For the Best Grades

[Simon Vanity]

Simon leaned back from his desk, sighing heavily as he did so. He might just be a second year, but the young ravenclaw was trying his best to study all that he should. he had a few classes, and nothing less than O's were acceptable. He didn't want to not have perfect grades. He'd had perfect grades before in first year and he needed the now, but the part-veela had been sitting in front of books for the past week, ever since the classes had let out for them to study. He couldn't help but spend every spare moment in front of books or notes, or with a quill in his hand, he had to do well. The boy had had a similar experience in first year, and he knew this feeling he had towards his grades would never diminish. He could just feel that he would always want good grades, he would always want to be the best that he could. Nothing else was good for him. The boy just had to keep going. He stretched his arms above his head, and couldn't help the small yawn which followed. It wasn't too late, a little before curfew, but it was quiet and he was managing to work hard, despite the fact he knew soon he would need to go to bed, or find if anyone had coffee or an energy drink. Something to keep him going. But, he knew it was better to just focus and continue studying, but he just couldn't bring himself to look at the notes in front. He just needed another moment before he got back into it.
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[Sam Mackintosh]

Now that Sam had studied a little more, she felt slightly more reassured about exams. She didn’t doubt her study methods, as last semester she got perfect grades and there was no point in ruining it this semester. Her first year was ending on a good note and Sam felt proud of her efforts. That didn’t mean she could sit back and relax, however. She still needed to get through exams and she wanted to impress her professors but most of all her father. She knew she would only start to not worry when she had received her end-of-year results, like she had always done. Despite her being a first year, but Sam had always been like that. School mattered a lot to her and making her dad proud now that her mother was no longer with them just seemed the best thing to do. The right thing. After a while of studying, the girl rubbed her eyes and looked around her. Not many people were still in the library and it was the quietest time. That, and in the early morning. Sam reached in her bag for more parchment, but it appeared as though she didn’t have any. She frowned, looking deeper in bag, - but still nothing. She sighed, she must have been distracted and didn’t pack more. But how had she not noticed it before? The blonde packed up, figuring she could continue tomorrow, even if she hadn’t finished the section she was working on. As she passed another student, Sam got an idea. She turned to the student slowly and cleared her throat to get his attention if he hadn’t seen her. "Excuse me. Would you mind if I used some of your parchment? I finished mine," she explained, hoping he wouldn’t in fact refuse. It meant she was desperate, if she was asking a stranger for more paper. "I mean, if you have extra." ​

 

[Simon Vanity]

Simon was a little startled when someone turned and spoke to him, whenever he studied, the part-veela did often get lost in his own world, so much more in the library when others were all off in their own little world. The boy listened as the girl, a little younger than him, probably a first year, asked if she could borrow some of his sheets of parchment. He wasn't too sure if he could say no to such a request, the girl wasn't in his year so he wasn't competing with her, he'd always be better than her, while in school, so it wouldn't matter if he gave her a parchment or two, "Yeah, help yourself," he said, he pushed back in his chair, and from his bag, pulled out several more sheets of parchment, Simon didn't want to take too many breaks when studying, so he made a point of bringing too much, he placed a small stack on the table he was working at, "Take more if you need more," he added, forcing himself to look back at his own parchment and feeling the growing mental block that had formed the moment when he had looked up from the page. A little break wouldn't stop him from doing well overall, surely? It wouldn't.
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[Sam Mackintosh]

Sam was wondering if this had been a good idea, or if it was polite enough to ask a stranger for more paper, that he had paid for. He looked older, and Sam didn't want to take away something if he needed it more than she did, since older years had a heavier workload than first years. But when he offered it, Sam smiled gratefully, placing her bag on the floor next to the table so she could take some. She didn't miss the boy bringing a lot, it was obvious it was way more than she needed, but she tried to ignore it. "Thank you. I'll leave you to your studies," she said, and sure enough that she had taken enough parchment she placed some in her bag before she took out her own stuff and went to sit at the table near his to revise. She had momentarily forgotten that she had decided to call it a day and study again another time. She wasn't as concentrated as she was earlier though, and she was beginning to feel brain dead from all of this reading and memorising. She glanced over one more time at the red-haired. "I'm Sam, by the way." She only felt it right to introduce herself since she had borrowed something of his. ​