AND THEY WERE WIZARDS. (Oh my god they were wizards)

Chill out and Chess

Exam week was coming, and Logan was becoming more and more familiar with the Ravenclaw fifth and seventh years, as he was often one of the last students remaining in the common room every night.

"You're a little young to be up this late studying," and "what the hell, you're not even in OWL year yet," were remarks he heard almost every day now. He wasn't necessarily nervous that he wouldn't pass his exam. He was even confident in his ability to get top marks if nothing went wrong. He simply lost track of the time as he studied. He would open a book when the sun was still up, and close it to see that it was past midnight.

"You know, getting enough sleep the night before exam week is going to be pretty important." Emile said the Friday before exams were to start. "And it might be best to get some relaxation before then, too."

"I don't see how relaxation would improve my chances of passing?" Logan said.

"Just going in with a clear head can help you think better in the test. Believe me."

"I suppose..." said Logan absentmindedly as he flicked through the pages of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1.

Logan had never had many friends; he found them distracting and in any case he didn't really know where the line was between acquaintance and friend. But he supposed Emile would probably count. He was certainly smart and shared a love of knowledge, which Logan respected. But he was also goofy and could hardly go a day without making some type of reference or joke, only half of which Logan even understood.

Logan hadn't set much store by Emile's advice about sleep and relaxation. The coffee provided in the Great Hall each morning was quite sufficient to replace any sleep he had lost in the hours of study late into the night, but on Sunday morning when Emile had walked downstairs from their dormitory to see Logan asleep at a table, his head resting on the pages of 1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi, a quill still in his hand and dripping ink onto a roll of parchment, he'd insisted that Logan take the last day off to rest.

"One day's studying isn't going to make or break your score."

"Just let me look up the—"

"No."

"Okay, quiz me on—"

"Nope."

He had gone so far as to take all of Logan's books and supplies and lock them in his trunk.

"Go do something you enjoy! It's your day off."

Logan left the great hall that morning bad tempered. Something he enjoyed? What did he even do, really, other than read and write, go to classes and review lessons in his head? He walked across the castle courtyard as he thought. He could go outside and... sit? People did that right? Just sat with their friends and talked to each other?

He'd seen people playing with the giant squid near the lake, feeding it their food and watching it in amusement. Rather a waste of time unless you wanted to learn more about the beast in which case the library should serve as a perfectly good— wait... the library. Emile could take all his possessions, but even he could not lock away the entire library. Not without an undetectable extension charm on his trunk, anyway.

Turning around on the spot, Logan made a beeline for the library. He entered it quietly, looking around the large room and taking in the familiar, papery smell. He could stay here and read all day. And as long as Emile didn't come looking, he'd be safe to study.

Pacing among the shelves, tracing a finger along each of the titles as he looked for something interesting that he hadn't yet read, Logan walked slowly through the isles, reaching the end of one and moving on to another. When he'd reached the end of one shelf, still reading the title, 'Powers You Didn't Know You Had And What to Do With Them Now You've Wised Up,' he saw out of the corner of his eye, a Hufflepuff boy with short dirty blonde hair and thin round glasses sitting alone at a nook by a window and setting up a game of Wizard Chess. Curiously, Logan walked up to the nook, looking on at the chess board. The boy looked up noticing him, and smiled. "Hi."