(1940-12-11) Study Session Mayhem
Details for Study Session Mayhem
Summary: A study session before dinner goes a bit crazy and chaos follows.
Date: December 11th, 1940
Location: Study Room
Related:
Characters
ElspethAugustaClaudiaBillyMelodyPeeves

It is late afternoon at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Outside the sky is clear, save for the occasional clouds that drift by lazily. The sun has begun its descent, casting a steadily growing orange glow across the sky. Each day the deep snow delivered over the course of the past few weeks melts just enough to freeze back overnight and add a thin layer of ice overtop. The last class of the evening has finished and the last study session of the day stretches out in the time between afternoon classes and dinner. The Study Room beckons those who hope to gain a bit of space to themselves, rather than attempting to study in their crowded and loud Common Rooms or in the Library.

Young Billy Marlowe makes his way slowly down the quiet corridor leading to the Study Room, his Transfiguration book tucked under his arm. Upon entering, his eyes rove across the room and then settle on an empty table over in a corner beside an iced over window. Shuffling over, the young Gryffindor settles himself into a cushiony chair and opens his book.

Claudia is sitting at a table alone, absent her characteristic pile of books. She has been writing on a long scroll of parchment in furious bursts, intermittently pausing to think and nibbling the end of her quill. As Billy enters the room she seems to have reached her limits, stowing the scroll and quill in her robes and staring out a window with a disgruntled expression.

Glancing around the study room and spotting Claudia, Billy stands and moves over to her table. He sits without bothering to wait for an invitation. "Hey," he whispers, leaning forward across the table. "What are you doing in here? Was your common room noisy too?"

Claudia turns to the Gryffindor, her dissolute expression vanishing. "Sort of," she replies in a murmur. "I needed a change of scenery. You?"

Augusta is at a table by one of the stained glass windows hunched over something in a strange way so that the colored light coming through the window can hit the parchment her quill is softly scratching over. Momentary glances are given upwards as others come into the room. Mostly though she is a girl on a mission, a timed one, so her head ducks back down and her tongue pokes out and twists with her lips as she concentrates on what she's doing. A semi-circle of piled up Charms books is a baracade of knowledge against seeing whatever it is she's working on.

There's a light shuffle of feet, barely announcing the arrival of two Hufflepuffs to the study area. Before they even appear, a female voice can be heard saying, "If you don't leave off, Eoin, I am going to get very cross with you." But as soon as they cross the threshold, her normal speaking voice softens, and Melody goes into automatic 'library mode'. There's a frown on her normally smiling face, but her younger brother Eoin looks positively gleeful as he trails along in her wake. "Now stop," Melody hisses at him, looking for somewhere for them to sit. His response is also quiet, but no less delighted at having had success with his teasing, "You're so techy about it because you know I'm right."

Billy shrugs his shoulders lightly and glances around the room as the two Hufflepuffs enter. He brings a finger to his mouth, "SHHHH! This is a Study Room!" he whispers quite loudly to the two, thought he grins widely as soon as he finishes. Eyes shifting to Augusta he nods his head in greeting to his housemate before turning back to Claudia. "Something like that. I just returned from the Owlery. My sister Tessa just sent me this from home!" he says quietly to the girl, though not so quietly that the others in the room can't overhear. Apparently despite Billy's correction of the pair of Hufflepuffs, he isn't too concerned with silence in the not-library. Reaching into the pocket of his uniform he pulls out a nondescript silver ring set with a simple black stone, and a silver locket. "She said they were my parents. The ring was my father's and the locket my mother's… see?" He clicks open the locket to reveal a tiny still photo of a baby Billy and what must be a younger version of his older sister. "She said to take care of them because they are really all we have of them. I was hoping I might find someone here at the school that can shrink the ring so I can wear it…"

"That was good of her," Claudia says, leening close to look over the items. "Fascinating!" she breathes, staring at the picture. "It doesn't move…"

The Ravenclaw common room is usually quiet enough for studying, so it isn't the search for quiet that brings Elspeth to the Study Room. "That is correct, Marlowe," she tells Billy with a bit of a grin when he shushes Melody, but she doesn't shush him for his continued chatter as he keeps it low. Her grin is transferred to Melody and she gives the other seventh year a nod, before moving on, peeking over the tower of Charms books to identify Augusta before she sets her own bag on a table.

Melody looks at first the younger Gryffindor and then her yearmate with a hurt cast to her eyes. Apparently her and her brother whispering is frowned upon while others are free to do so at great length. Eoin just rolls his eyes and lets his voice return to his normal volume as he addresses his sister. "I'm going to the common room and see who has food." With that he turns and hurries out, leaving any continued shushing behind. Melody did actually come to study, so she finds a quiet corner and settles by herself, opening one of her books and immediately sticking her nose in it.

Nodding his head as he leans forward to look at the photos himself. "Well, no. They wouldn't move because they are muggle photographs. Muggle pictures don't move live wizard photos do. But there's Tessa, of course, if you make it to Hogsmeade over the Holiday you'd meet her, of course."

All seems to be quite peaceful, save for the not so quite voices in the Study Room but sadly, that is to be short lived. No sooner has Eoin left the Study Room to return to the Hufflepuff common room, than a sudden noise draws attention toward the corner of the room just behind Augusta. Books start flying off of the shelves at a rapid rate, many of them flying straight toward the seated students. "Look out!" Billy yelps and dives from his seat to the floor, his hands coming up to cover his face with a yell as a heavy textbook catches him in the head.

"Ouch!" Claudia cries out as a large volume ricochets off her right shoulder. Before she can be struck by more flying books, she dives behind a bookcase drawing a wand that looks far too long for a girl her size.

The Ravenclaw barely glances up before the quidditch reflexes take over. She dives under the table, letting the book skip over her back. Crouched with her hands resting on the ground to brace her sort of upright, she looks around to see if everyone else has ducked, or if there are any knocked out people laying prone. Then she cranes her neck forward to look up and see if there are any more flying books.

When the first books fling themselves off the shelf, Melody looks up from her studying. Just in time to see a rather large and dusty tome that seems to be heading her way. It hits the table just in front of her and ricochets off, missing her head by a scant inch as she ducks to the side to avoid it. Immediately she straightens, looking no more happy by this turn of events but not thinking to take cover like others have. "That wasn't very nice," she says with soft disapproval.

As if in reply to Melody's statement, more books fly off of the shelf in a haphazard way and then, quite suddenly, Melody is soaked as a bright yellow water balloon comes sailing out from behind a bookshelf and splashes on top of her head. Two more are quick to follow, one smashing and bursting into Claudia's back and one breaking apart close to where Elspeth kneels. Soon enough Peeves the Poltergeist comes floating upside down from behind the shelf, cackling wildly as he says, "WHEEE, WHEEE, WHEEE! Little kiddzies all wetzies. No more bath you needzies!" He flips over and hurls his last balloon, crashing right into Augusta's face.

Billy rolls over on the floor and crawls carefully beneath the table he was sitting at.

Standing up, Claudia steps back to the table. Her knuckles have gone white on her wand, but she only aims her coldest glare at Peeves.

As the others get pelted with balloons, Elspeth stands from under her desk, now that she's sure that Peeves is the perpetratror of the mischief. "Peeves, Peeves, the jseter king, care to play to my liking? Books indeed, you love to throw, but can you catch, I would like to know?" She calls out in a sing song voice, and picks up one of the missiles that landed nearby her to throw it back up at the floating prankster.

Melody was going to attempt to ignore the naughty spirit and go back to her studying, the method she uses when Eoin is acting 'Peevish'. Then the balloon hits on her head and she lets out a squeak of surprise. In typical Melody fashion, her reaction is to frown more deeply, lips pursed in a pout as she pushes wet strands of hair back from her face. After an unhappy second her eyes widen, sudden concern on her face as she shakes water from her robes and fumbles around for one of the inner pockets. "I hope my lemon drops aren't going to all stick together," she worries softly.

As carnage is sewn all about the small study room from the Poltergeist's efforts, Peeves cackles in merriment as Augusta flees the room and then all the louder as Melody laments about her lemon drops, even clapping his hands in joy. So concerned is he with his successful attacks, Elspeth catches him by surprise. He hardly has time to so much as look back at the Ravenclaw girl, her words barely registering to him as the book flips end over end toward him. The throw is well aimed and the book catches him square in the face. It doesn't effect the poltergeist as it would a human, as it goes through Peeves' head, though it slows considerably in speed, hinting toward there at least being something there to hit. As the book continues on out of the back of his head, Peeves yelps out in surprise and cartwheels backward, head over rump until he slips through the wall of the room. Moments later his head bursts back through the wall and he stares hatefully at Elspeth. "Nasty girlie you are, hitting poor Peeves with a book. Get you back I will." As if to illustrate his point, Peeves sticks out his tongue and blows a loud raspberry and zooms backward through the wall, and apparently down the hallway as loud crashes of overturned suits of armor can be heard crashing against the stone corridors.

Shoving her wand back into her robes, Claudia offers a hand to Billy. She bights her lower lip, stemming a storm of vitriol towards the poltergeist.

Billy takes Claudia's offered hand and pulls himself to his feet. He blows out a sigh and rubs his forehead where the heavy book clocked him in the head earlier. There is a quickly swelling knot there and it is already bruising. "Peeves!" he says in frustration. Looking around quickly, he locates his parent's items that he was showing Claudia earlier and says, "I probably need to go and get Madam Spleen to check this out before it swells up any more. See you guys." He casts a look around at the wrecked room and then walks out into the corridor, looking around carefully in case Peeves is lingering in wait.

Elspeth watches Peeves go, and gives a little sigh. "I had better be checking my bed tonight before I am going to sleep." She watches Melody searching frantically through her pockets, but the seventh year seems to be otherwise alright. She then turns to look around. "Is everyone all right? Marlowe?" She looks to his forehead and nods. "That is probably being the best idea."

There's a sigh of relief as Melody pulls a dry cloth pouch from inside her robes. "It's alright," she says to whoever might hear her voice, "They're alright." She looks much happier now that her most important worry has been eased, and her usual smile curves her parted lips as she looks up and around. "He's gone? Good. He's terribly rude." By all appearances, she doesn't seem to mind her water balloon soaked state, although she does mention, rather absently and after the fact, "I suppose I should go put something dry on before dinnertime."

Claudia pulls a roll of parchment from her robe pocket. Now soggy and misshapen, the ink has blotched and bled. With a snort of disgust, the Slytherin wads it into a ball and pitches it into a nearby wastebasket. "Stupid poltergeist!" She grits her teeth. Nodding to Elspeth and Melody, Claudia turns on her heel and strides briskly from the room.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License