Distractions (Colin)

[Sirius Black]

Sirius had almost forgotten what a horrendously boring floor the fifth one was. His only reason to go there was... well... he didn't really have a reason. Prefect's Bathroom? Obviously not a frequent destination of his. Study Hall? As if. In fact, this was more or less the Prefect's Floor, what with the study hall teeming with supervisors. On those rare occasions where Sirius did need to study - or work, more likely - he didn't want a Prefect breathing down his neck. He was distracted easily, and he would be all too tempted to disrupt things just for the sake of aggravating Prefects and other studiers. He'd much more likely be found in one of the empty classrooms, where he could work in silence and solitude, but even that wasn't all too likely. Plus, other students used those empty classrooms for the same reason, and he couldn't work like that. In short, it was not a floor that Sirius Black frequented during his time at Hogwarts.

And yet, here he was, because he thought he should get some work done, and a little glance to the Marauder's Map told him that a classroom was empty. So he set off in that direction before someone else could discover its emptiness. The unused classrooms were typically much more barren than the others, which was exactly why Sirius liked them. The fewer distractions, the better. Unfortunately for him, he found a way to be distracted almost immediately upon entering the room. A bookcase not unlike all the others positioned around the school sat pristine in the front of the room. It was a bit curious, as if this classroom was going to be used now, and that was Sirius's first thought before he recalled something that Moony had told him at the Opening Feast... that there was a rogue bookcase on the fifth floor.

What exactly that meant, Sirius really hadn't known, but it had been a priority to find out in the most entertaining way possible. Far more a priority, at least, than work, so he set his stuff down on a desk and walked to the bookcase, standing in front of it for a moment to see if it would do anything, but to no avail. Not one to entertain patience, Sirius quickly reached out his hand toward some random book on the shelf, and as soon as his fingers crossed the plane, the shelves compressed onto them in a biting motion. He withdrew his hand swiftly, swearing under his breath and shaking his throbbing hand. As a practiced prankster he was no stranger to injury, so he got over the initial stinging quite fast, and instead his mind went to how entertaining this could be. But he was alone. There was no one here to mess with. So until that opportunity arose, he returned to a desk and opened a book.

[Colin MacClery]

Colin was feeling confidant today. He hadn't got lost a single time, for once he had managed to follow everything in all his lessons despite his need to catch up a bit with the non-muggleborns, and he'd got back a piece of homework which had only lost a few marks. It was starting to seem believable that he would catch up after all. This world he'd been thrown into still seemed strange and he didn't feel at home in it, but he was working on it. He was determined to settle in and thought he might be like any other student before long.

The fifth floor was home to the study hall, so naturally the curious young Ravenclaw was a frequent visitor. That room, his common room and the library were his favourite places to study, although he preferred the library out of the three since it was more quiet and books were everywhere for help. The study hall was more where he would go to write essays and do homework rather than research. People there were mostly unwilling to talk, though, so the common room was best if he thought he might need to ask questions. It was a more pleasant room besides, with comfortable chairs. Friends could be found in the common room, too, and the atmosphere was more relaxing. Useful as it was to have a room dedicated to quietly doing homework, the study hall was often a bit of a grim place. He had headed straight for it after his last lesson, thinking that today he might get all the homework he'd just been set some quickly then perhaps go for a walk before dinner, then retreat to the common room to chat and read. It sounded like a nice afternoon and evening to him.

He hadn't bothered to change out of his robes after his last lesson, but didn't care much. The corridor here was familiar by now, but he had never ventured into any rooms leading off it aside from those he had lessons in and of course the study hall. He had assumed they were all disused. Not sure whether or not students were allowed in empty rooms as no one would know where they were, he'd steered clear of them to be on the safe side. Having never seen anyone going in or out of them, his curiosity was piqued when he heard a loud thumping and a whispered swearing from a room as he walked past. At first he thought it was a ghost, but the swear word caught his attention. Being eleven and being told off by his parents for the mildest of curses, it surprised him to hear it. Ghosts were all too old to use such language, unless they acted very differently when not in the presence of young children, which was entirely possible. He could hear pages turning, though. It sounded more like a student was in there and had dropped something or hurt themselves.

He knew he shouldn't intrude or snoop about. He didn't care, though. Whoever was in there would know about these abandoned classrooms. He had a lot of questions about them - how did they become abandoned? Why build so many rooms if there weren't enough students to make use of them all? What were the rules regarding their use? He opened the door slowly and looked around before stepping in. Nothing unusual here. A boy was sat by an open book, working. He looked really old, practically an adult, so Colin assumed he must be a sixth or seventh year. "Erm, excuse me? Are you all right? I heard a lot of banging. I didn't know we could use these rooms," it was verging on an accusation, depending on whether or not Sirius was actually breaking the rules.

[Sirius Black]

Complete isolation and solitude was absolutely necessary for Sirius to be able to concentrate. Basically, he would prioritize anything and everything over productivity, so the only way to be productive was to eliminate every distraction possible. The main one was people - he was insanely social, and he would talk to anyone whether they liked it or not. Hopefully, everyone found the fifth floor as boring as he did, and he wouldn't have to worry about it. It was surprising that the rogue bookcase wasn't more of a distraction, but then again, he wasn't about to go prank himself. So he was actually set up for success here, and he was doing pretty well, for the very brief moment that the isolation and solitude was maintained. It seemed like he had just sat down and opened a book, hardly a word written on his parchment when he heard the door creak open. He didn't know whether to be annoyed or relieved that someone was coming to distract him; he would reserve judgment until he knew who it was, so he turned in his seat once they started speaking. It was an unfamiliar boy, quite young, and based on the fact he had no idea that empty classrooms were usable - and that he didn't seem to know who Sirius was - he assumed it must have been a first year.

It was at this moment he decided he was relieved for the distraction. It was as if the school didn't want him to get work done, just surprising him with an innocent young first year and a bloodthirsty bookcase. But he didn't let on about his mischievous intentions, and instead he just furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the boy's words. "A lot of banging? No, I didn't hear anything, and I'm quite alright," Sirius said in his most convincing tone. This was why he loved messing with first years; by second year, they all really knew who he was and not to trust a single word he said. Actually, normally that was known after one encounter, so he had to make it count. "Thanks for asking, though. And these rooms are available to anyone. They're usually unlocked. You can join me, if you'd like," he said casually, indicating one of the many empty seats and desks around him, before turning back to his open book and blank parchment. He scrawled down some equations absentmindedly, nothing that required too much thought because his concentration had already been broken, but enough to make it seem like he was making some progress. And in a way, he was, he just needed a place to stop, like right after he finished a calculation...

"So what's your name, kiddo?" Sirius asked as he finished writing down some numbers, then looked up from his paper and back at the first year. Though, he wasn't sure why he asked, because he would probably just keep referring to him as "Kiddo" anyway. Another glance at the boy told him that he was a Ravenclaw. Well, he would have preferred a Slytherin, because he didn't really care if their fingers were bitten off by a bookshelf, but then again, a Slytherin would probably be less inclined to trust him. Plus, he could assume this one was a studious type... could be all too easy to get him to approach the shelf. Meanwhile, he continued to write things absentmindedly, as if he was half-conversing half-working when really he wasn't capable of that degree of multitasking.

[Colin MacClery]

"Oh, OK." He was sure he had heard something. It had been clear as day! The older boy would have heard it too, though, and there were no signs of any damage on him or his belongings. The noise could not have been his imagination, he was certain, but he had learned by now that the castle liked to play tricks on people. Sometimes doors turned out not to be doors, the stairs moved, he swore that even the rooms contained different things from day to day, the paintings talked. It wasn't hard to imagine noises would make themselves heard by some people and not others. This had to be another one of the old building's surprises. He doubted he was ever going to stop being surprised. Surprises were likely to come far less often as he got older, but he expected in his seventh year he'd probably be confident he knew everything by now only to have a sudden great shock. "Really? Thanks!" he spread his books and parchment on a table not too close to Sirius, not wanting to intrude on his personal space. The stranger had was in one of his final years, and usually only Prefects in the older years would interact with a first year for more than answering a couple of questions or giving directions to a panicky lost kid. This guy must be very nice. Colin sneaked a look at his work, disappointed to see that he had no clue what was going on with his work. Numbers were familiar to him, the equations making him hopeful, but whatever the older student was working on it was something he had not even read word of yet. It made sense for work in the highest years to be so advanced, but he had still wanted the ego-boost that came with understanding a topic taught to kids several years older than he was.

"It's Colin," Colin answered. So, they were even making idle conversation now, were they? That was pleasing. The older guy actually wanted to talk to him! He decided he liked him, that he was definitely more friendly than some of the other older students he'd encountered who'd either ignored him or make fun of first years behind his back. Being one of the youngest in a school was tough. "What's yours? I'm willing to bet you're a sixth or seventh year, too. I'm a first year. What about your House?" he asked, deciding to carry on attempts at getting to know the other guy. A name would be nice at least. He didn't bother stating his own House, thinking it fairly obvious by the blue and silver striped tie around his neck and the blue edges on his jumper. He turned to a page at near the front of his Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook, locating a list of questions on doxies and writing the first question out on a sheet of paper as a subheading before he started to answer it. Unlike Sirius, he was able to multi-task, since studying was something he did so often it had become practically automatic. Thank goodness the homework he had now was all note-making and answering questions. Those were so much easier than essay writing. He had only been set one essay so far, but it was so time consuming. He was perfectly capable of crafting a good essay, it was the structure the professors here wanted he was unsure of. It was difficult to start one too, when writing one about a spell or creature.

As he scribbled down more of his answer, his handwriting legible but obviously designed more for speed than appearance, he thought of more things to talk to the other boy about. There had to be something they had in common. He had found this empty room to sit and work by himself, he must be the studious sort as well. "Do you go to empty classrooms often when you work? I like to have a bit of company around, myself. Makes working more pleasant, especially when you're both working on the same thing." In truth he liked working in the same thing as other people because it made him feel good about himself when they didn't know something but he did. He felt smart when he was able to confidently tell someone about what they were doing. When encountering something he didn't know, he was less likely to get it wrong if someone else was there to discuss it with him. He never admitted he didn't know, he simply initiated discussion about it and wheedled the correct answer out of the response he got.