Stalking The Aisles

The spring sunshine was shining in through the windows of the library, proving to not only distract but also harass Ariel. The wayward werewolf, who had once again turned to Fenrir’s book for guidance, had retreated to the Restricted Section. His bag and other personal affects were sat beneath a window and he’d transfigured a drapery into a bean bag for him to sit on. At present, Ariel was stalking up and down the different aisles in search of a particular book. His eyes, a now creamy colour thanks to the Full Moon having just passed and brought him little fortune scanned each shelf in seconds. He was disappointed each time in his search. He had a dozen or more books on werewolves. All were stereotypical but all of them pointed towards a shrine of sorts, one that was said to relieve the afflicted of its curse. Ariel knew better than to believe such tales but all of the books pointed to the same shrine. They also all referenced a book in particular, one he’d found in Fenrir’s library and one he knew to be in this part of the Hogwarts library.

Picking up a non-descript book about House Elves, Ariel hit the side of one of the book cases with the spine, hoping to make something appear. When nothing happened Ariel let the book drop to the floor. He turned on his heel and walked back over to where his things were. He sat down on the bean bag and pursed his lips in frustration. He pulled the first book he put his hand to, off of the pile and opened it up. The pages fluttered and fell to the sides to reveal a drawing of the anatomy of a standard werewolf. It made Ariel smile. He closed it and tossed it away. The book hit the side of one of the shelves and disappeared into nothingness, no doubt only to reappear from whence it came.

Taking his Kombolói out of his pocket, Ariel began to spin it. Thoughts, previously jumbled in his mind, straightened themselves out and he picked the simplest line to follow: Jack. It may have been the simplest line but mind you, that didn’t mean it wasn’t uncomplicated. Jack. She was....no, Ariel was wrong. The confusing emotions that were tied to her were just as complicated as his race’s position in society or the way he felt about Risé. Of course the last of the three made much more sense. He cared about Risé – a lot – but not in the way he cared about Jack. Ariel groaned and jumped to his feet. He needed someone – anyone to make his day. And to do that, they needed to amuse him somehow.

Piper did not study because she did not care. She did like to read though. She had that bad girl reputation, but what was worse, she had that smart bad girl reputation, which made her even more of someone to avoid, which was her plan. She was the kind of girl that could not only kick your ass, but she could do it without a shred of remorse, and also talk circles around you without a second of thought.

She was in the back, pouring over some interesting history reading. Sure, History of Magic was the worst thing that had ever happened to Hogwarts, besides letting males attend, males and idiots. But history, of anything was the bliss. It always guaranteed some sort of interesting stories, thrilling tales, eccentric and memorable characters, morals, everything one needed from literature.

She was in the back, near a window, hoping to gleam any warmth from the sunshine at all, and trying to stay away from everyone else. Some boy in her house had transformed something into a bean bag, which was very annoying since every time he shifted, she could hear it. Then he had went off and was stomping around and banging books everywhere. She stuffed her fingers into her ears and tried to concentrate, but the boy was absolutely annoying!

He returned and began fiddling around with all of the books, rifling through them, dropping them. She was about to call him out when he stopped. Finally, she took a breath and continued on. But a few moments later, the boy pulled out some sort of bracelet and began fiddling with it too. She felt her face contract and she whipped around, her hair whipping around too as she glared at him. "Could you cut that out?" she snapped.

All of the sound in the library was being made by Ariel. In the part that students were allowed to mill around in, the Librarian had gotten to her feet and had gone in search of the irritating sound the Kombolói were making as they slammed against his palm. Ariel sighed and leaned against the wall. His shoe-clad foot tapped against the leg of the bookshelf to his left and some of the books began to shift and grumble; similar to the portraits who complained when roused from their slumber in the middle of the night. He took his wand from his pocket and flicked it at the shelves, muting the books before they had a chance to voice their opinions on being woken up in ‘such a manner’. Smiling to himself, Ariel continued to tap at the bookshelf and as he did so, he began to spin the Kombolói again.

Suddenly, without warning, Ariel felt compelled to change subjects. He pocked his Kombolói and jumped to his feet, knocking over the stack of books in the process. Ariel swore but paid the mess no mind. He shed his outer robes before wandering over to the nearest shelf. He picked a book with a plum purple cover and it fell open as soon as it came into his hands. He turned upon hearing a voice, taking his eyes off of the calligraphy inside the dusty, old book. Ariel walked out from behind the bookshelf and looked down to find a blonde sitting on the floor, an irate look on her face.

Ariel smirked at her and snapped the book shut. The spine protested but he paid it no mind. Ariel tucked the book underneath his armpit and pursed his lips. While doing so, the werewolf took the girl in. She was fairly short – shorter than him at least – yet had a certain flair about her. She was a firecracker though, he was sure of that. Ariel plastered a look of confusion on his face. “Cut what out, love?” he questioned, a smirk creeping onto his lips.

The boy was one of those arrogant cretins who thought the world of himself and probably hated everyone else, she could see it. Some may have described her the same way, but she did not care much for herself. Sure, she thought herself better than everyone, but that was only because she thought of everyone as less than microorganisms, really. It was not a stretch. But the arrogance exuding this boy was positively irritating.

She sneered up at him. "Being obnoxious. Must you make so much noise? It is a library after all." Sure she was not one for obeying rules- she liked to break them for simply being set. She was very contrary to authority. But the library was the one place she could respect. Ir was almost sacred ground, where knowledge was kept and guarded. It was to be revered. Not violated.

"First with all the tapping, then banging books and shelves, then those infernal beads... More foot tapping, more banging, it really is wholly unnecessary." She shook her head and felt her eyes narrow on him, fully unconvinced by his look of confusion. He knew what he had done, he knew he had annoyed her, that much was sure. He was not helping himself acting stupid... Or, well, stupider...

As the girl questioned him, Ariel became distracted. That showed how much he truly cared for her opinion. He opened the plum book up again and read through the first couple of obligatory pages that were found in every print book. This one was not print though. Instead, it was hand written and looked as if it had been penned during the late sixteenth century, maybe the early seventeenth. Ariel held the book up to the light and found that, as he’d expected, the book was in Latin. That was most encouraging. Well, not really.

Ariel turned the book over in his hands, as if expecting the book to miraculously show him its secrets. All the while, the girl badgered about something, probably his amount of noise. Ariel didn’t know why she was complaining. Neither of them was actually supposed to be in the Restricted Section. Apparently she thought herself above her rules. Ariel had known from a young age that the worst that could happen to him was an abrupt and painful death at the hand of his own father. Silly things like detentions did not faze him in the slightest.

“Are you done?” Ariel asked airily, his eyes gliding along the cursive on the pages. “Usually an obscene amount of noise indicates frustration. If you want quiet then I suggest you go and sit in the part of the library you’re actually allowed to be in. Then you can be as silent as the grave. Libraries are here for people to learn aren’t they?” Ariel lifted the book to his eye level and frowned. “As it is...not everyone learns quietly. Some don’t learn at all – in which case they’re outside straddling bits of wood and trying to catch balls. It’s tragic really. Now, unless you can translate Latin to English, I highly suggest you shut up. Or, you can help me find a book that does just that...Miss...?”

The boy asked if she was done and she felt her mouth open slightly in disbelief. People did not speak to her that way. They did not have the balls to mess with her, because when it came down to it, she had more than all the boys in their school put together- metaphorically of course. No one ever challenged her, no one stepped up, no one talked to her like that.

So this b!tch...

As he continued on, she crossed her arms and glared up at him, her jaw ticked to the side in disbelief as she listened to the boy continue on, her astonishment and irritation growing with every word. She closed it and sucked on her cheek angrily, her eyes narrowing and zoning in on the boy with a hostile, challenging gaze that she usually saved for her grandmother.

Wow. He was on the league of Granny. That was bad.

At the end of his little speech she stared at him with a cold glare. She leaned forward, reaching out, and set a finger against a spine of a book. She hooked her finger at the top of the book and pulled it free of the bookshelf, letting it flop down onto the ground where it landed with a resounding thud. A cloud of dust rose up and revealed that it was just the book he had asked about, the translator. The entire time, her sharp eyes stayed trained on his, and she recrossed her arms.

"There. And who's to say I'm in here against the rules? Hmm?" She was bluffing, because of course she was not supposed to be here. "Don't assume. It makes an ass out of you and... well, not me in this case." She kicked the book towards him, since it was well put together and pretty tough. She rolled her eyes. "I just wanted a little respect and human decency. Is that too much?"