Well, We Tried

[Aurora Night]

Unfortunately, it was time. They'd been putting it off for days, but it was starting to become apparent that homework just couldn't be ignored without consequences. Rory wasn't sure who found this more annoying, Rose, or herself. The two girls had decided that it was probably time to get around to catching up, and that the best place to do it was outside on the lawn. She didn't know about Rose, but Rory found it easier to think in the fresh air and ambient background noises.

Flopping down on the grass, she dumped her bag by her side and pulled a grumpy face at it before turning to look up at her friend. "No, I'm still not feeling the need." She looked around her surroundings for a moment before sighing and reaching into the bag to pull out a book. "Charms it is," she announced, reading the title. She supposed that wouldn't be too bad, Charms homework was mostly just doing the reading for whatever spell they were going to learn about next. Rory slowly began flicking to the page she needed.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was not very excited to start on any homework, it was honestly the least exciting part of school. Why would anyone want to do stuff that they could just do in class? In their free time, it was so much better to explore outside than to be stuck inside with a book.

So Rory's compromise to do their homework outside had been a very welcome suggestion, and Rose had agreed immediately. Maybe, just maybe, being out on grass would make the homework a little more exciting to look at. Though, if she was honest, she doubted it.

Rose sat down next to Rory and laughed softly. "Me neither, but I suppose I should try to work on my homework at least a little bit. Like to make up for the house points I lost." She didn't really mean it that much, it didn't matter to her if Gryffindor won or not. It seemed that they were doomed to lose anyway, and house points were silly , just a way for grown ups to make kids behave. "Charms sounds good, it's my favorite of my classes so far." It helped that it was the most practical one too.

 

[Aurora Night]

Looking up, Rory laughed. "Well, if that's the reasoning, I should do my homework to make up for all the house points that I'm probably going to lose." She wasn't too concerned, though, all the points seemed to end up getting you was an empty cup and bragging rights, neither of which interested her in the slightest. Thinking of something, she grinned. "I wonder which of us will have lost the most points by the end of the year." She looked down at the book again, seeing that she still hadn't reached the page she needed. She began turning the pages a little slower.

Rose's next comment soon made her forget that, however. Moving her hand away from the book, a few pages flipped back without Rory noticing as she pulled her wand out of her pocket. "I like it too." She looked at the tip of her wand for a moment before saying, "Lumos!" She couldn't really tell in the bright sunshine, but she thought the light was beginning to appear more quickly than the first time she had cast the spell. Cupping her hand around the tip to try and cast some shadow, she showed Rose the light. "Look, I'm going to be a really powerful witch someday, you can tell just by this tiny light," Rory said, grinning as she mimicked their Charms professor.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose laughed at Rory's logic. "I think we should both start doing every single thing and also extra credit if we ever want to compensate." She said, happy at the thought of getting into more trouble. She knew she would be lucky if she managed to do half the homework, so she assumed Rory would know that she was joking. It was fun that Rory didn't care about silly things like points either. "We should keep track of who lost the most! The winner will buy the other person..." She paused, thinking. "Cake? Chocolate? Uhm, chocolate cake?" She frowned. "Wait, would the winner be the one who lost the most or who lost the least?"

Rory's spell made her smile and she mock bowed. "I humble myself before the great witch Rory, who can sort of annoy people by shining a small light in their eyes." She giggled. "That's a real big power, so use it wisely." She took out her own wand. "I wish we knew more spells than just Lumos." She said, making her wand light up too. "I wonder if the wand gets hot when you use this spell for too long, like... could it catch on fire? Or make other things catch on fire?" Her tone of voice showed a little more excitement than was really appropriate at this thought.

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory laughed, pretending to be horrified. "I know you're joking, but joking about something like that is just too much." She placed one hand over her heart dramatically and flopped back onto the grass in imitation of a faint. She could only let herself lie there for about a second before she lost interest and began to push herself back up. "Chocolate cake sounds good. So good that the winner should be me, no matter how many points I lose." She laughed, before tipping her head to the side, thinking. "No, I reckon the loser is whoever gains the most points."

Focusing on her wand again, Rory smiled at Rose's observation. She shook the wand tip in the other girl's face a little before pulling it back to look more closely at it herself. No, Rose was right, that actually was kind of annoying. Uncrossing her eyes she watched Rose examining her own lit wand. Rory had to laugh at the other girl's excitement at her idea, but she was quick to joke, "Well, you can set your wand on fire if you like, but I think I'm going to wait until I've learned a few more spells. I've only just got this thing, I'm not giving it up for anything." She smiled over at Rose, although she was sure the other girl knew she hadn't meant it in a harsh way.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose saw Rory flop back onto the grass and decided that looked very comfy, she followed her friend's example but didn't sit up like her. The gras was too soft! She grinned up at her friend. "Who gains the most? So neither of us can do any homework?" She laughed. "Or we just cancel it out by thinking of a lot of fun things to do." In Rose's mind, the best fun usually came with punishment as a consequence, she didn't really care. Her sister Phoebe always tried to get away with everything, but Rose had found that that stifled her creativity. She didn't want to be worried about where adults were and what they'd see or do when she thought of something fun to do, she just wanted to do it right away.

Rory had a point about setting her wand on fire, and Rose shrugged. "I just wondered if it would get warm to the touch, like a lamp does after a while." She said with a small smile. "Setting it on fire would be a shame, but using it to set other things on fire could be fun. I wonder if we'll learn a spell for that?" She tilted her head, looking up at the sky. "Or are they smart enough to know that students maybe shouldn't learn that? I mean, I'd probably set my bed on fire by accident. But maybe that's just me."

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory grinned down at her friend. "How about, gaining points adds to your score, and losing points brings it down again. So the highest score loses." She laughed and poked Rose in the side. "That way, if you go bonkers and want to do all your homework, you just have to get some points taken off you to even it out. It's literally an excuse to go out and do fun things - it's win-win." They'd probably go out and lose points regardless, but this had the added bonus of chocolate cake at the end of it. Plus, this system would also give her a contingency plan to win - she absolutely planned on doing her Defence homework from now on. The look Professor Styx had given her when she'd forgotten the first time still freaked her out.

Following Rose's gaze, Rory leaned back on her hands and also tipped her head back to look up into the sky. Harley had mentioned wanting to set things on fire too. "Well, if they don't teach us we could always see if there's a spell in the library." She gave that idea some thought before laughing at Rose's next comment. "Don't worry, I'll learn a water spell and put it out for you. I just hope you're not too attached to your sheets." She scrunched her nose up, realising she'd probably have to learn a drying spell too. This was turning into way too much work. Coming to a decision, she smiled down at Rose. "No fire spells for you in the dormitory. 'Cause if you burnt my bed down I'd take over yours."

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose laughed, Rory was taking this whole plan a lot more seriously than she intended but she was fine with going along with it. "Sure, if you want. It doesn't matter who wins really, I assume neither of us can finish a whole cake so the other will just have to help." She grinned at her friend and poked her lightly with her foot. "And we need to start doing something fun soon so we can add to our point total. I've already been out of bed at night twice, I can show you around I bet." She was pretty sure she didn't really know the school well enough to show anyone around, but telling Rory about her trouble so far was fun and she hoped the other girl could appreciate things like that. "I only got caught one of those times! And the professor wasn't mad about it at all."

The fire discussion made her laugh again. "Well, a water spell would be useful too. We could have water fights when its hot out!" She beamed at the idea. "Oh, and putting out fires would be good too. Though I wouldn't mind sharing a bed honestly, it would be big enough for both of us and I think Harley would still fit in too if she wanted." She giggled at the mental image. "Though she would maybe murder us if one of us snored." She didn't know the other girl too well, but her comment about snoring had stayed with her. "I'm hungry." She remarked, poking her homework with her wand idly and not actually doing anything to complete it.

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory considered for a moment, picturing a ring shaped cake-tin. "I bet if I didn't eat all day I could eat a whole cake." She smiled reassuringly at Rose, squinting a bit in the sunlight. "But don't worry, I'll share. Unless I make it, then you might be happy to let me choke it down all by myself." Her kitchen experience thus far in her life was close to nothing, her only real skill being in making snacks from the fridge, or sandwiches. A cake seemed like a big ask - but it couldn't be that hard to follow a recipe, surely. She returned her attention to Rose, grinning. "And yes, you totally need to take me out on a night adventure, oh wise and experienced explorer." She laughed as she continued. "You already heard about me and Harley getting caught in the forest, so you're one up on me."

Rose's suggestion of a water fight had Rory sitting up in enthusiasm. "Yes! We should totally do that. And not just us, but with everyone else too!" Looking out across the great lawn, she could picture the whole scene clearly in her mind. However she was easily distracted again by Rose. "Then I bags you in the middle, that way Harley can't kick me." Rory poked her tongue out at her friend, laughing. She watched as Rose poked at her homework, and Rory suddenly remembered why they were out here in the first place. Looking down at her Charms book, she saw that it had completely lost the page she was supposed to be on, but shrugged at it, not too worried. "Hi, hungry." She said, smirking at her friend. Although now that Rose had mentioned it, Rory's stomach had suddenly decided it might be interested in food too.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose laughed, imagining Rory eating a whole cake. In her mind, it was a big tiered one, and she imagined tiny Rory swallowing it whole. "I'd like to see that!" She said, poking her gently. "Would that all fit? I wouldn't want to see the aftereffects of that if it didn't." She pulled a face. Gross. "But yes. Night adventure. I can lead you to some cool places." She said confidently, even though she didn't really know any particularly cool places. She was sure she could find some, especially at night. "And then you have to take me into the forest sometime. Maybe with Harley too." That would be something awesome to write Phoebe about, and she wanted to get to know Harley better.

The conversation changed topics fast and Rose smiled. Rory and her were starting to become really good friends and she liked it a lot. It was fun. "I wouldn't mind being in the middle, that would be the warmest." She said. "Besides. I can kick too."

Then Rory said hi hungry in return to her comment and she groaned. "Rory. No. Bad Rory."

 

[Aurora Night]

Rory laughed. "Now I feel like I have to do it, just to prove that I can." But she also pulled a face at the image Rose's comment had forced into her brain. "Or not. Thanks for that." She made a show of shuddering in disgust, and then broke into a smile when Rose agreed to show her around the castle at night. The cool places were just a bonus, the best part would be just spending time out doing fun things with her friend. "Awesome! And yes, I'm totally going back into the forest at some point, so we should definitely all go together." It just wouldn't be the same going by herself, and she thought that Harley probably wouldn't mind having someone else join in a repeat of their little excursion. Especially someone as fun as Rose.

Grinning at her friend, Rory shrugged. "Okay, but I'm warning you now, if I get kicked in the middle of the night I'll just kick back." She was joking, of course, and poked her tongue out at Rose to show it. Reverting back to a grin at the other girl's reaction to her terrible joke, Rory couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, sorry, but I really couldn't resist." As far as she was concerned, she and Rose were completely friends now, and that meant the other girl was now stuck with her and all of her various attempts at humour. Humming a little still in amusement, Rory was distracted by the growing gnawing of her stomach, which had picked up the pace since she had first begun thinking about food. "Lunch should be soon. We should go in."