Finally Looking Around

Miriam had finally gotten a chance to really explore the Hogwarts Library.

Wandering through the stacks, she made a list of books she wanted to read. She occasionally got ink on her hands as she jotted down the titles. There was so much to read! They had books at home, sure, and she was quite an accomplished reader, but the sheer amount of books almost overwhelmed her.

"I'm glad I have seven years to read them all," she said to herself as she grabbed a couple of the titles she'd selected and headed to the table where she'd left her things. Granted she wasn't as studious as the Ravenclaws, she still loved to learn new things and relished her time in the library.

Pulling on her cloak (she still wasn't used to how cold the massive stone castle was all the time) she settled down to read Magical Household Care, which had caught her attention because of the variety of spells listed in the front. Everything from cooking to cleaning to things for children to do, she smiled thinking of her younger siblings as she read about some of those.

The library was fairly quite and peaceful, just the kind of environment she sometimes craved after being in the dorm with the other girls or even at home with her family.

Marigold carried the fabric Professor Harcourt had given her. She really didn't like sewing, but it was extra credit. She needed all the grades she could get. She also didn't know why she had Miriam's share of the work. Professor Harcourt had left her with the full load, not knowing if Miriam would have been at the library or not. But, Marigold did spot her in a small lobby area in the cleaning section of the library. How did professor know she was here? And, why is she in the cleaning section?Marigold thought, making her way over to Miriam. The girls weren't very close but maybe they could be friends.

"Hi. I'm Marigold. Sorry to interrupt but this is one of our extra credit days. Can I sit here?"she asked, sorting the supplies on the table.Marigold felt really bad that Miriam had a little bit more than her.

(OOC: Check your messages Miriam if you're not up to speed.)

Miriam looked up as Marigold settled on her table. She knew the Ravenclaw by sight but not much else. Moving her books so Marigold had some room, Miriam saw the supplies in her arms.

"I'm Miriam and it's not a problem," Miriam said as she began going through the supplies now on the table. Thirteen wasn't that many cloaks in her opinion, especially because they were fairly simply, nothing like some of the dresses she'd made for her sisters.

"Do you think we have enough room here?" She asked as she began spreading out some of the fabric. "I don't want to make too much noise either," she added thoughtfully. It was easier for Miriam to be confidant with something she knew well, and sewing happened to be one off those things. Also, being in the library gave her a sense of confidence as well because if she didn't know something she could always look it up.

After thinking about it a few more minutes Miriam said, "We'll probably be alright if you'd like to get started?"

"Thank you," Miriam said with a smile as they got to work. Picking up the first Gryffindor cloaks. It had an AL on it which she assumed was for Arya. She dug around a little in the pile of buttons to find the fiesty Gryffindor's before sewing it onto the cloak.

Miriam ducked her head as she worked but answered Marigold's question, "They weren't what I was expecting but I've liked them," she said. "My parents had told me some of what to expect, but not everything," she added as she moved on to the next cloak.

Miriam smiled sheepishly as she said, "I made a list," in reply to Marigold's question about books. "I've always loved reading and this library is great," she continued with a small smile.

Moving on to another cloak, Miriam was enjoying herself, she genuinely enjoyed sewing, for her it wasn't just a chore. Sure it was nice that she was probably getting extra credit for it, but she just liked doing nice things for people that let her use her skills.

"My mother always says that making something by hand shows that you really care instead of using magic to make it easy," Miriam commented as they worked.

"My moms a witch, but her mother isn't," Miriam said.

Miriam was surprised that Marigold almost ended up in Hufflepuff. It seemed like many people didn't want to be in the house or always hoped they went elsewhere.

"I like it, I'm glad we try to work together and we seem to be more likely to make friends outside as well as inside our house," Miriam said after a moments thought. "I didn't really expect one house or another, though I half figured I'd end up in one of my parents houses and I was right. My father was a Hufflepuff when he was here and my mother was a Ravenclaw."

Miriam alternated between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff cloaks as she worked. It make it more interesting. She could tell that Marigold felt that the silence was awkward and tried to think of something to talk about to break the silence.

Finally, Miriam asked, "What about your father, is he a wizard?" She wouldn't have felt any different about the other girl if her father wasn't, but it sounded like he was from how she'd said things earlier.

Miriam felt a little bad about talking about her home life. Her life sounded far better than Marigold's. But it would be rude not to answer her companion.

"My father's a banker," Miriam said quietly. "We're not highborn or anything but we have a fairly nice house in the town we live in. We do have a maid, but my mother and I do a lot of the work too," she continued.

After another moment she said"It sounds like you've come from a nice home, I'm glad," with a smile.

"My mother did," Miriam replied as she finally reached her own cloak. There was a small silhouette of a badger embroidered next to her name. She figured it was as thank you for doing the extra credit but she wasn't sure.

"When she found out I liked it, I started doing a lot more of the sewing around the house. My younger brother is always ripping his breeches somehow or another and I just started repairing them, I guess I just like making stuff," Miriam continued as she sewed her button on her cloak.

"It's why I like knitting I guess," she added.

Arya entered the library on a mission - to find a book about flying. She wasn't the best reader, but she had never gotten her chance to talk to Harcourt about another lesson, and she couldn't stop thinking about the techniques she'd learned. She had to know more.

"Excuse me," she quietly asked the pinch-faced old librarian. "Where might I find a flying book?"

"In the air," the woman snickered.

"A book about flying, then," Arya rolled her eyes impatiently.

"The Transportation & Navigation section," the librarian pointed to the far left.

Arry thanked the woman, with another eye roll, and headed that way. It took her forever, but she finally reached the section, right next to the Cleaning aisle. Arya skimmed through the titles, looking for anything that said 'technique'. Then she heard voices a few feet away, but saw no people...

"What the..." She walked toward them, and recognized one of the voices at an empty table. "Marigold?"

Marigold snapped to attention and became really quiet. She put her finger to her lips and looked to Miriam, the sign to be quiet. Very quietly, Marigold gathered the supplies. After all the supplies were up ,she grabbed a random book and started reading. She dispelled the spell.

"Hi Arya. How are you?"Marigold asked cheerfully.

(OOC: Short.)

Arya raised an eyebrow as the voices hushed and then Marigold and Miriam appeared. And Marigold was acting as though sitting in a library with a disillusionment charm cast over her was normal? Did she take Arry for a fool?

"What's going on here?" she demanded, looking around their section of the library. "Why were you two hiding?"

"Uh-oh,"Miriam said quietly before quickly putting away her supplies as Marigold indicated and the other girl ended the disallusionment spell surrounding them.

Letting Marigold handle Arya, Miriam tried not to look to guilty of anything. It wasn't that she didn't like Arya, she wanted to like the feisty Griffindor, but the other girls brash attitude made her a little intimidating.

Arya stood and looked around. There was not a Slytherin in sight.

"Well, looks like the Slytherins made themselves invisible, too," she said dryly.

She pulled out a chair and sat down, looking curiously from Marigold to Miriam. What were they doing? She'd never even seen them together before, unless they turn invisible quite often.

"That was very kind of you to look up cleaning techniques," she went on. "I'm sure your --"

A loud crash made her stop mid-sentence. Arry hopped up and looked in the direction of the noise. It came from a few shelves away. She ran toward it and found a little Hufflepuff boy unconscious on the ground.

Miriam, having followed Arya and Marigold, could only shake her head negative.

"I've seen him around but I don't remember his name," she said quietly. Looking him over. "He doesn't look hurt," she added with some relief.

The boy blinked and scratched his head, looking rather disoriented. There was no bump rising or scratch marks or anything. Arya was beginning to wonder whether or not this had been an accident.

"What...what happened," he muttered, looking at the three girls surrounding him.

"Don't you remember?" Arry asked, kneeling beside the lad.

"I was...I was carrying my books when," he started, raising an eyebrow. "It felt like something smacked me in the head."

Arya looked suspiciously to Miriam and Marigold, then back at the boy. Did someone jinx him?

Miriam looked around for evidence of something falling, a jinx wouldn't leave any evidence but something falling does.

"Could a book have fallen on you?" she asked spying some empty spaces on the shelves.

"Maybe," he said looking around at the books the girls had picked up.