Lesson Learned? ((Belle))

[Connor Coxen]

“Very nice Mr. Coxen.” The professor stated pretty blandly as he gave Connor his essay about Horklumps back. He received an E which was pretty good since most of the class got A’s down to T’s. But it wasn’t like anyone in the Coxen family would take notice or care. Connor wasn’t exactly known as the smart Coxen even though he was smart. Cora was always Bruce’s favorite and there was no changing that. And therefore, she was the smartest. It wasn’t like Connor wanted to throw that he had some sense in anyone’s face. He just wished that people would sometimes see him as something other than a good listener. After all, Connor was more than just a friend and brother. “Okay class the end of the year exams are coming up so continue preparing. Thank you. You are dismissed.” Connor nodded and headed out with a group of Hufflepuffs who were mumbling to themselves. “That class is so boring!” Jayci Clark exclaimed as they entered the empty corridor. Connor smiled and followed behind her. “Oh it isn’t that bad.” Connor actually enjoyed the class. “And you would mister smarty pants!” Jayci joked as she hopped on Connor’s back like a child. He grinned and continued to give her a piggy back ride down the hall. Jayci was one of his closest friends. They met back in first year before sorting. Jayci stood in front of Connor and turned to him while the A names were being sorted. ‘Hi I’m Jayci and I’m gonna be a Hufflepuff.’ She said cheerfully. ‘I’m Connor and I wanna be too.’ He smiled. “Cool!” She exclaimed so loud that the whole Great Hall took notice. And they had been friends ever since.

“Right to the Common Room or left to the Great Hall.” Connor asked as he steered around the halls with Jayci still on his back. “Left!” she exclaimed. “I’m starved!” Jayci was the most outspoken person Connor knew. Yea, she defiantly had an immature side, but Connor didn’t notice. She was his friend and that was all that mattered. Plus Jayci adored him more than Bruce and Cora ever would or at least Connor thought so. “I knew it.” He smiled and took a sharp left. Jayci squealed which in turn made Connor laugh. Jayci always made him laugh. He couldn’t help but laugh around her. “Oo wait!” She exclaimed as she tugged on Connor’s hair. He let her down onto the ground and then turned around. “What?” He asked. “I have a paper to write..” She trailed off. This was news to Connor. “What paper?” He asked. “The one I got a P in on Horklumps that the professor is letting me re-do and turn in tomorrow afternoon.” She said scuffing the ground like a child who just got caught. That was Jayci for you. “I thought you wrote that on Monday.” He said faking a stern look. “Well..” Connor laughed. “It’s okay. Go do your paper silly.” Jayci smiled and ran off like usual. He smiled watching her. Signature Jayci.

Connor walked along the corridors to the Great Hall. Unlike Jayci he had spent some time on his paper. Plus, he was starving. Connor hated going on an empty stomach. Plus, meals were the best time that Connor could go over and talk toe Chace. Well if Lara, Seth, and Willow weren’t around which they usually were. It didn’t matter. Connor just liked to spent time with Chace. And of course Oz and Riley too but they were closer to his age than Cora and Chace so it was easy to spend time with them. And sometimes, way too thought consuming. Connor shook his head slightly as he approached the entrance hall. It was then he noticed a familiar face standing around the entrance of the Great Hall, but not yet going in. “Belle!” Connor exclaimed as he walked up to the fellow third year. “Hey. How did you do on the essay? Jayci has to re-do hers.” He explained. “I told her to do it on Monday, but well she never listens. Maybe she will learn her lesson. Nah” He smiled. Jayci was almost like a member of the family. Okay so maybe Connor was the only member of the Coxen crew who talked to her, but she felt like family to Connor at least. Connor then looked to Belle hoping she would be up for a conversation.

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

Most students, including Ravenclaws, had to work hard for the grades they received. Especially Ravenclaws, since they want to not only get by, but to get ahead. On numerous occasions, like everyday, Belle would make her descent into the common room to see every head inside a book. This is what her house was known for, its knowledge and intelligence, but also for being bookworms. Most people would be surprised the number of people who where in the house and weren’t fans of late nights, and hot dates with their textbooks. Isabelle Leynette was a part of that growing number. She was in class ready to leave. She watched as the other students anxiously waited to get their last essay back. Belle smiled slightly as the professor placed her’s before her. It was an E of course, she didn’t expect any less. It would even come off as a pleasant surprise to know she actually researched the paper this time. “Good work Miss Leynette. I saw so effort this time.” She gave the man a sarcastic smile before turning her eye to her work. She didn’t mean to sound rude to the teacher, but it was nearing the end of the day and she was ready to get out of class. She wasn’t even going straight to dinner, she still had to stop and drop her things off. Including her latest batch of homework, it wouldn’t take her long if she could commit to it this evening, but she was hoping for a distraction. She began to think of the distractions she hoped to run into. Like one of her best friends, either August or Tayrn, but perhaps if she didn’t see them she would settle for a conversation with one of the other girls from her dorm. As she began to think about this possibility the professor pulled her out of her thoughts with an announcement. “Okay class the end of the year exams are coming up so continue preparing. Thank you. You are dismissed.” Finally she was released, and oddly she took her time gathering her books, wand, and parchment. She didn’t want to get stuck with someone in that rush to the door as quickly as you can crowd. She wasn’t in the mood to feel somebody’s elbow in her spleen.

She finally made it out the door and headed in the other direction then all the other kids. They where kidding and laughing, she returned their smiles and greetings, but turned down any invitations to go down to supper with them. After what seemed like an eternity and a day she made it back her door room and collapsed on her bed and sighed. On arrival though, she realized how hungry she really was. This was followed by another sigh; she had made the trip all the way up here and now wanted to go back? She was being betrayed by her own body. Giving into temptations she quickly slipped out the door and into the corridors. The main hallway was thinning out, but there was still a nice crowd of kids of heading in the same direction as her. She fell into step behind a group of older girls. She heard scraps of their conversation. Something about some girl and her boyfriend having problems. That could have been talking about any couple on campus, but something told her it wasn’t just a couple. She was hearing a lot of rumors lately, all around the same topic. Either it was one couple or many couples at school where on the rocks. Belle snickered to herself at the thought of that. She could just imagine everyone around her breaking up. It was a funny thought.

She slowly broke away from the pack, after she learned that Courtney was wearing her new lipstick, and that Megan had tag out during class. All that petty gossip garbage, it gave her a headache. Reaching the entrance of her destination, she leaned her head against the door frame, breathing slowly and watching the girls walk over to the table, still talking, ignorant of the fact Belle had been listening to them the whole time. She only hoped she didn’t end up like them when she was their age. Her and Tayrn weren’t that bad, she didn’t think. The spent most of their time trying to shock Victoria. It was going good so far. She was feeling a lot better when she heard some one call her name. She spun around to see who it was. On seeing it was Conner Coxen a fellow third year, Belle smiled beautifully. “Conner. I’d say I’m surprised to see you here, but that wouldn’t be even remotely make sense. So I’ll just say Hi. Hi.” She told him. She sometimes had a tendency to say a lot. “The essay was an essay grade. I wasn’t too shocked with what I got. As for Jayci, well... I’m not sure what to say. But how did you do?” She asked him as he came closer. She laughed at his joke. It was true, you didn’t learn your lesson after failing once.

[Connor Coxen]

Connor smiled. He never found it difficult to talk to fellow third years. They all had so much in common and most of them took the same classes. Still, it had always been easy to talk to older students as well. This was because Connor was the youngest and he always had to keep up with his older sibling’s conversations. This wasn’t an easy thing to do at first but with time, Connor became quite the master at communicating with even Cora, but that didn’t help much. Cora was still Cora and she was always going to treat Connor in the way she pleased. Some things would never change. But Connor was used to it. He would never be the Coxen favorite and he knew this. Connor would always hold out hope that his father would be proud of him one day, but he just didn’t see this happening. Bruce Coxen was disappointed with all of his sons. He claimed that Chace and Connor weren’t ambitious enough and frankly, he had never liked Oz. So Connor could do no good it seemed and he was getting used to this. He shook his head lightly and put his attention back to Belle.

He laughed lightly. “Yea it’s not too surprising when you consider how much I like to eat to survive.” He joked. Actually all guys were that way, but whatever. Connor had many classes with Belle of course considering they were both in the same year. And even when classes were split by houses, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were put together a lot of times. Poor Slytherin and Gryffindor. Well, they would have to learn to get along eventually. Nah. Their rivalry would never die and everyone with a pulse knew this. Connor was lucky that Hufflepuff didn’t really have an open rivalry with any one house. It wasn’t a secret that Slytherins didn’t usually take a liking to Hufflepuffs but it wasn’t a rivalry really. It was just the Slytherin house simply being the Slytherin house. And they could think whatever they wanted about the Hufflepuff students. It didn’t make them seem any lesson obnoxious. But that was beside the point. Connor eyed a group of Slytherin students poke fun as a first year Ravenclaw before they entered the Great Hall. He shook his head. Would they ever learn how stupid they were? Probably not.

“Yea well. I’m just hoping the exam won’t be too difficult. I’ve been doing well on my essays this semester so maybe a can pull off an above average grade on the exam. Really I’d just settle for decent, but I’d rather do the best I can.” There was a part of Connor that had always been a little like a Ravenclaw student. Actually, besides Hufflepuff, that was the only house he could see himself in as a first year. He had a smart side and he liked to do his best, but Hufflepuff was the better fit for him. Connor knew that Belle was smart like all Ravenclaws, but she didn’t seem like the know-it-all type at least not to Connor. She was nice and that was all Connor cared about. He laughed. “Jayci will never learn her lesson, but I love her anyways.” Like a sister, but he didn’t feel the need to say that out loud. “I’m gonna have to push her to get her to study next year, after all the OWL’s will be coming up before we know it, but I don’t even want to think about it.” And he really didn’t. The OWL’s would determine if Connor could do what he wished as a career and since he didn’t know what he wanted to do, he would even think about it for the moment. He sighed when Belle asked how he did. “An E, but I did spent all of Monday working on it so I was pretty satisfied.” It was true. Connor turned down swimming in the lake to work on the essay. That was probably what Jayci had been doing. Oh well. He couldn’t force her to do her homework. “So, how have you been doing lately?” It was a lame question usually, but Connor was actually interested. He wanted to know about people’s lives he really did. Maybe he didn’t want to know about their issues, but he wanted to know about them. And he had always been like that.

[Isabelle Leynette R3]

The smell of food was floating out of the Great Hall and into the hallway where Belle and Conner stood. She smelt potatoes and chicken, defiantly one of her favourite meals. It smelt like a home cooked meal, something she didn’t get at home. On no, with Victoria it was always a new chief every week with cuisine from around the world. It always tasted weird and expensive. It was hard not to compare meals at her house with the meals at her grandparents. They had always cooked food children, well actually anyone of all ages, would enjoy. Macaroni and cheese, tacos, ribs, it was all there, and always delicious. And as the school year came to a close she felt excited at the idea she would be able to spend time with them. Like she did every year, if seeing her mother was the thing that rained on her parade every summer, seeing her Grandparents was the silver lining. She eagerly awaited the year to be over, knowing she would not have to stomach Victoria’s take on parenting for a few days before she left to visit her grandparent’s. This included all the art lessons she had been dying to take, and all the photography seminars she had been dying to attend. Grandma and Grandpa trumped mom and dad any day.

“Food is so over rated.” She told him in a joking fashion, but listening to those girls had caused her lose her appetite. But then again it was potatoes and chicken. Belle quietly debated in her head whether or not she really wanted to go in or not. Temptation reared its ugly head. She looked into the room once more. Again she didn’t see either one of her friends. Who would she sit with now? She didn’t want to sit alone or worse next to someone like the girls she was just behind. She could handle only so much. She spotted the girls once more and rolled her eyes in disgust. “Considering how much I really wanted to eat while I was on my way here, and now I’m not hungry due to some really inconsiderate people, and how much I don’t want to bother you …” She was rambling, she knew she was rambling, she just didn’t know just how to turn off. “What I’m trying to say, I think.” She tried again, smiling real pretty like she always did when she was trying to start over. “Do you want to skip dinner and walk with me? Or would you rather eat now? You can be honest with me?” She assured him. Her eyes wondered to the room filled with delicious smells, and a lot of noise. “We can always go down to the kitchen.” She told him her last attempt to convince him to go with her.

She listened as he named his hopes for the exams. The almost matched hers perfectly. “I don’t think they’ll be too difficult if you study and prepare.” She told him thinking about the cram sessions she had planned for herself. Late nights with her books, and notes where really the only way she could do it. Her mother called them bad study habits, but Belle preferred them the way Victoria hated them. She picked her friends like that, and her wardrobe, and of course her music. It helped that Victoria hated everything. “Not that I’ll be doing much of the preparing myself. I’m very put together in every aspect of my life except my studies.” She told Conner. Most people pegged her as a control freak, and a perfectionist. They were right of course. But for a Ravenclaw she did almost no studying. She remembered everything that was important. Exams were a piece of cake, but lately she had been wanting to do better and better. Maybe she was a true Ravenclaw after all.” It’s nice to have friends.” Belle agreed thinking of her two closest. They were wacky, and crazy, and different, but they were hers after all. ‘She’ll probably resent it.” Belle was thinking out loud now, another habit of hers most people, including Victoria disliked. “An E, that’s excellent.” She said with a laugh. “Lately … I’ve been fine. Soon, not so much.” Belle didn’t lie. “But, that’s boring. How are you?” She asked him.

[Connor Coxen]

Connor couldn’t help but wish that they were eating at the very moment. He couldn’t help it. He hadn’t eaten in hours. That was his fault really. Connor had a habit of skipping meals. Yep, a boy skipping meals. He couldn’t help it really. Sometimes he was too occupied with his school work or he was playing piano and simply forgot. But he did tend to visit the kitchens for a late night snack of course he did so before curfew. Connor usually wasn’t one for rule breaking unlike Riley and Oz. And if he did break rules, it was because of something Riley and Oz thought up. Silly twins. Which was way Connor found himself wanting to be more like Chace than wanting to be more like the twins. He loved his siblings, but they used him as his playthings. When Oz wanted to test out a scheme he used Connor as his guinea pig and usually Connor agreed but he knew one day he would finally have to stand up to him siblings. When would that day come? Connor had no idea what so ever. Connor shook his head as his body was urging him to go to the Great Hall. He then shifted his attention back to Belle.

Connor laughed and held his stomach for a second. Connor looked around. It seemed that Belle was very irritated with some girls. Connor didn’t know them nor did he know why Belle didn’t seem to like them, but Connor did know that he was a good listener. He eyed Belle as she rambled and he chuckled lightly as she finished. “For a second I thought you meant me.” He chuckled again. “And you’re not bothering me. I like to talk to people. And I never mind.” That was true. But didn’t did people know that what they said affected Connor. They never even would have dreamed that it did but it did. Connor thought on her proposals for a moment. “Let’s take a walk down to the kitchens. I know a surprisingly friendly house-elf who always gives me some left-overs.” He smiled. “C’mon.” He chuckled and grabbed her hand lightly as they started to walk to the kitchens.

Connor nodded. “Yea, but sometimes I feel like I don’t prepare enough even though I know that I have.” He sighed. “It’s confusing.” It sure was but that was life. Connor knew that exams would just get harder as the years went on. Connor was nearly out of beginner classes. Things wouldn’t be even a little easy now. Now he had to work hard, make good grades, and win house points for his house. No one said it would be easy, but Connor would make the most of his next few years at Hogwarts. Connor chuckled. “Really? I though Ravenclaws loved to study? Now I know that doesn’t go for ever one, but it certainly goes for my sister.” He chuckled again. Cora was defiantly the brightest Connor child. Still, Connor knew that Riley could be just as smart if she tried harder than she did, but she wouldn’t. She didn’t want to be anything like Bruce or Cora. She didn’t even try to please them anymore like Connor did. Connor sighed. Bruce and Cora could be a little much but they were family and he had to respect them. Connor and Belle continued to walk as they talked. “What’s the matter?” He sighed. “Me well. I’m good as always.” He sighed. He smiled. “People rarely ask me how I’m doing.” He nodded. “They just want to use me as their shrink, but I don’t mind.” Lie. He did mind, but Belle couldn’t know this. No one could. “So, what’s your favorite meal?” He asked. “Maybe I can get Geni to make it for us.” He talked about the sweet house elf. “She’s very kind.” He nodded thinking of her. Connor sighed and then continued to walk to the kitchens.