Ten Ways To Say I Love You

Stereotypes (Part 4)

Stereotypes do exist, but we have to walk through them.~ Forest Whitaker.

Annabeth

SEVENTH YEAR

I sighed as I rubbed a hand over my face, nearly falling asleep at the common room table. N.E.W.T.S. were coming up, and I was nothing if not stressed for them. As the name implied, they were nastily exhausting, and I hadn't even gotten to the exams themselves. The studying was piling up on me slowly, day after day, and I was beginning to feel like I had bitten off way more than I could chew. But, no matter what, I was determined to succeed, under any circumstances. Being Head Girl, Slytherin Quidditch Captain, and top student was so much more exhausting than I had realized.

It had put Percy on edge too, being Head Boy and Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. We had managed to keep up the facade for over a year now, although all of our close friends knew. After a certain point, they simply became too suspicious and we were forced to tell them. Thankfully, they took it much better than we had thought, claiming that they knew something was different between us since fifth year.

However, we had unknowingly sucked them into our little lie game. They had also become friends with each other, but now they were forced to lie. I wondered at times when why I was doing such a thing, but being out on the Quidditch field, seeing the masses of Slytherins who already had so many people rooting against them, I thought that this was the least that I could do, for a House with great people but a horrible reputation.

Still, whenever Percy and I had watched over the prefects and directed them where to go, we were both on edge and snappy with each other, solidifying our rivalry in the faces of those who didn't know it. We, with our increasing responsibilities, had no person or private time before We had to direct the prefects, report the our Heads of Houses and the Headmaster, and basically watch over the entire of Hogwarts, while simultaneously keeping our Quidditch Teams in shape for the Cup and make sure our House behaved well, so we won the House Cup.

It had caused more than a few fights between Percy and I, but we had always managed to get through it, and I was grateful for that. He was the only person who knew what I was going through, and to lose him right now would have really unraveled me. He was my support system.

I sighed, and placed my head on my books, exhausted. I would just rest my eyes for a moment before getting back to studying, but the chair was so comfortable, and it was pleasantly warm with the fire crackling.

The next moment I was blinking my eyes open, it was early morning. So early in fact, that the sun was just cresting over the horizon, and the room was slowly filling with light. I got up lethargically, brushing my messy hair out of my face.I was still slumped in the warmth chair, the fire having died down sometime while I was asleep.

I brushed my hair out of my face and packed up all my school supplies, tucking them into my bag. Heading to the bathroom, and taking a quick bath before anyone else woke up, I splashed some water on my face in order to make me look more alert. I tucked my wand and favorite quill inside my robe, and opened the common room entrance, stepping out into the hallway.

It was so early that almost nobody else was out. A few dedicated students from the other houses were awake, and studying in the courtyard, but I didn't see many others. The teachers were still roaming the halls, so I decided to head to the Great Hall and just study up before breakfast.

On my way there, I dropped my books onto the floor. I sighed, brushing my hair back, and bent down, picking them up and stacking them in my arms. A warm hand grabbed a stray paper and handed it to me. I looked up into sea-green eyes, and I couldn't help the wide grin that broke out over my face. He grinned back, but soon stood up and stared at me, a smile playing on his lips. "Clumsy, huh Chase?"