homew o r k [open]

[julie]

Being a fifth year was nothing short of being absolutely terrible, the homework was becoming overwhelming to Julie, especially when she already had so many other aspects of life to deal with. But the fact that OWL exams were a mere two months away made her feel sick to her stomach, she was barely passing all her subjects as it was, she didn't need these important exams on top of everything else. Julie squinted at her Transfiguration book, as if it would suddenly make the words easier to read.

Julie mentally cursed her dyslexia, it only made things that much harder on her. She had yet to find a spell or potion that would help it either, something which was highly annoying. She sighed, everyone had already gone to bed and she was still grappling with homework. Or at least she had thought so until the sound of someone at the stairs told her otherwise. Julie looked up from the frustrating book, hoping whoever it was would be someone to distract her from homework for a while.

[violethorses]

Azzurra couldn't help but drag her feet as she came down the stairs. This was certainly not the first night that she hadn't been able to sleep, so instead of laying on her bed for hours, she had decided to go back down to the common room and stare at the fire for a while. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, after all.

Her plans changed when she noticed that someone else was still up. It was Julie, but instead of crying, like Azzurra might have expected, the girl appeared to be doing homework. Azzurra tugged at the sleeves of her pajamas as she gave Julie a half-smile. Azzurra slid into the chair near Julie. "Hey," she said quietly.

[julie]

"Hello," said Julie, attempting a smile, but finding that it didn't quite want to come to her lips. She only hoped that she had been able to keep the frustration out of her face and tone of voice. So far, very few people knew that she was dyslexic, and Julie would rather keep that, and what had happened to her the previous summer, a secret. She did not want people to view her as being broken- especially when no one else around Hogwarts seemed to have issues reading their Transfiguration textbooks.

[violethorses]

Azzurra nodded, but allowed a short pause. "What are you working on?" she asked after a moment. It was awfully late for Julie to still be doing homework, but Azzurra supposed it took some people long than it did others. That day, Azzurra had had a couple of breaks, so she had been able to get her homework done fairly early for her. That clearly hadn't led to any more sleep, though.

[julie]

Julie allowed herself to pull a face as she looked up from the text that she had stopped trying to read ages ago. "Transfiguration," Julie groaned, "I'll be glad once I fail the OWL and never have to take it again, I'm just awful at it." She really only wanted to continue divination, charms, and Care of Magical creatures- but she figured with the times being the way they were she would carry on with Defense Against the Dark Arts as well.

[violethorses]

Azzurra nodded slowly, though she really couldn't fathom the idea of failing an O.W.L. She had been studying like crazy for the past few months; perhaps it was a way to cope with her previous depression, she couldn't be sure. But either way, Azzurra had been doing a lot more work than she had done in previous years. Recently she had been taking better notes than all the other Hufflepuffs that were in her classes and starting to understand things more than she had ever thought she would have. It was sort of odd for Azzurra, who had never much panicked over grades. "Do you need help or anything?" Azzurra asked, trying to be friendly.

[julie]

Julie shook her head like an old elephant that was being bothered by flies, very slowly with her eyes closed. She shut her book, figuring that if she hadn't gotten it by now, no amount of help was going to get her to where she needed to be. "I've come to terms with the fact I'm not going to do well in Transfiguration, it's not like I have parents that care," said Julie, frowning. But it was true, her father was a dismembered pincushion, and her mother had left when Julie was still very young. "It's kind of you to offer, though," Julie added, not wanting to offend Azzurra.

[violethorses]

Azzurra nodded slowly; she supposed that if Julie truly didn't get it, there probably wasn't much she could do to help anyway. Julie's comment about how she didn't have parents that care, though, made Azzurra quite sad. It was odd to think that there were parents out there that abandoned their kids or hit them. Azzurra couldn't ever see her mother and father doing such a thing, and for that, she was eternally grateful. "Yeah, no problem," Azzurra replied quietly.

[julie]

Julie allowed herself as small smile as she set aside the book that frustrated her to no extent. If it was any cosolation at all, she mentally told herself that after May she wouldn't have to touch it again. Apparently the month of June for fifth and seventh years was pretty much empty, there wasn't much to do after the exams. "What are you doing up at this hour?" Julie asked, trying to make conversation, "can't sleep or something?"

[violethorses]

Azzurra shrugged slightly, figuring that Julie of all people would be able to understand sleepless nights. "Yeah, can't sleep," Azzurra replied with a nod. "I figured that coming down here was better than staring at the ceiling." Azzurra was glad that every night wasn't this way, at least. It seemed to be that about half the time she could fall asleep like the rest of her Housemates. But the other half were nights like these; sleepless.

[julie]

Julie nodded. She had become an expert at acting through months of covering up her pain, so masking all the nights that she spent lying awake wasn't much of a problem. She understood what it was like. But thankfully now she could brew a simple sleeping potion. She always aired on the side of caution and made them relatively weak- the last thing Julie wanted was to knock herself out for a week or two. "I know the feeling," Julie sighed.

[violethorses]

Azzurra nodded, pulling her legs up her to her chest, only the tips of her slippers hanging off the chair. She stared into the fire for a moment, then turned back to Julie. "I wish we didn't have to take OWLs this year," she commented. Azzurra felt that, while she had been working extra hard for the past few months, she wasn't ready for the exams. She hadn't paid too much attention to her work in previous years, just doing the assignments and meeting the bare minimums. She was starting to regret that now.

[julie]

"You're preaching to the choir, there," Julie agreed, positioning herself in her chair so she could drape her legs over the arm. She had grown to love the overstuffed armchairs in the Hufflepuff commons, gotten used to the yellow hangings. The place always seemed so cheerful- sometimes it made Julie feel better, others it made her absolutely sick. "I'll just be glad that I can drop a majority of the subjects I'm taking- I'm not any good at half of them," said Julie, making a face. She was a polar sort of person, she was either really good at something or absolutely terrible at it. There were no happy-mediums for her.

[violethorses]

Azzurra nodded to this. She wouldn't go so far as to say that she was bad at half of her classes, but she certainly did better in some classes than others. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to dropping a few classes as well," Azzurra replied. She didn't plan on dropping much, but Azzurra felt like a few of her current classes weren't going to help her much in the long run. And it would be nice to be taking a few less subjects.

[julie]

"What are you going to be taking?" Julie asked, only then becoming aware of how tired she was. The struggle of trying to read her frustrating textbook had kept her eyes open long past the time she usually retired. Under normal circumstances she might have gone to bed, but she considered Azzurra to be something of a friend to her- it would be rude if Julie left her all by herself. Besides, she could do with some company.