CHAPTER 3

I woke up early on Sunday, and immediately got my books out. After a solid hour of reading the textbook, I realized I had no idea how the hell to begin the essay. I cried to myself and threw a bunnyhug on over my pyjamas. I stumbled out into the lounge and found Jenna right away, reading some huge, ancient textbook by the fireplace. I sauntered up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, Jenna. What's happenin'?"

She sighed and closed the book, then blinked up at me through her ginormous glasses. "I am not giving you a copy of my essay, Adrien."

I groaned and sat on the floor by her chair. "Whyyyyyy?" I whined.

"Because you need to learn about it yourself and do your own work."

"But all of the books are taken out of the library! I can't write an essay on something I have no information about!" I pleaded. I turned to give her my best puppy-dog eyes and waited for a response.

She shook her head and sighed. I smiled widely - I knew she was about to give in. When she looked back at me I resumed my pouty face. "I'm going to regret doing this," she muttered, and stood up to go to her room.

I smiled at her and said, "No you won't! 'Cause I'll love ya forever!"

She sighed again and left the room. I grabbed her textbook off the chair she had been sitting in and read the title, Advanced Arithmancy. I flipped through the first few pages, but then yawned and but it back down. I heard Jenna come back down the stairs and turned to face her and receive the essay.

She placed it in my hands hesitantly, but gave up and sat back down with her book. "Remember to rewrite it," she said, finding her spot in the textbook. "Mr Gaudet knows my handwriting."

"Of course!" I replied and ran back to the stairs. "Thanks a bunch, Jen!"

I entered my room as quietly as I could, but noticed that James was awake and rifling through his trunk.

"Morning," I said cheerily, and sat down on my bed.

He turned and yawn-smiled. "Hey. What're you doing? Homework again?"

I nodded and held up Jenna's essay. "Sort of," I giggled and he laughed and shook his head.

"How often do you do that?"

"Only for Defence Against the Dark Arts… and Herbology… and sometimes Astrology - but that's it. I do very well in Transfiguration and Potions on my own."

He laughed and sat on my bed next to me. "When do I get that tour of the school?"

"As soon as I'm done copying this out and making the grammar bad - otherwise he'll never believe I wrote it."

I continued to write as James dressed and went down to eat breakfast. I asked him to bring me a muffin or something and orange juice. No sense in wasting time. He got back a while later and related to me his impressions of the Glacier House members so far - he had sat with Ryan, Chris and Scott at breakfast. I laughed and ate as I listened to him. When I was done eating the apple and croissant he had brought me, he read and let me finish the essay. I was done in no time, and gave a great big stretch and yawn to signal my completion.

"Finally done?" asked James as he bookmarked his book and set it on his dresser. I smiled and nodded and watched him come across the room to me. "Let's see," he said and snatched the essay off my bed before I could stop him. He read out loud, "'Snapdragon Venom: Friend or Foe?'" He laughed at my title. I just smiled.

"6 pages on the nose, and a bibliography," I said. "I just dumbed it down a bit from Jenna's version, and I figure it should earn me a solid B-… or even a B." James gave the essay back and I put it and my paper and books in my bag. I put Jenna's essay in my dresser drawer, so I wouldn't accidentally hand it in instead. I turned to James and shooed him with my hands.

"What?" he said.

"Off the bed. I have to dress and brush my teeth before I can give you the grand tour, ok? I'll be ready in 10 minutes."

"You look fine! Why can't we just go now?" he whined.

"I have to get ready!" I retorted and whipped the bed curtains closed.

"Girls…" I heard him sigh and had to laugh at that.

I was ready in 7.5 minutes and we went out in the hallway to begin the tour. "Ok, first - the owlery," I said. "I'm expecting a letter." We sauntered down the hallway slowly, and I listed off all the information I knew about each painting, plant or statue.

"Where is this elusive owlery?" he asked. "The Principal told me that Axl had been sent there when I arrived, and I'd like to see my owl sometime in the next century."

"We're getting there, now pay attention," I stated. He laughed and elbowed me. We were going down the stairs when we ran into Chris, Ryan and Scott on their way up to the wing. "Hey, guys! I'm just touring James here around the school. Anyone care to join us?"

Scott and Chris smiled and said "Sure," but Ryan mumbled something about having to get some homework done and continued up the stairs without pausing. I looked after him, and turned to Chris with my eyebrow raised.

"What is up with him lately?" I asked. "He's been acting so weird…"

Chris hesitated and glanced at James pointedly. "Uh, nothing. I dunno," he replied, obviously meaning 'I'll tell you later. Not with James here'. Fortunately, James was too preoccupied with the 5th year girls coming up the staircase to have heard anything we said. I burst out laughing once the girls had passed, because of the way all three of the boys had swelled their chests and tossed their hair out of their eyes in a very dashing manner. They all turned to me, amused by my outburst.

"Whaaaat?" said Scott. I just continued to laugh as we reached the 4th floor and walked down the hall to the owlery. When we got to the door, I stopped and turned to James and with my best bored-tourist-guide voice, I said "On your right, we have the owlery. Oh no, watch out. One of the owls got loose. Ha. Just kidding. Please keep your hands and heads inside the vehicle at all times as we enter the mysterious and dangerous world of… the owl." Scott and Chris opened the door Vanna White-style and beckoned us inside the dark room. James laughed at our dramatics and walked in behind me.

I loved the dark, rustling owlery. It was so warm and alive in there… even though it smelled a little. But Mr Harris - the janitor - did his best to keep it clean. I looked up into the rafters and tried to find my owl, but it was too dark. So I turned to James and said, "You know any riffs from a GnR song?"

"Of course. How about… 'Sweet Child O' Mine?'"

"Sure. Let's sing it." With our best guitar impressions, James, Scott and I sang the intro to the famous GnR song. Chris just laughed and kept his eyes on the rafters.

"Here he comes, Aje," he warned. I held out my left arm, and my gorgeous owl lighted softly on my arm. I was always amazed at how such a huge bird could weigh so little.

"Wow, he's nice," said James, giving Slash a soft stroke on his back.

"You're lucky he didn't try to peck your fingers off," I said, surprised. "He usually never lets strangers touch him… or me. He must like you." James smiled at me and then at the Scop owl on my arm. I looked lovingly into the bright red eyes of my bird-buddy and stroked his beak with my finger. Slash clawed at my pockets for a treat, and I laughed and brought out a piece of the croissant I had saved from breakfast. As he gulped the snack down, I untied the bulky-looking letter from him leg. "Thanks, bud," I whispered, and let him fly off into the rafters to sleep off the exhaustion from his long journey.

"Who's that from?" asked James.

I tried to control my facial expression and said, "My old roommate." I could feel Scott's and Chris' eyes on me as I said it, and was thankful the room was dark so I wouldn't have to see the looks in their eyes. "Where's your owl?"

James whistled towards the ceiling, and a flutter of wings told us of the owl's approach. A large Milky Eagle owl landed on his forearm, and James rubbed its beak with his fingers. "This is Axl. Axl, this is Adrien," he introduced.

I laughed quietly. "Heya, Axl. He's beautiful, James."

"Yeah. She is, isn't she?"

I smirked at him. "Oops. But honestly, how can one tell the difference?"

James smiled at me through the darkness. "Same way you can tell the difference between boy and girl humans."

"And how's that, exactly?" said Chris, feigning interest. Ignoring my chortle he said, "No really, Adrien. Please tell me. I'd like to know."

I punched him in the shoulder and turned back to James. "Letter? Package?"

He checked the owl's leg and found a small note attached. Once he had returned Axl to the rafters, we all returned to the hallway, breathing the fresh air deeply.

"Now where?" asked James, pocketing his mail.

I thought for a moment. "How about we start from the ground floor and work our way up?" James nodded, but Chris and Scott groaned at me. "What now?"

"That's gonna take years," complained Scott.

"No way am I doing that. Sorry, man," said Chris, holding up his hands in defence.

I smirked at them. "Fine, leave then. I'll do it myself." The looked relieved and said goodbye just before they raced each other down the hall to the huge fireplace at the opposite end. Each grabbing a handful of Floo powder from the bowl on the floor, they stepped into the fireplace one at a time and stated "8th Floor," as clearly as possible. Scott was second and performed his usual 'death-by-fireplace-burning' as he was enveloped in green flame.

I smiled and turned to James. "Ok, Jim. Let's go to floor 1 and start the tour for real."

He faked a huge, laboured sigh and followed me down the hallway and 3 sets of stairs to the main entrance. "Let the tour of Trudeau's Institute of Magic and Mystery commence."