Protective Productivity

This wasn't probably the best of ideas, but he'd been holed up in his dorm for longer than what was probably healthy. Even his dormmates referred to him as that "that weird quiet kid that never says anything".
"Does anything either."

His stomach turned in the midst of the laughter. He'd stumbled out of the common room where he was sitting watching the fish swim past in the Great Lake, gone back into bed and hid his head under the pillow, bewildered. When he was finally able to bring himself out of the spiral he had often found himself in, like some sort of supernatural sign a book on his bedside table fell, and caused an old piece of paper to fall out. He had completely forgotten about it. He hadn't opened his old book of fairytales in months.
It was a crocheting design he'd drawn up. A number of them, but the one that stuck out to him was a cat.
A black cat.
Annex. The fairytale book was open to a single chapter.
"The Little Mermaid."
-
"Hey. Um."

He gently plopped the cat down in front of her book, pulling the note he prepared explaining the cat, sans his name, hoping she wouldn't look up from her book. Maybe he could run away before she did. And she'd look up, and she would remember the boy she met a year ago, the plans he'd mentioned to teach each other crocheting and knitting tips. It was a mistake for him to to have gone out. What if that book falling was a trick- what if the same people, or thing, made his parents disappear last year- what if it was telling him to go out? Put others in danger by them even associating with him?

At the last minute, when he was worried he would crumple up the note, pull out a chair and break out in a burst of tears and have a mental breakdown in front of this person he'd met only once before, and tell this person all the secrets he'd been damming up for months, it happened.

A slight movement, but Emerly had a sharp eye. Did that book, on the shelf nearby the table... did it? Move? The windows were open... but this was unnatural movement. He straightened and looked over, eyes wide, pensive. Any thoughts of disappearing and running off escaped him.

"Did you see that?" he said, loud and clear, addressing her, not even looking away from the shelf, forgetting to even introduce himself or ask if she remembered him.
Then, it happened. The book slid out, falling open onto the floor. Emerly's breath caught.

"I knew going to a magic school would be a questionable choice..." he noted in monotone, instinctively putting out an arm as if to block her from whatever was happening.

@Myrina Kesterson

@Emerly Pines

He had a faint memory of Myrina being the type of witch to isolate herself. He had been like that his first year of Hogwarts, but not to the degree he was now. He wouldn't be surprised if even this girl, of whom he had faint memories of her telling him she was quite the anti-socialite, would drop her jaw at hearing Emerly had only ventured out of his dorm in free time a grand total of 5 times since the start of the school year. That was one day to spend one's youth at a magical, amazing school where anything could happen, kind of a waste... actually. Myrnia on the other hand went out to study all these amazing books, whereas he was too nervous to even sit in the library alone or with anyone else. He had remembered hearing stories of great adventures occurring at this school, specifically legends of the legendary Harry Potter and his friend Hermione and Ron.
Hearing his uncle talk about it, it all always seemed so grand, it gave Emerly a sense of trepidation but also a sense of wonder and excitement he couldn't shake off. Where had all that wonder gone? It was almost as if these two events with the books, especially this one right now, was dead-set on shaking the Slytherin out of his fear of the unknown into something else.
"I-" his breath caught, and soon after he heard the girl's level voice behind him.
"Kids think they're funny and do it all the time."
He took another step back, pressing himself even further against the table edge behind him, going up on his toes to make himself a bit taller, eyes wide at the book that popcorned once or twice on the ground, finally flipping closed with a sense of finality.
Fwap.
"Huh."
He knew that tone, the tone of something being very wrong, and being acknowledged by someone who did not have it in them to make a big deal out of things, even if they were perhaps very worrying things to most indeed. His eyes shot around, and his peripheral vision caught on to the blue light. He nearly panicked but realized it was coming from the necklace Myrina had been wearing. He looked at her, the necklace...
Then there was a flurry of pages. The book had flown open again, and another had joined it, and another. There were seven books lying on the floor, and they were all lying open, unmoving. Though a gust of wind flying in from an open window tried to turn their pages, they stayed stubbornly set on displaying them, unmoving.

"Oh," Emerly yelped, covering his mouth, embarrassed his voice had gone so high. When he removed his hand, he only noted, "I should have stayed in my dorm. I'm sorry-" he nearly turned to flee, but stopped, looking confused, he gestured at her, eyes curious.

"Myrina, there's a light coming from your necklace." It turned to something like fear, guilt, in his grey eyes, before settling on curiosity, and the curiosity beamed out of his eyes and drew him back to the place by the table. "I'm sorry... have I... I may have given you some sort of curse."

@Myrina Kesterson