Shooting the breeze

[Jeremy Thorne]

Sitting on a bench in the corner of the courtyard, Jeremy was glad that he wasn't spending the day indoors. It was far too nice for him to be inside even if he did have a lot of studying to do. NEWT classes were everything that he had expected them to be and more, and with his other duties, Jeremy was spending every spare moment studying. His size ten feet were on the bench, his knees up and a book balanced on them. Every few moments, he would look up, taking a look at the students that were in the courtyard to make sure they were being on their best behavior. So far, they were and he figured that under the Head Boy's nose most of them would continue to be on their best behavior. It really wouldn't be worth it to risk getting in trouble. Returning to his book, Jeremy continued to read about dark creatures. He had passed right over the chapter on inferi because they creeped him out too much for him to read about them for fun. The Head Boy reached for his quill and underlined a section about fighting Grindylows.

As the wind blew softly through his hair, Jeremy closed his eyes for a second and simply enjoyed the breeze. It wasn't often that he took the time to simply relax and enjoy himself. Not that he hated classes or quidditch or being the Head Boy. He loved those things, but that didn't mean that he did not need a break as well. Everyone did. Opening his blue eyes, a small smile on the seventh year's face, he continued to read. He checked to see how many pages were left in the chapter and saw that there was only 2 1/2 pages left. Happy with this fact, Jeremy pushed forward, eager to finish.

 

[Alyss Summers]

Pushing open the large doors that led towards the courtyard, Alyss exited the castle, the History of Magic book in her hand. Though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, History of Magic was actually her favourite subject, closely followed by Transfiguration. But of course Quidditch was something that she enjoyed the most. She wasn't a complete brainiac after all. Since Alyss didn't want to be bullied by others in her house, she pretended to be dumber than she actually was. Sure she could probably hold her own against them, especially since she had learned some nasty hexes from being a Slytherin, but she didn't want to start any problems. It was ironic. Before she would have loved to start problems, and cause difficulties, but ever since she began to like him, she didn't care about things such as blood purity anymore.

She pulled her hair up in a high ponytail, and ran a hand through it to remove any bumps. Her blue eyes darted around the courtyard, and stopped short when she noticed him. A slow, tiny smile spread on her face and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks as she watched him read, her head tilted to the side. He looked like be was really enjoying himself, and Alyss could understand that. She had the exact same feeling when she read books that she enjoyed. It was like they took you on a journey, a place that you had never been before, and you stayed there until you finished the book. It was an adventure.

Her smile grew slightly larger at that, and she walked over, and sat on a bench near Jeremy, the book next to her. She watched the younger children run up and down the courtyard, squealing and enjoying themselves, and a questioning look appeared on her face. Even when she was young, she had never enjoyed herself like that. She had never played games like that... She never knew what it felt like. The only time that she had played a game and had fun was in Quidditch. Everything else was always so serious for her though. She was one of the Slytherin Princesses, who always kept their emotions in check, right? She was one of the people that cared about blood purity, right? She honestly wasn't sure... She didn't know who she was anymore...

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Jeremy opened his eyes and was about to finish the last page when his eyes happened on Alyss Summers. Of course Jeremy knew her by name. They'd been in school together for seven years and had shared tons of classes together over that period of time. He had even sat near her in some of those classes. And, they had even played Quidditch together as Chasers. That had probably been the most he had spoken to her. Quidditch provided many a shy guy the opportunity to speak to pretty girls. Even before his tiny crush on Kendra, Alyss had been a crush of his. It had started when he sat behind her in Transfiguration class during his second year. Her hair had always smelled really good and she had very nice handwriting. Jeremy had never acted on it (he barely spoke to his male classmates let alone a female one) and eventually Jeremy's interests had moved on. Jeremy closed his book and sat up realizing that the two girls he had ever liked in that way were both blondes...and from Slytherin. Analyze that, he joked to himself, wondering whether those girls were his 'type.' Jeremy honestly didn't know if he had a type. He had never really dated anyone, in or out of the school.

Getting up, Jeremy left his book on the bench and headed to her bench. He had heard that she was mean to some people, but he had never seen her act like that before. He thought that some people just didn't like Slytherins because of the house's reputation without bothering to get to know the individuals. Sure, some of them were mean and rude but even his house had mean and rude people in it. "Hey Alyss" he smiled. He dropped down into the seat beside her and glanced at the book she had with her that was now in between them. It was their history of magic textbook. "How have you been doing on those quizzes?" he asked her. He had done only ok on one and better on the other. He had a lot of studying to do if he wanted to get an O on the NEWT though. "I only got 7 questions right on the last one" he said as he shook his head.

 

[Alyss Summers]

Alyss could've jumped for joy, or something when she saw that Jeremy decided to join her, but she wasn't a Slytherin for nothing. 'Hey,' She smiled, her eyes glancing at the children once more, before they fell onto Jeremy. Alyss had had a crush on Jeremy for about three years now, though she refused to admit it to anyone, especially him, and she hoped that maybe one day, he would make the first move... He had changed a lot since they were younger, she had to admit. His looks had changed, definitely better of course, and his personality had changed as well... He was more mature, and he was Head Boy now, but he was still Jeremy... And that was what she liked most about him... He was definitely different from the guys from her house, and he was different from the people that she usually hung out with. It was refreshing to see someone with different points of view to the ones that she was used to. Ever since she realised that she had liked Jeremy though, she had stopped picking on people as much, hoping that he would notice, and be impressed. She still put on the facade that she thought blood purity was the best, but to be honest, she didn't really care anymore.

'Not too good honestly,' She replied, sighing. I need to catch up... I haven't been feeling well lately, so I have a lot to catch up on...' She rolled her eyes, showing exactly what she thought of that idea. 'You still beat me,' she laughed, 'I only got five.' The other ones she had done pretty average by, and she was disappointed by it. She had thought that History of Magic would be a fairly easy subject, and even though she enjoyed learning about the History of the Magical world, it was extremely difficult for her to focus this year, and she couldn't understand why... 'Are you looking forward to the Quidditch game coming up?' She asked, grinning at him. 'You know Slytherin's going to beat Ravenclaw, right?'​

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[Jeremy Thorne]

There were a lot of younger students running around the courtyard. It seemed that they were playing a game of tag or something. It was pretty easy to not pay attention to them though, until they got too close and hollered practically in his ear. Jeremy listened to Alyss and smiled sympathetically. He could definitely understand not wanting to catch up with lessons. This year it seemed that they were not meant to ever catch up. It was like the professors didn't want the students to feel as if they were fully prepares for their NEWTs so early in the school year. "You can borrow my notes if you want...if you can read them anyway" he offered. His handwriting was pretty bad and his spelling wasn't much better, so she might not think it was worth the eye strain but his notes were very complete. He wouldn't be a true Ravenclaw if his notes weren't up to date.

As she mentioned Quidditch, Jeremy grinned and nodded his head. Quidditch was the reason why he had only got 7 right on the quiz. He'd been too busy working on plays and trying to coordinate a practice. It wasn't easy being the captain of the team especially when he was also the Head Boy. He had a lot of people depending on him. "If you say so" he chuckled. "If Ravenclaw loses, I...I think I might lose it" he added, a grin crossing his face so it was difficult to tell if he was joking or not. He wasn't. "I'll tell my beaters to take it easy on you..." he added with a shrug. Jeremy knew it would probably bug her to be offered leniency during the game. She was a good player and definitely didn't need it.