Studies on Sundays PV Ashes Closed

The tall bookshelves of the library seemed more uninviting than last time. Though she usually read and enjoyed reading, seeing so many books with just boring information was not very appealing to Ashes. She barely had the willpower to drag herself out of the common room this morning to step amongst the endless expanse of knowledge-filled books and focused students.

It was the first time Ashes had stepped foot in the library. Most of the time, she would just sit and work in the common room. But she had heard from various sources that the library was the place to go if she wanted the best results. Ashes wandered around between the shelves, her thoughts wandering as her footsteps echoed between the bookshelves. She could have simply stayed in the common room, watching other students do whatever it was that they did. She was lucky that she decided to be productive for once, even though it was the weekend. And she did have some homework that needed to be done.

Ashes sighed, turning a corner to see a table with a Gryffindor girl, who seemed quite a bit older than herself, already there. Ashes hesitated as she approached. She seemed pretty busy, but it wouldn't hurt to see what she was up to, right?

If no one disturbed her without a proper reason.

She thought again after she felt a person approaching. Felt, because she couldn't take a look from behind the pile of books. It could have been nothing, a person could just pass her by without a stop, why paying attention to everyone... But as her guts rarely made mistakes, this time it made none. The person was approaching her and not just passing-by.

She raised her head, peeking from the pile of books, and the person turned out to be a young Slytherin with longer-than-usual hair and generally cute appearance.

She got used to helping younger students, who were struggling with anything, especially inside the vast space of the library. Be it a book, or some help with homework, or practising (which had to be really subtle as you can't go around practising Incendio in a place full of paper). She noticed the pattern: the youngest ones were generally shy (she had been shy too), so they wouldn't approach directly and talk; they'd peek and try to look at what you were doing. So, Meenauh had to start the conversation first, to make it less awkward for them. They usually needed help, and sometimes they didn't even know which kind of help they needed. But it was also understandable — it was the beginning of a 7-years-long adventure, so they had the right to know nothing about anything.

"Excuse me?" she went straight up to the point, "May I help you with anything?"

"May I help you with anything?"

Ashes was startled, she hadn't expected her to initiate the conversation. She wondered if she had bothered the Gryffindor girl. Ashes shifted her feet and stepped closer to her, not so close so that she could see what she was working on; she wanted to be polite.

Not knowing what to say first to the older Gryffindor, Ashes hesitated for a few moments.

She hadn't talked to many people yet, even though she had been attending Hogwarts for a few months now. Nobody would approach her, so she didn't bother walking up to someone just to half-heartedly chat until they left, which was often only after a couple minutes. Ashes would only ever talk to someone if she need assistance in doing a certain task. Even then, it felt awkward, and she would end up just picking up her stuff and leaving after thanking the person and perhaps giving them a gift of appreciation.

And even now, Ashes didn't know what to say. Yes, she needed help with something. But she didn't want to seem stupid or demanding. She knew how to be genuinely sweet, but older people, practically anyone who was not a child, sort of intimidate her, even though she's too ashamed to admit it.

"Yes, I might need a bit of...help, with some work."

As usual, Meenauh startled a poor sweet youngster.

"Four and half years through, Meenauh, and you're still cold as stone. Every time is the same," said the inner Hufflepuff voice.

Meenauh shook it off, and tried to switch to a more welcoming tone, trying to shine with a warmer aura rather than the usual one full of intimidation and sharpness.

The girl seemed to hesitate with her answer, and it was expected. She was no legilimens, but based on all her previous experiences, the situation was the same as usual. Meenauh shove her parchments and books aside, freeing the space for what she could see — probably a first-year. There was an empty chair nearby, which helped.

The girl finally spoke, and it sounded as if she was a bit unsure on what exactly she was doing in the library. But Meenauh knew the routine.

"Okay, you can sit down, and I'll help you with whatever work you need help with," she invited the girl, "What is your name? Do you need some book to do your… work?"

The good thing was that Meenauh really knew where all the most popular books were. Those that the young ones needed to complete their homework, be it Transfiguration or Charms. They just needed to be a bit more talkative.

Ashes let out a breath as she took a seat by the older Gryffindor. The next time she spoke, it was with a warmer tone. Ashes let herself smile a bit as she looked up a bit at the other girl. The girl seemed knowledgeable and kind, so far at least. Ashes watched as she cleared the table, then listened as she spoke.

The Gryffindor girl seemed more experienced and straightforward than Ashes. Her tone seemed softer, or at least softer than before, but it was still firm.

Perhaps the older girl had been at Hogwarts for many years now, and each tower and corner were as familiar to her as the sky. Ashes wondered if she would be like that one day, guiding first years through the maze of corridors and paintings. Though she also wondered if she would go that path at all, or if she even wanted to. Powerful witches didn't socialize too often, did they?

When Ashes spoke again, her voice held less nervousness, yet it was clear she was still unsure of herself. "My name is Ashes... and what about your name?" She paused, feeling as though she had forgotten something. "Oh, and yes. Do you know where the... Transfiguration books are?"

The girl accepted the invitation and joined Meenauh at the table. Meenauh nodded as she sat down and then as she told her name.

"Nice to meet you, Ashes. I'm Meenauh, like 'me' and 'now'. I am one of the Gryffindor Prefects," she wasn't speaking from the position of authority, but it wouldn't hurt. She was wearing the badge anyway.

Transfiguration. As always. She must have learnt the exact position of the whole Transfiguration section by heart now.

"The most of it should be in the book you-" she stopped, thinking twice. Was there the Transfiguration book in the list of required for the first-year? She couldn't remember, so she skipped to: "Never mind."

She raised her arm up in the air with her palm wide open and said: "Accio A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration". And then she waited. They weren't far from the Transfiguration section, so it should have taken around 6–7 seconds, and she counted. The book flew from their back and quickly flew towards them. Meenauh stood up to catch it before it hits them in the head and was successful. She's been training with smaller objects, so she forgot that books were big and heavy.

"Which one it is? Match to needle?" she only briefly remembered what was taught that early, so she had to ask.

Ashes tilted her head slightly when the older girl mentioned that she was a prefect. From what she had heard, prefects had lots of authority within Hogwarts. And Ashes had sometimes seen the Slytherin prefects come in and out of the common room, wearing the shiny badge that she now noticed on Meenauh. It was strange how she did not notice that before, usually Ashes was pretty observant. But if she had known they were a prefect before, maybe she would have been too nervous to approach them.

She tilted her head as the Gryffindor raised her hand and spoke. It sounded like an incantation for some sort of charm. Ashes had heard it before, either from a parent or in an old book she had read while bored one day, but she had forgotten what it did.

After just a few moments, a book came. It flew out from behind them, and Ashes watched the older girl stood up to catch it. Ashes listened when they spoke again and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "But I'm not too good at the spell." For some reason, she could never get the hang of it. It Transfiguration was not her least favorite subject though, so she usually spent her free time working on it. Maybe she kept messing up the incantation, or perhaps her wand movement was off? Well, Meenauh was probably pretty good at Transfiguration.

Of course, it was the Match to Needle. Meenauh could never comprehend why this exact spell was always an issue. The item was small, resembled the same thing. Most probably it was the case of concentration, which was an issue for some first-years. Or probably all first-years. Some were shy, some were scared, some were too busy demonstrating their dominance among their youngest peers. Some were naturally lazy. If she had counted how many needles she transformed, she could have probably built a castle with them, in this library alone.

She, in a single motion, as if she was tearing the book in half, opened it right on the page with the spell's description. There was no need for hesitation, the routine was simple. She took one of her parchments, one of her quills and quickly copied the wand gesture.

"The incantation is Conmutocus," she said it distinctively, every syllable strong and clean. "When you start with Transfigurations that have wand gestures, the best way is to place the image in front of you and repeat the path of it with your wand," she added in the way professors did it.

"Wingardium Leviosa," she said quickly and snapped her fingers on her left hand. The parchment with the wand gesture floated forward and stayed in front of them. She took out her wand with her right hand (as the left one kept making floaty gestures to maintain the spell) and repeated the pattern on the image.

"Conmutocus," she said calmly, and the matchstick that seemed to appear out of nowhere instantly turned into a needle. Meenauh got used to the routine so much that the matchstick was prepared while she was explaining the first steps to Ashes.

"Conmutocus," she said again after repeating the pattern, and the needle turned back to a simple match.

"Take out your wand, imagine something silver and something pointy," she almost commanded, because Transfiguration was about practice as much as it was about theory. She floated the parchment closer to the Slytherin girl, so that she could see it clearly and repeat: "Just try speaking it quietly, it's still the library."