Curiosity PV Eris Closed

November sighed as he saw a smile break out on the redhead's face; so it was working, he didn't frighten her anymore, if he ever even did. That was nice. They could just, talk about books. Act like they were both regular children, and she didn't have to see or know about or react to the shadows that he was absolutely certain trailed from his every last moment.

This was nice.

He was slowly beginning to unwind, his lanky body going lax, his face less guarded, more bright, (though it never truly went away.) "Yes, considering I've actually got in more trouble for not eating my dinner than for eating it, I think the food's alright, though that was only with Green." He chuckled a little, softly smiling at the memory of the tiny Gryffindor's indignance.

"Oh, you like fantasy books?" his eyes lit up utterly. "They're some of my very favourite! It's like travelling to another world! And there's so many lovely people in them, and when you read about them, it's almost like they're your family, it's wonderful...." The boy was downright glowing at this point, his enthusiasm spilling out of him like sunlight. "I brought some books from home, if you'd ever like to borrow any, they might not have them here..."

"...Oh!" He snapped still in sudden realization, his eyes going wide. "I'm afraid I never actually introduced myself," he chuckled, his cheeks suddenly flashing crimson in mortification, his gaze immediately averting, his next words coming out far more mumbled than his earlier enthusiasm, "My name's November. What's yours?"

So the food wasn't bad, the other boy seemed to come to the same conclusion due to a speech by a person named Green. What a weird name, just like the color green. A gross color if you asked Eris, and not something she would name her child. Oh well, she wasn't a parent yet. Thus, the ideas of naming a child were sorely lost on the little girl, although the name Green didn't seem like a good one to Eris. But heck, what did she know? At least he or she got the boy in front of her to eat. Food was good, and now that they were certain that Hogwarts food was good, there was nothing that would stop her from pigging out to her heart's content.

"Try the pudding, it's so good. You can't get in trouble for eating it, and I don't think it does anything bad. I mean, I eat it almost everyday, and I'm okay, right?" Shrugging, the girl's face lit up at the boy's next words, a smile easily breaking out on her face, one that she wasn't able to hide or contain for even a split second.

A kindred soul! This boy seemed to have the same ideals on the world as her, the same hopeless gleam in his eyes at the notion of the impossible fantasy worlds that lurked just out of their grasp, rotating in glimmering colors, casting a bright glow of imagination over the heads of any child who was willing to think outside of the box, to search desperately for what they lacked in their own lives, which they finally could find through the pages of a dusty tome.

The boy seemed to be unwinding too, body less taunt, eyes lit up from some inner light that only could come out of talking about something you loved. A light that Eris recognized from her own eyes, which made her smile even brighter as she nodded her head, listening to his words with an expression of understanding.

"It is amazing! It's a way to lose yourself, to forget about your own horrible life for a moment." Eris said enthusiastically, not questioning the comment about finding a family in the pages of a book, although in her own mind, books were a way to escape the drudgery of her family life. "I would love to borrow books from you! I couldn't bring any...because.." she trailed off, not wanting to admit that a few months on the streets had deprived her of any books or any time to read. She had been kicked out too fast to grab books to carry with her, but the girl chose not to dwell upon, or mention that fact, smile still gracing her face.

His face flushed red as he mentioned his name, and Eris realized as he did, that the two of them had never properly introduced themselves, which brought a blush to her own cheeks.How impolite! "I'm Eris Elcan." Huh, he didn't have a last name. How odd.

"Pudding? Every day?" November stared in pure awe. He'd never had that much trouble making pudding, but somehow, the thought of eating it daily just seemed too good to be true, like he'd somehow stumbled into some mystical Fiddler's Green of too much plenty, ever since he'd taken that fateful letter from the great big mass of bird that hunched outside his window. He didn't think he could eat something that sweet and indulgent every single day if he tried.

He nodded enthusiastically to the talk of books, recognizing her every word in his own life, in his own soul. "Yes, it's like, it's like a holiday, except you don't actually have to go anywhere, or spend very much money, it's just a book, they've got them in the shops for just a couple of pounds, you won't get in trouble for trying to leave or anything but you get to spend days on end in a beautiful place, far away from anything that's giving you trouble and-... Oh, you've not got any with you?" His eyes went even wider at horror at the prospect.

"No, no, no, that will never do, I mean, yes, we've got this whole library to look through, but I don't know that they have any of the ones I got at the bookshops, er, the muggle bookshops, because, well, everything's so different here, isn't it?" He was gushing, he only realized partway through his hastily babbled sentences, but at this point it was difficult to stop. "Mine are all from muggle shops, but, maybe you'll like them... I mean, if you tell me your favourites, I can see if I've got anything like that." They did tend to veer towards his own predilections, but there was still enough of a variety that he might have something to catch her interest.

"Eris... That's the Greek goddess of chaos, isn't it?" his head cocked with curiosity and delight. He had a great big book of Greek myths in with his others, painted all over with bright illustrations, and he remembered Eris' namesake well, cackling with cruel delight as she tossed a golden apple into a room where it was sure to start a war. He wondered if this Eris was much the same, held chaos in her soul the way he held the gloom of the last month of autumn in his.

Why wouldn't you want pudding everyday? Pudding, with all it's chocolate goodness, sticky sweet candy flavor, and the rich amazingness that ensued after taking a bite of it. It was one of the things that Eris could never tire of, and she would swim in the chocolate pudding of the great hall if offered the chance. Which, with the magic and the lack of rules in the school, she was almost certain that she would someday swim in the pudding. Maybe not today, but someday. Hopefully soon, so she could bask in the sugary goodness for as long as possible. Or...maybe she was small enough to fit into the pudding jars in the great hall. That could work, although it would be a strange site to behold, seeing a little girl floating in a pile of pudding.

Snapped out of pudding reveries by the sound of September-no, November's excited voice, Eris nodded along to his words, face falling downcast at the shock in his voice when he mentioned her lack of reading material. It wasn't her fault that she hadn't brought any books to Hogwarts with her! She hadn't been able to grab anything after being kicked out of the house. She hadn't even gotten a second set of clothes, much less a book to read. Sighing, and rubbing at her face with a small hand, Eris shrugged her shoulders, earlier elation at the way she had found a kindred soul fading away in lue of remembrance of her family, and the books she had once owned at home.

What happened to her tiny library? Did her mum and sister keep it after she was kicked out, or did her father come back home and take it away? Did they leave it to rot, or were her books okay? Questions filled her head, and a sadness followed the questions, as they were unable to be answered. There was no way to go home, no way her mother would ever accept her again, so it was best to forget about it. As her father mentioned, emotions were best not to dwell upon. They must be let go of, and let go she did.
There was something about the boy that made her trust him, a profane sense of brokenness that Eris could understand. He wouldn't laugh at her, and with that assumption lingering in her mind, Eris shuffled her feet against the floor of the library.

"I didn't bring any books because I didn't have time after I was kicked out, but I'd love to borrow some from you. " The words were nonchalant, but the sadness underneath was evident. Who wouldn't be sad about their parents kicking them out? It was only a natural reaction. Or so Eris told herself.

"I like anything, really. I read too much for my own good, I think. It's just a great way to escape life." She used to read, now at school there was no reason to escape the world, thus her time spent reading had lessened. Yet, that fact was irrelevant, so Eris didn't share.

She nodded again at his comment about her name. She had learned about her name from the big tomes of greek myths that her mother had left lying around their flat, and was elated to see another person who understood the meaning behind her name. "Yes! It is! And your name is after the, uh, month."

November's concern began to boil over in his stomach, as first the redheaded girl's face fell as something dark and painful passed across her eyes, something November could only guess at the source of.But he didn't have to guess for very much longer, as the words kicked out rang in his ears, spoken quiet as a mouse, but falling in his ears like a ten-ton weight. "They... Didn't even let you bring your things?" He shook his head, almost non-believing. Sure, he was told on no uncertain terms that once he left St. Romuald's, he was not to return unless he was fully grown and taking even more children off their hands, but at least he had been given the opportunity to gather and fill his trunk with what little things he had...

But then he shook his head again, harder. "Well, there's no reason not to change that now," he insisted, a sudden fire in his eyes, "we're, we're at Hogwarts now, where people have friends, and friends make things better for one another." He had drawn up to his full height at this point, not yet terribly impressive, but a far cry from the small shrinking wisp of a boy he had been only moments before. "My friend, my, other, friend, Green. He's trying to make a sort of, student run shop, and I'll get you anything you like from there! Whatever it is, I-, I'll find a way to get it to you. And until then, you can just, have my things," he promised, sparks flying in that intense dark gaze. "Well, whatever things I've got that suit you." Probably not the knives.

"I'll start you with one of my very favourite books, then," he said as she explained her preferences, or lack thereof, "it's called Abarat, and it's about a girl who summons an ocean in the middle of the field near her home, and finds herself on an archipelago where every island stays eternally at one hour of the day, and, there's monsters, and adventure, and a prince! He's.... He's not very handsome, or dashing, but, but I like him...." His voice trailed off then, the shrinking violets from before growing over him once more, wrapping the former blaze in their obfuscating tendrils.

It felt strange to say out loud, to watch someone else's confusion at her situation. Wasn't the boy similar in regards to his backstory? Why was her dramatic removal from the flat so shocking to a boy who talked about fearing food? How strange the world was. Eris's hand reached up to scratch the top of her head, a befuddled expression crossing her features. Maybe she had said too much, or maybe too little. The lack, or over abundance of words, made her want to clear up the topic even more. This boy was trustworthy. November seemed to be the kind of person who wouldn't expose Eris, or laugh at her. He might even understand what it was like to be abandoned for something you couldn't control. Maybe.

Eris's hand dropped back to her side, and the girl shrugged her shoulders once, to break whatever tension Eris felt coiled in her muscles."Well, my mum gave me a key to her vault at Gring-gringots?. Not really gave it, kind of just chucked it at me. My sister gave me a jacket, and uh, that's all I had time to get. You see, my mum kicked me out because I was a witch. Not exactly something I could control, but my mum didn't care. Threw me out, claiming some crazy stuff about her horrible wizard family, and how I didn't deserve to be in her house. My sister and her moved out, later, apparently, but I ended up living on the streets. Wasn't that bad, just cold, I guess."

Now that her backstory was explained, Eris felt lighter, and more able to deal with the conversation at hand. At least, the lighter aspects of the conversation, such as books! Oh, how she had missed books. There was nothing more beautiful than the sound of a turning page, and the feeling of losing yourself in a world that could change everything, could make you seem better as a person, could inspire, hurt, and build. Every single page was different, every story was different, and Eris adored reading. It was wonderful to find someone else who loved to read, and someone else who had a past that was horrendous enough that escaping through the pages of a book was one of the only things they could do. But, at least for Eris, the escape of books had turned into a lovely place, not just one she could hide from the world in.

November offered her help in the form of another boy, and his own help, and Eris's face broke into a wistful smile. It felt nice to be included, and even nicer to have a friend--however new and strange November might of been. "Oh, that would be wonderful! I mean, I have some things. This girl named Amelia gave me a knife, I have my school stuff, obviously," Eris tugged on the oversized robes for emphasis. "just, nothing else, really. I don't have money to pay you, or Green with." Eris added as an afterthought. She hadn't quite figured out how to use her mother's key. When the wizard guide and Eris had went to the bank, there had been no vault under Jane Elcan.

Thoughts of money forgotten, the smile on Eris's face only grew, as November offered a book of his own choosing. "Oh! It sounds amazing. Who cares if he's handsome or whatever, at least that means he doesn't have cooties."