Draging the Book Bag

Alex walked down the hall of the library unfortunately due to the few days of class he took off he had alot of homework to do. He was still recovering from his transformation though as he had made up his mind he wouldhave to live with it.. People like were becoming curious vhy he was taking so much time off.. for the Captain of Gryffindor team who ever went to the hospital wing for injury was becoming sick on a monthly basis..

No he had to fake it now.. no matter how bad his bones ached or how his head pounded...

One thing that made him feel better was the fact he told Lainey Harper what happened... it was a relief in a way that another knew... someone who wasn't tramatized by the event that caused it. He loved his sister, in fact he would hurt anyone who harmed her, merlin he owed her his life, but he wished she hadn't been present at the attack... better yet he wish she hadn't needed to be..

"Okay.. get this bloody potion and charms essay done and then go out for a fly later." he noted to himself as he started on the essay, in his messy sprawl.

He was also mildly curious on how Lain was doing on that healing potion she was talking about.. to help hide his scar.

Lainey had been looking all over Hogwarts for Alex Nighthook, with no luck. She'd even braved the Gryffindor table on the Great Hall, hoping someone could tell him where he might be, but all she got were disapproving stares, less-than-helpful shrugs, and even downright hostility from one particular female who didn't seem to appreciate her curiosity.

"I'm helping him with Potions!" she finally snapped, throwing her arms up in frustration. "Y'know, studying?" Suddenly everyone became much more polite and informative; it was a courtesy to Alex that she didn't roll her eyes or slap them all upside the head.

"Ohh yes, well, I think he said something about heading off to the library earlier, didn't he?" a red haired girl said with a shrug, to the murmuredagreementl of her friends seated nearby.

"Thank you!" Lainey replied, and without further ado, marched directly back into the corridor and into the library about ten minutes later.

She found him sitting alone with a stack of books before him, parchment littering the table a d looking like the picture of misery in student form. The expression of annoyance still on her face from her earlier encounter softened into a sympathetic smile; the frown was not for him, anyway.

"Alex?" she asked softly, not wanting to startle him, as he looked quite engaged in his work.

At the voice of his firend Alex perked up, he had almost dosed off in his potions essay. "Lainey? arn't you a sight for sore eyes" he said with a smirk. Though he wasn't kidding, his head felt like it was about to burst.

"Have a seat" he said pushing the chair across from him out.

"How are ya?" he asked thinking it better to ask that first then about the help she offered him with the healing potion.

"Oh and thank you soo much for getting all my pleasant home work together" he said guesturing to his half writen essay... he gave Chuckle to let her know he was only kidding with the slight scarcasim.

Lainey chuckled quietly at Alex's greeting, gratefully taking the chair offered.

"Oh, I'm just fine. Better than you anyway, from the looks of it," she smirked, gesturing towards the half-finished homework. "You are most welcome, by the way," she added, scooting her chair around so that she was seated besides Alex rather than across; she didn't want to shout at him.

"Listen, I've been working on that potion for you," she murmured, leaning in towards his ear on the pretense of looking over his essay in case anyone noticed.

"I couldn't find anything that was quite right, so I kind of -- invented something. I think it'll work, but I haven't exactly got the means to test it out on lycanthropy-infected bites. I did test it on myself, though, and it took away an old scar from a childhood injury, so I do know it won't hurt you," she offered in an apologetic tone. "Could be worth a shot."

Alex blinked at what she told him, she'd actually invented her own potion and tested it on her self to make sure it was safe.

"Wow" was all he could say for the moment. That was more then what he would have hoped for.. nevermind asked her for.

"Your briliant.." he said before nodding. "Yeah it is worth a shot, so far all other healing potion I have tried were rejected, I had given up since then" he said whispering back as a few other students gathered books from across the hall.

He was still shocked yet impressed she tired it on herself and it worked perfectly.

"Weather it works on me or not I am greatful, thank you " he with a slight smile.

"I knew telling you would be a good thing, you could have totally freaked on me and you didn't..." he muttered, perhaps the biased about werewolves was not as bad as he originally believed. In fact it could have been his imagination, but she seemed to be closer with him ever since then... He couldn't help but wonder why.

The compliment made Lainey's cheeks flush, and she lowered her eyes for a moment, pretending to fiddle with someone on her bag while she recovered.

"It's not a big deal, really," she protested, raising her eyes to his face once more. "It's really more like several potions mixed together with certain ingredients that are known to help with scarring and things like that. It wasn't difficult, I only had to make it myself because I guess it's not the type of thing to become a big seller, werewolf bites being rare and all."

Rummaging through her bag, she pulled out a small black case and placed it into the palm of Alex's hand, under the table and out of view. "It's no problem at all, really. Actually, I think I will do my Care of Magical Creatures project on exotic animal bites, since I've learned so much about it. So you've probably just helped me earn my first N.E.W.T."

Lainey flushed again at the compliment, shaking her head in disagreement. "I reacted as any decent person would have, honestly. There has been so many advancements in treating lycanthropy that the real danger now is alienating people who suffer from it. It's the rogue ones unable to seek help that are a threat, and even that is not their fault. As a society, we need to start treating those less fortunate than us much better than we have been. If something terrible happens as a result, it'll only be our fault for ignoring things while we could still fix them."

Alex blinked at her wided eyed that was so deep, yet she had a good point, he often wondered what became of the werewolf that had attacted him. Who had his human counterpart been. In that flash of light, had it killed it, or sent it off to a safe place, away from them. He guessed he would never find out.

"So it is a win win for both of us for once eh" he said with a smirk, he got something to heal his bite and she got a perfect mark for care of magical creatures.

He wrote a line on his essay and looked over at her pretending to be talking about it.
"You make a good point, just you took the news far better then I expected" he said looking at the case she gave to him. "Thanks, I will use it later" he whispered since it might look odd using it over his home work.

"You know.. you bring up a interesting point, I have been curious my self lately.. who.. it was the got me and Kate.. I never found out what happened to him that night" he said recalling what happened. "Wonder why he was out there running wild... " he muttered.. he swore to himself if he ever caught himself outside with no memory of what happened... oh he didn't know what he would do.

He wondered if he hadn't been so careful to lock himself up every month, what if he had hurt someone.. his first transformation had been with out potion, he ended up going as far away as he could and spelled an old wearhouse to lock him in.. merlin that was the worst experince ever.

"I guess you could say that," Lainey replied, matching his smirk. "I think that helping you out is better than the grade, though. I mean, isn't the whole point of potion-making that you can help people with them?" His next remark was a little more difficult to answer, however, and she hesitated. Everyone knew by now what had happened to her brother's family over the summer, but she felt like it would be a tactless comparison at best.

"I've dealt with worse," she said simply, shrugging. "I'm just glad that I could be of some assistance this time around, instead of being a helpless bystander." Lainey listened to Alex's musings with something like alarm -- she hadn't meant it'd be a good idea for him to seek out his attacker. In all honesty, whoever had done it was probably in hiding, and would be defensive at best if questioned about it.

"He -- or she -- probably didn't have the benefit of a very ambitious younger sister helping them out. Not having that under control is so rare nowadays...they must be in a truly desperate situation. I understand the impulse to want the answers...but I'm not sure it's the wisest course of action to go looking for them. I can't imagine they'd be pleased to see you." She placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, looking him square in the eyes.

"Some questions are better left unanswered. Promise me you won't go looking."

Alex yet again blinked at Lainey, the of course it dawned on him just then of course she had been through worse, he had heard about what happened over the summer.. a firend being a werewolf wasn't nearly as bad as that.

"No need to worry about that Lain... I wouldn't know the first place to look even if I wanted to.. Truth is Lain, i have no idea what happened to it, it just dissapeared in a flash of light" he said quietly so no one could over hear and he made puffing motion with his hands. "I don't know if it killed it or..." he said.. he trailed off letting the thought drop.

"Thanks for your help Lian, anything I can assist you with?" he asked not that she seemed to need help with anything she seemed to have i quite together really. Smart in class, a great flyer, generous, pretty... he stopped himself there before he lost himself.

"If not the offer will always stand" he added.

'So how are plans for that quidditch match going?" he said moving on to his default subject. everyone favorite Quidditch.

Lainey smiled at the offer of help, which was sweet despite the fact that there really wasn't anytning he could do for her.

"I'll take a rain cheque on that," she smirked, slinging her bag onto the table and taking out a large book. "As for quidditch....sore subject." The match was in a few days and she felt no better about it than she had when they'd gotten the news. It wasn't like the team wasn't good -- they were, extremely -- but that she couldn't predict exactly how Slytherin was going to play. That they would cheat was certain; how was another question entirely.

"I'd rather talk about homework, to be honest," she muttered darkly, rummaging in her bag for a quill. "At least I know when I finish this concluding paragraph, I'll be done. You can never know with Jericho MacDougal."

Alex nodded, "Ah yes MacDougal, one has to wonder about him.." he said.. Actually he was still curious over the bet that Cole supposily made with the Slytherin in question.. of course he only heard rumors.. That Cole would sell her soul to Jericho.. figurutively specking... But he wasn't exactly sure why it angered Lain so much. It still puzzled him how even knocking him out to get the schedual swiched up really helped any.. he would have played ravenclaw anyway. He supposed they would find out during the game unfortunately.

He didn't like it anymore then Lainey did, Jericho was sneaky... games with Slytherin were always close.. and always took some unsportsmen like element to through thing off balance. Like delliberatel taking a penilty for injuring a member on the opposeing team enough from playing.. there was always alternates... but they could get picked of as well.

"One peice of advise, Lain.. watch your head around him" he said half serious half joking as he abently scratch the back of his own head recalling the concisiion. It was odd ever since he told Lainey about his other half, the part of the wolf in him seemed willing to take her into that protected circle... sorta like the one he held for Kate... only much different... Lainey held different status then Kate... he shock his head slightly really that part of him confused him greatly.

"Buuut anyway bloodly homework it is.. What do you have?" he asked mildly curious..

"I lucked out one this essay, Have to write about the plant monkshood, of course also known as Wolfsbane" He said with a chuckle before writing another line.

"I'll do my best," Lainey shrugged, finally finding her quill. "Frankly I'm more concerned for Cole's welfare. MacDougal gives off the impression that he wouldn't be strictly opposed to knocking her over the head with a club and dragging her off to his cave," she joked, shaking her head.

"Speaking of which, this essay is for History of Magic. Even I have to admit it's a total snore...I've no idea what knowing about the earliest recorded use of magic is supposed to help me figure out, but then again Binns has never been terribly interested in making his class boring," she sighed, carefully checking a fact in her book before writing out another line.

"I mean, the ancient Sumerians were fascinating, but it's not exactly cutting edge stuff anymore, making fire...any first year can do it. Can't wait to be done with this stupid thing, I'll have caught up on all my course work for once. It'll be such a relief."