Lydia Martin had never been one to procrastinate. However, when she had sat down to do her Arithmancy homework about 2 hours ago with determination that quickly wilted as she realised that she could not find the correct section in her copy of Numerology and Grammatica. She had instead decided to do her other homework with the hope that if she returned to it with a clear mind, she would be much more prosperous. Yet here she was, sat with a scowl scrunching her brow, blue tie loosened and her fists clenched in her lap, the quill she clutched in one threatening to snap at any moment.
The common room almost cleared in those 2 hours since she'd last looked up, but as her gaze swept the room she saw the Quidditch team huddled together, no doubt preparing for the oncoming match against Slytherin. Nobody had bothered to come and sit with her having noticed the discarded scraps of parchment and various other textbooks strewn around her person, a sure sign of concentration and will not to be disturbed. Certain hyperactive seekers however, had not learnt to recognise these warning signs or more likely chose to ignore them.
"Martin my love, you look positively frazzled!" proclaimed Stiles Stilinski as he dropped down beside her and snatched a spare quill off her table and twiddled it in his long freckled fingers. Lydia sighed and turned to look at him, preparing to ask him politely to leave her alone.
"Stiles please, I'm not in the…" she began, exasperated. "Hold on! You do Arithmancy don't you?"
"Advanced Arithmancy if you please Miss Martin," Stiles countered. "Vector bloody loves me, reckons I've got a gift for the nonsense." Stiles didn't think he's ever seen such a smile consume Lydia's face before, he also vaguely attempted not to think about the crinkles it formed in the corners of her eyes, or the dimples on her rosy cheeks and the resulting swoop in his stomach.
"Then this is fate Stiles Stilinski, as you are to be my knight in shining armour!" claimed Lydia, that maddening grin continuing its climb upwards.
"It would be both a pleasure and an honour!" Stiles mocked, attempting a bow even in their cramped sitting positions between a table and a couch. She chuckled and presented him with her problem by promptly shoving the offending worksheet under his nose, forcing his eyes to cross as he attempted to read it.
"Are you trying to blind me Lydia?" he questioned as he snatched the sheet from her ink stained fingers.
"No I am just so bloody frustrated at this stupid Arithmancy stuff, I mean where does Vector get off setting experimental torture as homework?" The uncensored ramblings burst from Lydia's lips as she watched him scan the parchment, eyebrows furrowed as he read.
"Isn't it dire?" Lydia explain as she watched Stiles' eyes flit across the parchment. He reaches over and pulls a clean piece of parchment towards him, dips the quill he was previously fiddling with in her pot of ink and starts intelligibly scrawling arithmetic symbols across it. Lydia leans round to read over Stiles' shoulder, her hair tickling the shell of his ear. She pretends not to notice the hitch in his breath and pause of the quill. "Oh bloody hell, was it really that easy?"
Stiles laughs under his breath before turning to look at her dismayed expression and swivelling the parchment round so she's not straining to see it.
"Well would you look at that? The mighty Ravenclaw strikes again!"
"We're both in Ravenclaw, dork."