With the syncope rhythm of new age jazz, tiny half-frozen pellets of ice water ticked against the tall window panes encircling the Ravenclaw tower room.  It was only three in the afternoon but the thick, dark November clouds gave the impression it was coming on nightfall.  The Ravenclaw wasn't looking forward to trudging out through the frigid wintery mix to Herbology and he doubted few of his classmates would be.  If they were lucky, it'd manage to get cold enough to switch over to straight snow - snow would be a considerable improvement over the half-frozen sleet. 

This was his one fleeting official study period of the week and with only a little more than a month left to the term, he had to make the best possible use of his time.  Plenty in his house seemed to be of the same mind, as well - but such was the way in Ravenclaw.  The majority of them could be counted on to buckle down towards the end of the term. 

There was a myriad of textbooks strewn across the table - most of them the rough, leather-bound texts of the Hogwarts curriculum.  The magical tomes were interspersed with slick, cleaner-edged, plastic bound textbooks - the majority of which were printed in German.  Baldur was flopped haphazardly over Sasha's feet under the table. 

A shape passed behind Sasha and the young man glanced up to find Absinthe, of all people, settling herself at his table.  He nodded, politely, in greeting and rose slightly to gather a few of the books closer together to make some room. 

"I don't want to go out there," Sasha admitted, glancing over his shoulder at the window.  "Even if the greenhouses are warm."  It was going to be a sloppy, cold trek across the grounds to the greenhouses. 

Thea sat down across from Sasha and regarded him quietly, placing her bag on the table in the space that he cleared for it. She was feeling  particularly petulant today in relation to her school work.

 Only recently--which she had to kick herself for, considering the fact that she'd been going to school with him for six years now--had she realized exactly how similar their situations were. Similar enough, in fact, that it was near impossible that she hadn't run into him at some point before they'd even arrived here. She was very curious about how he dealt with being trapped in this magical environment. From the looks of it, his preferred method seemed to be excessive studying, although she was surprised to see a mix of both Hogwarts and Muggle texts strewn about the table before him.

Her eyes fell on the books, and she noticed the rather lengthy looking words of German. She raised her eyebrows, impressed. She wondered if it was something he'd always known, or something he'd somehow managed to pick up here at Hogwarts, despite the lack of emphasis on anything that didn't involve brandishing a wand and chanting nonsense.

She was startled out of her reverie by the sound of Sasha's voice, and her eyes slid to the window, where she winced at the sight of half-frozen rain pelting the tall windows. The very thought of ducking out into the partially frozen cold and sprinting down the muddy slope towards the greenhouses was deplorable, and she said so. "I wish," she continued, "That I could just stay here."

The similarities between the two sixth years, of which there were many, had been vague and elusive.  Enough so that both had remained almost entirely unaware of them, more often than not completely distracted by the bright glare of their much more noticeable differences. 

Their separate approaches to course work and school could have not been more different.  Thea's off days always seemed to pull her away from work where as Sasha's always drew him towards it.  Some days, their Hogwarts coursework always seemed to cause Absinthe stress where as studying was Sasha's stress relief.  They typically kept to their own patterns and typically avoided being assigned to group school projects together, if they had any choice in the matter.  It didn't take long for Sasha's unrelenting drive to overachieve in even the smallest of projects to seem to annoy Absinthe to no end. As it did with most assigned partners. 

So, it was a surprise to see Absinthe choosing to sit at his table.  Sasha followed Absinthe's gaze down to the stack of books and pursed his lips slightly.  When the girl finally spoke, though, it was about their upcoming Herbology class.  Not the books. 

"Ja," Sasha agreed, glancing over to watch an ice pellet trickled down a pane of glass in a grey trail of rainwater.  "At least, once we get there, it'll be warm.  And, I think we're just working on our individual plots.  It shouldn't be that bad.  Just, cold and wet."  Cold, wet, followed by playing in the dirt.  Not exactly the most enjoyable of combinations. 

Sasha shrugged awkwardly and looked around for some conversation piece.  Conversations between the two of them were infrequent enough that there was no real continuity in their past conversations.  "So.  How have you been?" he asked, figuring the basics were an easy place to start.

Thea raised her eyebrows when she saw Sasha's reproachful expression. Sure, they didn't often associate--in fact, Thea may have made a point of ensuring that they spent more time apart than together--but that didn't mean she was here to start trouble. They simply had different habits, that was all.

However, whatever differences the two harbored were nothing to Thea, when compared with the similarities she was just now beginning to realize. She smirked slightly at his composure, at his polite question. However, when she answered she was equally polite, almost as if to remind him that they'd come from the same upbringing. That was, after all, her reason for this visit. "I've been quite well, thank you. And yourself?"

(OOC: I'm very sorry that I sort of stopped replying entirely. I was banned from the internet. I understand if you've moved on to bigger and better things, but I'm totally up to continuing.)

The raised eyebrow seemed to be as close to a sign of peace - or temporary truce - as anything and Sasha shrugged.  He still wasn't entirely sure what had prompted this curious change of routine but Absinthe didn't seem to mean anything ill by it and Sasha was willing to accept that at face value.  Sasha carefully set his quill down by the inkwell and set his Creature's essay between the pages of his biology textbook. 

Her answer seemed succinct and polite.  The type one offers during a formal soiree when delving in to the juicy details of one's personal trials was neither appropriate nor welcome.  But, this was the common room.  And she had sought his company despite the lack of social obligation to mingle.  Surely, she wasn't simply looking for the thirty-second, everything's swell, you're looking marvelous not-quite-conversation.

With a slight shrug, Sasha decided to test the waters with something more than the standard, prescribed response.  "Been busy.  Looking forward to the term being over."  Though he wasn't exactly looking forward to the winter holidays.  "Think you will be ready for exams?"

This turn of topic was not in the direction of one of Thea's favorite subjects, and she wanted instinctively to push past it. However, it seemed as good a segue as any into what she had truly come here, across from this rather unlikely conversational partner, to discuss. She was silent for a moment--making sure to keep a vague upturning to the corners of her mouth so as not to seem petulant--as she pondered how to go about answering this question.

"Honestly," she began after a moment, "I haven't studied much." This was a lie; despite her disregard for the content of the books, she couldn't stop herself from practicing the ingrained study habits that she'd carried since her early years, and had thus been poring over the texts at least four hours each night. However, she said it with a kind of flippancy that most students discussing their exams would be hard pressed to display. "But I'm not too concerned. It's not really very important stuff, is it?"

She knew Sasha would disagree--one look at him showed his dedication to these studies for both their sake and their content--and yet she hoped that this would lead him to ask why she thought such a thing.

Surprise flickered across Sasha's face and his gaze darted from the young woman on the other side of the table to his stack of textbooks and back.  Absinthe didn't necessarily flaunt her distaste with their magical curriculum with drastic, dramatic flare but she didn't hide it, either.  Even so, she was a Ravenclaw and, from everything he'd seen, she did possess that drive to succeed and these were NEWT level classes. 

Honestly, Sasha wasn't sure why more of his classmates weren't panicking about now.

"But I'm not too concerned. It's not really very important stuff, is it?"

The ever familiar splash of warmth and color rose in the Ravenclaw's cheeks and he shifted, uncomfortably, as he pondered whether that had been an actual inquiry or more of a no-answer-required rhetorical questions. 

"Depends," Sasha answered, initially.  If the question had been rhetorical, he was hoping Absinthe would provide some response that would indicate that non-committal answer was sufficient. 

But, Absinthe seemed to be watching him with continued expectation and Sasha settled back in his chair.  "I suppose, it's only important if one expects to use the material, or the examination scores, in future endeavors."  Sasha glanced around the room.  Ravenclaw was not Slytherin house but anti-magic sentiments still weren't exactly welcome.  But, no one seemed to be paying them any mind.  "I take it, you're not planning on using either?"

Thea shrugged noncommittally, her gaze unwavering. "Honestly, I can't help but worry about all the time I'm wasting here. I mean, this was never part of my plan." That statement may have struck another student as odd--she'd been here since she was eleven, how could she have had a life plan prior to that?--and yet she had the feeling that Sasha was likely to understand. "And I don't like to think of what I'm missing out on. Educationally."

Her foot began tapping against the stones beneath the table. The clock was ticking down toward Herbology, and although she logically knew that it wasn't important if she was late, although she didn't particularly care one way or the other if she missed another day of pus-squeezing or bulb-transferring, her instincts were telling her to get a move on. To avoid appearing antsy, she pushed back from the table and placed her feet on it, crossed, an act of such casualness that her normally stiff posture almost didn't allow for it, leaving her looking more awkward than she had before.

"How about you?" she asked, just as much for an answer as to distract from her failure at nonchalance. "Planning on working at the Ministry when you get older? Or...here?" she added with some distaste.

Indeed, Sasha did understand.  Most muggleborns shared the common trait of having found out, one day, that their lives would take a mysterious turn that no one could have expected or predicted.  Their personal sense of identity gets flipped over and they find themselves representing the very thing most muggles are taught doesn't exist.  Some muggle families imparted just as much of a sense of familial duty in their children as the most tradition of pureblood families but the intricacies of the muggle elite class were often lost on wizarding society. 

"I know," Sasha sympathized, glancing out the window towards the bank of thick, grey clouds.  "If I, you know, hadn't come here, I'd likely be in my first year at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.  And, I'd be getting ready for family holiday affairs."  The actual motives of the wizard intruder were still unclear but they knew he'd been a Death Eater.  Magic, ultimately, played a part in the home invasion the previous year. 

But, lingering on what ifs weren't going to do any good.  The past was supposed to become the past and all of that.  Sasha shook his head, forcing his attention to stay on the current conversation. 

"What were your plans?"  Sasha asked, curiously.  "And, I know it's tough but, you know, you don't have to abandon the other world entirely.  You don't have to miss out on the education.  They try to make you think that.  They what us to assimilate completely - but ... it isn't really just one or the other." 

Sasha grinned, slightly, and shook his head.  "I've been interning with the Department of International Magical Cooperation but, you know, just to have something to do when I was home last spring."[1].  Sasha shrugged and shook his head.  He didn't usually admit his plans to just anyone; he had enough trouble from purists for being 'muggle friendly' as it was. 

"I hoping to get into University.  Cambridge, ideally.  I've been keeping up with muggle academics on my own and am sitting GCSE exams next month."  Sasha cringed slightly and glanced at the stack of books.  He couldn't wait for exams to be over.  "After that, I have some ideas.  Mostly independent ... research."

1.	February of the last school year, Sasha was sent home by the Board of Governors for the duration of the Spring term after being found with the body of a Slytherin in the forest

Thea watched with interest and a vague melancholy feeling that she couldn't quite explain as Sasha explained his plans, growing more animated. Suddenly she was uncomfortable. Sure, it was easy to say that she wished she wasn't stuck here, wasting her time, but perspective changed things when she admitted to herself that she hadn't really had another plan, so much as a vague idea of the path her life would take; one similar to her mother's, surely not the worst anyone could do.

Silence stretched between them as she prepared an accurate answer to his question. Thea was not the type to run headlong into such matters. She refused to be caught stumbling over words like an idiot, and thus was very careful to arrange her sentences with utmost eloquence. It was while she was still pondering the best way to word an abstruse answer that her mouth fell open of its own accord. "I don't think," she murmured, "That I ever really had a plan. I just feel like the whole idea of having one has been taken from me."

Immediately she flushed, a feeling to which she was unaccustomed. Rushing to turn the conversation away from herself, she abandoned her rules of speech. "What, er, what kind of research? Do you plan to stay where you are now? Move away?" she paused, and then a phrase she had often heard repeated by her mother snaked into her mind, "Marry well?"

Absinthe blushed and, almost immediately, Sasha followed suit though, in his case, he was more than accustomed to the feeling.  It wouldn't be too much of  a stretch to say he could be caught blushing more often then smiling.  He hadn't intended to make the young woman feel uncomfortable or anxious and he wasn't sure if Absinthe wanted a convenient way out of the conversation.  She had approached him, though and Sasha could only assume she had done so because she felt some need to discuss these topics.  Regardless of whether she wanted to or not. 

"I don't think that I ever really had a plan. I just feel like the whole idea of having one has been taken from me."

"Here, it's hard not to feel that way," Sasha admitted, with a slight.  "I felt like that a lot.  Up until this summer, almost.  But, I felt like that was coming as much from home as it was from here.  Here, at least, everything is clear cut and black and white.  Life beyond Hogwarts used to terrify me - trying to figure out where I belonged when both of the worlds weren't so divided."  Sasha shrugged and admitted, "now, I can't wait to get out." 

Sasha glanced across the table at Absinthe and shrugged.  "If the idea hadn't been taken from you, if everything else were equal, what do you think your plan would be?" 

"Scientific research, I think.  Of -"  Sasha hesitated a moment before glancing around the room.  By and large, the Ravenclaw common room was a relatively safe place to discuss such matters.  Certainly, more so than the Great Hall or in the company of Slytherins (or, Dumstrang students).  And, Absinthe was far from the gossip-y kind.  But, he still wasn't ready for his plans to become matters of public discussion.  "Look, I ... I usually get enough grief for even studying this stuff," he nodded towards his stack of textbooks.  "I just need to know you're not going to go tell the wrong people."  He was confident Absinthe would, at least, understand.

Thea watched Sasha's blush, and felt a tad more at home as she realized he was at least as uncomfortable as she herself. Or maybe, she thought ruefully to herself, he just had a ruddy complexion.

"Clear cut?" she replied with a hint of incredulity. "To the contrary, it's infinitely more confusing here. I mean, I add one thing to this mixture and it turns green and smells of lilacs, I add something else and I've caused an explosion and failed a--" she cut off abruptly, not wanting to admit that she had failed an assignment. "And made a mess. It's absurd. One can't get by just by studying."

"My plan? I...well I might have wanted to..." she pursed her lips. Quite honestly, Thea had no idea. She'd always assumed her life would be laid out for her in parts when it came time for her to discover it. This was unsettling, and she immediately shoved it to the back of her mind. If she was going to have some kind of teenaged midlife crisis, she wasn't going to do it in front of Sasha.

"I just need to know you're not going to go tell the wrong people."

Before Thea could stop it, a snicker escaped her. "Sasha, I suppose you wouldn't've noticed, but I've got no one to tell."

"That's not too-" Sasha started to say until he thought better of it.  Given the way the rest of the conversation had been going, he wasn't sure she'd appreciate him pointing out that muggle chemistry wasn't that different from how she described potions.  Though, he'd never had any titration produce a lilac scent back in the Chemistry lab.  Especially not after he'd learned to not even bring his wand into the laboratory. 

"Some of the classes are more theoretical," Sasha pointed out.  He had to pointedly ignore the slight hypocrisy as he reminded her: "If you don't like potions, you don't have to take it.  I mean, especially if you don't think you'll be using it."  How many times had he heard that statement, himself? 

Though, in his own defense, he didn't know what he was actually going to need.  And, he did like most of his classes.  Or, at least, he liked being in class. 

Sasha shrugged when Absinthe's voice trailed off.  For one as familiar with proper etiquette, Sasha could be rather dense when it came to reading between the non-verbal lines in a conversation.  That Absinthe might not want to delve into her uncertain future was completely lost on the boy.  "What do you like doing?" he asked.  "Outside of school.  Or, in your free time?" 

"Well, I'm hoping to study physics and biochemistry at the University," Sasha admitted, feeling at least somewhat confident that Absinthe wasn't going to go tell some purist Slytherin of his plans.  "I'm kind of hoping to get into researching ... well, I guess it's that grey area between magic and science.  Where things don't work or, at least, where we can't explain what happens.  Yet.  I don't know.  Things like why electricity doesn't behave properly at places like this.  Or, ... how do Einstein's laws of relativity factor into brooms.  Or... I don't know.  I have lots of ideas."