Library
 

Open Post!
 

Valencia! :3
 

Quinn also wanted to make a trip to the library. The first night in the common room, he realized that, if he wanted to have any chance of getting through the term, he needed to learn. And not from his classes—Quinn didn't trust anything that these Neo-Alliance people were trying to put in his brain. The trauma that was DADA set him back a while so that he could mentally recuperate, but it also lit a greater fire in him. He knew these people could hurt him and his friends with ease. He needed to learn something to defend himself.

He just wasn't exactly sure where to start.

Quinn didn't know if he even trusted the librarian to make a selection for him if the staff was being forced to do whatever the Headmaster said. Quinn knew he wanted to learn offensive and defensive magic, and he would want to brush up on some magical history as well. Hogwarts history could be a good starting place, but he already had Hogwarts: A History on hand, so he came to the library more so for the magic aspect.

Quinn recognized one of the older Ravenclaw girls (Valencia) and went over to her. This would be... a weird question, but he thought she was safest to ask. She should know a fair bit of magic at this point. He just hoped she wouldn't ask too many questions about what he was doing—practicing battle magic was probably not something the Headmaster would approve of, and the less people that knew, the safer he and other students would be.

"Er, excuse me, but... d-do you know what books would be good for, um... learning about some advanced-but-not-expert-level offensive and defensive spells?"

Valencia glanced over to a younger student. She tilted her head and studied him, eyes scanning him up and down. "First year?" she asked. Because, if that were the case, advanced would be too soon for him. He'd need the basics first.

But he did come to the right place. She knew every inch of this library. In fact before he had time to answer she headed down an aisle and stopped in front of the many cases.

Quinn watched her as she headed down the shelves, probably looking for a book of some sort. He tagged along behind her. "U-um... yes. Are you able to help me..?"

Valencia nodded. "Yeah. I can. You really need to practice the basics though. A good shield charm goes a long way. If you're able to hold a large enough one in place that's even better. It allows other people to cast spells without worrying about protecting themselves." she explained.

She ran a finger across the spine of a few books before pulling one out. "Once you go through the required text for the year, this will be a good one." she said holding it out to him.

Quinn blinked. "Er... yes. Thank you for the advice, I'll make sure to practice Protego." In truth, Quinn had already read through the required DADA spells for the term. While he hadn't yet practiced them, he knew what they did and took note of particular ones he thought would be most useful. He wanted to take note of other, more advanced spells he'd like to work on, too, once he got the basics down. That could definitely be a while, but he wanted to be prepared. He wanted to know. He hated not knowing.

Quinn took the book from the girl. "Thank you. Um..." The girl seemed to know the library pretty well. He thought to ask her about some more books, but... he didn't want to make her do all of his work for him. He decided he would only ask for one more. "W-what about... books on healing spells..?"

Valencia nodded encouragingly, not wanting to scare the kid, but really his best option would be to run and hide.

"Yeah. Those are over here." she said leading the way. "Do you know any or just starting off?" Because that would determine which book she pulled off the shelf.

Yet again, Quinn tagged along as she went. He took note of where she got the previous book from, in case he wanted to come back and pick out some more at a later time. "I'm just beginning, but the wandmaker said that my wand was good for healing spells, so hopefully I'll be able to pick up on them fairly quickly."

Valencia nodded. "There's lots of basic healing. It's incredibly useful." She pulled a book off the shelf and handed it to him. "If you're worried, you should go ahead and start brewing potions as well. You can never have too many potions on hand."

Especially if something bad was going to happen. Which... it inevitably was going to.

Quinn took the book from her. "Thank you, again. I'll be sure to brush up on my potion book as well." Quinn hadn't actually thought about using potions, but that was mostly because he hadn't brewed any potions before, and it was a longer process compared to simply casting a spell. But, if he was able to brew some useful ones and had them on hand, it could come in handy. "Also, I'm Quinn. I never actually introduced myself. But I know we're in the same house, so... I thought I should acquaint myself."

"Well, I really don't want to keep you..." Quinn thought for a moment. This girl was obviously smart, and she had to have some sort of clue as to what he wanted the books for, so... "W-well, one more question. And it's not to find me a book this time, but... let's say, hypothetically, that some first years were going to practice magic. If said hypothetical first years were to practice some spells that go beyond first year curriculum and they needed a bit of help, would you help them? Hypothetically?"

Valencia nodded. "Yeah. No problem." She did love a chance to show off her library related skills. It was a talent she prided herself on. She knew books.

"Valencia." she replied.

She considered that for a moment. Royse had said she'd been a good teacher. And she had led several of the OWL study group sessions. She imagined she could be helpful.

"Hypothetically, you should be careful of who you talk to about it." she said, looking around. "I imagine there would be some people that would think extra practice was... hypothetically, in preparation for some... unsavory actions against new management."

She then grinned. "So yeah. I'm in if you need anything. Just don't be stupid about it."

Quinn nodded, blushing a bit. "Well, yes, I'm keeping things mostly to myself, for now. I know that it could look, er... very bad, to say the least."

He perked up. "I... I'll try my best. And, uh, I'll make sure to come to you if a situation like that were to come up." Quinn looked down at the books in his hand. 'Uh, well, that's everything I need, for now. Thanks again, Valencia. I'll see you later, then." Quinn gave a smile and a small nod and went to check out his books.

Valencia nodded. "Yes. Good thinking." she agreed. Couldn't be too careful in these times.

She nodded again, this time offering a reassuring smile. "Yeah. Of course. Good luck with everything." she said offering the younger student a little wave.

open post. feel free to chat.
 

Snagging! Also open for others to join!
 

The library was just one of the many places, Dahlia frequented. It was the easiest way to get her small hands on lots and lots of textbooks and other materials of higher learning. Not to mention it also held books that were purely for a source of enjoyment as well.

Today's visit was of the educational kind. There was only so much she could learn from her own textbooks and she couldn't go borrowing her older cousins and siblings books for very long.

Entering the library, Dahlia headed straight for the front desk with her usual warm smile and placed the two books she had borrowed down to return them. On her way towards the aisle of books she heard some muttering from an older girl sat at one of the tables. "When in doubt, write it out?" she repeated quietly. "I like that. Does it work for most things you're unsure about?"

Even as she spoke to the older girl, blue eyes were already scanning over titles of books on the aisle behind the table where they were. She wasn't being rude, simply multi-tasking.

Continuing her writing, she almost finds herself in her own little world. Forgetting for a moment about everything that has been going on in the school as of late and, for the first time in a long time, she was starting to worry about her parents. Especially her mom. She was never one to worry about that woman, the two always butted heads with one another...but this time was different. Her and her mom would constantly send
letters to one another just to keep her updated with how much she was tired of school and how much her brother would annoy her, but now not being able to...she can't imagine what her mother thinks. Probably going to get a massive Howler sent to her but she won't be able to see that anytime soon...

Still writing and jotting down random things, she hears a little voice speak over to her and Aibhi picks her head up slightly getting startled not thinking anyone was going to talk to her in here of all places. Turning to see where the little voice was coming from, she sees a little one looking through titles in an aisle of the library. Oh this one was young. She had to be at least a first year. So young... When in doubt, write it out... Aibhi softly cleared her throat and lowered her quill for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I guess you can say that in a way. Uh, it's- it's a good distraction from time to time when you have thoughts that you feel like you can't get out so writing them down seem to help. My dad taught me that." Seeing her still scan through the many titles of the aisle she adjusts her attention to keep it focused on the little one. "Are- are you looking for anything in particular to read in here or were you just...passing through?"

Dahlia gently pulled a book from the shelf, scanning over the small amount of writing on the back before flipping it open. Lightly running her finger down the page of contents, she sighed softly under her breath. This wasn't what she was looking for. Closing the book, she slid it back into place on the shelf.

For a brief moment, she hadn't expected the older girl to respond. For one, she had spoken rather quietly and second, the girl was probably busy. Not always was someone happy with being interrupted. A sweet little smile formed on Lia's lips when she was responded to. "That.. makes sense. Does it help?" If it did, she would have to try it. There was a whole lot to write about.

As for what she was looking for, Dahlia hadn't found it yet. "A little bit of both actually. I had a few books that I needed to return so since I was here I figured it would make sense to choose a few more." Which is what she normally did. "I like to read about most things. Today I was hoping to find somethings about Charms maybe."

Usually, Aibhi is not one to talk to lower class students, but times are a little different and any social interactions at this point helped keep her sane. Hearing the young one talk again to her, Aibhi catches herself looking at what she had written down so far at this point seeing a bunch of scribbles and some words here and there but most stuff written in Greek or Gaelic. She nods to herself and brings her attention back to the first year. "It helps from time to time. Depending on how you feel, of course. Sometimes you just need to get things off of your chest and instead of taking it out on those you are close to or care about...you write it down."

What was with the sudden change of heart to this Slytherin? Now, out of nowhere she is being kind to others instead of snapping at someone for even breathing in her direction. This year has really shown her a different side to herself and it scares her, but she accepts it. Listening to the little first year she can't help herself but get up from her chair and she looks around and walks over to another aisle tracing her finger along different books and stops grabbing one book and looks at the title and walks back over to the first year. "Here. Give this a read. I read this back in my second year. I think you might like it. A lot of cool different Charms and what not. Also, this is the Divination section. Charms is back that way." Aibhi points behind her to the section she walked over to to grab her the book. "You don't have to read this one. There's uhh- there's plenty of other books to choose from."

It made sense. All of it. Dahlia couldn't deny that. "I prefer a more physical approach to things, like biking or climbing or something." She was normally very active and enjoyed most things that would keep her moving. "Writing it all down though could be helpful." If she didn't have many other options.

When the older girl got up suddenly and walked off, well Dahlia was more than a tad bit confused. Had she said something wrong? If she had, why had the girl left all of her things behind? Weird. She stood there looking very much confused until the girl returned with a book. Oh! A small smile tugged at her lips at the help. "Thanks," she nodded, flipping the book open to have a quick look at it.

As for being in the wrong section, she knew that. Not always did she head directly for what she was looking for. There were times that browsing along the way had proved beneficial to her. "Oh, I know. I was just looking while I made my way over to the Charms section."

Listening to her she nods. "That's also a good way to do that. If I'm not writing...I tend to turn to music and singing, but never singing in public. Usually to myself. Not comfortable with people hearing me sing." Not being so active, but she wish she was, she remembered from time to time watching her mom and dad work out together in the garage as Aibhi and her little brother would just be sitting there doing whatever else they were doing at a young age. Nowadays, her dad is busy with his work and her mom and her have...unfortunately not seen eye to eye as of late, but...teenagers right?

Nodding, she then paused for a moment and cleared her throat. Don't get awkward now, you numpty. You didn't know. She chuckles softly to herself knowing that, yeah, yeah she probably did know where to look, but...yeah Aibhi was starting to feel like she was being awkward. The classic Draven-O'Hanlan flaw/quirk. Looking at the books along where the two stood, she looked back at the first year, Introductions Aibhi! Bloody- Clearing her throat, she then tries to break the awkwardness she was causing. "I'm sorry. I- I'm so rude. Here I am talking to you and didn't introduce myself. My name is Aibhlinn. But, you- you can call me Aibhi. Mostly everyone does." And by everyone...she meant the three, maybe four people that she actually speaks to at school.

Being active was good for her. The amount of energy she normally had within her could be tremendous but lightly that had seemed to not be the case. "You sing? Are you really good?" Lia loved music but singing wasn't one of her strong suits. She was better at it than her sister Lily though. Thinking about it made her smile a little bit more. Her singing was definitely not band worthy at all.

In the moment of silence that occurred Lia flipped through the pages of the book before closing it. This one could come in handy so she would be checking it out today. Rude? Lia hadn't thought so but the introduction was helpful. "Hi, Aibhi. I'm Dahlia or Lia, either one is fine." She always answered to both and several other nicknames that had been given to her.

Shrugging her shoulders a bit, she simply pushes back some of her hair from her face, "I would like to think I get my voice from my mother, but I'm pretty sure I sound like my father when I sing so I just stick to singing to myself to save myself from embarrassment." She could tell that music was something that interested her a bit and, for once, Aibhi started to realize that maybe if she got to know people more instead of brushing them off and turning away from them, she'll get to know them more.

Smiling softly she nods to her reply, "It's nice to meet you, Lia. Have you enjoyed being here at Hogwarts thus far...all things considered. I swear this place is never like this. Usually its more...lively, but given the circumstances..." She pauses mid sentence. The last thing she wants to do right now at is scare the poor girl away so she quickly gives her throat a little clearance before switching up the subject a bit, "These next seven years are going to be some of the best years of your life. the magic you will learn, the friends you'll make." Looking around the library, she takes in her early years in school and she sighs softly. "I'm going to miss this place after my seventh year."

Lia giggled quietly. "My big sister used to be in a band when she was here at Hogwarts and my cousin is currently in a band." Sometimes she went around humming and singing their songs to herself, mostly whenever she really missed being home. "That's okay. It doesn't matter where you sing if it's something you enjoy doing."

"I guess so?" So far things hadn't been what she expected but that happened sometimes. "I'm not alone here... I have my siblings and cousins so we stick together." Having her family here with her really helped a lot both physically and emotionally. Without them all she likely would've taken things much harder. A small gentle smile formed on her lips. "My entire family has always attended Hogwarts.. so I'm looking forward to it all." Right now, anyways. Who knew what the future had in store, not her.

She nods. "That's pretty cool. Maybe one day you'll join a band too." Who knows? Maybe Lia will become famous one day.

Listening to Lia speak, she leaned against the bookshelf pushing a piece of her hair out of her face. She smiled back warmly to her listening to her. "That's awesome that your family has attended Hogwarts. Pretty much the same for my family...except my dad. I think he went somewhere else, but still...pretty much the entire family has been to Hogwarts. My younger brother Wes is here too. He's a fourth year Slytherin. Haven't been able to seen him as much though with everything too. I hope he's ok." Her demeanor changes slightly thinking about her brother and a look of worry comes across her face but then she clears her throat and shakes it off. "But, I'm sure the future will be slightly better after this." giving an reassuring nod.