Studying, it has to be done...open

Melody trudged down to the Library. She hated homework and potions assignments were the worst. She didn't mind doing the potions in class, that was actually fun, but the essays on the ingredients and how to combine them were her downfall. She wanted to be done with them and wished she had someone that she could just copy off of. I mean, how many ways was there to describe the uses of Dragon's Blood or Dittany or one of a plethora of other herbs, roots, powders, or tinctures, not to mention the animal and insect parts.

She headed to the potion section and pulled down a rather large tome and laid it open on the table. She would copy section after section until she had her essay. Not word for word but paraphrasing enough that it wouldn't be obvious where she got her information. She set her AutoWriting (TM) quill on her parchment and began to speak in a low tone. The quill quickly scrawled as she spoke. This was at least easier than actually writing out everything herself, and the quill was a good approximation of her own handwriting. She just had to remember to pick it up before she started talking to anyone else, not that anyone would be in this deserted area of the Library.

Alec had Potions homework to do. He didn’t really need to study for it, he was already getting top marks in that class, anyway. But a little extra knowledge never hurt anyone, right? With his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans, Alec made his way along the second floor corridor, turning a corner every now and then until the large wooden doors of the library came into view. Without a sound, Alec pushed the doors open and headed straight towards the Potions section of the library.

As he browsed the books, he heard a voice talking in low tones. He could hear the scratching of a quill, too. Grabbing a random book about potions, Alec tucked it under his arm and made his way towards the voice. Sitting at a table was Melody Ackerman, a friend of Alec’s. They’d known each other since their first year, and were fairly close friends. A light smile on his face, Alec walked over to the girl. “Hey, Melody”, he said, setting his book down on the table. “Mind if I sit here?”

Without waiting for a response, Alec pulled a chair out and sat down, pulling himself closer towards the table as he flipped the book open. He leaned towards Melody slightly, his eyes flicking across her parchment. “Aah, you’re doing the Potions homework too?” he said, flipping a page in the book he’d gotten.

She picked up her quill before responding. She didn't want a detailed record of what she said. "Hi Alec, of course you can sit with me anytime," she smiled up at him. "Yes I am working on my potins homework. I am okay at the actual brewing but I stink at doing these wretched essays. Why the teacher assigns them, I don't know. But you are absolutely brilliant at potions, so maybe you could help me?" She really hated these stupid essays, but they were required so she did them reluctantly.

"I'm glad I ran into you, a few of us are having a little get together a week from Friday night. I'd really like it if you came. It is just a few friends for dinner and some music, nothing fancy, out in the garden." She grinned at the thought of him in the moonlight. She would have to check a calendar and make sure it wasn't the night of the full moon, it would be awkward otherwise.

“Yes I am working on my potions homework. I am okay at the actual brewing but I stink at doing these wretched essays. Why the teacher assigns them, I don’t know. But you are absolutely brilliant at potions, so maybe you could help me?”

Alec grinned. He knew how good Melody was at brewing potions, they were usually partners in Potions, so it worked out well for him. “Sure I’ll help you. What do you need help with?” he asked. He’d barely gotten the question out of his mouth before Melody was inviting him to some gathering out in the gardens. It was at night. Alec wracked his brains for the date of the next full moon, and grinned. February 22nd. That was perfect. He loved a good party as much as the next person, but being a werewolf made it hard for him to plan things. He had to plan everything around the full moon, and sometimes he’d forget when the full moon was. There had been an almost serious accident one year when he’d forgotten the date and gone to a party outside with Danielle. That was not a pleasant experience, and it was not one he wanted to repeat.

“Sure, Melody, I’d love to go to your shindig”, Alec said, grinning at his friend, “Full moon’s not until February, so we’re safe.” He couldn’t wait. Usually parties started much earlier into the school year, but he guessed people were being lazy this year. Especially the seventh years, what with it being their last year and all. Alec wanted to get this studying out of the way so he could tell Danielle. He wasn’t sure if she’d want to go. She seemed to have some grudge against Melody that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. But he didn’t exactly want to go without her. But then Danielle might want to bring Gabrielle, and Gabrielle would want to bring Michelle, and Alec knew Melody and her friend Columbine weren’t great fans of the Amorcya twins. There was some rivalry between them. It was quite annoying.

"I'm glad you will be able to attend, I'll look forward to seeing you there." She smiled. Inwardly she was glad she had been able to find him alone. She hadn't mentioned inviting Dani, but after the planning session, she knew that Columbine would make sure that she was invited. Whether she'd come was another story all together. She hoped not.

"Well, you know what that wretched assignment was, I am trying to track down all the uses of Dragon's blood, and found 3 so far, but I can't remember where I saw the list of all the uses. If I don't find more, the Prof. will enjoy giving me a Troll for my grade on this." She hung her head, looking defeated, but with him here, she shouldn't have any problem getting him to help her finish the essay.

"Let's see, I have..." she picked up her essay so far and read, "It is good for healing cuts and bruises, and an oven cleaner, and an essential ingredient in the Sorcerer's Stone." But that is it, I just can't remember the other ones. It will be a T for Troll for sure. You will be fine, the Professor likes you, but me? I hope I don't flunk out." She picked up the book that she had taken off the shelf. "Maybe I can find a list in one of the books here. What does your book have?" She was atrocious at this. Give her a recipe and she was fine, but she hated essay questions with a passion. Next year she would be done with essays. She suddenly realized what he had said. Love potions...that would be a fun use for a very expensive ingredient. It could be fun to spike a certain punch bowl with a love potion, that would make for a very interesting party. She shouldn't, she really shouldn't, but it would make things interesting around here.

“It is good for healing cuts and bruises, and an oven cleaner, and an essential ingredient in the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

Janice whizzed across the parchment as Melody spoke, taking down everything the girl said. Alec shook his head firmly when Melody mentioned getting a T for sure. “You will not get a T, Melody. I’ll help you”, he said. With that, he leaned across the table to take Melody’s parchment. He motioned for Janice to switch parchments. The quill moved over to Melody’s parchment and started writing down what Alec had on his parchment, but in different words. “See”, Alec said, grinning, “You won’t get a Troll. I won’t let you.” He was careful not to let Janice write down the conversation. The quill quivered a moment, before dropping onto the table. Alec slid the parchment back over to Melody, and nodded slightly. “We’re both done, now. Exceeds Expectations at least for both of us.”

He drummed his fingertips along the table for a moment, before turning his gaze back to Melody. “Who else are you thinking of inviting to this shindig?” he asked, “Do you need any help with planning and whatnot? Need a booze supply? I can hook you up.” Alec was big on alcohol. He and his dorm mates had a stash of their own right at the back of their walk in wardrobe. They liked to drink late at night and talk about random crap that was going on at the school.

"I'm not sure who all else is on the invite list, Cara and Columbine are working on that for me. As to alcohol, if you want to help provide I wouldn't turn it down, but I think we have some lined up. However, if you want to help with the party, maybe we could go into town and pick up some of the decorations, maybe Friday night? We could hit a few of the shops and then get some dinner?" She looked at him innocently, though her thoughts were more scheming than that. Any time he volunteered to help her, she would take advantage of the situation to get him alone or at least away from the Hale girl.

“Maybe we could go into town and pick up some of the decorations, maybe Friday night? We could hit a few of the shops and then get some dinner?”

The look on her face was completely innocent. Alec didn’t think too much about it. He had dinner with his friends all the time, what was the big deal? Danielle… his mind told him. Ah, right. Danielle was the big deal. She didn’t like Melody, and had no problems of letting Alec know her ill feelings towards the other girl. Danielle often claimed that Melody had more than just friendly feelings towards Alec, something he had yet to see. But Danielle knew Alec and Melody were friends. Good friends, at that. She wouldn’t have a problem with Alec spending one friendly night with Melody, would she? Alec knew the answer to that question before he even asked. Of course she would. Danielle would be outright against the idea.

Alec turned a crooked grin to Melody, and scratched the side of his head, thinking. It had really been too long since he and Melody had hung out together. One night wouldn’t do any damage. He’d just tell Danielle about it beforehand. As long as he told her where he was going, there would be no damage, right? Well, that was what Alec was going to tell himself. And it would be what he kept telling himself until he’d spoken to Danielle. He turned his attention back to Melody, and nodded. “Sure, that sounds like fun”, he said. “I’d be happy to go into town with you.”

"It will be fun to go to into town together," she smiled. "It has been a long time since we have done something just the two of us, well other than study." she grimaced at the thought of more studying. "I'll meet you after our last class on Friday?" She offered. "I was thinking that way we can hit the stores for some of the decorations before they close and then we can get dinner at the cafe or somewhere, unless you have a better idea?" She was completely open to whatever he suggested, she could even pick up the decorations later with the girls if he didn't want to go shopping. But spending the evening with him alone was a perfect idea. Maybe she could show him that he didn't need Hale to have a good time. And if word got back to her that they had spent the evening together, well so much the better...

“I’ll meet you after our last class on Friday? I was thinking that way we can hit the stores for some of the decorations before they close and then we can get inner at the café or somewhere, unless you have a better idea?”

Alec drummed his fingers along the table top, frowning as he thought about what Melody had said. It really had been too long since they’d done something together, other than study. He did miss spending time with Melody; she was one of his best friends. He’d never seen, or heard of Melody thinking of him as any more than a friend, and even if he had, he wouldn’t stop spending time with her. Melody knew that he was with Danielle, and as far as he knew, she wasn’t about to try and break the two of them up. “Screw eating at a café”, Alec said, grinning lightly, “I’ll take you to that fancy pants place, Antarya Amarcis. We’ll eat in style.”

He enjoyed the junk food at Cookies ‘n’ Cream, but if he was going to spend time with Melody, he wasn’t going to do it at the café. Antarya Amarcis was as good a place as any, and it had good food to top it all off. Sometimes they’d have some live entertainment, too. He’d have to look into who was going to be there on Friday night. He just hoped Danielle didn’t mind. It wasn’t like he was taking Melody on a date. It was just a night out with two friends. Hopefully Danielle would see it that way…

"If you insist, I would love to go out to the Antarya Amarcis with you." She grinned, this was going to be more fun than she had hoped. She would have to wear something that would knock his socks off. It would be oh so bad if Dani found out that he was taking her out to a nice restaurant. But knowing him, he would let her know that they were going out to dinner. But she relished the challenge. She would make Dani so jealous that she would drive him away, so that he would be free of her.

"Thanks for helping me with my potions homework, you really are a life saver. I swear I would be flunking out if you hadn't been there to help me through it." She was happy whenever she got someone to do her homework for her.