wisacres in disguise.

[Espen Manning]

Despite the second semester having yet to start, Espen decided to sneak into the library in the morning to kick-off his studies for the next semester; or maybe catch up with the material of Divination and Astronomy that he decided to neglect and not do much for, resulting in the inevitable P he received for both courses. It was a shame, really, since he knew he could have done greatly in both but something was holding him back. Perhaps his morals, the perception of doing a little less in those typical courses since they were mostly depicted with the students that were laughed about; considered weirdos. He had gone through enough trouble to explain to some of the Slytherin student why he decided to pick those courses, what would have been the effort he'd stick into explaining to them he would do great in them?

Wandering through the library, he finally got one of the many books they offered. One about offensive and defensive magic, the other one that explained more about tarot cards and gazing balls; obviously wanton to catch up with the studies he neglected. And the other book could easily cover him if someone he knew would come around, frowning at his mere presence in the library. Then again, that was highly unlikely since they preferred to fool around the school and prank people instead of actually investing in their future.

 

[Lilyanna Hope]

With the first semester of Lilyanna's OWL year coming to an end, the girl wasn't really confident with what she had achieved. She knew her OWL year was important but she was just unable to get herself the perfect grades in the practical courses. With using her wand practically impossible, Lilyanna found herself focusing more on the theory work, but this didn't exactly cover everything that each class was about and so her grades were definitely not up to scratch. Despite this, there wasn't really much the prefect could do, but she still decided she would go to the library nonetheless, eager to educate herself more for the upcoming semester.

As the Slytherin entered the library she took her usual seat and dumped all of her textbooks from each class onto the table in front of her. She then proceeded to unpack all of her notes, particularly revision on wand waving, and went over them, figuring that there was nothing wrong with studying a little bit earlier than everyone else. The library was almost empty with most people relaxing after the exams and so this made it easier for the girl to study in peace. However, a boy wandering around nearby made Lilyanna look up and watch as he began reaching for books in the shelves. "What are you studying for?" she asked, quite confused with why he was grabbing books about all sorts of topics from Divination to Defence. The girl did not particularly care however, and was simply suspicious, not wanting him to disturb her with whatever he was doing.

 

[Espen Manning]

Debating whether it was worth it to redo the material that did not spend a minute of his time on caused Espen to wander around the library with the books in his head, the one for Divination on top of the little stack he made himself. Perhaps the book would speak to him, give a prospect of what was about to come if he would stare at it a little longer. Unfortunately his concentration, and his obvious misconception was luckily given up on as someone asked him a question instead of waiting for an answer from a book that was unable to speak.

"Ehh," shortly hesitated as he was used to someone coming at him like that. Not that he would be scared, he was pretty sure she would have to look up at him; he didn't look the part in his height of only being a student in his fourth year. "Trying to safe the trainwreck, or really.. prepare myself so I won't make another one for my OWLs that are next year." Espen explained as he rubbed the cover of the book, deciding it would be the best thing for him to make some notes; prepare himself for what was about to come with Divination. "How about y-.. oh." Not sure if he spotted the prefect broche on her chest or if it was just an accessory that looked an awful lot about it. "How about you, checking up the things you did wrong or.. geeking out on the things about to come?"

 

[Lilyanna Hope]

The boy was tall and Lilyanna had to make an effort to look up at him as she listened to him speak. She didn't think he was in her year but didn't care much to ask either. At first he seemed rather friendly and Lilyanna nodded as he answered her question before reverting back to her work in front of her. He seemed like he genuinely was preparing himself and Lilyanna appreciated that, especially considering he was not leaving it to last minute and was getting a head start like herself. However, he wanted to keep the conversation going and so the girl reluctantly followed, proudly showing off her prefect badge as she saw the boy's eyes fall upon it.

"Neither." Lilyanna said, answering his question. She did not bother to look up and kept her eyes on the textbook in front of her. "Instead I am merely going through an existential crisis. You see, perhaps it would be efficient if I stopped going to a wizarding school and convert my way of living to a muggle's, but unfortunately I am unable to, and so I am stuck trying to pass my upcoming exams in hopes that I can actually be apart of the wizarding world like I should be rather than giving up, even though my exams aren't for a while." She began to open up another one of her textbooks before flicking through the pages in search of some transfiguration notes. It was true that Lilyanna was considering giving up, but she had learnt to believe in herself and she knew she had the capacity to keep going.

 

[Espen Manning]

Without really asking her for permission, Espen pulled one of the chairs back so he could take place next to her. Of course he made sure there was still enough distance, he too needed a surface to display the books on he got from the shelves of the library so he could study and make himself some notes. While he got set, he listened to the prefect speech whom had already flashed the bradge rather proudly at him. An achievement that wasn't often affiliated with students that had a mentality of giving up the same year they became one of their house's prefect.

At first he wanted to keep his mouth shut, since he was not one to tell; to call someone out on giving up. Hell, Espen experienced, and probably was still living through some aftermaths, of the same problem. "Been there as well. Pretty much the first three years here didn't go as planned, I imagined I'd rule this place.. make loads of friends, have a good time- none of that happened and my grades only suffered because of my personal issues. Luckily I have a sister that always has my back, always drags me through everything- pretty odd if you ask me, since I used to be that person for her when we were younger." Shrugging his shoulder, he opened up the book about Divination first. Looking up the chapters that he would need to catch up with the literature from the semester that had passed the students at Hogwarts.

"Maybe you need a little more support, from friends- teachers- whomever, you're a prefect. I bet you can figure things out in the end. And for the sake of our house-.. I'd say, it's almost an obligation for you."

 

[Lilyanna Hope]

With both of their points across, Lilyanna figured the boy would leave and that was that. Instead, he pulled up a chair opposite her and she tried not to roll her eyes. She wasn't particularly good at human interaction and so she was not looking forward to continuing the conversation. Nonetheless, she listened as the boy spoke about his own life, comparing it to hers, but little did he know she struggled immensely too. Despite this, she kept her mouth shut, not feeling it was her place to say such a thing to a stranger even though he was comfortable complaining about his life to her.

His next statement however seemed rather arbitrary and Lilyanna took no hesitation in retaliating. "Reluctantly, I get quite a lot of help." she told him, more to prove a point than to carry on the conversation. She never liked the idea of getting help, but she was forced to now and there was really nothing she could do about it. "You will find that I am not present at the castle on weekends due to getting help, but I like to consider myself a leader and would rather help others." She didn't think the boy particularly cared, but she thought he ought to understand what was real before commenting. The girl continued to write notes on her piece of parchment as she spoke, not daring to let this conversation interrupt her study time.

 

[Espen Manning]

Normally Espen would not be so open about his life, he chose to keep everything to himself and occasionally let things pour out to his sister since she pretty much forced him to answer her countless of questions and presumptions. Of course it all came from a good place with her, but sometimes it was like her own little world got to her head -- only able to think the lifes of other people were as enjoyable and promising as hers. Like she couldn't comprehend that her brother might feel bad about himself, or let his mind wander to much darker subjects and thoughts that weren't necessarily scented in roses and tasted like the chocolates she received from her boyfriend. It was one of the sole reasons he was having trouble in opening up to his sister now that the two of them had matured a little more; he did not want to make her feel bad, even more so if it was because of his own personal issues.

Thus the library was a solution, a getaway from reality and one that wasn't necessarily visited by his sister who chose social events and her friends over coursing through countless of pages and getting lost in a sea of information. Funnily enough he hadn't been the only one who thought studying prior to the second semester was a great idea; the prefect of his own house, did too.

Listening to her speak, he couldn't quite follow what she was indicating at but knew that she was experience something similar to his own struggles as well. Luckily she was getting the help she needed, even if she didn't necessarily like it. Espen did not know if he should continue talking about the struggles, the worries and all the stress that came with them; of course it opened their conversation, but was it really a nice topic to talk about?
It probably wasn't, but neither of them seemed to be offended or annoyed -- although the Prefect wasn't really looking up from her work, not that he blamed her since she was there to study and not to have a casual chit-chat. "Maybe I should start looking for some help too, I do appreciate my sister's concerns.. but she's always.. overwhelming, always talking too much and it only ends up with me merely nodding at everything she says. Don't get me wrong, I do love her and I know that she cares- be she gets caught up in her own head, her own little world that she sometimes likes to enforce on me as well. It's hard." With that said, Espen turned a few pages in the book was in front of him; taking a piece of parchment and some ink to write a few things on. Making the necessary notes while going through the literature that he had missed.