Cute cuddly thieves. on Library

Renée Errant

January 31, 2011 2:31 AM

Cute cuddly thieves. by Renée Errant

It was after her last class that Renée made her way to the library, a little tired at the sudden end of the week, but happy nonetheless. Dumping her books on a table, she plopped down on a chair and let her head fall, the dark curls spilling onto the table. Her hair wasn't as long as she would have liked it to be, but she had managed to make peace with it. Just as she had made peace with the fact that she was sorted into Crotalus instead of Pecari, and that there was undoubtedly something brewing between two of her roommates that Renée didn't have the attention span to obsess about. 'Whatever happens will happen.' She thought with a mental yawn. 'And I'll deal with it then.'

She had homework to do, essays to write, a few spells to practice, but she couldn't summon the discipline to start it so soon after Friday afternoon classes. She leaned back up, slumped slightly against her chair, before withdrawing her wand and throwing it up in the air, watching the midair spin, catching it, and quickly grew bored. She placed it back on the table. There was a slight rustling and murmuring as more students entered the library, but the sounds were quickly shushed. 'Perhaps the library wasn't the best place to seek out adventure.'

She pushed her chair back up, leaving her things on the table for a minute, and walked past a few shelves. She had signed up to be a library assistant, and figured she might as well now familiarize herself with the library. Her eyes raked past a few intriguing titles but one in particular caught her eye. Nifflers in Moonlight. She lifted herself up on her toes, her knees trembling slightly as she strained for the book. "Yes!" She smiled at the thought of the cute little treasure hunter creatures. Her fingers traced over the book, feeling the silver engraving of the title. "Looks kind of interest - hey!" She laughed in surprise as a single niffler suddenly popped out of the pages. Remembering her DADA lesson last year, she swiftly shut the book and hugged it to her chest, watching as the cute furry black creature scurried to the nearest student, no doubt seeking the shiniest object it could find.

"Oh!" Renée called out in warning, her mind temporarily frozen as it tried to think of the appropriate thing to say. She couldn't stop the smile spreading on her lips at the ridiculousness of the situation. 'And who says you can't find adventure in a library?'

0 Renée Errant Cute cuddly thieves. 0 Renée Errant 1 5

James Owen

February 03, 2011 12:55 PM

The creatures have personal space issues by James Owen

Not that James had ever had occasion to doubt whether he'd be sorted into the right House, but the simple fact that he'd spent at least two hours in the library every day since his return to school after the summer was sufficient in his mind to prove he belonged in Aladren. James liked the library - there were books here. He had spent a great deal of his life being jealous of people who had more money than him - which was just about everyone - but he'd really felt miserable when David told him he'd read a lot over the summer. not initially, but when the concept had time to brew in his mind, James realized that for the foreseeable future he would not afford to read in the holidays. All his textbooks were second hand, all his clothes were second hand - in fact, everything was second hand. the library was sort of the same, in that James had to share all its books with the rest of the students in school, but he could get to them at any time outside of classes or curfew.

Not only did the library have books, but it was quiet. Sure other kids came in to use if from time to time, but for the most part they respected the need for peace in a place of study. Or casual reading, which was in fact what James was doing on this occasion. He was reading a wonderful work of fiction about goblins taking over a clan of giants through trickery and persuasion. He was distracted from his reading however when a small furry creature came and nuzzled his back briefly before giving up and hurrying on to another student. Frowning, and somewhat offended by the creature's apparent desire to get away from his as fast as possible, James looked up to see the source of the niffler - they didn't just appear out of thin air.

There was a girl who'd called out, and she was clutching a book upon the cover of which the word 'Niffler' was just about visible. "Yeah, it won't find anything shiny in my bag," he said grumpily, targeting the girl because she'd obviously been the cause of this insulting scenario. She was grinning. "You think that's funny?"

0 James Owen The creatures have personal space issues 168 James Owen 0 5

Renée

February 05, 2011 5:24 PM

They just want to make a connection. by Renée

Renée raised her eyebrows at the boy's response, a little taken aback by the snappish remark which seemed to her unprovoked. "Um, yes?" She pushed a curl back behind her ear, smile fading just a little as the boy looked at her. She recognized him from her classes (he had always seemed somewhat, well, less "shiny" to her than the rest) but couldn't recall his name at the moment. 'John or George or something.' Her brown eyes followed the niffler as it pranced around the space before hopping and scuttling off through some shelves. She glanced back at the evidently irritated boy. "A cute furry animal just sort of stroked you or something. That's kind of funny." She uncrossed her arms and held the book loosely by her side as she walked back to her table, the one right next to the boy's, and sat down.

It didn't dawn on her until she opened the book again (this time more cautiously than before) that he might have been asking if she found it funny that there was nothing shiny in his bag. She had to admit, he didn't look like there would be anything of worth on him. She didn't find that funny though. She was rather indifferent to it. She knew her brother had grown up poor and even had to spend time in an orphanage when their mother tried to find living arrangements, but that was all a distant adventure in the past. Only brought up for stories to satisfy her curiosity. Now the family flourished in content wealth, with Renée never having to know poverty, or worry about the possibility of it. Sometimes, though, after hearing one of Gabriel's stories about the past, she thought she might want to be poor one day, just for a day, so that she too could live out an adventure akin to the one Gabriel had been forced to have.

She started again to read the book, making no sound except the turning of the page. It turned out it was an account (true or fictionalized, she couldn't yet tell) of a pirate wizard setting out for Portugal. In the beginning it was only detailing the crew and the romance he was leaving behind in Corsica. She looked up again, when sound of scuttling broke through her concentration, and she giggled as the niffler appeared on the top of the bookshelf, a shiny gold watch in its mouth. It seemed to be chewing it. It blinked at her from its perch. She whistled softly at it and was delighted as it made a funny whistling noise back and leaped off the shelf and onto -

"Oh." Renée put a hand to her mouth, as the niffler landed neatly on the boy's head. "Well, um, there's something shiny." The watch had fallen from the niffler's mouth and onto the edge of the desk in front of the boy. She watched the boy pensively for his reaction, holding her hand out cautiously for the niffler to leap into it, fearing that the boy make take his anger out on the cute little furry thing.

0 Renée They just want to make a connection. 0 Renée 0 5

James

February 09, 2011 4:26 AM

My fist might make a connection by James

Right, so she did think it was funny. James thought he should have guessed as much. Girls were all stupid and giggly and rarely though about anyone else. She would think it's funny that he didn't have anything at all in his possession that a niffler might want. Admittedly she followed by saying that she thought it was funny he'd just been 'sort of stroked' by the creature, but james merely saw this as a feeble attempt to try and cover up the source of her real amusement. That was just spineless.

Ignoring the girl as she sat down at the table near him (seriously, of all the tables in this place she had to choose the one next to his?), James turned resolutely back to his book. He felt that he was frowning, and tried to relax his face. No use letting some stupid little girl annoy him like that, he thought. He was smarter than she was, and she'd stopped talking to him now, so everything was fine. He could go back to reading, go back to imagining his was right there at the entrance to the giants' lair, where the huge chief lay snoring, emitting huge, rumbling sounds that shook the mountains all around him, and... wait, was she whistling now? Unable to prevent himself, James looked round at the source of the noise. Niffler girl was indeed whistling, and looking up at a Niffler on the bookshelf that seemed to be whistling back. Great merlin, why couldn't she leave him alone and annoy someone else?

James was about to suggest this to her when the cursed Niffler abandoned his perch to land smartly on James' head. With a yell of surprise and annoynace that no doubt disturbed others trying to enjoy the peace of the library, James jumped to his feet. The critter, no doubt frightened by this sudden movement and sound, scurried at once to the releative safety of that wretched girl who was the cause of all this in the first place. "You," James said with his voice raised, pointing a finger firmly at Niffler girl, "are ruining my day. Take your book and your idiot animal out of here and leave poeple alone to study in peace and quiet!" Still frowning heavily at her, though somewhat ashamed for his outburst, James sat back down and stared at the girl, waiting for her to do as he said and leave.

0 James My fist might make a connection 0 James 0 5

Renée

February 10, 2011 6:52 PM

Hah! You wouldn't dare. by Renée

Renée blinked blankly at the boy's outburst, simply unable to comprehend the strong emotion. In the back of her mind, she was bristling at the order he had just given her, but the outrage she felt slipped away when she was brought back by the sweet pathetic whimpers of the niffler. "Just look at what you did." She frowned at John/George. "You've frightened him." She cupped her hands around the creature and stroked its fur, soothing it somewhat. She wasn't exactly sure whether it was male or not but that's what she was going with. She waited until the niffler had stopped quivering in fear, its eyes blinking rapidly at the boy, before she set it down on the table.

She looked up the boy; gone was the sweet slightly crooked smile she had bestowed on the niffler. "If you're so bothered," she snapped at him. "Then you can just go yourself. You might have noticed that I've been nothing but polite to you, and you've gone all psycho just because some poor niffler touched you!" Her fingers blindly reached out to stroke the niffler again; it crooned at her touch, as if urging her to continue her light massage, as well as her tirade. Her anger was fleeting though, she had never been able to hold on to the emotion for long. Though she could see this boy was obviously different than her.

She turned back to her book, gently pushing the niffler next to the pages though unsure whether or not it could go in the same way it came out. For a moment her ears were perked to see if the rude boy had gone but eventually her mind settled back onto the words; the captain had just given one of his favorite girls a kiss on the lips. Renée read on with a small confused smile as his kiss traveled to the girl's neck. The following description was equally confusing, she was unsure what the actions of the characters were trying to tell her. Curious but impatient for the story to make sense, her eyes skimmed the passage and traveled to the next page.

The niffler, meanwhile, had been lightly nipping at her fingers, its teeth to gentle to do any harm. He had been watching the boy with a mixture of both caution and fascination; mature emotions for a niffler. As if wanting to cause more strife, just for the sake of something to see, he let out a slew of melodic notes emanate from his throat.

0 Renée Hah! You wouldn't dare. 0 Renée 0 5

James

February 23, 2011 7:51 AM

You wait and see by James

James could have pointed out to the girl that he was the one who had been sitting and reading quietly, which is what the library had been created for, and she was the one who was playing with the Niffler, and therefore it was blatant which one of them should leave, but this speech would obviously be wasted on someone whose brain was so under-developed that she could not already have realized this for herself. Therefore James slammed his book shut in annoyance - really, he shouldn't have to be the one to leave - and said, "All I can hear is blah, blah blah." He stood up and shoved the book into his bag. "You play with your stupid animals, they're about on your wavelength."

All he'd wanted was some peace and quiet; apparently that was too much to ask for. He couldn't find it in his commons, he couldn't find it in the llibrary - he was going to go crazy soon if he had to put up with any more girls and their stupid ideas that always ended up annoying him. He had to live with two sisters at home and that was enough - while he could escape one of them at Sonora (the other had started first year now) it didn't help, because the school was full of other girls, who were more stupid and annoying, and James hadn't even thought that was possible.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, James headed towards the back of the stacks. He contemplated settling in another seat at another table, away from stupid Niffler Girl, but she might decide to follow him, just to annoy him further, and even if she didn't then he could probably still hear that annoying whistlingfrom the foresaken creature. Instead he kept walking to where he could enter the Aladren commons - she couldn't follow him there, thank Merlin.

0 James You wait and see 0 James 0 5