I'm dying! XD
 

Kalen was in fact behind his desk, he was bending down and attempting to arrange a few books that were sitting there, when he heard something...

A Crash?

Kalen looked up with wide eyes as his desk shifted as something fell into it and he scrambled back a few feet as he watched the books shift and tilt a bit.. but.. thankfully his spell was holding and while his desk rocked.. nothing fell down.. Phew!

Kalen rose to his feet and quickly moved to the other side of it to see what had caused the crash!

He smiled warmly at the girl who had fallen.. "Hello, are you all right? " He asked her softly.

Books were not soft. They had sharp edges and just were not comfortable. Noelle groaned as she sat up. She rubbed her side and....

There he was.

The librarian.

Noelle blushed. "Yeah... sorry. Books... are hard." Because that was all she could think to say. She was a little embarrassed. Noelle picked herself up and dusted herself off. She glanced at him, getting a good look... a quick good look. Olly was right.

Looking down, Noelle reached down to grab the book that she had dropped. "I didn't mess up your desk did I?"

Kalen had to chuckle as the girl righted herself and spoke.. "Yes they are. " He said as he eyed her badge, ahh! Prefect! He knew who she was now, thanks to his niece.

"Are you sure you are all right Miss Summers? That looked like quite a big tumble you took." He asked her kindly, he wasn't so great at healing, but luckily the Healers wing was just one floor below the Library.. how convenient for them!

"No, you didn't mess anything I assure you.. The spell I have on it will keep it safe from ocassional people falling into it. " He said with a grin..

"Kalen Kennedy, Librarian. " He said as he turned to look at the desk.. It looked fine. Just as he thought it would.

Noelle :)
 

Emmeline had decided to search the library for books on creatures. She highly doubted that anything could top Newt Scamander's book, but she thought it was worth a try anyway. Except...the library was HUGE! She had no idea where to even start looking for creature books, and were those shelves set up in a maze towards the back?

Shaking her head, Emmeline bounced over to the front desk to ask Mr. Librarian when something awful happened; she saw Miss Prefect run straight into the desk! Oh no!

"Miss Prefect!, Miss Prefect! Are you okay?!" The first year stared at the older girl with eyes maybe half the size of mooncalf ones, because that was a LOT of books to have fallen. Mr. Ace had given her permission to call him by his name instead of Mr. Prefect, but Miss Prefect hadn't yet and Emmeline was determined to be polite even in not-the-best situations. Bending down, Emmeline heaved one of the realllllly heavy books back onto the desk and dove down to the floor for another one. Poor Miss Prefect shouldn't have to pick up heavy books all by herself; Emmeline figured she suffered enough with a sometimes-troll-like brother.

"Hiii Mr. Librarian, sir!" So she was single-minded and didn't pay much attention to her surroundings. She hadn't even noticed him until now. "How're you today?"

If cheeks could burn, Noelle's would probably been in flames right now. She was righted up but not only had the librarian seen her fall, but another student had seen her fall too. Not just any student. A cute, firstie!

She brushed her arm off, it felt a little sore. She'd put some bruise paste on it later back in the dorms. She did worse to herself in training. "Im fine." She said with an embarrassed smile at the little girl who was calling her Miss Prefect.

"Here. let me help with that." She said when Emm started picking up some books that must have not been part of the spell of the desk. She pulled her wand out, luckily, it hadn't been smooshed and waved it to return all the books in their original positions. "Thank you for helping me though. You're Emmeline right? " Noelle was trying to know all the names and faces of the Gryffindors at least.

Now back to the librarian. Noelle glanced back at him with a small smile. "Sorry about that again. Kalen the Librarian. Mr. Kennedy the Librarian?" Either name worked for her. Kennedy... wait. "You wouldn't by chance be related to an Azura would you?"

Noelle rubbed her sore arm and took a look down at it. It was already starting to bruise. She looked at Emm. "Im the worst clutz." She said with a shake of her head.

Kalen raised an eyebrow as a tiny little first year stopped to help them all as well and he smiled down kindly as she attempted to lift some heavy books that had fallen off of his desk. The desk itself was perfectly fine kiddos.. There were too many magical enchantments holding it together to let a small knock like this one ruin in..

But he did have plenty of tomes on top of it.. so that must have been what had fallen.. "Thank you Miss Summers. " He said as she waved her wand and the books went back into place in top of the desk..

He smiled down at the young Gryffindor and nodded. "Please call me Mr. Kennedy, and I am doing just fine, how are you today? " He asked her kindly, before cracking a grin at Noelle. "Mr. Kennedy works just fine, and to answer your question I am indeed related to her. She is my niece, and Leon Kennedy, he graduated last term, he is my nephew. " He said by way of explanation..

He could see a bruise forming on the Prefects arm and he looked at her. "Are you sure you shouldn't have that checked out? " He asked concerned.

Now it was Emmeline's turn to feel embarrassed. Miss Prefect had waved her wand once and picked up the (admittedly fewer than she'd thought) heavy books. Emmeline hadn't even thought to use a spell! Maybe this was what Mum and Dad meant when they said she didn't have witch feeling? She forgot to use magic?

"Cool spell, Miss Prefect!", she chirped. She nodded her head when Miss Prefect asked if her name was Emmeline. "Uh huh."

Mr. Librarian Kennedy seemed nice; Emmeline was sometimes amazed at how many nice grown ups there were at Hogwarts. She gave him a small smile back as she replied: "Yes, Mr. Kennedy sir. I'm gooood. Do you have books about crups here?" Very important question. Essential actually, since she'd been assigned a baby crup to take care of this year.

Miss Prefect's arm was already changing colors with a biiig bruise. The first year frowned; didn't she have another cool spell to get rid of that? Even Mr. Kennedy seemed worried. She smiled ruefully when Miss Prefect confided that she was a clutz. "It's okay, Miss Prefect! Your brother knocks down LOADS more stuff than that. Is your arm going to be okay?"
She didn't mean to be a tattle tale about James; she just wanted Miss Prefect to feel better, and she was sure that the older girl had already known this about her own brother. Plus, it was true -- the boy destroyed half the owl shop trying to reach a silly cage over the summer after all. Not that she'd tell Miss Prefect about that.

Hmm.... Now this was exciting news.

Noelle's mouth dropped a bit as Mr. Kennedy told her that he was related to her best friend, Azura. What??? She blinked but examined him a little bit while him and Emm started talking. Yep, she could definitely see the similarities. "That's brilliant! I wonder why she didn't tell me that you were her uncle." Odd in deed. Maybe she just didn't want to make a big deal about it. Wait.... Noelle's memory fluttered a bit. "Wait... she may have. I might have forgotten." Very likely that Noelle had. That's why she needed to write everything done in her notebook. Speaking of notebook.... where was that thing?? Noelle glanced around. had she dropped it when she had fallen?

Noelle kept her arm close but giggled at Emm. "Yeah, my brother is a catastrophe waiting to happen." Apparently being a clutz ran in the family. Noelle was always bumping into something or tripping over it. "My arm will be fine. I have some bruise paste in my room that I use for training. Should make it feel better in no time." She said for Emm and Mr. kennedy.

Noelle also wasn't used to being called Miss Prefect. "You can call me Noelle if you want Emm." She said with a grin. " Miss Prefect makes me sound... old. Or like, boisterous about my badge." And she wasn't.

Kalen smiled down at the young first year as she spoke, ahh so full of energy, and with an attention span of a goldfish. Young minds.. He loved them. He had to hold back a chuckle as she spoke rapidly and he paused to make sure he answered all she had talked about. "I'm glad to hear you are well Miss.. err.. " He hadn't quite caught her name. "If you would refresh my memory with your name please? " He asked, because he was sure they hadn't met before.. but better be polite about the whole thing.. "And we most certainly do have books on crups, what exactly are you looking for? We have crup care, Crup history and probably some Crup picture books hanging around.. " He said as he tapped his chin in thought for a moment.

Hmm..

Anyways.. Kalens attention turned to Miss Summers and smiled at her.. "She might have a lot on her mind? " He said with a soft chuckle, after all learning about a side of your family you didn't know you had wasn't easy.. After all he himself had an instant niece now!

"It's all right Miss Summers, I lost a book I placed in the maze the other day.. so we can all be forgetful. Anyways it's nice to meet you, Azura has nothing but good things to say about you. " He said with a nod as she spoke about the bruise paste..

"All right, but if it gets worse, go talk to Healer Reed okay? " He said with some concern.

Emmeline scrunched her nose up in confusion as Noelle talked about bruise paste. "What kinda training?" Wasn't this a school? Why would kids be able to run around and get bruises from training?

"Yes, Miss Noelle!", she chirped obediently. Noelle wasn't VERY old, after all, but sixth year did seem kind of old to the 11-year-old. Not that she would ever tell them that.

No one had ever called her "Emm" before, either; Noelle had given her her first nickname! Cool! She gave the prefect a BIG smile as a result.

Oops. She didn't tell Mr. Kennedy her name; she forgot to do that sometimes. "My name is Emmeline Sparkes!", she reported cheerily. Mr. Kennedy had a good question; what kinds of books on crups did she need? Of course she needed a care one, but did she need history ones too? What was in the picture ones? "Umm, well sir, I'm taking care of a baby boy crup for CoMC"--that was essential information. "Sooo I need to know LOTS of stuff about them. The first year paused briefly in thought, then added quickly: "D'you have books that teach you EVERYTHING about crups AND have pictures?" Because that would be perfect.

Emm was adorable. And she was a lion. She got kudos.

"I do a variety of different trainings. Defense, auror, and animagi." Noelle explained to her because her look of confusion said it all. She giggled. "Hogwarts is a great school and offers different things." Most schools had training places right? Or was it just Hogwarts?

Noelle nodded to Mr. Kennedy. "Of course. I will. Thank you." She grinned but now was curious as to what her bestie could have said to him. "If she told you anything bad, its totally not true okay?" She grinned, letting him know that she was playing. Sorta.

Her eyes turned back to Emm. "You got a crup?? I got a bowtruckle! I can help you bathe him sometime. My CoMC OWL last year was correctly bathing a crup." That and she helped around sometime. "I may need a book on bowtruckles too." Noelle said, directing her eyes to Mr. Kennedy with a grateful smile. Olly would be getting an earful tonight.

Noelle and Emmeline :)
 

Defense training! Did that mean dueling? Emmeline had signed up for the dueling club ages ago, but the whole prospect was kind of overwhelming. She wasn't sure she wanted to be mean and shoot aggressive spells at people, but she figured there would be some kind of middle ground between that and giving up and never defending herself. "D'you want to be an Auror then?", she asked her perfect in an awed tone of voice. Aurors were the ELITE.

Noelle's next words made the first year promptly forget about dueling. "Yes, please! He doesn't seem to like baths," she added regretfully. Her face brightened again as Noelle mentioned her bowtruckle: "Is it a boy or a girl bowtruckle? Derf's got a girl one. D'you have fairy eggs?" Fairy eggs were, of course, a bowtruckle's favorite food but Emmeline thought it might be hard to get them. She frowned; fairy eggs didn't turn into real fairies, did they?

"Fairy eggs aren't baby fairies, are they?", Emmeline asked as she looked intently from her prefect to the librarian and back again. She was sure one of them would know, especially since librarians probably knew everything.

Emmeline blinked in confusion at Mr. Kennedy's words. "Sorry, sir, but who's Tristan?" It didn't occur to her that teachers had actual first names too. They were teachers, not normal grown ups. She was distracted from this line of thought by the big books on crups. "Thank you, sir!", she chirped as she started flipping through the first one. The pictures were so CUTE! She didn't have enough of an attention span to really take in what they meant right now, though, because she was thinking about her own crup and how he doesn't like baths and Noelle's bowtruckle.

Noelle blushed at the awed look the little lion was giving her. "Yeah. Its a big dream of mine. A goal, actually. Since dreams are just that... dreams. Goal is something you have to work hard for." Of course, the reason for her goal had been a tragic one, one that scars on her body often reminded her about. A good reminder at what she was working so hard for.

"Its a girl bowtruckle. I named her Epiphany, or Pip for short." Noelle told Emm as she brushed off her skirt and made sure her hair was in the right spot. Derf had a bowtruckle too?? Maybe they could have play dates.

Also.. fairy eggs. "Ive been feeding Pip bugs because I know she likes them. But I don't know about fairy eggs." Noelle glanced at Mr. Kennedy about that. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Emmeline thought Noelle was so cool. Fighting Dark wizards was definitely a worthy goal, but something the sixth year had said made her frown in confusion. "You mean... Dreams don't come true?", she asked with wide eyes and obvious disappointment in her voice. She had a sort-of-maybe type of dream about the Summers kid in her own year, after all. Remembering that Noelle was his big sister made the first year look away from the older girl quickly and shuffle her foot a little bit. Noelle hadn't noticed anything, right? Could Aurors read people's thoughts from their faces?

"Pip is such a cute name!", she gushed. "My crup's name is Sirius, after the stars constellation thing." Just so she knew. Crups and bowtruckles couldn't have play dates, sadly, because Sirius would definitely chase Pip, and that might scare the poor baby bowtruckle. She bounced up and down a little as Mr. Kennedy gave Noelle the bowtruckle book, because maybe it talked about fairy eggs and Noelle could tell her?

What was Mr. Kennedy saying? He went to school with Professor Wayland?! The idea that professors went to school was a little surprising at first, but after a couple of minutes Emmeline supposed she shouldn't be so surprised. Grown ups like Mum and Nanny had gone to school a long time ago, too. But to the first year's mind, Hogwarts staff just sprouted out of nowhere already knowing everything and quite grown up. She'd never thought of them having a life outside of teaching. "What House were you in?", she asked suddenly. She wasn't sure why she was even asking, really, but she thought it would be sound proof that he really had been a kid and gone to school here. Not that she thought he was lying, but she was still taken so off guard by the idea of staff as kids that she was kind of curious what the school had been like a million years ago when they went here. "Is the school the same?"

It was cute that Emm didn't think that the professors had first names or that they had lives outside of class. Noelle used to think that too. Though, she didn't know WHY she did. Just that... professors weren't really.... humans. What an odd child she was. "Mr. Kennedy is actually related to one of my best friends." Noelle said with a beam. She'd have to tell Az how she rated him. ... Or would that be weird?

Noelle smiled at Mr. Kennedy and took that books that he gave her. "Thank you. Ill be reading up on there." She said before listening to Emm and giggling. She also bypassed the dreams don't come true thing. That was a discussion that Emm and Noelle might have when they were older. Also.... what was that blush and shuffle?

"Sirius is a great name!" Noelle exclaimed happily at Emm. She looked over at Mr. Kennedy as he talked about Professor Wayland and himself. Heh. Wayland. Noelle had a bit of a crush on that professor. ... well... not crush, but ... attraction. It was him bringing that phoenix out... Merlin's beard. Noelle blushed. "Did you and Professor Wayland go here?"

Emmeline beamed at Noelle when the prefect seemed to like Sirius' name! But she had to confess in a quiet, secretive tone: "Derf helped me name him, really. And the Astronomy textbook." Because she hadn't come up with a name on her own. She wasn't super good with names, either coming up with them or remembering them sadly. But that was kind of, sort of a secret, because it was embarrassing.

The first year squinted a little at Mr. Kennedy and tried to imagine him as a student, but... Nope, she couldn't see it. So she couldn't imagine what Noelle's friend looks like, but: "Cool! Does she, like, live in the library?", she aimed the question sort of at them both. She thought it might be kind of cool to live in the book maze, maybe. Especially if she had a super nice librarian relative who probably lived in here too. Actually... "D'you live in the library, Mr. Kennedy? Orrrr the Slytherin common room?" Did they let teachers and people live in their old common rooms? There weren't any in the Gryffindor common room, but maybe other Houses had different rules. Besides, wouldn't most teachers be Ravenclaws anyway? She thought that was likely.

So the school hadn't changed in a million years, but Mr. Kennedy and Professor Wayland were besties! That made sense to Emmeline, 'cause they were both REALLY nice. Then she paused, and realized that Mr. Kennedy had said they were best friends in the PAST. She frowned in confusion; she couldn't imagine not being best friends with Derf or Stasya anymore, even like 500 years later. "How come you're not still best friends?", she asked curiously. It didn't even occur to her that this might be what Nanny called a "sensitive topic."

Different...TL?
 

Kalen was just behind his desk, sorting a few books that had been returned, the man was taking it easy now that good news had been delivered in the form of a letter. He could breathe now and he was full of relief that things had worked out well.

Because quite honestly he was out of ways to keep himself busy.. He had organized the restricted section, updated the check out system, and alphabetized the book maze maze, which was not an easy task mind you. But now he could relax because everything was okay..

The librarian stood up and placed a pile of books on his desk that were ready to go back to their shelves when he noticed he had a visitor.

Kalen fully stood behind the desk and smiled.. "Ahh Hello Mr. Kenning, how may I help you today? " Kalen asked, waiting patiently for the boy to speak.

Mr Librarian! *waves*
 

Louise really had no particular reason for moseying around the library. Unlike her counterpart Hogswartian seventh years, she had no major exams at the conclusion of her seventh year. Her JARVEYs were in the past and all she had to do was focus on making sure she passed her classes this year, without the stresses of more standardized testing.

So why was the Thunderbird here on the fourth floor, when she had perfectly good books of her own? Easy. She didn't have a full library with her; she'd left that back in the state. That and something about the easy demeanor in which Kalen and herself chatted on that dinner cruise had been her driving motivating factor. In her eighteen years of life thus far, she'd seen all kinds of guys, both in her age, younger and older if one counted her parents and their friends. But Kalen, she sensed was different and there was something more she wanted to know about him and even though there was the good possibility she would never see him again after June, Louise felt drawn.

Making her way to the front desk, she blinked in awe at the amounts of books present at just the front desk alone. Impulse checkouts? Likely some really good reads were here, if Louise was being totally honest, but she wasn't here to select a book to read. Not by the literal definition of a book, at least. And there he was ... "Kal.... Mr Kennedy," even though he had given her permission to call him Kalen, there were Hogswarts students present now and it wasn't a party they were at, which meant formalities should be observed. "I was hoping you would be here. I just was looking for a recommendation." Where else would he be?

Kalen had his back to the front of the library, and to the desk as he sorted some of the new books that he had just gotten in, more additions to the muggle part of this library, and some good information for the students, if they wished it.. He had just set down one book when he heard a voice and a slow smile stole across his face..

He composed himself though before he turned around to greet the Thunderbird girl, whom he had talked to on the boat.

"Miss Hamilton." He said with an incline of his head, yes they weren't at a party, so he couldn't call her by her first name, even though he had caught her slip earlier.. He hadn't been called Kal in a long time, even if it was just a slip of the tongue.

"Well, here I am, and welcome to the Library." He said with a wave of his hand, and a smile at her. This was where he loved to be, and yet.. at times he found himself walking to the windows and looking out towards the beetle..

Foolishness of course..

"A recommendation of what?" He asked curiously as he looked at her. "I'll try to help in anyway I can." He said with a warm smile as he adjusted his hair a bit..

"Congratulations on making it past the second challenge by the way." He added. Yes he had been there, Yes he had been watching.

Louise wasn't sure what the reaction might be because for all she knew, Kalen might have been playing nice on the cruise party. Or he might have fallen victim to inebriation, but the slow smile that stole his face made the seventh year think that her previous encounter with him had not been a figment of her imagination.

He was just as charming and gentlemen like as she remembered. Even if the first name basis was evidently put on hold for mannerisms.

Glancing around the library when he welcomed her, she offered a genuine smile, "It's a lovely place. I could see why you like it." And she couldn't stall too longer because of course he asked about the recommendation. What she really would have liked was a recommendation letter for University, because it would have been guaranteed contact information for him, but that was much too forward for the Thunderbird. That and she was sure there would be no reason for him to give her one as he wasn't even her staff member and had only met him once.

While she was thinking about the recommendation, he congratulated her and she flushed, but also idea struck her. "Oh, I was a complete wreck and I thought I was awful. But thank you for the kindness," she noted. "And the recommendation is sort of on that subject. I was wondering if you had any books about riddles. Maybe even riddles and linguistics." Pigs to hogs? Totally clever and something she wished she had thought about sooner in the challenge. Perhaps riddles and linguistics might even help her communicate in more code to the librarian.

Kalen returned the Thunderbird's smile with a genuine one of his own, part of him was quite happy to see her here, in the library. She was in his world now, and just that thought made him happy for a reason he didn't understand.. or want to understand.

"It really is, I'm worked in more spectacular libraries, but this one has always been home." It really was a dream come true for him to be back here and working here.

His green eyes rested on her for a moment as she flushed and he pushed away something as she spoke again.."I thought you did well, even my niece who is A Ravenclaw here at the school was having trouble with those riddles." Azura had had him send her the riddles so she could see if she could figure them out.. So far she hadn't been having much luck..

He tilted his dark head as she spoke and pushed his bangs out of his eyes as he looked back over the library shelves in thought.. "Riddles and linguistics hmmm?" He put a hand on his chin as he turned back to her.. "I think we have a few things, would you like magical or muggle books? I can provide both. " He asked her with a smile.