Through the boredom and pain (Apollonia)

New home, new school, new life. Gabriel now understood what Lyra had been complaining about in her emails to him after her move. Picking up your whole life and moving it somewhere new wasn’t all that fun. But here he was.

He still had his sisters at least. The twins were... probably around the castle somewhere, making new friends and wreaking havoc. They were a handful to say the least. After what happened it seemed like they were affected, but also moving on much quicker than Gabriel could have ever imagined. The advantages of being little he supposed.

It was hard for him to believe that only four years ago his brain was at the same level theirs was now. That four years ago he could have mostly buried his parent’s deaths in the back of his mind. He knew that they weren’t completely over it (how could they be?) by the fact that every night whether they were at their new home or at Hogwarts on or both of the twins had come to curl up beside him in his bed, crying like he’d never seen before from either of them. And every single time they did he felt his own feelings swell up, only to be stuffed down again for at least until they left.

Another good thing about being eleven is that you don’t have as complicated of schoolwork. Unfortunately for Gabriel, he was not eleven, and he had work to catch up on. It was not fun to miss school due to having to attend a funeral and a wake and a viewing and all that shit, and then to transfer to a new school in which all your old curriculum doesn't quite line up with. Not fun at all.

His hatred for being behind in his work brought him to the library, where he got a book or two on each subject he knew he needed catch up work in and brought them to a table. It was at least six books and he sighed as he glanced at his stack before pulling out a notebook and the whichever book was on the very top and starting on his work. Maybe he could borrow some of Lyra's notes since she had transferred recently as well? Surely some of the classes she'd been behind in would line up with his own. But on second thought even if they did what if she didn't take the right notes? Then he'd have to try and piece together the information she'd not written down and.. it was probably just best to do it himself.

It wasn't long before he had several pages of notes, and was moving on to the next book. At least he was able to work quickly. Still, even if his new house was supposed to be all about knowledge or whatever, some of the subjects were just straight up boring!

Words swam before his eyes as his eyes moved across the pages quickly. Word after word after word after word... only about half of what he read or wrote down really sunk in, but he stole the important facts and information from the books, copying them straight into his notebook so he could properly study his notes later.

Maybe not the most effective studying method, but then he could at least read only the important bits, and not have to worry about accidentally remembering some unimportant date, or mixing it up with one of the more important ones, or any sort of studying mishap like that.

He was only a little under halfway through his stack, the pile of noted books growing steadily, when a distraction presented itself in the form of a voice, drawing his attention away from the pages in front of him.

"Gabriel... right? Lyra's cousin?"

He had to consciously hold back a sigh at her words, instead giving her a small nod. He hated being called Lyra's cousin, as if that was the only important thing worth identifying about him. She'd been here first though, and so he supposed it was inevitable that they would know of him only in relation to her. Still, it was enough to make him wish he and the girls had shown up on their own, rather than where Lyra went, or at least enrolled at the same time as her, because he truly couldn't imagine trying to adapt to his new life at Hogwarts without Lyra to help.

"That's right," he encouraged, managing a small smile. When asked if he minded if she joined he shook his head quickly, moving the books that may or may not have been in her way. "Of course not," he offered, making a wide gesture to encompass any of the other few chairs at the table. "It's not like I own the table after all, and there's plenty of room."

He took a moment as she sat to take in the... he checked her robes for her house color, Slytherin. Ginger haired, brown eyes, shorter than him from what he could tell, and... well, to put it bluntly, gorgeous. This realization caused him to avert his eyes instinctively, scolding himself lightly. After all, he had Marthe, and she was the only one he needed. He certainly did not need to be noticing how pretty other girls were. Not that this prevented him from feeling just slightly nervous in the presence of the female.

"Well, it seems like you're at an unfair advantage," he said lightly, "after all, you already know my name."