Xenodochial

[Alexan Kanas]

Alexan curled up a little as his fellow students continued to bustling towards the Great Hall. He would have rather sat outside by the fountain and soaked up some sunlight, but alas, his stomach was giving him another thought and he found himself in the middle of the hall, where students were all seated in their little cliques, eating. Of his years at the school, Alexan's priority was getting work done. He had always been a struggling student, and had to work ridiculously hard to get the marks he felt be deserved with all the work he did. He sometimes managed to work himself silly, especially since it was OWLs this year, his sixth year, and he felt as if he was too busy to do much of anything, let alone associate with people. He wasn't sure what everyone else felt about their studies, but he was currently busy having panic attacks every other week, fretting about the next pop-quiz or stupidly complicated assignment. It felt as if the professors were trying to kill him before he even reached seventh.

Alexan got some fruit salad and sat down at the corner of a table at the far side of the room. He pulled on his robes uncomfortably and crossed his ankles, before stabbing his fork into the piece of watermelon. He had Charms next, and while it was his most confident classes, he was not itching to get to it. It felt too early to do anything but eat and sleep, but obviously the school disagreed.
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[Simon Waterfield]

Simon walked into the Hall on his own for once. His first lesson was History of Magic and he opened his book to quickly cram information before today's lesson. He had gotten half-way down the page when he realised that it being Wednesday, his friends would have already gone. Smiling at his own stupidity he crammed his book into his bag and then got up to leave.

His previous year had been incredible tough and He had only just about scraped an O.W.L in History but never the less he was still not very eager to leave the hall. He looked around for a familiar face but saw another boy, around his age, sitting as closed as possible eating fruit salad. He didn't have to go to History right away so he headed over to the boy and stood awkwardly on the opposite side of the table and smiled at him. "Hey, Do you mind if I join you?" He asked, watching at the obviously shy boy.

 

[Alexan Kanas]

Alexan ran his hand through his hair as he picked up another piece of watermelon. He was not quite sure if he wanted the salad now, as his appetite had been vanquished by his remembrance of an assignment he had neglected to do. He groaned quietly and propped his chin on his palm. This was just ridiculous. He couldn't care less now. All he could do was just try and practise a little and read a bit on the way there. Otherwise, he just was not that bothered by it, well, not right at this moment. He had watermelon to eat.

He looked up from his plate when a shadow fell over him. He put his fork down and examined the boy before him, before shrugging his shoulders and pulling on a smile. "Sure, go ahead." He stretched his leg under the table to push out a chair for the boy. "I'm Alexan. What's your name?"
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[Simon Waterfield]

Simon looked over the boy, who had introduced himself as Alexan, in front of him. He had the tired, stressed look under that smile that could only by due to O.W.Ls. He sat down and introduced himself as Simon. "Thanks for letting me sit here, Alexan." he said, as he pulled out his History book and rested his arms upon it. "O.W.L year is tough right?" He smiled, the boy was obviously in the year below him, and he recalled the horridness of the tests.

Si summoned his own plate over with his wand and it floated towards them, very almost dropping its contents onto a girl in his year, but he managed to keep it afloat and it made it to the table. He looked at his toast and then thought against it. He didn't think he could eat anything.

 

[Alexan Kanas]

Alexan nodded sheepishly, and stabbed his fork into another piece of watermelon as Simon spoke. "Yeah, I somehow thought it would be a little easier than what it is." Maybe it was the amount of subjects he was taking? He had no idea, but he was completely ready to burn every book he had. Somehow, he felt that, since he liked learning it would be easier, but that was not so. Previous years he had been okay, but recently it had been increasingly difficult and he could feel himself clamming up because of it. "I suppose the final year is even worse though, with NEWTs and that." So, it could very much be worse for him. Even though next year he would be stuck with that. But perhaps by then he would be caught up on everything.

Alexan chewed his lip when it appeared that Simon's food would greet a seventh year girl in a rather unsavory way. However, the food was safely transported to the wizard across from him, and he released a sigh of relief. The girl would have probably rampaged at the both of them. He looked at Simon, and tilted his head as the older boy seemed to not want his toast anymore, after going that far to get it in the first place. "Do you want some watermelon?"
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[Simon Waterfield]

Si frowned at his plate then looked at what Alexan had. It did look more appealing so he nodded. "Yeah sure, thanks man." he tried a bit of watermelon and smiled. It tasted a lot better than his toast had.

"Anyway it does get super tough, but you look smart, you'll do great. I can help if you want. Study for the theory and practical." He remembered his OWL year with a vauge distaste and wished he'd known someone who'd been through it already. But being an only child raised by a Muggle didn't really leave room for magic.

"NEWT year sucks. I have History next and I'm failing miserably, we're currently studying Joan de Arc, the famous witch, but I'm'm failing." He noticed the look on Alexan's face and stopped talking. "I mean that's just History the rest of the subjects are a lot better." He smiled trying not put Alexan off anymore. "But yeah, If you'd like help then I'd be happy to."

 

[Alexan Kanas]

Alexan smiled, and pushed his plate to the middle of the table in order to allow Simon to reach the watermelon better. It was lighter and healthier than toast was - and by far some of the nicest watermelon he had had in a long time. Especially since his mother was not a fan of most fruit. "Any time." Since being adopted, he had always been taught to share as it was the right thing to do. He probably took it a little too seriously these days, but it was a habit, and he had yet to have a negative experience with offering to share something with another. What was the saying? Sharing is caring?

Alexan plucked another watermelon piece from his plate as he listened intently to Simon, his heart sinking a little further with each word that left his mouth. maybe it wasn't too late to just drop out. However, it was kind that he offered to help him out. "But don't you have to worry about your NEWTs?" he queried. "Your NEWTs are more important than my OWLs." Even though Alexan was possibly taking more classes as Seventh years usually specialised more than Sixth years, the NEWTs courses are a lot harder than OWLs, or so they should be. "I actually like History of Magic. I'm passing that without even having to worry about it. It's just a lot of work," he explained. "But, I'd love to, if you're sure you don't mind, seek your advice. Is there a time you're free in your time table?" He hoped they had times that matched up, otherwise they couldn't meet up without someone skipping a class, or worse, cutting into their sleeping time, which everyone needed.
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[Simon Waterfield]

Simon took a piece of watermelon and ate it thoughtfully. His NEWT year wasn't really as Important to him, as he'd already done his OWL's. He felt his future was outside the realm of academic abilities, but he was staying the last year never the less. "I only have one NEWT I truly care about, and that's Defence Against the Dark Arts." He smiled.

"Do you have a free period after Lunch?" He asked, He himself would have had Potions but their Professor was off, visiting Albania, ensuring a free afternoon. He looked at Alexan's face and felt himself feeling terrible. He should have said good things. Even though he was only taking six lessons, the extra period off was a welcome relief."My dorm room is next to the charms corridor, if you ever want to find me just knock and ask for me. do you mind if I sit here at lunch as well?" He hoped Alexan would say yes, as he noticed that he usually sat alone.

 

[Alexan Kanas]

That was the plus-side of being in seventh years and doing NEWTs. The classes were more complex, but there were usually less. It must be nice to have to only truly worry about one class. Alexan had to worry about multiple classes because of what he wanted to be. Sometimes he considered just not bothering and being a dishwasher for the rest of his life, but he knew he would be unhappy, and his parents would kill him if he just gave everything up. "You're so lucky." Defence Against the Dark Arts was a good subject, but as hard as all others, unfortunately.

Alexan ran his timetable through his mind, and found that no, he did not have a spare period after lunch. In fact, he didn't have much spare time at all because he possibly took too many classes, a major reason as to why he was having such stress. If he continued like this, he would burn himself out. "Yeah," he replied, surprising himself. He was lying now? He smiled, hoping that a bright smile would fluff over his lie so that his companion would not realise it. He then nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you. And, I'd be happy to have you here. I don't own the table, Simon."
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[Simon Waterfield]

Si took another piece of watermelon. One of the only reasons he was laid back about his NEWTs was because his mother didn't really understand the wizarding schooling system. Otherwise she probably would have forced him to take every subject available to become the minister for magic or something. His forte was more practical stuff like Charms, DADA and Transfiguration. He'd even passed his apperation test with flying colours. He only really cared about D.A.D.A because it was fun learning about the dark arts, not that he'd ever use them.

He watched Alexan think for a bit, and was pleasantly surprised to hear that he did have a spare period. "Okay. So at lunch we'll meet here?" He smiled widely when Alexan said "I don't own the table, Simon." He liked the way he spoke his name, and also the slight sarcasm he could detect in his voice. "Well I should hope not, Poor table." He patted the table lightly as if to comfort it, then realised what he was doing and stopped.

 

[Alexan Kanas]

Alexan once more reached for a piece of watermelon. His supply was running short, but so was the time he had left with the older student. He did not exactly have a lot of time before class. However, now that it appeared he had effectively lied, he felt a little bad about it. His attendance was pretty spectacular because he was rarely sick and never late, and now he was deciding to skip the class that he would probably go to Simon for help in anyway. He could almost hit himself for not thinking his decision through properly. He had been going perfectly fine with having absolutely no social life, and here he was just blowing off a class as if he could actually afford to do it. He could feel another nail hitting his coffin right now. "Sounds like a good plan. But um... perhaps somewhere more private. The garden? Behind that huge tree that flowers all the time?" He needed the privacy if he were going to skip his class effectively. The last thing he wanted was for someone to see him not in class. If he was never seen, he could fake an illness or something and stay in bed, and then visit the Hospital Wing and pretend he was bedridden or something.

Alexan chuckled as he observed Simon petting the table. "I'd like to think the table wouldn't be too upset," he said, giving the table a light pat, before beginning to collect his things. "But I've literally got five minutes to run up five flights, so i need to get going." He stood up, and smiled at Simon. "So, we still on for lunch?"
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[Simon Waterfield]

Simon left the last piece of watermelon for Alexan. After all it was his. Si was concious of the time but couldn't wait until Lunch and the hour they will have after it. "Sure the the big tree." He smiled widely at the younger boy, who still seemed nervous. It seemed to Simon that they were going to become good friends.

Simon stood up aswell, and placed his History book back into his bag. "It'd be a very lucky table." He grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I have four flights of stairs, so we both need to get going." He started to leave. "Of course we are still on." He turned and waved to Alexan before jogging to the staircase. Today was going to be great.

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Fin​

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