Welcome To The End Of Eras [Open]

[Deleted]

Zita was determined to make this year, her final year at Hogwarts, the best one yet. She was captain of her house’s quidditch team. She was the captain of GSA with great assistance in her co-captain Quinn. And now she had also signed up to help with this year’s Halloween event. Sure, last year before her friend Jamie had left she had been worried about overworking herself this year since it was the most important year in her life when it came to her career. After spending time during the summer thinking about all of the things she wanted to do, she realized that if she held back too much, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t enjoy her last year. So she had all of these things to fill her time now. And she was a little bit worried about it. Because on top of all of the planning she had to do for all of the roles she’d taken on, she had to do school work. This is what she found herself leaning over now. She’d never had problems with potions before this year but for some reason the material just wasn’t sticking. She felt so distracted that she’d closed her book minutes ago, her quill still pressed between pages and probably getting ink on them that she’d have to fix later. With a sigh, she rested her head on her folded arms and stared off into the distance. She missed her sister. Graduation was going to be here soon and then she’d be out in the world on her own, which was a little bit more nerve-wracking than she wanted to admit. She was excited but it was intense, even at just the beginning of the school year. She needed a distraction, but she wasn’t entirely sure where she was going to find one yet. She sighed and pushed her face into the dip in her arm out of frustration.

Tag; open
SOTD; HERE

[Deleted]

It the the start of the year, the start of a new year in a new place. Like every year, Jack often started the term off strong. A part of him liked studying because it was so different from what he did on his summer vacations. But it got boring quickly and he knew that within the next few weeks he would push studying to the wayside, do schoolwork the night before it was due, and study for tests the morning of as he walked to the classroom. Might as well start strong, though.

The newly sorted Ravenclaw made his way to the library and wasn’t surprised, when he entered, to see it full. Everyone else seemed to have the same desire to start off the term strong. He spotted an open seat next to a girl who was already there studying. “Mind if I sit here?” he asked quietly, his southern accent possibly shocking among the sea of whispering British accents.

@zita

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The Hufflepuff has been completely content in laying there forever if it meant she didn’t have to look at her Potions textbook again but she knew she had to get the work done. She just needed to pick her head up and do it. The thought made her groan out loud before she huffed and moved her head away from her arms. She realized then that there was someone standing in front of her, speaking to her. She knew he was one of the America students instantly. His accent was thick in the few words he’d spoken but, to her, it wasn’t really that big of a deal. She’s been hearing different America students talk all day so she’d gotten used to hearing the different speech patterns. Not to mention she had family living in Arizona. “Oh not at all. Just dying over this Potions work," Zita replied, mumbling the last bit before shaking her head and opening her Potions book using the quill pressed within. As she’d expected, ink has splattered on the pages. She pulled out her want then and waved in with purpose at a few of the spots, watching as the ink cleaned up. "Sorry about the mess, by the way." Once the ink was clean she put her wand away. Bummer that she’d had to waste ink but at the very least she could see the works of the book again. Even still, she’d lost a lot of interest in studying Potions.

Tag; JOHN ELLIOT CLARK
SOTD; HERE

[Deleted]

Jack hadn’t noticed the ink mess or anything until the girl lifted her head off of her arm and looked at him. “Oh not a problem, I live on a farm. I don't mind a mess.” he said with a small laugh. He sat down and set his bag on his lap while the girl began to clean up the ink. He pulled out some of his own books and set them on the now clean table. “So potions giving you trouble, huh? I’d offer you some words of wisdom but I’m no good at it either.” he shrugged. He was fine with most subjects, especially when he tried. But over the years, he had stopped caring about most of them, and he didn’t even take potions class anymore. It wasn’t part of his intended career plan. In fact, really the only subject involved in his career plan was Herbology, but even that was a stretch. His parents used magic every day, but not really for work reasons. A lot of tree farming was better done the muggle way.

@zita

[Deleted]

She gave a soft chuckle at his words. He'd grown up on a farm so he didn't mind the mess? She imagined that a short spill of ink was way off from anything he'd seen on a farm but she supposed he was just trying to be friendly by making the joke. She continued to stare down at the Potions book, trying to will some motivation to study into herself when the guy spoke again. “It's not giving me problems, it's just..." she took a deep breath out of frustration, running a hand through her hair and pushing it out of her face. “Studying is just not going too well." At this point, she didn't even feel like she needed to be in the library anymore. She wasn't getting anything done at the rate she was going. She closed the book once again, forgetting once again that she had a quill in a few pages and this time, ink lightly splattered out of the book onto the table. With a sharp inhale she went to work with her wand once again. "Sorry, sorry." The apology was full of her frustrations. Realizing that she was starting to sound rude she looked up and over at the books he'd spread out before him. “What are you working on? A little bit of everything? Oh, I'm Zita by the way. Welcome to Hogwarts."

Tag; JOHN ELLIOT CLARK
SOTD; HERE

[Deleted]

Jack knew the hardships that came with studying, but he couldn't say he ever had a time as badly as this girl seemed to be having right now. He felt sad for her, but he tried not to let it show. He didn’t like to give pity because he knew that he didn’t like to get pity from others. “Maybe a take a break? Sometimes even just a few minutes of not feeling like you need to be doing anything is enough to help your mind get back into that productive state.” he suggested. He had do that sometimes on the farm. Especially in the heat of the day. Just a few minutes of laying on the ground was enough to help him want to get back to work and finish the task at hand. Ink splattered onto the table again in her frustrating, she apologize and then went back to cleaning it up. “No use crying over spilled ink.” he pulled out his wand and helped her with the last few drops. “Yeah I just came to do...something… I’m not entirely sure. I always try hard at the start of the year, though it never makes it all the way through.” he explained with a bit of a laugh. “I’m Jack. Pleasure to meet you, Zita.” he smiled, tipping his head to her.

@zita

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The Ravenclaw boy introduced himself as Jack. The fact that he pulled out his wand to help her clean up the rest of the scattered ink made her like him a little bit more. He seemed rather nice. "Well Jack," she began as she opened up her textbook to once again clean her book of the ink and remove the quill this time, "the best versions of breaks involve naps or Quidditch for me. But I definitely can’t nap or play quidditch in here or else the librarian might get upset." There was amusement in her tone as she joked with him, and by the time she got done cleaning out her textbook for the second time, she felt a little bit better. "At least you do try though, when it comes to your studies. You put in the effort at the beginning and, you might fall off, but at least you do put in some effort." She knew there were students who merely existed at school and didn’t put in any effort. How they managed to make it through was beyond her. After taking the quill out and shutting her textbook, she rested her chin in the palm of her right hand. "You play quidditch at all?" She wondered how many of the American students were going to try out for the teams. Maybe he knew people from Ilvermorny who played. And talking about Quidditch could be just the break she needed to get away from studying for a while.

Tag; JOHN ELLIOT CLARK
SOTD; HERE

[Deleted]

The girl explained that breaks for her normally included napping or playing Quidditch, but she said she couldn’t do either of those here. He shrugged. “I’m sure you could nap on the desk for a few minutes.” or had that been what she was doing when he walked in. Maybe he had woken her up and now she was mad at him. She commented on the fact that he said that he tried to bother with his studies during the start of the year. He shrugged. “Mostly it just keeps my folks off my back.” he said with a laugh. He did care about school. He liked school and he liked most of his subjects, but it wasn’t the most important thing in the world, and his parents realized that. They didn’t out too much pressure on him to get good grades, it wasn’t entirely important for his chosen profession that he did. She asked if he played Quidditch and the young man shook his head, “Can’t say I have. We don’t play Quidditch in America. I played Quodpot though. I thought about trying out for Quidditch though. I don’t know much about the game.” he said with a shrug. While he loved playing sports, he wasn’t sure if he had the time or patience to learn a new one just for the year.

@zita

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Zita laughed when he mentioned her spending a few minutes napping on the desk, thinking that he was joking about it. He seemed sincere in his words and just a little bit too nonchalant about it to be joking so she shook her head instead, quieting her laughter but the look of amusement still remained on her face. “There are a few things that are questionable about that statement. Firstly, a few minutes definitely can't be considered a nap. Second, I'm an incredibly heavy sleeper so I'll be sleep for much longer than a few minutes and that's when the librarian will come over and scold me for sleeping in the library when the library is for reading." the dark haired Hufflepuff spoke with a note of lightheartedness. “And I definitely won't put it off on you to wake me up before the librarian sees. I'll be fine somehow." She could only nodded in understanding when he mentioned keeping his parents off his back pertaining to good grades. She'd never had the same problem. Of course her parents wanted her to do well. She just never gave them any worry that she'd do anything but well. Her eyebrows lifted just a bit at the mention of Quodpot. She'd heard of the game before; there were small leagues spread throughout the country's wizarding world but it never gained as much publicity or traction as Quidditch did. Talk about a game she didn't understand. She didn't see the appeal in it nor did she understand the objective of the game. Quidditch was and would always be her favorite. "Oh you definitely should. Quidditch is really easy actually once you get the hang of it. I know that sounds silly but at the very least you're working with a team and really only have to worry about your position, depending on which one you're good at." She was a Keeper through and through but she could and would occasionally play Beater in pick up games when needed. "How much do you know?"

Tag; JOHN ELLIOT CLARK
SOTD; HERE

[Deleted]

Zita turned down his suggestion for a quick nap on the desk between study times and he shrugged, a smirk on his face after listening to her explain why she didn’t think that was a good idea. “You know better than I do.” he admitted, there was no need for him to push the idea, it was said mostly in jest, but she went to school here, so she knew the habits of the librarians, and she knew her own body and what she most needed. He gave up, feeling no need to continue to try. What the girl really seemed to want to talk about was Quidditch. She suggested that he should try it and then said that it was easy to learn and easy to play once they got used to their position within the game. She asked him how much he knew about it and he shrugged. “Not too much, I guess I get the overall idea, you try to throw a ball through hoops to make points.” he said. People in American played Quidditch, he was sure, but it was part of the cultural difference, he suspected. "I'm guessing you play?" he asked.

@zita

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Amusement remained on her face as he replied that she knew better than he did. She hoped he didn’t learn the hard way that sleeping in the library wasn’t something the librarian liked student doing. There had been a time last year where she’d fallen asleep amidst completing her homework and she’d gotten a stern lecture on what the library was supposed to be used for. Needless to say, she always made sure she took a nap before she ever decided to come to the library so she wouldn’t be caught in the position again. "It is so much more interesting than you just made it sound,” she laughed, ” And yes, I definitely play and I love it. " she couldn’t help grinning at the obvious question. "Obviously I play with Hufflepuff. And because you don’t know much about the game, you should come watch a game. That is, if you don’t try out yourself. Being in the stands and watching the game has its excitements too!" The way he’d described the game made it sound pretty boring but with so many people around who were enjoying the game, how would he not be able to see the fun in it? And Hogwarts was serious about quidditch. It was one of the things that separated one house from another.

Tag; JOHN ELLIOT CLARK
SOTD; HERE

[Deleted]

She didn’t seem happy with the way that he explained Quidditch, but it was all that he knew about the game, so he wasn’t sure how he could explain it any better. He didn’t feel badly when she said so though, he was never one to hold onto things, he let them roll off. And he wasn’t sure why he was expected to know these things when they weren’t a part of his culture. Oh well, things here were definitely different. He’d have to start to get used to it. She explained that obviously played for Hufflepuff. Again, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to know that, but he nodded along politely anyway, she seemed nice enough, there was no reason to pick at these little things. “Yeah I’ll absolutely be there if I decide not to try and play.” he agreed. He loved sports and he knew he’d love the atmosphere of a match, even, and maybe especially, if he was just sitting in the stands. “So what else do you like to do besides Quidditch, around here?” he asked, maybe changing the subject to something a little more accessible.

@zita

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Z nodded in satisfaction, a grin upon her face, when he agreed to attending the games. It was good; at the very least she would sort of know someone else cheering in the stands, even if he wasn’t cheering for the Hufflepuff team. That is, if he didn’t try for the Ravenclaw team. Jack seemed nice enough to her and even though she didn’t know him well, he already seemed like the type of person she wouldn’t mind hanging out with. She could even teach him about quidditch. He proceeded to ask her what else she liked to do around Hogwarts. "It depends on the time of year of course. I like taking a dip in the lake every now and then.” She really only did that when it was warm outside during the afternoon. There were students she knew that liked to jump into the lake when it started getting closer to winter and she never knew why considering it was just so uncomfortable. She loved swimming though; she could stay in the lake for hours when she didn’t have anything to do. This year was different though. The ‘things to do’ were endless. ”I’m captain for GSA too so I plan meetings for that. And every now and then I volunteer to help out in the hospital wing. Nothing serious just helping the nurse make salves and doing whatever is needed." That was something she’d started doing closer to the end of last year. She hoped she had enough time to do it this year too. "There’s a lot to do around here though, honestly. I don’t think it’ll be too much different from Ilvermorny as far as finding things to do." She figured schools had the same basic interests groups as well as clubs for things that students could get involved in. "You’d know better than I would though. What did you like to do at Ilvermorny?"

Tag; JOHN ELLIOT CLARK
SOTD; HERE

[Deleted]

The girl sitting next to him explained that there was lots to do around the castle and added that it kind of dependent on the time of year. That made sense. He knew they got snow here just as they had back at Ilvermorny, he could imagine there was a lot more to do inside the castle during the colder months and more to do outside of it when it was sunny. Jack was more accustomed to the sunny weather, as Kentucky summers were brutal and humid, but he didn’t mind the cold. He’d still go outside regardless. She explained some of the things that she did besides Quidditch and he nodded, she then suggested that they probably had most of the same things they did at Ilvermorny, when she asked about it, Jack shrugged. “I don’t know, I reckon we have all those clubs and stuff too, I didn’t pay a lot of mind to them. I played Quadpot and when I wasn’t in class or playing, I just loitered around with my buddies.” he explained. Besides sports, Jack had never been one for organized social activity. He liked adventure, and a lot of his adventures weren’t ones the school would endorse if they found out what he was doing.

@zita

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Nodding occasionally as he spoke, Zita listened as the American boy explained he things they he did while at Ilvermorny, including playing Quodpot. Good, he was already an athlete which meant him trying out for Quidditch would be normal. That is, unless him not understanding the sport kept him from not wanting to play it, which was fine too. Before her sixth year, when she’d been the co-captain for GSA, her day looked similar to his. She would play quidditch and hang out with her friends. And her sister when she could. It wasn’t until this year that she had an overwhelming to-do list. And even though she was hopeful at all she could accomplish for both the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and GSA, that didn’t mean she didn’t miss having free time like she used to. ”That sounds like heaven. Being able to just hang out with some friends when you want," she sighed a bit before she plastered half of a smile on her face. "Nothing wrong with that though, not getting involved in clubs. To each their own." Would most of the Ilvermorny students be the same way? Not getting involved in Hogwarts clubs? It didn’t seem plausible really but she figured that older students, seventh years like her, might not because they were almost done with school. How unfortunate that was for them. "Are you a seventh year? And did any of your friends come to Hogwarts with you? Gosh did they even give you all a choice?" Her last question was asked with a bit of incredulity in her voice at the thought.

Tag; JOHN ELLIOT CLARK
SOTD; HERE