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Wednesday, August 26, 2020, late morning
Light rain and passing clouds, 14 degrees C
Private to @Meenauh Silmataurea

The summer was drawing to a close and Ruby wasn't sure if she was excited to be going back to Hogwarts or not. She didn't trust herself to control her temper after all the explosions she had had in her second year. With Ana having gone completely silent and not responding to any of her letters, Ruby was beginning to doubt how much friendships were really worth. They caused a lot of pain, didn't they? It hurt when friends turned away and abandoned her without giving a reason, it hurt when she failed to protect people she cared about, and she was sometimes willing to put herself at risk to try to help her friends in the face of danger.

But that didn't matter right now. She wasn't around her classmates and it was easy enough to dodge them if she encountered anyone she knew on the streets of Diagon Alley. Her task was simple: get the school supplies she needed and maybe a few extra books and get out of there. Her first stop would be Flourish and Blotts—the store that she would likely spend the most time in. She pushed the door open and a faint smile made itself known as a reflexive, subconscious reaction to being in the presence of so many books. It was a sense that never seemed to fade with time, the awe renewing itself whenever she entered a library or a bookstore.

She wandered through the aisles, fingertips lightly brushing against the spines of the books stacked on the shelves as she strolled by. She came to a halt, scanning the titles to find what she was looking for, when movement in her peripheral vision caught her eye. It was the turning of a page. The Slytherin's gaze travelled upwards to settle on the face of the person who was reading. It was none other than Meenauh Silmataurea, someone who Ruby had met in their first year, discovering a shared passion for learning and research. “Meenauh!” she eagerly greeted her without thinking, a gentle glimmer in her eye and the lingering smile the main signs that she was happy to see the Gryffindor. “How was your summer—did you learn anything interesting?”

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A few days before the school started were always filled with shopping. Lots of different stuff, but the most attractive was always books. She and her father had a habit of entering the shop in silence and dissipate without a word to dive into the world of books, completely forgetting the reason for the visit. Usually, they'd stumble upon each other, reading through their 10th book just to realise it was time to actually do proper shopping. At the moment she was flipping the pages of her second book. So, it meant a long day.

A sudden mention of her name by a girlish steady voice made her brain work. She forgot she had friends at the school and they were wizards, which meant they could visit the shop as well and actually talk to her.

"Oh, Ruby! Nice to see you here! Where else, right?" she smiled at her, actually being glad to see her.

"The summer was great, thank you! We went to Croatia and spent a whole month by the sea. It was wonderful and peaceful. How was yours?" she briefly elaborated on her summer doings, "Are you here for shopping or just to read?" she asked nodding at her own book, claiming that she was here for the first but actually doing the second.

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Meenauh greeted Ruby in return with a smile and the Slytherin instantly felt more at ease. Maybe she could put off the problems of hers for a little while. Maybe she wouldn’t just dart in and out of stores to avoid seeing classmates. She laughed softly at the comment of “where else” and responded with a nod. Of course they would be meeting around books again, just like the first time they met.

“Wow, Croatia? Was there a particular reason your family chose to go there, or was it just the peace and beauty that drew you there?” she asked, genuinely always interested in the reasons why, no matter how small the topic. “My summer was okay. I went to the summer camp, and that was fun,” she answered briefly. “I came here to purchase the books for our next school year, but reading other books along the way is to be expected from me. I allowed extra time for it.” She flashed her companion another smile as she asked, “What’s the topic of the book you’re currently reading?”

Her eyes drifted away and briefly scanned the spines of nearby books, pulling one off the shelves to collect the first book for school from her list. While she would prefer to read for pleasure, there was no harm in grabbing the school books while she was near one.

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Meenauh was just smiling at Ruby speaking. Somehow she was very happy to see her, as at the summer camp they didn't have time to sit and talk properly.

"Oh, Croatia is one of our favourite places. We are travelling every summer, but this year we've decided to visit Croatia again as my father's friend left us a cottage there is a very peaceful place," she talked about the reasons, "So, yeah, beauty and peace!"

She listened to Ruby's story and nodded heavily at allowing extra time. Sisters, right?

"Ah, summer camp, yes. We've been there together, passing by each other several times I think but we never had time to sit and talk. I wonder how we managed to not crash into each other even a single time!" she said with an awkward smile. The summer camp turned out to be not simple as it involved some dark stuff, which they managed to get rid of, hopefully. Something that she shouldn't probably bring to the discussion table right now. So, yes, she just awkwardly smiled, while listening to the next question.

"Me?" she genuinely asked as she forgot about any books she was glancing over and even holding in her hands, "Ah, nothing in particular. We have this rule with my father, that if you see a bookstore, you have to enter. And if you enter a book store, you have to read at least the titles of the books," she put the book back and laughed as it was a weird tradition, really, "But usually you end up going through the pages quickly as certain books are just irresistible to pass."

She would look at Ruby, picking a book from a shelf, a book that was actually from the list if she remembered it correctly.

"Oh, right, we have to do some shopping," she chuckled and grabbed a copy of the same book Ruby has just picked, "What would you say if we divide the list in half in between us and you would look for the top part and I'm for the bottom part? And we'll take two of each," she was suggesting a plan, "And then we meet here again. I guess it would be faster than going over the same spot twice?"

@Ruby Cazares