look for the girl with the broken smile [open]

[Ava Finch-Fletchley]

There was a time when Ava could actually focus on her studies. Sure, that time may have been back in her first few years at Hogwarts, but at least there was one. She had to keep reminding herself this as she stared down at her school book, reading but not really comprehending. Someone had once told her that you weren't really reading unless you could hear the words in your head. At the rate she was currently going, she'd have to reread this passage for the sixth... no, scratch that, seventh time now. She was begging to get a bit frustrated with herself.

Ava knew that her main problem right now was that her mind kept traveling off in different directions. Instead of thinking about the things she had learned in her classes that day, she was thinking about how the girl who sat in front of her in her first class constantly twirled her hair. It was incredibly annoying and always distracted Ava when she really should be paying attention. And she was thinking about how the boy in her second class wouldn't stop kicking the back of her chair. That had been annoying as well. So far this year, none of her classes had been very exciting. It definitely sucked. Big time.

People watching was also a current pastime of Ava's right now. Current being the keyword. She had just started doing it now, trying her best to just pass the time. If she headed back to the common room now, she knew just how bored she would be if she did. At least here at the library she didn't look like a complete loner. Not as long as she pretended like she was studying hard. It wasn't like Ava didn't have friends, she had quite a few friends actually. She was a pretty friendly girl, she found a way to like almost everyone. Unfortunately, she just wasn't given the talent of being able to keep a conversation going. She was so shy and awkward that making and keeping friends was hard for her, she would rather just avoid people in general, which goes to explain why she had come to the library today.

Now though, she felt like she could really go for some company. So she continuously glanced around, hoping to catch sight of someone that she knew. Although she tried not to admit it to herself, she was secretly hoping that someone would just approach her. That would make things so much easier. But gosh, she hoped that she would know what to say.

[Avery Gilt]

“I don’t know, for the inevitability of complete warfare with one distracted move…”

“Ridiculous…”

“This will be like a firestone on your back for the rest of your life, mate.”

“Could be an early end for you—”

“Quiet,” Avery warned, who was currently sweating up on a rickety old table in the library, surrounding by numerous felons poking fun at him. They seemed to think that the pressure coming from the situation was worth harassing him about, especially when the opponent happened to be a square second-year child who probably had more than five allergies and could repeat an entire verse of Frank Sinatra thinking he were brilliant. Their battle ground: a wizard’s chess table. Currently, Avery was losing. Threads of his hair appeared to run from his temple like drips of axel grease and, judging by the numbers of creases in his forehead; he was causing an entire globe of thinking energy which sapped and crackled menacingly.

Then, as though germinating a teeny cell forcing absolute genius, he spotted the solution and grinned a little too widely.

“Knight to B-6,” he said confidently, taking a successful lean backwards as if to allow a beam of light on the board of his win. This flavour didn’t last for very long, however, as the kid said very quickly: “Bishop to D-7. Check mate.”

“Wha--!”

Even the little white, porcelain pieces belonging to the brat appeared to be doing some kind of victorious, native dance while the black pieces turned their own weapons onto themselves. After being hushed and lectured by the librarian and his friends left in fits of sniggers, Avery encased himself in another dome; this one was a very, very dark place indeed. Now he was left alone with his bloody Arithmancy essay that he didn’t want to do and a bespectacled second-year girl, the boy’s companion, who taunted Avery by making a series of annoying, snivelling gestures. Boo-hoo-hoo big boy lost against a twelve-year-old!

He lowered his chin to table-level and stared at his quill. This quill now had a minimal potential to construct an essay. It did, however, blur the blonde of a distant familiar face, which sharpened as he looked past the feather. After being annihilated by a bed-wetter, Avery was fortunate enough to see Ava: she always made it seem perfectly okay to have sixteen sugars in a cup of tea. Her bright, wandering eyes made him assume that she was also in need of distraction, so he scraped back his chair and strolled towards her desk; his arms taking gigantic, silly swings. “You’re like a sunshine ball to my clouded retinas,” he breathed, collapsing into the chair opposite with a mocking smirk, “Speeding up on the old mag-eek? I’ll join. I’m pretty good, actually.”

Avery splays out his gangly body; his arms ascending like shoots to grasp the back of his head. He gazed across at her languidly through dipped lids, clearly indicating that he wasn’t going to move for a while.

[Ava Finch-Fletchley]

Although Ava's eyes had been wandering, she hadn't really been focusing on anything. Because of this, she didn't actually notice Avery walking towards her until just before he spoke. Just seeing him brought a big smile to her face, she couldn't have gotten luckier. Things weren't awkward with him at all, they could talk about anything and everything together. He was definitely the kind of friend that she loved to have around, plus he gave her tons of candy. Which was awesome.

"Wow, Avery. I'm so flattered! I can honestly say that I have never been called the sunshine ball to a retina!" Ava said, putting excitement into her voice and batting her eyelashes at him for dramatic effect. She thought that acting this way was so much fun. If she had more self confidence, she was sure that she would have been in some sort of an acting class. Just for fun though, of course. Nothing serious.

As she watched him relax, basically giving her the signal that they would be having their normal talk for hours kind of hang out session, she noticed that he looked a little sweaty. Or at least, he looked like he could have been sweating earlier. She was pretty curious as to why, it wasn't too hot in November. It made her wonder if something may have happened, but she wasn't going to be nosy about it. That jus wasn't the type of person that she was."So, this is pretty horrible. I can't stay focused, at all." She complained, giving a soft sigh.

Since it seemed like they would be here for awhile, she closed her school books. She had no intention of talking about any of it, there were much more interesting things to talk about. "How are you liking your seventh year so far, old man?" Ava teased him, raising one eyebrow slightly in question, she could never get it up all the way. Thinking about Avery not being at school next year was kind of sad, she really hoped that they would stay in touch.