Homework… He had kind of gotten used to not doing it. And he certainly wasn’t all for starting so early in the term. Just a couple days back and he was getting on top of his work. Wouldn’t Knox be proud. A small smile came to his lips before he remembered he wasn’t back. It slowly fell and he frowned. This year was going to be different, that was for sure. Rubbing the back of his neck, scratching it, he sighed and lifted the book under his other arm slightly.

He missed the times when he blew off his work, sometimes turning in only a handful of assignments to scrap by with what he could in the class. Or, as he got older and wiser, he would copy a fellow classmates. Then he didn’t have to worry as much about tests. Since last year, though, it was all about the grade. It helped that Waker was so helpful with her encouragement. He felt as if he could actually make it through! And as he’d made it through his sixth year… he was more than happy with keeping her around. On top of the fact she was amazing and downright beautiful. And her lips…

He nearly ran chest first into a wide eyed first year. Stumbling as he tried to come up short, he lost the image of Waker and scowled at the kid, pushing past. In younger days, when he was more of a punk, hexing the poor boys laces to tie themselves together wouldn’t have been past him. As it was, he needed to get to his study session. He wasn’t copying verbatim anymore, but he wasn’t opposed to study groups for the homework assignments either.

It was nearly tea time anyway. Best time to stop in; work up an appetite! Smirking at that, George felt a little lighter as he walked into the Great Hall, sitting himself down and slamming his book on the table in slight triumphant glee. Straddling the bench, he drummed the edge of his quill against the area between his thighs, waiting impatiently for Astrid.

He didn't mind her at all, and often times found her antics amusing. When she latched on to him about something, though... he had to end it quick. He didn't mind her having her views, but thrusting them on him... when he was just trying to dig into his tasty steak... it was just mean. All in all, though, she was enjoyable company. He wasn't used to being early, though.

Back in the swing of things already it was like she was never gone. Already she had piped up in class about so sort of right that was being ignored. She was loudly exposing her views in the corridors when she could and already had been spoken to by a professor about maybe taking it easy on the causes. Astrid of course meant well but she could be rather overbearing at times.

Today she was on a mission and that mission was homework. She was meeting George from her Divinations class to put together their minds on the latest assignment, well actually the first assignment. Astrid was already thinking like she had been back here for weeks not days. She really did enjoy the environment of school, but then as a Ravenclaw wasn’t that a stereotype.

Astrid navigated around some first years as she trotted towards the Great Hall. “Excuse me!” She said as she placed a hand on top of a first year with brunette hair she had seen in the common room as she floated around the outside of group. She walked with a bounce in her step towards the Great Hall, she didn’t want to keep George waiting as she felt she was running behind.

“George!” She smiled in excitement and slipped down in a seat across from him. “Ready to do some learning?”

“George!”

Blinking as he looked up from his quill, having drummed out the Magpie’s little song, he grinned and raised a hand, waving it slightly at her. “Hey Astrid.” Slowly he hooked his leg over the bench and stretched, finally sighing as he rested with his elbows against the table, his chin resting on top of his fists. He looked like a little boy being punished. Homework.

“Ready to do some learning?”

Running his fingers over the now familiar scars on his neck, he chuckled and shrugged, slipping the quill behind his ear. “It’s all just catching up on last years exams and lessons, right?” Wasn’t that how most classes were? Built on what was taught the year before, the highlights, and then moved on to bigger stuff? “I don’t see it being too difficult just yet.” He hadn’t even taken a peek at it. Realizing that, he opened his book to the few pieces of parchment, some with a few notes scribbled on.

Mostly it was doodles that made little sense; a little horny monster running around and eating little fuzzy things on the upper corner that looked oddly like those little pygmy puffs, as well as a bouncing monkey with some crazy eyes from Zonko’s on his face down in the other corner, his tale attached to a broom handle. Both had taken a couple of other classes to complete, and they were very rudimentary.

It was probably only George who could tell you it was a monkey with the crazy hypnotizing goggles on. No matter, it kept him going in class. Turning that paper over, he tapped it with his finger and grinned, glancing up at Astrid. “Do we have to read tea leave fortunes? I’m fairly good at exaggerating those…” He’d gone to class, he hadn’t actually remembered what the assignment was about. He would eventually figure it out… something would stand out and click over a wheel or two in his head.

Astrid starting pulling out her purple-feathered quill and her deep purple ink she chose to write in. She set everything up in front of her as she pulled out her folder that contained pieces of parchment with her detailed notes from class. Astrid tilted her head to the side and looked at George, “Did you even focus in class?” She teased in a warm-hearted gesture; she meant no harm in the statement.

“We started into Lessons on Astrology.” She announced as she reviewed her notes carefully. “Our homework assignment involves that.” She looked back up to him and picked up her quill as she pulled out the new fresh sheet of parchment. “Sorry to disappoint but not tea leave readings today.”

Astrid knew many students used their talents of exaggeration to get by on any sort of reading, where as Astrid felt the need to be more genuine in her readings. Well there had been that one time for dramatic effect that she expanded on the reading saw in the cup. If you wanted to be taken seriously in the study of Divinations then you should probably be a genuine character in class.

“So I guess we should start by reviewing the lesson shouldn’t we.” It was more of a statement rather than question, it was apparent that George’s doodles took precedence. “Would you like to copy my notes?” She asked handing them over, “I know extremely detailed.”

“Did you even focus in class?”

Scoffing a bit, he appeared offended momentarily before he paused, considering it. He then smirked and shrugged. “It’s only the first week. It’ll get to the point I need to listen. And that isn’t quite yet.” Tapping his paper once again, glancing down at it momentarily, he nodded. “At least… not one hundred percent yet.” He was allowed a small time period to get used to being back at school, with its expectations! Surely…

“Sorry to disappoint but not tea leave readings today.”

Pursing his lips to the side as he listened to what she said, he ran a shiver run down his back before he drummed his fingers lightly on the table top. “That’s too bad… tea leaves are sometimes the easiest. Very abstract and all.” Shaking his head, he finally took in a slow breath and held it before shrugging indifferently. “I don’t mind Astrology when it’s mixed with Divination, at least.” He hated the idea of memorizing constellation after bloody constellation though. Probably a reason he wasn’t in Astronomy.

“So I guess we should start by reviewing the lesson shouldn’t we.”

Making a face, he shrugged and let his mouth slide into a half grin. “I suppose since we’re having a study session we might as well get some studying done.” It wasn’t quite as appealing as he would have liked. But at least he enjoyed Divinations. It was all very different, the way you applied it to try and foretell the events of tomorrow. It kept him interested most classes, at least, though very few could keep his attention at the beginning of the year. Or near any holidays… or near the end of term.

“Would you like to copy my notes?”

Raising an eyebrow as he looked at her offering, a skeptical expression on his face. Biting his lower lip, he accepted them and glanced over them. “Thanks Astrid… did she talk this much in class?” George didn’t recall it if it had. Feeling a little inadequate, with his two paragraphs about the importance of Divinations hastily scribbled over his paper, taken over by his drawings, she definitely came out looking like a proper student.

Setting the paper down, he started jotting down the major points; there was no way he’d be able to put every tiny word verbatim on to his parchment. “While I do this…” He bit his lip momentarily as he underlined a subject, he glanced up at her and grinned. “What have you been up to this summer?”

For a brief moment Astrid felt she had insulted George in her jest and was quickly wracking her brain for a proper way to apologize. Lucky for her she didn’t start speaking before she had thought it through because soon George was smirking, did that mean he wasn’t angry anymore. Normally Astrid was so good at judging other people, but when she panicked her talent went out the window and that was a moment of panic. She didn’t want to lose a study buddy so early in the year, especially when her friends were indeed limited. Not many could put up with the activism and the preaching of her causes.

“Isn’t every point a point to listen too?” The Ravenclaw coming out in her and she truly was her parents daughter. Her expressions held confusion as she looked at George. Her fingers drummed the table creating a dull sound due to her lack of long fingernails to create that annoying clacking sound. “I do suppose not everyone gets right back into the swing of school,” was it only a few of the Ravenclaws who managed that skill?

“Yes, sometimes they are.” Of course there was occasions when there were too many tea leaves to make a correct reading. “Astrology is fascinating but I don’t see much use for it when it isn’t with Divinations.” Of course Astronomy on the other hand had much more purpose but it wasn’t a class she decided to continue on with. She had never had the focus to stare at the stars, she would much rather be asleep or handing out fliers.

Astrid was pleased he had taken her notes; it made her smile because she was helping someone out. She shifted in her seat to get comfortable since there wasn’t much she could be doing without her notes. She crossed one leg over the other but felt it was to stiff, and so she rose up from the seat a but and stuck a foot under thigh and sat back down. Now that was a close as she would get to sitting cross-legged on a bench with out the lingering fear of falling off. “You’re welcome,” she said during the entire moving ordeal of finding a comfortable position.

What had Astrid been up to? Well that just opened up a can of worms. “I created a new cause and it even has a member.” Astrid said with pride. “She flipped her hair away from her pin and pointed to it. “SAWS it is Students Against Werewolf Segregation.” She said this just before rummaging around in her bag and pulling out a flier. “I even got fliers printed up. I spent the summer fine tuning it and talking to a werewolf and researching their rights and regulations.” Leave it to Astrid to do work over the summer. She didn’t even think that George might have been inquiring to the more fun things she had been doing because SAWS was so important to her.

“Isn’t every point a point to listen too?”

Raising an eyebrow, George let out a soft sigh. Sometimes he didn’t understand those who loved school and every little word that came out of a professor’s mouth. “How do you distinguish between the points that are worth listening to and the ones that aren’t? Some is useless information, isn’t it?” Shrugging slightly, he couldn’t exactly explain his lack of listening in class very well to others who listened to everything. And, clearly, wrote everything down.

“I do suppose not everyone gets right back into the swing of school.”

Grinning at that, he nodded in agreement a little too quickly. “Sometimes it takes all of first term!” Winking to show he was only (partially) kidding, George glanced down at the hardly used book he’d brought with him. Somehow he’d managed to do fairly well in this class without really touching the book; it was a lot of hands on, in many cases, and that helped. He could absorb it easier that way.

“Yes, sometimes they are… Astrology is fascinating but I don’t see much use for it when it isn’t with Divinations.”

“Right.” She did seem to really enjoy Divinations. And if George was completely honest with himself, there was a reason he was in the Divination Club, and it wasn’t just for the free tea leaves. He rather enjoyed the possibilities that Divination offered, that the future could be figured out, the past explained. It also helped it was more abstract and left coursework more to the imagination. Sometimes. A lot more than other things, like potions, which was quite specific and technical and one little thing wrong would send your entire concoction into nothing.

“I created a new cause and it even has a member… SAWS it is Students Against Werewolf Segregation.”

Glancing up momentarily from the notes, he raised an eyebrow and gave her a small smirk. Even has a member… not including Astrid? Well, then again there were a lot of students who felt strongly about a lot of things, so it wasn’t unheard of, or unexpected, he supposed. “Mm, interesting.” If it was what kept her happy, and it wasn’t hurting anyone… then all was good. His eyes went back down to the paper and he found where he’d left off, writing another subject down and underlining it.

“I even got fliers printed up. I spent the summer fine tuning it and talking to a werewolf and researching their rights and regulations.”

Scratching his chin, he nodded. Then he saw the flier out of the corner of his eye and he raised an eyebrow, glancing up at her from under his eyebrows. “Ah.” He nodded his head slower this time and he half grinned. “Well. I guess you were productive.” Taking in a slow breath, he shrugged. “I went to the beach a few times.” Grinning at that, he looked back down and copied a few more lines before pushing the papers back across to her. “Thanks.”

“What else did you do this summer, Astrid?” Resting the quill behind his ear, he rested his arms on the table, leaning on them slightly. “Did you… try a new hobby? Take a holiday?”