one minute back

<div align=center>The lounge was empty enough to warrant a teenage boy spreading himself leisurely across an entire sofa, which was exactly what Cedric was doing. One arm was draped over his face, forearm shielding his eyes from the dim lighting, and the other dangled off the sofa, loosely holding a pencil between two fingers. To any passerby he could be sleeping.

In fact, he was tired enough to fall asleep, but frustration was keeping him vaguely conscious. He didn't know how long he'd been there, trying fruitlessly to turn various body parts invisible - though it must have been quite a while if the numbness in his right arm was any indicator - but one thing he was aware of was all-consuming, mind-numbing, unrelenting frustration.

His brow furrowed in one final attempt, focusing his efforts on his left hand and attempting to channel something through to it. After a heartbeat, he glanced hopefully out from behind his arm, examined his fully visible hand, then covered his eyes again with a vexed sigh. Not wanting to fall asleep where anyone could just walk by and see him, he pushed himself with a reluctant and Herculean effort into an upright position and looked around somewhat blearily.

Admittedly, he hadn't been expecting much - an invisible fingernail would have been more than enough - but for absolutely nothing to happen when he willed it to was just getting plain embarrassing. Almost as embarrassing as becoming involuntarily see through, an occurrence which was becoming far too common.</div>

<div align=center>The sudden noise made Cedric jump and it took him a moment or two to locate the source. When he did it was all he could do to blink at the newcomer a couple of times, completely taken aback. His eyes followed the man as he wandered around, picking up seemingly insignificant objects and examining them. In his vague shock, it took him a moment to note that his existence had apparently been noticed.

"Sorry, uh," he paused to take in the man's age; not that old, but older than him. "... Sir. But if you're looking for your office this isn't it." He gestured around somewhat lamely, eyes lingering for a moment on the closet that the man had appeared to have casually strolled out of. Each to their own, I suppose.

Even so, he figured it was all he could do to be helpful. "I could help you, if you like," he began awkwardly, ruffling his hair - already a pretty solid bedhead from being in the same position for so long - at the back. "Y'know, point you to where you need to be or... Something..."

He mentally kicked himself; it was a stupid offer. The likelihood was the man was a teacher, and a teacher would - hopefully - know his way around. Which didn't explain what he was doing in the student lounge. </div>

<div align=center>Angst? Cedric blinked once, blinked twice, blinked twice. He was feeling frustrated perhaps, but angsty? He could've laughed, if only to prove the man wrong.

Ignoring the slightest ounce of irritation, he focused his efforts on trying to comprehend what was actually being said. He had always considered himself at least averagely smart, but he was admittedly struggling to keep up, especially in his barely-awake-lethargic-teen-boy state. Bewildered was an understatement.

What he did gather was that he was being asked for help. He eyed the closet in question a little skeptically. He wondered vaguely if the man was planning a magic trick. "I'll guess I can help?" he returned, statement coming out as a question. "I mean, sure. Yeah."</div>