A Restricted Adventure PV Annabelle Wolfe Closed

Lilith wanted to laugh aloud. She held back the will to scream at the top of her lungs, "It's brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" and instead moved quickly and stealthily from her hiding place behind the bookshelves when the librarian jerked away to check what was happening.

The Book of Monsters! Lilith wanted to skip. She couldn't have done better herself. Why push a few books when you can unleash a beast? She really underestimated her fellow Gryffindor. Looking around the library, Lilith caught no sight of her. Good. That meant she was hiding well.

Or she left you, a voice in the back of her head whispered, but Lilith ignored the thought. She did use the girl as bait.

Lilith ducked around the librarian's desk and quickly got to work. Who knew how long she had before the librarian managed to stop the book. Lilith wiggled her body under the desk, leaving her vulnerable to what was going on around her. Lilith suddenly realized she could potentially get attacked by that book, but pushed that thought aside as well. She already got this far.

Taking out her quill from her satchel, Lilith crackled the tip on the wooden desk, trying to remain as silent as possible. Using the broken, now flat-headed quill as a screwdriver, Lilith began to unscrew the screws that held the drawer to the rest of the desk from beneath.

The thing about the wizarding world these days was that they were so reliant on magic. Sure, it was helpful, but even being raised in a Pureblood family, Lilith knew that magic wasn't the way for everything—especially other magic related things. Sometimes, it was best to work around magic.

The lock was protected against spells and other means of opening it, but the drawer itself? The same as any other. If Lilith flew her broom at it with enough speed, it'll break. Now she just had to rely on faulty manufacturing.

She got the first screw loose and moved onto the next one. Lilith counted four screws in total. In the distance, she could still hear the made trample of fallen books as the Book of Monsters continued its reign of terror.

The second screw came loose and fell to the floor. Lilith's quill was struggling on the third and kept slipping due to Lilith's own shaky hands. Her adrenaline was soaring high and her heart beat in her chest like a child banging a drum. She never felt more alive.

The third screw came out. The fourth screw broke the rest of Lilith's quill after a few turns, but Lilith managed to do the rest with her hand. The fourth screw fell into Lilith's hand, along with the whole drawer.

Lilith crawled out from the wreckage, searching through the drawer feverishly. Her stomach suddenly dropped. What if the librarian had the keys on her when she was asleep and they were on her at this very moment? All of Lilith's work and Annabelle's sacrifice would have been for nothing.

Any doubts Lilith had disappeared when she found the ring of keys. She held them tightly, restricting them from jingling as she put the drawer back and started to re-screw the screws in with her fingers. She only managed to get them in halfway, but it was good enough. What type of librarian would check her drawers anyway?

Scrambling to her feet, Lilith quickly moved back over to the restricted section and hid behind the corner of the door. Hopefully, that cursed monster book would be caught quickly so the librarian can go back to sleep and Lilith (and Annabelle) could finally get into the restricted section they worked so hard for.

Annabelle held her breath, listening to the ruckus below. She did not dare move for fear of being caught. There was not much room for her to move here anyway. She could see the rafters mere inches away from her and it was quite obvious that they had not been cleaned in years. Cobwebs lined the ceiling, and the smell of dust was becoming nearly unbearable. She felt her nose twitch. No...

"How did you come unlocked!?" The librarian's voice echoed in the isles below. She must have woken and tracked down the Monster book of Monsters. That should have meant that she was a few isles away, but Annabelle could not be certain. How fast did the book travel? How far had it gotten before she had caught up to it. The echoes of the massive library made it near impossible to tell where the noises were coming from.

"A-ah..." Anna's eyes watered as she struggled to hold in the sneeze that was building from the dust. Her nose twitched again, desperate to release it's burden. No! She forced herself to hold it in. The sounds of rustling paper and grunting below may not be enough to cover such a noise. She listened carefully, hoping for a particularly loud moment when she could release the built up pressure without fear. Unfortunately for her, everything soon fell silent.

"Gotcha!" the voice spoke again. "They really ought to put a better lock on this thing. Don't they know first-years have access to this area?"

First-years have access indeed, Annabelle thought with a smirk. She shifted ever so slightly so that she could see the librarian's desk from her perch. It looked the same as it had before. That was either a great sign or a very bad one. Either Lilith had completed her plan and gotten the keys without disturbing the area, or she had taken off and left Anna to take the fall for staying up after curfew. No, she wouldn't do that. The young optimist refused to believe such a thing about her newfound friend.

Hurriedly she crept back down the bookcase, careful not to disturb anything. The librarian was sitting at her desk. She had turned a desk lamp on now, and was recording something in a rather large tome. Perhaps she had to keep a log of disturbances. Either way, Anna was grateful for the distraction. She made her way slowly through the isles, her bare feet only lightly touching the floor.

Suddenly a flood of panic struck the girl. What about her bag? It was still in the corner where she had been studying. Anyone who checked it would see her name written on her homework and know she was here! Sure, she could say that she accidentally left it in the library before going to bed, but how was she supposed to explain the shoes that were resting with it? She rushed to the area, hoping against hope that the librarian had not seen her things.

A small sigh of relief escaped her when she saw that they were just as they had been. Annabelle gathered everything as quickly and quietly as she could, stuffing the shoes inside her bag and sealing it. Some of her books may get shoeprints on them, but it was better than being sent back to detention. Once she had gathered everything, she returned to the restricted section. Lilith was nowhere to be seen.

She wouldn't abandon me here... would she?

Lilith rolled her eyes in annoyance as she reached through a gap in the bookshelf to grab Annabelle's shoulder and using her other hand to place it over her mouth to stop any screams from the shock of being grabbed from behind may cause. Lilith was nothing if not careful.

Having watched Annabelle make her way back from her wonderful hiding place, Lilith was silently cheering her on in one side of her mind and throwing curses around in her mind if she was to screw up. Good thing the ladder never happened.

"Well, c'mon," Lilith whispered harshly. "Do you want to see what's in the Restricted section or not?"

Lilith softly removed her hands, prepared to replace them if Annabelle decided to start screaming bloody murder or something like that. Moving back around the bookshelves and towards the Restricted section, Lilith made sure the keys made no noise as she moved them into the keyhole.

You should wait till morning, Lilith chastised herself. No, Lilith thought back. "She might notice her keys are missing then. The voices in her head silenced as Lilith put the key labeled, "Restricted Section" into the slot and slowly started to turn it. She could hear the gears in the door move.

Hoping none of the books felt like screaming, Lilith let the door pop open, the hinges squealing quite loudly as it did so. Too loud. The librarian definitely heard that one. Not soon after she thought, quick footsteps started to echo through the silent library to their direction.

Lilith glanced into the Restricted Section, swallowing the lump in her throat. Her mouth felt dry. She They went through so much just to give up know. Maybe Lilith can rush in and shut the door behind her, spending the whole night reading through the books silently and hoping the librarian didn't decide to check in the hiding place, but that would mean leaving Annabelle to the wolves.

She seems like a happy person. She'd be fine, Lilith tried to convince herself, but despite the brilliant facts, Lilith couldn't push herself to walk through the door or leave the door behind altogether.

Lilith took in a deep breath and turned around, grabbing Annabelle's arm. She planned to say, "Sorry, but you know how it works. I can't pass this up. Cover for me, yeah? You'll be fine." but instead, Lilith said, "Let's get out of here before we're thrown into detention until our teeth rot."

A flood of relief came over Annabelle as Lilith emerged from behind the door (even if she did grab her like a kidnapper). She hadn't abandoned the naive young Gryffindor after all. And what was more, she had the keys! Anna smiled at her companion, doing her best to hide her newfound reassurance. It was silly of her to be so suspicious. Lilith may have been a bit abrasive at first, but that was no reason not to trust her, right? Then again, she did give off a particular vibe...

Her joy and relief were not long lived. The two girls seemed to be metaphorically on the edge of their seats as Lilith turned the key in the lock, but the loud noise that echoes from it was certain to attract attention. Sure enough, a faint "What was that?" could be heard from the corner of the room. Annabelle's heart sank. She was going to get caught, to get sent to detention...again... There went everything she had worked so hard for. There was no chance she'd become a Prefect now. Heck, that was the least of her worries. The Library Rules posted on the inside of the door stated that anyone caught breaking into the restricted section was at risk of being expelled.

She looked up at Lilith, her mind reeling in panic. The black-haired girl looked back at her, then at the door, then her again. What was she thinking? The obvious answer was betrayal, but Annabelle refused to believe such a thing. After all, Lilith had been trustworthy up until this point, right? Still, that look in her eyes said something different. Even the little optimist had her doubts. If it came down to it, would she take the fall of this girl? Well... yes. Even if Annabelle had gotten caught, she would never even consider ratting out her fellow student. She would be in trouble anyway and there would be no point in making more enemies. Yet the fear of expulsion loomed over her like a Dementor ready to strike.

"Let's get out of here before we're thrown into detention until our teeth rot."

Anna nodded and came back to her senses. Lilith was trustworthy after all. The young student was still absolutely terrified of course, but if felt a lot better knowing that somebody was on her side. Now they just had to find a way out of here. The clumsy Annabelle would likely not be anyone's first choice in a partner-in-crime, but she did have a few tricks up her sleeve. Noting that Lilith was attached to her by the arm, she took off down the hallway. She ducked and weaved between rows, pausing occasionally to listen for footsteps.

Crap! She held out her hand, indicating for the both of them to stop. The sound of high heels clacking against the wooden floors seemed to be growing ever closer. Anna looked at her compatriot, unsure of what to do. They could not go back toward the Restricted Section of course. Nor could they move forward without running into their doom. What was it Lilith had said about her? Hopefully she'd think it was a cat or something? So much for that. Unless...

A sudden idea struck her worried mind. She inhaled deeply. This had better work.

"Meow!" Annabelle gave her best cat impression, throwing her voice toward the other side of the vast library. One of the many perks of being a drama kid was that she had developed a few useful skills. Puppetry had been one of her favorite subjects at theatre camp and she was not too bad a ventriloquist either. She had never imagined that such a thing would be useful to her for breaking the rules. It did seem to work tough, as the footsteps stopped, then began to fade.

Lilith let her fellow Gryffindor lead her on bravely, stopping when she said. Lilith gave her a wolfish grin when she meowed, attracting the attention of the librarian to the other side of the library. Lilith swiftly moved away from Annabelle, putting the keys back onto the desk. It didn't matter if the librarian had suspicions. Once they were gone, they'd get away with it This time, Lilith took lead and dragged the girl to the door as they escaped from the library.

Lilith ran down the hallways, a savage smile splitting her face as she resisted the urge to laugh aloud. "That was brilliant!" Lilith gasped for air between the small run and her heart rate banging in her chest from the pure excitement of it all. "Absolutely brilliant! You were wonderful, it was very impressive. I didn't think you had it in you. Anyway, I don't think I got your name, ."

Turning down another hallway, Lilith hopped up the steps to the grand staircase two at a time, hoping not to wake up any of the portraits. Some of them blinked open to glare at her, but immediately went back to sleep. Taking a breather on the sixth floor, Lilith turned to Annabelle with a sad smirk. "Too bad we didn't get into the Restricted Section. Maybe next time, aye?"

Lilith continued on her way up the steps, eventually arriving at the Gryffindor Common Room. She yelled the password at the Fat Lady, awakening her from her snoring slumber. She grumbled as she opened the door. Before Lilith stepped in, she looked to Annabelle. "Well, it has been fun, but the adventure is over. You're not half bad, ."

"It's Wolfe, actually." Annabelle smiled back, ignoring the fact that she had in fact told the mischievous girl her name earlier that evening. Perhaps she had forgotten, or maybe she just wasn't listening. Either way, Anna could hardly blame her. It was quite late... or early rather: probably three or four hours past midnight. As the adrenaline of their library chase wore off, the night's events were already beginning to blur together in Annabelle's mind. The forgotten introduction certainly seemed trivial.

"G'night, Lilith. It's been fun." The exhausted girl waited outside for a moment, watching as the rays of early sunlight glinted off of her new friend's hair. As Lilith vanished into the common room, Anna couldn't help but wonder just what was going through her head.

What an interesting person...

Hogwarts was certainly full of surprises. She could have sworn that this person was ready to betray her at any second, even though her optimistic heart told her to get rid of such suspicions. Yet in the end the girl had forfeited her change to get into the Restricted Section for Annabelle's sake. She could have been doing it to protect herself of course, but Anna could tell that something had clicked. She had a feeling that this was not the last adventure the two of them would have together.

Her bare feet ached from the run. Now that she was safe, her body's fight-or-flight mode was no longer activated to keep her on alert. Her limbs felt inordinately heavy, though not quite so heavy as her eyelids. It was time to go to bed. The intrepid Gryffindor snuck back into her dorm as silently as she could, managing not to wake the other girls. Her fellow brave-hearted students slept without a care. Thinking of Lilith, she wondered what exactly it meant to be brave. Annabelle had always thought of bravery as standing up for people, or for what she thought was right. Usually that meant following the rules. Yet Lilith's plan, Annabelle's distraction, even just sneaking around at night... that seemed to have its own sort of bravery behind it.

She curled up in bed, mind reeling from the night's journey. She would have a lot of things to think over in the morning. Perhaps she would feel guilty over what she had done. Perhaps she would feel some sense of pride that the "bad kids" always seemed to posses. Whatever the case, that was tomorrow's problem. Now it was time to rest.