"Let's get your books first, okay?" her father was saying.

Catriona nodded, mutely.

"Listen, . I know you and your mother aren't talking right now--" Catriona almost snorted. That was an understatement if she'd ever heard one. "But," her father continued, "don't be too hard on her. She just wants what's best for you."

Catriona could feel anger rising in her, so she stuffed it down as deep as it would go. "I know. I just hope she realizes I'm not her and I'm never going to be her. That's why I came back!" Catriona heard her voice rise at the end of her statement and winced. She just sounded like a petulant child.

Her father knelt on the ground so he was eye level with her. "I know you aren't. But you're more similar than you realize, ." He swatted at her, playfully. "Now go grab your books. I've got some business at Gringotts to take care of. I'll meet you back here, ok?"

Catriona nodded. "Yes, yes, I know." Her anger was long forgotten and now she couldn't wait to get her hands on some books.

She ran into Flourish and Blotts, pausing to toss a careless "love you" over her shoulder to her father.

The shop was like something out of Catriona's dreams. Books were everywhere, on the shelves, the tables, the ground.

But Catriona didn't have time to spend admiring her surroundings. She had books to buy.

She glanced around herself again. Maybe I can spare a bit for browsing, she amended. She paused, reading a title out loud to herself. "Book of Spells by Miranda Go-- oh, I need that one." She slid it off the shelf and flipped it open to the first page, just to make sure. "Lucky guess, then," she murmured to herself, before continuing her perusal.

"Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes..." Her fingertips trailed across the book's spine as she pulled it off the shelf. Only one copy...

"I'll come back for you," she said softly, slotting the book back in place.

And she did. After successfully finding every book she needed (making her arms a great deal sorer in the process) she returned to the book. Setting her precarious stack of schoolbooks on the ground, she pulled it off the shelf again and sat on the ground, back pressed up against the books to read it.