Right as Rain PV Zelda Lime Closed

Darting in through the doors of the library, Zelda took a moment to breathe in the lovely calming smell of all the books that rested in this hallowed space and felt herself calming down with each passing second. The Hogwarts Library had been one of her first stops during her first few days here, curious as she was about what secretive books lay in store in this repository of magic, but ever since that brief visit she had been so completely swept up in the whirlwind of orientating herself in this whole new world that she hadn’t had the time to visit again till now.

There was a low drone of murmurs from around the Library of suppressed quiet conversations between students, presumably between the stacks of books since Zelda barely saw anyone around her. She made her way around to a common area she had taken note of during her last visit, invitingly complete with parchments and quills and evidently for self-study. Her footfalls on the wooden floor sounded embarrassingly loud despite her best efforts to keep her steps as light as possible.

As she neared the study area, Zelda espied a familiar face with the brown plaits – Sylvie Hawthorne, the girl that she had ridden in the same compartment of the Hogwarts Express of! She remembered having a pleasant conversation with her all the way down that first day, but that afternoon had also passed by in a bit of an adrenaline haze for her, being excessively excited and nervous all at once. This was the first time she had seen Sylvie around since that day and the recollection of perhaps being just too talkative during that train ride suddenly made her sincerely hope that she hadn’t annoyed her companions too much that day.

Though there were other empty desks about, Zelda decided to approach Sylvie. The other girl, now apparently in Hufflepuff judging by the colours of her robes, looked like she was tackling an uncooperative piece of homework, frowning as she wrote across the parchment in front of her.

“Hello! ” Zelda whispered, smiling brightly and waving by way of greeting. “It’s Sylvie, right? I’m Zelda, we were in the same compartment on the Hogwarts Express if you remember. Is there space on this desk? Would you mind if I joined you? I’ve got some homework to do as well so I’ll try not to bother you, I just thought it’d be nice to sit with a friendly face.”

interacting with: @Sylvie Hawthorne

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Date: 15/Sep/2021 | Time: 19:30 | Mood: Frustrated | Location: Library
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─────Sylvie looked up at the sound of soft footfalls. It took a moment to place the person that she was looking at—they seemed familiar—

“Oh!” she exclaimed, then lowered her voice with a sheepish smile. “Hello, Zelda! I’ve missed you. I saw you were accepted into Ravenclaw—I was a little sad it wasn’t Hufflepuff like me! And did you see Anemone got into Gryffindor? None of us were in the same house after all! I have potions with Gryffindors, so I’ve seen her, but I’m bench buddies with a boy named Galahad. How rude of me!” she said, blushing a deeper red. “Please sit down! And please tell me you’re better at history than I am!”

Sylvie despaired that she would ever finish this essay. She wished she could have a double heaping of Charms, or even Potions—not that she really enjoyed Potions, but at least you could have a chat with a good chum while mixing things and smelling weird stuff in between.

“I’ve already finished my Charms homework for tonight,” she said. It was almost physically painful to keep her voice to a whisper—her whole person demanded to be loud and bright and wild. “And I’ve got a couple more days until I need to hand in my Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment. I’ve put this one off, though…” She looked sadly off to the side, and probably looked a little dramatic at being so forlorn over a simple essay. She turned back to Zelda with a valiant effort at rallying her spirits. “What are you working on tonight?”

Sylvie’s unexpected enthusiasm in welcoming Zelda to the desk washed a sense of relief over her. She hadn’t anticipated anything more than a superficial greeting and perhaps more awkward silence from the other girl, since they haven’t spoken since they got off the Hogwarts Express and lost each other in the flood of students being ushered in to the Great Hall. She was surprised too that Sylvie had paid attention during Zelda’s Sorting, and even knew where Anemone had been Sorted to.

“To tell the truth, that evening went by in a blur to me,” Zelda smiled as she made herself comfortable at the desk. She pulled out some textbooks, parchment, quill, and ink. “I barely knew where to go, where to sit, and what I was supposed to do! I hadn’t even known Anemone was in Gryffindor until just now you said. I do have some classes with Gryffindors but I might’ve just been too bewildered to have noticed her. There’re so many people around. How has Hufflepuff been for you?”

Zelda brightened up when Sylvie mentioned history. “I love history! People always look at me weird when I say that. What do you need help with?”
She took a peek at Sylvie’s parchment, which seemed to have to do with the Wizengamot. They had only briefly learnt that during the first year History of Magic classes and naturally Zelda had already finished that particular essay.

“This essay is basically asking us to give a brief history of the Wizengamot, and to name an important trial and why it’s signficant. Our History of Magic textbook is fine but it doesn’t really go so much into the details, I thought this book was much better…” Zelda pulled out a chunky leatherbound book from her satchel which she had checked out previously from the library before just for her own interest and pointed out the relevant chapter to Sylvie.

“Well, I’m actually working on the Charms homework that you’ve finished! It’s really fun, but I can’t seem to figure it out,” Zelda scratched her head as she pulled out a half-completed essay with several crossed-out sentences. “I’m half-blood just like you but I honestly might as well have been Muggle-born for all that I know of magic so far. I really want to be good at Charms and stuff, but I don’t feel like I’ve quite grasped the knack of it.”

interacting with: @Sylvie Hawthorne

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Date: 15/Sep/2021 | Time: 19:30 | Mood: Hopeful | Location: Library
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─────Sylvie nodded at Zelda’s description of their first day being a blur. She was rather lucky she had noticed or remembered anything at all after such a flurry of activity and new information.

“I love Hufflepuff! Everyone is so nice, and the Common Room is so comfy! Oh, oh, and my dorm room is filled with plants and it has a willow tree in the middle, and the bed can disappear and become a hammock! Apparently there’s camp out nights where we’re all supposed to hide the beds and sleep in hammocks and sing songs!” Sylvie’s eyes were glowing with happiness and her hands had come up in front of her as she described her House with gusto.

Her volume had been slowly rising, but she brought it back down. “And what about you? How do you like Ravenclaw? What is your dorm like? What’s it called? Mine is called Plant Palace.”

“This essay is basically asking us to give a brief history of the Wizengamot, and to name an important trial and why it’s signficant. Our History of Magic textbook is fine but it doesn’t really go so much into the details, I thought this book was much better…”

“Oh, you’re a life saver!” Sylvie exclaimed in a stage whisper. She gazed avidly at the book Zelda was holding and gently put her hands on it, a silent request to take it. “I think this will make such a difference! I wasn’t sure how to write something that wasn’t just copying the chapter we’d been assigned…”

Sylvie nodded as Zelda described her struggles and her desire to be good at it—at all of it. Those were feelings Sylvie understood all too well. At least Zelda was probably good at studying by herself—after all, she’d gotten into Ravenclaw and had gone and gotten a second book for her essay!

“I can help you with the Charms homework!” Sylvie offered, suddenly shy, her voice much more gentle than it had been. “It’s one of the ones that I feel comfortable with.”

Maybe they could work individually and then swap things every now and again? If Zelda was sitting there working, Sylvie felt like she’d be able to concentrate a lot more easily.

When Zelda had first been Sorted, she only barely knew what the Houses were and what they stood for. Her mom had tried to give her a crash course on that but it had been somewhat lost in the overwhelming amount of new information that Zelda had to get used to at the time.

“Oh, I wish we could just see each other’s common rooms and dormitories, if only for a day!” Zelda gushed as Sylvie described the prettiness of the Hufflepuff rooms. “Yours sounds so lovely! Mine’s pretty nice as well, I got put into a dorm that’s got a cushion pit in the middle that’s below a very high skylight that’s got the same enchantment as the one in the Great Hall so you can lie there and stargaze at night. It’s called Booted Eagle, I think! I keep forgetting because the dorm names all sound so similar.

“You know, me mom’s from Hufflepuff and I really wanted to be one too, after her! I was a little disappointed getting into Ravenclaw at first, but I like it now because it feels so much more me, with how much everyone loves information and knowledge and I don’t feel like the odd one out anymore when I go on and on about history and things I love to read about. But still, I always feel like I’d love to have more Hufflepuff friends because you guys just make me feel more at home!”

Zelda watched as Sylvie’s face brightened more and more when she had pointed out the relevant passages to her from the History textbook, and felt proud that she had actually helped someone with something. She had always seen her interest in History as a useless quirk which was almost something to be embarrassed about and this was the first time that she had occasion to use it to help someone. They had never had occasion to study History in her Muggle primary school so it hadn’t come in handy until now.

“Oh, would you help me with my Charms homework please?” Zelda pushed her essay towards Sylvie. “You see, I’m not quite sure about this…” She told Sylvie about what she had already researched about for the essay and how it didn’t seem to make sense with the question. Charms was something that didn’t come naturally to her but which she felt like she had to be good at if she wanted to be a proper witch like her mom.

interacting with: @Sylvie Hawthorne

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Date: 15/Sep/2021 | Time: 19:30 | Mood: Hopeful | Location: Library
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─────“Me too! Sylvie agreed, her eyes aglow. “I bet the Ravenclaw Common Room is so elegant! Your dorm sounds so nice—I’d love to sit in all those cushions and look at the stars!” Sylvie sighed with the romanticism of it. “I could gently play my lute… it’d be quite the scene!” She giggled at herself.

It was so nice spending time with Zelda. There was something so comforting and pleasant at exchanging all their excitements and questions with each other. Zelda’s bright green eyes seemed to sparkle with enthusiasm.

“My pa’s from Hufflepuff, too!” Sylvie said. “Though I doubt they went to school at the same time—my pa is real old. I think he graduated in 1980? I saw his name written somewhere, but I can’t remember now. Do you ever feel like the castle is trying to confuse you? All these changing staircases and trickster paintings running around! Do you know when your ma would have been in Hogwarts? Was she part of any teams? My pa was in Quidditch. He was a Seeker for a little while.”

After learning about Quidditch from Galahad, Sylvie had decided to look into it and had found the records of old teams. Her pa had looked so young and skinny, his light brown hair refusing to lay flat, his eyes bright and happy as he and his teammates posed for their team photo. Occasionally the players waved out at her amidst their jostling and friendly shoulder bumps amongst each other, but there was no particular reaction from her pa. Was it only paintings that talked? Was there a special magic you had to use to make the focus of a magical image interact with the viewer?

Learning how to do that would be quite the Charm! Sylvie couldn’t wait to see what kind of art and music she could create and alter with magic.

Sylvie blushed and smiled at Zelda’s description of how Hufflepuffs made her feel more at home. She was happy that Zelda felt like she fit into her House—it was clear from the outside that that the Hat had chosen perfectly.

Taking a look at Zelda’s homework, Sylvie nodded as she read.

“I think in this case you were a little too eager! I don’t think this question requires anything outside the text,” she explained. “It’s really asking about this section here…” she opened up her Charms textbook and pointed to the section. Her and her pa’s handwritten notes and scribbles were all over the page, intersecting in certain areas and differing in others. His were in ink, and they were thin, but well-written scratches upon the page, while hers were in pencil and had a girlish curl. She wondered what Zelda thought of such a messy and desecrated textbook and blushed a little.

“I think it just wants a description of the foundations of the techniques—how the body and the words tie together in certain scenarios. I think it has a good example of the main ones here—” Sylvie flipped ahead a few pages and pointed at a spread of two pages. Her pa’s handwriting in the top corner of the right hand page noted that it was ‘on the test!!’. “Ignore that,” Sylvie said, pointing at it and blushing. “I doubt the test is the same as it was in 1971!”

“Ooh, do you play the lute? I’d really love to see that one day, if you don’t mind,” Zelda said enthusiastically. She didn’t think she’d actually seen a lute in real life before, much less played one. She hadn’t had much exposure to musical instruments so far, since her parents aren’t very musical people in general. Watching people play still held a deep novelty that was fascinating to her.

Zelda’s excitement only grew when Sylvie said her father had been in Hufflepuff, but then deflated a bit when she said her father was somewhat old. Her mother didn’t seem that old to her.

“My mom’s born in 1977, so I doubt she’d have been in the same year if your dad graduated in 1980. I don’t even know how old Hogwarts goes up to, I haven’t really asked.” Now that she said it, Zelda was almost a bit embarrassed at how dense that might’ve made her sound. “My mom said she was in the Gobstones club and the duelling club! She stayed away from Quidditch and anything to do with flying though, which is why I know pretty much nothing about Flying so far and I’m really not looking forward to those classes! It seems terrifying to be hanging up so high in the air holding on to only a broom and magic!”

Zelda listened intently as Sylvie pointed out the mistakes she had made in her Charms homework. Things were starting to make sense the more Sylvie explained. She looked through the section that Sylvie had pointed out and marvelled at the number of notes and arrows and lines almost flying around the paper. The pages were clearly old with yellowing borders. She quickly took down notes from what Sylvie was saying and struck off a few sentences from her own essay, immediately planning how to rework the structure and content of it according to Sylvie’s explanation.

“This textbook is amazing, all these notes and tips… I can see where you got your expertise on Charms from! Is this your dad’s? I almost wish my mom had left me something to bring to Hogwarts but she said she hadn’t the foggiest where her old school books were anymore,” Zelda said wistfully. She wasn’t sure but she had a feeling that her mom hadn’t been very interested in schoolwork when she was in Hogwarts, which was something Zelda herself didn’t want to emulate. “I take it that your dad was really good at Charms then? Did he teach you any before you came to Hogwarts?”

interacting with: @Sylvie Hawthorne

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Date: 15/Sep/2021 | Time: 19:30 | Mood: Frustrated | Location: Library
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─────Sylvie blushed when Zelda said she wanted to hear her play the lute. She would have to find a chance to do so. Maybe there was a music room she could use somewhere? It was too bad she and Zelda weren’t in the same House—they might’ve shared a dorm room, or could have met in the Common Room. Somehow pulling out her lute in the middle of the castle seemed a bit embarrassing, though she supposed no one would mind.

“I’ll play for you sometime,” said Sylvie, uncommonly shy for a change. “My pa thinks I’m brilliant at it, but he’s, what’s the word? My da says it all the time when reading the newspaper—bye…. Brias?” Sylvie blushed. “I can’t remember, but it’s not important, anyway! The thing is, I’ll play for you, but lute music is kind of old fashioned and I’ve only ever been taught by my pa…”

Gobstones and duelling! Zelda’s mum sounded exciting—and smart, just like Zelda, if she was in two clubs that relied on wits.

“I’m excited for flying!” Sylvie admitted. “I bet it’s like horseback riding, but in the air! The Charms textbook used to be my pa’s—he was always forgetting to bring parchment or notebooks when he would do his cram sessions in the library. Seems like a silly thing to forget! So he’d just have his book and would borrow a quill and ink from the librarian and scribble all over his textbook instead. His Potions book is all just question marks and things crossed out, though, I had to buy that one new because his was too hard to read. Charms was by and far his best subject, I think. He demonstrated some wand movements, but of course I couldn’t really try them out til I got here! I wish we could do magic at home already.”

Sylvie went through the gamut of emotion as she spoke non-stop at Zelda: excitement, exasperation, chagrin, and a bit gloomy by the end. Of course, any child talking about not being able to do magic at home would sound a little gloomy, wouldn’t they?