[G.Hall] Asleep with your eyes open

[Girty Hubbles]

Morning’s were a strange thing, when you were younger they never seemed to be that much of a bother, lying in bed seemed like such a waste of the morning but as you grew older staying all warm in the covers was much, much, much more appealing. This was the thought that was passing through Girty Hubbles mind as she stared down at her bowl of cornflakes, the small cardboard like flakes floating around in a sea of milk. Her hair was slowly slipping forward but she did nothing to prevent it, soon the ends would be joining in with the breakfast and it would take a while for Girty to notice and then even longer for her to respond to do anything. She had been sitting like this for almost 10 minutes now, spoon in hand just staring at her breakfast, lost in a dream like state.

She had been up almost all of the night before sorting through a pile of third year mid term exams. With over hundred to go through Girty and Dan had agreed to spilt the pile in two so they could spend more time and greater care on it, but with a pile of 5th year Assignments to mark as well Girty soon fell behind and had to rush the job in the middle of the night so that the results could be given out next lesson.

The ends of her brown hair slowly touched the surface of the milk Girty just blinked at it and breathed in deeply knowing that it was a sure sign she would have to move at some point. Placing the spoon down on the table Girty slowly picked up the hair that had slipped into the milk and held it above the bowl, letting the white liquid drip off it slowly.

[Via Thorn]

The finals were nearing, yet Via seemed to concentration on all other subjects but Herbology. She felt neglectful of her herbology work and revision and so potions was soon thrown into the messy pile and a rather large Herbology book was gathered from the mass of pages all in a stack. Curling up back into the chair, she sighed a smile before opening the book from the middle and flicking through a few pages to re-read about Abyssinian shrivelfigs. She had not re-read about these since second grade and it was then she realised Herbology was not an easy subject, but a rather complex one, and one needing extreme patience.

“Abyssinian Shrivelfigs are useful plants, especially for the use of Shrinking—“ Via slammed the large book shut so it made a slapping sound from the middle. Sighing, she looked around the common room and observed a few students, mostly younger hanging around doing nothing much of interest. It was the first time Via had ever opted out of studying Herbology, the action almost alien to her nature. Standing up, her tall frame hovering over the younger years sat infront of her, she dropped the book onto the now warm chair in which she was just sitting and headed out of the common room. Snaking her way through the passage, she went up the stairs and into the great hall.

Mostly the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw tables were bustling with a few students, most of the Ravenclaws studying of course over their breakfasts and paying hardly any attention to where their food was aimed. One girl missed her mouth with her spoon completely and the milk and cereal dropped all down her robes. Giving a small smile, Via looked away in time to see a boy push a piece of strawberry jam on toast onto the side of his face. His head was so far buried into a book on Dragonology that Via was surprised that he didn’t get it onto the front cover on the book instead. Looking over to the Hufflepuff table, a rather tired looking Girty sat in a trance it seemed over her cereal. As she saw her pull her hair out of the milk, Via shook her head slightly, and quickly sat next to her. Pulling out a tissue, a pack which she always had as they were very useful. Lightly taking Girty’s hair, she wrapped the soggy hair into the tissue and gripped it slightly to soak up the milk. Giving Girty a friendly smile, she gave her the tissue.

“You were up all night again weren’ t you? No wonder why I’ve hardly seen you, you must be exhausted”

[Girty Hubbles]

The slow drips of milk off her hair was almost hypnotising, Girty even counted the seconds between each drip so she knew exactly when the next one was going to fall. She was also surprised at how easy the milk had socked into her hair, maybe she had not been fully aware on how long she had let it dangle in her breakfast. The Hufflepuff was in so much of a trance that she failed to notice the tall character of Via Torn sit down next to her, in fact Girty only took notice of her fellow housemate when she took hold of her hair and was wrapping a tissue around it.

Girty must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she looked over at Via, eyes wide with surprise and mouth hanging open ever so slightly. She did not know what to say and was finding it hard to eve return the smile, in her sleep like state Girty found it hard to believe that anyone would be so kind to her but slowly reality crept in and her brain began to tick, all be it very slowly.

The small smile filled her face at the mention of being awake all night and she was finding it hard not to laugh out of sheer annoyance. It had not been the first all nighter Girty had done this month, let alone this year, she felt like she was becoming nocturnal and might as well start living up in the owlery. Wrapping the tissue around her milk soaked hair Girty mustered up a rather croaky voice.

“Is it that obvious?” She chuckled “Honestly it got to a point last night when I would have rather been in the Commonroom breaking up a fight between first years about illegal chess moves then reading another answer to ‘What is the best counter for the boggy hex curse. Give two reasons for this and explain in detail.’”

Had there not been a bowl of cornflakes in front of her Girty was sure she would have started banging her head repeatedly on the table. She could see why Dan was so keen to push the buck over to her as it was not the most thrilling job in the world but there were moments, moments when Girty knew this is the sort of thing she would love to do, but then nights like last night made her think quite differently.

“How is your studying going then Via?” Girty gave a small cough already sick of her hoarse voice. “If you ever need help with Charms I am happy to help out, I have read the final paper already, actually I wrote question five quite proud of it to be honest.”