Ancient Runes Books, please? PV Timothy Daniels - Closed

Timothy wasn't sure what to say. He didn't even know what happened. He just knew that he had to turn to that page.

He took a deep breath. Rose has been kind so far. Maybe she will understand. Maybe she gets it sometimes too, it might be more common than I think.

Despite being unsure how to explain he steeled himself to try.

"Do you ever get a feeling, like in the back of your mind, that you have to do something?" Timothy looked into Rose's eyes, hoping to see understanding there. That she didn't think he was being weird.

"Not like 'oh I have to go do my homework or I'll get detention', just 'I have to do this.' like turn to a specific page number in a book... With no clue why... or move a box because it just didn't seem in the right place?"

Timothy was trying and failing to keep the slight panic out of his voice. He didn't understand himself why he did it. How could he explain it to someone else.

"So... one time, I was in my Grandma's attic with her, and I just thought that a box was in the wrong place. So I moved it. I didn't know why." Timothy swallowed, this was the crazy part. "Anyway, a few minutes later, my Grandma slipped and nearly fell over, but she managed to get her balance. I could swear that she was standing where the box had been. If it had still been there she would have tripped over it and could have hurt herself. It might have been a coincidence..."

Timothy shrugged nervously, and started flicking back through the book to the section they had started reading before this had all happened.

Timothy appreciated Rose's companionship then more than he had so far. To know she didn't going crazy was quite the relief. She even said she may have experienced something similar was comforting.

After a moment's hesitation he decided to ask her.
"So, you sometimes get that little tickling pushing feeling in the back of your head that kind of tells you what to do?"

It wasn't an adequate description and Timothy knew that. But he couldn't think of how else to describe the sudden feeling of knowing the correct path to take, nor how he knew that the feeling he gets when he has these episodes.

"Or you find yourself doing things you didn't decide to do first.. I thought I had been enchanted the first time that happened. Ended up shouting across the classroom, so some boys would move away from a desk before it collapsed... I think their fingers would have been caught and... broken if I hadn't, but I didn't realise that until after."

Timothy shuddered at the memory of Aaron's hand resting on the desk, fingers curled over the edges. Part of him that he tried his best to ignore knew that Aaron would have lost a finger.

"I never said anything to anyone before. I wasn't sure how they would react. But if its quite a normal thing to happen I suppose I was just being silly."

He shrugged slightly. "I'm sorry. Just being over dramatic."

Timothy's breathing steadied as he listened to Rose speak about her conscience. It didn't quite fit what Timothy was going through, but as he listened to her speak he found it easier to breath. She obviously wasn't ridiculing him for overreacting which is good.

The question of why he had never told anyone this seemed to resonate in his head like someone had rang a small bell near his ear. He had worried people wouldn't understand.

"I guess I just, didn't really know what to say to people. I don't understand it myself. It isn't about whether something is the right or wrong thing to do morally. I just do it. It feels like I'm having lapses of insanity, and I was just worried that if people knew then they wouldn't want to have to deal with me."

This trip to the library was not going how Timothy had planned. He had wanted to use it as a chance to get to know Rose more not the talk about his own crazy episodes. He decided to change the subject, and began looking around for something to talk about. His eyes fell on a chess set in a quiet corner near the window.

"Do you like chess Rose?"

Timothy calmly explained why he had never told anyone about his thoughts and it was actually making sense. When someone is different or feel different they are often scared to be judged by others, rejected or even being mocked by which to Rose was not making sense and was nothing but mean. So she was totally understanding Timothy's worries. Although for Rose there was nothing to laugh about and to make fun of his concerns except to be mean. She hoped Timothy felt a bit more relieved after confiding in her.

"I do understand your worries and it is totally legitimate. But don't worry I would have never judged you or made fun of you." she reassured him.
"And we are friends, aren't we?" she smiled at him "Friends are to confide in and feel good with." she finally added.

She was glad Timothy was trusting her and was comfortable enough to explain her his thoughts and feelings about his situation. And if she could help him to figure it out better further or when he would want to she would be more than glad to do it.

Despite having been able to openly spoke he seemed not really satisfied. Maybe he didn't intend to talk about this at all. Obviously Rose was not going to ask him or to push him into something he didn't want to pursue on. Instead she remained silent waiting for him to speak again as she noticed him looking around before he laid his eyes in a corner near a window. She was going to take a look when he asked her if she liked chess. Finally she looked at where his eyes were focused on and there was indeed a chess set placed near the window.

To be honest she did like it but she was really bad at it. Rose once played chess with her grandfather and lost every time. If Timothy was intending to play chess with her he should expect to win and not have great entertaining games.

"Well I do like it but I think it's rather the chess that doesn't like me." she answered him jokingly.

"Do you? Would like to play then?" she asked him smiling.

Rose noticed Timothy seemed to feel more relieved and at ease than before probably because he focused on something else.

Timothy shook his head as if to clear cobwebs from his hair, he had zoned out thinking about the book. Rose was asking him about chess.

"Chess is one of my favourite games. I like to look for the patterns and positions I've been in before." He stood up moving towards the table.

"It's all about using past experience or past games to predict what is about to happen, then adapt. It's like why we study all those goblin rebellions in history of magic. To avoid the mistakes of the past."

Timothy sat himself behind the rows of black pieces. choosing to give Rose the advantage of the first move as she said she wasn't confident in her skill. He glanced out of the window, fondly remembering the times he played chess at primary school or with his grandma.

"It's also something that is convenient to do whilst talking to a friend. I'm sure you've noticed I'm not great at conversation. I can hide behind the chess board and pretend I'm thinking about what move to make instead of trying to work out what I'm supposed to say next."

Timothy blushed at this spur of the moment honesty. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to share it but he was glad he had. He looked down at the pieces, adjusting the position of his kings knight, before looking back to Rose to see what she would do.

Rose smiled as she looked at Timothy standing up and heading towards the table the chess set was. She was glad Timothy accepted to play although she was not sure it was the best idea for her. She did play chess some times but she was not good at it and honestly she didn't want to pretend something she didn't know well nor seem ridiculous in front of her friend. However it would be fun and playing wizard chess was different from muggle ones. It was more entertaining.

She listened to Timothy's thoughts about the past and present along mistakes people were doing or had done. And he was right. It was important to know about the past and study it in order not to make the same previous mistakes. Rose smiled looking at him.

"As they said we learn from our mistakes." she said while heading towards the table before sitting down in front of Timothy as she looked at the the chess game.

Rose realised Timothy let her having the white pieces. She knew white were playing first.

Did he do it on purpose for me to play first as he knows I'm not that confident? she wondered herself. She was not going to complain about it but found it really nice from him.

Then Timothy spoke again making Rose's head rising up to look at him as he glanced out of the window. She did the same. The view was beautiful.

"You're doing well." she reassured him. "The conversation" she said smiling to him. "So don't worry too much about it." she added.

Although she was touched Timothy confessed her his thoughts as it appeared to be something he didn't really like to tell she hadn't thought any of what he said. She found him a bit harsh on himself.

Not to make him more uncomfortable she put her attention back on the game.

"Let's play!" her eyes were sparkling from the adrenaline of the upcoming game.

Rose made her white pawn to move one square forward as a concentrated look was on her face. She looked at Timothy indicating him to play.

Timothy looked down at the board, his eyebrows creeping up, surprised by Rose's first move, he had not expected such caution as only moving a pawn a single square forward.

He re-examined what he knew about his opponent. She was quietly self assured in most aspects, but she didn't seem confident in this.

Perhaps she is worried about making a mistake and losing pieces unnecessarily. It would make sense if she hasn't played much. In that case my best option would be to play boldly and challenge the defences, whilst not giving her space to manouver.

He quietly picked up his king's pawn, the wood feeling warm in his hand, and placed it with a small clack onto the e5 square, moving it two squares forward to claim control of the centre of the board. He held it for a moment to check he hadn't missed anything, but he was quite confident with this opening so released the piece and looked back at Rose.

"I went to the Ancient Runes classroom the other day. The professor there looks really intimidating but she was actually really nice. She actually gave me a book on Elder Futhark, and explained a bit about rune charms to me."

Timothy sat back in his chair, trying to read Rose's expression trying to predict what move would be played next. He suspected her bishop would be moved but he wasn't sure.