𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐏A𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄, jp

Studying.

The morning after their theatre night, Izzy was in a very good mood, it made her want to be extra productive. She woke up early, washed and dried her hair, and was prepared to spend a day in the library researching for a potions essay she had to complete by the following Monday. She was proud of how well she had perfected her sleeping schedule, early mornings hardly bothered her anymore. The other girls were still asleep, other than Marlene who had silently arrived back at the dorm from quidditch practice and headed straight for the shower. Izzy knew she hated that they had to be up so early to train. She didn't blame her, of course, she couldn't think of anything worse than exercise at this time of day.

The thought of James hadn't crossed her mind when she thought about the quidditch practice, so she hadn't realised that he would be back too, and she was surprised to catch him reading a quidditch magazine on one of the sofas in the common room.

"Morning Bells," he said softly, gazing up at her with a little tired smile on his face.

"Morning Jamie," she said absentmindedly, she leant against the edge of the sofa and took in his appearance for a moment. He looked good, despite the fact his hair was a complete mess from the exercise. He was wearing a grey tshirt that was a little too tight, highlighting his muscles, or rather, how big they were.

"You're up early," he closed the magazine, giving her his full attention. "Are you going to breakfast?"

She nodded, "then the library."

"Can I join? I've been waiting for someone to join me so I can go down and eat. Marlene said she was too tired to stay awake till breakfast starts."

"Yeah," she replied. "Was hoping I'd have somebody I know with me, actually." She felt a twinge in her heart though. James was giving her whiplash with his terrible communication skills. One minute they were ignoring each other and the next they were as comfortable with one and another as they were before. It was giving her a terrible headache, but she tried not to dwell on it too much. "Remus still asleep?"

She saw the flicker in his eyes at the last question, but he remained calm anyway. "Yeah. Though Bells, most of the castle is, it's the bloody crack of dawn!"

"Sorry," she chuckled, "these early mornings have become the norm for me, unfortunately."

"Let's go," he said, and they left the Gryffindor tower, walking side by side. "Why do you wake up so early? Just so you can study?"

"I'm behind," she shrugged, "have to catch up at some point. If I don't do it all now, then I'll fall so behind I'll fail all of my exams. They're not far away, you know."

"They're only mock exams," he said quietly. "The real things aren't till May, I suppose that's still close, though. Everyone is getting a little antsy I've noticed, think people are scared with how the mock exams will look."

"I never used to care about exams," Izzy said honestly as they made their way to the Great Hall. "My friends and I had much bigger priorities. Pranking, mostly."

"See, that's why we're friends!" He grinned.

Exactly!" Izzy laughed, shaking her head. "I swear, before this year, I barely thought about schoolwork. Now, it's all I can think about."

James nudged her playfully. "I think you've spent too much time around Lily. Her study habits are rubbing off on you."

She smirked. "And yet you don't seem to be picking up any of them."

"Oi, I told you, I take my studies very seriously," James said, placing a hand over his heart in mock offense.

Izzy snorted. "Right, sure. That's why you spend half of our lessons doodling Quidditch tricks in the margins of your notes."