[Library] Sleep Studying

[Ian Gray]

Ian drummed his fingers on the desk, his wayward hair falling into his closing eyes. A large potions book was spread open in front of him, the dust from the pages sticking to his cheeks as he slowly fell asleep on top of it.

He wasn't really an expert at studying. Especially not for his N.E.W.Ts. He was only lucky that the Head Girl wasn't next to him, reprimanding him for his very unheadlike behaviour.

Letting out a muffled sigh, he turned his head, blinking in surprise at the person just next to him before grinning sheepishly.

"If you're looking for a good book, all I can say is don't choose this one." He gestured his thumb to the huge potions text on his table with an impish smirk.

[Jac Shaw]

Jac had her hands on her hips and her head tilted to one side. She laughed when Ian indicated the huge book. Sitting down next to him, Jac said, laughing, "if I hadn't read it already I'd have to agree with you!" She put the large pile of books she had collected next to her on the table next to her.

Leaning her cheek on her up turned palm, leaning on the table, Jac looked at Ian. "So!" she said, smiling mischievously, "your studying seems to be coming along swimmingly! And watching you study with your eyes closed is something that ... has made my day." She smiled warmly and, sitting up straight again, pulled the book at the top of the pile in front of her and she opened it.

[Ian Gray]

Ian raised a brow, before smiling playfully and pulling himself up from his slumped position. "Oh, has it, now?" He smirked, before reaching over and grabbing Jac's book, placing it in front of him.

Then, he yawned in a very drawn out, staged sort of way with his eyes closed. "I really have no idea how anyone's supposed to keep their eyes open when the library is filled with books like these." He peeked open an eye, catching sight of the large stack of books on the table.

With a pained expression, he lost all enthusiasm for playfulness and turned back to his own awful textbook.

"As head boy I think my first memorable act should be starting a petition for less written assignments." Ian grumbled, flipping a page.

[Jac Shaw]

Jac, smiling happily, pulled parchment and ink from her rucksack before putting it on the floor next to her. She watched Ian with an intrepid eye as he studied her book, her pile and frowned when he passed to book back. He's clearly not in the mood, Jac thought, I wonder ... no, he’s in much too fragile a mood for any kind of treat like that … but maybe, just maybe …

"I don't know," she said absently, still studying Ian as she spoke, "I rather like written assignments, at least I know I can do well in them." Her smile widened for a moment and the twinkle in her dark eyes seemed to indicate that she had decided something but to anyone not reading her thoughts it would have been impossible to say what. And then it was gone, just like it had never been there before.

She turned from him. "What's got your goat?" she asked, not looking at him but instead concentrating on smoothing out her parchment and setting the ink pot at the top of it to keep it from rolling up. She opened the book Ian had inspected and began to flip through the pages absently, clearly not concentrating on her work but waiting for Ian's reply.

[Ian Gray]

Ian, having completely missed the mishievous glint in Jac's eye as he had been too busy glaring at his textbook, leaned his elbow on the desk and finally looked at the girl next to him.

"It's nothing," he said with a humored smile. "But thank you for caring, really. I think it's safe to say I am not so bratty that I'll refuse to do a ridiculously easy Transfiguration assignment."

Of course, he made no effort to begin it even as he said such a thing.

"But, anyway, enough about school." Ian made a face, before nudging Jac, giving her a small wink. "I'm thoroughly interested in hearing what you have to say about my dancing abilities."

[Jac Shaw]

Jac finished her sentence, dotted her “i" forcefully, then looked back to the text book, running a finger under the line she was reading. But she looked sideways at Ian as he spoke. She ran the tail end of her quill under her chin thoughtfully. Maybe he’s just tired … she thought because she wasn’t buying the ”nothing” comment. But at the mention of their assignment, she looked at the book again.

It was difficult to concentrate when she finally realised that Ian was looking at her. But she kept her head facing the book in front of her. She ran her quill under her chin again and was thankful she had lifted her quill when Ian nudged her. She giggled and finally looked at him, giving him a playful grin. “I rather enjoyed the dancing,” Jac said, “your dancing skills are better then you give them credit for.”

[Ian Gray]

Ian gleamed with pride, a satisfied smile on his face. "I stepped on your foot minimal times. I expected to have you in the hospital wing unable to walk for at least the remainder of term."

Staying silent for a moment, watching as Jac worked, Ian finally leaned back and stretched out an arm. "I can't believe you like written assignments," He said warily, slinging his arm around Jac's chair and leaning toward the desk, reading her assignment.

She was very good at them, that was obvious. Shrugging, he flipped one of her pages barely registering her small protest. When his thumb felt something strange, however, he sat a bit straighter and pulled it toward him.

"Oy, look here. Some pages are missing!" Raising a brow, he glanced at the page numbers.

[Jac Shaw]

Jac glanced quickly at Ian, seeing his smile that made her smile then turned back to her book. Looking at the pages with a loving air, Jac said dreamily, "written assignments are easy." She turned the page, read the first line, and wrote a little more.

And thus we can conclude that even with magical interference during the First World War, the Magical community as a whole and the Ministry of Magic can not be held liable for any ...

Jac nearly jumped out of her skin as Ian leaned in to read her assignment. She knew it was not her best work but she had enjoyed writing it ... or was it just the company? she thought. Then Ian pulled her book away from her and began to page. "Wai ..." she stumbled, "wha ..." She quickly glanced at the page number, wrote it down, before the next pages flopped on top of where she was.

Jac was the one to lean in now, curious, and she set her quill down. "Who would do such an awful thing?" she asked, as though a limb of hers had been taken. She was appalled that anyone could take pages out of a book. "What do you think was on it?" she asked absently.

[Ian Gray]

Ian raised a brow, laughing lightly at Jac as she sent the torn book a troubled look. "Are you sure you don't belong in Ravenclaw, Miss. Biggerstall?" He said teasingly.

Though, when she asked him what he thought, he could only shrug. "Some vandal. But, I was always under the impression that it was impossible to tear out pages of textbooks from the library-- you know how the librarian is--" He lowered his voice, in case she was slinking around dark corners (as usual). "Always charming these books to keep them spotless."

Suddenly, an idea came to him and he flipped to the front, looking at the print on the inside of the cover. There was a name glistening in black ink.

"Ah, look! This isn't a library book at all... you must've grabbed someone else's by accident. Except..." Ian chewed his lip thoughtfully. "It seems this book belonged to someone who took Transfiguration ... a century ago."

Ian smirked a little, unable to help it. "And you certainly don't look a century old. Perhaps if you added a few decades..."

[Jac Shaw]

Jac glared at Ian through narrow eyes for a moment then laughed forcefully. "You're so funny," she chuckled sarcastically, "I found it in the history section, just like the rest of my books." But quickly forgot about the tease as she leaned closer to the books on her crossed arms, to Ian. Blinking in astonishment, she saw that Ian was right, it's not a library book.!

Jac frowned at the book, fingering the pages absently. The likelihood of her being in Ravenclaw was high, her father had been and three of her four had been in Ravenclaw but the Sorting Hat must have seen that same bravery and cunning in her as he had in her sister.

She smiled wistfully, and admitted, "it's a terrible sight. Books should be treated with respect not defaced for fun." She ran a finger over the torn pages then frowned again, "but this was intentional, someone trying to hide something ... maybe." She glanced up at Ian, her green eyes shining, "but who would take pages out of a World War Two history book?"

[Ian Gray]

Ian raised a brow, finally realising the book was about World War II, rather than anything particularly magical. "You know, the War was still fresh a century ago, wasn't it?" He said questioningly, staring at the name written scratchily on the cover of the book.

Taking out his own quill, he wrote the name (Parker Brinnhem) onto his notebook, just in case something happened to the book. "Is there anything strange written in here?" He turned to Jac, tilting his head to one side as he chewed on the end of his quill.

"I've heard that the War was actually a repercussion of wizard actions... Do you think this," Ian nodded toward the name on the parchment. "Brinnhem character was involved at all?"

[Jac Shaw]

Jac frowned at the book again, her eyes going a light baby blue colour that suited her melancholy mood. She nodded slowly to Ian's first question but was still in awe at such a horrendous act. How could anyone ... She was pale, felt breathless, dizzy, maybe she should have had breakfast that morning.

Jac was looking at Ian now and she shook her head. "Nothing more then fanciful conspiracy theories, records and stuff like that," she said softly, trying to get herself under control. She didn't know why this was affecting her so and it was frightening her. She swallowed hard before speaking again, "he might have been but I can't say I've ever read the name before."

Jac had a brilliant memory for things she read and if she had read it somewhere she would remember it. But she scarcely trusted herself, now that the room was rocking and ... "Something’s wrong," she said faintly, "I ... I don't feel so well." She lifted a hand to her face, ran it down her cheek, trying to steady herself, and she did not notice the trail of blood she left on the side of her face from a cut finger.

[Ian Gray]

Ian nodded in an interested way as he flipped a few pages of the book and scanned a rather large paragraph quickly. "Conspiracy theories?" He said with a small smirk, leaning his elbow on the desk in a relaxed way, unaware of Jac's turmoil. "That sounds like a wicked read," he grinned, turning toward her. His smile dropped a bit at the unfocused look in her eyes, though Ian continued. Perhaps it was a metamorphagus thing.

"Where did you find a book like that-- Jac?"

When she voiced she wasn't feeling particularly well, Ian pulled his chair around so it was facing her and stared at her in worry. "What is it?" He winced at blood on her face, before looking frantically around for something to wipe it off with. His eyes landed on the book, and he tore off a page carelessly.

"Are you alright?" He noticed the cut was, thankfully, on her finger, and gave her a small smile. "You'll be all right, Drama Queen." Though, it certainly looked like more than a paper cut was affecting her, and his grin faltered. "Perhaps we should get you to the Infirmary, anyway?"

[Jac Shaw]

Jac held her eyes tightly closed, a headache thudding in her head like a disco. When she opened her eyes she saw Ian ripping a page out of the book. She would have violently protested but her vision swirled like it was a surfer being knocked around by a wave. She groaned and managed to swallow a wave of nausea.

She felt Ian's hand on her's and then only did she see her finger was bleeding. She frowned and swallowed again before crocking, "paper cut, must be." Then she reached for the book, practically pushing Ian out of the way. She flipped to the missing pages and studied them hard. They were neatly cut, all the pages taken at once, and the edges were a darker yellow then the pages.

She lay the book on the table and laid her clammy cheek on the pages of the book so she could still look at the torn spot of the pages. "It feels like there is something inside of me," she said so softly she could barely hear herself, "something that doesn't like me very much. It feels like that Bellatrix has put some sort of poison into my pumpkin juice."

She had not comprehended Ian's question about the infirmary and even if she had, she would not have gone willingly. She had a bad experience the last time with explaining to Dumbledorable why she had been out at the time she was and what she was doing in the place that she had been in and what she was doing with so many dangerous creatures that could do that kind of damage to her. Her fringe fell over her eyes, her hair turning a light auburn and her eyes a light chest nut.

[Ian Gray]

Ian's expression grew dark, something that rarely ever happened, and he muttered a quick "Wouldn't put it passed a Black," to himself.

Then, noticing there wasn't any time for grudges -- not that he was particularly good at holding them -- he managed a weak smile and brushed some hair from Jac's face. "Something inside of you? Didn't eat anything Starsmore offered to you, I hope," he said jokingly, tugging gently on her hand.

When she was standing up, quite wobbly, he let out a soft sigh and shrugged. "Guess we've got no choice." With his heroism in play, he tossed her arm over his shoulder and led her out the library pleasantly unaware of the curious looks sent their way.

"Now, to the Infirmary! I, for one, haven't got a clue what's going on with you," he said regretfully. Slinging both their bags over his free shoulder, trying not to show a grimace at the weight, he held the mysterious book under his arm and shut the library door behind him.