InsaneJournal

As he made his way toward the Astronomy Tower, Nikolas had to wonder what exactly had gotten into him.  This felt almost...silly.  Since the game on Saturday, and his resulting injuries, he'd been very reluctant to do anything outside of the Slytherin Common Room unless he was required to - classes, unfortunately, and meals.  As a result, he'd been lazing about for the past few days, struggling to pay attention to his assignments and completing most of them half-heartedly.  As much as he was pleased to be the new team Captain, he was beginning to feel it might be a bit more trying than he would have liked.  That, and he strongly suspected ulterior motives on Malfoy's part.  At the very least, he had a feeling the former captain would not make the transition easy for him.

Looking for an excuse to get out of the dimly lit Common Room and entertain himself with something a bit out of the ordinary, Nikolas decided that perhaps paying Lucy Elkins a visit while she worked on her Animagus efforts wouldn't be such a terrible idea.  As a matter of fact, when she'd consented to allow him to join her, he found that he was rather excited.  He didn't know of any other students that were studying it, and he knew that Lucy enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures as much as he did - she seemed like an intersting person to talk to.

So, wincing a bit at first, he climbed the spiral staircase that led to the tower - where, he noted with a sense of amusement, he'd spent a bizzarre evening drinking and playing cards with Daphne barely a month before - Nikolas anticipated something genuinely enjoyable.  Upon reaching the top of the stairwell, he was greeted by a door closed almost all of the way, left open just a crack.  For the sake of politeness, he knocked, not wanting to just barge in and possily startle Lucy at a crucial moment.  "You up here?  It's Nikolas."