catching up

[Nora Nott]

Nora's vision was becoming blurry as she stared at the piece of parchment in front of her and her hand quickly moved across it with her quill. She had spent all of her Saturday so far doing homework, and thankfully she was making progress after four hours. Once she finished her current essay she would only have one to go. With that thought, she decided that she had earned a small break, so she tossed the parchment and her quill aside, put the lid back on her bottle of black ink, and stood up, stretching out with an exhausted yawn.

The common room was empty and silent, and she almost began to wonder where everyone was until she once again remembered it was Saturday and she seemed to be the only Slytherin in the common room. She decided to take a nap, stretching out on the couch she had been sitting on all day. She closed her eyes, and after a few minutes she was on the edge of sleep when she heard a loud BOOM, which made her jump off the couch entirely with a small squeak.

It seemed like all of the Slytherins were filing into the common room, leaving Nora curious to why until she saw a few guys with cases of butter beer and food. They obviously got it from the kitchen. Nora shook her head, exhausted and sat back down once loud music came form nowhere. She layed her still wet parchment to the side of her, and desperately fought the urge to go party with the rest. Apparently someone decided to throw a party, and Nora had to sit there and continue studying. She went to grab her parchment until someone sat on it. "Just so you know, the ink is still wet,"she said bitterly before looking up to see who had sat on her homework, angry that she would more than likely have to rewrite the entire essay.

[Malix Riddle]

The Hogwarts library was rather empty as Malix entered it. He glanced around, seeing only a few other students at the tables. Remembering that it was indeed a Saturday, he supposed it wasn't that big of a surprise. He was one of the few who actually found pleasure in browsing the bookshelves; the rest forced themselves to come in if they absolutely needed to do homework. Shrugging, he adjusted the slipping strap of his bookbag and headed toward the back; the restricted section.

Drawing his wand, he shot one last look back at the librarian, before tapping the lock with his wand and slipping through the gate between the two sections of the library. Malix strode through the rows of shelves, looking for the 'Ls'. Stopping when he reached them, he stretched out an arm and ran the tip of his index finger along the spines of the books, searching for a specific name. "Lythrum...Lythrum...Lythrum..." he mumbled the author's last name under his breath in Parseltongue. "Aha, Iairos Lythrum!" he exclaimed in what would sound like raspy hiss to anyone else. Smirking, he pulled the book down and stuffed it into his bag.

Malix brushed the dust off his robes and straightened his crooked Prefect badge, before slipping back out of the restricted section and straight through the main doors of the library. Reaching the dungeons, he raised an eyebrow. Most of the Slytherins were outside the secret door, then they began filing in together. He stayed back on the bottom of the staircase until the last one was in, and then entered the common room himself. Malix heaved a sigh of annoyance at the full room. To make it worse, they were all excitable and starting a party. Spotting the last empty chair by the fire, he hurried over to it. "What?" he snapped coldly, not having even noticed the parchment. Looking down, he tugged it out from under his leg. The parchment was crumpled and ripped, and the ink completely smeared. "Looks like you have work to do," he said, slightly amused, though his expressionless face didn't show it. "Hope you weren't planning to join the party," he laughed softly, before getting his book out and leaning back.

[Nora Nott]

Nora's eyes narrowed at Malix Riddle. She hadn't spoke to him much in the years they had been at Hogwarts, but she knew enough about him to not expect an apology. "Yea, I guess I do,"she said coldly. She snatched the ruined parchment from him and tossed it into the fireplace. She rolled her eyes and grabbed a clean piece from her bag, outraged that she would have to rewrite two hours of work.

"Actually, I wasn't planning to join the party nor did I want to,"she snapped at him. Nora was telling the truth about not planning to jointhe party, but she longed to. She bit her bottom lip, trying not to cause a scene over an essay, but it was hard considering she was one and a half essays away from having Sunday to herself, and now thanks to Malix she would be up so late writing that she would sleep all day and be too groggy to do anything but sit around. She felt the vein in her neck throb, and she knew that if she didn't stop thinking about it, she would lose her temper.

She unscrewed the bottle of ink roughly and tossed the lid to the side, hoping it hit him. With that thought, she dipped her quill into the black ink and roughly scribbled down what she could remember of the essay she had worked so hard to make as perfect as she could.

[Malix Riddle]

Malix looked up from his page as the girl a few feet away from him. His blue eyes locked on her brown ones, still completely void of expression. A small smile curled his lips. "You know, perhaps if you had been a bit more polite, I would have offered to rewrite it for you..." he said, returning to his usual charming tone. Sighing, he looked back down at the book in his hands. "But, I doubt you want my help anyhow," he added. On one hand he couldn't believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. On the other, it was the usual act most of the school new, the polite and charming act his father had taught him well to use.

"But, hey, you don't have anything else to do, right, so what's the big deal? You don't want to join the party," he shot a glance over at her. Something told him that her word had not been entirely truthful. No, he didn't have much for Legilimency powers like his parents, but the bit he did know, mixed with her rather obvious tone, was enough to at least give him a clue. Malix dropped his gaze to the book again, smile vanishing to be replaced by emptiness again. Going back to reading, he finished the page he had been on and flipped to the next. Feeling the lid hit his leg, his eyes snapped onto Nora yet again. "Did you need something?" his patience was running out, but he managed to keep the politeness.

[Nora Nott]

Nora almost laughed. "That's funny,"she said, actually amused. Nora had learned in her first year that being polite wouldn't get her anywhere. She had been picked on and taunted because she couldn't stand up for herself, but when she turned into the temperamental, rude Nora that she now was, no one bothered her. "Besides, I don't let people do me any favors, it's nothing personal, I don't like owing anyone anything,"she said.

"It wouldn't matter because after I rewrite this essay, I have another one. Guess that's what I get for joining the party too many times."Nora shrugged. She was still angry with herself for not taking a few hours out of the previous week to take care of her homework, but it didn't matter now and at least she had fun.


When Malix asked if she needed something, she successfully held back the grin she was afraid would slip. She turned to look at him with a clueless expression and a shrug. "No. I tossed the lid assuming it would miss you, but I guess I have bad aim."

[Malix Riddle]

"Really, it's not," he muttered. "What is somewhat amusing, is your attitude," he continued slowly, not sounding or looking the slightest bit amused. "Everyone in this house is exactly the same, aren't they? All try to act like arrogant arses...as if you have any real reason to be conceited," his eyes flickered up onto her face again. "But, you don't, do you? After all, everyone in this house and their family are just covering up their insecurities..." he smirked. "Believe me, I know, I've seen the parents of every person in this room groveling at my father's feet...and the people here will undoubtedly follow in their parents footsteps." Laughing softly again, he looked around the room.

Malix nodded. "That is what you get," he said flatly. He was entirely against leaving work until the last minute, especially for something like a party. What kind of Slytherin ambition was letting yourself fail for a little fun. As if some pathetic party was even fun.

Staring a second longer, he almost rolled his eyes, but shook his head instead and went back to his book for what had to be the tenth time.

[Nora Nott]

"Well here's a little secret to my amusing attitude. I did not get the benefit of having parents that automatically made every member of this house want to be my friend."Nora kept her emotions in check, determined not to let Malix get any satisfactory out of the fact he got to her. "Believe it or not, some of us have to change into people we don't want to just to, it's just life."she added quietly, shaking her head. She didn't expect him to understand, because like she had pointed out, he was the son of the Dark Lord, and because he was, he could really act any way he wanted to and everyone would still break necks to be his friend. That was a fact. Nora spent her entire first year in the girls' bathroom crying her eyes out because of the cruel things her fellow classmates did to her. It wasn't until she started acting like an arrogant jerk that she realized being polite would only get her picked on and hexed throughout the rest of her years at Hogwarts. Not that she would ever tell anyone that story. It was pathetic. "And I take care of my insecurities with other things that my attitude. So until you personally know me, which like everyone else in the school, you never will, I would appreciate it if you would just keep your opinions to yourself."she snapped at him.


She was almost tempted to gather her things and go to her dorm, but she was there first and if anyone was going to leave, it would be Malix. She continued scribbling onto the parchment, trying to find her emotionless attitude that she almost always had during situation like these, but she couldn't do it. Malix really got under her skin, and she hated it. She subconsciously chewed on her lower lip, something normally did when she was angry or nervous, and in this case it was out of anger. She noticed a blotch of ink on her nail and decided to concentrate on getting it off instead of concentrating on Malix.

[Malix Riddle]

Raising one eyebrow, Malix closed his book with a snap and leaned forward in his chair. "Don't even start that with me," he said in a low voice. "You have no idea. No idea, Nott. Don't try to act like you do," he said in a dangerously low hiss. All signs of his usual charm gone, he narrowed his blue eyes, piercing into hers. "If you think that living with my parents sounds pleasing, because all of the students immediately try to surround you to avoid getting on the Dark Lord's bad side...you try it." Reopening his book, he leaned back again. "So, until you personally know me, and my parents, keep your mouth closed," he said in a mocking tone.

Heaving a deep breath, he picked back up on the thirteenth page of the Dark Arts book. Determined to not completely lose his temper in the middle of the common room, he ignored Nora, tuning all sound in the common room out.