Tiberius Bulstrode was many things. He was short tempered, brutish, and dull. Tiberius was also a grand procrastinator. Magical theory was beyond his grasp most times, but practical application with his wand was fully within the bounds of his capabilities. Tough the Slytherin boy was incredibly skilled at casting spells, he could not tell you how or why they worked. Tiberius could not create his own spells, explain to you how to better your own spellcasting, or describe the differences between a hex and a curse, an enchantment or illusion, or even the basic difference between charms and transfiguration. He didn't enjoy theory, and when he had assignments requiring him to exercise the part of his brain which dealt with deductive reasoning- he tended to put them off as long as possible.

He had charms homework due the next morning, and he hadn't even started it yet. Tiberius had his parchment, ink, quill, and book spread out across one of the tables in the Slytherin common room. So far he had two whole sentences printed on the page, but they weren't exactly on topic nor were they literary masterpieces. And he was growing bored with the assignment almost as quickly as he began it.

So Tiberius took to drawing on the bit of parchment instead. He drew out what was meant to be the charms professor- identifiable by his eye patch. After having the charms professor sketched out on the page, Tiberius then drew a large basilisk. Snorting to himself, he used his wand to animate the drawing- turning into an image of the basilisk devouring the charms professor from the feet up. Not exactly on par with the specifications of the assignment, but really- who took writing papers seriously?

He felt relieved when he spotted Jordyn coming into the common room. It might be Dimbleby, but at least it was someone. He waved her over, then motioned at his drawing. "You think Kesali would send me to the head mistress if I turned this in tomorrow?" he asked. "I think it shows more skill with a wand than writing a paper. It has to be worth a passing grade at least."

Really, all Jordyn wanted to do at this point in the evening was find a very comfortable couch in the common room to curl up on with her book.   She’d already done her homework earlier in the evening and written her parents – she assumed they probably wouldn’t even get back to her, but she felt it necessary to fill them in, especially since she had been ill. 

It felt like that was the only time she’d gotten mail in ages, and potentially only because someone had written them first to let them know. 

So, with her book tucked up under her arm (definitely not for school), she walked into the common room, which was decidedly empty.  Outside of one, lone student, sitting surrounded by books and a look on his face that did not read “I am enjoying this.” 

She tried to be quiet, she didn’t really want to disturb him – from what she knew of Tiberius, of all of the years they’d been in school together, Jordyn was fairly sure he was not gifted with an exceptional attention span, and knowing that, she probably shouldn’t be a distraction.  Of course… it didn’t seem to matter, because he looked up, and Jordyn stopped short, like an animal that had been spotted and didn’t want to be seen. 

Didn’t work. 

He called her over and Jordyn sighed.  She didn’t know why she did as soon as she got there.  He was obviously attempting to do his homework, but it was… not going well, by her estimation.
 
There was a rather crude drawing of Professor Kesali getting devoured by what appeared to be a basilisk.  Looking from the drawing to him, to the drawing again, Jordyn considered his question.  Judging by the sentences he had written (Jordyn couldn’t help herself – she had to read it), she wasn’t sure which was going to get him a lower grade. 

“It’s… nice…” Jordyn wrinkled her nose, not really sure what she could say, “but… how about instead of this,” she made a circular motion with her hand over the parchment, “well…” she looked at the sentences again and felt about ready to kick herself.  “I get good marks in that class, I can help you with what Professor Kesali likes to read…” a roundabout way of saying ‘please for the love of all that is good let me help you because… oh my Merlin this is sad.’ 

She didn’t want to hurt his pride too much… but, really, it was just bad. 

Tiberius gave a lopsided grin- a terrifying look, really, a boy with a face like Tiberius Bulstrode had was not made to smile, at least not genuinely. Usually he only smiled before he punched someone in the face or stole their pocket money. "Course it's nice," he told her. "One of my specialties, really." But then she was motioning over his parchment, and wrinkling her nose at him. His brows furrowed momentarily until she offered to help write the essay he was currently working on.

He tucked away his drawing of Kesali (he wanted to show it to others before throwing it out), and found a fresh bit of parchment. Well, as fresh as he had. The corner had a few ink stains on it and there was a ring in the middle where he'd sat a cup on top of it at some point, but other than that the parchment was free of blemish.

"I haven't got a bloody clue what this is even supposed to be about," he told her. "I've written the assignment down... somewhere." Tiberius made a show of opening up his satchel- which was incredibly unorganized- and digging around in it for his list of assignments due this week. He threw out a few more crude drawings (some inappropriate for mixed company) and after a few seconds looked up at Jordyn from under his heavy brows.

"I bet you've already finished, yeah? It doesn't have to be anything amazing. Just enough to show Kesali that I at least remembered and attempted to put words to paper. I could always attach the drawing to the back of the essay."

Jordyn… didn’t really appreciate Tiberius’ smile.  He just seemed so awkward, like the action was strained.  It didn’t appear to be malicious, of course, she doubted he would be toward a girl.  It wasn’t a secret that any of his more… brutish tendencies were always directed toward boys, and pureblood upbringings did at least instill in him some kind of decency about girls – though, obviously, there could still be some work done on the subject. 

Boys, however, did not really learn all that quickly – at least in social skills – and she watched as he put the parchment away and took out another.  It was far more rumpled than Jordyn would ever consider using.  She didn’t like mess, and felt that work deserved the sort of pride that one would take in putting together their own appearance, after all, everything one could possibly do was a reflection of his or herself. 

She smiled uneasily as he said he had the assignment and tried to lean to see what he was doing.  Of course, he then lifted the bag to show her and Jordyn felt her heart speed up.  Mess like that made her so uncomfortable.  She chuckled anxiously and twisted her gloved hands in her lap.  “Well, it’s fine, of course,” she eased, trying to be diplomatic.  She realized that not everyone had the same study habits she did, and tried not to judge him too harshly for it. 

“The assignment was about the development and practical application of concealment charms,” she paraphrased the assignment, which, as he guessed, she had already finished – days ago, actually. 

Shifting in her seat, Jordyn pursed her lips.  “Well, why don’t you start with brainstorming?  Perhaps if you made an outline, you could make great marks?” she offered – knowing that Tiberius was not lauded for his brilliance, but she supposed anyone could make organization happen – and the young man was proficient in the actual use of charms, so that would probably help him in the long run.  “Then you wouldn’t even need the drawing for the extra points,” she added, hoping he would definitely see it her way and avoid that at all costs. 

Ezra dropped heavily into one of the armchairs.  It was an artful flourish designed show off his long, elegant frame.  He rolled his head to the side and considered his peers.  It looked like they were attempting to collaborate on homework of some kind, although collaborate was probably being too generous.  Bulstrode was not the brightest candle.  It was far more likely that he hadn't done his work and roped poor Jordyn into saving what was no doubt a truly horrendous piece of writing.

"You might want to scoot back, Jordyn," he advised with a teasing grin.  "There's steam coming from his ears from trying to think so hard."

Despite his rather mean comment, he turned his lazy-lidded eyes over to Bulstrode.  "What is it you're working on?  You didn't wait until last minute again, did you?"  He already knew the answer, of course, but by now the boy ought to know better.