Front Desk
 

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../FrontDesk.jpg

A polished oak desk contraption sits in the center of the library. A few low shelves contain books that have been returned or books that are on hold. You can also loan books from the library’s vast collection of books here or objects like crystal balls, telescopes, and a few odd items. Behind the desk, sitting upon a dark cushioned stool, is the librarian, his head bent over some old rolls of parchment or a book.

As you approach, Mister Kitridge looks up and greets you with a friendly and warm smile. "Good day. How may I help you?" He is eager to assistant anyone who visit the library; whether it would be in retrieving a particular book, giving recommendations, sharing a story or two with a student or colleague or in some other way.

Evaaaaa! :3
 

DISTRAUGHT.

Beezus Castell was distraught. She still couldn't even begin to comprehend the things that had happened since the feast, along with all the new shocking announcements which she was more than had also haunted her fellow Hogwartians for the days passed. She had questions and she wanted answers. Hence, why she was currently walking towards the Front Desk of the library now. She had to talk with the Librarian.

"Mr. Kitridge, sir?" She called out as she neared, tucking hair behind her ear.

Leobald was very HAPPY. Life was good. He had eaten ice cream for breakfast and now he had a whole glorious day in the library to spend with the books. Things couldn't be better. Not even the leak in the ceiling could dampen his spirits.. He was happy. Working on updating the index ledger for the reference section Leo didn't see or hear Beatrice until he heard his name being called out.

Looking up from the index Leo took in the sight of the Ravenclaw prefect coming towards him, not looking very happy. As she neared Leo greeted her cheerfully. "Welcome back to school Beatrice!" Cocking his head a little to the side he asked "Is something wrong, dear?"

Cheerful Librarian was cheerful. She couldn't help but smile as she replied, "It's.....good to be back, Mr. Kitridge." Oh, just who was she kidding? "Well, not entirely good but..." Beezus trailed off and shrugged.

If she was concerned with what was going on with the school right now, she would've gone to the Headmistress herself. And she was indeed concerned, but she chose to be here than see the Headmistress and the tyrannical pinkness of her office because she felt more comfortable with the confines of books around her. Besides, she heard that the Head Girl and Boy had taken the liberty to do the questioning of the Headmistress. So, she'd do her own asking. "Sir, what really happened during the summer?"

Going away (thursday-sunday) i'll post from my phone when i can.
 

Beatrice was not making sense. She thought it was good to be back, but not entirely? Shrugging Leo let it pass. He figured that her mind was on the sad, very SAD revelations from the headmistress at the feast. But sad stuff was just too sad to talk about and Leo was HAPPY, very happy and he was intending to stay happy so he just shrugged as he responded calmly still beaming brightly at the prefect. "I'm not sure what exactly you are referring to Beatrice? Lots happened this summer just like it always does...I visited Hawaii it was amazing." As an afterthought he asked while scratching his head. "Or did you mean what the headmistress spoke about at the feast?"

"Come now why dwell on sad things when we can be merry and happy. A new year is starting. Want to come to my office and eat ice cream to celebrate its beginning? I've got yummy flavours." He coaxed with a wide beam. Yes ice cream was much better than sad tidings.

"Oh. You've been to Hawaii, sir? How was it?" That was on her list, right? To visit Hawaii. That place was magnificent, or so she heard but from the photographs she'd come across, it was really a paradise so it was on the list. And lots happened to her summer too. But YES, Mr. Librarian....what she wanted to talk about was the events that took place during the summer that the Headmistress mentioned at the Feast. "Erm, sorry sir. But I just, I want to know....why the school has suddenly become poor when that Auction from last term must have earned thousands of galleons. Also, the house elves.....Mr. Kitridge, why did they resign?" Meh. She had questions but if he didn't want to give her or didn't have the answers she needed then she was not going to hold anything against him.

But she did hope that the Librarian would be able to clear up some of her inquiries.

"I'm not sad, sir." She was just....frustrated about it all. Most especially, because them Prefects weren't even informed of it. Not even a tiny bit of information. Siiiiigh. Now the man was offering her some ice cream. Who was she to say no? "Ice cream would be wonderful, sir." She smiled broadly at him. Ice cream, ice cream. The only one with her through thick and thin. She could use a huge bowl right about now.

Okay. Library... right. After only getting lost twice, Derry had made it to the library... and oh my goodness was it glorious. She'd definitely be spending a lot of time here, even if it was a little dusty.

But she had a couple of questions to ask first... so she went to the front desk and waited, since the librarian seemed to be a little preoccupied with a prefect right now...

Nodding Leo beamed."Yes, I visited Hawaii this summer with some old Hogwarts buddies. It was amazing and magnificent and just lovely. You see this trip to Hawaii was something we planned in our first year at Hogwarts to do after graduation. We never got around to it then so it was extra fun that we could organize it now." Yes it had been a vacation that he would remember for many years to come.

Ah, so that was why the prefect had come to see him. Watering his lips he shrugged as he responded. "I'm sorry Beatrice but I don’t know why we’ve suddenly become poor or why the house elves resigned during the summer. The Headmistress and staff are looking into it and that is all that I can tell you at the moment." Even if it felt like an inadequate answer it was the only one that he could give her at the present time and besides why dwell on saaaaad things when you had ice cream?

"Wonderful, let’s go eat some ice cream now." he exclaimed clapping his hands together.

Behind Beatrice another young woman, a brunette walked up. Greeting her with a smile Leo chirped happily "Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"

Gesturing towards Beatrice he continued. "Beatrice and I were just talking about heading back to my office to eat some ice cream. Would you like to join us?"

separate from Beezus and Derry.
 

The first Gobstone's match of the season had gone without too many problems and Medea had done a good job with helping to officiate the match from the sideline. It was nice to work alongside her but it had been the same with Callie last year too. Really a feminine input was always welcomed.

Leo had just come back out after changing clothes and was about to go inspect the ceiling leakage and possibly fix it when Medea showed up. Turning to her he beamed."Hi Medea!"

Well, from the way the librarian spoke, one could tell that he really did enjoy his vacation at Hawaii. He sounded pretty enthusiastic about it and Beezus didn't want to spoil it for him so she offered him a broad grin. "Sounds really memorable, sir." Maybe she'd ask her friends about that and suggest that they visit Hawaii later in their lives too.

But the whole Hawaii talk still didn't stray the Ravenclaw off what she really came to the librarian for. Although from what she had learned from him, she could say that she was a bit disappointed. The Headmistress and staff are looking into it. She sighed inwardly. That didn't say anything. "Oh. I see, Mr. Kitridge. Thank you anyway." She just had to keep her eyes peeled then? Althought she had to give the man some credit, he seemed really fond of ice cream just as she was.

But first..."Before we get some ice cream, sir. Can I ask if we have some NEWTs review questionnaires here somewhere?" She'd borrowed OWLs questionnaires before, so she figured they had some available NEWTs ones too.

Aphrodite Dragongrass finally find the library!

Some days walking through the palace for doing her Astronomy homework, she still had not found this place. Library .. she so longed for her library in Dragongrass Manor. But now she was standing here and it's good to greets the librarian. Clutching her satchel, she moved herself toward the Front Desk and said, "Good afternoon, Mr. Kitridge," she said to the friendly man.

Leo knew by Beatrice's reply that she wasn’t satisfied with his answer. He couldn’t give her information which he didn’t possess. It was impossible. He could guess just like the students no doubt did. "I wish I could give you more information Beatrice but at the moment I don't know more than you do unfortunately. The only one who might be able to shed more light is Headmistress Truebridge." But even that wasn’t certain.

Pulling out his wand he silently whispered an incantation. A few moments later a large stack of NEWT review questionnaires appeared on the counter in front of him. Blinking he asked as he peered over the stack at Beatrice. "Do you want review questions for all subjects or just a few of them for now?"

Leo always liked the start of the year at the school best because then he got to meet numerous new students of varying ages just starting their Hogwarts career. Some were going to be there for 7 years while other’s only for a year or too. Full at work with re-organising the front desk counter Leo didn
t notice the young blond until she addressed him. Looking up he beamed. "Good day, dear! And who might you be?"

Oh no she'd interrupted. Oops. Derry peeked through her ginger hair sheepishly, but the librarian didn't seem annoyed or anything. She smiled back at him and nodded. "I just wondered... if you didn't have a book here... if the school can order it to borrow or if I'd have to buy it myself.." It was weird asking this with someone else present, but there you go. It was the only way Derry had been able to afford to read as much as she did her whole life - the library in her village had ordered books for her pretty much every month for her whole life... Though she got the feeling she'd never run out of things to read here... just sometimes she heard about a book that she really wanted to read.

Derry glanced over at the Ravenclaw prefect with a shy smile. Ice cream, right... umm... "Oh, no thank you..." She didn't eat ice cream much, she'd had a huge allergic reaction to a nutty topping once and since then she mainly avoided the stuff.

"Hello sir, my name is Aphrodite Dragongrass, pleased to meet you, sir,"

she replied to the man in front of her with a cheerful. Looking at this man, he remind her of Father, and she missed him .. it seems after this she will send a letter to Mother and Father, but now there are other things she wants to do,

"Do mind if I look around the library, sir?"

she asked again to the librarian.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." It didn't look like it from her point of view at least. Her shoulders raised a little in a sheepish manner anyhow as she glanced to the shelves of books momentarily. Ahem, right. Back to what she was here for. "I erm...vonted to thank you actually. For letting me officiate most of the match." She paused briefly as her smile grew. "It vos rather exciting."

Focusing on Derry once more Leo replied. "The libraries selection of books is quite vast. But if we by chance don’t own the book you want to borrow then of course I can order it so that you can borrow it later." Pulling up a parchment from under the counter he asked curiously "What book are you interested in borrowing?" Hopefully not a book housed in the restricted section.

It was a pity that the snakette didn't want to share ice cream with him but not everyone liked ice cream just like everyone didn't like cheese.

"Its a pleasure to meet you too Aphrodite." Leo responded with soft smile. "Not at all, go look around as much as you want. The library is here for you after all." Before the blond lioness had a chance to leave he added. "If you need any assistance or don’t know how to find a particular book let me know and i’ll help." Yes, because aiding the young was always fun.

Shaking his head he responded. "No, you weren't really interrupting anything Medea. I think I need to consult the caretaker on best course of action anyway. There is a leak in the ceiling down by the reference section." He explained.

Shrugging Leo replied with a soft grin. "You don't need to thank me. I thought the easiest way for you to get your feet wet so to speak was if you got to try leading the match without too much involvement from me."

"So you liked officiating gobstones?" he wondered curiously? Leo hoped Medea did because he liked spending time with her.

She kinda figured that one out....that it might be only the Headmistress herself who can fill up that hole she had in her mind about how this whole cutback for the school happened in first place. "I...don't really think I'd want to ask Headmistress Truebridge about that sir. " She'd never really talked to the woman before either....ever.

And....the questionnaires.

Beezus watched as the stacks of paper and all that stuff crowded the counter and even stepped back a bit. "Oh..erm.....I was hoping those for all subjects, sir. And....preferably a compilation of those from terms ago? Last three terms, maybe? Or...from the previous five terms if it isn't such a bother." She knew it was a huge bother though, so she tagged on. "But I can compile them myself, Mr. Kitridge. " Because it seemed like there were other students needing his assistance. That was, if he allowed her to touch the questionnaires and rummage through them.

Aphrodite'd been pay attention to Mr. Kitridge's words, definitely this guy really like her father!

While smiled back to the librarian, she said, "Thank you very much, sir. I certainly will not hesitate to ask for help. So, I'll see you later Mr. Kitridge; once again, I'm very pleased to meet you," she said as she slowly left the table located on the front, and she began to enter the library ..

"That’s up to you Beatrice." He commented quietly. "I might know more after the staff meeting next week." Hopefully, to not be able to tell the student’s anything except that they were looking into the situation wouldn’t exactly sooth their parent’s minds. Leo knew that it was only a matter of time before the head’s of houses mailboxes would be flooded with letters from concerned parents.

Questionnaires....

Leo’s eyes widened slightly in surprise when Beatrice declared that she wanted NEWT questionnaires for all subjects and even questionnaires from the last 5 terms. Pulling out his wand he mumbled accio again and watched as the mountain of questionnaires on the counter increased into what could only be described as a small mountain. Stepping around the counter he gestured towards the huge stack. "You're welcome to rummage and compile all the questionnaires you want from those Beatrice. I only have one small request that you put the questionnaires you’re not borrowing back in the reference shelves."

"You’re welcome dear. And it was a pleasure meet you too Aphrodite." Leo called after the young lioness as she started to walk deeper into the library depths on her first tour of the place. Scratching his head when he didn’t see the lioness anymore, he tried to remember what he had been doing before Aphrodite had come over. Staring down at the parchments nothing came to him. Maybe he needed to get some coffee to clear his head?

They were going to have a staff meeting....next week? The question was if Mr. Kitridge would care to share what he'd learn during that meeting. Things were getting shifty, huh? "Erm...I just...don't get why the Headmistress isn't saying anything about what really caused all of this, sir. I mean...I believe that we deserve to know." Right? Hopefully, the librarian will bring that concern up during their meeting.

As of the moment, Beezus had questionnaires to secure. She smiled sheepishly at the man when his eyes had evidently widened at her. "Just...helping out someone, sir." In case he was wondering. She rubbed her nape as the more questionnaires piled up on that edge of the counter. She was free to rummage and borrow out what she deemed was needed. She just had to return those in the Reference Shelves after. Okay, she got that. "Thank you so much, Mr. Kitridge. I'll even arrange them back according to its corresponding term, sir." Since all of it were just basically stacked haphazardly.

"Oh, and sir...since I'm doing this....can we have ice cream together some other time? I'd still want to try out the flavors you have." She was ice cream. And ice cream was her.

Oh how unfortunate. And just after they'd raised all that money to restore it too. "That is rotten luck." she mumbled, glancing in the direction of the refence section while slouching a little against the desk. "Is it difficult to get to?"

Medea straightened a bit, smile forming once again as he went on with gobstones, not really paying attention that she started fiddling with a random quill sitting in reach. "I really did. Quite a different experience than votching from the sidelines. In a good vay, of course." Though her attention wasn't completely taken by the game. She hadn't missed those funny faces directed to them from the sidelines either. "Plus, you know...it's nice. Being a co-advisor, I mean. Next to you."

Fiddle fiddle.

Meeting Beatrice eye Leo nodded seriously. "The student body does deserve to know what is going on with Hogwarts, but what you must understand and also rely to your peers is that at the current time I have no answers to give." Being a librarian and a member of staff didn’t automatically mean that you were privy to all information in the ongoing investigation unless Headmistress Truebridge felt it pertinent to inform them.

"I'm glad. Helping your peers is way to show good example." But then again, Beatrice was a prefect of her house so that was expected of her. "Just make your friend promise not to study too much. I've learned that breaks are also important to let the information set in your head." Leo advised.

Beaming he nodded. "Of course Beatrice, we can eat ice cream anytime. Just come and find me."



"My sentiment exactly," Leo grumbled. "After all the noise and such everyone had to endure last term when the renovations went on in the library." He trailed off with a tired shake of his head. Leaning against the desk he gestured with a thumb towards the ceiling. "The leak is in corner where two walls meet. I fear that it’s a whole that spans over several floors." If it turned out to be true then the library was probably not the only affected room.

Leo couldn't help, but smile as Medea spoke of how she had felt about officiating. "I know, its exciting and you get so into the match that you watch every rolled stone with a held breath." It really was an engaging sport. Not in the same way as quidditch but it had its own charm.

Feeling his ears burn warm he murmured. "I think it’s nice to officiate alongside you too."

"Would you like to go to the butterfly garden on a date with me? We could bring with us some ice cream cones and watch the butterflies dance." Please don’t say no. Leo pleaded silently.

That was unfortunate. She glanced towards the general area he pointed out, though of course, she couldn't quite see it from where she stood, but the theory was enough to make her somewhat cringe. "If you need any help vith it..." she trailed off, turning her gaze back to leo. Medea would be more than happy to.

She chuckled sofly with a few nods. "Exactly." Being so close to the gobstones goo though she could do without, but the rest of the game was a nerve-wracking pile of bated breaths. One could pass out from the lack of oxygen! However, her excitement for the game fell silent when he agreed that it was nice to officiate alongside her as well, as did the fiddling of the quill stop completely when he asked...that.

Oh, sparkling sunflowers, did he really just ask her that? What was that about passing out from lack of oxygen again?

"Oh...oh I..." She was going to take a breath first, and lose the fight to keep the blush upon her face from growing. Putting the quill down, she relaxed into a warm smile, despite not budging an inch from her place. Ahem. "Sure. That sounds lovely."

Mack made her way from the bookshelves to the front desk, they could look for years and probably not make much headway into the library shelves. So it only made sense for the Gryffindor and Slytherin to go and seek help from Mr. Kitridge. And it was very possible that the Hogwarrts library would have such books, seeing as how they were prevalent to the muggle world. But maybe they did have muggle books here.

As she and Sonea approached the desk, to find it unoccupied so the blonde simply leaned onto the counter to wait on the librarian.