"Light" Reading Open Finished

Annie puffed her bangs out of her face as she entered the library. It was currently really quiet which was good for her to do some research. She plopped herself down with a sigh and two heavy books thumped onto the desk next to her. Annie mumbled aloud to herself. "It's not fair, I can't do Care of Magical Creatures yet." Her gaze focused on the book's cover in front oh her that was called Fantastic Beast's and where to find them by Newt Scamander. Under that was her second book, How to: Beginner Caretaking for Dragons. The girl glanced over a few pages of the book before she closed it with a loud snap and set it aside with a moody shove.

She rested her chin on her folded arms before noticing a person across from her. Annie shot up from her chair, alarmed. "Oh wow your quiet, I didn't even see you there or hear you!" She exclaimed and got a shush from a student a little further away. Annie lowered her voice and sat back down, cautiously glancing around the library. "Hopefully I didn't interrupt you too badly." She glanced at the book's cover that he was reading and furrowed her eyebrows before looking back up at him with her startling green eyes.

"I'm Annie Morhan, first year Hufflepuff, nice to meet you."

Keaton jolted. He wasn't expecting much company. Most students were out for a walk or causing unwanted trouble, definitely never caught about a library as such. Of course, his eyes didn't deceive him. He tugged a golden pocket watch from out of his cloak (neglecting the silver watch attached to his arm) and checked the time. Merely a habit at this point.

"G-g-good Afternoon... I shouldn't be concerned about bothering me, I seem to be without luck today anyway. I'm Keaton. Reed, that is." He glanced at the folded stack of thick books that had alerted him so quickly. "Care of Magical Creatures? Interesting choice..." He returned his darting eyes to the glimmering pocket watch. It had barely moved.

"I've always been more interested in the more mechanical side of magic... Animals only scare me. Like clocks. Not only do they serve a mechanical purpose of timekeeping, but thanks to magic they can have a multitude of functions such as keeping track o-" He realised he was likely either boring or overwhelming the poor girl.

"M-my apologies miss. I don't really talk to others if i don't have to. Too often do my thoughts get a little intrusive." His eyes darted up to his victim and back down to the gleaming timepiece that he clutched with his sweaty palm. He'd thought he grown more adept at conversation after leaving home. Clearly the opposite.

Annie waved her arm at the young boy, dismissing him. "Keaton was it? I don't find your talk boring, after all there is so much to learn in this magical world. I have only just been living in what I thought was to be a normal world merely weeks ago so everything magical to me is a fun mystery, and I get to learn how it works." She saw the boy looking at a watch carefully but didn't say anything. He then asked her about care of magical creatures.

"Ah, yes magical animals are very.. interesting and I do admit some are scary but I've happened to avoid those so far." She lightly chuckled a bit before returning her gaze to the boy. "I mean, you've basically gone to an entirely new world with a bunch of magical things so how are magical creatures any different?" Annie was intent on making a point to Keaton that magical creatures weren't all that bad.

"Your a Ravenclaw by the looks of your robes and your enhanced speech, you see things in a way that none of the others houses so, embrace that a little bit." Annie gave him a shy smile before closing her book. "So, watcha reading, I promise it won't bore me, I'm a really hood listener if you want to talk?"

"I-if you're sure." He hastily shoved the pocket watch back into his ragged robes and pulled the stack of books from the floor. Among the pages of Triwizard Tragedies and Sites of Historical Sorcery was a classic: Bathilda Bagshot's A History of Magic. He flipped through the pages and returned to a grimace.

"I've been studying over the history for a while, but only because of a rumor. It might be foolish, but the concept of time captivates me. I'd heard enough about these 'Time Turners'. And yet no sign of them exists. I'll have to live without it. Besides, various other magical clocks have caught my attention."

He threw the book onto the pile and revealed another book. Important Magical Discoveries. "This is what has really caught my eye. I've found instances of clocks with special chimes and clocks. But nothing like this. Apparently this device is about the size of a grandfather clock and is installed with as many hands as necessary. Each one is labeled with a name, and points to a location or status. It's engenius! Unfortunately, it lacks any capacity to tell the time."

He finally unveiled a last book. It had a messy ink spill and multiple pages were falling half out. It was labeled with a peeling sticker in scrawled handwriting, unreadable. A quill hung from the spine.

Annie nodded as she listened to Keaton spoke with passion about "Clocks?" She shook her head and pushed back from the table, folding her hands together and resting her chin atop her hands, thinking. "I personally don't understand your interest, but it's fascinating to see someone so passionate about something." She gazed off a ways away before blinking her eyes and coming back to reality. "As for Time Turners, I have heard of those and apparently they are really rare and if you don't know how to control them there can be a great big catastrophe. I think the ministry is in charge of who can have one and how many there are but I'm not sure."

Annie paused and looked back up at the boy who kept talking about clocks and the books he had. In front of him, she saw a ragged, old book with ink splashes and questionable rips as well as almost torn out pages. "Well that book has seen some better days." She joked and rolled her eyes. "What's it about if you don't mind me asking?" Annie looked at her pile of books and shrugged her shoulders. She could read them later and decided having an interesting conversation with a boy, Keaton, whom she just recently met was more important. Annie sat in silence for a moment before speaking.

"What'da say about being my friend Keaton Reed?"

"T-t-this book? I-it's nothing much... Just some notes and scribbles..." He flipped the notebook over, and revealed a splattering of messy sketches and poorly realised graphs. He returned his eyes to the old reliable, his trusty stopwatch. "I guess it's just a regurgitation of my mad thoughts... I-I'd avoid looking too far." He looked up at the girl's friendliness, and the pad slipped onto the desk, it's contents spluttering out, fanned all over the desk. Designs of ornate grandfather clocks and small sketches denoting silver watches spiraled, landing on the table in a chaotic mess. Various designs protruded, notably a fancy wall clock, with long jagged hands that denoted time up to the millisecond, alongside temperature and date. Another design showed a rough design for a jukebox, with a curved handle and various scrawled design features, too many to ever be practical.

"F-f-f-friend?? I-I-I-I don't know if that's the greatest idea... But if you're sure..." He placed his arms onto the table and collapsed. "I haven't really bothered with the whole people thing... It only causes trouble." He lifted his arms back up to begin to gather the mess of pages that his ineptitude had left scattered over the dark mahogany, covering the smooth wood with bumpy greyed parchment.

Annie smiled a light smile before placing her hands over Keaton's, to stop him from shuffling his papers. "I insist, I don'thave any friends back home but if were going to be at this place for multiple years, I see no harm in having friends or someone to talk to." She paused and lifted her hands. "Plus, as much as I like the library, spending all of your free time for seven dreadfully long years in here isn'tall that fun."

Annie gave a half-hearted laugh before glancing down at the scattered piles of papers as sketches. "Did you draw these or is this book just really odd, because it doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the books around here?" Annie furrowed her eyebrows in deep concentration looking at different pages before stopping on one. "Oh wow, is this a jukebox? The designs are so unique!" She traced her hand over the sketch before starting to help collect the scattered mess of papers up. Once she had them organized into a few different piles she nodded her head, satisfied. "Hopefully this works, sorry that it got messed up. I tried sorting it into piles that make sense." She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly.

"I-I... Fine, that works." He removed his hands from the papers, readjusted his glasses and corrected his discomposed expression. "Seven years, huh? Seems like an awful haul." He quickly noticed stacks of neatly organised parchment and quickly shoved the stacks back into the messy notepad and threw it back into his cloak. "Thanks."

He threw his arms back and tried to relax, failing, miserably. "It's not much, mainly based of of my father's work. I try not to imitate, but great minds think alike, it seems. At least, we'd both like to think that." He looked to the pocketwatch and back to Annie, only returning to discomposure.

"T-that's all the time I've got... I need to be off." He placed a small note on the table and raised from his seat. "You should probably have this."

With that, he span his foot and left in an awkward hobble. The note on the table unfolded it's poorly folded creases to reveal a drawing of a small wristwatch, complete with ornate hands and a light engraving, labeled "Annie Morgan". The crunched parchment and ink splatters showed a rushed design, but care had been made as not to damage the sketch.

Drawing had always helped his awkwardness.

Annie scrunched up her face in confusion before looking at the clock in the library. Her mouth formed into an 'O' shape before closing it and nodding her head. She saw how he had quickly rushed and stuffed the neat papers back into his cloak. Annie hummed as he exited the library with a awkward hobble. She shook her head, a smile on her lips and let out a small laugh. Keaton Reed, such an interesting fellow. She got shushed by the librarian and rolled her eyes sarcasticly.Annie was glad she had stumbled upon him in the library.

Before he had left she saw him leave something on the table. He said "You should probably have this." Her mind raced with confusion before she hesitantly picked up the note. As she unfolded the paper she let out a small gasp. Keaton sketched a small wristwatch similar to the larger versions she had seen in his tattered book. It had small, delicate designs that Annie ran her hand over in awe. Even though it was just a piece of paper, she could almost feel and invision the real thing. Her face beamed with joy as she traced the design once more before putting it safely away in her robe. Annie collected her things before leaving the library and heading back in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room, a small grin of hapiness spread across her face all the while.