Not As Easy As It Looks Open

Word Count: 385
Interacting with: @Scarlet Payne and @Mary Bueno

As Dido neared the entrance to the library, she suddenly heard a loud avalanche of THUDs that echoed even outside the library, in the huge corridors which seemed to be the perfect shape for reflecting the sound of falling books. She continued into the library, quickly pulling out the relatively thin book, on the foundation of St Mungo’s, which she had borrowed at the beginning of the year and taken almost two months to force herself to finish reading.

After returning the book with a slightly embarrassed smile, Dido wandered over to the study tables. As she looked across the tables, she noticed that no tables were entirely empty. So, she quickly took in the sixth years studying at the first table, a large group of second years surrounding another and a pair of students by the last table, scrambling around on the floor, searching for books which, assumably, were the ones which fell.

Dido took one last look at the other tables, judging that the latter would be the best table and made her way towards it. By the time she got to the table, the girls were nodding and shaking hands, one with flushed red cheeks and the other smiling sheepishly. Dido sat down a few seats along from the pair, trying not to glance in their direction or trying, even harder, not to look at the pile of books they had amassed on the table. Attempting not to be obvious, Dido looked again at the girls, trying to remember where they had been sorted. As she looked, she realised that the girl in the blue striped jumper was one of the three she had sat with on the Hogwarts Express. How long ago that felt! The other, she was fairly sure, was a Ravenclaw and, despite herself, Dido felt a wave of jealousy and slight bitterness. But Dido shook her head quickly and turned away from the girls, pulling out her diary and searching in her bag for her quill.

And she searched. And emptied. And looked again. But, to her dismay, it wasn’t there. She turned to the two girls, now feeling almost as embarrassed as they seemed to be, and quietly said, “Sorry, Hi… do either of you have a spare quill? I think I’ve somehow lost mine and… Yeah.”

time: 9:06 am	interacting with:
date: October 25th, 2025	@Mary Bueno and @Dido Bleaklane

Scarlet looked up to find out who the friendly hero was who stopped to help her. The helping hand belonged to a young girl, probably a first-year student as well, who had the most unique, curly blue hair. She had hazel eyes and a kind voice as she said, "Don't worry, I drop stuff all the time, I'm sort of a klutz too." Scarlet could see the instant change in the girl's face as she apologized for calling her a klutz. The two girls placed the books down on the table before the girl took a deep breath, stuck out her hand, and said, "Let me start over. Mary Derwin Bueno at your service."

Scarlet gave Mary a gentle smile and shook the girl's hand. She replied with, "Hi, I'm Scarlet Payne. And don't worry about that, I didn't take it as an insult. I fully accept the fact that I am a klutz." Scarlet chuckled before continuing, "Are you by any chance studying for your classes? I've gotten a little behind and would love a study partner if you'd be interested." Sitting down in one of the seats, Scarlet pulled out some notebooks, hoping that the girl would join her.

In this moment, another girl approached the table a little awkwardly. "Sorry, Hi... do either of you have a spare quill? I think I've somehow lost mine and... Yeah."

Scarlet reached into her bag again, but this time produced a spare quill. She was an overpacker, so there were an additional three quills in her bag. "Here, I've got one you can borrow. Would you like to join us? I was just about to start studying. Any class in particular you were going to work on?"

Interacting with:
@Mary Bueno - speech
@Scarlet Payne - speech

What was that girl’s name?! Sara? Scout?
Anyway, "train-girl" said “Here, I’ve got one you can borrow,” while quickly reaching into her bag and pulling out a quill, smiling. Dido ducked her head and smiled back gratefully, taking the pen and, as train-girl continued to say, “Would you like to join us?”, the other girl, the Ravenclaw, beamed and pulled out a chair for Dido.

Dido sat, feeling it would be rude not to, and was about to answer train-girl’s question when the Ravenclaw jumped in and began to rattle out, “l'm Mary, and don't worry l forget stuff too!” Dido assumed Mary had finished and opened her mouth but stopped when the joyful girl continued, “Like regularly.. its actually a problem now that l think about it.. anyway! l was studying potions.” At the mention of Potions, one of the few subjects Dido still believed she was great at, Dido perked up, listening as Mary finished, “l get confused with all the ingredients.”

When the Ravenclaw eventually came to the end of her sentence, she sat down at the table as well, pulling out her supplies. Dido glanced at both, weighing her options before smiling widely, though not quite as widely as Mary had, and saying, “I was going to do some Transfiguration homework, but that’s no fun.”

She then turned to Mary and said, “I love Potions, can I help at all?”, all with another cheerful smile. Of course, this smile wasn’t just motivated by companionship ot the infectious happiness of train-girl and Mary, though those were the main reasons. But a small, immoral, little fraction of this smile may have been a tiny glimmer of triumph and self-righteousness as Dido realised how, despite not originally getting into Ravenclaw, she had ended up in a situation where she was helping one with something academic. And Dido was happy.

time: 9:10 am	interacting with:
date: October 25th, 2025	@Mary Bueno and @Dido Bleaklane

Scarlet was so happy not to be studying alone. She was also glad that Mary seemed to be knowledgeable in Potions. While Scarlet was not having an issue with any of her classes, she was also not an expert in any of her subjects. She opened her Potions notebook, eager to begin working on her homework.

"I also have a hard time remembering all of the ingredients, Mary. Maybe, we can start with walking through what each one is and then find a good mnemonic device that could help us remember which potions they are used for."

Mnemonic devices were Scarlet's favorite way to memorize important things. She would sometimes even use the melodies of popular songs and just change the lyrics. Scarlet had a terrible memory, so this was the only way her brain could recall the information.

"If you'd like, we can begin with the potions we learned in lesson one: the Cure for Boils, the Forgetfulness Potion, and Herbicide. After that, perhaps we could switch to Transfiguration homework for you, Dido."

Scarlet was never known as a leader; she would much rather follow. When it came to studying, though, she sometimes took charge. Scarlet hoped that her plan would be okay with the two girls.