"They weren't kidding when they said they'd be loading work on us in preparation for our O.W.L's. I've never had more to do in my entire life," Marlene groaned whilst banging her head on the library table.
The librarian, Madam Pince, gave the group of Gryffindor girls a warning look to which Lily held Marlene back from injuring herself further. "Oh, come on," the ginger sighed, "It's all about time management. We just need to work more efficiently."
Edie had been resting her head on the table on top of her History of Magic essay. Her eyelids had almost completely shut when Marlene's ruckus forced them open again. She begrudgingly pulled herself off the table, "You know, she's right, Lily. Slughorn has got us writing one foot on the many uses of dragon blood, Baggott expects us to fill out our moon charts for the next month by tomorrow, and don't even get me started on Binns. Two feet on the goblin wars! I'm not going to have any parchment left by Halloween, at this rate," Edie ranted. She had never been more overwhelmed with her work, and they were only about a week into the school year.
"Dropping out doesn't sound like such a bad idea," Alice grumbled.
"Neither does a Dreadful. Or a Troll," Mary added, to which Alice, Edie, and Marlene all nodded in agreement.
Lily rolled her eyes at her friends' behavior, although she couldn't help but feel bad for them. "No more of this moping around. What you all need, is a study schedule. We're all making one right now. Pull out a clean roll of parchment," she instructed, sounding too much like Professor McGonagall for Edie's liking. But nevertheless, all four girls followed her and lazily got out a fresh roll and prepared their quills.
"Now make a chart with all seven days of this coming week as the columns and the time by the hour as the rows," Lily spoke while drawing one herself. Her friends did as she instructed. "And lastly you're going to write in each block of time what you'll work on during that hour, and make sure to leave one open for dinner. Also space out some free blocks here and there to give yourself a break."
Lily was completely in her element as she wrote quickly on her schedule. The rest of the girls worked silently as they thought through what they had to do this week. One by one, the Gryffindors finished and set down their quills with a sigh. Edie, Marlene, Alice, and Mary still wore faces of stress, while Lily beamed back at them. "I've been making a schedule for my work for years now, and it's never failed me. Just trust the process and don't deviate from your goals," she chirped.
"No guarantees," Edie grumbled, although Lily pretended she hadn't heard her. The blonde observed her friends' tortured faces as they attempted to get back to work. She tried to add to her essay, but was unable to find anything else to write about the Goblin Wars. Too restless to get back to working, Edie huffed and slammed her quill on the table. "I physically can't do any more work right now. Anyone fancy an early dinner?"
Marlene, Alice, and Mary immediately shot up in unison. "I thought you'd never ask," Marlene sighed blissfully. Lily giggled at her friends, and the five didn't hesitate to pack up their things to exit the library. The corridors and moving staircases were a breath of fresh air after being cooped up in the rather drab room for hours on a Sunday.
"You dare challenge Sir Cadogan? Back, you scurvy braggarts, draw, you knaves!" the tumultuous voice of Sir Cadogan, Edie's least favorite painting in the castle, filled the hallway.
"Oh, shut up, won't you?" the blonde grumbled, while her friends took to ignoring the armor-clad man in his frame.
The Gryffindor girls walked with an extra bounce in their step to the Great Hall, relieved to be taking a break from their work. When they finally approached the last staircase leading down to the entrance, Marlene and Edie shot each other a knowing smirk. Before Lily could warn them, the two blondes hopped onto the railing on either side. They slid down the lengthy staircase, giggling the whole way down before gracefully landing at the bottom. They beamed up at Lily, Alice, and Mary who laughed at their antics. Feeling much better than before, the five girls sauntered into the Great Hall with matching grins.
YOU ARE READING
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ↠ R. LUPIN
Fanfiction"how is it so easy for you to be kind to people he asked milk and honey dripped from my lips as i answered cause people have not been kind to me" -rupi kaur
