Never Too Early to Hit the Books Closed

Sariel had no problem exploring the halls of Hogwarts before the school started. Not only was it good to get the lay of the land, but it was fun to find out where all the hidden nooks and crannies of the school were before classes started. One never knew when the map forming in her head would come in handy. She had already discovered the trick stair along the staircase coming to the fourth floor, losing one of her battered sneakers to the quicksand disguised as solid stone. It was an obstacle duly noted but it failed to deter her from tossing in the other shoe and entering the double doors of the Library in only her bright red socks.

The smell of old leather and parchment hit her nose, reminding her of home where her mother's workshop sat overlooking the garden. She liked reading and would sit in the hammock strung under the arbor where it was shady with thick stacks of adventure books. Of course, the Hogwarts Library looked nothing like home, despite how it smelled, and nothing made that more clear than when she went into the aisles to browse the selections. Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts...Sonnets of a Sorcerer...Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy...

Not a single work of fiction unless she counted Year of the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart and she didn't have an interest in that one simply because everyone knew he was a fake. Rolling her eyes, she moved away from that section and swept through another until a particular title caught her attention. Sliding to a quick halt, her socks slipped over the smooth stone floor, Sariel grinned and plucked the book from its shelf. "Magical Mediterranean Water Plants and Their Properties," she mused, "Now, that's something I could read."

With the book cradled in her elbow, she started out of stacks, taking the chance to slide around more in her socks while she was at it. Nobody was actually in the library at that moment anyway because it was summer vacation. Taking a running start, she jumped into a long slide toward the end of an aisle...only to have someone walking past at the same time.

It was far too late to avoid the collision but Sariel tried to yelp out a warning before they crashed into one another with enough force to send them onto the floor. Books flew and pages fluttered as Sariel landed solidly on a tan girl wearing a teal sweater. "Ow..." she winced, rolling to the side. Rubbing her bottom she glanced up with a sheepish grin. "Oops..sorry about that. Are you okay?"

Masika had just puzzled out the Library's unorthodox system and started to make her way further in when a rambunctious ball of energy came barreling towards her from the side. Barely having time to process what was about to happen (the high-pitched yelp, having far too last-second), Masika braced herself for impact before being slammed into the ancient floor, the impact knocking the air out of her. Her brain felt like it had rattled in her skull, though she managed to keep her head from meeting with the floor by the barest of margins, and she ground her teeth as pain swept harshly through her from several points of impact (some being with the other girl), before everything faded to a dull throb.

"Ayyy, madre de los dioses! No, I am not okay! Watch where you're goin', al'abalah!" she snapped irritably as soon as she was able to gasp in a breath. She groaned as her outburst caused her to jostle her now-tender injuries, which she fully expected to bruise later, but she forced herself to sit up despite the lingering pain, "What in the infiernos were you even doin', lass?!" She finally turned to face her accidental assailant and her anger stalled out as she sighed in recognition, "Oh... it's you again." She lifted her aching arm and rubbed at her nose, trying to reign herself in even as her very being seeming to leak exasperation, "What are you even doin' in here? Ravenclaw or no, you didn' seem the sort..."

Calm, she just needed to stay calm.

Upset and annoyed. Sure, Sariel could understand where that sentiment was coming from. She had knocked the girl to her butt and landed on top of her for good measure after all, but the reaction seemed a bit over the top. She spoke in what sounded like a few different languages all in one before reverting to a muddled Irish lilt to strike a nerve with her last comment.

Sariel's good-natured smile faded as she hopped to her feet and dusted off her pants roughly. "What's that supposed to mean? The sort to what? Visit a library of her own accord?" She snatched up the books from the ground, setting the pages to right before thrusting the girl's lost tome back into her arms. "I did that before getting put into Ravenclaw, thank you very much, and I plan on continuing. Besides, isn't it a little closed minded to expect everyone to act exactly like their House expects?" Picking up her own book, she tossed a grumpy look at Masika. "Because if we did that, you'd be letting your own house down pretty bad right now the way I see it, fussing about a small accident. Not a great way to get to know people like that."

It occurred to her through her slightly hurt ramblings that the girl might have been feeling as out of place as she was in her own house. After all, the bookish look and air of superiority she gave off made her ripe for a Ravenclaw instead of where she was. Despite that glimmering thought, it was overrun by her own embarrassment and she tucked her own book under her arm again, standing tall. "I apologized and since you don't seem particularly brain damaged by it, I would think that'd be enough."

Masika found herself being shoved around again as some random book was forcefully pushed into her arms. She shoved the book back immediately, her body protesting the action, "This isn' even mine you muppet!" Her expression scrunched in irritation, her dark eyes flashing in annoyance, "An' for your information I nearly hit m' head on the floor, an' tha's ignorin' all the bruisin' I'll have b'fore the end o' the day!" She heaved in a deep breath, distantly shocked that the Librarian hadn't come to investigate the noise as she visibly tried to reign in her temper.

So much for staying calm...

After a few moments, she released a long sigh, then forced herself to stand with a pained groan, "Look. What I meant was that you didn' seem the sort tae be goin' tae the library b'fore classes had even started." She huffed in irritation as she was once again reminded that she had been wrong about the house she would be placed in, "An' even if I'd meant that I didn' think you'd be the sort tae crack a book willingly, that'd be the opposite o' Ravenclaw, you—" Masika cut herself off and shook her head, her curls bouncing as she reminded herself she was trying to fix this and not make it worse by insulting the other girl again, even if said girl had treated Masika's reaction to being injured as something worth taunting.

"Ugh... nevermind, 's not important. I was wrong an' it offended you, so 'm sorry for that at least, but you did jus' barrel me over, you know? Jus' b'cause you can pop right back up from somethin' like that doesn' mean the rest o' us can," she added a bit bitterly.

Muppet? Sariel shot the girl an equally annoyed look as the book was shoved back into her arms, causing the spine to let out a decidedly sad crinkle. Now the girl was acting like a real Gryffindor. No respect for books. Masika fussed a bit like an old cat having been woken up from its nap in the Sun. Apologetic but then continuing to grumble. Bruises? Sure she had knocked the girl to the floor and it was stone. Maybe a few would pop up, though she's been through worse and it really wasn't that big of a deal. It was almost kind of funny. Masika seemed the bookish type, bundled up in her sweater and a hard nosed look that a librarian might give to an unruly student. The image was only diminished by the girls short height and wild curly hair.

Rather than smiling at the thought what was on her mind Sariel wrapped her arms around the herbology book and the poor discarded book before giving the girl a shrug. "I said I was sorry. Maybe you're right though you look like you belong in a library," Sariel blurted out, "I mean, I don't apparently..." -she wiggled her toes bound in their red socks with a growing mischievous grin- "..but you really kind of look the part."

Putting the book on a shelf off to the side and started to ask what she was doing there when a harsh looking witch in a point hat came clacking around the corner with purpose in her stride and a fire in her eyes. "What is all of the commotion?" Sariel's eyes shot to Masika, then back to the imposing woman walking over, her cheeks turning pink at having been caught by some sort of library attendant filling in for the librarian. Would the girl rat on her for causing a mess? Sariel didn't know but if she got kicked out, at least she knew what stair to avoid on the way.

Masika gave Sariel a decidedly disgruntled look at her lackluster apology, complete with shrug and apparent indifference as she immediately bounced into whether either of them belonged in a library due to appearance of all things.

As if what someone looked like and wore had anything to do with their draw towards reading.

Then again, she eyed Sariel's sock-covered feet with distaste as the girl wiggled her brightly clad toes, perhaps she needed to reevaluate that thought. Anyone that would willingly walk around without shoes on a stone floor had to have their common sense questioned at the least.

She was about to do exactly that, completely ignoring the girl's comment about her appearance, only to snap her mouth shut as an irate looking woman rounded the corner. A Librarian, or an assistant no doubt. Masika had seen many in her life, and her confident stride and fiery glint in her eyes had Masika immediately conclude that the woman was a strict protector of the book filled domain.

Masika shot Sariel a sideways glare, her dark eyes glinting. She had never been on the receiving end of a Library employee's wrath, and yet here she was on her first visit getting into trouble because the other girl was too immature to act properly around books.

Her jaw tensed as she looked away, straightening herself to her full height despite the protests of her body, "'m sorry for the noise, ma'am," she started, her tone polite and cool. "She wasn' watchin' where she was goin' and ran into me," she glanced over at the other girl, deliberately not looking at her sock-covered feet, her expression impassive, "Honestly, if you're that clumsy, you really shouldn' be tryin' tae read an' walk at the same time, lass." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, the unspoken threat to go along with the lie fairly blatant, though the employee couldn't see it from where she stood.

Masika refused to be tossed out of the library on her first visit, but that didn't necessarily mean she thought the other girl should be as well. Sariel had made her interest in books clear enough, though Masika was going to have to have a talk with her about how she acted around them. Books were fragile things, especially the older tomes that the school no doubt held. If the girl wanted to goof off, she could do it where it wouldn't endanger anything important.

Sariel would just have to deal with being called clumsy. It was better than having herself outed for playing around near to books that this woman stringently guarded.

Sariel stared up at the hard-nosed librarian not necessarily afraid, but certainly a little sheepish over the fact that she had been caught. The look from Masika's dark eyes didn't go unnoticed either along with the fact that the girl looked like she was about to face down a boggart in librarian form. Surely it wasn't all that bad? Even if Masika did rat her out for playing in the library the actual incident had been an accident. Was she going to be that much of a brat?

Before she could even explain the tan girl was eagerly explaining away and...not ratting her out. Sariel listened to the little tale spun by Masika with growing surprise which was only slightly spoiled by the fact that she felt the need to scold her all over again. How did this girl get off calling her clumsy? Then again she had slammed into her, entirely by accident of course, and she deserved at least to be backed up on her claim considering it was probably better than admitting the truth. That would only tattle on Masika and get herself in trouble more.

At the end of her explanation, Sariel found herself on the receiving end of the hard look from the librarian assistant and she smiled with a tilt of her head. "Yep, that's it," she replied cheerily, "Forgot where I was going because I was reading..." -she glanced down to the book in her hands and suddenly realized it wasn't the one she had originally selected but the one that had fallen from the shelf during the collision- "uh..A Thousand Magical Remedies for Foot Fungus. Chapter one is really...good."

The librarian's eyes narrowed for a moment, looking the two girls over carefully. Sariel gave her sweetest, most innocent smile as she held up the book as proof her statement. "See to it that you are watching where you're going next time. Noise like that is grounds for detention for everyone involved. Keep quiet." As she turned to go, her robes trailing behind, she glanced to Sariel with a shake of her head. "And put on some shoes or you'll catch a cold."

Sariel watched the witch's retreating back until she turned the corner before relaxing and giving Masika a beaming smile. "Thanks for that," she said earnestly, "You're pretty cool."

Masika barely refrained from rolling her eyes as Sariel cheerily went along with her story as if she wasn’t even fazed. She had already realized that the girl was spontaneous, but the more she found herself dealing with her, the more she realized the girl truly seemed to bounce around life like a pinball in a machine.

Masika nearly snorted aloud as Sariel read the title of the book, but she had enough experience in situations where she had to maintain her composure that her amusement did little more than twist her lips upward. She quickly schooled her expression and turned to see the librarian’s gaze bearing down into the pale girl, the woman looking entirely unimpressed with Sariel’s plastered on smile. Masika stifled the need to smile in amusement, nodding seriously in response to the woman’s stern words. Her dark eyes followed the woman until she rounded the corner, before a soft laugh escaped her at the woman’s chastisement, though she was cut off by Sariel speaking.

She looked at the girl, her expression somewhere in the realm of baffled and disbelieving, “Cool?” Her eyes flicked over Sariel’s beaming smile, and she felt her cheeks heat against her will, making her freckles stand out more, “If you say so… I jus’ didn’ think it’d be fair for you tae lose access tae the library since you said you like visitin’ them.”

"Thanks," Sariel replied cheerily with a cheshire grin, "I do like them. My mum let me read in her garden when the sun was out. It'd suck if I couldn't come back here." Holding up the book in her hands, she laughed a little and then placed it to the side on a shelf before reaching for the one she picked out. "I like reading about other things...not foot fungus. I was hoping to find a good adventure book, but all they have is moldy old Lockhart novels and I hate those, so I thought I would read one of the Herbology books instead."

Noticing Masika didn't have a book in her hands, Sariel titled her head slightly. "Did you find something you wanted to read?" The girl, despite her coolness, did in fact look like she belonged in a library with the sweater draped over her shoulders. Sariel wondered briefly if she always looked like that or if it was just because she found comfort in the article of clothing. She nodded at the girl's reply but before she could answer, her stomach let out a hungry growl reminiscent of an angry velociraptor's call. "Oh," she giggled, "I kind of forgot about breakfast. Lunch is coming up soon I think. We could go down to the Great Hall if you wanted. I heard they were serving bread pudding." Her grin grew three sizes when she said the word pudding mostly because she liked treats and last night's pudding was absolutely delicious.