Exploring the Hogwarts Library Closed

Clary took a step back, a bit surprised by the presence of the owl in the library, and involuntarily flinched as it swooped past, coming to a dainty perch on Sophie's shoulders. She opened her mouth, preparing to question the Gryffindor girl a bit more about the clubs she was interested in participating in before realizing she was opening a letter. Quickly shutting her mouth, Clary turned her back on Sophie, trying to give her a bit of privacy, and whispered something into Lou's ear, the two girls giggling for a moment, conversing about their future dreams while they were at Hogwarts.

Her conversation was cut short as she heard sniffling coming from Sophie's direction and turned around to investigate. She found the young Gryffindor girl staring down at a letter in her hands, her eyes watery and red from what she presumed was crying. A bit hesitant on what to say without upsetting her, Clary took a step forward, tilting her head to the side in a questioning gesture. "Are you alright, Sophie?" she began, still trying to figure out how to word her statement. "Who's Kiki...?"

Clary's heart plummeted. What if Sophie had just received a letter notifying her of the death of a family member? Surely the school would handle that in person, but what did she know about the wizarding world?

Clary put a comforting arm around Sophie's shoulder and led her over to a quiet corner of the library where there wouldn't be other students prying into the business of the reasoning behind Gryffindor girl bursting into tears, and took a step back, leaning against the bookshelf so as to give her space. "Do you want to talk about it, or should I leave you alone?"

Sophie merely glanced at Claryssa, before inhaling just enough to speak.
"M-My mum, she had this pet owl, and the owl's name was Kiki, and K-Kiki was R-really old, a-and then, she... died." She whispered the last word, not wanting it to be true. Perhaps it seemed pathetic that she was crying over some pet, but, if she had raised the owl. She didn't want the owl to die so soon.

She hugged herself tightly, as if, putting more pain and pressure on her body would make the owl come back, but it wouldn't. Pain surged through her heart, and her mind. All she was thinking about was Avada Kedavra-ing herself. She hugged Clary tightly, her eyes still teary, but she wasn't crying anymore. She closed her eyes, letting the small tears hit her rosy cheeks. 

She got up abruptly and grabbed 'Quidditch through the Ages,' and hugged it tightly to her chest. She squeezed it one last time and exhaled, allowing her sadness to deplete. Rubbing her eyes to hopefully hide the redness she stood up and walked back to the table.

"That was a moment!" She forced happiness and cheerfulness into her voice. She had to hide her sadness, there was no point in her trying to spread her sadness, it was just good to be happy.

Clary stood silently, simply being there as someone to hug while the Gryffindor girl cried out all of her memories emotions over the loss of a beloved pet. Once she'd finished sobbing, Clary remained leaning against the wall, waiting to see how Sophie would react next. A slight smile tugged at the corner of her lips at the recognition of the book Quidditch Through the Ages, though she suppressed it for the time being. "You know, it's okay to be sad sometimes, Sophie. You don't always have to play pretend."

Deciding not to pry too much on Sophie's outbreak, Claryssa decided to share a moment of her own. "When I was seven years old, my dad told me that if I managed to ride my bike a whole quarter of a mile without falling down, he'd get me a kitten for my birthday. I had always been so terrified of riding... but the bribery canceled it out. She laughed, smiling at the memory.

"Three days later, I came home with a ginger tabby kitten, who I fondly named Pumpkin Ollie North. He had a twin brother, and we couldn't tell them apart, so we just decided to give him both names... Anyway, Ollie was my love for a really long time, just like Kiki was for you. He was one of my best friends, alongside my brother and twin, of course, but one day, when I was ten, he passed away. I sobbed for... who knows how long, but here I am now, telling the story without any, or at least only minor tears." She forced a smile, not trying to prove her point incorrect. "Anyway, the point is, it's okay to cry over what you lost, but it'll get better eventually."

She shrugged, done with the soppy speech, and investigated the book Sophie had just retrieved, reminding herself to read it when she visited the common room later. "Do you think you're going to try out for Quidditch? Ravenclaw try-outs are this week for me."

She nodded. "I would LOVE to be a seeker. I mean, I'm small and skinny, and I have ba- err, I mean WONDERFUL eyesight!" She nodded fervently. She quickly flipped towards a page titled, 'Seeker.' In 'Quidditch through the ages.'
She recited the page with ease. She recited how seekers were indeed, light and fast, and how the majority of accidents happen to them. She grinned as she finished the long page. 
She watched the girls faces change, one with horror, and one with interest. She closed the book and pushed it into the middle of the table.
"You guys- err, girls got a crush?" She asked, watching the girls actions.
"I, personally don't have one. But of course, I haven't met too many boys. Only 2. One is a Ravenclaw named Horace Vargas. And another one Named Mikale Norster. He is in Gryffindor, and I met him via the common room. It'll be me, him, and a girl named Aliea Frost that'll start a house-study!" She hadn't realized she had been rambling and covered her mouth. 'Oops, didn't mean to ramble on. I'll let them talk rather than me, might be better on my case.' Agreeing with her mind, she quickly shut up.

Clary smiled, laughing at Sophia's new found enthusiasm. As the girl rambled on about the wonders of being a Seeker, she nodded her head, following along, then stated, "I don't know. I'm honestly more of a chaser girl myself, though I'd be fine with keeper or beater as a backup. Seeker just seems like too much pressure!" For Sophie's sake, Clary wished her good luck with Quidditch try-outs, reminding her that even the ever-so-famous 'Harry Potter' from her history books had glasses, even though he played as Seeker, so perhaps Sophie would still have a chance.

Claryssa raised an eyebrow at the mentioning of the word crush, unsure of how to reply. "My answer would be no, considering I haven't met enough people yet! I mean, before I ran into you guys, some Gryffindor kid helped me out, but I never even got his name," she murmured, adding on a shrug at the end of her statement. She really needed to get out more, but it was practically only her first day, after all. Ah, yes, the study club. Clary had been meaning to ask Sophie more about that before the whole episode of Kiki the dead owl came up, leading them on a major tangent.

"Speaking of that club, when will it be taking place? I'd be glad to join if you guys have an extra spot open for me."

Sophie shrugged, her mind and eyes faltering, though she was on the subject of something happy, she didn't seem happy. She had wanted so badly to hex everyone and everything, but she restrained herself not to, remembering that if she did, she would be kicked out of the Library, and she wouldn't be able to do research. Which, was key if she wanted to pass and get into her further years.
"Hey! Wanna do some spell practicing? I've been wanted to do the Furunculus curse for ages now! I beat someone in a duel with it before, mind you!" She added to her new friends stares. She had loved spell-casting and dueling more than anything, even Quidditch, and wanting to be the best at it, was natural. She was ambitious for someone as small as she was. She swiftly took out another book, titled, 'Spell-Casting. All you Need to know about Hexes and Jinx's'!' and opened it, but inside, were only a few real book pages, the rest were all blank sheets of Parchment she had scribbled on, and had stuck inside the book to help her remember curses and hexes. She took out one labeled, 'Best Hexes for Distraction! You'll thank me later.' and read it thoroughly, completely ignoring the other girls, but her mind was working swiftly, thoughts were racing so fast she couldn't keep them, and she thought about her dead owl, her best friend. It took a lot to make sure tears didn't come. 
She collapsed into her original chair and began re-reading the page, it was helping soothe the pain, that couldn't be cured.

Clary was relieved to see Sophie distracted with a different subject, even if it was something the poor Ravenclaw girl knew nothing about. Although she'd been in Charms classes a few times, she had no idea what the Furry whatever-it's-called curse was about, and she wasn't exactly sure she was supposed to know at age eleven. She honestly found herself slightly wary of the Gryffindor girl, all of a sudden. What kind of person researched hexes in their freetime? From the way the blonde's eyes flitted around the room, she came to suspect that if Sophie had her way, she would have already used her knowledge on a variety of potentially dangerous spells to her advantage.

Resisting the urge to step away from her, Clary halted her expression from flickering to a frown. "I-I'm not sure. I'm kind of new to all of this at the moment, and I've never heard of a Furry curse before... I heard about a Dueling Club meeting, but I haven't attended yet." She offered a sheepish smile, finding Sophie's bubbly attitude momentarily overwhelming as she zoomed off into discussing different wand movements, incantations, and uses for hexes that she knew were far past the First Year curriculum. Was this really what Clary seemed like to other people when she got excited about a subject? She shook her head, hoping that wasn't the case, and tried to keep up, her eyes skimming the variety of texts in front of her.

As Sophie moved to collapse in the chair, Clary shifted to the other table, setting her satchel down beside her. She picked up a random book, trying to look busy as she gave Sophie a bit of space. She knew her friend was probably struggling to come to terms with the loss of her beloved owl.

She nodded, after all, her best friend Zero wasn't too excited over anything anymore. And Sophie had beat her in a dueling competition, maybe that was why? Of course, Sophie glanced at the Book Clary was reading. She had no idea what it was about whatsoever, but she didn't particularly care. She closed her eyes, the sun focusing on her body through the glass. The sunlight was welcoming and warm, and Sophie had barely been on the grounds lately, the teachers had been keeping her busy. She knew she needed good grades if she wanted to be a writer for the Gryffindor post. Even though, academically she had an Acceptable, she wanted an Exceeds Expectations or an Outstanding! Of course, she wasn't amazing at very much, maybe Astronomy or Flying, as those she favored, but who wouldn't? Flying was a type of Quidditch! And quidditch, was something that basically everyone favored. She shrugged.
"Hey, whats your quidditch team?" She'd ask, not as excited, nor has cheerful as before, but, the only chance at friendship was constant happiness. Fake, nor real, or perhaps both? Of course, the world was made this way, confusing as hell. And for some odd reason, the world seemed to despise more than, well, anyone could. Maybe it was revenge? But for what? 'I need answers. Maybe it was a curse?' was the only thought running through the small girl's mind.

She glanced up from the book covering the topic of Switching in Transfiguration and tilted her head in Sophie's direction, having spaced out for a moment. She was pretty sure the girl had asked about her Quidditch team, but how was she supposed to answer that? Was Sophie talking about her favorite official sports team, or simply the Ravenclaw one? Her mind whirled with the possibilities of the question, and she finally settled on something she'd have more to talk about. 

"Oh, um, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that question, but I'm interested in the Ravenclaw Quidditch team! Try-outs are super soon, and I'm gonna go for a sub of some kind." Clary grinned, thinking about the sport she'd been looking forward to for quite a decent portion of the time. "I'm most interested in Chaser or Keeper, but honestly Beater sounds kind of cool too, though I'm not sure I'm strong enough for it. I used to play softball, so maybe. I'd totally fail at Seeker, though. Talk about all that pressure!" 

Although Seeker did seem like a pretty interesting position to play, Clary was more interested in positions that required teamwork and communication. The three Chasers always had to be open to pass the ball back and forth to one-another, which of course, required a lot of coordination and planning. The Keeper had to work with the Chasers to remain aware when the Quaffle was coming his or her way, and the Beaters had to work together to keep the Bludgers away from all of their own team members and towards the direction of the other team. It all seemed quite exhausting and overwhelming at first glance, but once someone delved into the details of the sport, it was truly quite structured and exciting. 

"Of course, I still need to figure out how to balance Quidditch with the newspaper, so I guess there's that, too." She shrugged. Claryssa North had just become a new writer for the Ravenclaw newspaper and all of her free time had recently been dedicated to preparing her articles for the release of the next issue on April 1st. It was a time for quite a bit of excitement, and the whole news office was scrambling to finish their preparations. With only six students total on the team, Clary was stuck writing three articles on her own, and the approval deadline for all of them was tomorrow! It was a good thing she'd already finished all of her drafts early.