Surrounded by Words PV Sage Sheppard Closed

Sage was so deep into his writing that he had neglected to realize the growing amount of people swarming at the tables around him at this point in his life he would always get distracted by people, but when he was writing. there was just something in him that caused him to focus to heavily that he would just lose himself. He would become another person entirely without even speaking, he had multiple worlds at his fingertips when he was in this state but... wouldn't like to stay in it for long because he was prone to write characters based off his late mother, and while they were great, he couldn't ever manage to actually put the time to write them. he loved writing but ever since his mother died he had started to do it sporadically.

But something about Simon got him to snap out of his writing, maybe it was the fact that he had seen him around school a lot, or that he was the first hufflepuff he had seen out and about since he had gotten here, he had obviously met a lot in the common room but never actually anywhere else in the school.

"oh sure go ahead.." the young man said looking up from his journal for the first time for what had seemed like hours "your the prefect right, im Sage Sheppard it's uh nice to meet you again"

"Uh, yea, yea, I'm one of the prefects," Simon said but paused as that sounded odd to him to be introduced that way. He laughed a little and sat down, placing his bag down beside him. "I've been prefect only about a month though so it's still all new to me. I suppose this is much like when someone grows up with their father being addressed by Mr. Smith or the sort and then one day they get a teaching job and begin to be addressed as Mr. Smith or the sort themselves," he smiled and then paused because, well, maybe it wasn't quite like that. "Still hard to wrap my head around the idea of being a prefect, I guess is what I mean. Simon. Simon Kincaid," he said and placed his hand out toward his fellow Hufflepuff so they could shake with a proper introduction if accepted.

"Pleasure to meet you, Sage. That name flows quite well. Sage Sheppard," he repeated it, seeing how it sounded when he said it. Yep, flowed well. "What brings you to the Library?" he asked curiously. The boy was obviously writing something and it was something that seemed to need his imagination and thoughts more than research because his focus was on his writing and not scanning books for information.

Simon glanced over to his own books. One was about Herbology, one on art within the wizarding world, and two with the subject of the living dead. Perhaps Sage wouldn't fire the question back to him.

"And how's Hogwarts and the fine house of Hufflepuff been treating you on your first year?"

"it's been fine, kinda hectic since i didn't have anyone before now to even learn about this stuff from" He sighed looking out the window
"my mother, who we discovered the witch in the family... didn't really last to long into my childhood" he knew he was trauma dumping but could stop the words coming out of his mouth

"heh sorry you probably don't wanna know that stuff.. your like a guy i just met, how stupid am i.." he tried to laugh it off and go back to writing in his book "just..ignore what i said" he seemed stressed after he had accidentally said something about his mother

he loved his mother but always got incredibly antsy whenever she was brought up, and she would be mainly by him trailing off in a conversation, he absolutely hated himself for that cause it just got emotions flaring up again. The kid was definitely smart but would always demean himself whenever he would slip up.

"i-uh-oh-god" he kept trying to dig his way out of this hole but just kept making it deeper and deeper for himself, he really wanted to shut up right now before he drove this person away like he had done with a lot of young children in his life before he went to hogwarts

"Oh, I know. First Year is a big shock. I mean, back at my muggle school in London our focus is on maths and writing and reading and we get to do things like choir and then we come here and it's all potions and charms and magical plants. Crazy stuff," he nodded, knowing it was quite the culture shock. Some of the purebloods came with certain knowledge that those that were from the muggle world just didn't have.

"You lost your mum? I'm sorry to hear that," Simon's voice lowered to show his genuine sympathy. He had some common ground there. "My mother went to Hogwarts. She was in Gryffindor. She was muggleborn. I don't remember her though. She died when I was three and I've only got memories from my Aunt Maggie. She seemed to be a great fit for Gryffindor though, very valiant, very brave. I admire her very much."

He wondered how long it had been since Sage lost his mother and who he still had in his life for support but that was questions one didn't usually ask someone upon their first meeting unless they were a big rash and Simon didn't want to offend. Maybe Sage would offer up the information.

"I guess my mother didn't talk about Hogwarts much to my aunt, her sister. She didn't want her to get jealous or something. Aunt Maggie didn't know that sort of thing ran in families so it was a surprise when my letter came."

" heh.. i never got that kinda treatment, my whole was one way until it wasn't, i was mainly homeschooled by my father most of the time after my father died, my whole life has been kinda confusing since to my knowledge i never did any magic until recently. but everyone else tells me that ive always had it. i kinda wish my mother would have done something to teach me about my magic, but... she couldn't" he shut his journal enjoying the talk he was having with Simon " it's been... 5-6" years since her death and we just recently learned that her family is magical, isnt that kinda weird...like she never thought to tell her husband ,my dad, that she was a witch. which just left me totally thrown off by this stuff. "

"Don't get me wrong im pretty good but, i didn't know any of this stuff before now... while it seems like half of the school has, also ive literally been told that im most likely going to be a ravenclaw for the last 2 years i've talked to my grandmother, but out of nowhere im a hufflepuff...." he sighed sitting back "don't get me wrong i love it here, heck i feel like im a better fit here then the smartie pants blue birds...but its just that i've had so much told to me, but nothing ive actually been able to use."

"I like that there's a lot of potions that can be used to make things better," Simon said. That was useful. But he could see where learning defensive spells didn't matter much when there was no threat or how it didn't really matter if they could turn an animal into a teacup when they already had teacups within the household. Simon never really thought of the classes that way, as he had just been memorized from the start by magic.

"Yea, I didn't know anything about the houses when I got here so I can't say I had a preference on where to be. I'm glad I'm Hufflepuff though, I feel like we're synonymous somehow. that we're one in the same." Simon was pretty sure that he held close every single trait of Hufflepuff and that it was the perfect fit for him, even if he did hold some traits from other houses.

"It can be hard though, even if when we feel like we're in the right spot, to be thrown into this crazy new world. I was there last year. I'm still a bit there this year. If you ever need help with anything, man, let me know. I'm happy to help. Or you know, even if you just want to talk."

[Word Count: 214]