Unsaid worries and laughter

[Artemis Jackson]

It was difficult to deal with a lot of business related to educational things. There were notes to take down in this and that class, there was always the constant pressure to aim for good grades and the watchful eyes of Professor Styx on his prefects almost felt that they were perched on her shoulder. Everything seemed to be like a forest fire. The gossip could spread rapidly and effectively, as if the spirit of RHI was in every student's body. People around her were starting to date and grow up which Artemis thought was still awkward. Lessons were picking up speed and tasks. Besides from that, the notes she took terribly needed tidy revision. From afar, they appeared to be scribbles and scratched out words. In other terms, she thought of it as litter; parchment turned to trash that contained her most important notes of all the classes she took. Artemis Jackson thought that today was the perfect day to do that kind of modification in the library. The place were books resided was mostly quiet, save for the whispered giggles of students that reserved a corner for their "study laughing sessions." Whatever they talked about was nothing of obvious importance since nobody really payed any attention to them except for themselves and their inner circle of friends. Forgetting about that, Artemis held what she needed and slung it over her shoulder. Now was the time to meet the person she was nervous yet secretly eager to be with.

The soft taps of footsteps faded in the hallway as she reached the huge oak doors of the library. There were the usual amount of students seated on the many tables or leaning on a massive bookshelf. The Slytherin prefect cast a small nod at the librarian in charge. He was writing something - paperwork that involved the students who submitted their borrowed books late. Nothing was interesting in that kind of occupation and what a bore it would be if Artemis would have her eyes read names of students all day. The chilly air of the library did not affect her; courtesy of the school robes she was wearing with muggle clothes underneath. The section that had the fewest people was where Artemis made her way to, so that the buzz of whispers would best be avoided. She remembered telling her study mate via owl that she would be wherever section had the least number of individuals. Artemis thought that it was a little downright weird and mysterious to write something like that. However, that was her truth. Spotting the best choice of a table that suited two people, Artemis approached it with a thin line etched on her lips. She was excited and slightly nervous but, what was there to be so self conscious about?

The table was square-ish and there were some scratches on it that made it look several years old. Artemis payed no notice to those very small details and began to work with the contents of her bag. There were two sets of parchment - one was the one that contained her notes and the other one was a fresh set to start writing them in a cleaner manner. Artemis had her quill too and the ink bottle stored inside and she reached for it swiftly to put it on the table. The notes for Care of Magical Creatures were placed on the table along with new parchment. The blonde just needed to rewrite her words for the day and ask a few questions to the person that would soon accompany her. Artemis crossed her legs and undid the lid of the ink bottle. The tip of the quill soon made contact with the dark liquid of the ink and scribbled down the notes that she took during the first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures. Oblivion regarding the world surrounding suddenly took over her mind and all she heard were her thoughts and the papers that were turned back and forth by the other people from the other tables. Blissful silence, it was.
​

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Minoas put his hoodie on while standing in front of the mirror in his dorm. He was facing a fifteen year old boy with soulful gray eyes, who was getting taller by the day. There was no other age in which people were developing than adolescence. It wasn't only the physical development that Minoas had realized from the patches of bristly hair taking over his cheeks but was also the moral and psychological development that were reshaping his personality. He was also starting thinking about the opposite sex in a totally different way but that change wasn't yet perceived thoroughly. He was catching himself thinking out of the blue about a particular girl that he was considering a good friend but it was something different and unprecedented in the persistence of her thought. She was coming and leaving unexpectedly in his mind like a tide that was flooding him with emotions, washing away anything else that could be bothering him. He tried to find a good enough explanation for this phenomenon and he attributed that to his need of friends. Still he wasn't satisfied with the justification that he was forcing himself to accept.

There was something more. That something had him for five minutes in front of the mirror, making his hair elegantly disheveled into spikes for his was getting ready to meet that someone who had been randomly invading his thoughts. An hour ago he wanted to finish his quidditch practice and get prepared for the revision session they had planned for the rest of the year until their examinations. He didn't know about her but from his part, he wasn't really going there to study. He liked spending time with her even if that included her shooting at him questions of his least favorite subject. After his quidditch practice and rushed for a quick shower and dressed up in record time. He glanced at his watch and his eyes widened. He grabbed his postman bag that was hanging awkwardly from his bed's footboard and he darted towards the exit of gryffindors common room.

He only realized how fast he made his way to the fourth corridor when he reached the library and he was catching his breath. He took a few deep breaths before entering inside, not wanting to look like he was in a rush. Minoas was visiting the library a lot lately so the low buzz of whispers amongst the different groups already there went unnoticed. To that might have also contributed the fact that he attention was only focused on locating his study partner. It wasn't smart from his part to let a bookworm arrive first in the library and Minoas could swear that his partner was choosing the most isolated places in the room to make his life a little bit more difficult on finding their meeting place. He scratched his temple as he was looking around to recognize his pale face lightened by her blue eyes. He walked deeper in the library and found himself surrounded by the bookcases. He decided to visit the tables they had used in the past to study together and it wasn't long enough until he found her sitting at the isolated table they had been using most of the time.

"I managed to find you faster than last time." he said and flashed a toothy smile subconsciously as he was taking the seat opposite to her. His smile also infected his eyes as they engaged and channeled excitement.
"Someone is really determined to pass with flying colors." he did his usually teasing as she was looking so absorbed in what she was doing. "Sorry for being late. Again." he apologized and his bright smile was instantly replaced by a goofy one. He wasn't sure if it was a cultural thing but he usually had trouble to keep track of the time. He was either too early or too late. "So, with what are you going to sweetly torture me today?" he asked her as he was trying to recognize the notes in front of her. His comment was referring to last time's session that included a revision of history of magic from first year up to the fourth one. OWLs were going to have material from all previous years so they had a lot of work to do if they wanted to succeed. Although Minoas would prefer to chat with her rather than getting down to work, he decided to follow suit and knuckle down to work.

 

[Artemis Jackson]

Flicking her wrist every now and then to scratch out those words that were unnecessary kept her awake and alive. The repeated whispers were frequent visitors for her eardrums. There were two younger students nearby, hastily murmuring words to one another. The short words him, I don't know and some other vague expressions were barely spoken out aloud were heard by Artemis anyway. The vibration that their throats caused gave her something to ignore deliberately. It kept her eyes open from the boring sound that buzzed inside her head, gradually letting drowsiness take over. Artemis paused over the continuous and meticulous revision she was trying to accomplish before her study mate arrived. She craned her neck to see if any boy with deep, grey eyes had entered the library doors. The flow of students that arrived and left were there, but still any sign of her friend was nonexistent. Artemis frowned and bit her lip, feeling that she was becoming too conscious about the time nowadays, especially when it came to him. Always she saw him in most classes she took however the chances to talk to him were terribly slim.

Words floated around her vision. There were groups of slashed ones, underlined ones and to mark the incredibly important ones; capitalized letters. The quill in hand ran swiftly on the papers that had her notes for Care of Magical Creatures. She had other notes from two more different subjects in her bag and she was determined to get two revised today even with some certain distractions that will later be revealed. Thinking about what today's outcome will be was just like the weather. It left the youngest prefect of the Slytherins with uncertainly frivolous feelings afterwards. Her eyes swept over the very messily made notes on muggle paper that she used for CoMC. Portions of the papyrus were splattered with extremely dark ink and some even had doodles of what seemed to be the various brooms that every known shop offered. Her eyes stopped at the small portion just below it, before ascending again to view what kinds of drawings she tried to mimic. Artemis was not a brilliant sketcher and viewed her own creations as crappy ones like Alliyah's when she was only five years young. It took a short whilst to get over those drawings but then another sound caught her terribly off guard.

Feet. The audible sweep of male feet reached her eardrums in just unnoticeable seconds. There was a shuffle and some heads turned briefly towards them that were a few meters away. To ignore it was something she just could not do, although patience still stirred in her cage of emotions. Noticeably she stopped any eye movement and let her ears do the job. That familiar and developing voice soon forced her to look up from where she was sitting and caught that grin that she was so fond of. "Nice one," she managed to reply within a second's breath as if she were automated. Artemis cocked her head to the side and let amusement play on her pale and thinly formed lips. Minoas was quite of a talker when he was on his bright side and for some reason, the prefect adored that. Her ways sometimes contradicted his and despite the differences their friendship was still good and growing. "It's all good. This kept me company," said Artemis, a single finger tapping on the paper that was just beneath her chin. Artemis liked the goofiness he was radiating - that smile was infectious and so, a refined one tugged onto her lips.

"You tell me." Was the subdued reply she uttered. Artemis looked at the notes placed on her side of the table, the blank ink of all the words making her frown mentally. Showing her disorderly side to her friend was not really going to bother him, would it? Artemis shifted a little a bit and caught Minoas' eyes again with hers. Her jumbled thoughts about the budding idea she was trying to come up with made her feel a little indecisive. She was not exactly good with memory however a little try tickled her fancy. Her mouth spoke about it before she could even take another hesitated step internally. "How 'bout let's quiz each other from time to time? Whilst we revise." Revising notes with Minoas Stratis always had its perks and whatnot. He was an interesting talker which kept the atmosphere less awkward than she could remember. Artemis' eyes queried him with its innocent stare, its blue orbs calm and relaxed.
​

 

[Minoas Stratis]

That was exactly what Minoas was longing for. A smile from Artemis Jackson. Her amused expression was something rare but beautiful at the same time. Serenity was defining her reserved expressions but when she was smiling, Minoas was feeling something melting inside him. No wonder he could act like a clown around her to steal as much of these smiles as possible.
"I'm sure that Magellan isn't included in my family tree." he sarcasted about his terrible sense of direction.
Well it wasn't that terrible. Actually he was good at navigating inside the forest. The gryffindor knew this forbidden area like the back of his hand but in this case he was trying to trigger another smile on her features.

He glanced at the paper she had in front of her and he noticed a few broom sketches decorating the blank areas among her notes. "Something tells me this isn't exactly the best kind of company for you." he commented as he took off his backpack his own pile of parchments including his notes, as well as his most precious possession. His grimoire.
Initially, it was just a journal with grey, leather cover. However, Minoas started including in its pages spells he had found on extracurricular books, his own ideas of spells and potions he wanted to craft in the future, a herbal including various parts of the herbs he had found at Hogwarts ground or at herbology class and various sketches of creatures he had encountered at care of magical creatures classes. Now the leather covers were covered with glyphs and symbols of indible ink. A protection along with a pentagram and a key talisman on it to prevent prying eyes away from the grimoire's pages.

He smirked slightly as she was letting him choose what they were going to study. He was going to cheat right there, deciding to choose something he didn't really need to revise. Care of magical creatures along with transfiguration were his favorite subjects and anything mentioned in these classes was instantly absorbed by him.
"If I were you, I wouldn't be that generous with me. I might take advantage of it." he stated as he was searching through his notes for something specific.
"Since you're so kind and letting me choose, let's see how we are doing in care of magical creatures." he said with a playful smirk as he got in front of him a quiz he had created with all the possible questions that could show up in OWLs.
"At what age do unicorns start growing a horn?" he asked the first question on his list. He was so relieved they weren't going to have a history of magic quiz.

 

[Artemis Jackson]

A leap in time was this kind of conversation for the young and appointed prefect. Her own private circle of friends were becoming more public, especially with Minoas Stratis. The memory of the day when they had met flashed in her mind very suddenly, leaving her almost in a very minor daze. It had been four years ever since the Gryffindor met the Slytherin and here they were now, still communicating with each other in a very friendly and teasing manner. It warmed the feeling of Artemis' heart sincerely, leaving no other part untouched by the internal heat. The feeling was what she did not exactly expect but the nostalgia still took over and so was the odd heat. Her attention was purely focused on him, and him alone. Out were the other students whose table was pretty much nearby. Out were the whispers and mutters that other students uttered whilst doing their own business. There was something more important to occupy most of her brain nerves. Artemis raised her brow at his sarcasm even if she had no idea who that man was. Minoas spoke in things that she had no idea of at some times and up to date, she still had no interest in those names anyway.

Perhaps it was not too surprising for other people, but Artemis felt the initial heat increase when Minoas saw the sketches. To her it was a useless drawing for someone who was incredibly bored and impatient with the lesson two weeks prior. There drawings of the different types of brooms was imperfect and Artemis took no pride in it. She had the urge to snatch that parchment and stow it quickly in her bag. But when his words finally sunk in her mind, enough to make her comprehend a sentence, she uttered with a small frown. "Why not?" Her blue eyes searched his as he was unpacking his things. His eyes had more depth than what it contained before. She knew that both were experiencing what this world had for them: the trials and moments of bliss. Had they really grown this fast? Their minds were not anymore as childish and slowly, she knew that both of their minds were opening up to the different realities this world possessed. Artemis tilted her head in question, a look of genuine inquisitiveness shining mildly in those blank yet soft blue irises.

So this was how their normal routine occurred whenever they met up in the library. The questions got aggressive as each minute passed, if ever any question was posed, that was. The same old upward curve of a smirk filled Minoas, leaving Artemis in a halt with her quill and mind. "Oh come on." Artemis displayed a playful frown as he already held his list of questions for her. The voice in her mind told her that he was not doing any justice and so she had to be the one to act on it. The jumbled thoughts about Care of Magical Creatures still did not settle in her mind properly. She knew the various facts but to which creature it belonged to... She had to admit that she still had not mastered it just yet. The subject of magical creatures was something she knew her friend was good at. Her first thought was to interrupt him, but that would ruin the mood wouldn't it? The next that came in was not as good either, so she waited for him to look at his list and utter the first question. An almost inaudible sigh came out from Artemis' lips. Her mind now knew what her poorly decided step was and she leaned forward as her hand loosened its grip on the old quill. It would be fun to have a little competition in this study session of theirs.

"Before that, let me just say that we really ought to take turns. If you get to question me about CoMC, then let me question you about History. You did revise on your History notes... right?" The lips of Artemis twitched in competitive and playful amusement with her self and her friend. She would perhaps like this day and will keep the memory with her for as long as she can carry it. With the said words left hanging in the air, Artemis felt the atmosphere rapidly spill its half of its playful side leaving it with a friendly competition that made Artemis almost certain that Minoas would not turn her preposition down. With minimal sound, Artemis' left foot tapped against the floor of the library whilst the right one which was on top of the left hung loosely. Artemis readied herself to take the CoMC notes away to retrieve the History ones in her bag... if ever Minoas did agree with her statement.
​

i am so sorry this took so long!

 

[Minoas Stratis]

He was checking his backpack for a bottle of ink, he knew he had one there lost in the chaos prevailing in there.
He replied to her while he was toppling books and parchments inside the backpack.
"Because, personally I tend to sketch each time I'm bored. What do you think this book is full of?" he mentioned his grimoire next to him. If the notes were that interesting she wouldn't have sketched all those broom models next to them or he wouldn't be opening his grimoire in the middel of boring history class to sketch something out of his imagination. He finally brought out of his backpack a half-empty ink bottle placed it next to his own notes that inluced no sketches whatsoever. Her playful frown melted his heart and flashed a smile on his face. This summoned his own playful spirit and he was ready to play along. It was his time to set the game and the rules and torture her sweetly like she had done with history of magic in the past. "Don't worry. I've only included the hardest ones. Just for you." he smirked and winked at her as he was waving in his hand the parchment with the quiz he had prepared for her. The truth was that he had prepared it for his own revision but he thought it was going to benefit her as well.

He was hopeful that today was a revision session free of history of magic. He had an actual headache at the end of last time's session with all those dates and insignificant information about Merlin's life or goblins' wars. He should have expected that Artemis wasn't going to let him escape that easily while he was applying some pressure on her with care of magical creatures. He let her complete her suggestion although his newly formed smirk was denoting that he already knew what she was going to say. For some odd reason he didn't want her to stop talking. He could be listening to her for hours. He hadn't show anything last time but he had actually enjoyed listening to her talking about historical events or complaining that he wasn't paying attention. He wasn't going of course to say anything about this masochistic delight of listening to her. A history quiz like the one he had prepared for her on care of magical creatures was completely different from reading through the textbook. In any other case he would have dropped this suggestion but her voice's tone was provoking him as she was actually challenging him. She really knew his buttons after so much time spent together.

"You know what? I'm in!" he accepted his challenge, showing confident. "And of course I have revised last time's notes." he added with the same confidence on the outside while a knot was forming in his throat. He didn't really had a look of the notes they (well mostly she) had made during their last session. However, he was going to improvise and bet on his luck, not going to lose his swagger.
"Oh oh someone hasn't really revised. You haven't answered to my first question yet and I might think you are unprepared." he mocked and quirked his eyebrows. "I guess I should repeat it. At what age do unicorns start growing a horn?" he read again his question from the quiz he had in front of him. "It's okay if you don't know. I can answer it for you." he smirked as he challenging her further.