The Leaning Tower of Books PV Bailey Shea Closed

Books. Bailey had read so many books in his 11yrs but there were still so many more to be read and so many more adventures to be had. Every time he opened a book, it took him to a new and far off land to explore. He would pretend to be assisting the main character in their quest to find the princess, scavenge the ruins or play the second mate on a pirate ship far into the treacherous waters. It was fun to play pretend and because he couldn't leave his family's estates there was only so many actual adventures to be had.

The school was huge and new adventures did wait for Bailey but there was a huge dilemma with this.
1. He was a rule stickler and was petrified of getting into trouble.
2. He was afraid of what he may find
3. He was just that... Afraid

Bailey's phobias, though irrational to many were still phobias and stopped him from doing a lot of things in his life. He could find a book and possibly half the book would be based off what he feared or at least that's what he thought. A bit dramatic maybe but he did everything in his power to 'play it safe'. He didn't want to disappoint his family, especially when they seemed to happy and keen on him getting into the school in the first place.

Books though, they were a safe bet. Walking into the library in awe. His eyes scanned all the books upon many shelves. Many rows of shelves throughout the entire room and a nice, comfortable section to read as many as his heart desired. A familiar housemate's voice rung in his ears and he recognized her immediately. They had wrangled up a few of the cute little puff critters together in the Puff common room. That was a very fun day. "Astoria?" Bailey squeaked softly as he moved closer to the girl. Did she as well have a strong love for books as he did?

Before Astoria even knew it, she began to take books off the shelf. She grabbed books based on Hogwarts founding, history of Ravenclaw House, the history of history of magic, the creation of Voldemort's horcruxes, and so many more. Before she knew it, there were books towering in her hands. They were all bound in leather, which was making them very heavy to carry but luckily she didn't have to take them too far. She wanted to move them to the table that was in the center of the room.

Picking up all of the books, Astoria stumbled here and there to get her balance with the books in her hand. She couldn't see before herself but she did her best to make her way. Before she could get out of the section, she clipped her food and began to trip. "Whoop!" Astoria said caught off guard. She stumbled but to her luck, the table was closer than it was. She fell over the seat and the books scattered about the table, looking as if she was doing intensive research.

Adjusting her hair and composing herself, she heard a small voice speak her name. She looked to the left and then to the right. It was Bailey from the errand they performed for Professor Bonet. "Ah, Bailey!" Astoria said enthused but keeping her voice quiet, "What brings you here?" She brushed a strand of hair from her face, trying to regulate her breathing. That was exhausting!

A tower of books in the girls' arms only made Bailey feel very uneasy. So many things could have gone wrong and Bailey being such a worry wart didn't help any. He watched nervously as she nearly tripped and the books toppled onto the table, a tad unorganized and scattered about. Her question caught him off guard and his eyes scanned the book titles. Was she doing research? Was he missing something? Was there homework he forgot about!?

"U.u..uhm" he began as his cheeks burned fiercely. 'Say something stupid' he thought to himself as there was an awkward moment of silence between them. "Library... Books" he answered with an odd nervousness in his voice. It was getting easier to show himself, especially to his housemates and he began to learn that he need not be so quiet all the time. This, however, causes him to become more nerve wrecked then anything. What if he said the wrong thing? His grandmother would have scolded him with a 'That's not even a proper sentence Bailey! Try again...' and his grandfather would give him a stern look of disapproval.

"I mean. I came here for some Library books to read," he explained once more and was actually able to form an accurate sentence! Mentally he complimented himself with a 'good job' as a small smile filtered upon his lips. The girl seemed really nice and now with all the books scattered on the table, he was quite curious as to why. He looked to the books and then back at his housemate. "Research?" he asked inquisitively before biting his lower lip in nervousness. He was worried he was intruding and being rude by asking about her business and purpose for the books she gathered.

Bailey seemed to stutter slightly but it didn't make Astoria think anything different. She organized the books, keeping her ears open when he would respond. She heard him say something like 'library' and 'books'. "I know!" Astoria began "Isn't this library amazing?!" She was completely oblivious to his odd response. She didn't think anything different.

Laying the books out one by one next to each other, they were finally back in the order they should be about the table. Bailey then said that he came to find some books to read at the library. "As did I, Bailey." Astoria said, "I finally had a break in my schedule to come and check this place out. I'm most excited to learn about History of Magic so I found these books that may be of interest." Even though most of the books were based primarily on Ravenclaw House and Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, she was determined to learn what her father had heard about from the famous Battle of Hogwarts in '98.

"Come have a seat with me!" Astoria said inviting him with a chair pulled out and patting the seat. She sat next to the open seat as well. The books ranged from very thin to very thick. There was even one book that was over a thousand pages long!

Ambitious was the first thing Bailey noticed about Astoria. His smile grew as she mentioned how wonderful the library was and he nodded in agreement to this statement. His eyes scanning all the books once more in awe. So many to choose from and so many to read. He wondered if they had any of the books from back home. He wasn't allowed to bring any of them from the personal library they had, his father wouldn't let him. He could possibly check out a few here though and read them back in the common room or in the dorm area.

It seemed they were both on a break in their schedules. Luckily for Bailey, he had the opportunity to run into his housemate here. He felt much more comfortable being around them than any of the other houses quite yet. Ravenclaw seemed intimidating, Gryffindor was a little headstrong and Slytherin... Just downright scared him. Though Bailey wasn't too interested in learning about the History of Magic, he was interested in getting to know Astoria a bit more. In hopes that they can be good friends someday.

Nodding at her request, he immediately sat beside her and shuffled the strap to the handbag he had been carrying with him off his shoulder. The bag remained on the floor near the chairs legs. Astoria had reorganized the books and Bailey felt comfortable enough now to pick the books up and examine them. There were so many! "Where should we start?" he asked in an almost excited tone, a tickle inside him from the excitement made him erupt in soft giggles as he flipped open the nearest book.

There seemed to be a quiet or shy to Bailey. Astoria was like that when she was very young but after taking an interest in the performing arts, it really brought her out of her shell. Her father was much like that when he was younger. Astoria use to hear stories about him when he first came to Hogwarts and he would even get bullied within his first month at the school because he was so quiet. But now he was a successful Ministry Official and he can be quite verbal if he was crossed.

Bailey approached and he looked to have started scanning the table. He had asked where they were to begin. Astoria, she was most interested in learning about Ravenclaw House. "Well, I don't know about you but I want to read about Ravenclaw." Astoria began "If you're around me, you'll learn very fast that History of Magic is one of my favorite subjects and Ravenclaw has always been an interesting House to me. My mother was a Ravenclaw student and when we got sort, I actually whispered to the Sorting Hat to be put in Ravenclaw." Astoria was not upset at all that she was put in Hufflepuff, at least she got to be in her Grandmama's house. "Since I ended up in Hufflepuff, I still get to have a connection to my Grandmama. Hufflepuff was her house but my mother told me that Ravenclaw had this really interesting story about the founder and their child."

She then asked "What are you interested in reading? Maybe we can do some fun reading and tell each other what we came across?" Astoria didn't want Bailey to think they had to read her books, so she wanted to make it clear that they could read whatever they wanted to read. After all, they were in the best library of all magical schools in the world!

The chair screeched softly against the wooden floor as Bailey moved it back to have a seat. He was flipping through one of the much larger books and reading down the index as Astoria spoke of her interest in The history of magic and the Ravenclaw house. The bit about the founder and their child was quite intriguing to hear and piqued his curiosity.

Bailey looked back over his shoulder and down at all the other aisles and aisles of books. He wondered if they even had anything in here that would interest him. "Well do they have any fictional fantasy books? I like adventurous and mysterious books" He admitted as his cheeks began to burn from embarrassment. He always was skeptical about sharing any information about himself. Unsure of what someone may think of him.

The idea of both reading something different and then later talking about it excited Bailey. Maybe they could get a small group of book lovers to do this? Being a small part of something bigger. Nothing would please him more than this.

Bai had never been a part of anything before. Never had a friend before the train ride here. Never spent so much time shopping in his life. Never spent as much time with his father before... before all of this. Before getting that acceptance letter. It was like Bailey's life was completely changing. It was definitely scary... All the change... but... Bailey had never been happier in his life.

Astoria's heart was beating fast when she was in the library. She thought it was the same feeling like it was when her father took her to the muggle theme park in Paris, France, Disney World. The rides gave her a rush and so did the books in the library. So many books to read in such little time! Seven years time! Unless she wanted to be a Hogwarts Professor. Maybe she could do that then have more years to read these books!

Bailey spoke up and mentioned that he enjoyed reading books that were fictional fantasy and that he enjoyed books that were about adventures and mysteries. Astoria gave Bailey a beaming smile, "Oh as do I!" Astoria said, "Fairytales are my favorites, stories written by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Perrault." Thinking back to her time in Flourish and Blotts, where she had met Nicky, well before then. When she first entered the shop, there were books listed in the Muggle Studies section of the shop. Maybe they would be here?

"Well, I was thinking," Astoria began "When I was shopping for my books at Flourish and Blotts, I noticed some books in the Muggle Studies area of the shop. Maybe we should look here in the Muggle Studies section?" Astoria stood up from her chair, looking about the library. "Now, let's see...where is the Muggle Studies section at?" Astoria asked aloud but not too loudly.

'Something in common!' Bailey thought to himself. Now he was getting somewhere with his housemate. A smile beamed from cheek to cheek. He was happy that someone shared an interest in books with him and the excitement showed. "I have heard and read a few from Brother's Grim. I don't know anything about the others though. My personal favorite is a nursery book known as The Tales of Beedle the Bard." he admitted, hoping he didn't sound too babyish by liking a book such as one a mother would read her young to sleep with.

The thought of mother's aching at Bailey's heartstrings. His mother died during childbirth so he will never get the experience of being read to sleep by his mother. Not a mother's embrace or soothing voice to lull him to sleep. Then again, there were to be a lot of students just like him. The self-pity indulged for a single moment before subsided by talk of more books.

"Muggles studies section?" he repeated as he stood and looked around. Were the aisles identified with signs or an area where they could look up a section or category? "Maybe we should ask the Librarian?" he suggested as an idea before filtering through an unknown aisle instead of listening to his own advice and scanning the titles. His fingertip gently moving across each spine.