Studying [Chris]

[Kaia Doyle]

A cold, autumn chill was gradually appearing, forcing many of the Hogwarts pupils to remain indoors, or else to start sporting heavier jumpers and scarves. Kaia was resting against a boulder, quite close to the lakes edge, her jumper pulled down over her knees to supply them with a bit of warmth. Her sandals were lying abandoned next to her bare feet and she felt quite comfortable feeling the blades of grass between her toes. It wasn't particularly cold, in fact, the sun was fighting the clouds and the only chill was being supplied by the wind.

She was studying Transfiguration, her textbook lying open between her chest and her drawn up knees. Random doodles and drawings, including notes passed in between rather boring lectures, decorated the edges of her frayed notebook. "Gamps Law of Elemental Transfiguration includes the following," she muttered to herself and scribbled down what could pass as bullet points. She shut her eyes, trying hard to remember what McGonagall had said during their last lesson.

[Christopher Zhou]

Chris was tired...

Extremely tired. He hated Tuesdays... They were way worst than Sundays and extremely more awful than Mondays. They should just do away with the day and make six day weeks. After all, according to Professor Silverton, six was the perfect number. It's just that Tuesdays seemed so pointless... And he had Herbology on those days which just made it worst. Well, at least he'd gotten out of the last half when Snape wrote him an excused letter to get out since he'd oh-so-generously agreed to resort the supply closet. You know, maybe Professor Snape wasn't as bad as people were making him out to be. He was really beginning to enjoy that class.

As he walked the grounds and neared the lake, he saw a very familiar head of hair in front of him. He wasn't sure if he should turn and walk the other way or continue and not let her interfere with his Tuesday walk. He was mid-turn when he heard her mutter something about Gamp. If there was one thing Chris loved more than Potions it was Transfigurations. He stopped and turned back, walking up to her and peering down. "Hey Doyle," he said, not quite smiling as one wouldn't really call the two of them friends. "What are you up to? I'm just curious," he added on. Knowing her, she would have asked what it was to him.

[Kaia Doyle]

Ugh. It wasn't that Kaia did not like Transfiguration. Quite on the contrary, it was actually one of her favourite subjects! She just could not stay focused long enough to absorb the necessary information. At this rate it would be a wonder to even pass the OWLs. She was absentmindedly scribbling onto the sides of her notebook, while staring across the deserted lake, she felt a little solemn.

She jumped, and immediately hated herself for having done so, when a rather familiar voice startled her. Her eyes automatically zeroed in one what she had doodled on the side of her notebook. Hastily, she scribbled over the Chris, effectively destroying the evidence. Nonetheless, she flushed furiously and snapped her book shut. "I was actually studying, Zhou," she snapped, feeling a little trapped and more uncomfortably... vulnerable. She stood up, clamping the book to her chest and whirled around to face him. She hoped that the flush on her face wouldn't be so apparent.

"I was just getting ready to leave in any case," she said, clearly flustered. The crossed out Chris in her notebook seemed to be burning a hole through the paper and into her skin. She stalked off, only to turn back, having left her sandals in the dewy grass. "Actually... I'm comfortable here." She sat back down, fumbling with the pages of her textbook. She looked up and glared rather pointedly at him. "Do you mind?" She felt bad instantly and attempted to soften her voice. Barely. "You look horrible, Zhou." He did. He looked exhausted. The way she usually looked on Thursdays. "Come," she said in an almost-whisper. "Uh... sit."

[Christopher Zhou]

Christopher actually had no idea what the hell was happening right now. So he said nothing as she left and then came back... And then told him off, and then invited him to sit. Either she was going through a time of the month he wasn't stupid enough to mention or she had finally lost her mind. Better not to fight with her if either case was true, so he sat down next to her and smiled at her comment. "Yeah... I'm a little tired," he admitted. "I'm actually supposed to be running -- working out and all. Have to stay lithe and fit as the seeker, you know," he said with a more charming grin. "But I can never seem to muster up the energy on Tuesdays. Worst day of the week if you ask me. So pointless." Eager to the change the subject, he looked back at the book. "So... aside from the obvious answer, what are you studying? Like... what are you covering?"

He leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him and soaking up the little sun that shone through the typical gray clouds. He laid back fully and closed his eyes for a moment. It would not be that difficult to fall asleep right now. He was tired enough. But, shaking his head to wake him up a bit, he looked up at her, seeing for the first time that Kaia Doyle actually had pretty nice eyes. It caught him off guard, and he was more flustered than he'd care to admit.

"Um... maybe I could help. Transfigurations is one of my favorite classes."

[Kaia Doyle]

Kaia was annoyed at herself. She could tell from the look on his face that he was surprised. And who could blame him? After all, he was used to her verbally attacking him. She couldn't explain herself what had brought on this change. He was still an obnoxious, self-righteous git, where she was concerned. She concentrated hard on staring at the grass, letting a catterpiller crawl onto her hand. She listened to him but found it far easier to focus her attention on the green catterpiller on her hand.

She swallowed when she realized that it was her turn to speak. "Uh... Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration," she said quickly. Now he would think she was stupid. It was an easy topic- and she would know the answer- had she stayed awake for most of the class. She sighed and kicked her feet out in front of her, the sandals still lying somewhat haphazardly arranged next to her. "I know that one of them is food, I remember McGonagall stating that. Afterwards I kind of zoned out," she admitted, blushing. She had zoned out day dreaming. About a certain seeker.

When he closed his eyes she found it safe to spare a glance at him. The way the sun shone on his face accentuated his features, making him seem softer. She bit her lip and strained to look away from him, concentrating instead on the notebook in her hands. "I'd like help..." She held her breath. She couldn't believe she was actually accepting his help. Her pride usually would have won over, but then she wouldn't be able to stare at him quite so openly. "You have a nice - " nice what? nice what? " - jumper." There couldn't be something exceptionally dodgy about complimenting his jumper... apart from the fact that she was wearing the exact same one. Nice. Good going, Kaia.

[Christopher Zhou]

He didn't think anything of it really. Except that she admitted to zoning out. "Well... You've got one of them," he said, still lying back, his voice borderline lazy. "So, you're guaranteed at least a twenty percent on your midterm," he teased, cracking one eye open to look at her. "But that's still better than nothing. The next one is about love. You can't conjure love from nothing. It's something that can be imitated, but never replicated. The third is information. You can't just conjure information that you don't already have. The fourth is money. Clearly you can't make money from nothing. Even leprechaun gold fades after a while. And the fifth is a soul. You can't just make a soul pop out of thin air. Life can't be created that way." He glanced over at her again. "You didn't space out this time, did you?" he asked.

Her comment was... obvious. Christopher wasn't thick. But he had to be assuming incorrectly. Slowly, he sat up and looked down at his jumper, his brow going up right after. "Um... thanks... I probably got it the same place you got yours. Madam Maulkin certainly knows how to size these things, eh?" he asked, bending his knees up and resting his arms on them. "Kaia...? Are you all right?"

[Kaia Doyle]

Kaia did not zone out. She just stared. And stared. Until he stopped talking and then she struggled to recall what he had said. "No," she said immediately. "I listened." She placed her notebook onto the ground next to her and leaned back against the boulder.
"I'll write them down later," she lied. Later she would have to go to the library and look it up again. She sighed, remembering something vaguely about love and money.

She hoped that he would walk away. Maybe he would be so weirded out by her behaviour and leave. But maybe that was too much to wish for. He addressed her jumper compliment and she thanked the lucky stars that he wasn't picking up on it. "Oh yes," she said eagerly. Glad to change the topic. "Madam Maulkin is incredible. I got mine there as well." It was all going well, until he asked her if she was alright. Thank you, Chris. She closed her eyes and shrugged carefully. "I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be? Are you alright?" She felt more smug now that she had redirected the attention to him.

[Christopher Zhou]

He moved to his knees, directly in front of her and looked directly into her eyes. "Why are you lying?" he asked. She made it so plain -- So easy to tell. Perhaps if she acted less flustered, it'd be harder to pick up on, but she was acting like Christopher was completely oblivious. It was actually almost endearing... Would have been better if she'd just own up to it. "I figured," he said to her about the robes. "I mean... Considering I saw you there getting measured when I walked in... And we even said a greeting to one another. Something tells me you didn't go through the trouble of getting fitted only to not buy your school clothes from there." He gave her another smile as though challenging her and then rocked back on his heels.

"Me? Oh yes... I'm just super. Aside from the fact that I hate Tuesdays and you clearly don't remember everything I just told you judging by your reaction. And you're hiding something else from me and I'm irritated by that, but in some ways curious. Other than that, I'm just perfect... So how about telling me what's really on your mind and spare me the trouble of having to fish it out of you?"

[Kaia Doyle]

She actually jumped when he was suddenly so close to her. Her face felt hot and she turned to look away from him. Immediately he breathing returned to its normal rate. She couldn't believe that he had seen right through her lie. "Because... because... ugh." She bit her lip and turned back to look at him. "I don't want you to think that I'm stupid. I don't want you to have to repeat it again." Thank you, Merlin! Attention back to the robes. "I can't remember that," she admitted. "We exchanged greetings?" She rolled her eyes and let out a half-laugh, half-scoff. "I forgot about you being so wise, oh Zhou," she said sarcastically. "Of course, I would have figured that you'd put two and two together."

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. She hastily averted her eyes, fighting the oncoming blush. "I'm not... I am not hiding anything from you!" She felt a little annoyed at him and sat up on her knees, scooting away from him to lie on her stomach on the grass. She rested her head on her arms and looked away from him. "I am perfectly fine, thank you. There's nothing on my mind worth sharing, Chris."

[Christopher Zhou]

"Memory retention has nothing to do with how smart you are. You may just not be an auditory learner. That doesn't make you dumb, it just means you have to figure out a different way of retaining the information. Perhaps you learn better by doing? Maybe you should take better notes?" he suggested. "Or figure out something hands on that can aid you? You're a smart witch. You'll figure it out," he said confidently. He tilted his head and smiled. "Well... Sort of. It was more of a wave and a head nod, but... I count that as a greeting. He wasn't sure how to respond to what she did next, so he chose not to at all.

"Well... I completely believe you now," he said sarcastically, the smile growing, however. He moved to lie down next to her and propped his head up with his hand, turning to give her a sideways glance. "Are you sure about that...?"

[Kaia Doyle]

Or maybe, she thought, maybe I shouldn't write your name instead of taking notes. Kaia shrugged. "There's a possibility in that. I'm a Ravenclaw, I should be intelligent. My grades aren't bad." She received O's in most of her subjects. Her only received mediocre grades in potions. Her best subject though, by far, was Care of Magical Creatures. "Maybe your theory makes sense. You ever thought about taking on a Muggle job and becoming a psychologist?" she asked, only half-joking.
Thinking back, she could remember something of the sort. Though it was rather vague and she wondered for a moment if something was in fact wrong with her memory. "In any case, that was a better encounter than the one we had on the third floor." She cringed, remembering the incident and her rudeness. "I'm sorry about that. I wasn't really having much of a good day."

She decided to overlook the sarcasm in his voice. "You would hardly believe me, even if I did decide to tell you," she stated. Not that she was willing at all to tell him what was on her mind.

[Christopher Zhou]

"You are intelligent," he assured her. He'd never really doubted that. "You really just have issues with applying yourself. Here, let me see your notes," he said, reaching for her notebook. He didn't pay much mind to her fighting and protestation, and waving her hands away, he flipped open to where she'd taken her notes on Gamp's Law of Transfiguration and then stared at the big black mark she's scribbled over. He could not tell what it was, but it certainly detracted from the notes. "Doodling, Miss Doyle?" he asked with a grin. "Well I can see what your problem is. You only have on law written in here. What are you doing in class?" He was genuinely curious. He never understood how some people could waste the entire time daydreaming. That was boring to him.

"Oh... That? No worries, Kaia. I wasn't exactly being the easiest person to get along with. We'll just say that it's over and we won't look back on it. Bygones will be bygones." He rose a brow and looked back over at her. "I could surprise you with what I'm willing to believe. Try me."

[Kaia Doyle]

Here, let me see your notes...

No! "No!" She lunged for her notebook just a split second after the words registered in her mind. Her face burned when he pointed out the doodle and she breathed a sigh of relief that she had thought to scribble over it. It was true. The sheet in the notebook was depressingly empty, devoid of any notes except that one law. Of course there was quite a bit of artwork surrounding the page. She had actually turned the margin of the page into a large, sinister-looking snake. She swallowed. "Um... I draw," she answered needlessly. That and daydream and doodle. "Why? What do you do in class?" She was pretty sure that his notebook would be perfectly neat, probably with color coding and cross-refrencing as well.

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head, grinning. He hadn't seen the doodle, now she wouldn't have to confess anything. "I said that if I were to tell you, you'd hardly believe me. I don't think I feel like telling you anything afterall." She stuck out her tongue and attempted to snatch back her notebook, momentarily afraid that there would be more Chris doodles in it.

[Christopher Zhou]

"I can see that," he said, flipping through more of the notebook, seeing some elaborate doodles. Well... he was... impressed... sort of. In a way. Okay, more like baffled. That was a better word to use at the moment. "That's just extraordinary," he said, closing it and then smiling. "I pay attention is what I do," he told her. "And I take notes... And if I happen to miss any, I copy notes from Oliver because he tends to take good notes, too. In addition to paying attention, sometimes I even turn in my homework and answer questions to get points and what not. Merlin knows we need it with Lohenstein running around trying to do the 'right' thing," he said with an eye roll.

Well, at least she was grinning. Unfortunately, she was also withholding information and Christopher was truly curious now. "Come on, Doyle. I'm not going to tell anybody. Please," he said, moving closer to her and then yanking the notebook out of reach. He stuck it on the ground and then rolled onto his back, his body covering it so she couldn't get to it. "I don't see why you're trying so hard to take it... There's nothing in it."

[Kaia Doyle]

"What is? My drawing or the fact that I don't take notes?" She smirked at his answer to her question. "You pay attention, interesting." She listened to more of his answer and laughed. "You're such a perfect student, taking notes, answering questions and doing the homework. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they give you the position of Ravenclaw prefect next year. I wouldn't, not with my teinted track record." Her mood darkened somewhat when he mentioned Hermina Lohenstein. Not only had the girl tattled to some professor, she had even lost quite a few points for Ravenclaw house. The only thing that made being in third place easier to stand was that Gryffindor was bringing up the rear.

She watched as he rolled over her notebook. She could either be annoyed, tell him or see it as a challenge. She decided to chance the latter. So, with a shout, she tackled him in the same way she would one of her brothers. She was startled to find herself practically straddling him and she flinched immediately. She jumped away as though scalded. "I'm sorry. I should get going. Can I have my notebook, please?" She was fighting a furious blush, her tone unusually high pitched.