─────Flourish and Blotts was quite possibly Guinevere's favourite place in Diagon Alley. The smell of parchment and the occaisional flip of pages, it was any decent person's haven. Rows upon rows of books lined the walls, and Guinevere almost broke her back bending over to check the titles for the one she wanted. Along the way, she checked the price tags too (and broke her back the millionth time), as she only had a few galleons to spare. Finally, she neared the section her desired book, The One Who Let it Snow, by some author with the surname of 'Nelly'.
Spotting the distinct ice-blue cover of the book, she broke into an awkward walk-jog thing and accidentally tripped over someone’s foot. Feeling the color rush to her cheeks, she quickly righted herself and turned around.
“Sorry!” she exclaimed. Are you ok?” She tilted her head to the side after catching a better look at the person’s face.
“Wait, I’ve seen you at Hogwarts before, haven’t I?” Gwen said thoughtfully. “Simon something, was it?”
Remembering her original task, she bent over to slide the hardcover book out of the shelves.

Bookstores had always been more than just stores that sold books. Across the globe and throughout history, they played special role in the intellectual and social lives of their communities. Libraries collected works and then leant them out on lone but bookstores had to capture what they thought the current traffic and transit would most be interested, to grasp their attention enough to walk through the doors and hopefully purchase something - to obtain something.

A store like Flourish and Blotts didn't have to try hard to get someone like Simon Kincaid though the doors. Inside the walls of this establishment were books on magical medicine, magazines on broom racing, international newspapers of the wizarding world, and more! His current interest rested in a book about dragons and it rested in his hands as he had it open, standing in one of the aisle-ways reading. How fascinating was it that something like DRAGONS actually existed?

He wasn't sure if he'd purchase the book, but he would write it down in a notebook. He had a list of different books he wanted to purchase and would do so with some of his money throughout the school year as he saved up - ordering by owl through Flourish and Blotts. That was how he had obtained all the books he currently owned concerning the world of magic.

Just as he was three-quarters of the way to the end of a page, someone stumbled into him but instead of being angered, he brought out his hand to try and make sure they didn't fall, and used his other hand to quickly catch the book so it didn't fall.

"I'm good, I'm good. You alright?" he asked and gave a quick survey of the girl and she seemed just fine. He smiled. "We're cool, we're cool." Simon had a way of often saying things twice - just one of his quirks. "Yea, Simon. Simon Kincaid of Hufflepuff. Going into my third year," he offered up. "And you?" he watched as she pulled a book off the shelf but hoped she was down for a little conversation as well as book-searching.

─────Feeling quite embarrassed after that incident, Gwen scolded herself for being clumsy and gave Simon a quick smile.
“I’m okay,” she responded. “I’m Guinevere Russetwood. Upcoming second year, Slytherin.”
A little stretch of silence continued after that, and Gwen spoke up again.
“You can call me Gwen, though. Guinevere might be a mouthful, as I’ve heard from a few other people too. You come here often? I like reading and writing, but I usually get books over owl, since I live really far from here. During breaks, I mean. ”
This particular book had been one on her list for a long time, always put off by other things to do, like school work or just other books on her long to be read list. This time she went to Diagon Alley for shopping, she thankfully remembered about the book she wanted and had brought extra money, so that she would be prepared if her price predictions were a lil off. After all, better safe than sorry.
“What kind of books do you read most? I used to like fiction, but nonfiction in the wizarding world is like fiction for muggles. Muggle authors write about things like they’re just abstract fairy tales, but here, they’re like common knowledge!”
She had probably talked too much. Usually, she didn’t really talk this much. Clearly, this was one of the times she became a totally talkative extrovert.

Sorry for late response! I was quite busy

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Guinevere," he said, stating the full first name. It was how she had introduced herself and therefore, he figured, it was her name of preference. Was it long? Yes, but it still didn't take much more time and certainly no more energy to say over the shortened form so he would go with the first.

"Looking at a book on dragons," he said as he lifted the book so that the cover would be displayed outward toward her direction and she could see it. Simon flashed a smile, knowing that his dorky side was about to show. "I'm quite fascinated by them. I don't quite know what it is but dragons are super cool, you know?"

The girl stated it so amazingly well! Honestly, he had been always the type to read fiction, never anything factual, until he began Hogwarts. Once he started there and realized that magic was real, he couldn't seem to get enough about dragons, other magical creatures and beings, herbology, potions, magical medicine, and the like. "I too tend to read more magical nonfiction these days. If I read anything else, it's classical literature. I'm not quite sure why - maybe I like the comfort in the dryness that it provides on sleepless nights, allowing my mind to rest even if I don't actually fall asleep. Maybe I like that most are set in older times and it's an escape from the normal," he shrugged.

"You said you liked writing. What sort of things do you write?" He liked to write music but beyond that didn't fashion himself as any sort of author.

VII-XIII-MMXXII e. speech k. speech thoughts others

Reducio ooc note: ━━━♦━━━ Reducio tags: @simon kincaid

"Poetry and fiction," he paraphrased her writing, "that sounds absolutely fantastic!" Fiction was one of his favorite types of books and he often found himself reading the classics. "I'm a big fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, an American muggle author from another era. He didn't write poetry, per say, but he did use vivid imagery and metaphors to provide a visual picture of his characters and settings and often incorporated deeper meaning beyond just physical appearance."

"He has a pretty good quote to live by..." and Simon paused so that he could separate his mere words from the great ones of Fitzgerald, "....For what it's worth, it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over."

"You must check him out sometime, Guinevere," he smiled, using the full name. She said he could just call her Gwen and that some people did, but he gathered that also meant that some called her by her full name. It was a pretty name and made him think of Lady Guinevere from the King Arthur stories. He had always liked those stories, even if they did include such things as adultery in them.

"So what are you most looking forward to getting back to once we're at Hogwarts?" What had she missed the most after a Summer away.