Multitasking ↠ Elijah & Zara
Muttering quiet curses under her breath, Zara scribbled the last few names and notes onto her schedules before throwing down her quill with a sigh. She was a bit of a workaholic, to the extent where even she sometimes questioned if she was sorted into the right house, but breaks were something she couldn’t live without. And so far, she had done nothing during this break but finish assignments and Head Girl duties. On the up-side, she was already halfway through the load of coursework her professors had dropped in her lap for break. On the down-side, she was going stir crazy.
Stretching, she pulled herself out of the chair that she sat in, throwing some of her scraps into the fire before running up to quickly leave her things in her dorm. The common room hadn’t been at all rowdy today, everyone seemed to be lazing around instead. There were first years just laying out before the fire and some older kids playing chess but for the most part, the inane chatter was kept to a minimum. There hadn’t even been as many declarations of snow ball wars—the midterms and stress of the first semester lulling everyone into a semi-comatose state.
Zara wandered the halls for a while, restless and bored. Nothing appealed to her. She didn’t even feel hungry as she bypassed the kitchens. Even when she came across friends and acquaintances in the halls, she couldn’t bring herself to stand around and chat for long. The normal niceties and pleasantries making her fidgety with boredom. Eventually, though, her stomach rumbled despite her mind telling her she didn’t want anything. Crossing her arms across her stomach, she huffed as she turned away from the stairs, heading instead toward the doors of the Great Hall.
Scanning her surroundings for someone to sit with, she caught sight of a familiar boy… Shaking his textbook vigorously? Changing her mind, she walked toward the seat across from him instead of going to sit with one of the girls in her Transfiguration class, eyebrows raised and curiosity evident across her features. Upon closer inspection, she huffed a laugh with a roll of her eyes. His textbook was wet. Pulling out her wand, she placed the tip against the edge of the book, muttering the drying spell before taking a seat.
"Really Elijah?" she side-eyed him, placing her chin in her hand as she reached for an apple. "For such a smart guy, you don’t always make the smartest decisions," Zara grinned. Reaching over, she snagged the almost-back-to-new book away from his reach, spinning it around to scan over the pages. She had just gone over this the night before. "You shouldn’t try to eat and study at the same time, you’ll end up choking," she shook her head, marking the page with a stray piece of parchment before snapping it shut, "Or ruining your book again."
Although he wasn't entirely oblivious to the fact that some of the other students in the hall were staring and chuckling at the sight of the Ravenclaw, Elijah chose to ignore the fact that they were getting their evening entertainment from his lack of foresight. It was an unfortunate situation, and there were a few Slytherin third years behind him snickering. Embarrassment was not a feeling that Elijah was all too accustomed to, but that did not mean he would let it get to him. After all, he had nothing to be embarrassed about-- small accidents like this were nothing to be ashamed of. "No use crying over spilt milk," he muttered under his breath, a small saying he remembered his grandmother using often.
Elijah supposed he should have not placed his glass of water so close to his textbook. Or maybe he should have skipped a drink altogether. But it was too late now, the damage was done. It was as he was pathetically attempting to dry out his textbook when a familiar Slytherin girl approached him. He opened his mouth in protest as she took her wand out until he realized she was helping him, then he shut it. He almost protested to say he didn't need her help, but decided against it as the situation was embarrassing enough.
Zara had Elijah rolling his eyes slightly. Although, she did save his book, so he had to at least give her credit for that much. "I suppose you're right," Elijah said to Zara. "Decisions have never really been a strong point for me-- but that's something we'll keep between the two of us, yeah? Anyways, thanks for saving my book from my momentary lack of dexterity." Sheepishly, he moved the glass of water he had accidentally knocked over and gotten all over the table. The fact that Zara had thought to use a drying spell made him feel rather stupid for not having thought of it himself. It seemed so obvious in retrospect, he supposed. "However, as for your advice about studying and eating at the same time, no promises that I'll follow it."
He eyed the book that she had pulled out of his grasp, thinking about protesting, and then decided against it for yet a second time since the girl had arrived. Instead, he reached for a pile of napkins to wipe down the mess he had caused on the table."Well, at least it didn't get any of the food soggy," he said, with a shrug. His face was a slight mix of distaste and indifference. Finally, it seemed the table was dry however, so he bunched the napkin up and put it on his plate so he would remember to throw it away afterwards. He then grabbed for the piece of bread he had been trying to eat before.
