Waker was sure she was going to going to get marks off if she didn’t rewrite the entire. thing.[/i] Despite her scrupulous note-keeping, she had somehow managed to translate each of her laboratory observation into one row below where said quantity belonged in very a lengthy chart, and it had taken ages to fix. What was worse, there were smudges of ink all over her conclusion, where she’d had to rewrite the answers to certain complicated formulas. Even the best of Exam Standard quills and magical erasers could not make the parchment presentable. After the spectacle in Professor Gunnar’s classroom several weeks ago, the obsessive Head Girl was in no hurry to disappoint the man.

Waker splayed her hands over her face and sank a bit toward the table. Her elbows were caved inward like a steeple. She tried a breathing exercise, but gave up after three repetitions. It was useless. She was going to have start over. And her hand, despite producing nothing short of great penmanship, was beginning to cramp. Even Waker Nolan had her breaking point. Or, perhaps, because she was Waker Nolan, her breaking point was something as pathetic as having to recopy a potions assignment onto fresh parchment. (And this was a girl who ridiculously accustomed to multiple drafts).

Her eyes traced the grains of the handsome, polished wood table, and she wondered how old it was. As old as the castle? Probably not. But then, with wizards, one never knew. There were all kinds of more homely charms with which Waker was completely useless. She might have been one of the girls at the top of her class, but she couldn’t last a day in the caretaker’s shoes. She wondered what she was going to do when she graduated and became that Independent Woman she always hoped to be. Would looking after one’s own home be as easy as organizing a sock drawer or a school bag?

Edmund sauntered into the library, his short brown hair loosely brushed back into a quiff and a pair of wayfarer spectacles pushed up his nose. With one hand nonchalantly in his grey uniform trouser pockets, the other hung limply, a few sheets of parchment and two Arithmancy textbooks tucked under his arm. It was easily his favourite subject, and the one where he found most success; whilst Edmund worked hard, this year had been full of distractions.

In fact, Edmund's entire life had been full of distractions; there was always a party coming up, a pretty girl just around the corner, a Quidditch match to practice for, a family event that his parents insisted he attend. He was an academic success, yet teachers always stated how there was potential for that little bit more. In Ravenclaw, everybody seemed to be motivated, and Edmund was renowned for forcing himself to crack on with work.

But, the present repeated history, and Edmund was served another distraction in the rather pleasing form of Waker Nolan. As he abandoned finding a table, he could think of nothing better than distracting Waker from her personal work, and since she was such an academic, he knew how much he annoyed her at times. Smiling to himself as he scurried over, he took a seat opposite her, lowering his shoulders and head as he spoke quietly.
"More work Nolan? How about taking a well-deserved break?" he almost whispered, and flashed his trademark smirk at her.

Someone spoke from very near, and Waker’s brown gaze shot up from the table’s surface like a starting gun. She spied the too-familiar silhouette and sharp attire of Edmund even before she properly took in his face. The prickles in the back of her neck vanished, and she let out a breath. “You almost made me...” She gestured like a mime to the various pieces of parchment and books. “Spill ink,” she finished stubbornly, before letting her face melt into something more blasé.

She hadn’t a real defense, not really.

Sitting up a bit, Waker looked around for a clock. Nowhere to be found. She would have start a campaign for clocks in study areas. It was much more beneficial to the school than, say, new upholstery for the couches in the Slytherin common room. They’d been spruced up only last season, as far as Waker knew.

Waker went from studying her laboratory charts to studying Edmund’s smirk; weighing her options. “You’re so clever, you don’t have to work, isn’t that right?” She teased, finally leaning back in relaxation. She offered a small smile. “But maybe a short break... if that’s why you came to the library.”

Edmund couldn't help but feel a little smug as he made her jump, and he gave her another smirk, taking a seat opposite the Ravenclaw girl.
"Oh, Waker, I'm still making you nervous?" he joked, and ran a hand through his dark quiff. "Thought you'd have gotten over me by now." Edmund and Waker were friends, although he couldn't help but tease her constantly. They'd dated somewhat casually two summers ago, and Edmund had always been proud of it.

"I'm doing a little Arithmancy, Waker," Edmund replied, throwing his rather large textbook and pile of parchment rolls onto the table haphazardly. "You, on the other hand, practically live in this library." He offered her one of his mischevious grins before pushing his wayfarer spectacles up his nose.
"I'm sure you're just glad of the pleasant interruption," Edmund added, smirking again and teasing her, again. He just couldn't help himself with Waker.

Closing his books, finally finished with his Transfiguration homework and something fr0m Ancient Runes (He couldn't quite remember what it was because he was thinking of more important thoughts), Leon Monroe was proud of himself for finishing his homework way before he really needed to get it done. Of course, he did this all the time... But I digress. Leon put his books away, neatly, into his bag and swung it over his shoulder. He was dressed sharply as usual, his uniform spic and span and his hair inevitably messy. Leon was quite predictable with his looks, but he really didn't care.

He set out from the very back of the library and was planning on going to the common room and taking a long deserved nap on the couch. However, as he headed towards the door, he noticed two familiar faces chatting with each other at one of the tables. Leon knew immediately it was his two best mates, Waker and Edmund, but he didn't really wonder why they were all by themselves. Even if they dated a couple years back, Leon was completely oblivious about it. Or, at least, pretended to be. It was quite awkward when your friends dated each other and left you to watch, dumbstruck. But Leon never complained.

Leon still had a choice; leave and nap, or join his two friends while they study. A normal person would go ahead and nap after studying and writing for about three hours, but Leon wasn't quite normal. He adjusted his backpack and hesitantly trotted over to the two Ravenclaw students. Leon hoped he wasn't interrupting something, but it would have been uncharacteristic of him to leave without even a 'Hello'. Leon was comfortable enough around them, he didn't need to hide away like he always did.

"Hello Waker, Edmund... How are you two?" Leon grinned down at his friends, in a much more awkward fashion than he meant to. His eyes glanced over towards Waker's paper, almost by habit, and set his bag down. "Do you need help?" He asked, politely, after seeing her mess of a parchment. He really wanted to say 'Did you have a fight with the quill?' but he understood why Waker would possibly be stressed. He slid into a seat next to Waker, not expecting to need permission, and pulled out his own quill, ink, and parchment. Leon was quite gauche sometimes.

Waker rolled her eyes, scoffing slightly, and easing her poise. “You’re creeping around the library like a dementor with good style. You’d make anyone nervous, Edmund,” she argued. It sounded logical, didn’t it? She didn’t want him to think he was getting to her!

“We all know you’re charming, but don’t flatter yourself.” She grinned, sourly but still softheartedly. He was, after all, an old friend. “I’ve got a boyfriend... and we’re sort of serious.” Her fingers instinctively grazed the necklace George had given her for her birthday.

She objected to being told she lived in the library, and was about rise to the challenge of interrupting study time, when Leon wandered over and did the job for her. The look of protest on her face-- mouth ajar, eyebrows knitted-- relaxed. Leon greeted them as if they were old schoolmates, and not best friends. But then, he’d always been a touch awkward in a heartwarming way.

“We’re fine. Well, I’m fine... I think Edmund’s caught some kind of bug. He’s having trouble concentrating.” She sat up more properly again, and offered a wink in the Klint boy’s direction. Leon had offered his help and sat down to crusade on her parchment’s behalf before she’d turned back away from Edmund.

“Oh, no-- I think I’ve got it handled,” she murmured. While she had no qualms helping others with their work, when it came to her own, Waker was steadfastly protective. Almost too much. But she knew how brilliant Leon was, and she tried not to be too touchy when he got himself involved. “What are you working on?” She questioned, tilting her head to the side and offering a small, calm smile. Between N.E.W.T. preparation and George Time, Waker had not been the most supportive of friends lately.

"Nice excuse, Waker," Edmund laughed, leaning back in his seat and giving the Ravenclaw girl a rather smug smirk. Pushing his glasses up his nose a little, he flicked through a few pages of his Arithmancy textbook, exhaling a long breath of disappointment. Work was so dull, yet he knew he had to do it. If there was anything important in Edmund's life, it was pleasing his parents. Ever since Clarissa was practically suspended from Hogwarts, he couldn't fall into the trap of becoming another Klint drop-out.

As Edmund heard Waker mention her 'boyfriend', he rolled his eyes and laughed lightly; George was a nice guy, but Edmund couldn't help but feel fractionally threatened by him, even if it was in a light-hearted way.
"Note the phrase, 'sort-of'," Edmund said quietly, giving another one of his charming signature grins. Waker and Edmund were just good friends, but he always thought of her as 'the one that got away', a summer fling where we was left on the dust-track of adolescent infatuation.

Leon approached the two, and Edmund grinned up at his best mate, giving Mr Monroe a nod of greeting. His dorm-mate was always welcomed in Edmund's book.
"Leon, my friend, I'm good thanks," he said, flicking through a few more pages absent-mindedly. "How are you mate?" Edmund scralwed a few notes with his quill in the margin of his textbook; whilst Arithmancy was his favourite subject, Edmund, as always, was distracted by the social side of Hogwarts.

As Waker made a passing comment about him acquiring some 'bug', Edmund laughed and smirked at his two friends on the opposite side of the table, catching Waker's eye as she winked at him.
"By that, Waker means that she's still not over me," he joked, offering Waker a wink in return before ruffling his hair a little.

“We’re fine. Well, I’m fine... I think Edmund’s caught some kind of bug. He’s having trouble concentrating.”

Leon smirked and let his eyebrows raise, "I never knew Edmund could concentrate in general." He let out a small laugh before pulling his eyes towards his mate. The only thing Klint could concentrate on was Quidditch and ladies... Though Leon couldn't exactly argue with that. He just wished his friend would focus more on the books than the behinds of passing girls. But, Leon knew he couldn't snap his friend out of it this far down the line. It was simply Edmund being Edmund nowadays.

"How are you mate?"

Leon smiled at Edmund and shrugged, "The same as usual... Thanks for asking." And what would 'the same as usual' be? Leon shifted in his seat and thought about it. Would that mean he's happy? Or was he completely bonkers with a hint of lemon? He'd let his friends figure that one out, since they probably knew him better than he did himself.

"By that, Waker means that she's still not over me,"

Edmund was now referring back to the whole 'bug' joke. Leon's grin faded from his face and he squirmed in his seat, awkwardly. He hated how his friends were still making small jokes and flirting ever so obviously with each other. His eyes dropped to his paper and he cleared his throat. "Umm... Right." Leon murmured. It wasn't that he was jealous- No, Waker was his best friend, he was absolutely thrilled that she started dated George- He just simply couldn't get comfortable. "I'm sure that's exactly what she means." Leon smirked again, finally joking along with Edmund.

“What are you working on?”

Leon turned, reluctantly, back to Waker, "Umm... I was working on Ancient Runes and Transfiguration... Nothing big." He cleared his throat again and set his quill aside. "I, uh, finished it already... So..." Again, he squirmed awkwardly and let his eyes drop. "Are you sure you don't need help? Your paper is a bit... Ahh..." He didn't finish he sentence and he smiled uneasily. Perhaps it wasn't best to join his friends today. Maybe he should of let them flirt and be silly and get it out of their system so Leon wouldn't have to sit there, awkwardly.

Whether it was an excuse or not (and arguably, it was), Waker held to it. Stubborn, eyes glazing over subtly but surely as she attempted to stare right through, to prove, in an oh-so-composed manner that the joke was on him, she did not carry on arguing.

But those same eyes looking past the ghost version of Edmund she’d painted in her friend’s place narrowed again in a sour way, and then rolled themselves like clockwork. “Please,” she hissed. “You know what I meant. I was being... conversational.”

While there were many unknowns in the whirlwind that was seventh year, Waker’s feelings for George were rock-solid. She considered their relationship very serious, indeed.

Edmund just didn’t know when to give up, did he? Waker sometimes wondered how he hadn’t landed his handsome little form in Slytherin’s lap.

She continued to grin at Leon, focusing all of her attention on the more innocent boy so much so that her jaw nearly became numb.

"I never knew Edmund could concentrate in general."

“And that’s why you’re going to pass all of your exams with O’s. You’re perceptive.”

But what was this? Perhaps those perceptions came with a flip side: Waker tried not to flinch at the looming insult, the unspoken words. She’d known Leon for several years now, and she knew his habit for trailing off awkwardly, for saying things that didn’t have the same effect he’d intended, however brilliant his mind.

“My paper’s what?” She asked, interrogating him softly. Was it it Two on One day in Ravenclaw house? Had no one told her? Some friends! “Oh, you mean the ink--” Waving her wand, she murmured a charm to sop up any extra streaks. Scrutinizing with brown eyes ablaze, she hoped it would meet Leon’s approval, lest she be dethroned as queen of personal hygiene and inanimate organization.

With a sigh, she pushed her paper gingerly aside, deciding now was a good time to stretch her legs. "Have either of you chosen a topic for Charms yet?" They didn't even have to settle on a thesis for another two weeks. "I think I'll go check the Restricted Section. Care to join?"

"Keep kidding yourself, Nolan," Edmund chuckled and rolled his eye; he loved the way he could boyishly wind-up Waker, and even though he was overtly mischevious, Edmund's charm always allowed him to get away with it. He knew that Waker wouldn't be leaving George anytime soon for Ravenclaw's biggest flirt, he couldn't help but feel marginally bitter than he'd been snubbed for somebody better. Old flames, no matter how small, always took a while to burn out.

"Nolan, Monroe, it's not perception I lack," he said, raising his eyebrows to the two friends. "It's motivation. But with bookworms like you two, it's hard not to be academically limbered, so to speak. And for that, I thank you both." Giving the pair a warm smile, he pushed his wayfarer spectacles up his nose and flicked a few pages of his textbook, completely past caring about his work. He could tell Leon felt uncomfortable about his own last comment, but Edmund chose to ignore it; there were worse things he'd said in the past, and the inappropriate remarks wouldn't stop now.

Edmund smirked secretly to himself as Waker immediately piped up at Leon examining her paper - nobody could criticise Waker's academic achievements; she was indeed the trophy of Ravenclaw, in more ways than one. As she suggested a walk to the restricted section, he let out a deflated sigh, his charm immediately extinguished by his friends' motivation to actually do well in life.
"Nah, I think I might go check out what the others are doing in the common room..." he trailed off, making a pathetic small note in his textbook. At least he could say he'd done something.

"Nolan, Monroe, it's not perception I lack, it's motivation. But with bookworms like you two, it's hard not to be academically limbered, so to speak. And for that, I thank you both."

Leon shifted again at the two still bickering about everything. He couldn't quite remember if they were always like that... Leon hunched over, uneasily, and listened to them for a little bit. "I... Thanks, Waker..." Leon gave her an innocent grin. Leon never thought of himself as an observant person... He knew he was smart, of course. That's why he believed himself to do so well in school. But then Edmund began to speak again and Leon's semi-thankful face twisted into a puzzled gaze toward his friend. "What do you mean, Edmund?" Leon asked, softly. Was he trying to say that Waker and him were helping him? How kind of him. Leon's grin formed again and he glanced over at Waker. If it weren't for them, Edmund would probably have dropped out of school years ago. Leon sometimes wondered how the Klint boy even got into the Ravenclaw house.

“My paper’s what?”

Leon hunched a bit further. He wasn't insulting her, was he? Leon's stomach twisted and he felt more uncomfortable than he did before. "The ink... Is... Will you be redoing it?" Oh, Leon knew how awful that all came out. He quickly straightened up and gave Waker an apologizing look. "I- I didn't... I'm just..." He stopped and leaned back over his paper, pretending to write something down. Really, all he was writing was 'HELP ME!' about four times and then glancing back up at his friends. Was Waker mad at him? If Leon didn't notice the tension spewing out of the two Ravenclaws, Leon wouldn't have been so uneasy.

"Have either of you chosen a topic for Charms yet?"

Leon shook his head. He was going to give it a few more days before he started on Charms. He was probably going to write about Patronuses. Leon had finally learned how to make a successful patronus, which had taken the form of a lamb. He had read up on what that meant, and it said he needed guidance and that he was a total pushover. Leon remembered having to read that over a few times before he felt thoroughly insulted. He wasn't a TOTAL pushover, was he?

"I think I'll go check the Restricted Section. Care to join?"

Leon's gaze flicked up from his scribbles. "Don't we need a permission slip?" Leon asked, politely. He always asked for a Professor's permission before entering that restricted section, though he wasn't sure he needed to anymore. "I... I don't..." But Waker was already up and being her normal Waker-y self. "Well, okay..." Leon pushed himself out of his chair and quickly folded his paper up into his pocket. His friends didn't need to see his written cries for help.

"Nah, I think I might go check out what the others are doing in the common room..."

Was Edmund being smart for once? Or was he just really curious about what was going on? Leon didn't push his friend, of course. He gathered his stuff and tucked it away neatly. If Edmund didn't want to go, Leon didn't know if he himself did. "What will we be looking for, Waker?" Leon turned back to his female friend, a bit confused with the whole deal. If she was going to be looking up some awful spell that could possibly destroy them all, Leon would definitely be sitting this one out. He didn't want any detentions or to be expelled. Waker was much more wild that Leon. Which actually wasn't saying anything.