June 12; 8:45 PM

Final exams were taking their toll on Miss Jordyn Dimbleby.  She was tired, studied out, and could probably recite the entirety of the History textbook by now, but it was all going to be worth it.  She told herself that anyway and already had one grade to show for it.  Of course, the others were still coming along or in the process of being taken.  Currently, she had a potions book laying across her lap, her last exam.  She was going to pull out her hair with this chapter: advanced mixing techniques.  Really?  She could have gagged on her stirring wand, this was all so boring! 

Usually potions at least piqued some of her interest. Thankfully, she had a chilled cocoa with whipped cream to keep her at least the littlest bit sane.  If she did not have the lovely concoction, she might have actually cried from boredom and frustration.  She sighed again and closed the cover.  She needed a break.  Turning away from the bed (it was quietest in the bedroom while everyone else studied in pairs and groups in the common room), she placed her feet into the silk slippers she never left behind and kicked back and forth for a minute.

Looking downward, she ran her hands over her face and again, heaved a sigh.  She could almost still see the script in which her textbook was written floating in front of her eyes.  Studying was serious business, but honestly, after a few hours she wasn’t sure she could continue – and she had so many things on her mind!  It was almost the end, term was ending and she would be home within a few days, she would be a fifth year.  Her mouth began to water at the thought of what fifth year held, particularly in the way of status as a prefect.  She knew she would be perfect, but she couldn’t know until almost the end of summer!

There was also the trip to France with her family and Neely that she was so desperately waiting for and then seeing Devlin during the summer, as well.  Even if they were not a serious item, she did care about him and he was a fun guy to have around.  Granted, she wasn’t exactly sure what he was up to most of the time, it didn’t matter – they were both getting just what they wanted.  It was all she could ask for.  Things were looking like they would be very good for Jordyn and she did not take this for granted in the slightest as she slid off the comfortable bed and walked to her trunk, throwing it open before she practically dove into it, her chilled cocoa sitting on the night stand, on a coaster of course, lest it leave a ring.

“Where is it?” she asked herself, searching for a particular book – green leather cover with the Slytherin crest emblazoned across the front, her name in gold lettering across the bottom.  She wanted to write something down in her diary, a very important little trinket of information that she could not let wait until after she finished studying or she would surely go more insane than Professor Gunnar in a Banana Shop.

Neely floated into the dormitory, silky, summery scarf tossed over shoulder and theatre-star sunglasses shoved on her small face like a pair of dark mirrors. Her hair was in a messy chic bun, with a neglected quill in peacock colors holding it in place. Her own brand of studying was obviously a bit less studious than her dearest friend's, but both girls were sure to prepare for the dreaded exams in style. "Where's what?" She chimed, dropping a (charmed) bottomless suede bag and a Muggle Studies textbook on the edge of her own bed.

Neely planted herself on her mattress, legs hanging over the edge, and removed her sunglasses. She didn't need to look at Jordyn through tinted glass. Jordyn was lovely and familiar and inspirational. The rest of Hogwarts? Not so much. Many of the cretins who crawled the corridor walls in fact invited the idea of blindfolds to protect Neely's delicate gaze, but no such luck. That would not have been practical, given the Slytherin's penchant for towering shoes, and the castle's love of randomly dispersed staircases.

"Jordy," she sighed, setting her sunglasses on her bedside table. "I hope it's not another textbook. You're going to get perfect O's on all of your exams. I think you've studied more than the Minister of Magic did when he was in school," Neely said knowingly, and with admiration in her tone. As unappealing as tucking into a potions manual was to Neely, Jordyn made it look fabulous. She made the Woolfolk girl want to be a better student, and she made schoolwork look like it was the chic thing to do. The resident nerds, however, were still meager nerds. That was the difference between regular people and Jordyn Dimbleby.

Neely fell back across the mattress and picked up a small pillow, twirling it lazily in her hands before hugging it to her chest. "Summer is soooo close," she announced wistfully. She wanted to tell Jordyn that she'd been studying a lot more than usual, too, but then she'd have to admit she she needed more help; she didn't want to own up to such mediocrity, though it was hardly shocking that she wasn't as intelligent and studious as her friend. Surprisingly, her newest tutor Sasha Schlagenweit had turned out to be more fun than she'd thought. That, at least, made studying more interesting. "Can Devlin Apparate yet?" She added randomly, after a moment's reflection. Her eyes moved from the ceiling, to Jordyn, to the cocoa. She would have to summon the elves to their room soon, especially if it meant enticing Jordyn to lay off the books and catch her breath (assuming she'd been studying).

Entering in her typical fashion, breezy and beautiful (seemingly) without a care in the world, Neely completely distracted Jordyn from her quest to find the journal she had been searching for.  On bended knee in front of her great, antique trunk, she poked her head out from its center and looked at her with her big, brown eyes, completely at a loss for what she had just been looking for.  When she was stressed, she often did things on the spur of the moment and when distracted from them could no longer really remember what it was she had originally intended to do.  So, sitting back on her knees, the brunette sighed, “It’s not important.” 

If it had been, she would have remembered regardless, she thought to comfort herself and pushed up on the hard floor, rising to her feet before brushing herself off.  The floor was dusty and she was not impressed with the way the house elves had cleaned up that morning.  She would have to make sure next time she saw one that it knew just how dirty the space in front of her things was and how neglectful it was.  A shove with the toe of one of her boots would give it an apt reminder to do a better job next time.  Whatever the case, the student couldn’t do anything about it now and continued to brush off her bum up until the moment she sat back down upon her mattress. 

Neely’s bed was right next to her’s so all she needed to do was turn and grasp her hands around her ankles, pulling her crossed legs in closer as she rolled her eyes.  Neely completely over exaggerated her study habits.  Jordyn scheduled everything and she did not schedule more than four or five hours of study time a day since it would be quite useless to wear herself out.  Naturally, she still had to attend to other things, but they found their time in the schedule.  Looking over to her little night table she was glad – only fifteen more minutes of studying before she was free for the day!  Putting her book back on her lap, she figured she could do two things at once – she usually did, and continued reading about the proper way to stir a potion containing hemlock versus nightshade. 

“Not close enough,” Jordyn responded as her eyes cruised over the lines of highlighted text, always in purples and greens – depending on the text book.  Potions, of course, warranted such a lovely green – her favorite really, and she was more than happy to stare at it.  Her lesser favorite text books always had a less pleasing shade, her own secret code to show how much she disliked certain things.  Granted, she was getting to the point in her school career where she could take the classes she wished to take rather than have them forced upon her (thank Merlin).  She licked the tip of her finger and turned the page, a new chapter. 

Before beginning the intensely small print, Jordyn looked up at her friend who appeared to have actually come from studying and quirked an eyebrow at her question.  “I actually have no idea,” she laughed flippantly, “I haven’t thought to ask – too worried about my own exams, I suppose,” she smiled without teeth and looked to the bag and textbook she had dropped earlier.  “…Were you studying?” she asked in mild disbelief, noticing it was a Muggle Studies text book, of all things.  “The guardians of academia may just fall over and die," she teased.

Neely still wondered whether Jordyn was looking for another book (probably), or maybe a sly escapee shoe (possibly), or just maybe, that scarf Neely had borrowed and accidentally forgot to hand back yesterday. It was, of course, in pristine condition, and sitting at the top of Neely’s own trunk. She would return it before they packed up and shipped off for the summer… she was counting the minutes, in fact. Tilting her head, she reacted with a simple “Oh.” And a smile. Jordyn was one of the few people whom Neely wouldn’t prod for more information, having blind trust in the fabulous fellow Slytherin, and yet, she did love to be “in” on whatever was going on.

But then her friend planted the resting book in her lap, and Neely let out a silent sigh. How Jordyn did it all without a time-turner was a mystery. Neely was having enough trouble keeping her own tutoring sessions in line and still making time to plan every last hair pin for her summer internship. And hit upperclassmen with paintballs…

“You should ask him,” she teased with a grin. It was, as she had thought many times before now, the only consolation to Side-Along Apparation. Older boys. “Or help him study to pass the exam.” Jordyn would be good at that, even if she was younger than Devlin. Girls had more concentration. (Ahem…) “After yours,” she amended, noting that, indeed, the Dimbleby girl was too worried with the current demanding academic schedule. “Mmm, you know who will be rolling in jealousy if you did…” Neely hugged her pillow tighter, smiling maliciously at the ceiling and letting her eyes flutter shut as she pictured it. She didn’t really know the details of Jordyn and Devlin’s relationship in regards to Gavin or Nicola, but even she was sure Gavin had to be kicking himself in the face by now because his best friend was dating the coolest girl in fourth year. Neely couldn’t have been the only one thinking it, either.

Sitting up more properly now, Neely followed Jordyn’s gaze to her own textbook. She looked down at its cover, almost coyly, and smiled, biting her lip. “You sound shocked," she scoffed, but quickly resumed her smile, and laughed. "A bit. I have to do well on my exams, don’t I?” She asked, tapping the hardback's front with her nails. “I do study, though…” More than people thought, anyway. “Just not enough to skip three years,” she giggled, now poking fun at Jordyn in return. She uncurled onto her stomach, placing her elbows near the edge of her mattress and holding her face in her hands. “Muggle studies isn’t so bad,” she admitted. She didn’t mention Sasha, even if Jordyn could probably relate to his extreme devotion to schoolwork. They’d never really talked about him before, come to think of it; he sort of hadn’t existed until Neely sought him out for help… at least to Neely, who was usually a bit aloof toward anyone not older or exceptionally Slytherin-like. But he was oddly more interesting than she’d thought, in his own way. “Their sports are still rubbish, though. Golly, if you’re going to go to a game and watch pretty men, they’d better be on brooms.”

“Did you know Evie is working for Madam Snark?” She added. “I bet she’ll get all sorts of exclusives for summerwear…” Aaah, summerwear. It had such a lovely ring to it. Holidays, foreign destinations, materials light to the touch. Lots and lots of chilly cocoa.