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CHAPTER EIGHT
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Sitting in her chair with her forehead in her palms, Ellie attempted to read the few chapters that had been assigned from the previous class that she hadn't yet finished due to her being a master of procrastination. How she managed to become Hufflepuff prefect, she would never know.
Her head was still pounding and it was impossible to look at the pages, which to her, looked like a mess of words that made no sense. The book was making her head hurt even more.
Students started to file into the classroom (the seventh year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws), and once everyone was seated, Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher (who happened to be dead and just didn't care, apparently) floated into the room. "Good morning, students," the ghost said in his usual monotonous tone.
"Good morning, Professor Binns," the bored class echoed back to him, their own voices just as monotone.
Professor Binns launched into his lesson--is launch really the best word? It was rather slow, actually. Ellie found herself on the verge of falling asleep, and knowing that Binns couldn't care less if people fell asleep in his class, she rested her head in her arms on her desk. I'll just do the reading later, she reasoned.
About an hour and a half later, the bell rang, signaling the seventh year study hall time, but Ellie stayed asleep. That is, she stayed asleep until she felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her awake.
She sat upright quickly. "By Merlin," she gasped. She saw who it was and said, "Oh my god, you scared me."
Cedric smirked. "I think 'by Merlin' is such a funny thing to say."
"What do you want?"
"Study hall's starting. Binns wanted me to wake you up," he told her. "Should've left you asleep. You're a lot nicer when you're not talking."
Ellie shot him a glare. 
"Rendered you speechless, did I?" Cedric folded his arms across his chest, his cocky smirk never faltering. "Seems to be a magnificent talent of mine, don't you think?"
"I think you talk too much," Ellie retorted, stuffing her books into her bag. "Shouldn't you be off snogging random girls, pretty boy?" Cedric's cheeks flushed bright red, clearly not expecting her to say something like that. Ellie noticed quickly and smirked. She said, "It seems making you blush is a magnificent talent of mine, don't you think?"
With that, she shouldered her book bag and left the classroom, leaving Cedric standing in shock.
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Studying in the courtyard was among Ellie's favorite activities. She absolutely adored the view--the murky waters of the Black Lake spanned on for what seemed like ages, eventually bleeding into beautiful hillside forests. She especially liked going out there during sunset, when the setting sun would seemingly dip into the lake, splashing bright colors around the sky, like a Muggle artist's painted canvas. 
Hogwarts, despite being so isolated from the real world, never felt lonely. As a matter of fact, if Ellie could spend the rest of her life there, she knew she would.