I digress

[Mariana Torrenne]

“It’s just not natural,” Mariana said as she watched one of the Ameraid’s on the next table over eating a toffee apple. She didn’t appreciate how they had taken it off its stick and cut it up with a knife and then picked at it with a fork so they would not get toffee on their fingers. She was even about to object loudly when she remembered the Golden Hall was packed and it would be exceedingly embarrassing not only to the Ameraid, but more so herself.

This thought kept her deathly silent.

She watched a moment more while she chewed on a chocolate bar that had long since melted and slithered down her throat only leaving the cracked up dust of peanuts which were originally whole within the bar itself. She tore her eyes away from the Ameraid so that she could focus on the chart before her, “Astronomy homework…” she sighed hoping that someone might interrupt the mundane daily routine.

[Barnak Pengryffin]

Barnak's somewhat isolated figure at the very end of the Ruberagon table was not an unusual one. Neither was the look of disgust at the other students around him which was more often than not directed toward the Saphricorn table, from which much of the noise in the room originated.

Today, however, it wasn't the noise that was bothering him but the rumination of one particular girl of said tribe. She had bitten off the end of her chocolate bar several minutes ago and was still chewing, chewing, chewing... Barnak's nose turned up slightly. Surely there could be nothing left of it by now? He couldn't decide why it was annoying him, but it was. He slipped his wand out of his pocket - the motion was easily hidden by the mass of students between himself and the girl - and whispered a little spell he'd learnt in primary school. The images on the chart in front of the girl shifted around just slightly, just enough to be in different places.

[Mariana Torrenne]

"I know this is wrong," she said to herself quietly looking down at the homework in front of her. She had never acheived perfect marks in Astronomy and she knew now that there were likely mistakes right across this chart that would probably reward her a detention or two and a week and a half of remedial Astronomy lessons. She looked the chart over wondering if any of it was right. Knowing her it would always be just slightly wrong. Though her professor had told her many times, slightly wrong was wrong, and there was no other word for it.

Something caught her eye as she gazed at the chart, something a little unsettling. Some of the images began to move. She narrowed her eyes and watched them in silence, what was this magic? Was the parchment haunted?

"Hello?" she said to it as she drew out her wand and tapped the scroll, "Hello? Who are you? Are you helping me with my homework?" she kept her voice low. Her voice was not particularly low as she said this. Saphricorn students were not exactly known for being quieter then others.

[Barnak Pengryffin]

A throaty chuckle bubbled from Barnak before he could stop himself, though he stifled it quickly as a couple of Ruberagons seated not so far from him glanced up from their own doings. Helping? He forced the smile from his face and pretended to find something fascinating in his book, but his eyes still glittered with mirth. Yes... yes why not?

Something deep within him stirred and slithered pleasantly as he once again looked up and directed his wand toward the girl's parchment. Yes... From where he sat he could just see the word as it appeared briefly in the middle of her charts in a dark, italic script. Helping...

[Mariana Torrenne]

Mariana would have squealed with delight but drawing attention to herself at a time like this would have been a dear mistake. If she truly did have a sheet of parchment, bewitched to assist her with her homework, she didnt really want anyone to know about it. She fought the urge to roll the parchment up and scuttly off to her dorm. She didnt want anyone catching her, but she knew she would not be able to handle closing the connection between them so instantly.

She drew another sheet of paper out of her bag, if this one was bewitched she wasnt going to give it to a teacher. She quickly began to copy what was on the sheet onto the second. She paused a moment, something didnt make sense. She returned her quill to her original sheet of parchment and scrawled 'Are you sure Jupiter is a Moon of Saturn? Its awfully large'

She watched the parchment intently waiting for it to respond, all the while wondering hw she had missed something so significant in half a year of the class.

[Barnak Pengryffin]

Barnak had to balance carefully his enthusiasm for reading the Saphricorn's parchment with his desire not to be caught paying it too much attention. Her terrible hand-writing wasn't making it easy, and his eyes were so tightly squinted that he must have looked absurdly near-sighted as he shifted his gaze between her work and the book right in front of him.

Not that he had to worry about anyone on his own table seeing him: the reading and indeed copying of other people's parchments was a common Ruberagon practice which saved a lot of time and trouble and occasionally brought interesting pieces of information to people who knew how to use them. But if any of the larger Saphricorns or Ameraids paid sufficient attention to him to make the connection, they were just nosy enough to lose him his sport. Luckily, Barnak had a talent for blending into the background wherever he was, and it was a rare occasion that someone actually took notice of him.

Barnak paused for a moment, thinking carefully. His wand, still hidden by the table, described a quick curve. This is not the solar system as mortals know it... came the dark words.

[Mariana Torrenne]

Mariana blinked in awe how the stars opened up to her on the sheet in front of her. '... not the solar system as mortals know it...' what did this mean? She peered around her anxiously, just checking to make sure no one was watching. She'd already drawn some speculatively narrowed eyes from her fellow Saphricorn's. Fortunately most of them had started ignoring her since the incident in the Entrance Courtyard... she knew she shouldn't feel that this was fortunate as much as embarrassing, but she appreciated being left to her devices sometimes.

'You mean to say you're immortal?' she scribbled on the page as she leant even closer to it. Her hair fell down around the side of her face an impeded outside view of the parchment even more. At the very least if someone did spy it, it would look as if she were having a written conversation with herself. Which would be exactly what she needed. People thinking she was more bonkers than they already thought.

'Is there really a planet called Gobstopper?' she scrawled quickly, narrowing her own eyes at the small red sphere that unlike the other planets on the page, started following the rectangular border of the page itself rather than the elliptical patterns around the sun that the other planets did.

[Barnak Pengryffin]

Immortal, thought Barnak? Sure, why not? This was almost too easy.

Barnak's eyes went from being almost closed to as round as the planets he was manufacturing as the girl's hair fell around her parchment. He watched with despair as the top of her quill danced and swirled, writing another message that he could no longer read.

He cast his eyes about the hall, seeking a solution that would not lead to her or anyone else becoming suspicious, but there were no nearby doors or windows from which he could let in a breeze, no students walking past close enough to knock into her, not even any owls flying about that he could redirect... Nothing.

He sighed quietly and looked back at his book, a frown slowly appearing on his face. He kicked at the air in frustration - for the table leg was a few inches more to his left - and pointed his wand at her parchment for what would possibly be the last time.

Timeless as the universe itself... An aide to those in need... To those who accept it with humility...