Closed a quiet corner of chaos

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori sat at a small table tucked into the nearby window, her quill tapping against the edge of her parchment in an uneven rhythm. A scattered mess of books, notes and half-doodled diagrams spilled across the table, giving the distinct impression of someone overwhelmed. She let out a small groan, resting her chin in her palm as she flipped a page in one of the thicker books. "This doesn't make any sense," she muttered under her breath, her sea-blue eyes narrowing at the text as though glaring at it might force it to reveal its secrets. Despite the quiet surrounding, she couldn't help the fidget, the tapping of her foot audible in the otherwise quiet library. She usually worked with Eoghan, but he'd been particularly occupied with Lilith recently and she didn't want to pull his attention away. The library wasn't empty, so despite her frustration she tried to be as quiet as she could be, keeping her grumblings to herself. She didn't like studying, after all, and she didn't consider herself to be very good at it. The results of last year, whilst good had taken everything in her. She just wasn't great at figuring things out and honestly, after the break she'd had, she wasn't sure she wanted to. Getting annoyed at the books just not having she answers she wanted, she angrily levitated the book and then banished it loudly.​

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha was determined to do as well as she could this year. It was her final year at Hogwarts, her final chance to stand out. She was under no illusion that she would be top points earner, not with guys like Teddy and Elio around, but she knew she wanted to do better than she had last year. Her new badge did give her the feeling she had something to live up to. She hoped Indi was proud of her, even though she knew her sister was way beyond caring about school titles like this. She probably had other things on her mind, being a new healer at St. Mungo's.

The library was one of Anisha's favorite spots, both to study and to just hang out. She was reading a book that was somewhat related to a class, when she heard someone grumble nearby. She looked around to see a girl at a table nearby. She was familiar, Anisha knew she was a Gryffindor but didn't know much more about her. She was young, second or third year. Anisha jumped when the girl suddenly banished her book, following it as it flew away. She then looked at the girl again and couldn't help a smile. "Whatever that book did to you, it won't do it again." She said jokingly.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori blinked, startled out of her frustration by the voice addressing her. She turned her head to find an older girl smiling at her, clearly amused, or something, but her outburst. Tori's cheeks flushed slightly, realising how loud she'd been. Her gaze flicked to the badge pinned on to the girls robes, and her eyes widened in recognition. The Head Girl was talking to her? Great. As if she hadn't embarrassed herself enough already. She gave an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah... well, it had it coming," she replied, her tone half-defensive, and half genuinely upset. "I've read that same page like three times, and it still makes no sense. I'm pretty sure it's been enchanted to annoy me specifically." she slouched back in her chair, crossing her arms in a slight sulk. She was never going to be the best student in her year if she couldn't even figure out how to enjoy her classes.​

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha realized belatedly she was perhaps intimidating the girl a bit. She was a lot older and her new badge probably didn't help. Thankfully, she didn't seem too bothered about it. Anisha nodded at her explanation, then summoned the book back with an easy flick of her wand. Nonverbal magic was coming easier to her after practicing it a lot last year. "What were you studying?" She asked her. "Maybe I can help? It's been a while, but I've done all this." She said, gesturing to the book.

 

[Victoria de Lacey]

Tori's eyes widened in surprise as the book flew effortlessly back into the Headgirl's hand with a flick of her wand and wordlessly, Tori didn't really realise people could do that, she had seen adults to things sort of like that before and even Rory had, but it had always been with spells she hadn't known, now, she knew this spell, she knew Accio, and she couldn't do it wordlessly. Honestly it made her realise she was struggling so much more than she had initially thought. Anisha was so impressive, and Tori wasn't sure how she could compete with that. "I was... trying to figure out a potion, but there's so many steps and... I don't get why you have to stir one way and not another or when you can substitute one thing over another, like... how do you know?" Was it supposed to be something you just understood? Like cooking ingredients? Though she didn't understand that either. She got all O's last year, but it was a struggle, she'd had to work so hard and she wasn't sure she could keep it up this year. She didn't even really know how to study, all she did was highlight things that she thought might need to be highlighted, or write questions in her margins, she didn't know what information was most important. ​