This Side of Paradise(open)

[brett]

Regulus sat alone at a table near the back of the library. He was seated in the chair closet to the book shelf so to get a new book he would merely need to turn around and reach back for one. The book he was currently skimming through was a book on various hexes. He was flipping through the pages with his left hand quickly scanning each page waiting for a title or illustration to catch his eye.

His right hand held a quill to a parchment that was about half full of scribbled hexes and spells written so close together Reg had needed to circle the perimeters of each hex and a small description or word that went with it, so he could decipher it later. He was well into the book with a little less than 100 of the books 300 pages to go. Regulus butt ached from sitting in the stiff uncomfortable wooden chair of the library causing him to wiggle his hips to get more comfortable.

Trying to ignore his aching backside Regulus began to scribble down a hex that, but stopped halfway through, stood up agitated and drew his wand. He cast a quick cushioning charm on the chair and reclaimed his seat. It felt somewhere between sitting on his broom and sitting on a beanbag chair, which was quite a pleasant improvement. The agitation from a moment ago evaporated Regulus returned to his work.

Not five minutes later, frustration returned. This time in the form of a remarkably stiff neck, which until this point Reg had ignored easily. Dropping the quill to lay across the parchment Regulus began to roughly massage the back of his neck with his right hand hoping to work out the kinks. Unconsciously he began rocking back on his newly cushioned seat trying to give himself a more comfortable position. One rock went to far back however and the chair fell backwards taking Regulus with it.

The chair hit with a loud thud followed by a second quieter thud, Reg's head. Despite a now throbbing skull Reg was fine physically, but he could feel his face flush quite quickly with embarrassment hoping that by some miracle, no one had seen. He doubted he was that lucky.

[ryan]

And Reg hadn't been that lucky. Although, neither was Ryan at that moment. Although his very of unlucky was being forced to enter such a place of the library (uck!) for the first time in what must have been a few good years (literally). The reason he was in here was the falling grades he was getting in his classes, and the constant nagging of his mother. Ryan had been walking to wards the table one which seated the only person he knew on the Library at that moment - Regulus Black. Sure, they weren't the best of mates, in fact they didn't really talk much, but they didn't hate each other. Well, at least Ryan didn't hate Rug. He didn't have a reason to. Just as he was walking upto the table he witnessed the act of complete stupidity and of amusement (in Ryan case). Ryan suppressed a laugh (it came out as some sort of muffled cough) and leaned over Reg as he lay on the floor. "Having a nap there, Reg?" He smiled at the boy, teasing him, although he offered he hand out to the Slytherin boy to help him up.

Ryan had previously been in his dorm room, watching a owl come closer and closer to Hogwarts in the cloudy White sky. At first he hadn't recognized the Owl, but as it got closer he realized that it was one of his mother's barn owls. It hadn't made the breakfast post, but instead had come directly to his Dorm Room window. When he had taken the leter from the owl, given it a small treat from his trunk and sat down on the bed (which happened to have Pop Socks asleep on it) he read the letter. It was from his mother, and commented on the falling grades he was getting in such subjects as DADA and Transfiguration. It was the reason he was in the Library now, standing over Reg with his hand out as an effort to help.

Ryan was standing in his school robes, with with spiky hair and messy appearance all purposeful, his tie hanging loose around his neck, his collar button undone and, for the first time in his history, a textbook that he was actually going to read properly in his hand (!). The Transfiguration textbook was chosen instead of a Defense Against the Dark Arts mainly because he found Transfiguration easier that DADA and therefore he decide that it would be a good idea to start with this subject and build his grades up in the easier subject first. Whether this was going to be a good method or not only time (and his grades) would tell.

[brett]

"Piss off," Regulus said, though the effect was probably lost in the fact that he was laughing as he grabbed Ryan's hand and pulled himself back up. Picking up the chair and setting it right. He began rubbing the back of his throbbing skull looking at Ryan. "What brings you here?" he supposing it was a stupid question since there were limited reasons a person would come to a library. But after all he had just sustained significant head trauma, he was allowed a stupid question.

Ryan Jessup was not exactly Reg's friend and was actually rather surprised he had come to his aid. Of course Reg had been hoping more for a cute girl, but he supposed with his possible relationship with Indi this was best. This way he wouldn't even get the chance to screw up a relationship he wasn't even sure he was in. Which reminded him, he needed to see Indi soon and asked her about that.

That could be worried about later. Right now he had a pounding headache and Ravenclaw to deal with. A Ravenclaw in the library didn't really seem all that uncommon and since Reg knew little about Ryan past his name, house, year, and that Reg could generally tolerate him. He supposed now would be as good a time as any to find out anything else worth knowing.

[ryan]

Piss off. Ryan laughed at the Slytherin as he took his hand and pulled himself up. Reg look in pain (not surprising as he had just fallen back in his chair) but Ryan didn't comment on it - there was no need to. Instead he replied to Reg's question, "What brings you here?". It was a silly question, them being in a Library and all, but Ryan let him off, after all the boy had just hit his head, hard, so he had the right to ask a silly question. "I'm being forced to improve my grades." And Ryan raised the Transfiguration Book that he had in his hand. Not a fun thing to be doing, at least not in Ryan's case, but not an optional thing to be doing either. Before Reg could question to who could be forcing him to work Ryan added "My mom will kill me if my grades don't raise in Transfiguration and DADA - she told me so this morning by owl. A perfect way to start the day, if I do say so myself." And Ryan smiled at his own bad luck.

Ryan looked the boy up and down and laughed again, the smile on his face being a permanent feature, before commenting, "Although you don't look as if you are having much more luck than me." His comment meaning the incident with the chair. Ryan wasn't usually one to just randomly talk to people he didn't usually talk to, but Reg was an OK guy and there was no one else here he even knew. Which got him wandering were everyone else was, and why Reg was here in the first place, meaning what type of work he was doing. Ryan glanced over to the desk and skimmed the messy parchment with the scribblings of hexes all over it. Looked like fun - not. "Hexes, fun." Ryan said as he faces Reg again, the sarcasm evident in his voice.

Ryan hated work, and hated it with a passion so much that he no longer cared for it in the slightest. Charms was the only subject that he seemed to click with - mainly because it was easy. He had gotten an O for Charms in his O.W.Ls, but only by some sort of fluke that the charms he had to preform were the ones he actually liked doing. The rest of his O.W.Ls were A grade (three of them) or below. So he basically only passed four of his O.W.Ls, which got him in right trouble with his mother, although not so much with his father who didn't seem to understand the system. He didn't want a repeat of the argument he'd had with his mother, and the weeks of no social life because of his groundings, but he could only bring himself to work on the instruction of his mother. Such was the life of the lazy Ravenclaw.

[brett]

"A Ravenclaw who needs to improve his grades?" Regulus said a bit unbelieving. Ryan had never seemed like mush of a studier, but Reg had always assumed that because he was a Ravenclaw he must. Good job Reg, just stick to those stereotypes and you'll be just like your housemates soon enough, he thought regretfully. "What'd you get an E?" Reg asked figuring this would be enough to send the typical Ravenclaw scrambling for the books. So he had chosen to stick with the stereotypes, not a great call, but bad habits proved hardest to break.

"Watch the ton," Regulus warned covering up his parchment with the still open book. "There's one on there that'll send bogey's the size of bats flying from your nostrils," he smirked. Now how was that for fun? Reg wasn't much of one for studying per say, but learning new powerful magic spelt fun for him. Though a bat bogey hex wasn't exactly powerful magic, today had been more of a day to find fun hexes to cast on first years when he got bored.

Regulus never took particular pride in picking on the first, but they made such easy targets. Of course second years were quite fun too, though a bit more rebellious. Reg had made the mistake of trying out a new spell on an unsuspecting 7th year, back when he was only a fourth year. His Lanky form came in handy for once as he out ran the boy and made sure his face was never seen. He still used older students for target practice once in awhile, but the young ones were easier. He had actually found that quite a few didn't mind providing it was reversed quickly and Reg taught them how to use it. This worked mostly with young Slytherins though the other houses had a view deviants as well.

[ryan]

Ryan laughed. Obviously Reg have gone for the stereotypical type on Ravenclaw - not what Ryan was. An E in DADA and Transfiguration? In his dreams - or nightmares. No, Ryan had gotten an A in Transfiguration and a - cringe - P in his DADA. That was completely down to the lack of preparation he did before the exam. "Your having a laugh, mate! An E? In my dreams, I got an A in Transfiguration and a P in DADA." No he wasn't proud of the results (he was to worried his mother would actually kill him if he was proud of a P), but he didn't mind them. He wasn't going to hide them from the world; that was pointless. Ryan leaned back against the desk, the smile still prominent on his face - as it almost always was.

"There's one on there that'll send bogey's the size of bats flying from your nostrils," Well, that didn't sound to bad - he was going to have to look up some of those hexes, they could come in useful in the continuing battle against his brothers. Ryan glanced at the parchment again, before Reg coved it up - damn him! Still, he would look up some of those hexes later on, after he had done his Transfiguration work... if he would ever get around to doing it. Ryan was very easily distracted - shown by the way he had almost forgotten about the text book what was swinging loosely in his hand now. A quick reminder was given as the book slipped from his hand and fell with a thud on his foot. "Owwwya" Ryan moaned, lifting his foot up and clutching it as he leaned on the table for support.

Not a clever move, Ryan. His wand was jabbing into his side as well, making the experience even more painful. He left the book on the floor, still clutching his foot - adding pressure to try and numb the pain. Fucking book, bloody wand. Being a muggle raised wizard Ryan never really used magic as a first impulse, it was really like a second mindset to him - so he often resented the wand he carried and robes he wore. Now more than ever.

[brett]

"A 'P?' Your really out to disprove that stereo type aren't you?" Reg said with and incredulous smile. He had always assumed intelligence was a prerequisite for being in Ravenclaw. But really a 'P'? Even Sirius didn't get P's...though to be fair Sirius seemed to come out of the womb casting spells. Reg on the other hand learned quickly and was able to actually comprehend subjects like Potions and Acient Runes, where his brother tended to struggle.

How do parents let kids get away with grades like that? His parents probably would have disowned him for getting a 'P.' Of course the Black family was somewhat infamous for disowning members not found worthy of the name. This was the exact reason Reg had worked to become the model son, because if he wasn't then he would share his brother's fate. And as much as Reg liked to believe he was independent, he depended heavily on others, especially family members.

Reg couldn't help but chuckle as Ryan dropped his book onto his foot. "Ha, serves you right for mocking me," Reg said as if the book had fallen, by some great balancing force. It was karma coming back, if you believed in that sort of thing. Seeing that Ryan seemed to be a little to distracted with pain to worry about the book, Regulus drew his wand and levitated the book up onto the table. Ryan had helped him off the floor, so Reg helped the book off the floor, now they were even. In retrospect, it would have been just as easy to have bent down and picked up the book, but why bother when you had magic?