A Clumsy First Encounter PV River Luxley Closed

Outfit: Slytherin robes and silver chain earrings Text: Italics: Thoughts Normal text: Actions and general description of what is happening #5doo8f: Talking in English #1a8ca2: Talking in Norwegian (Translations under revelio) Interacting with: @Eli Milner@Apinya Milner _____________________________

Pet: Nótt ___________________________________

River would never deny having a love for books, a 'bookworm' as the muggleborns would say. However, in this instance, perhaps that love of literature had been taken a bit too far. The Slytherin girl had been wandering the many bookshelves in the Hogwarts Library, adding book after book to her growing stack held in her arms, with her pet feline, Nótt, following obediently behind her. She probably should have stopped once they reached her chin but nope, today was a 'River will make a bad decision' day and so she picked up more and more books until she was walking forward with nothing but leather and parchment in view and a vague hope that no one would appear in the way of her path.

That hope was quite instantly thrown over her shoulder into the frigid depths of Hel to die when River was introduced to Newton's Third Law of Motion in the form of an opposing force to her stride that sent her careening down to the floor in a pile of rumpled robes and scattered books. Nótt meowed in concern at her fall, winding around her as if checking to see that she was okay.

Suddenly, she heard a rather frantic voice reach her ears, "Oh my God I'm so sorry, here let me help you with those, sorry, so sorry that's entirely my fault I wasn't looking where I was going."

River looked up, startled grey-blue eyes meeting unfamiliar brown. River didn't really recognise the boy, but she did remember seeing him in the halls and in class where people called him "Eli Milner". Perhaps that was his name?

Realising that she had been staring into his eyes for too long River quickly shook her head and began gathering her books. "Oh, no it was my fault, my apologies. I was acting as unrestrained as a niffler in a jewelry shop when picking out what books to read," she felt the tips of her pale ears redden in embarrassment at her admission. Kneeling on the ground next to her stack of books that were nearly the same height as her seated form, River extended her right hand towards the stranger, "I should probably introduce myself after knocking you over like a rogue hippogriff, I'm River Luxley, it's nice to meet you."

An indignant meow interrupted her from continuing further, "Oh right, this is Nótt, my familiar." She ran her left hand over her feline friend's sleek back, appreciating the softness of her fur quietly as she gazed back at the boy, her eyes seemingly shifting back and forth in hue between a warm grey and a cool blue

Word count: 442/200

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Date: 24/06/24 | Time: 13:24 | Outfit: ✕ | WC: 221/200
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─────He let out a quiet sigh of relief as the girl began to speak. At least she seemed friendly enough and her first reaction wasn't to shout as Eli had feared. He laughed good-naturedly at her description of herself, noting the massive stack of books that was almost as tall as her now neatly stacked up once more. He'd thought he was a bookworm but this girl - she had introduced herself as River - put his interest in reading to shame.

Taking her hand he shook it firmly before getting to his feet and extending his own hand to help her to do the same, "Eli Milner, very pleased to meet you." He found that he did recognise her name from the classes they were in together which meant she was second year like him, "Hiya Nótt! They're so lovely." He really wanted to reach down and attempt to pet the little critter but even after two years of being part of the Wizarding World he wasn't quite sure of the etiquette surrounding familiars. He decided it wasn't worth offending his new friend and cast a sideways glance at her book stack once more before looking back at her, "Do you want a hand with those? I haven't really got anything to do while I take a break from homework."

Outfit: Slytherin robes and silver chain earrings Text: Italics: Thoughts Normal text: Actions and general description of what is happening #5doo8f: Talking in English #1a8ca2: Talking in Norwegian (Translations under revelio) Interacting with: @Eli Milner@Apinya Milner _____________________________

Pet: Nótt ___________________________________

The boy, who indeed was named Eli, shook her hand firmly. River saw him hesitantly reaching out before thinking otherwise and pulling away.

Nótt, as if offended that she had been denied pets from the nice boy who helped River, stepped away from her owner and sniffed at his still slightly outstretched hand before nuzzling it with the top of her head. To sweeten the deal, Nótt looked up at him with wide kitten eyes. River knew she was taking full advantage of her cuteness for prime pets.

River smiled down at her adorable familiar who was simply demanding her due pets. She was sure Eli was surprised at the approach, but River knew Nótt was an entitled Cuddle Queen who was friendly with anyone who was kind to River. She listened to Eli's offer to help her with her mountain of books and smiled at him, "I would appreciate that, thank you. Which class's homework were you doing?"

River was thankful that the person she had bumped into was Eli, who seemed kind and gentlemanly, even offering to assist her. She was sure that, had she been a little more unfortunate. she might have been in the middle of being shouted at and rebuked at that moment.

Word count: 208/200

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Date: 28/05/24 | Time: 19:25 | Outfit: ✕ | WC: 218/200
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─────He chuckled, a strained sound devoid of any humour, "A better question would be what homework wasn't I doing?" He nodded to the place on the library tables where his books and papers were still strewn across its surface, "I've just been trying to catch up on all the little things I've missed, do some extra revision, that sort of thing." While bending down to lift the book stack he reached over to actually pet the familiar this time, seemingly being given permission to stroke little Nótt explicitly this time. Giving her an affectionate scratch behind the ears and a couple of back rubs he threw a toothy grin at River, "She's really cute," He smiled again, "How long have you had her?"

While he waited for an answer he began to attempt to pick up the stack he had laid out for himself, sizing it up carefully. He wasn't a tall person and the book stack was bigger and heavier than he had originally judged. With a grunt he shuffled his hands beneath the bottom book, attempting to balance the top one just under his chin as he lifted them. It was a precarious position but it was working, for now. Glancing again at River he shifted the weight of the books slightly, "So then, where to?"

Outfit: Slytherin robes and silver chain earrings Text: Italics: Thoughts Normal text: Actions and general description of what is happening #5doo8f: Talking in English #1a8ca2: Talking in Norwegian (Translations under revelio) Interacting with: @Eli Milner@Apinya Milner _____________________________

Pet: Nótt ___________________________________

River laughed softly under her breath at Eli's joke about what homework he wasn't doing. He was funny, endearingly so. River's face had overcome her initial embarrassment and had settled into her usual mask of pureblooded politeness, though not nearly as cold as it could have been as her eyes still held a warm grey-blue tone. The young heiress had vastly improved from the cold, almost robotic persona she had adopted when she first arrived at Hogwarts, completely unfamiliar with human interaction outside of her parents and old-fashioned tutors. She was much better at interacting with animals and creatures than other humans.

Her etiquette instructor often forgot that she was four when she began her lessons, not fourty-four, and so would teach her the mannerisms of an aristocratic lady instead of a child. Making friends at Hogwarts had helped her immensely in learning how to actually speak to someone her age without sounding like some old prune, but she still struggled with fully dropping the indifferent mask that had been ingrained in her since she was young.

Even so, she could not suppress the fond look in her eyes as Eli helped carry part of her comically large stack of books and gently pet Nótt, who looked entirely too pleased at herself. When he asked River about how long she had had Nótt her masked slipped just enough for another smile to curl the edges of her pale pink lips, "Not very long, sadly, but we've bonded with each other quite well since I got her."

Standing up, River bent down to pick up the rest of her books and allow Nótt to jump up to perch up on her shoulders once the feline had decided she had gotten her required quota of pets. The dark furred feline blended in quite well with her owner's inky black tresses, her emerald green eyes gleaming in the darkness.

When Eli asked where they should go, River simply shrugged her shoulders in an effortlessly graceful way, a practiced motion that she had mastered years ago. "Any empty table is fine with me, although," she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as they began walking, "if you wouldn't mind, I am not against joining you if you aren't opposed to some company?" She tried to keep her voice neutral, as if the result of her inquiry had no effect on her, but the nervous tone could not be fully banished from her voice.

Word count: 414/200

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Date: 28/05/24 | Time: 19:26 | Outfit: uniform | WC: 331/200
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─────He watched as Nótt disappeared into the shadows of her owner's equally raven-coloured locks, suddenly it looked like River's hair had grown an extra pair of alert green eyes. They had both relaxed following their initial hectic meeting it seemed and he noticed the warmth in her otherwise icy eyes. That was a good sign, he had never meant to upset the other second year with his accidental book upset and he was glad that she wasn't the kind of person to get angry at his clumsiness.

Making friends by accident was almost the story of his life. All his Muggle friends - he still felt a twinge of sadness in his heart as he thought about them - had been made simply by chance. He wasn't normally the kind of person to actively seek out friends, it was more like they came to him. Of course he was friendly to anyone who crossed his path with the hope of becoming more than acquaintances, just as he had with River, but the thought of having to conjure up a conversation made him squirm.

Luckily with River there was none of this forced camaraderie. The conversation flowed easily and naturally, no need to haul it along like a sack of rocks. He barely caught the nervous waver in River's voice as she voiced her query, taking comfort in the fact that she was as anxious as he was to make a good first impression, "Of course you can join me!" The eagerness in his tone made him curse himself slightly under his breath, 'You sound so desperate.' Trying his best to quash the insidious voice in the back of his mind he grinned, "I work so much better with company. Keeps me accountable, so feel free to give me an angry look if I start staring off into space. I really need to get this stuff done before summer, 'cause I don't have any of these books available when I get home."