An Invention of Sorts (Open)

Alfie was glad to have found a study area. He felt more at home here being surrounded by his books, and homework than he did in the warmth of his own four poster bed in the common room. Being separated from Cooper was the worst thing he could have ever thought of. And yet, here they were. Cooper seemed to be doing fantastic. He seemed to be making lots of friends and getting involved in school activities, but Alfie couldn't say the same for himself. Alfie was more quiet and reserved than Cooper.

He smiled as he looked at the picture of a hippogriff flying in the air in his Care of Magical Creatures book. He was reading ahead because he had already done everything he was supposed to do in his classes, and now he was just bored. He had thought about going out for Quidditch, but Flying sucked, and he hated it. So he knew Quidditch wasn't the sport for him.

Cooper, he knew loved Flying lessons, so Cooper would be good for Quidditch. Alfie would probably break his neck. It was then he decided to make something. He hadn't invented something since he got to Hogwarts, which he could tell his mother was disappointed in when he wrote her letters about how he was doing in school.

He got out his invention drawing pad, and started sketching. It wasn't something to do with Quidditch, or to help him get closer to Cooper now that they were apart, it was a cool little gadget that would eventually help him clean his room. Much like a robot. Alfie sketched out the little guy, and nodded at his final sketch. This was going to be fun!

He was a second year now. Wow. Aristotle had never doubted that he would move up a year, because he just knew that he wasn't going to have to repeat a single year. However, he had been worried about not being good enough with magic. He worried about too much, actually, that his performance in Charms had greatly declined. Thankfully, that was his only bad class. Seeing as he needed some practice in that area, he grabbed his textbook from the night stand by his table and headed down to the study rooms.

With the textbook under his arm, Aristotle was glad to get some studying done. He always made time for his studies, and had been putting off charms work simply because of a silly fear. It was ridiculous, really, because there was no way he could actually do bad on a class. That is, if he didn't try - and he certainly hadn't been trying with Charms. The tips of his fingers grazed the wand in the pocket of his robes, it was still unbelievable to have magic, even if he had clearly seen himself do it.

Aristotle reached the study rooms pretty quickly, although his fast walking probably had something to do with that. He opened the door, expecting nobody, but his eyes landed on the figure of a boy. An older one, he thought, that he had seen around the Common Room but had obviously never approached. Aristotle wasn't big on making friends, mainly because he never knew what to say. He could start talking about some book and the person had most likely never heard of it, let alone read it. Or he could ramble about a cartoon and the other person could turn out to not like cartoon at all.

Shyly, Aristotle looked at the boy. "Hi." The amount of courage it took for him to say that was immense. The older boy probably had no idea how hard that had been for him. "Do you um...do you mind if I just...practice some spells?" Aristotle didn't want to be one of those annoying little kids, because there were plenty of them in Slytherin and Gryffindor, so he was trying to stay away from that stereotype. Hopefully this boy would be okay with him being there, because otherwise Aristotle would have to go back to the Tower and do his practice there

Alfie was startled when a younger boy came up to him. Alfie didn't mind the company of others. In fact, he was probably the friendliest boy around! And this little boy was a Ravenclaw, so that made things better. Alfie had had his head in his books all term and hadn't been very social. Even with Cooper, which made him sad. He loved his twin, and wanted to spend more time with him. Maybe he could invent like one of those things where the cans where connected with the strings, and have one at the end of the Ravenclaw common Room and the other the Gryffindor common room.

Of course, this contraption was already invented, Alfie just wanted one for him and Cooper. Alfie was quiet devastated when he and Cooper were separated. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he actually did cry that night, because it was the first time him and Cooper were separated. Alfie had hoped that Cooper reacted the same way, and it wasn't just him, otherwise he would just feel like a complete idiot. And Alfie was in Ravenclaw. He was no complete idiot.

Alfie smiled at the boy and said, "Not at all! I'm Alfie Fawkes. What's your name?" He sat his pencil down for a moment to talk to the boy. He looked lonely and like he needed a friend. Which Alfie was glad to contribute friendship to a fellow Ravenclaw! Alfie asked, "What are you working on?" The little boy seemed friendly. But Alfie knew not everyone possessed the friendly quality, so he was a little nervous the boy would snap at him. He only hoped for the best!

When the boy smiled, Aristotle returned the gesture. It seemed he would be okay with Aristotle hanging around, so that was always nice. Setting his Charms textbook on one of the desks, Aristotle took a seat. Alfie Fawkes seemed very friendly, and Aristotle couldn't help but act as friendly. "Aristotle Mayes. Pleasure to meet you, Alfie." Really, Aristotle wanted to study Charms but Alfie was a little too talkative.

After a moment's hesitation, Aristotle replied. "Charms. I'm unbelievably behind in that class." Truth be told, Aristotle wasn't very good at conversations. "What about you?" He glanced quickly at his textbook, just to make sure it was still there. Aristotle had been secretly paranoid about losing things, because he had already lost a couple pairs of socks in the dormitories. Maybe there were pixies or something mischievous like that that he hadn't noticed yet.

"How are you today, Alfie?" Aristotle asked, more to keep the small conversation going than actual curiosity. He wanted to have a real talk with someone, and suddenly Charms didn't seem as important. Maybe Alfie could help sharpen Aristotle's social skills, because they were terribly dull.