"I don't care about bloody soil profiles!" The retort was spat across the table in the library in a hushed, but vitriolic tone. There was a bang of a book on the desk beside, an enraged librarian giving them a signal to hush with a well-aimed charm. Both students glanced in the direction of the adult reproachfully.

It was the night before an important final examination in the last term of the year. The sky outside hadn't got dark with the tilt of the earth towards the sun the length of the days where the sun could rise as early as three and set just before midnight. Somewhere a bird was singing in the grounds of the Institute, like there was not a care in the world. Within the walls of the castle the library was full of those studying for the last day of exams, and those who had already finished were elsewhere, celebrating the possibility of brilliant job offers and a life of profession.

Two blue eyes beneath a mop of black curly hair regarded the speaker above a heavy text book which was propped at such an angle that the brown ones opposite couldn't sneak a peek at the diagrams. These eyes also had an exam the next day, but it was for a foreign language, and the structure of the earth beneath plants was proving a good distraction for half an hour. He found himself translating sections of the text book on large-scale herbology management as he waited for his studying partner to come up with an answer from memory.

"Yes you do." Came the calm response. "You really do, its an easy ten marks to compare temperate deciduous and grassland."

The brown eyes shot the blue ones a furious look for the use of the word 'easy', and hands screwed into fists on the desk beside a piece of parchment, quill and ink pot. Tatters of parchment were strewn around them with various plant diagrams and charts.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have to sit this exam, you get to translate literature and have a conversation!" The blue ones rolled and there was a sigh from the other side of the text, before the gaze returned to the page.

"Grassland then?" The voice persisted, slightly muffled by the thick book between them.
"I don't care about thick, alkaline soil which is very rich in humus!"
"Seems like you do."

Hands clapped to her mouth realising what had been said, and she reached for a quill and the parchment before sketching out the soil horizons with rapid strokes. Behind the book, the owner of the blue eyes smiled to himself and waited, reading the adjacent page about desert soil. It was little wonder it had trouble sustaining plants naturally. He'd never consciously considered it like that until now.

"There!" She thrust the parchment at him over the top of the book, right at his smug face. He was wonderful for helping her, but sometimes he could drive her barmy by learning things so easily. He was undoubtedly reading her text book right now, soaking it all up like a sponge. She adored him but hated him all at the same time, him and his damned clever head. Still, he couldn't look after plants to save his life, and his only line of magical defence was in giving people unexpected pig snouts. A defence in group hilarity, rather than curses or shields.

The book descended gently to the desk and Johann looked over her hastily drawn diagram, comparing it to the book for accuracy and labels.
"Not bad, not bad at all." He nodded, returning it to her side of the desk, "It'll all come in handy when we're away, never know when you'll want to plant a field of crops in return for a few nights stay."

They shared a smile. Not that it was very likely that would happen, but more of the fact that the pair had agreed, with some others they knew, to head away after finishing their time at Durmstrang, and see some of the world for a year at least.

Elixa was trying hard not to think about how little she'd managed to raise in money and save towards the trip. Although her parents were both healers, the family were not in a state to donate healthily to her travel funds, unlike the Storms. She would rather die in shame than ask for a loan from them, and she was too young to ask for one from the bank, and didn't fancy selling her soul to pay one off either.

She'd spent several weeks the past summer working with Johann's parents, and had seen at first hand how those things worked during her internship. Whereas it looked like a shiny establishment with businesses happily storing their gold there, it was plagued by the penniless trying to beg back their belongings and homes that had been reclaimed.

"Anything that'll make me enough money to keep going." Elixa sighed, and scrutinized her sketch. "Please tell me that's everything?"

Johann shrugged, turning the pages,
"Well, enough that will get you the easiest accumulation of marks according to your professor," He explained, studying a detailed list of examination topics and sample questions which she had brought to him a few weeks earlier with exasperation. Somehow he'd managed to extract which parts she enjoyed and knew most about, and then what she needed to work on most urgently to get the marks. She only hoped it worked tomorrow. This section of herbology had both theory and practical and the practical was her strongest suit.

"Thanks. I don't suppose I can ask you your language questions, wouldn't know if you were talking gibberish."
"Shh, don't let them know that's what I do." Her study aide replied, closing the book and sliding it back across the table, glad to relinquish it at last. This would be the last night he sat with her in the Institute library, as per their agreement that first summer between terms, which had led to a tradition and friendship between the third cousins.
"Just this next day between us and an end to all these studies. Then escape." Blue eyes smiled,
"Escape." Echoed his brown-eyed companion. "What I've been looking forward to ever since I stepped foot in this place."