LOST ↝ G. WEASLEY [1]

21 | Study Date

"This... is... bullshit," Rowan sang in a quiet voice, scribbling down his essay on the Imperius Curse onto a piece of parchment. "Luna's out who knows where, and we're stuck here writing about illegalities. You know, I've heard in the years prior, this was supposed to be an essay about defending yourself from the Imperius Curse. Now Carrow's having us write about why it's useful. Bloody git."

"Shh!" Madame Pince shushed angrily from her seat near the entrance, a finger pressed to her lips as she glared daggers in Rowan's direction.

"Sorry!" he mouthed before turning back to Joey and Arden. "Doesn't that woman have anything better to do with her time besides make sure we're not being loud in the library?"

"Beats me," Joey whispered back before catching sight of the girl sitting alone at the table behind Rowan, reading from a Herbology textbook, and the corners of her mouth began to twitch up in a smile.

"What?" Rowan asked, noticing Joey had been looking behind him rather than at him, and he turned around to see Hannah Abbott behind him. He turned back to Joey with an incredulous expression written across his face. "Seriously?"

Joey shot him back a grin, shrugging her shoulders. Arden looked back and forth between her two friends and then back towards where Hannah sat, her eyebrows raised in confusion.

"What's the matter?" Arden asked. "Did I miss something?"

"Let's just say word got out over the holidays that our little Rowan has a tiny crush." Joey whispered to Arden, causing the girl's jaw to drop.

"Hannah?" Arden whispered to Rowan, who sighed and nodded. "Why didn't I know about this? We tell each other everything, Rowan Atlas!"

"I didn't tell anyone!" he insisted, rolling his eyes as Madame Pince shushed him again.

"Mr. Tonks, if you cannot be quiet in my library, you are going to have to find another place to work." the woman said sternly, still seated at her desk with one of the dusty old books in hand.

"Sorry, Madame," he said before turning back to the girls. "besides, it doesn't even matter. Someone like her would never go for a guy like me."

"What do you mean 'a girl like her' and 'a guy like you?'" Joey pressed, watching Rowan intently.

"She's just... I don't know. She's smart. I mean, she was kept home for her entire sixth year and managed to make up an entire year's worth of work this last summer just to stay in our year. I'm way too dumb for her."

"Stop that," Arden snapped at him. "Rowan, you are not dumb."

"Arden, without your help, I would've failed all my O.W.L.s... can you even make it past fifth year without those?" Rowan asked, watching her suspiciously. "Let's face it. I'm not her type."

"I doubt that," Joey said, looking behind Rowan once more. "Hey Hannah!" she whisper yelled.

"Joey!" Rowan whispered, clenching his teeth with widened eyes as the girl looked up from her book.

"Why don't you come join us?" Joey asked, ignoring Rowan's glare, and she nodded with a smile, gathering up her things and moving over to their table, taking the empty seat next to Rowan.

Rowan stiffened up a bit as Hannah sat down, unwilling to look directly at her at first. Joey could almost feel the curses Rowan was mentally throwing her way, and secretly enjoyed every minute of it.

"So what's everybody working on?" Hannah asked.

"Our essay on the Imperius Curse and why it's useful," Arden informed her.

"Not me," Joey added in. "I'm working on an essay for Ancient Runes."

"I just got done with the Imperius Curse essay last night." Hannah said, looking over towards where Rowan had gone back to writing his. "Load of rubbish, that was."

"Tell me about it," Rowan said, smirking and finally looking up at the girl.

"So Hannah," Joey said, changing the subject. "what do you think about the Room of Requirement? Everything going well?"

"Oh, yes," she said, nodding with a smile. "it's such a relief. Thank you all for letting us in. A bit drafty down in our corner, but everything's great."

"You should come over by our side." Arden suggested, a friendly smile on her face, and Joey noticed Rowan's eyes widen once more. "By where Rowan, Joey and I sleep with a few of the others. No draft to be seen."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Completely sure," Arden assured her. "us Hufflepuffs have to look out for one another, right? We're loyal to each other."

"So what do you have there?" Joey asked Hannah, gesturing to the Herbology book in her hands.

"Winogrand's Wondrous Water Plants," she said, showing off the cover. "by Selina Sapworthy. I'm writing an essay on it for Professor Sprout to help catch me up from what I missed last year. I did loads of work this summer, but I'm still behind in a few areas. I just couldn't bear having to go another year after everyone finished, especially with the state Hogwarts is in now."

"Well, if you need any help with anything, you're welcome to ask any of us." Joey offered. "Especially Monty Parks. Seems there's nothing that boy can't do."

"That would be wonderful," she said, "thank you."

Joey looked up at the clock, her eyes widening as she noticed the time. "I hate to rush out like this, but I really do need to be going." she said apologetically, hurriedly shoving her things into her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Where are you running off to?" Rowan asked. "Date with George?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm meeting Monty and Nicolette down by the Black Lake to watch the sunset. We used to do it all the time these last couple of years, and now that sunset's before the earlier curfew this time of year... we figured it's the last time we'll be able to do so."

"We'll see you when you get back," Arden said as Hannah waved goodbye. "be safe."

"Always am," Joey said, bidding the group goodbye and leaving the library, heading towards the castle's front door.

"There she is!" Monty called as Joey hurried down the hill towards where they sat near the lake.

"You're late!" Nic exclaimed.

"Does that really surprise you?" Monty teased as the girl took a seat between them, throwing an arm around each of their shoulders and looking out towards the lake, where the sun was setting.

"Oh, hush up." she said. "I was busy getting Rowan a date."

"Hannah?" Nic asked, causing Monty's eyes to widen.

"Hannah?" Monty asked, confused.

"We found out the other night that Rowan fancies Hannah Abbott." Nicolette explained, laying down so she was spread out across Monty and Joey's laps. "It's a real shame, he's pretty attractive."

"He's your cousin, Cola," Joey reminded her with an incredulous laugh.

"Oh, you know how pureblooded families are." she teased. "He's my third cousin, in this family that doesn't mean anything."

Joey rolled her eyes with a laugh as Monty shrugged his shoulders.

"You know I'd bang Rowan too, Cole." Monty agreed, and Joey's jaw dropped as she looked back over in the boy's direction.

"Monty, not you too!" Joey exclaimed, unable to contain her laughter.

"I call first dibs!" Nicolette exclaimed, reaching up to give the boy a high five.

"You two are ridiculous," Joey said, shaking her head and looking back up as the final rays of sunlight disappeared behind the Black Lake.