Colors Swirl, Pages Turn

Ellie had kicked her shoes off at the table where she had left all of her things. She walked around in her blue stockings and adjusted her dress as she reached the science fiction section. She did not mind how oddly and colorfully she had dressed, for Flourish and Blotts was completely empty- save for the clerk and his cat. Both, however, were fairly private creatures and paid Ellie no mind as she went about, humming old rock songs. This was just as she preferred, for when she read, she found her mind actually take a focus and a strong interest.

It was a good thing her best friends were not there, then. Both Foster and Judd were great for adventures, but could never focus. Besides, the fools were still nursing hurt spirits about having to redo their seventh year. Ellie didn't mind- the affliction had put her on bed rest for a month until it had become manageable. She was glad to have survived, even in she did miss her NEWTs. She liked school. She did not mind having to retake her final year.

Ellie took down a science fiction book and added that to the small pile she held in the nook of her arm- a book on poetry, a book on jokes, a book on feminism, and a book on eastern philosophy. She stacked the books and balanced them on top of her head, walking down the aisle towards the cookbooks.

Lusk needed second year school books and due to the constant upheaval at Hogwarts throughout the years she couldn't use Monroe's or anyone else's cast offs. It seemed like every teacher had their own ideas about which books were best.

He ushered his sister ahead of him into the bookshop while she yapped away about how much better this year was going to be now that there would be a whole grade of younger people to look more foolish than her.

"I wouldn't count on that," Monroe answered with an indulgent smile. "Lots of people will have caught that ...disease. Their parents might keep them at home."

"Come on, they're down here."

He led her towards the cooking books, where piles of text books were still stacked high next to them. And at second glance, a pile of books was also stacked high atop someone's head.

"Excuse us," he tried to squeeze past the peculiar Ellie Hansen without jostling her too much. Who knew what her reaction to the tumbling of her prized possessions would be?

Ellie was a musical person, and a song was stirring within her. She sang softly under her breath as she made her way to her destination, "Doo doo doooo, doo-doo doooo. Doo-doo-doo-dooo. Doo-doo doooo," totally zoning in on her own going-ons. Ellie was not particularily narrow-minded, per se, but she sometimes did get too caught up to be observant.

She reached the aisle and began to look for something to catch her eye- a book on chocolate-y food. That was what she wanted, she decided. She was about to move to look for just that when someone moved past her. She pressed up against the bookshelf as they said a polite 'excuse us' and Ellie gripped her books, feeling them sway. When the person had passed, she turned and her leaning tower began to tip.

She quickly righted it and dropped the books to her arms as a precaution and turned. She spotted a boy that had been in her year and she would have been graduating with, had she not missed her NEWTs. "Hi, Monroe!" she said chipperly, genuinely happy to see a peer after a solitary day.

Evidentially, the consequence of almost toppling the books from the eccentric girl's head was to be loudly accosted by his former house mate. There were worse experiences in the world.

With one finger on the spine of a book to mark his place, he half-turned to look over his shoulder at her.

"Hi, Ellie. Imagine seeing you here," he said.

Remembering Lusk, he used his remaining hand to push her forward so she stood awkwardly between them.

"Have you met Lusk? We're getting her books for second year."

Monroe was not very similar to Ellie. Despite Ellie's vivacious nature, however, she really was an intellectual . She simply harnassed it into a louder, brighter energy. But she had often teamed up with Monroe in a class or two when she was too angry with Foster to pair up with either him or Judd. So she was sincerely glad to see him.

He pushed forward a girl who bore some resemblance to him, obviously his sister. Ellie was typically bad with younger siblings- she only had two and both were much too old to pay her any mind. She often argued with Judd's little sister and absolutely terrifed Foster's siblings with her antics. So she very carefully said, "Hi Lusk. I'm Ellie. Enjoy second year. It's gets exceedingly boring by the time you get to fifth year."

Like Ellie, Lusk was also not very much like Monroe. Nor any of her siblings, come to think of it. The others were all so focused and internal while Lusk was more of a flaky show off. So it wasn't very surprising that her reply to Ellie was such a huge boast.

"Good thing I'll be out of school by the time I'm in fifth year, then."

Monroe literally facepalmed before shoving his sister back toward the book pile to find her texts.

"Sorry," he turned back toward Ellie. "She has an ego problem. You know how it is with kids her age. The way they think they know everything? Well, it's much worse for everyone when they can prove it."

Ellie was sincerely charmed by the girl's proclomation, having so often dealt with ego that was not constructed with any type of wit, that her words caused Ellie to burst into laughter. Both the younger siblings of Foster Murison and Judd Lewis seemed to have ego issues that flat out annoyed Ellie because they were all painfully, commonly, stupid. Lusk, however, could banter.

Ellie was still chuckling as Monroe hid his sister away, but she calmed as he addressed Ellie once again. She responded, "I find it perfectly healthy so long as it is well-reasoned and with basis. She seems clever enough to do it."