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ADELINA SHIVERED AS SHE SAT in the Slytherin common room. She was always cold and having a common room that was not only underground, but also surrounded by the Black lake, surely didn't help her abnormally low body temperature. Her foot began to tap restlessly on the ground.
"Can you stop?" A random boy — probably a second year, Lina presumed, although he looked about eight — called out to Lina. "Some of us are actually trying to concentrate here." Lina felt awful. She stopped tapping her foot and instead began to drum her fingers against her thumb.
Julianna noticed her friend's distress. "Then go to the library, dickhead. This is a common room, we're allowed to be as noisy as we want," she said, sticking up for Lina.
Adelina smiled at Jules in return, thankful for her loyalty and lack of fear to speak out. "Thanks," she said, "I don't know why, but I'm just really restless today. Like, worse than usual."
Lina was used to it. The only time she was ever truly at rest was when she was asleep. At all other times, she was always moving. Whether it was picking at her hands, bouncing her leg, or messing with any nearby object, she was never completely still. She was constantly told by her teachers and parents to sit still, but it was nearly impossible. Her whole body would buzz with eagerness to move, and it would feel physically uncomfortable.
It often got her in trouble. She just had so much pent-up energy all of the time — she needed to get it out somehow.
"Have you seen Madam Pomfrey about it?" Jules asked.
Lina shook her head. She had seen Healers for the issue in the past, but they had never found any real problem. All of them had just written it up as energy that comes with being a kid, but Lina, nearly 17 and full-grown, knew that couldn't be the truth. "There's nothing they can do," she said.
Julianna frowned. "What good is magic if we can't use it to solve actual problems?" She asked, flopping back onto the plush, green sofa.
Lina said nothing but silently agreed. She always thought it was kind of odd. Wizards and witches could transform into literal animals, but somehow they couldn't find a way to cure diseases? Weird.
The curly-haired girl sighed before pushing herself off of the ugly couch. "We should probably get to Potions," she said, gathering her books and quills.
A large groan came from Lina. "I already know I'm not going to be able to focus on a single thing Slughorn says. What's the point of even going?" She asked.
