When Mr. Kitridge started talking about how much he loved the books in the library - and of how they were equal to the "woman he loved," Kitty began to feel strangely emotional. Much as she loved reading herself, if she had read someone saying that in a book, she might have thought it sounded crazy. But hearing him say it right now with so much raw emotion made her feel very sorry for what Peeves had done, and she was glad when Haddie apologized. "Scourgify" she muttered, aiming her wand at one of the shelves.

Thankfully at that moment two more students (A Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff) offered to help them clean up. Kitty smiled at them as Kitridge gave them instructions. With all five of them cleaning, this should be finished in no time!

At least Mr. Kitridge seemed to be somewhat relieved to see her and her companion, as the smile seemed more forced because of the bad state of his library than their presence. Olivia almost told him the Slytherin’s name since it had been given to her moments before. but she, Esme, supplied it for herself. “Will do that, sir,” she answered with a nod, echoing the older girl’s approval of the task at hand.

Time to get to work then.

Olivia snagged her own book trolley, using a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe stuff off of the books she found there, setting them aside so she could clean the trolley itself next. However she was distracted by the spell her dorm mate appeared to be using to help. “Haddie…what’s that spell?” she asked curious. One day in and she hadn’t quite gotten the chance to learn much if anything.

Haddie looked up when she heard her name. She'd been focusing on cleaning, as to avoid Mr. Kitridge's gaze and invoking more wrath from him. Who had called her? It definitely wasn't Kitridge and didn't sound like Kitty. Besides, Kitty knew the spell.

Then she noticed one of her dorm mates looking at her, and made her way to the other girl. "It's 'Scourgify.' Kitridge showed us before Peeves showed up. Like this." Haddie demonstrated the wand movements and then aimed at a pile of mashed potatoes on top of the books on the trolley, and demonstrated the spell for real. "Scourgify!" The mashed potatoes poofed away.

"Now you try, um..." They hadn't met really yet. After last night, and Haddie and Kitty being in the only two in trouble, it wasn't surprising the girl knew Haddie's name. "Don't tell..." She was sure she could remember it from the sorting ceremony, or at least from overhearing it in the dorm room last night. It definitely started with a.... letter. Gee, you think, Haddie? "Actually, yeah do tell me."

SPOILER!!: Haddie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callie

Haddie looked up when she heard her name. She'd been focusing on cleaning, as to avoid Mr. Kitridge's gaze and invoking more wrath from him. Who had called her? It definitely wasn't Kitridge and didn't sound like Kitty. Besides, Kitty knew the spell.

Then she noticed one of her dorm mates looking at her, and made her way to the other girl. "It's 'Scourgify.' Kitridge showed us before Peeves showed up. Like this." Haddie demonstrated the wand movements and then aimed at a pile of mashed potatoes on top of the books on the trolley, and demonstrated the spell for real. "Scourgify!" The mashed potatoes poofed away.

"Now you try, um..." They hadn't met really yet. After last night, and Haddie and Kitty being in the only two in trouble, it wasn't surprising the girl knew Haddie's name. "Don't tell..." She was sure she could remember it from the sorting ceremony, or at least from overhearing it in the dorm room last night. It definitely started with a.... letter. Gee, you think, Haddie? "Actually, yeah do tell me."

“Scourgify..”

Olivia repeated the word…the incantation Haddie had told her, listening as she explained that their head of house had taught it to them. Her fellow first year demonstrating it for her as well, those potatoes seemingly having no chance against the spell. “Nifty…” she mused mildly impressed. It could definitely come in handy given this terms perchance for messes so far.

“…Olivia,” she supplied before focusing and trying it out herself on some cooked peas and corn. “Scourgify!” It wasn’t as neat and clear as Haddie’s work was, but it was an accomplishment and could be improved.

And made things much easier.

Haddie nodded. "Olivia. Cool. Nicely done Livvy." She smiled at her dorm mate and then joined her in cleaning off the books on trolley. "Scourgify!"

Some tomato sauce vanished from the books. "If there are any books that are damaged and all, you can take them to Mr. Kitridge. I don't think he wants to see me more than he has to right now. Scourgify!" Some chocolate pudding went the way of the tomato sauce.

SPOILER!!: Haddie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callie

Haddie nodded. "Olivia. Cool. Nicely done Livvy." She smiled at her dorm mate and then joined her in cleaning off the books on trolley. "Scourgify!"

Some tomato sauce vanished from the books. "If there are any books that are damaged and all, you can take them to Mr. Kitridge. I don't think he wants to see me more than he has to right now. Scourgify!" Some chocolate pudding went the way of the tomato sauce.

“Thanks,” Olivia said, the girl tilting her head slightly at the apparent nickname Haddie seemed to be giving her. Livvy? She could go with that she supposed. It wasn’t like it was a bad-sounding one or made fun of her in any way. “Scourgify!” she echoed, taking aim again at her previous spot, cleaning up the rest of the peas and corn that she had missed in the first go. Now it was in even better condition.

She nodded at the further instructions. “Got it,” she confirmed, remembering what she had originally been told. “Kitridge had said that.” For the man’s sake, she personally hoped she didn’t find any in that condition. The head of house already seemed so upset and bothered about the mess in general.

“Scourgify!” she cast again, this time cleaning up some spinach. Another less mess and a clear book or two. “Scourgify…” something the Ravenclaw couldn’t quite identify in the swirl of stiff.

As she worked, Esme wasn't paying attention to anything around her. She wanted to do a good job because even if she wasn't a huge fan of reading, she still knew that books deserved to be treated better than this.

"Scourgify! Scourgify! Scourgify!"

Oh, look. One was sopping wet. She wasn't even able to make out what the cover said because it was covered with food. "Yuck." Esme made a face as she picked it up."This one is pretty bad, Mr. Kitridge." she said as she held it up for him to see.

Finally! There it was, the apology. It had taken a lot to get one but at least he got one and it seemed sincere too. "Apology accepted Hadley." Leo responded simply. "I urge you to start thinking before you speak. If you continue to let your mouth run away with you Hadley then it will lead you to trouble maybe even detention." If she sassed the wrong adult that would be the end result. Hopefully this would get her to start thinking.




Turning his attention to the slightly older girl in yellow and black robes Leo beamed. "It's a pleasure to meet you Esme. In what year of your magical studies are you in? You seemed to be older than 11 years old." Unlike Haddie and Olivia.

Moving over to help Kitty with the top shelves on the aisle Leo asked with a glance to girl as he used the 'tergeo' spell to ride the book spines of tomato sauce. "Have you got any favourite authors or book genres Kitty?" It helped to talk. It distracted him from the headache that had not gone away just because Haddie had apologized.

He heard behind him how Haddie demonstrated the spell he had showed her and Kitty to Olivia and Esme. He wondered if she did that to make up for angering him? It was nice if that was the case . Leo had just put back a book he had cleaned off pudding from when Esme came over with book in a very poor state. Peeves had done quite number on it. Examining the book he nodded to Esme. "Yes it looks pretty bad, Esme. The pudding has really stuck to the covers hasn't it? I'll take it, I need to clean it in my office. Thanks for taking it to me though."

Looking over at Olivia that was working on the books in one of the trolley's he called over "So Olivia, are you the first Stone to go to Hogwarts?"

Kitridge was standing next to Kitty, looking at Olivia, and by extension, at Haddie who was next to Olivia. Having Kitridge looking her way wasn't exactly where Haddie wanted to be. She placed a hand on Livvy's shoulder as if to say You got this, and wandered away again, back into the stacks -one which Kitridge was not standing in.

"Scourgify!" Haddie watched as an unappealing mix of tomato sauce and chocolate pudding vanished. "Scourgify!" Some potatoes went with it. She continued to stay out of Kitridge's direct view, casting the cleaning spell up and down the aisle at every little bit of food she could find. And an occasional spider web or two.

She was getting quite good with the cleaning spell, so maybe... "Tergeo Maxima!" Nothing happened. Haddie switched back to using scourgify and continued to attack any and all bits of food she could find.

Olivia continued cleaning magically and sorting out books by hand, making sure everything near her was helped. She felt the touch on her shoulder just before the librarian’s focus turned to her, leaving her mildly confused as her own gaze absently followed Haddie as the other eagle walked away from her all of a sudden. The first year brushed it off for the moment however, not wanting to leave Mr. Kitridge hanging with her answer.

“No I’m not,” she admitted, shaking her head as she turned to him. “My parents and both the Stone and Nairnes came here. My aunt and grandfather actually taught here,” the Ravenclaw added. “Though Aunt Fina is technically only a Nairne by marriage.” Olivia cut herself off with a bite of the inside of her cheek as she realized she was starting to ramble.

Kitty did have several favorite authors and books, and she was more than happy to talk about them with Professor Kitridge. "Ooh I have many!" she said excitedly, pointing her wand one of the lower shelves and scourgifying it. "My favorite non-fiction books are books written about Hogwarts, because so many awesome and creepy thing happened here. One day I was reading Hogwarts a History and three newspaper sheets fell out of it. They were talking about something that happened at Hogwarts a long time ago, some kind of dark magic that was coming from behind the tapestry on the fourth floor. They never said what was causing it, so I decided to research that myself." For a moment she wondered if it would be a good idea to ask Kitridge if he knew anything about that, but then she decided it would be better to finish answering the question first.

"My favorite fiction books are romance novels, especially ones written by Alicia Egypt." Alicia was a popular witch author who lived in Ireland, Kitty was certain that Kitridge would have heard of her. "My mother collects old books that were written by Muggles, and I've read some of those too. Alice In Wonderland is my favorite in her collection. I wish that Lewis Carrol could have learned about real magic, wouldn't that have been cool?"

"What about you Professor?" Kitty asked curiously. "What are your favorite books?"

Obviously she was looking for a book, what else did one do in a library? Well, she could think of things, but she certainly wasn't about to encourage them, and besides it seemed enough of that was happening without her influence.

What was on with her head tonight? Giving it a little shake, the Japanese woman continued on her path through the shelves, her dark eyes devouring each and every title it fell upon. She wanted to read them all, but now was not the time, right now she was searching for a very particular text...

Perhaps she ought to ask the Librarian.

Mr. Kitridge was so nice. It was a shame that she hadn't had a chance to talk to him before, but she surely would - especially when OWLs came closer.

Esme smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you too. I am in Third Year, Sir. Me and my identical twin sister." In case he ever spotted Juno and thought that he was maybe losing his mind. Unless they were dressed in casual clothes they looked completely the same minus the slight height difference.

Nodding, she headed over to him with the book so that he could take it from her. "Is there a special spell or potion that you use to clean them?" she asked curiously. Obviously it involved more than a simple Scourgify because they could easily do that themselves.

Given his pulsating headache Leo was relieved that Haddie had decided to take herself out his direct line of sight and was working on cleaning without letting more sassy comments slip out of her mouth. Massaging his right temple Leo cleaned away some mashed potatoes that covered the whole spine of a divination textbook.

Turning to Kitty he couldn't help but just be a little baffled by the words that suddenly flowed out of her mouth. Had he ever heard her talk so much, willingly? At the mention of the dark magic behind the tapestry Leo curiously asked "Did you ever find more information on the dark magic?" It'd be of his interest considering that the tapestry was on his floor.

"Alicia Egypt I've never heard or read anything by. Alice in wonderland I read when I was your age. Most recently I've started to read Sherlock Holms novels. They're quite good. I read a lot of books Kitty so my favourites varies." Leo responded with a smile. "Many authors do have magical blood. I just can't name any at the top of my head. You could ask Professor Finch though or Headmistress Moxley."

Looking over at Olivia as he went over to attack a giant blob of pudding he said with a smile. "Oh Fina is your aunt? I'm very good friends with your aunt actually. I saw her at Floreans over the summer. We caught ourselves up on each other's lives." That was something. That Fina's niece went to Hogwarts now and was a Ravenclaw.

As Esme handed over the book to him Leo examined the poor, poor state of the book before he answered Esme's question raising his gaze to hers. "I need to use some potions and solutions and spells too. I have to do that in my office. Can't do it out here since the book needs to dry before i put it back out."

"I liked my third year since we got to start electives then. Will you take Professor Black's Divination classes?" Leo wondered. The woman was creepy.

****

Many minutes later Leo cast the last cleaning spell on a spot of potatoes before he turned to address the whole quartet a happy beam spreading across his facial features rivalling his headache as he dismissed them."Thank you all so much for all your cleaning help! It's been greatly appreciated. I need to go take the worst looking books back to my office so you are all free to go to lunch, study or find another way to amuse yourself like playing a game of exploding snap or chess in your common rooms."

Eyes lingering on Haddie and Kitty he said "You're cleaning duty as a direct consequence of your participation in the food fight yesterday is over Kitty and Hadley. You've now paid it off in full with hard work. You are both free to leave with Olivia and Esme. I expect you both to think before you act in the future." And with that Leo turned pushing the trolleys with books ahead of his as he walked away towards his office.




It was well after dinner one night and it was approaching curfew for the students. Leo was making his usual round in the library to kick out any students who might still be lingering over an essay they needed to finish or just a very fascinating book. Picking up books left on the tables Leo made his way to put them back on their shelves.

He liked the quiet that filled the library at night it gave him time to contemplate the things on his mind. Taking a turn to head down another aisle he came upon Nana. He watched her dark eyes roam over the books on the shelves for just a moment before he called over. "Good evening Nana, are you finding the book you are looking for?"

"Thank you, Mr. Kitridge." Wait... did she just...? Haddie just blinked, dumbfounded for a moment. Then her expression changed to one that seemed very much as if she was trying to give herself an annoyed flat stare. Finally she rolled her eyes, let out a frustrated sigh, and spinning on her heels marched out of the library.

"I never found out who was behind it, but I'm researching. Hopefully I'll find out and then I'll tell everyone." Actually, she was nervous about asking any teacher if they knew anything about it, but she was willing to put aside her shyness to find out the answer to the mystery. Right now she didn't feel so nervous around Professor Kitridge, and she briefly considered asking him if he knew where she might start researching.

But then the cleaning was over and he was dismissing them. Oh well. "Good bye Professor Kitridge!" And she turned and followed Haddie out of the library.

Haddie wandered the shelves, browsing the book titles. One of these books had to have information on how to get into the Chamber of Secrets. Right? No, no, no, no... wait was that a bit of dried mashed potatoes... oh, no. Just some dust. Nope, no, no... hmmm.

Haddie pulled a book off the shelf and flipped through it. She frowned after a minute and put the book back before continuing to browse again. No, no, no, nope, no... Haddie sighed and moved to a different shelf.

Entering the next row of books, Esme was half-tempted to turn around.

This wasn't really like her, but she couldn't help not really liking Haddie much. She had hurt Rachel! Even if the two had made up after everything that had happened, it was hard for her to not feel protective over one of her best friends. What had Rachel even done wrong? Having a crush on a boy was not a crime.

No, she wasn't going to turn around and leave. She was going to mind her own business and find the book that she had been looking for. She didn't even come here too often really and somehow Divination textbooks had lost most of their charm though she DID still love the subject. Esme just wanted Professor Cassie to come back.

Haddie stepped back and scratched her head as she scanned the titles. None of them seemed like they'd have anything on the Chamber of Secrets. And the ones that did look like it, didn't. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. No doubt Kitridge come to check and make sure she wasn't destroying the books or something.

"Do you know where I..." That wasn't Kitridge at all. "Oh. You're Rachel's friend, right? Emmy... no. Esme? Right?" She gave the Hufflepuff a friendly smile. Any friend of Rachel's was alright in her book. Well, except for the Dodo bird. But he was a special, jerky case. "I'm Haddie." Just in case she didn't know that. Haddie stood there, awkwardly for a moment, not ready to go back to her futile search. "What book are you looking for?"

Right as she passed Haddie on her way to the books about crystals, Esme was stopped by a question. Well, more like part of a question. The younger girl must have initially taken her to be Mr. Kitridge and needed some assistance.

Even if she was wary of Haddie for hurting Rachel, Esme would be pleasant. It wasn't in her nature to start giving people sass though if it came down to it she would with no hesitation. "I am, yes." Polite smile. "Nice to meet you, Haddie..." Even though you hurt one of my best friends. Things seemed to be better between the two but what if something else happened? Would Rachel end up with something worse than drawings on her face?

"I'm looking for books on crystals. What about you?"

"Why crystals?" Haddie turned to look at the girl, smiling warmly. She studied Esme intently for a second, almost as if sizing her up. Whatever she saw in the Hufflepuff she clearly liked, because she nodded to herself, and her smile grew warmer. But there was a sadness to the smile too, very faint. As if the careful mask of exuberance had cracked suddenly and a bit of what was underneath was visable now.

Haddie turned back to the shelves. "Looking for information on the Chamber of Secrets. I'm trying to find the entrance..." Her voice trailed off, as if that wasn't the end of the thought. The sadness was crystal clear now. Haddie glanced back at Esme with that same sizing up expression, as if deciding something, and nodded. "...since I probably won't have the chance next year."

It wasn't to burden the girl with her problems. That was the last thing Haddie wanted to do. But there was something about Esme that Haddie saw, that made it sort of necessary. Because Esme clearly cared about Rachel. The Californian went back to studying the books on the shelves, but her mind wasn't in it anymore. "Rachel is a sweetheart," she said. "She's sweet and sees the good in everyone. Even if it's not there. It's actually, kinda the thing I admire most about her..." Her voice trailed off again, as it had before. She didn't speak for a long while, despite it being clear that there was more to say. "Promise me you'll look out for her. Please. If I am not here next year. Promise me you won't let her get hurt too badly." It was obvious that Haddie didn't mean physically hurt. She meant protecting the sweet, loving, and way too trusting Rachel, so jerks of the world didn't crush her spirit. Haddie wiped her eyes, not even trying to hide it. "Please?"

Abby was searching for a book to read as she had read all the books that she had in her trunk but as it was coming towards the end of term she wasn't sure what books there would be in the library

The first year came running into the library with his guitar in hand. He was on a sugar high and he had just ran around the snowy grounds. He was pretty sure he knew where he was but this place just looked...well this place really wasn't his style. He liked reading but it was mostly just music books. Books with actual music notes in it or about some kind of rock band or artist. The Hufflepuff wondered if they had those sorts of books here.

The dark hair boy kept running as fast as he could around all of the bookshelves in the library. After about TEN minutes the first year finally stopped. He was out of breath and wanted to play a little music but was that even permitted here? He knew that there was music room somewhere in the castle and he had visited it once but he couldn't feel the power of the music when every single person in there thought they were capable of playing an instrument. Some of the students that were in the music room really could play but most of them not so much.

Bradson sat down against one of the bookshelves and started to strum the intro to Every Rose Has its Thorn by Poison. He was into this kind of stuff. He loved songs that had meaning to them and some of those songs were in the hair band or the rock genre but Brady had found that some of them came from country, bluegrass and some pop songs but Brady wasn't the biggest fan of pop, hip hop or rap music. He wasn't the biggest fan of country music or what some people called bro country and pop country. If someone asked Brady to choose his favorite country music he would have to say it was from the 1940's all the way into the early 1980's which was over a hundred years ago. He enjoyed old music.

Brady just sat there strumming the intro over and over again, he was lost in his thoughts and forgot to even start singing. The Scottish boy started over again. This time it was for real. "We both lie silently still in the dead of the night. Although we both lie close together we feel miles apart inside." Man he loved this song. "Was it something I said or something I did? Did my words not come out right? Though I tried not to hurt you...though I tried but I guess that's why they say every rose has its thorn just like every night has its dawn just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song every rose has its thorn..." What was with that last part? Do cowboys really sing sad, sad songs? Brady was pretty sure that REAL cowboys didn't sing at all.

Azura was in the library attempting to study, she had to get out of the Ravenclaw common room, it was just to awkward being in there and having to ignore Jace. She didn't want to ignore him, but he didn't really seem to want to talk to her, so what could she do?

So she made herself scarce. Surely that would help?

She was sitting in the floor a book of charm spells in her lap when she heard it.

Music!

Guitar music!

Her purple eyes closed as the music moved over it. It seemed sort of sad, it almost fit her confused mood..

And then the singing! Those words went straight to her heart and she slowly pushed herself up off the floor and crept around the library looking for the source of those beautiful sounds!

Finally, she came upon.. Brady! And she moved to sit down next him, but didn't say much. Just listened to him sing what seemed to be in her mind right now.

He was so into what he was doing that he didn't know what was even going on around him. He hoped that he wasn't being loud but then again he didn't care if he was being loud. He strummed his guitar gracefully, this just came so naturally to him. It was what he was good at. He was at his best and most creative when it came to music.

"I listen to our favorite song playing on the radio hear the DJ say love's a game of easy come and easy go but I wonder does he know?" He continued to sing. "Has he ever felt like this? And I know that you'd be here right now if I could have let you know somehow I guess." As he sang he noticed out of the corner of his blue-green eye he saw Azura show up. Someone listening to him wasn't going to stop or distract him at all.

The first year continued to play his guitar and sing the song but he wondered if Azura wanted to talk. "Every rose has its thorn just like every night has its dawn just like every cowboy sings his sad, sad song every rose has its thorn..." He might as well finish the song since he was almost done. "Though it's been a while now I can still feel so much pain like a knife that cuts you the wound heals but the scar, that scar remains..." Even though he was almost done he stopped playing and looked over at Azura. "Hey." He said with a smile.