Something Special
It was one of those days, the ones where she stayed to herself in a little corner of the study room, a pile of books and parchment blocking her from sight, quill flying across her page as she wrote down notes after notes, did homework after homework. Sure, she was top of her class, the grade, even, but at what cost? She did chat with her dorm-mates, chattered sometimes at meals, but it was... lonely. She hadn't talked much to anyone, well, except her brothers and her parents on Saturday, when she sent them an owl, but she kept to herself, and she wanted to sit on one of those tables where several heads bent down, doing homework together with the occasional murmurs of questions being asked.
Having finished her charms homework, she stretched and glanced around. Her eye caught something in the far corner. A book.
It was old and dog-eared, pages thumbed so much theyw ere nearly transparent. The cover was fading, and it took her quite some time to figure out: Alice in Wonderland.
Remembering being told this room held several copies, she opened it and read the first page. She had a copy back at home, but she for one had never liked the book, as she thought it was too weird, but now she read the first word, then the next, until she read the whole page, and the next, and the next chapter...
She forgot she where she was, forgot everything, only focusing on the words in front of her, as Alice ate the "eat me" cake, and as she tried to follow the White Rabbit. So focused, she didn't notice the person sliding in next to her...
Having finished her charms homework, she stretched and glanced around. Her eye caught something in the far corner. A book.
It was old and dog-eared, pages thumbed so much theyw ere nearly transparent. The cover was fading, and it took her quite some time to figure out: Alice in Wonderland.
Remembering being told this room held several copies, she opened it and read the first page. She had a copy back at home, but she for one had never liked the book, as she thought it was too weird, but now she read the first word, then the next, until she read the whole page, and the next, and the next chapter...
She forgot she where she was, forgot everything, only focusing on the words in front of her, as Alice ate the "eat me" cake, and as she tried to follow the White Rabbit. So focused, she didn't notice the person sliding in next to her...
Something Special
Paris walked slowly into the Study Room, looking around watchfully as she looked for her book. She’d borrowed Alice in Wonderland from her little sister but Irini had asked for it back and Paris wanted to owl it back this afternoon before she forgot. A sigh escaped as she looked under tables and chairs. She hadn’t gotten very far into the book and she wished that she could focus on reading like her sister could. That girl was insane in how she’d read like, ten books a week. Okay maybe that was an exaggeration, but still! Paris envied Irini’s concentration. It certainly would be beneficial in doing her schoolwork.
Her neck turned painfully as she drew her head out from under a table and she bumped it on the underside. Paris took a sharp intake of breath and tried to resist the impulse to kick the stupid table for being so stupid hard on this stupid bad day.
She took a deep breath and looked at the tables with people sitting at them. It might be awkward to go look around there, but she had to check. Trying to be discreet and not like the weird people-watcher she was, Paris walked carefully by the tables all the studious and focusy students were at, paying attention to the books scattered across the tables.
She groaned and tried not to drag her feet too loudly as a couple of 5th years glared at her. She was running out of places to look and there were only two tables she hadn’t checked in here and it was doubtful the book would be at either one.
Coming to the last table in the back of the room, Paris saw a Hufflepuff 1st year she remembered from the Sorting heavily engrossed in a book and ignorant of anything besides the world the words had transported her to. Paris circled the table silently, peeked at the title of the book between the girl’s fingers, and held back a sigh upon realizing what book it was. Great, human interaction. If there was one thing Paris was worse at than studying, it was carrying on a conversation. And now she was gonna have to talk to her and ask for the book back!
What an awful day, Paris thought as she considered how to approach this girl without scaring her out of the realm of fiction. Eventually she gingerly sat down in the chair next to the girl, hoping that would alert her to her presence. No luck. Paris cleared her throat quietly and whispered, “Hi….”
Her neck turned painfully as she drew her head out from under a table and she bumped it on the underside. Paris took a sharp intake of breath and tried to resist the impulse to kick the stupid table for being so stupid hard on this stupid bad day.
She took a deep breath and looked at the tables with people sitting at them. It might be awkward to go look around there, but she had to check. Trying to be discreet and not like the weird people-watcher she was, Paris walked carefully by the tables all the studious and focusy students were at, paying attention to the books scattered across the tables.
She groaned and tried not to drag her feet too loudly as a couple of 5th years glared at her. She was running out of places to look and there were only two tables she hadn’t checked in here and it was doubtful the book would be at either one.
Coming to the last table in the back of the room, Paris saw a Hufflepuff 1st year she remembered from the Sorting heavily engrossed in a book and ignorant of anything besides the world the words had transported her to. Paris circled the table silently, peeked at the title of the book between the girl’s fingers, and held back a sigh upon realizing what book it was. Great, human interaction. If there was one thing Paris was worse at than studying, it was carrying on a conversation. And now she was gonna have to talk to her and ask for the book back!
What an awful day, Paris thought as she considered how to approach this girl without scaring her out of the realm of fiction. Eventually she gingerly sat down in the chair next to the girl, hoping that would alert her to her presence. No luck. Paris cleared her throat quietly and whispered, “Hi….”
Reducio
@Maisie Fenwick Rose Williams
It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.
-JRR Tolkien