May 2004
OWLs were coming up quickly and while Jae had been preparing all year (or basically his whole Hogwarts career) after he found out the 'OWLs' - what a ridiculous name, someone clearly had a thing for acronym play - was the equivalent of A Levels and apparently, those were the key to unlocking career opportunities. Not that he exactly knew what he wanted to do yet. How was one supposed to decide that at 15? But he at least wanted to give himself options so studying it was. Although in wide comparison to his yearmates, he actually didn't mind all the studying and focused work. If he didn't hate the house system so much, he might have even wondered why he hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw because of his preference.
The common room had its usual buzz of activity for a Saturday afternoon, some students around the fire, some pretending to work when really they were gossiping over Witch Weekly magazines, the blonde prefect was over by the false window braiding a younger girl's hair. Jae noticed the two braids were lopsided, but neither girl noticed. Jae had one leg tucked under the other as he sank into one of the plush arm chairs in the corner, what he considered
his corner as he was often there or at
his table in the library. He couldn't really lay claim to either, but he did so anyway.
He was just turning the page in his Transfiguration text book, brushing up on fourth year spells as a refresher, when a flash of white startled him, a cat with long white hair, jumping into his lap and walking nonchalantly over his book, not a care in the world that Jae had actually been doing something. The fifth year gave a hard sigh, but raised his hand to pet the feline. He wasn't sure why, but many of the castle cats seemed to adopt him. He was a magnet and it would've been cuter/less frustrating if he could figure out the reasoning behind it. "Well, hello," he murmured exasperated as he ran his hand over the soft fur, the cat arching its back into his hand making him smile a bit.
@Abigail Lawson
