The deep red sunset spilled into the study room, through the arched window Rowena was sat by. Ravenclaw Tower had the best view of the mountains in the whole school and Rowena found this view peaceful to work by. The colours spilling from the sun gave her blank parchment a rosy appearance as she struggled to find the words to put together her essay about human transfiguration.
The two and a half rolls of parchment were due in the following morning and Rowena chastised herself for being distracted by Any Human Heart which she had awarded priority over this essay. After contemplating the best way to tackle the task Rowena took a deep breath she dipped her quill into the pot of glistening blue in and began to write.
Human transfiguration has many benefits to today’s society such as …
‘No, no, this won’t do!’ thought Rowena as she read the pathetic first sentence. Quickly she scratched a line through it and tried again.
In the twenty-first century the benefits of human transfi…
‘No, no, no it’s all wrong!’ She thought as she read over the words her hand had just scrawled out. Rowena threw her quill onto her parchment in frustration, which, caused ink to splatter across the whole table. Irritated, she ran her hands through her long brown hair and pulled out the ribbon that held it off her face.
Whenever Rowena became frustrated she tied, and retied her hair until she felt calm enough to deal with a problem.
Hugo Weasley, who was sat on the other side of the room laughing with a group of friends, had noticed this a few weeks ago when watching Rowena struggle over an essay for sixth year potions. Her hands quickly tied, and then untied the bow, shaking less and less each movement.
He had become aware of many of Rowena’s habits since morning he had encountered her outside the common room a month earlier. He noticed that she was one of the early risers of Hogwarts, who attended breakfast at the crack of dawn just so that she could benefit herself with more reading time. In the library Rowena would always chose the table closet to the muggle fiction books, even if she was doing homework, and often she would stand up and browse mid-way through her free periods, disregarding her homework completely. At the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff quidditch game she had sat in the stands reading a book on William Shakespeare’s life, only pausing to join in the cheering when the people sat nearest her cheered.
He had noted how, that rather than be affiliated to a specific social group Rowena was able to dip in and out of conversation, and so had a wide variety of friends, spanning across the year groups. Indeed, Hugo had become so drastically aware of Rowena that he found himself thinking about her in the strangest of moments, such as the prefects meetings and, sometimes even before he fell asleep.
After watching Rowena struggle with her essay, out of the corner of his eye, Hugo excused himself from the conversation and moved over raised corner of the common room known as: The study room. He stood behind Rowena as she furiously scratched out another failure of an opening sentence.
“You’re approaching the essay all wrong” He said quietly, making her jump and turn around. Upon recognising the speaker Rowena smiled and beckoned for Hugo to sit down.
“How would you tackle this essay then?” She asked once he had taken the seat next to her.
Hugo turned his face so it was inches away from her own. He was so close he could count the freckles on her nose.
After a prolonged pause he took her quill from her hand and, turning his face away from her sparkling blue eyes, moved the parchment so that it was between the both of them
Hugo scratched out the title: ‘Human transfiguration has many benefits to the society of today’ Discuss.
He then wrote three words in the middle of the parchment: ‘Human’,' Transfiguration’ and ‘Benefits’.
Rowena looked at Hugo with a confused expression and he grinned.
“What you need to do is plan your essay first,” Her expression stayed the same to which Hugo laughed. “I know it seems mad but the best way to write an essay is to have a rough idea of what you’re going to say before you write it.”
Rowena laughed softly “What do you mean?” she asked, still confused.
Hugo circled the three words he had written in the middle of the parchment and handed Rowena the quill.
“Just write what comes to mind when thinking about this topic, write what you think around the outside of these three words”
Rowena wasn’t very sure about Hugo’s methods but decided to humour him as she enjoyed his company. Slowly she wrote her thoughts about the topic around the words he had circled, drawing lines to connect various points.
As she did this Hugo took the opportunity to look at Rowena more closely. He was enraptured by her slender frame, her glossy hair and wide eyes. He found her ears to be cute and thought it was charming the way she bit gently on her lower lip as her quill scratched across the parchment.
After five or so minutes Rowena had filled her parchment with thoughts about the essay and handed it over to Hugo to look over.
Whilst acknowledging her impressive points about human transfiguration, to which she had not only noted down her opinions of the benefits but the negatives too, Hugo became enthralled by her curved handwriting. It was small, like Rowena herself, and yet her y’s and g’s curved in a feminine fashion Hugo had not seen before. It was truly unique.
“So are they alright?” Rowena asked anxiously, as Hugo had taken longer than expected to read her notes.
“They’re wonderful!” He replied with a smile handing back her parchment and moving to stand up. “Just follow you train of thought that you’ve written down here and your essay will be done in no time.”
Rowena beamed and eagerly dipped her quill back into the ink.
“Thank you so much Hugo, you’re a life – well a grade – saver!”
Her hand quickly began to scrawl across a fresh sheet of parchment and Hugo took this as his queue to leave. He moved silently off the study room back to where his friends were sat; now discussing the Chudley Cannon’s chances in the United Kingdom League (UKL) that coming year.
“What was that about mate?” Asked his close friend David who had, apparently, been watching Hugo’s interaction with Rowena very closely.
“Just helping her with an essay,” Replied Hugo as nonchalantly as he could.
David laughed and whispered in Hugo’s ear “I’d believe that if you didn’t have the unfortunate luck of blushing every time you don’t tell the truth”
Hugo silently cursed his Weasley genes!.
“Fine, fine, I met Rowena about a month ago outside the tower and the long and short of it is that she is pretty cool. She’s funny, she likes muggle books, her hair shines like the sun and her handwriting is the cutest I’ve ever seen. Happy now?”
David laughed, “Looks like lickle Hugo has a crush … not that I blame you, she is cute!”
Hugo’s eyes darted back to where Rowena was working intently on her transfiguration essay.
“She is, isn’t she,” He replied, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Hey Hugo!” Cried a voice down the Defence Against the Dark Arts corridor.
Hugo, who had just finished Defence was walking with his cousin Lily when he heard his name. He turned quickly around to see Rowena running to catch him up. Her dark brown hair flowed behind her as she dodged various students to reach her goal.
Lily smiled knowingly at her cousin as Rowena come to a halt in front of them, pulling her socks back up to her knee as the had fallen down in her rush.
“Hey there Rowena!” He said smiling, “Rowena, Lily. Lily, Rowena.” Rowena extended a hand to the red haired girl in front of her and shook it delicately.
“Lovely to meet you,” She smiled.
“The same to you,” Replied Lily “Hugo’s told me so much about you!”
A look of confusion spread across Rowena’s face giving Hugo enough time to jab Lily in the ribs with his wand.
“Sorry for interrupting,” Rowena continued – not noting Lily’s wince “I just wanted to say thanks for your help with my transfiguration essay the other night. I got an O!”
Hugo grinned widely as Rowena pulled him into a close hug, and he stuck his tongue out at Lily as he returned the gesture.
“Hey Rowena-”
“Call me Row,” She interjected as they broke their hug “it’s much quicker.”
“Okay,” chuckled Hugo “Row, would you like to grab some coffee with me from the kitchens after dinner tonight, and we can chat in detail about this.”
“I’d love to” She replied, tucking a piece of hair behind her right ear. “Meet you by the study room at seven?” Rowena asked happily.
“It’s a date!” Said Hugo, before he could stop himself.
Giggling Rowena began to walk away, calling over her shoulder as she left “If you want it to be then sure!”
Hugo blushed a deep shade of red and turned to face Lily who had a smirk plastered across her face.
“It’s a date” she mimicked as they carried on down the corridor making their way to charms.
“Watch it!” retorted Hugo, forcing Lily into a headlock until he felt her apology was acceptable.
By six forty-five Hugo was sat in the study room waiting for Rowena. Unbeknown to him Rowena was trapped in her dorm room by four persisting girls, trying to determine an outfit for her to wear.
‘It’s a date with Hugo Weasley, you can’t just rock up in anything” Sarah Mills commented upon seeing the outfit Rowena had put on.
She was wearing a navy floor length skirt with a floral design and white vest top. To keep herself warm Rowena had opted for an oversized knitted red cardigan.
After shouting down her dorm mates protests Rowena successfully managed to exit the room and head down to the common and study room. She immediately saw Hugo sat in the study area and her heart leapt gently.
This is not a date. She reminded herself as she walked towards him, smiling as he looked up.
Hugo thought Rowena looked incredible. Her outfit was modest and reflected her personality and her smile was radiant.
This is not a date. He reminded himself as she reached him.
“Are you ready for some amazing coffee?” He asked offering his arm for her to take.
“I really am,” Replied Rowena slipping her hand around it as Hugo directed them out of the common room.
They headed down to the kitchens in comfortable silence, enjoying each other’s company. Hugo occasionally sneaked a glance at Rowena, smiling every time he did so.
By the end of their coffee date Hugo was taken by Rowena. Everything about her was special and unique.
Rowena had found in Hugo someone she could finally open up to about her life and why she loved to read so much.
He listened intently as she explained, on their walk back to Ravenclaw Tower, about her childhood in the children’s home. She never knew her parents, was only a day old when she was left on the doorstep of a police station in Yorkshire. From then on Rowena had been moved from place to place trying to find a family, and so took solace in her fictional characters.
“When I was sorted into Ravenclaw I knew, I knew then that this was my family” She whispered as they reached the bottom of the spiral staircase which led up to the fifth floor and the tower.
Hugo lifted his hand and brushed a strand of lose hair off Rowena face. She bit her lip and smiled shyly. Taking this as a good sign he proceeded to slip his hand into hers and together they walked silently up the staircase.
As they reached the entrance it swung open to Lily, who had spent the evening revising with David, clambering quickly in the hopes of getting back to Gryffindor Tower before curfew.
She flashed her cousin and Rowena a quick smile before sprinting down the corridor, her footsteps echoing loudly against the stone walls.
Anticipating that the entrance was about to close Hugo quickly directed Rowena into the tower and was happy to see that the common room was nearly empty, only a few older relaxing by the fire. He led her over to the study room and gently held both of her hand in his.
“I had a great time tonight” Hugo whispered, watching the moonlight from the large windows dance across Rowena’s face.
“Me too, Hugo”
He lifted one hand up to her face and brushed a stray lock of hair out the way. Hugo place a kiss gently on Rowena’s soft lips, which filled her with butterflies.
“Goodnight, Row” Said Hugo as she retreated to the girls dormitories a smile dancing on her lips.
“Night Hugo.”
A/N: I don’t own anything you recognise including, Any Human Heart that work of wonderful fiction belongs to William Boyd.
Please leave a little review of your opinions, I know it was mega fluffy, but fluff is good sometimes!
Next up: The Common Room.
Starkidlovexx
AN/AN: Thanks to Bea for pointing out my depressingly stupid grammer mistake! *Genes not JEANS! :P
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