Closed Study Buddies

[Rosalind Lockwood]

Rose had never exactly been very studious. But she was willing to bury her nose in the books if it meant spending time with Iris. Rose was struggling to focus, tapping her fingers in random rhythms against her textbook as she read through the page for the third time. She was trying, she was, but she was really terrible at this sort of thing. She sighed softly, clenching her fist to still her misbehaving fingers, tucking them into their own time out. After about twenty minutes, and four pages later, Rose had shifted, humming softly, unthinkingly twisting a strand of her golden hair around her finger. Twist, untwist, repeat. She was slowly making progress, though it was in very small steps.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris had been looking forward to studying with Rose. With the strange tension in her friend group, it had been nice to make a new connection with the Gryffindor. She was so different from Emma, despite being in the same house. Iris really liked her quiet company. She had been feeling a little strange about the Valentine's Dance, where she had seen Rose with an older Gryffindor boy. She hoped to casually ask about him during their study session today, as she was kind of curious if they were dating. Iris arrived at the Student Lounge where they had agreed to meet. She smiled at the Gryffindor as she dropped into the seat next to her. "Hi. You're working hard already." She said softly.

 

[Rosalind Lockwood]

Rose looked up when she heard Iris, smiling softly and hoping the light blush on her cheeks wasn't obvious. "Hi. Yeah," Rose untwirled the hair from around her finger and turned a bit more to face Iris, offering a shy smile. "I wasn't sure when exactly you'd make it, I hope you don't mind..." Rose tucked her hair behind her ear.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris smiled back at Rose before grabbing her book and putting it on the table. As much as she would like to just chat and hang out with her friend, she knew they had to study too. Still, a bit of talking wouldn't be bad, right? "Of course not, I need some of that work ethic." She said with a slight smile. "I've been procrastinating a bit, honestly. The OWLs are pretty intimidating."

 

[Rosalind Lockwood]

Rose laughed lightly, shaking her head. "Oh, yours is probably better than mine," she reassured the other girl. "I'm only studying because you wanted to," she admitted, blushing a bit. Was that too much to share? It shouldn't be, should it? That was totally a friends thing to say. "What did you want to study?" She added as an afterthought, unsure what Iris would even need to study. She always came across as a smart student. Of course, Rose was under the impression Iris could do anything she wanted to.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris smiled a bit. "You just think that because I'm a Ravenclaw, we have a certain reputation." She said, teasing a bit. "But I'm really not all that studious, not compared to some of my classmates at least." She said, thinking briefly of Minnie in the year above, or even Poppy in her own year. But as Rose said she was only studying because Iris wanted to, she blushed a bit. "Oh, sorry. If you'd rather do something else that's okay too." She said, not wanting the other girl to feel forced to do something. She hesitated. "I was going to start off with Divination, I really want to pass that OWL." She said, frowning at her book slightly. She had a bit of a complicated relationship with the subject, but still felt more keen to study that subject than anything else. "What about you?" She asked.

 

[Rosalind Lockwood]

Rose smiled softly. "I don't compare you to other kids," she admitted, blushing and looking away. "I don't have to, I already know you're better than all of them anyway," she complimented shyly. She laughed lightly as Iris said they could study whatever. "My grades aren't that important to me. We can study divination," she agreed, picking up the divination textbook and opening it. "I can help you if you want to," she offered.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris felt her cheeks heat up a bit when Rose said she was better than all of the other kids in their year, she wasn't sure what to say in response to that. "Thank you." She finally settled on, smiling shyly. She frowned a bit when Rose said she would be happy to study divination and that her own grades didn't matter much to her. "Wait, do you take divination? Rose, you should study something for yourself. I'm happy to just spend time together even if we are studying different subjects."

 

[Rosalind Lockwood]

Rose's heart fluttered at Iris' words. She smiled, scooting a little closer and reaching over to take Iris' hand in hers. "I'd rather help you study, honestly," she told Iris gently. "Why don't you tell me about Divination as we study? Answer my questions and all that," Rose laughed lightly. "Maybe explaining things to me will help you understand it better," she offered. "Lily always says that talking things over helps," She gave Iris an almost shy smile.

 

[Iris van Houten]

Iris frowned at Rose, shaking her head. She blushed slightly when the girl took her hand, glancing down at their hands for a moment. "I could tell you a bit." She admitted. "But I want you to do your own studying as well. It's very sweet of you to help me, but you have OWLs too." She said, tucking her hair behind her ear. She wasn't entirely sure what this meant. In theory, she understood what it meant when someone held your hand. But maybe Rose was just trying to reassure her? She wasn't really sure what to make of it. "But I'll tell you about Divination first."

 

[Rosalind Lockwood]

Rose smiled softly, gently pulling her hand back. She knew she had feelings for Iris, but she needed to keep that to herself. She opened her Divination textbook instead, looking down to the book. "If you're really worried," she smiled softly, trying to find a good starting point. She didn't really care about her studies, but her heart fluttered in her chest thinking that Iris cared about it. About her. She tried not to read too much into it. Whatever happened, Rose was just glad that she and Iris were friends.