Smitten PV Aodhan Shaw Finished

The library was not a place Aodhan chose to visit often, mainly due to the fact he was so invested in simply experiencing life at Hogwarts. There was so much that was new, a whole different world getting unraveled before his eyes, and it was a sight hard to turn away from. However, the boy still had his moments; there were plenty of tiny instances in which his imagination ran wild and his brain whispered "what if?"

What if he chose to be a little more proactive? What if he returned to laying down groundwork for his visions to actually become reality, instead of getting swept up in the constant excitement he was exposed to?

With that, he found himself examining the plethora of books Hogwarts left for its students. There was nothing particular he had in mind, so it really was just a matter of hoping that something interesting would catch his eye. The youth even tried employing those library "techniques" he was shown in the early days of grade school—looking at the front cover, skimming the back, reading the first two pages or so beyond the dedication...

Unfortunately, there came a point where he reached for a novel and his hand slipped, sending the book tumbling towards the solid ground below. A sigh of mild irritation left his mouth as he reached to grab it, and then one of surprise followed once he rose to his full height.

For a moment, for once, Aodhan wasn't sure of what to say.

The atmosphere looked so tranquil, so warm; it was the kind of imagery he'd expect to see in a film or animation, and that girl fit right in, didn't she? As if she was made to be part of it all. With a few blinks, he managed to shake off the view's bewitchment and noticed a few other details. Tarot cards and a book on divination, huh?

His original goal immediately forgotten, the boy dropped his own book onto a nearby shelf and walked over. Although she most definitely hadn't aimed for it, his curiosity was piqued, and now she would have to deal with his nonsense for the rest of the evening.

"Are you one of those 'mystical' types of people or something?" he asked once close enough, all with a tilt of his head and sparkles in his eyes, "You gotta be if you're lugging that around." He gestured to the book casually before leaning forward, a small "ooo" escaping him as he got a better look of the cards by doing so.

Spiritual sense? The youth blinked as her words processed inside his head. Instead of launching a game of twenty questions with himself, though, she thankfully continued sharing information on the topic, actively feeding into his inquisitive nature. It was a welcome thing, having someone around his own age actually humor and guide him along. The Hufflepuff girl didn't even come across as "know-it-all"; she was merely discussing something of great interest to her. People were always at their best when doing so, in Aodhan's opinion.

He took advantage of the extra room she made for him, and situated himself by her side. Perhaps he would need to grab a chair for himself later on, but for the moment, he was too engrossed in trying to grasp exactly what she was saying. That was why Aodhan scrunched his face in response at first, as if the words spoken to him were in a foreign language.

"Bizarre?" he questioned back, choosing to openly stare at the girl as he did so, "We're wizards. How could anything like that count as bizarre? It'd be wild to think we shouldn't wonder about those things."

Truly, he would never understand it. In a world where goblins and fairies could run amok, how could anything be viewed as unusual anymore, simply because it's not immediately there? Then again, he supposed that was his muggle perspective talking. An intruder to a world that was hidden in plain sight is what he was. Anything that was a storybook come to life for him, was an everyday occurrence for others. His dreams were their reality.

But on the other hand, there were literal ghosts living with them in the castle—

"The person who told you that must be a non-wizard, stupid, or both," he spoke plainly before eyeballing the cards once more. This time, his gaze landed on "The Fool," and he could only ponder on the spiritual connection such a thing could have.

"Tell me more about it. Why do you think your 'spiritual sense' thing is getting so weak?" he continued, despite already brainstorming his own potential reasons.

Oh, she had said a lot at one time. Perhaps this is how other people viewed his usually high energy self? And that's why so many of them begged for him to slow down. That... was so boring though! He couldn't possibly kill the mood like everyone else would. As a result, the boy did his best to organize all the information planted within his head, sorting through the most interesting points.

He was only thrown off track following the dismissive comment made towards herself. It caused him to raise a brow and scrunch his nose. Why was she even saying that? A part of himself did not wish to delve further, because that was something she had to deal with on her own. However...

"Are you sure your own confidence isn't the issue?" he questioned, without considering the potentially negative reaction to it. "Like, if I wanted to do a flip off a bridge, but I kept telling myself it's stupid and blah blah, wouldn't that ruin my focus? Just do it. Put your all into it without those kind of, well, lame words."

There was a chance he saw an idea and ran with it far too quickly; he didn't even know this girl's name, much less her inner issues and the like. But in his eyes, it only made sense. She was losing tough with her spirituality, or something, yet couldn't find the reason as to why. Then lo and behold, just in the way she spoke, there was a potential reason!

"Unless you think it's something else entirely, like an evil tree that got planted somewhere and is sucking the spiritual life out of everything as we speak... !"

That option sounded way, way cooler in his opinion. Hopefully it would be what's true instead of his earlier statement, because then, that would surely mean an incoming adventure.

Aodhan was initially quite pleased with the girl's reaction to his statement, because although he was being entirely serious, it was still nice to see another's smile and clear joy. The sight always filled him with a strange sense of purpose that he wasn't sure he could shake off. However, there was something she proceeded to mention which left him a bit perplexed.

"Wait, what do you mean 'tension around the school'?" he questioned with a furrowed brow, and it wasn't long before a slew of images crossed his mind. The aforementioned tree certainly made its appearance among them, but there was also a picture of lost spirits invisible to the naked eye, or clouds of negativity quite literally surrounding people's heads as they walked through the halls. With the boy's limited knowledge yet broad imagination, "tension" could manifest as literally anything in the school.

For a moment, his eyes flickered onto the cards she had motioned towards just seconds beforehand. Without asking, he reached for one of them at random, sliding it down the table until it was situated directly in front of him. He tapped and then spun it absentmindedly, once, twice, before humming to himself. Despite being a first year, he was at least somewhat aware of the more abstract classes that students attended, namely divination. That would be most closely related to spirituality, wouldn't it? With its fancy prophecies and rituals he's heard of in passing.

Therefore, maybe these cards were used as a conduit, like those crystal ball thingies? And if that was the case, surely this girl could use them to answer his question. And then maybe answer her own question next, despite her clear acceptance of his earlier suggestion. In his opinion, it was still good to consider all avenues of thought.

"Use these to figure it out," he chirped while shifting the card over to her, "Do a spiritual prediction of the future or something! Cause if there's a killer tree, we have to know, right?" It was a sudden transition from a mere "evil" tree to "killer," but the words were apparently synonymous in Aodhan's peculiar mind. "Or can you use these to suck the bad energy in, clean it, and then channel it back out? Since I heard you mention healing? I'm sure that's a form of healing."

Aodhan had not missed the way she brushed off providing an actual answer, as it reminded him of the occasions where his mother would often do the same. That something wasn't important, or it was too complicated, or whatever else she used to evade him when not in the mood. But, oh well. For the moment, he didn't care that much if the brunette didn't wish to expand on it, but he knew it'd likely stick somewhere in his brain. It'd climb into the grooves and make a home there, quiet and happy, until something caused a sudden spark—a sudden bump in neural activity—that would encourage it to reappear.

That would be then, though, and this would be now. And in the now, he was far more invested in witnessing the power of her spirit reading.

As a result, his gaze locked onto the cards she eventually spread across the wooden surface. They were filled with various symbols that were sheer gibberish to him. Could this be classified as a different language then? With all its potential meanings that one had to study and put together? Before he could ponder it further, the girl had whipped out a book of all things. Yes, now he was convinced; it was, without a doubt, another language.

"It's not like I haven't been doing that already...!"

"Huh?" The sound escaped him on reflex, accompanied by a risen brow. Then, without considering the obnoxious nature of his actions, the youth tried fully entering her bubble in order to read the page. "Come on, lemme see too."

His face was hovering directly next to hers as he skimmed through the text, his brain jumping words and trashing main ideas until a poor excuse of a message remained. As far as he was concerned, this was telling her to literally become a tree hugger. No wonder she reacted to it in the way she did. Aodhan could feel himself nearly deflate with the anticlimactic ending, but fought to push away the negativity. There was still a sliver of hope to be found, he was sure of it, and the boy consequently gestured to the last sentence of the paragraph.

"So, does that mean we're wrong?" he thought out loud, his brow furrowing in the process, "Because 'make sure you have all sides' sounds like we're missing a side, and if we're missing something, then whatever we're concluding right now is probably not true. And if it's not true, then maybe there isn't some evil plant on the loose? Maybe we need another card. Ah, but there's also—oh, my bad."

In the midst of his rambling, he finally noticed the sudden proximity and effectively pulled back, desperately trying to ignore the embarrassment threatening to wash over him. If he didn't look it, and he didn't act it, then the emotion wasn't actually there. Simple work.

"Uh, anyway, there's also the fact it said 'someone,' so maybe it's a person and not a tree! But I don't know, are you planning on attacking someone else? You almost look too nice for it," the youth continued. To be frank, he was being a tad stereotypical with his judgments. Regardless of how kind a Hufflepuff could seem, they were still fully capable of unsavory acts. Therefore, he was openly squinting at his companion, trying (and failing) to notice signs of "bad" energy clinging to her.