Balancing Boredom ((Edward))

[Bradley Jameson]

Bradley did not like books. He was not stupid; he could read and he could appreciate words, but he just did not like to read. Books bored him, sent him to sleep, and it was just his luck that one of the most important aspects of learning, education and schooling was reading textbooks – dull, long-winded, utterly despairing 600-page textbooks. Cursing quietly under his breath, Bradley slammed the book shut and let it tilt unsteadily on his lap. I give up, his thoughts snarled through grit teeth. I don’t care about the biology of Herbology. What does that even mean?

“Bored without Colin, Bradley?”

“Holy--!” Bradley cursed again, jumping against the hard back of the sofa, where his friend was leaning over with an unrepentant and thoroughly amused smile. “Angel, don’t do that!” Bradley snapped, not with malice, at his dark-skinned, fellow seventh-year Gryffindor.

“Do what?” she smirked innocently, before patting him on the shoulder and pulling away towards the doorway with a full bag slung over her shoulder. “I’ll see you later. I’ve got class, don’t want to be late. Try not to kill your textbook by the way; Katie will want it back.”

Bradley watched Angel with narrowed eyes. “You’re never late, you’re always ridiculously early,” he accused. “And don’t worry, I’ll just shred it to pieces and throw it in the fire; nothing drastic. Katie won’t notice a thing.” He returned Angel’s grin, knowing the lie in his words, before she disappeared through the wall. Katie would not just care; she’d bloody slaughter him, his cousin would.

Angel was right about another thing too: Colin. Bradley was so, so bored without Colin; no Colin to poke fun at, no Colin to play Wizard’s Chess with (and beat in seven moves flat), no Colin to keep his mind focused and amused. The problem was, Colin took all the weird classes; they barely shared lessons anymore, which was irritating to say the least. Classes weren’t nearly as fun without Colin; they used to pass childish notes to each other under the professor’s nose, and exchange pathetic jokes which seemed much funnier in class than out of it, and do the work together without any problems because they were good at different things. Colin had always balanced out Bradley (even if he weighed tons less, he was so skinny), but then they’d chosen different subjects for their NEWTs, and now they barely saw each other. It annoyed Bradley. A lot.

Bradley was running Colin’s timetable through his head and looking forward to when his best mate got out of class, when a familiar figure sat down beside him. Catching his eye, Bradley’s lips lifted into an easy smile. “Hey Edward, how’s it going?” he greeted with a dip of his blonde head. Since they’d shared a dorm for almost seven years, Bradley knew Edward well, to a certain degree. He wasn’t a loud chap, but he seemed decent enough; everyone in their dorm was. Bradley liked him, and he treated people he liked with respect and friendly acknowledgement.

[Edward Shaw G7]

“Did you remember to swish before you flicked?” Edward Shaw asked as he leaned back against the wall of the corridor. Students were passing quickly…most trying to make it to their next class on time. Edward was discussing Transfiguration with a Hufflepuff sixth year. They were in the same class and had just been let out. They had spent the entire class relearning how to transform mice into teacups and back nonverbally. Joe Kress had turned his mouse into a teakettle instead. It had amused the professor, but Kress had found it a failure and was asking anyone who would listen what he had done wrong. Poor Edward hadn’t gotten away quick enough and was now being berated as he stood in the hall waiting for the rest of the students to thin out before he headed back to the dormitory. There was something just wonderful about being in sixth year and able to have free hours. It gave him more time to get his homework done and was definitely a nice little breather.

“Of course I swished! Oh could I forget to swish?”

“Then I don’t know what went wrong either. Why don’t you go ask Professor Callaghan to explain it to you? I’m sure he’d be willing to do so if you hurry and get to him before his next class starts,” it was a feeble attempt to get rid of Kress, but it worked. Kress’s face lit up like a candle as he rushed back down the corridor, knocking several first year students over in the process. Edward just shook his head as he turned back to look at the packed corridor. He waited a few more minutes, the traffic in the hall slowly ebbing away, before he pushed off from the wall and started up the stairs to the Gryffindor Dormitory. It was nice to finally have a break. He was probably going to work on his Potions homework. It wasn’t nearly as difficult now as it was when Snape taught the course, but he wasn’t about to admit that to the new professor. They could go on thinking they were actually challenging their students, when in reality the students were challenging her. It wasn’t like she didn’t know what she was doing, she did, it was more that they had had to deal with such a hard professor before that she was just sort of average…at least she didn’t mark them down for being in Gryffindor. That had always been so annoying.

Edward rubbed at his face, stifling a yawn as he got to the picture of the Fat Lady. “Password,” she called out and as always Edward waved his hand and repeated the password back to the painting. She nodded her head and opened, allowing him to enter. He moved through the passageway with ease and stretched as he came into the comforting common room. Brown orbs fell on a familiar body sitting on the sofa. Bradley Jameson was a Gryffindor in the year above. Edward had gotten to know him pretty well over the last six years and definitely considered him a friend. He adjusted the shoulder strap of his back as he moved toward the sofa, taking a seat next to Bradley.

“Not bad Bradley. Finally got to my free period…makes life so much grander. How about yourself? Things going all right?” Edward quirked a brow as he motioned his head toward the Herbology book that looked like it was about to slip off Bradley’s lap at any moment. “I haven’t even looked at the homework for Herbology yet. Is it difficult?” Edward was taking about five or six different classes, all of them tied into his attempt to get into the Auror Training Program…it was a goal he had…he thought by joining them he would be able to get information on what happened to Elizabeth. It was a decent idea at the time…now he was sure he was being ridiculous…but it still didn’t keep him from at least trying to join up with the best of the best. All Edward really wanted was peace and equality, which didn’t seem to be happening any time soon. “How long you been at it?”

[Bradley Jameson]

Bradley gave Edward a genial smile. "Sure. Things are good. Bit bored, though." He tapped the Herbology textbook with an unimpressed expression. "It''s more tedious than difficult. Only just started the reading and already I'm falling asleep. Just need some motivation." He surveyed Edward for a moment, scrutinising and analytical as always. "Are you doing work? If you're free, how about a game of chess? I'm not getting anywhere with this work." Wizard's Chess was Bradley's favourite game, bar Quidditch. More often than not, when Colin and Bradley shared free periods, they would pass the time with a game of Wizard's Chess, which Bradley would always win, much to Colin's affront and disbelief. Sometimes Santiago would humour Bradley and have a go, knowing Bradley's competitive streak would show no mercy. Angel, the wisest of them all, preferred not to indulge her friend, and would sit on the sidelines shaking her head with both exasperation and amusement as Bradley crowed with victory whilst his piece destroyed his opponent's King.

As Bradley accioed the chess board from their dormitory, he looked enquiringly at Edward. "So Edward... Do you have any plans once we graduate?" It seemed stupid, to have to make such a life-changing decision at the tender age of eighteen (and some, seventeen); what Bradley chose to do after this year would set the course of his future, and although he was aware life was full of twists and turns, and nothing ever ran smooth, he still felt the weighty pressure of making a firm decision and never having the choice to turn back. Bradley didn't like the definitive nature of this whatsoever, but his options were limited. He could either follow his father's wishes and fulfil the expectations he'd lived by since birth by slipping into the family company and proving he could take over from his father one day in the near future; or he could defy Arthur, and become what he'd wanted to be ever since he'd come to Hogwarts: an Auror. When he was younger and naive, full of innocent dreams and hopes, Bradley had wished with all his heart to become a professional Quidditch player, for he adored the sport. However, as time had passed, not only had he realised (and been repeatedly told) that this was unrealistic, but he also knew he wanted to help people - better the wizarding society - and Quidditch, a mere game, was not the answer to that.

Nowadays, Bradley wondered a lot over the future; not only his, but those of his friends, the people he'd grown up with over the last seven years (and more in Katie's case). Bradley had no doubt that whatever Katie chose to do, she would be incredible at; she had heart and soul fuelled by incomparable passion that would get her far. She had always been an independent woman who knew what she wanted and would stop at nothing to achieve it, a characteristic that had allowed her to bond with her group of Gryffindor friends immediately. In another life, Katie may have been a Gryffindor, had it not been for her wit, intelligence and undeniable beauty. Angel, too, was bound to be sought after by employers; she was too friendly, too bright to ignore, and Bradley knew she would be wonderful with people - as she had always been, even with prats such as himself. Santiago was imbued with a sense of honour and dedication that would no doubt attract many, and he was a hard-worker - more than any of them, perhaps; such a work ethic was hard to find now. As for Colin: his honesty was his best quality, it was what had attracted Bradley to him in the first place, and someone out there was bound to value this. Colin was a gem of a person, a boy becoming a man Bradley was proud to call his best mate, but whatever he did, Bradley hoped, secretly in his heart, he would never stray far.