Homework controlled Gelsey's life, she realised that. Nearly every decision she made while at Hogwarts depended on the volume and difficulty of any pending homework. The saying 'all work and no play makes [Gelsey] a dull girl' was too right. Curse being a Ravenclaw at heart.

It wasn't to say she didn't get away from homework ... it was just to say that most of the time she did it was only to eat or to embark on her Prefect duties. Gelsey actually couldn't recall if she'd spoken to anyone who wasn't a professor, lab partner or student being reprimanded within the past week. Her teenager's heart, which was rarely allowed input in her everyday life, could no longer be ignored. It compelled her to put aside the books and parchment for one day and get a little more fresh air than she generally got while going to and from classes. And, though a secret longing that she was not dignify through fully formed thought, it wanted conversation. It couldn't stand the silence anymore

And so out she went that afternoon, braving the autumn chill enough to settle on a bench in the courtyard. Her thoughts were on the month, as if it had only just occurred to her that it was October. And that Hallowe'en would be coming soon. She'd always had an obsession with Hallowe'en as a child, even if she had never gone out trick-or-treating with the other kids in the neighbourhood. A rather Freudian obsession, it occured to her, considering what she had turned out to be.