The end of the year did mean that midterms were close at hand, but it also meant something else was fast approaching--the holiday concert that the orchestra and choir usually put on before everyone left. As one of the Seventh Years involved with the student group, Grace had been encouraged to give her input on what they were going to perform. Grace was always looking for ways to be involved or help, so even with a full slate of midterms to study for, of course she jammed the program planning onto her list of things to do.

Of course, she had probably picked the wrong place or time to focus on it. She had taken up a perch in one of the most comfy-est chairs in the corner of the Gryffindor Common room during the free hour in the evening, expecting that most of her housemates would be hard at work studying. But that wasn't the case. In hindsight, it might have been a better idea to find a vacant corridor. The Owlry. Even the lake where she usually sought inspiration for her creative mojo.

Instead, as she was off in her corner trying to concentrate, she was forced to listen to numerous younger classmates as they argued, roughhoused, played games loudly or any number of other activities that were as far from quiet as possible.

One particularly loud student she recognized as Camden MacGregor, a third year notorious for being a troublemaker. She inwardly groaned and her brown eyes narrowed in his direction. She hoped that he might sense her watching him, eventually see her disdain, and succumb to her prefect-ly  influence and rectify the situation on his own.

Nothing doing.

Seeing that he wasn't going to quiet down on his own, she lowered her notebook of music and spoke up. "Cam. Do you mind lowering your voice a few decibels?"

"Why? just because you're studying?"

If it were possible, Grace Eddy would be boring more into skull than just her gaze. It took great restraint for her to only bite out, "I'm not just studying. I just can't hear myself think."  Or hear these lyrics in my head, she silently added.

"So? Why don't you go someplace else?"

The snide remark and the shit-eating look on Camden MacGregor's face were prime examples of what she would not miss when she was done with Hogwarts. She wanted to box his ears.

With as much composure as she could muster, Grace evenly responded with, "Cam? How would you like to never make the house Quidditch team?" She raised her brows in a manner that suggested she wasn't kidding.

The threat seemed to work for  a couple of minutes, but soon Grace felt her head throb again from all the noise in the common room (which had suddenly risen exponentially) that she could stand it no longer.

She drew her wand and pointed it at each offender in turn while calling out vigor, "Silencio!"

That was the last bit of noise made in the room before it became eerily silent.

Grace sat back, finally satisfied that she might get some peace and returned to listening to the holiday song soundtrack that she had been trying to play in the back of her mind since...well...forever it seemed.

Toby had been up in the boys dormitory when he heard Grace Eddy yelling at some younger students.  He walked down the stairs to see a bunch of them unable to utter anything and Grace looking quite satisfied.

"Ha ha ha, what did you do to them?  This is so funny." Toby said as he bounded the rest of the way down the stairs.  He took a seat next to her in a comfy chair and smiled, waiting for her reaction.

Toby loved it when magical tricks were played on younger students, and lots of the time it was he who was pulling those tricks.  For once Grace had done it, not really like her in Toby's opinion.  He was so proud. 

He guessed she was not doing it for the sheer fun, however.  She looked a bit stressed, something that rarely happened to Toby. 

"Hey, you know what you need?  You need to jam with me this afternoon.  I've got a song I've been working on, maybe you could help?"

He smiled and his fingers itched to go grab his guitar from upstairs, but he sat there and let her answer him before he went running off.

Grace flushed at Toby's rather sudden appearance and his inquiry about what had happened. She ducked her face behind a veil of her rusty colored hair. After a moment, she brushed it out of her eyes and looked over at him, a tiny smile playing at the corners of her lips. "Well....they were bugging me. I could barely hear myself think." Her other hand still held her wand and she tapped it to her forehead. "Or hear the sound of silence, for that matter."

She sent Camden a zinger of a look before taking a deep breath, indicative of how much she enjoyed the quieter atmosphere. She decided to leave the younger students in the background and focused on Toby. "So what is it that you think I need?" As soon as he mentioned music, she perked up even more.

Music had been one area in which she and Toby had found a mutual interest. The other had been playing Quidditch. Grace felt very fortunate to know that side of her housemate and never passed up the opportunity to collaborate with him. She shrugged. "Sure, I'll jam with you. Although you remember that I can only sing and play the piano, right? Not quite as glamorous as what you can do."

She nodded enthusiastically though when he asked if she could help. "Yes, I want to help." Then she sat back to patiently wait as he headed off to get his guitar.