Finals were approaching, and that meant it was time for Zia to claim her place in the library. She was getting used to doing this a little more often, sometimes having to be a little sterner with the younger students than she normally would have been about moving their tiny arses to a less desirable area of the library. As a sixth year, Zia could claim seniority over most of the kids in the school, and that came in handy during this time especially. Being the youngest of 13 really helped you understand such concepts.

Though she would have really preferred to study outside on such a beautiful spring day, Zia knew that she would have much better luck studying in the confines of the library. Years of honing her study skills had helped Zia come to this realization about herself: she could not study in distracting environments. A little noise was necessary, of course -- she was more than a little used to chaos, so she needed it at all points in her life. That's why she put the pressure on herself during crunch time, and why she studied in the library and not the secret nooks and crannies of the castle. However, places with music and fun and fun spring activities tended to promote non-work.

Sighing as she settled into her spot in the library, Zia piled books onto the table, shifting around as she took in her environment. Just as she was beginning to crack down, she heard a loud thwack! come from somewhere behind her. Zia looked around confusedly, but seeing nothing, sighed once more and returned to her book. A few moments later, the thwack! sounded again and Zia whipped her head around in an attempt to catch the culprit. Still, nothing. Zia reluctantly returned her attention back to her textbook, now wary of the spot she'd chosen.

A couple more minutes passed, and Zia was really beginning to concentrate on her work when --- THWACK! Zia looked up and without turning around said loudly, "Who's there?! And what is that noise??" 

Zel was, well, trying to get ahead as far as schoolwork was concerned. He was always trying to get his homework done as quickly as possible the week before the full moon, and much of his time was often spent in the library or up in the Hufflepuff commons, working on essays. Zel wasn’t exactly an academic, but he tried his best and usually got by pretty well due to his hard effort alone. The werewolf knew that once the full moon arrived, he would be too burned out to actually complete any work for a couple days, and so he was here.

He had been going through the shelves, trying to find a particular book about that one time that so-and-so bewitched a venus flytrap to sing and speak, and it was purchased by a muggle for one of the many assignments he had to complete. Zel had thought he found the book—but then he dropped it on the ground with a  THWACK.  The book slid underneath the bookshelf and against the wall, and his arm wasn’t quite thin enough to grab it without effort.

A couple minutes went by, and he was finally able to awkwardly wiggle the book out from underneath the shelf.  When Zel finally stood, it was too sharply. As a result, he smacked his head against the bookcase, resulting in another, but different,  THWACK!

Zel let out pathetic whimpering noises only to hear a female voice asking where the noise came from. It didn’t take long for him to recognize the voice as coming from none other than Zia Piselli. “S-sorry.” He whispered, walking over to the Ravenclaw and taking a seat next to her. There was a red mark on his hairline that looked suspiciously like he had just lost a battle with a shelf.

A ghost-like person emerged from behind the bookshelf, and Zia's annoyed face relaxed. Zel was in a few of Zia's classes -- they were in the same year. They were in different houses, true, but Zia usually got along splendidly with Hufflepuffs. They responded well to her vibrancy. Zel was also one of the prefects, so that meant he was like king of the Hufflepuffs, right? That's how Zia always viewed the prefects.

"Zel!" she exclaimed. As he walked over to the table she was at, his almost translucent skin made a few welts more visible. "Are you alright?" Her eyes filled with concern. He was a nervous sort of fellow, and he had a pretty significant mark on his forehead. She wasn't sure if he was aware of the wounds, but the thwack-ing that had been going on behind the shelves sounded pretty serious.

"What happened back there?" Zia asked him. Since she spent a lot of time in the library, she understood that the place had some pretty wily ways. The entire castle was filled with booby traps and dead ends, but the library was special. It almost had a personality -- this she had gathered from one experience during her fourth year, when a bookshelf spat a bunch of books at her, nearly sending her toppling to the ground. While being buried in a pile of books wasn't the worst way Zia believed one could die, she could swear that she had very clearly heard the shelf groan as it threw books at her.

How hard had he hit his head? Zel wasn’t sure, but it was still throbbing after he sat down. Maybe it was best htat he stay sitting for awhile. It wasn’t unusual for him to smack his head on things, given his height. But, he had been tall for so long, that he was usually much more careful about making sure that things above him wouldn’t cause him pain.

Zia there, sounded concerned. “Um. I should be fine.” He said carefully, “There was a war between me and the bookshelf. I lost, but I managed to escape. I just had to leave my dignity behind.” Zel cracked a small smile. As far as he was concerned, Zia was Figaro’s girlfriend. Or something like that. And honestly, he was happy that his friend was finally moving on from Sophie. Zel didn’t know Zia very well, but she was so colorful that she always looked like a unicorn barfed on her. In a good way.

 He always assumed that she was as bold as the colors she wore.

“Soooo….” Zel put the book he fought so valiantly for on the table. “Are you… Doing homework?” Of course she was doing homework. What else did people do in the library?! Read for fun?!

The welt on Zel's head wasn't fading, and Zia wished she knew how to do some sort of quick healing magic. Maybe in one of these books.... that would be a handy spell to know, too. She began to flip through. Particularly with Zia's 'gift' of clumsiness and the library's apparent attitude problem. She was shocked by Zel's story! She'd nearly been crushed by books here once, yes, but never a battle! By the way he described it, though, Zel's incident may have been self-inflicted.

"Oh dear," Zia responded sympathetically, eyeing the welts. His pale skin wasn't helping the situation. Poor Zel. She smiled helpfully, pointing to the place in her book where she'd finally found a cooling spell. She took her wand and cast aguamenti, transfiguring the small puddle into some ice and wrapping it up with a scarf she had in her backpack. "Here, have this!" She wasn't a healer, but hopefully it would help.


Zel asked her what she was doing in the library, which was a valid question. She was known to come here to find a quiet place to read for fun, upon occasion. The library wasn't always the best place for that, though - there were plenty of crevices throughout the castle that were far superior. Zia looked at her pile of books and sighed. "Yes, just getting ready for finals," Zia responded. She glanced at the book Zel had on the table. "What are you up to?"

He watched as she made him an icepack. He accepted it, smiling gratefully before pressing the scarf-covered ice against his forehead. Zel didn’t realize how much he needed it until it was an option. Already, it was soothing, though his skin was still red from the cold itself. His fair skin tinted red at the smallest thing, so Zelig never really thought much of it.  “Thanks.” He said, “I’ll clean the scarf and bring it to you later.” Or he could give it to Figaro to give to Zia. Zel had a feeling that his housemate would take any chance he could to see Zia.

That seemed like the better plan.

Ah. Finals. He had nearly forgotten they were coming up! Zel had been focusing so much on getting ahead on homework that he had totally forgotten about studying! Hopefully, being so focused on homework would count as some sort of studying, right?

“Well, the full moon’s coming up.” Zel replied slowly, “So… I need to make sure I don’t fall behind while I’m not in classes.”  It was always so much harder to catch up when you were feeling lethargic after the full moon.

If she wasn't mistaken, Zel was one of Figaro's housemates, and Zia blushed at the thought of the boy she'd been most recently snogging. Zia did know that Zel was in her year - he was one of Hufflepuff's prefects, so that made him pretty well-known. She couldn't recall if she'd ever actually had a conversation with him before; Zia chit-chatted with so many people that it was hard to keep track. Ah, the woes of being a social butterfly.

"Well, the full moon's coming up... So... I need to make sure I don't fall behind while I'm not in classes."

Zia had nearly forgotten the other thing about Zel. He was a werewolf, too. Involuntarily, Zia's eyes got bigger at the thought. She had never met a werewolf, never seen one in person. Even with the dozen family members, none of them had experienced a werewolf bite (and most of them probably hadn't even seen one, besides maybe Aldo, whose work was mysterious).

"If you need any help, let me know," Zia offered. She was a Ravenclaw which people oftentimes mistook for 'free tutor.' It was well-known that Ravenclaws succeeded in classes, but Zia wasn't too sure that she was a great tutor. Regardless, she figured she'd offer her services to Zel and do the best she could if he took up her offer. She certainly wouldn't mind doing it.

Her eyes widened when she made the connection that he was a werewolf, and Zel immediately scooted his chair away and looked down at his book, cheeks tinted with pink. Zel was so used to people just knowing that he was a werewolf that he had forgotten how awkward it was to be around someone who was just now remembering. He didn’t see how anyone could forget—Figaro had caused a scene about it back in October. Maybe, just maybe it hadn’t been important enough to Zia for her to remember?

Besides, she didn’t really seem like the type of person who would be bothered by a werewolf.

After all, it wasn’t like lycanthrophy was some sort of highly contagious airborne disease. It was only transmitted from saliva to blood during a full moon. Zia struck Zel as a tolerant sort of person. Besides, he wanted to get to know the girl that Figaro couldn’t stop talking about!

“Err. Tutoring.” Zel cleared his throat, “I.. I’d like that. I always mean to study, but I can’t study when I’m by myself. I get my homework done and all, but studying is different.” He looked up at her, eyes wide, “B-but, only if you r-really want to!! I don’t want to impose…”

Having grown up with so many people made Zia fairly adept at reading body language. She wasn't so fantastic at controlling her own, but that was a different skill set that Zia didn't possess. After Zel dropped the word werewolf and Zia reacted pretty poorly, he scooted away, which made Zia feel guilty. She had known about Zel's affliction -- who didn't? The guy she'd been most recently sucking face with had brought that to everyone's attention not too long ago. That made Zia feel even worse; did he think she was some kind of werewolf-hater now? She most certainly wasn't. Zel was a really nice guy! She subtly scooted her chair closer to his in an attempt to show she was a perfectly non-discriminatory type of person (at least about werewolves).

"Impose?! Pff!" Zia laughed off his comment. "I'd be happy to. It would help me out, anyway. My brother Aldo says teaching is the best way to learn a subject." It was how Aldo had convinced someone to let him teach Icelandic despite the fact that he'd never spoken a word of it in his life. Once he moved to Iceland to teach the language to the English researchers, he caught on pretty quickly. So maybe total immersion in a subject was really the key. Hmmm.

"What do you need help with the most?" Zia asked him. They were in several classes together, since they were in the same year, but Zia couldn't recall which ones specifically off of the top of her head. She was pretty well versed in most subjects, but if he needed help with Herbology, he was all on his own.

He noticed that she shifted closer to him—subtle. Was she trying to tell him that his personal space didn’t matter, or was she trying to tell him that she didn’t care about the fact that he was a werewolf? Zel suspected the latter.

Zel was unsure what he needed help with the most. He was naturally, pretty alright at most things—and exceptional at Care of Magical Creatures. Lately he hadn’t been doing too well in potions, but that was partially because Di Luca was so intimidating and ruthless that sometimes he wondered if doing any of the work was even worth it. Zel always completed his homework, but actually studying was a whole different thing. Getting by on doing homework alone wouldn’t be enough to do well on the NEWTs.

“Potions, I think. It used to be astronomy but I dropped that. “ It had been too much in his class load. “I…” Zelig cleared his throat, “I don’t think I’m bad at potions, but… Professor Di Luca is terrifying.”

Zia understood exactly what Zel meant when he said that Hogwarts' Potions Mistress was terrifying. Yes, yes, terrifying Professor Di Luca was indeed. Being the bubbly girl she was, Zia liked to believe that the professors all harbored a fondness for her, but with Professor Di Luca Zia was mystified. Apparently not charmed by Zia's enthusiasm and upbeat attitude, Professor Di Luca intimidated Zia just as much as she intimidated the other students. She knew her stuff, but Zia felt like her classes weren't so much filled with learning as they were with decoding Di Luca's elusive secrets about the art of Potion-making.

"I'm with you there," Zia agreed. "She knows her stuff, that's for sure. Potions isn't my best subject, btu I'm sure together we can master it!" She was hopeful. Two brains were better than one, after all. Zia shuffled through her books until she came across her Potions textbook. She also grabbed a bundle of parchment which were the notes on Potions she'd received from her dozen older siblings through the years. They hadn't all attended Hogwarts, but Potions were Potions, weren't they? Zia had always found their notes helpful in the past. They were a good supplementary resource.

She showed the notes to Zel. "These are from my older siblings -- Lucia's notes will probably be the most helpful, because she was a Ravie too, and she takes stellar notes," Zia sifted through the papers until she came across Lucia's girly script. "But my brother Aldo, he's just good at everything, so his work is probably good too.... just might take some extra work for us..." Aldo, for some reason, was a fan of writing things shorthand. He had his own little words to stand for things. His notes took a while to get through but were usually worth the struggle. "You any good at codebreaking?" She looked at Zel, hoping he'd taken some of the Ancient Runes classes she never had.

The library wasn’t the greenhouses, that was for sure; there was quiet and then there was silence, and within the library’s tall, looming walls the latter was pretty stifling. Certainly Micah was feeling cooped up, especially when the only rustling sounds to be heard were those of books rather than birds. But like many of his classmates the Hufflepuff, too, was sensitive to the approach of finals, which sometimes felt closer than the bookshelves themselves if he thought about them too much, and he didn’t want to fail. Being indoors wasn’t entirely comfortable (and definitely had its own distractions), but at least he’d be less likely to fall asleep in the middle of a paragraph.

Still, there was only so much studying a boy could take.

Carefully sliding a bookmark between the pages, Micah lowered the book (and his feet off the next chair) and stood, tucking it under his arm. He ventured down the aisle. “Zel?” His voice– already thin to begin with, rusty with disuse –was even more strained by the oppressive hush of the library. He wasn’t the type that scared easily, but alarm was a different story. And Landis Morgan alarmed him. The few times he’d gotten Looks for actually being noisy in the library (a rare occurrence best explained by louder friends) had felt like he’d died a little bit inside.

He pulled up short at the sight of Zia. The Ravenclaw was friendly (like really nice, with a soft, husky voice that was just as nice to listen to), but the thought of– she wasn’t– well. There were exactly four people in the castle he was completely comfortable with, maybe five on a good day, and all of them were just fine with the way he was (which was quiet) or the way he wasn’t (which was loud). (A lot of people who liked him, he’d found, usually were.) Maybe Zia wouldn’t care that he barely spoke enough to get by, but just thinking about it… It was enough to make him cringe.

It would be rude, though, to stop speaking now. Plus, she and Fig were dating now, weren’t they? (–the amazement of which had yet to fade—not that Micah thought his reckless friend hopeless, but because his romantic history was the stuff of legends, usually the slapstick variety, which meant it was funny and inspiring and sometimes just sad, sorry man.) He had to be nice. He wanted to be nice. And so he shuffled closer, glancing at Zel and offering Zia a smile that was only a little unsure. “Are you guys talking about Potions?”

Verity loathed to spend much time in the library, preferring to study by the lake as she found the librarian to be rather creepy, but unfortunately necessity forced her to set foot in the place of dread. Now if only she could find that book on advanced Transfiguration spells...

The tall Hufflepuff (made only taller by her heels) browsed through the nearly endless shelves, but her search was cut short when she was startled by two loud thwacks and then the familiar whimpering of her friend, Zel. Her nurturing side overpowered the studious part of her mind, and she went to seek out her injured (most likely due to his own clumsiness) friend.

Due to her unfamiliarity with the library, her search took longer than intended as she weaved through the labyrinth of shelves, but eventually she located the impossibly tall boy, and noticed the two others with him. She noticed the large welt on Zel's forehead and her maternal instincts kicked into overdrive.

"Oh my god, Zel, are you okay?" She inquired, and brushed aside the makeshift ice pack. "Episkey. You really ought to be more aware of your surroundings." Verity didn't mean to come across as nagging, but she hated to see one of her closest friends always sporting some new bump or bruise.

Once she tended Zel, she realized how rude she must appear and became somewhat sheepish due to her behavior. "Sorry for the outburst. I overheard you guys talking about Potions? I can assist you with studying if you would like. It would be good for me to look over a couple things, too," Verity offered, and smiled warmly. Potions was one of her best subjects, having gotten an O during her OWLS, though she knew that didn't mean she could afford to become arrogant.

Zel only had a second to glance at the notes that Zia showed him when two of his fellow Hufflepuffs joined them at the table. He wondered if Zia felt hemmed in by Hufflepuffs; he supposed there were worse things than being surrounded by the housemates of your boyfriend. Were they even official yet? As far as Zel knew, they could barely keep their hands off of each other. Ew.

He greeted Micah with a mild smile. Zel had always been fond of his dormmate. He seemed to be cursed or something, and sensitive about that scar thing on his tongue. The werewolf always made the choice to change the subject (rather obviously, he failed at discreet) whenever any attention was drawn to it. Or he grabbed Ji-Hyun to help. She could usually make Micah feel less awkward.

“Yeah mate, we’re talking about potions.” He replied, but then he saw Verity.

Speak of potions and all the nerds appear.

He was about to say hello to her, but she didn’t give him enough time!  She peppered him with motherly doting that made his cheeks flush a rather unpleasant shade of red.  “I’m fine!” She performed a mild healing charm on him anyway, and the ice pack was no longer necessary. Zelig rubbed his forehead and  focused back on the subject at hand: Potions. Verity, like Micah, seemed to be naturally good at the subject. “Yeah, I’m not good at potions. Every time I go to class I feel like a part of me dies.”

Apparently a lot of the Hufflepuffs needed some Potions help! The poor Hufflepuffs. She momentarily wondered if these housemates of Figaro's actually needed help with their Potions work or if they were trying to get a good judge of her. Well, she had nothing to hide, and it was very possible that in addition to scoping her out, they might actually need help with their studies. Shortly followed by Micah was Verity Bell, who did not address Zia and offered to take care of tutoring. Zia didn't like to pull rank because of her house, but studying was her forte.

"More heads are better than one!" Zia smiled. She flipped through her notes to the outline she'd been updating throughout the past few weeks. It detailed the topics their professor had been covering most heavily. Her theory was that these topics would be the ones covered on the final exam.

She laughed when Zel admitted that part of him died during Potions classes. Zia's opinions about the class weren't too different from his, apparently. "I like Potions," Zia admitted. "But the classes...." Zia stuck out her tongue to display her feelings on the matter. Weirdly, Zia felt a bit nervous surrounded by all of these Hufflepuffs. Normally Hufflepuffs did not make her nervous, but when you were caught making out around the outside of their dormitories enough times...