girl. He thought her amusing, and made a mental note that this particular Slytherin seemed to have some sort of entitlement complex, and that defying it was a very good way to annoy her. Helpful information indeed.

So, continuing to ignore her ranting, Daxton looked at the next book he had selected. It was one on the mechanics of non-verbal magic, one that he had read before and could easily remember the details of, but thought he might like to read again. All the while, he stayed very much aware of the fact that there was a very easily and quickly angered girl nearby, and a Slytherin at that, who might very well like to get her own back at any moment. He kept a very close watch on her in the periphery of his vision.

The butchering of his name, however, led Daxton to look at the girl once more, wondering if she had him mixed up with someone else. Dalton Prax? There was a Dalton at the school, but Daxton was fairly certain his surname was something else. 'Dalton Prax' sounded similar enough to Daxton's own name that it occurred to him that the girl was, perhaps, simply a little dim.

What to do, though? Agree, and lead her to believe that that was his real name, eventually making her seem even more like an idiot? Or disagree, and lead her to believe he was someone else entirely, as it seemed the girl had recognised Daxton's reputation or his appearance before he had so much as hinted at his own name. It was a tricky decision.

Adding the book he had taken from the shelf to the one he already held, Daxton appeared to consider the question for a long moment, as though he might answer it. Indeed, he opened his mouth, appearing for all the world as if he were about to say something... and then simply turned back to the bookshelf - careful not to turn his back to the girl - and resumed his perusing of the bookshelves as though nothing had happened.

Was that even his name? He didn't seem to respond to it. Was she mistaking him for someone else? She didn't even really know if this Loner-Dude was someone special, surely if he was in the same line as she was, she'd have heard of him.

Mason glowered at him for a few more seconds, watching silently as he opened his mouth, hoping that he would at least make SOME kind of sound. He seemed to close it just as fast as he had opened it, which was FRUSTRATING to say the least.

"Can you even speak? Are you a mute? Can you at least ACT like I'm here?!" Cause she was important and Mason wasn't about to let some Silenciod-Jerk act as if she wasn't here. "HELLLOOOOOO???"

With a frustrated-huff, Mason placed her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. "You know, I can do this alllllllll day. I can keep you company, tell you all about my day, I can annoy the hell out of you if I wanted to." And she would. Mason smirked slightly and crossed her arms over her chest, "Or I could just come over there and-" WHY wasn't he wearing shoes??!! "Dude, what the hell?! Why aren't you wearing any shoes? Are you in like some freaky cult?" Maybe he was Amish? Whatever that even meant. Maybe it was a Muggle-thing? Was this kid even a Muggle-born? She hoped so, or else the Purebloods have really gone down the drain. . .

This kid was weiiirrrddddddd.

Was Hadley sleep walking. Or had she died and come back to life. Both were plausible by the way she shambled into the library, and the lifeless, hollow glaze of her eyes. She reacted to nothing, and nobody. And in her undead, sleepwalking daze, she made her way to the nearest bookshelf and absently tugged the first book off the shelf.

"...Not...book..." The book fell to her feet, and the next was taken lifelessly off the shelf. "...Not..." A bit of drool trickled down the Californian's chin. She didn't notice. Didn't react. Just pulled the next book off the shelf. It too fell to her feet. One by one, in this absent, mindless way, Hadley pulled each and every book from the shelves, stared blindly at the cover and dropped it to the floor. When every book was on the floor, she moved to the next stack of shelves and began anew, until one whole section of shelves sat bare. An empty cliff rising from a sea of books.

Then a second section of books. Slowly but surely each and every book was removed and dropped and left. On and on, deeper and deeper into the library. No book was safe. No book would be left on the shelves until she found it.

No, Brooklyn didn’t frequent the library. The only reason she was there now was the need to do research for those things she’d signed up for this term. In some ways, it negated the whole idea that sixth year was more relaxing since there weren’t OWLs or NEWTs, but she preferred avoiding boredom as well. It was just curious that she’d now discovered that others had the same idea. At least, not taking the sixth year relaxation to heart. Plus, it wasn’t as if she regularly went around offering to help people either.

She felt suspicion that Hugo thought she was going to hex him, however. Not that he’d said anything to make her feel that way, but she also didn’t get the idea that he was outright insulting her offer by declining it. “Okay. Well, if that ever changes…,” she said, shrugging slightly even as she didn’t move from her position leaning against the shelf. If anything, she was offering her knowledge of charms, even if she knew she was better with potions. That didn’t matter at the moment.

“Hmm?,” she asked, distracted for the moment. She wasn’t used to people showing concern over her well-being, and completely oblivious to what was happening nearby. “I’m fine. Thought I’d look up some potions in case it’s needed for the testing.” There was still that unknown quantity to that activity that meant doing a little research didn’t hurt. Although for the time being she was okay with pushing that to later.