Post-Lunch Nap

[Derek Tahana]

Derek had been in classes all morning, he was so bored of the classes, he knew he was going to have to make more of an effort as the years got progressively higher, but for now he was happy to still be mostly just coasting by. He didn't put much effort into his work and he usually just got too tired to bother with homework. The young slytherin had sat down for a slightly later lunch, most people had gone to their next class, but not Derek, derek didn't have anything else to do that day and though he'd had big plans for the day, he had laid himself out on the slytherin bench in the great hall and was just staring up at the magical sky. The slytherin could certainly go a nap, it wasn't like he had anything more interesting to do that day and perhaps seeking other people out would be nice, but he was not intending to do that at all. He had had a long morning, classes were asking so much of him, and he still didn't have much of an opportunity to play some sports, maybe sucking it up and just joining the quidditch team would be better. In any case, he would just enjoy chilling in the great hall, laying upon the bench and looking directly up as the world passed around him.
​

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana had been in a foul mood because of the detention Professor Styx had given her for saying 'mean' things to Jacob Kingsley. Okay, sure, she could admit to herself that maybe she had taken things too far. She had been a little alarmed when the boy had cried. But she also thought everyone else was overreacting hugely to a few words. Diana headed to lunch late today because she didn't much feel like talking to anyone. Especially not an overly excited Domi. Edmund was somewhere with his brother, and Diana didn't really want to be around anyone else. She stopped short as she neared the Slytherin table and saw a boy in her year lying on the bench and staring at the ceiling. She thought his name was Derek, and she remembered him as the boy who had nearly hit her with a rugby last year. Diana walked over, putting her hands on her hips. "This isn't a bed." She snapped.

 

[Derek Tahana]

Derek turned his head towards a voice, and saw a girl from his year with her hands on her hips. She did not appear too happy with what he was doing, which was at it’s base just laying down on the bench staring up. ”No, it isn’t,” the boy replied with a nod of his head, since she was actually right, this wasn’t a bed, it certainly wasn’t his bed, but it was surprisingly comfortable and with no where to be it was a nice place to just lie down. ”It’s not as comfortable as a bed either,” he fidgeted a little as he said this, as if to emphasise that it was not comfortable, but he was comfortable enough that he didn’t want to move. ”But in the dorm, there’s no…,” derek trailed off and he just pointed towards the ceiling. That was one thing that this had which his dorm simply didn’t, and his mind it explained entirely why he was lying there upon the bench rather than in his own bed. It was nice to just look up at the sky and lie there for a little while, even if evidently this girl didn’t entirely understand it.
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[Diana Hollis]

Diana huffed out an annoyed breath when Derek simply agreed with her statement, as if he couldn’t read her tone. She wondered if he remembered their encounter last year when he had thrown a ball at her. Though even she had to admit her reaction to that had been a little bit dramatic. Still, that would probably make it more likely that he did remember. When the boy gestured to the ceiling, she paused and glanced up too. She had been about to make another snide comment, but she stared up at the ceiling longer than she intended. It really did look nice, seeing the outside air like this from the great hall. She had admired the ceiling a little during the sorting at the start of the previous year, but hadn’t paid it much mind since. Maybe that had been a mistake. “It would be nicer at night.” She said, her voice soft as she still gazed up. Diana had always loved staring at the stars, which explained why Astronomy was now her favorite subject. She tore her gaze away, glancing at the boy. “Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to go outside and lie on the grass, though?” That would at least draw less attention to him. Didn’t he mind that he looked odd?

 

[Derek Tahana]

Derek wasn’t paying that much to the tone of the girl as she spoke to him. He nodded at her statement, ”Probably,” the boy could admit that it would be nicer to look at the ceiling at night and he decided in that moment that he would come back at night, ”Well, that settles it, tonight I’m sleeping on this bench,” he was joking, since he knew he couldn’t sleep on this bench, that would get him into trouble but he could at the very least attempt to enjoy what it did show for a bit before sneaking back to the dorm room. It wouldn’t be too difficult to do surely. Derek glanced at the girl when she spoke again and nodded, ”It would be more comfortable, but I was pretty tired and the bench was right here, “ he explained as if it was obvious that would be the reasoning. He thought the girl was a little familiar to him but he wasn’t certain about it. ”Why don’t you give it a try instead of just questioning it?” Derek asked her, ”Then you’ll get it, or if you don’t you don’t need to worry about it any more,” he was sure that this wouldn’t help her, but he got the impression that she might question it regardless, but it wasn’t like Derek was bothered, he was after all, perfectly content and relaxing with ease.​

 

[Diana Hollis]

Even though she had been determined to make fun of this boy and his weird behavior, he seemed not at all affected by her words. In fact, he was making the idea of lying down and looking at the ceiling almost appealing. Maybe it was silly to keep a grudge over something that happened last year. Perhaps Derek wasn’t completely stupid. She snorted when he joked he would be sleeping on the bench. Professor Styx would not be happy about that, she was sure. As he reasoned with her about why he had decided to lie down on the bench, Diana felt more and more silly for questioning it so much. Why did she care what he did? “I guess that makes sense,” she admitted reluctantly. When he challenged her to give it a try, she bristled. Her first instinct was to say no, but something about his tone made her not want to simply walk away. “Fine.” She said after glancing around to see if the hall was mostly empty. Shen she moved a bit further away before lying down on the bench too, positioning herself so that their heads would be near each other enough to continue speaking. She didn’t want her head to be near his feet, after all. She looked up at the ceiling quietly for a moment. “I wonder what sort of spell they use for that.” She said after a moment, her earlier scorn as good as forgotten.

 

[Derek Tahana]

Derek couldn’t help the faint wisp of a smile which crossed his features when the girl actually agreed to try it. When she actually opted to actually give what he was suggesting a try. It wasn’t too complicated. It was just looking up at the ceiling and enjoying that for what it was. It was a good way to just relax, and the business of the school could just continue around them. The slytherin listened vaguely as she took the time to lay down on the bench, a little away from him but close enough that he was able to talk to her. Derek was happy and content to be relaxing. He was sure that if she hadn’t spoken to him he would’ve just fallen asleep. His gaze kept on the sky above as she spoke again, ”I hope we get to learn it,” the boy said with a small smile. He did doubt that they would ever learn it, but it would help make the odd room just feel more open and lovely. ”Do you think it’s even a spell or if it’s the castle that does everything?” the castle itself was magical, so why wouldn’t this be one of the things that it did. Maybe it was that, or maybe it was something else. The boy had never considered that it might not be something a person could do, ”I’d definitely want to learn that spell,” he said, he wasn’t a particularly studious spell, but if getting straight O’s meant he learnt that spell then he would consider it.​

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana wasn’t sure what had come over her, but she was confident enough in herself to know she wouldn’t be made fun of, even if anyone saw her like this. If anyone tried, she would be able to stand up for herself. She sighed softly and shrugged. “I doubt we will,” she muttered. “They wouldn’t want to give all Hogwarts secrets away. Besides, I bet the professors don’t even know how to do it.” She wasn’t sure about that at all, but it was fun to speculate. “I think it’s definitely a spell, but probably one the founders put in the castle or something. A long time ago.” She watched one cloud drift from one end of the great hall to the other before sitting up again. This had been nice, but she had better things to do. “Even if the professors know how to do this, I don’t think they’ll teach us. It’s not very useful, is it?” She flicked her hair back over her shoulder as she got to her feet. “They probably think we have more important things we should learn." The priority of Hogwarts and the teachers wasn't something she really understood or cared to understand, but she had figured out by now that almost no one was going to teach her stuff she was actually interested in. Only Astronomy was consistently interesting to the girl.

 

[Derek Tahana]

Derek frowned at this, he didn’t think it would be giving up secrets, but it would be cool to have it on every roof he had to be in. The ability to see the sky whenever and whereever he wanted. The boy looked at the girl as she continued speaking, he could agree that it was likely one of the founders who’d done it, maybe they would only be able to do it if they saught out that specific branch of magic. The boy shook his head at what she said, he didn’t think that the spell useless, ”It doesn’t need to be useful, to be practical,” the boy said, though he could admit that his sentence was a little contradictory, he could agree that in the grand scope of things they needed to learn in the seven years of school that this was no the most practical thing that they didn’t need to learn it, that it wouldn’t really improve their lives all that much. ”No matter where you were in the world, or how much muggle pollution there was, you’d always be able to have the night sky above you, that would be pretty amazing. Or you’d always be able to know what the weather was like before heading out for rugby or quidditch,” the boy said, ”Useful in that scenario too, maybe if we get to seventh year there’s then a little bit of leeway that would allow us to learn a spell like that, maybe it’s in astronomy? The professor does projections with magic in that class?” he posited wondering if she maybe had some ideas or agreed with him about it.​

 

[Diana Hollis]

Somehow, it wasn’t surprising that the boy didn’t agree with her about the spell. He argued that it was practical, which she personally didn’t disagree with. But Diana assumed the professors would disagree. They would rather teach them spells that would be useful in duels or in one’s day to day life. Cynical as she was, she didn’t think anyone but them would find having the above you at all times very important. “I agree that it is practical, or at least has practical possibilities.” She told him, her tone mild. “But I’m not the one deciding who gets to learn which spell. Honestly, you should take that little speech to Professor Alicastell, I assume she picks that sort of thing.” She did pause when the boy wondered if it was an astronomy spell. So far, they had mostly enjoyed lectures during that class, with an occasional trip or stargazing session. But the professor did to really nice projections with magic during her lectures, something Diana had grown to love over the past few years. She smiled slightly and nodded. “I suppose it could be a spell like that. Even if it’s not, those spells are pretty nice… I do wonder if we learn those.” But once again, she doubted it. Unless you were an Astronomy professor like Professor Harrington, what was the point? “We should ask her if she knows about this.” She added, forgetting for a moment that she and Derek weren’t friends, or even really acquaintances. Before this, she had actually decided to dislike him. But that seemed far in the past now. “Or I guess I could. No reason why we both should.” She said after a pause. There was no reason they should team up, as far as Diana was concerned. Even if the boy wasn’t as bad as she had thought, they still weren’t going to be best friends based on this one discussion and a similar curiosity about a spell. “Are you keeping Astronomy next year?” She asked him, ready to judge him if the answer was no.

 

[Derek Tahana]

Derek was glad that Diana seemed to agree that it was practical, that there would be a used for it, but he didn’t think that Professor Alicastell would be willing to give them that information. He shook his head, ”I doubt she’d give us it, not unless we were older and had good grades." He was mostly speaking about himself for his grades. His grades were probably a lot worse than hers, though he couldn’t say for certain. He nodded too, ”If we do learn those spells I don’t think it’ll be for a while,” the boy shrugged a little, tiredness seeping into his voice. He could agree that asking her might be a good bet, either together or alone, ”I think i’d hold off on asking until I do better than Acceptable grades,” the boy said with a little chuckle, ”But you can go ahead earlier if you want to,” Derek could imagine that both asking might get their result but one asking might be better in case it was something that only a few learned. ”Yeah, course,” he replied, ”It’s not my favourite class, but if doing it helps me learn more about that sort of projection spell, I’ll do it until NEWT year. Plus aside from it being at the other end of the school, it’s quite fun. I think it’ll more fun the more time goes on,” he knew this probably wasn’t the best way to approach his classes, but he didn’t really mind, he didn’t know what he wanted to do after school so it was as good a reason as any to continue a subject. ”Are you?” ​

 

[Diana Hollis]

Diana was starting to get a little tired of this conversation. Mildly embarrassed that the boy had managed to get her to lie down on the bench like some weird kid, she was pretty keen to get out of here. Especially because he wasn't actually saying much of use. "I might ask, I get good grades in that subject. I think Professor Harrington likes me." She said haughtily, neglecting to mention her A's in every other subject of course. "I'm also keeping it, I think it's the best class they offer." She said firmly. She wondered what class he could possibly like better, but he was probably one of those kids that liked potions because the professor was trying so hard to be nice. "I should go now, but good luck staring at the ceiling some more."