Supposedly Studying

[Ezra Shaffer]

It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday in New Zealand. The majority of the school had made their way outdoors to the lake, lawn, gardens, or quidditch pitch. Because of this, Ezra had sent Karah an owl this morning, asking her to join him after lunch in the library. With the excuse of studying, Ezra had asked her to come up and complete their History of Magic essay that was due next Wednesday. Ezra really didn't care about doing that essay today. In fact, he had almost finished it two days ago. Now that Karah had a boyfriend, it was increasingly difficult to get her alone with him. Even though the pair hated each other with a passion their first year at Hogwarts, things had changed dramatically in the past four years. Karah had slowly become his friend, then a close friend, then one of his best friends. At some point that Ezra could not exactly name, that friendship had turned into something much more for him. Truth be known, Ezra was quite smitten with Karah Love, and it had absolutely nothing to do with her Veela blood. There was just something about that fiery redhead that was irresistible.

Ezra Shaffer arrived in the library a few moments before he had asked Karah to meet him. He walked straight to the back of the library, to their favorite study place. It was a rather secluded area with large glass windows that looked out onto the grounds, allowing lots of sunshine to fall upon their table. There would be no one who would bother them back here. Karah and Ezra could talk without fear of being overheard or interrupted. Besides, the library was deserted. Ezra dropped his bag on the floor. He sat down and took out his book, still under the pretense of studying. He glanced over his already written essay, doubled checking it as he waited on his beautiful friend.

 

[Karah Love]

Much like the majority of Hogwarts, Karah had been looking forward to enjoying one of the last warmer days before winter totally enveloped the grounds but she had received a letter from Ezra so she felt that she should reply to it instead of ignoring it as she had been with Michael's, in case it had any sense of urgency. She found that it didn't but that she should probably join him in the library because the stupid magazine, news letter or whatever it was had pointed it out that she was stupid. She knew it probably was not a reputable source but she was upset with Michael because she did not trust Azolla and even more so now but that didn't mean they were broken up, she just needed some space. Why she was letting this alone time be infringed upon by Ezra the Gryffindor was uncertain but she went despite her better judgment.

After lunch, Karah had quickly gone back to her dorm room to collect her history of magic books and popped in a piece of gum into her mouth and began making her way to the library to meet her Slytherin friend, wondering vaguely if he had read the aforementioned gossip ridden magazine and what he made of it but knew that speaking of it would make things uncomfortable so she just found her way to Ezra's table and smiled as she saw him. Even if it had probably been a day since they had last spoken to one another she still stood before him waiting to she could give her a tight embrace. His hugs were soothing and elevated her mood when she felt low, which she did at the moment. Whilst waiting she glanced from her best friend's eyes to his face that had the sun resting on his cheek and neck accentuating her friend's looks that she was becoming increasingly aware of, despite not caring about appearances in the slightest thanks to her own damned veela blood. “Hi,” Karah hummed as she pushed away the thoughts she had of Ezra because it was what the magazine ould most expect of her and all she wanted to do was lay low until the year was through when she would have Ezra over for a little while and the Michael afterwords.​

 

[Ezra Shaffer]

The sunlight flooding through the long windows was distracting as it fell warmly on Ezra's cheek. He looked upwards as he heard the soft patter of approaching foot steps. His blue eyes met the eyes of his best friend, Karah Love. The familiar sight of her beautiful face and fiery red locks sent his a jolt through his heart. Ezra knew the feeling he always got when he saw her was not because of the Veela blood that was coursing through her veins. It was difficult to believe now that the two friends had once been bitter adversaries. Over time, the original misjudgment on both of their parts had evaporated. From it, a friendship had grown that was so tightly knit it would never rip apart. The Slytherin was pleased that Karah had actually showed up in the library to meet him when he knew that Karah had a lot going on in her life right now. Ezra had read the gossip magazine, not that he really believed any of it. Still, he knew the accusations would take a toll on the Gryffindor girl.

Ezra stood up from the chair he had been occupying. He was now about a head taller than she was, having recently gone through a growth spurt. The Slytherin knew that the growing process was no where near over. Before it was all said and done, Ezra had a feeling that he was going to be over six feet. A grin on his boyish face grew as he saw she was so clearly waiting for an embrace. He wrapped his arms around her thin frame, holding her tightly to him. He loved any excuse to be close to her, not that he would over step his boundaries. Ezra had learned his lesson there. "Hey Kare." he said warmly as he released her. "Thanks for meeting me." he said as he took his seat once more. "How are you doing?" Ezra asked, sincerely concerned about his best friend.

 

[Karah Love]

Karah narrowly melted into Ezra's willing arms as he held her tightly because with the release of this magazine she had been in need of a hug more than anything. It wasn't until they slowly let go of one another that she realized that they could very well be watched and she ought to make sure her actions were nothing more than friendly despite being very close to her dear friend. "I've missed you, Ez," she said softly as she sat down across from him smiling with the same lack of conviction she had to wake to another day. Despite mentioning her relationship with Michael it also abused one of her greatest insecurities and after being bullied for what she was born as for better half of her education thus far Karah didn't know if she could handle much more of it. The red head was just lucky to have a friend like Ezra to understand what she was going through as best as he could.

"Not great... I've not actually spoken to Michael since the release of the article. I'm scared that it might be true..." Karah whispered as she looked down at her hands which were woven tightly together and internally berated herself for thinking such things of her boyfriend. Michael was a good, honest person but there was something about Azolla Loncar that she did not like and she feared that Michael actually had been under her veela charm and felt nothing for her but actually had feelings for the younger Slytherin. Karah heaved a sigh and looked into Ezra's blue orbs to try to read his reaction but she was never very good at reading other's emotions just as she was never very good at reading. The intellect wasn't there and just as the article said she was not smart which lead her into more destructive thoughts. Perhaps I'm too dumb for him and he got bored of me, Karah's eyes nearly watered up and wondered if Ezra thought this of her and if he would soon tire of her mediocre words and observations. It wasn't as if she could blame him.​