Time Out [lucas]

[Colin MacClery]

Colin was not in the best of moods. He had been at Hogwarts for a couple of weeks now, and yet he hadn't slipped seamlessly in with the other witches and wizards in his year. He wasn't struggling or anything, it was just tough work and he was not used to it. Most of the time he enjoyed being stretched and challenged. This was a constant effort, though, and he had been used to coasting through school on top grades with ease. Loads of stuff the other kids all knew already, but he had to go and look it up. Catching up was far harder than he'd thought. Magic was getting so much easier all the same. He could learn to cast a spell just as fast as any other kid, faster than many of them. It was just all the theory he struggled with. A part of him still argued for science, and the cognitive dissonance created with the merging of science he knew must be true and magic he knew must be true was enough to give him a headache. Having spent so much time reading up on science, those ideas were firmly planted in his view on the world. Magic didn't fit in there, but there was no denying it. Apparently both were right, in a way, but trying to reconcile a surprisingly detailed scientific knowledge with a comparatively limited magical one was a big ask of an eleven-year-old.

Not only was he finding it hard to figure out how he thought the world worked, he was having to cope with some loneliness, too. He'd sent an owl to his family and they'd replied, but it wasn't the same just having some little note saying everyone was fine and they hoped he was well and all that rubbish. He missed his parents, but more so he missed his big sister Enya and cousin Lorcan. Lorcan didn't even know about magic, so he couldn't send him an owl or anything. There were a few people he was friendly with, but he hadn't made enough friends close enough to hang out with whenever he felt like hanging out with someone. That was partly his own fault for not talking to people, and partly for being an intolerable arrogant know-it-all when he did speak to them, but he wasn't really aware of that problem. Right now he wanted to cuddle his kitten, Star, but he didn't know where she was.

He'd found a nice quiet corner of the Clock Tower. No one was around on this floor so he could sit on a bench right in the middle facing all the mechanisms of the clock without being bothered. The only sounds he could hear were his own breathing, the rustling of pages as he read and wrote, and the rhythmic sounds of the clock. When he had first sat down here that had annoyed him, but after a little while he had found it more relaxing. The clicks of turning cogs, the swinging pendulum and ticking clock all worked smoothly and perfectly despite sounding a bit old and too complex to still be working. It was comforting. Right now a lot of people were eating dinner, but he'd eaten already so had come here. He was wearing jeans, a plain dark green t-shirt, and a denim jacket he liked, since with lessons over he didn't have to wear his uniform. On his lap was a book, a sort of fairly detailed encyclopaedia of magical creatures to help him catch up. On top of that was a scroll of paper on which he was doodling absently from time to time. He'd read for a bit, then pause to do a few number games on the paper, maybe looking up briefly at the clock mechanism. He loved numbers, but maths wasn't a subject here. There was something called Arithmancy, but he couldn't take that until his third year. He was tempted to take out a book on it from the library anyway. He'd promised to himself that he would some day after he'd caught up with all these magical creatures and customs and history and all that. It was pleasant to just sit here listening to the clock and reading. The number games were helping calm him down from how angry he'd been feeling when he'd first sat down here, too. He needed this time to himself to collect his thoughts. Just a break from the school, really. He loved it, he really did, he just needed a little time out.

[Lucas Cassidy]

Lucas sighed in relief as he left the potions classroom, although he enjoyed it, it was a lot of work for someone his age. The small boy loosened his tie and began walking in the direction of the library, as he did everyday, it was Lucas' favourite thing to do after class, he had no friends as he didn't quite fit in with others and he didn't do quite well with making friends. It wasn't that Lucas didn't want any friends, it's just that he didn't feel it was necessary to count on others, all he needed was a good book and a quiet space to read it in. Although he had to admit he was extremely lonely, his twin didn't seem to want anything to do with him, which of course upset him but he acted like he didn't care, he didn't show much emotion when others were around him, that's why he liked books so much, he could get lost within the story and his own emotions could finally express something. The only somewhat-friend he could call was his pet, some had owls, rats, toads, but he had a cat, Ratchet, who had been with him for a few years now. Ratchet was a scrawny creature, similar to Lucas himself, which was odd considering his breed, Ratchet's fur was light grey, fluffy and pattered similarly to a leopard, his eyes were a light turquoise colour which often changed to a more defined green or blue depending on his own mood. Lucas loved him and in return Ratchet loved his owner, but Lucas had only believed that he was only capable of befriending animals and so that's all he ever did.

The library was quite full when he finally made it there, not exactly the way he liked it, he sheepishly made his way to the school section of the library and picked up a potions book to help him understand the subject more, the more he knew the easier it would be. He decided to not stay within the crowded library and exited swiftly. Hogwarts was a lot different to what his parents had explained, it changed everyday so not one day was the same. Some days the library was deadly silent and on others it was full of studying students, this was one of the other days. The bespectacled boy opened the book as he walked and began to read the contents of the large book, he allowed his feet to take him wherever they desired, not caring much for where he would end up, as long as he knew the way back.

When it came to dinner time, Lucas shrugged it off as a waste of time, he didn't eat much which was obvious by his starved figure, he preferred the food of knowledge to actual food and so he continued to walk around and read, carefully avoiding people that passed him along the way. The boy was starting to realise his surroundings, they were unknown to him and he was most likely lost within the large school, but as usual he didn't care, he was trying to finish his book and just continued down a hallway. It was silent until he walked further down the hallway; the sound of pages turning, faint breathing and quiet footsteps suddenly were replaced by some kind of mechanism, turning cogs sounded rhythmically and it somewhat calmed him as he continued to read, he was coming to the end of the book, just a few hundred more pages to go. His walking became paced, walking in time to the ticking of the clock ahead of him, the halls were completely empty here and it was just as Lucas liked it.

[Colin MacClery]

Footsteps. The sound was different to the ticking and cogs Colin had grown used to as background noise. That made it stand out. He looked up, mildly annoyed by the sudden disturbance. He couldn't see anyone. The footsteps were pretty quiet, he supposed. Whoever they belonged to must be around the corner or something. Thinking they might not go past him after all, he went back to his book. Originally he had considered reading it cover to cover, but after he started doing that he'd found himself reading about creatures no one had really heard of while he still knew little of those everyone else thought commonplace. He instead had decided to go for the creatures he'd heard a lot about first, then go back and read anything that sounded interesting. It was a big book and was pretty dull to read in the cases of the more mundane creatures. He had already looked up fairies and unicorns, things prevalent in Muggle folklore he felt he really ought to know the truth about lest he look like an idiot talking about something Muggles believed that was not in the least bit true. He'd moved onto gnomes now. They were well known to Muggles but featured little in myths and legends, but he'd heard an awful lot of people complain about gnome infestations they'd had in the past. It was a good thing he'd looked them up, too. He had thought they were little statues with fishing rods, or merry elf-like things, but from their pictures they were more like walking potatoes. They weren't really harmful, but were annoying pests. The methods recommended for getting rid of them were... unusual, to say the least.

The footsteps were growing louder. Colin looked up again, clear now in the knowledge that the person was going to walk past. Perhaps they would completely ignore a nerdy little first year reading a book by himself with a few numbers on a piece of paper for company. In a way, a part of him actually hoped the stranger would stop for a chat. That surprised him. He had thought of himself as perfectly happy to be alone. He supposed he had been feeling lonely lately, so maybe a good conversation would cheer him up. A friend might actually be nice.

The person wasn't a complete stranger. He was in the same year as him, and recognised him as they were in the same class for some subjects. Colin could recognise the names of a lot of people in his year, since he was in at least one class with just about everyone in the year. He could recognise fewer of their faces, but still most of them. Putting names to faces was another matter entirely. He could only manage that for people he spoke to most, those he sat near or his fellow Ravenclaws. As such, he didn't know this guy's name. He'd probably recognise it if he heard it, but was unable to recall it by himself. He hadn't spoken to the other guy before, but he thought he might have seen him wearing the green-lined cloak and green tie of Slytherin. Some students had warned him about Slytherin, but he thought on the whole they were all right. There were a couple he just could not stand, but not all of them were like those people. From what he could tell, Slytherins tended to be determined and stubborn people, unafraid to do what was necessary to have their way, and often pretty clever. He respected that. They got to the point without false courtesies or whatever, which often made them seem a bit harsh, but Colin thought that wasn't a bad thing to do.

Regardless of House, the other first-year was lost in a book and alone, just like Colin. Perhaps they were similar. He was nervous about initiating conversation, feeling awkward about how to start it without making the other guy dislike him. He didn't want to interrupt his reading either. After a hesitation, he stayed sitting down and spoke aloud. "Hey, what'cha reading?"

[Lucas Cassidy]

It wasn't unusual for Lucas to finish a book within a few hours, and so he wasn't surprised when he found himself coming to the end, though he was somewhat annoyed by it. The book wasn't all that interesting to him, it was just relevant to read for potions class, though he would prefer fiction to any one of the information books that he had been reading since he came to the school. The boy unconsciously rubbed his eyes as he turned the corner and quickly flipped the page over to continue reading ahead. The book had mentioned something about different types of potions and their uses. Lucas came to learn a lot about these potions within a few hours, it somewhat amazed him but he knew it would be a few years before he even got to try to create any of the potions for himself, which he felt thoroughly disappointed about but probably wouldn't show it. He dismissed the thought and continued to walk not realising the other persons presence.

The sudden voice startled the boy, and he paused for a moment, frozen, his eyes wide from shock, that was a fault of his, getting lost in a book and then getting scared by others around him. He slowly turned his head and noticed a boy sitting there, he looked to be his age but Lucas couldn't have known who he was, he wasn't wearing his uniform and Lucas didn't know his name or face. The question asked resound in his head, what an odd question to ask, Lucas thought to himself and blink thoughtlessly at the other, he was a strange boy, clearly not from Slytherin house like himself, he probably would have remembered him.

Lucas decided to examine the other, look at what he was reading, look at the surrounding papers, he was definitely an odd one but Lucas couldn't really judge him, he himself was an odd one. After realising suddenly that he was staring at the other for a few moments he scoffed and looked away, returning his embarrassed gaze back to his book and took a step to twist himself around, as if to face the other. "Nothin much." He replied, his face held a blank expression as he continued to read, he held it to his face to show the other what the book was. He was somewhat embarrassed for his earlier scare but he didn't want to show the other that as much as he could avoid it.

[Colin MacClery]

It was obvious he startled the other boy. Colin knew the feeling; he himself had been dragged suddenly out of a book after being completely lost in it. He didn't feel too bad about it, though. Now that the boy had spoken to him, he found himself really wanting a good proper conversation. It was odd how quickly he had gone from being perfectly content to be alone to feeling in need of a nice chat. Company could be very pleasant sometimes. He looked at the book. Something about Potions. Potions was all right. His older sister had shown him some of what she was doing in Chemistry at secondary school so he had a good idea of what the subject would entail (his primary school just taught basic science and wasn't the best at it), but many of his friends seemed to think Chemistry would be a lot like Potions. It was funny how they were doing his idea of the subject while he was doing their idea of it. He had to admit he was glad there. Potions wasn't as exciting as spell casting, but it was a good deal more fun and interesting than Chemistry. Easier, too, since so far it had been quite similar to very strange cookery. No doubt later they would need a better understanding of why different ingredients did what they did and how their properties affected other ingredients. After all, that had to be how professional potion-makers invented new potions.

Lucas' voice made it clear to Colin that he was from somewhere in Ireland. That made him smile. "Hey, are you from Ireland? I'm from Dublin myself. Not met another Irish guy here yet," he said. This place took young magic folk from all over the UK and Republic of Ireland, so he had expected to find more Irish people than he had. There weren't too many students, he supposed, and most witches and wizards seemed to live in the same few areas. It made sense for there to be wizarding communities as that made it easier for people to hide magic from Muggles and still enjoy it themselves among their friends. There were a lot of them in London, he gathered, and one nearby in Hogsmeade. With so many witches and wizards living there, there couldn't be very many in Ireland, so far away from London. It was nice to hear a familiar accent again after going from being surrounded by them all the time to having your own accent stand out against everyone else's.

He hadn't told the guy his name yet. That was rude, wasn't it? "Er, I'm Colin, by the way. Colin MacClery. I'm a first year too, a Ravenclaw. I think we're in the same classes for some things," he still felt pretty awkward.

[Lucas Cassidy]

It was clear that the other wanted to engage in conversation, something the other students never did with Lucas, it was strange but for some reason, he found himself wanting to reply to Colin. He lowered the book from his face and glanced at the other before giving a small nod. "There are a few people here from Ireland." He looked away slightly before looking back to his book and reading a few paragraphs within minutes. He had overheard conversations that mentioned the country itself, and a few noticeable accents indicated that some other students came from there as well, he always found it comforting to hear an Irish accent, even his parents didn't have an accent as strong as his own. "I live in London, though my birthplace is Belfast." He muttered as he turned a page in his book.

The boy looked at the other for a moment, he didn't recognise him at all, not his name nor his face rang a bell in his mind, was he really from the same classes and year as him? "Lucas, Lucas Cassidy." His own name annoyed him, he didn't have an Irish name, his family wasn't Irish after all but the other boy obviously was. "Which classes?" He decided to ask, he honestly couldn't say he had seen the other around but maybe that was just his ignorance.

[Colin MacClery]

Some people might have thought it rude that someone they were talking to carried on reading their book as they did so, but to Colin it seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. After all, he himself often found himself wanting to read or write or something during a conversation, not because he wasn't interested in what the other person was saying but because he felt like doing both at the same time. It wasn't a nice thing to do to tear someone away from a good book, either. Colin noticed the reading, but didn't take any mental note of it or think about what it might mean. It was the same way he noticed what people were wearing but didn't spare any thought on it unless they were sporting something really untoward.

"Belfast, I been there a few times. It's nice," he said. His mother had lived there for a while as a kid, so they went occasionally to visit some of her old school friends. One of them was his godmother, so they visited her all the time. He had the other boy's name now, which was good. Lucas Cassidy, he'd definitely heard that on the register before. He'd remember the face it belonged to now. As for the classes, it was hard to say which. The face and name might be familiar, but it was difficult to say where from when there were dozens in the same situation. Nothing of note had happened involving Lucas in a lesson as far as he could tell, so he was unable to think of him as the guy who did that thing in that lesson. He had a vague idea of which lessons, all the same, the subjects being different enough to make a distinction. "Erm... Flying. Charms, I think, and Transfiguration. Oh, and Herbology. Nearly forgot that one. I can't stand Herbology, though, knowing about all those plants just seems so pointless compared to other magic. The greenhouses are really stuffy, too," he barely stopped himself from saying 'real magic' rather than 'other magic', realising just in time that not everyone shared his view on Herbology and Lucas might be a bit upset if he insulted a favourite subject like that.

Charms and Transfiguration he was pretty good at, but Flying and Herbology were probably his worst subjects. He had never been any good at sports, so it was no surprise to him to find him struggling to anything ambitious on a broomstick. From the way he was going, it would be a useful method of transport but there was no way he was ever going to be a racer or Quidditch player. Herbology was worse because unlike riding around on a broomstick, it was boring. It seemed the least like magic out of all his subjects, being pretty similar to plant-related biology just with magical plants. He thought he was doing everything right, and then the plant would die. That was frustrating, because he could swear he was doing the same as everyone else and there was no guide to figuring out what he was doing wrong. He just couldn't get it right no matter how hard he tried, and couldn't see a way to possibly do any better. Plants had never interested him either, and here when he got something wrong not only would they wither and die but they usually had some nasty surprise in store, shooting weird things or screaming or something unexpected. Why couldn't any just look pretty and smell nice?

[Lucas Cassidy]

He listened to the other as he spoke the few classes that they shared, they were all of the classes that he didn't particularly like, especially Herbology, that was his worst subject, mainly because of his bad attitude towards it but he didn't understand the importance of plants. He had read a book on Herbology a few times but he still didn't quite understand why he had to take the subject when it was pointless to begin with. "I hate all of those classes." He announced as he closed his book with a slam, he was pleased he had finished reading it but that meant he had to take it back to the library, something he didn't really enjoy doing.

He nodded in agreement as the other explained why he couldn't stand the subject that Lucas himself hated, it wasn't often he found someone who hated a similar thing as him. "It's not even real magic, it's basically gardening." He rolled his eyes and then scowled into the distance, he really didn't see the point in the subject itself, it bored half of the students and hardly anyone got it right. Lucas had a foul attitude to subjects he didn't like, he would often skip out on the class or just cause trouble for himself but of course, that was the plan all along, he just wanted to entertain himself.

"There's a few books in the library.." Lucas stopped to think, was he really about to tell the other where he usually was? He shrugged to himself carelessly, Colin probably wouldn't want to read books on his worst subject anyway. "It's right at the back before the forbidden section.. Herbology is there if you wanted to understand it more." He had gone back to flipping through the book, looking at the detailed pages finding them less interesting with every passing page. Lucas had read almost every book on Herbology, he understood the subject itself but lacked to see it's importance to anything.

[Colin MacClery]

Lucas hated all those subjects? Charms and Transfiguration were really fun! Colin loved anything involving casting spells, probably because it simply felt more like proper magic. Coming from the Muggle world, that was extremely exciting. Many charms he knew of were not as cool as the stuff they learned in Defence Against the Dark Arts, but they were so useful. They would be of far more use in everyday life that learning to curse someone. They could levitate things, light the dark, lock and unlock things, and there was a complex charms for just about anything from letting someone breathe underwater to making a room undetectable. Transfiguration was trickier. They hadn't tried anything on live animals yet, but he did wonder what happened to them when they were transfigured. Did they die? That sounded cruel. What about when they were transfigured back, had they been on pause or dead in between? It made him feel uncomfortable.

It was good to hear his view on Herbology was shared. He couldn't see that being a popular choice when they got old enough to drop a few subjects. He grinned at the comment Lucas made, completely agreeing with him. That described it well. He could not see the point in dedicating good chunks of the first year syllabus to learning to look after plants. Nowhere in Muggle Britain was that seen as at all important. In fact, a lot of schools didn't even have a gardening club for those who were really keen. It was strange that it should be so important to witches and wizards. Magical plants didn't seem to serve much of a purpose in the post-school lives of magical folk, and when they did there were instructions anyway. "The dangerous stuff should be covered in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and anyone who actually cares about gardening should just join a gardening club," he said.

"Thanks, I might read those. Boring as it may be, I'd still like to keep up my good grades," he thanked Lucas, dropping a hint that he was doing well despite not caring about the subject. Colin had a knack of mentioning any success of his all the time without noticing. He was barely aware he'd done it in this instance. "What about subjects you do like? Charms can do so many things, and Defence Against the Dark Arts is pretty exciting. I think Arithmancy looks really interesting, but we don't get to take it 'til third year," he asked. Defence Against the Dark Arts seemed to be one of the most popular subjects in the school, and he could see why. It was action packed, adventurous, and excitingly dangerous. It was like being trained up to be a real life action wizard hero straight out a fast-paced adventure story. Colin doubted he personally could ever be an action hero, he wasn't athletic or brave enough, but that didn't stop it being fun.

[Lucas Cassidy]

He shuffled his feet slightly, his feet growing tired from standing in one place for too long but he wasn't one for sitting down with others so he decided to endure the aching in his legs. Lucas really didn't enjoy most of his subjects, his preferred subject was definitely the one involving the Dark Arts, though he wasn't very interested in the defence part, the darker the magic, the more intrigued he was, he had been in the forbidden section a few times to read some books on some types of dark magic and it excited him, more than it should have. He didn't mind the classes that involved casting spells, the more he learned, the more successful he would become, though he didn't really take interest in transfiguration. He didn't see the point in that either, why would you turn an object into another? Or even an animal? He didn't understand the excitement that the other first years felt, to him, it was just another boring subject.

He had to stop himself from grinning when his favourite subject was mentioned. Lucas enjoyed the 'dangerous stuff' that Colin was talking about, and found himself unconsciously agreeing with him. Lucas knew that almost everyone's favourite subject was Defence Against the Dark Arts, everyone had their reasons but it was mostly because it was such an exciting subject, filled with dangers and thrills, but it was to defend yourself against dark magic. That's what Lucas hated about it, he just enjoyed learning the names of the dark spells, practicing them in his head and scribbling thoughtlessly as he did, it was Lucas' number one subject just for the dark magic. "Maybe there should be a gardening club for those that care." He rolled his eyes, who could possibly enjoy Herbology anyway?

"They're a good read. Though the subject itself is annoying." He explained ignoring his comment about good grades, Lucas didn't really have those, he was intelligent enough to have outstanding grades, but he lacked the attitude. He blinked thoughtlessly as the next question was asked. He couldn't explain very well that he only enjoyed the Dark Arts section of the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, that would give him a bad reputation, so of course, he pulled a lie. "Potions is alright, quite interesting if I'm honest." He gestured to his book, not that he was completely lying about it, he did find it interesting but as a first year, he was unable to do the exciting things. "Astronomy and History of Magic are good too. I used to stargaze in the summer in Ireland." Of course these were the lies, he spent most of his time studying and trying to one up his twin brother, he had never stargazed in his life and history was the class he always fell asleep in, he had been caught a few times but regardless, he was good at them both. He always did his best in everything, always trying to be better than his brother, though his parents would never believe that he was good enough.

[Colin MacClery]

Colin would have offered Lucas a seat, but didn't see much point. If it were him in Lucas' position, he'd have just sat down already if he wanted to, so he assumed Lucas preferred to stand up. He was perfectly comfortable with that. He could see the other boy had an interest in Defence Against the Dark Arts too when it was mentioned. The other subjects he talked about had varying levels of interest to him. "Potions... not as satisfying as casting a spell though. I suppose there's just more instant gratification with spellcasting but you have to wait with potions," the theory behind it didn't interest him so much, either. How different things affected the body in different ways, and why, was similar to the study of medicine, something which wasn't as interesting to him as how the world worked. It was still good to know those things, of course.

"History in general is really interesting, I love it. The lessons, on the other hand, bore me to sleep half the time. Professor Binns was probably there for half the stuff he teaches and still can't make it fun for someone like me who loves the subject," he complained. That was no exaggeration; as a ghost, there were numerous rumours circulating regarding the teacher's true age. Depending on who you believed, he was a good couple of centuries old at least. History itself had always been one of Colin's favourite subjects. It didn't always have a practical use or a lesson to it, but the events of the past were fascinating and there was just so much. For someone as thirsty for knowledge as Colin, the past was a gold mine for fun facts and true stories. They could explain why things were like they were today, and there were mysteries to be guessed at, all sorts. It had everything really. He loved trying to put himself in the shoes of some historic figure or culture, thinking how they might have thought and trying to understand what their motives or goals or dreams might have been.

"Astronomy's pretty much a Muggle science with a bit of magic thrown in, but that's not really a bad thing. Stars and that are pretty cool. I've stargazed a couple of times when we went camping before, but mostly I can't be bothered to give up enough sleep to go out in the cold. Reading about them is enough," he wasn't a big fan of the great outdoors. Those camping trips had been spectacularly unpleasant. A long weekend of trekking cooped up in a tent with the family was a recipe for arguments. What with living in Ireland, too, the skies had been beautifully clear on the rare occasion they weren't raining as hard as they could. He didn't think he'd been properly dry the whole weekend. "Clearly you like reading about things as well," he nodded to the book Lucas was holding, "You prefer theory to practical stuff, then? I'm a bit of a mixture myself. I love to know how it all works, but I like to see things in action, too. Actually mastering a spell to use it really well. I don't think I could ever face anything really dangerous, though. I'd be way out of my depth in a duel or if I was faced with a deadly creature. Guess I'll probably end up a scholarly guy rather than some action hero," he said. Maybe a duel would be good for him, but he doubted he'd be any good and hated making an idiot of himself.

[Lucas Cassidy]

Lucas shrugged at his comment on potions, he favoured it somewhat and found it rather interesting, but he believed that everyone was entitled to their own opinions, not that he ever agreed with them. "I guess not.. But patience is key in this world." He sighed with an unhappy tone in his voice, he had to be one of the most inpatient people that anyone could have met, or that's at least what he thought of himself.

"I sometimes fall asleep too. Reading was always something I preferred to do, so reading all those history books was nothing to me really." He shrugged again, Lucas always found his life easier if it was written down for him to read, he never made it apparent that he hated the subject as he had to lie and say he liked it but it was also true that he did enjoy reading all of the history books in the library. He didn't want knowledge like other students, he just wanted entertainment and that was usually found in the books he read, history books about old wars, fairytales, fiction books anything that he could get his hands on. "But I do enjoy the classes." He lied again, easily hiding it from the other, classrooms filled with people annoyed him, how was he meant to concentrate with so many people around him being loud and disruptive.

Lucas bit his tongue at the mention of muggles, he hated them along with muggleborns and Gryffindor's, not for any good reason just because he felt that way. There were a few times that Lucas had to hold back from exploding every time someone mentioned them but on occasion, he couldn't contain it. He decided to follow the change in conversation, trying to calm himself down. "I just like to read." He spoke in his usual cold manner, if the boy was honest enough, he would have said that he preferred practical work, but all he ever did was read and that's all he was capable of doing right. Most of the practical activities he had done had gone successfully but his brother always was one step ahead of him, being in the exact same classes as him, people often mistook them from one another but Lucas was a Slytherin, a house no one particularly liked. "Weak." The boy whispered to himself through gritted teeth, one fist clenching while the other gripped the book in his hand.

[Colin MacClery]

Colin could see rage flash in Lucas' eyes, but had no clue why. Reviewing what he'd said, he could not think of anything within his words that might inspire anger. There was a possibility he had unknowingly stabbed at some private issue Lucas was facing. He didn't hear the whisper, but the gritted teeth and clenched fists made the tension plain. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. If he did or said the wrong thing, he would only make it worse. Without knowing what the matter was in the first place, how was he supposed to know what the right thing was, anyway? Talking to people could be so stressful sometimes. So long as he tread carefully, he would be all right. If not, it was just another guy who didn't like him. There were plenty of those around. He was loath to make more sour relationships, so wanted to get along well with Lucas. The problem there was that it was difficult to make good easy conversation with someone before you knew them well enough to tell what upset them, what they liked, and got used to their quirks and habits. Until he knew someone well, Colin found talking to them an awkward experience.

"You OK there?" he asked nervously, frowning. He ran a hand through his hair. Changing the subject was the easy way out. He hurriedly tried to think of something to smoothly transition the conversation to. They both had reading in common, although there were more interesting topics out there. If he waited for Lucas to carry on, he was afraid he might start an angry rant. He wanted to know what the problem was but at the same time didn't want to pry or upset Lucas. Maybe reading was the problem. Maybe it was something else. He glanced around the hall but couldn't see anything that might provoke anger.

"Yeah... there are a few people who hate reading around. None in my House, really, but quite a lot of students don't care much. I don't get how. You need it for studies, for one, and grades are really important. But even if you weren't the academic sort, there's books about anything, and loads of them are just nice to read for the stories," the words tumbled out his mouth without him being entirely sure what he was saying.

[Lucas Cassidy]

Lucas took a deep breath as he remembered his whereabouts, he didn't want to scare the other at all and just getting angry all of a sudden, would definitely scare him off. "I'm ok." He sighed, closing his eyes as he tried to calm down completely. He could clearly tell that the other was nervous, he probably thought to carefully select his next words so he didn't make things worse, but of course Colin didn't know what had angered Lucas, and he wasn't exactly about to tell him what was wrong. He slowly released his balled fist, his nails marked his palm but it hadn't caused him pain, he went back to carrying the book rather than gripping it tightly and shuffled his feet once again.

"I don't understand how someone could hate reading." He gazed down the hallway, lost in thought, he had never understood anyone who hated reading, everything is in books, especially in fiction those were the best books but Lucas didn't have time to read about fairy tales anymore.

[Colin MacClery]

Colin watched as Lucas got himself back under control. Thank goodness he'd calmed down. Whatever had provoked the anger remained a mystery, but that didn't matter too much so long as he was able to stop himself from going crazy. Colin hoped he would learn what it was that had upset him so he might avoid mentioning it again. He didn't want to ask, however, since that would only bring up whatever it was again and would probably annoy Lucas even more. It would be a shame to spoil what had otherwise been a good conversation so far. Maybe he might even make a friend out of this if he could only manage to not mess up again.

Colin paused for a moment to think about what life would be like without the joy of reading. There was only so much they told you in lessons. The rest you had to find out for yourself. A lot of the time it was far more interesting than what was taught in schools, too. At Hogwarts he was sufficiently challenged in his lessons, but at his Muggle primary school he rarely concentrated for long before losing interest in lessons. The teacher was always trying to teach them such basic stuff. No wonder so many kids hated school and learning. If they were to read more around the subjects, he thought they might find themselves really enjoying them. Even the most boring subjects had some interesting bits if you looked hard enough. It was a shame schools stuck to the basics and didn't give anyone a taste of the really juicy bits. Fiction, too, was good for learning, in his opinion. Such books made you open your mind to crazy new worlds and ideas. They were not only entertaining but helped the imagination by exercising it well. "All the best bits of subjects are in books they don't cover in class. Even fiction is good. A good wizard has to be really creative, and I myself don't think I'd be half as creative if I hadn't humoured my imagination from time to time with a good novel," he said.