Adventure with Studying Finished

Clary glanced around the library, a magnificent space with towering oak shelves, spiraling columns, and gorgeous golden light that filtered up from the windows above. It was a gorgeous space, and although Clary was used to the sight after her time staying in the Ravenclaw common room, which was conveniently located nearby, it still took her breath away in a gasp of awe each time. Around her, a few clusters of students talked amongst each other in hushed whispers, holding up various titles of books as they argued quietly over which was the most superior.  Personally, she'd vote on the one about Quidditch, but it wasn't her conversation to join.

Clary followed after Rosie, not being able to help but smile at her friend's face. The way she gestured outwards seemed to state that the whole world was theirs and they could do anything they possibly wanted. Technically, it was true. The library faced a whole new area to explore, discuss new things, and learn! The possibilities and opportunities ceased to end. She joined Rosie at the short coffee table, taking a seat in the chair across from her, and shrugged, not exactly sure where they should go first. 

Noticing Rosie's eyes flitting in the direction of the Restricted Section, she shook her head. "The librarian is vicious! If she sees you over there she'll have your head!"

Rosie whined. "That's such a bummer, it's so school and mysterious over there! It's basically asking me to go over there and look at it." She let out a defeated sigh, slumping back in her seat.

"Maybe we should read about spells, OH! Or the history of magic! I'm not very sure which o-" Rosie gasped. "Wait, I got it! We can look for books about Quidditch and Dueling. So we're all prepared for try outs and the actual events. Precaution is always, smart you know!" She warned, waving her finger a bit. Rosie leaned back in her seat again and sighed.

Books were simple. There was a beginning, a middle, and in the end. Textbooks of course, were just pages after pages of information but stories were so much more interesting. The beginning, there was an intro do the potentionally interesting characters, the middle, where events got messy, and an ending. Whether it was good or bad, there was an ending. Either way, it amazed Rosie. Different books by different authors of all ages, genders, pasts, sexualities, whatever. Books were an adventure in themselves to the young girl, if she didn't have anywhere to go, there was always imagination.

Clary smiled, knowing exactly where to go to reach the Quidditch section! It was located under sports, a few shelves up from a muggle section on football, and contained bookshelves worth of works on the subject! The library itself was a little wonderland, brimming with anything and everything one could imagine in terms of knowledge, interests, and fantasy. What more could one want in life than an opportunity to curl up in the library with a good book, entering into a new universe with each word that slipped into their mind. A few months ago she would've only been able to find this place in books, and now she was here, living what seemed like a fantasy tale as a true reality.

"I'm not really sure where Dueling is, but Quidditch is right over here, if you wanna track it down," Clary murmured to Rosie, flitting across the room. The two girls passed by a variety of students, relaxing, talking, attempting to track down new books, and more. There were even a few teetering stacks of hardbacks, balancing precariously on one another as they towered up towards the ceiling. This place was like a book jungle, the farther back one went into the sea of shelves. This whole area was like its own biome!

The two girls arrived at the proper area and Clary hopped up on her tiptoes, passing the book over to Rosie. "Voila! Quidditch: A History."

Rosie was relieved that Clary knew how to get around better than she did, Rosie would probably get very lost very quick. She retrieved the book and skipped to her seat once again, hopping into it and setting the book down. "Welp! Let's get to it. I'm kinda nervous about Quidditch, it sounds... Wild.? And chaotic. But at the same time it seems riveting and it'll provide a super cool experience." She nodded, opening to the first page. "Are you gonna keep searching for a book on dueling? Maybe it's a good idea, if you got hurt that'd kinda suck. A lot." Rosie sighed.

Rosie had already developed some caring for Clary, despite just meeting her. That was a regular thing though, Rosie warmed up to certain people easily. If Clary got hurt, she knew she'd feel bad. She knew Clary was capable of doing so, considering how they met. But it wasn't like Rosie didn't believe in her! She just... Worried, very easily. It was a flaw, sure, but Rosie owned it. She passed off the over-worrying as caring instead. It sounded less sad.

She looked through the pages, skimming through the lines and looking through the different positions. Rosie wasn't looking too much into it, she was skimming just for now.

"Not exactly sure where to look, but I'll check around. See you in a few minutes!" Before Rosie could reply or chase after Clary, the young Ravenclaw girl stepped further into the forest of bookshelves, setting off on her miniature quest to track down the book about Dueling. She was sure tons of written works existed on the topic. Despite being a fun and interesting sport, Dueling was also an art that wizards used in day-to-day life when dealing with criminals and other dark magics. During the 90s, she was sure there was plenty of dueling going on at the Battle of Hogwarts, a topic they'd covered intensely during History of Magic last week. She was surprised to think that a nearly full-out war had happened here only 20 or so years ago. 

It was strange to imagine herself in a setting like that. At age 11, Clary wasn't exactly sure she was prepared for war. Would she be forced to hide in the Slytherin Common rooms like the other students did during that time? Having no answer for the topic, she allowed her mind to wander, returning to the subject of Dueling books. The forest was enormous, and she realized much too quickly that she'd be helpless to track down the title on her own. She pivoted on her feet, twirling around to track down Rosie, but realized all too soon that she was utterly lost, her bouncy Hufflepuff friend nowhere in sight.

While Clary was out looking, Rosie was skimming through her Quidditch book. There were so many different positions to choose from, and she could only choose one. Hm. Seeker sounded fun, but at this point she still wasn't very sure what she wanted to do. Try outs in general kinda intimidated dear little Rosie, as much as she loved interacting with people, there was something about being judged and watched that rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe that was just her nervousness talking, after all, she had only been at Hogwarts for a few days and she had already been overwhelmed with different things she wanted to do.

After a bit, she started to wonder where Clary went. Rosie turned around a bit, hoping she'd hear her running or something, but she didn't. Maybe she left? Maybe she got bored? That's nuts, Rosie. She'd never do that. Rosie figured she was lost and risked calling out: "Clary?"She sat back down after she did, she figured if she heard her, she'd come back. Rosie didn't wanna also get lost. That'd be rough for the both of them. She sunk back in her seat and opened a different book, one that she owned.

Clary continued to flit about the space, not really sure where she was going. There were so many stacks of books all around her she could live in the library forever, trapped in a world of writing between the pages of all of these elegant texts. Smiling to herself, she lifted a hand, tracing the spines of a few books with her finger as she went by, counting them off as she read the different titles. There were books about potions, charms, transfiguration spells, hexes, Quidditch, astronomy, stars, space, pets, treats, and everything she could possibly think to imagine. In fact, there were even books on dueling, which she victoriously found in the back-left corner of the word-filled jungle.

Victoriously, Clary hopped up onto her tiptoes, stretching her arm upwards to reach the book, and allowed it to fall safely into her grasp. The book was heavy, and she almost wasn't prepared to cradle it in her arms, but years of basketball and softball had prepared her for such an incident. Curiously, she flipped through the book quickly, surprised to find over fifty chapters of materials on the art of dueling, from ethics and proper etiquettes all the way over to techniques on how to defeat her opponent. It was perfect, just what she needed to show Rosie! Speaking of Rosie... she still couldn't find her friend. Attempting to backtrack, Clary wound her way through the sea of shelves, eventually, in a moment of desperation, calling out, "Marco!"

Rosie was still reading through her spells book, her eyebrow raising at some of them. They sounded dangerous! But fun. But more dangerous, and more likely to get her in trouble. Just like the spook restricted books woooo spooky ghost. She felt her eyes peel to the section. Rosie shook her head and turned to her book. That was stupid. She'd never do anything like that! Risking herself to get in trouble, who did she think she was? Rosie shook her head. Bad Rosie. She dragged her finger along the words. Beaters. Sounded violent. She didn't wanna imagine what would happen if some strong kid got her hands on Rosie while she flew. She didn't wanna imagine potentially falling to he-

"Marco!"

Rosie's head turned to the voice. There she was! It was a bit faint, so Rosie had to be loud. She cleared her throat, and yelled back. "POLO!" She cupped her mouth with her hands, standing on a chair to see if she could see Clary from a distance. Of course, she couldn't. But she tried. Rosie hopped back down into her seat and hoped Clary heard her. She figured she would've. If she didn't... She'd just yell again.

Clary twisted her way through the sea of bookshelves, running her hand along the columns as she passed by. If she always remained to the right side of the shelves, then eventually, after some length of distance, she'd manage to return to where she came from. That was always the number one rule of mazes she remembered from the haunted ones when growing up; though not the most efficient method in the world, it'd work for her current predicament. 

The young Ravenclaw girl found her gaze wandering around the space as she walked, the only legible sound the thumping of her feet against the polish hardwood floors. The library's architecture was gorgeous, and she found herself wondering how long it'd taken to build everything in this space. Sure, the constructors of Hogwarts had had magic and what not, but without modern architectural devices, she could only imagine how much effort it would've taken to produce such a space. Most of the wood had to be custom made, and once one factored in the enormous number of shelves, spiraling columns and what-not, it seemed there was quite an effort put into this magical library.

Clary trudged onwards, glancing up at the shelves as she spotted a section on Potions. She hadn't been back to her dorm since earlier that morning and had Potions homework due later that day. Clary'd managed to use her notes to answer all but one of the questions discussing examples of the three types of potions: environmental, physical, and mental. Figuring this section would be a decent place to start, she scanned the spines of the books for a moment, finally pulling out a copy of Magical Drafts and Potions. Perfect! Clary sat down on the ground, leaning against the bookshelf, and flipped through the pages of the books, scanning for anything that looked like an 'environmental' potion.

Polo!

Clary paused, swearing she heard the echo of her earlier call, except this one said "Polo", instead of Marco. Had Rosie heard her? Feeling her heart soar with excitement, Claryssa slammed the Potions book shut, cradling it in her arm alongside the dueling one, and bounced up, yelling out once again, "Marco!"