Fear the Reaper

What was it about the library that kept Andrew in order? Probably the peace of it. No loud people and no drama. Sometimes. But at this point Andrew couldn't care less. Drama was an inevitability. Like death. But death was much quicker. And less painful. The matter of which happened to him flew over his head now and he felt new. Now he had to face his past one more time. But he would do that later.

For now he would relax. He looked the same as he always did but just a couple or subtle changes. He was half an inch taller, had a five o clock shadow, and his hair length went down little beyond his ear. He looked a lot more dignified in his walk as well. Even his presence seemed a bit more different. Some students had even turned to see because of it. He continued into the library and sat down at a table near the entrance. He felt better now that he was back at Hogwarts. Where he had been he would not say, but the trip was worth it.

Salem had been in the library for awhile now and had gone through her first stack of books, which had mostly centered on care of magical creatures and 17th century literature. She did not know what had caused the themes to be so random, but towards the end of the last book, she had got it in her head that she needed something more plant-themed... and she needed poetry. She was not sure why, but she did.

She spent the next few minutes roaming the library and trying to find something she had not read on plants and trying to find something on poetry. Either way, her search was coming up rather fruitless, though she had found two books on plants and another on gothic poetry. Irony- it was centered on the time period, not the fad that she was labeled as. Still. Irony.

Her foot caught something and she was sent stumbling forward, only barely managing to cling to her books, though one of the ones on plants flew from her fingertips. She managed to catch herself on her way down and pull herself up, swinging out a hand to grab the fallen book. She turned to see what had caused her fall, a timid expression on her face, when she saw a familiar face. Andrew. She brightened slightly and raised a hand in recognition, apology, and as a sign that she was unharmed.

Andrew looked the other direction and saw someone familiar about to fall. He was about to act but could notice that the girl had managed to catch herself. So he kept himself where hd sat and smiled his casual smile that he showed a lot. "Hey Salem," he said in a friendly tone "I haven't seen ya in a while". He remembered that he had met Salem right before he disappeared for a while. He wondered if anyone had noticed at all. Besides the teachers. He also remembered that she was a mute so he would have to be careful. He noticed that shy was gesturing that she was alright so he nodded. "how have you been" he asked curiously, wondering what had happened in the past few months. Had it been months? He couldn't remember. But it had been a while.

Salem gave him a small wavering smile. He had remembered her. Oh. She was mostly used to be pushed out of people's thoughts. Out of mind, out of care. The people who did remember her were typically the people who had their heart's set on tormenting her, trying to break her spirit. But Andrew was nice, or at least, he had been to her so far. He had been very kind to her when they had first met, and even now he was very polite.

He said he had not seen her in awhile and she nodded. She had noticed he had disappeared for awhile. She noticed a lot of things others didn't, though she supposed others had noticed Andrew's disappearance. From what she could tell, he was popular. They probably knew why as well. But she had noticed. She had found herself scanning the halls for him once or twice. She didn't know why...she just had.

He asked how she had been and she shrugged; this was when she became painfully aware of the fact that she was still standing. Going slightly pink, she quickly sat at the table and watched him. A quill and piece of parchment had been abandoned on the table, so she picked it up and quickly wrote Where have you been? before sliding it over to him, her large eyes watching him.

Andrew smiled lightly when Salem sat down. She was unusual but she seemed to be a good person. He looked at the piece of paper and read the text on the small parchment. "well I kind of had to do a couple of things," he admitted "stuff I don't want to get into at the moment. But how have you been?" Maybe if he changed the conversation, things would eventually go in his favor. He wanted to forget about the past. Especially Chase. God knows how much she changed. "sorry I hadn't been around by the way" he aplogized "had to get away from some things as well"

Salem sucked in her lips, mentally kicking herself. Stupid! Stupid! She was pushing herself into matters she did not belong to. She had only spoken to him once, it was probably something personal that she had no business knowing about. She smiled weakly as he apologized but continued to berate herself for her lack of tack. She could be so stupid!

He asked how she had been and she blinked a few times, looking at her her hands for a long moment before being able to reach out, take the quill, slide the paper over, and write anything. I haven't been anything. It was the truth. Her eyes were a little wider but a little duller, ever since being attacked by the new Divination teacher. But it was the truth. She was not any different, she was still the ignored goth girl. She pulled the paper back and wrote Sorry for meddling. And sorry for whatever is going on... If you need to talk She looked at the last sentence fragment and firmly put a line through it. She was pushing it. He would not want to talk to her. She glumly slid it back to him.

Andrew looked back at the piece of paper and read the new line. So nothing really changed then? That was curious. He slid the paper back to her and tried to think on his reply. He didn't want to admit he had left. It wasn't even a vacation either. "your not meddling," he smiled "I understand. Let's just say fate has a way at clawing ones sanity to pieces. Not that I went crazy or anything." smooth. Very smooth. "but how has all your c.asses been?" very random yet subtle.

Salem bit her lip, staring at her hands as she fiddled with them, picking at a nail, rubbing her thumbs together, cracking her knuckles. Anything to avoid Andrew's gaze. She had been having trouble making eye contact since Zara attacked her and she knew she should be challenging herself, but every time she did, she saw those cruel eyes smirking back at her.

She bit her lip harder when Andrew assured her she was not meddling and nodded, shrugging her shoulders awkwardly as though she was not convinced she deserved such kindness. She looked up and pursed her lips awkwardly and nodded, sadness in her eyes. He asked about classes and she wrote Well, I have a problem with the Divination teacher, but otherwise...fine.

(Christ, I apologize this toke so long. I had a lot of stuff to do but I have my computer back now! WOOT!)

Andrew looked at the small slip of paper once more and toke careful notes of the wording. She had good handwriting...but hadn't he noticed that before? Strange really. He passed the paper back to Salem and said to her "Well what's the problem? Anything I can do to help?" That was always Andrew. Even if he had just left Hogwarts for a long time AND didn't even go to classes, he still cared about others. A weakness?

Perhaps.

But either way, he wanted to help Salem. The only one so far who wouldn't judge him. He was glad that she wouldn't but he still couldn't figure out if he should trust her at all. I'm pretty sure she's trustworthy, he thought to himself in reassurance. He shook himself back to reality and liste- read what she would write down next.

(HUZZAH!!!)

Salem stared down at the table, dust swirling across the once glossy and now fairly scratched and faded surface. The dust almost seemed to bring back the memories from a day... where the snow swirled and tugged at Salem's hair and loose clothing, tugging her onward and away from everyone else, when she did not even consider that someone may want to hurt her... When she had been naive... innocent... happy...

She shook her head. Andrew wanted to help but really... what could he do? Nothing would happen to the professor, Andrew could not stop her. The woman could not take back what she did. How do you take back torture? You don't... She quickly scribbled, No... There's nothing you could do. Thank you though... Really...