Eat. Breathe. Read.

Brianna wandered through the bookshop, looking up at the shelves in wonder and feeling positively miniscule in comparison to the cavernous aisles. She could see no rhyme or reason to how the books were organized- one shelf was alphabetical by title while the one below it was alphabetical by author while the one to the left of that was sorted by subject while the one diagonal from that appeared to be sorted by color- but she found the whole thing enchanting.

She tugged a loose strand of hair as she crouched to examine a tiny shelf beneath the others. It appeared to be no longer than her index finger and it was stuffed with the tiniest of books. "How stange," she said to herself, using her fingernails to pluck one of the little books off the shelft and holding it in the palm of her hand.

Her eyes widened as it grew before her eyes. "Shrinking Solutions and Other Small Magic," she ran her fingers over the embossed golden title. She returned the book to its spot, watching as it returned to its previous size and straightened up before reaching for another book. This place was simply wonderful.

She selected another book ("Charms Made Ch-Easy: A Witch's Guide to Magical Cooking") and settled into a little nook on the side wall to read.

Peter wandered the shelves still looking for his books, Ralph secured in his pocket. He really did like the bookstore. The preteen smirked recalling his parents’ expressions when they learned he’d read through a set of his father’s Encyclopedia’s by the time he was six. Seeing a girl sitting down reading a book, he tilted his head and upper body to see the title of the book.

“I’m guessing you like to cook?” he asked by way of conversation.

"Erm, no, not really, more like I burn things and then my mother has to call the fire department so that they don't come running thinking that our whole house is going to burn down" Brianna said, looking up at the boy who had spoken. "I thought that maybe I could get some tips but no such luck so far."

She felt like a bit of an idiot for babbling, but she supposed it didn't really matter much. "I'm Brianna."

Essi wandered past a shelf of books and almost bumped into a boy and a girl having a conversation.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, taking a step backwards. And then she caught a glimpse of the book.

"Cooking? I didn't think we'd have to study that at Hogwarts."

Then she could have kicked herself. Here she was being an idiot, when she was hoping to get sorted into Ravenclaw. She was normally so much more... intelligent than this.

"It's alright. We don't, I think..." Bri couldn't remember seeing anything about a cooking class on her Hogwarts acceptance letter. "I just picked this out because it looked interesting."

Being a muggle born was turning out to have its disadvantages. What if they did have to do a magical cooking class? Would the other students be more prepared than her because they grew up with at least one witch or wizard in their households? She resolved to buy this book with her other textbooks, just in case. She didn't want to be the most ignorant one in her class. That would be embarrassing.

"Are you starting Hogwarts this year as well?" she asked the girl.

"I am," said Essi. "I'm pretty nervous, to be honest."

She was worried that she'd made the other girl worried. She was pretty sure they didn't have to do cooking. Unless there was cooking involved in the potions classes, but her mother had never said anything about that.

"What's your name?" she asked, realising that she didn't know yet. "I'm Essi," she added.

Adreis had found her way to the bookstore. Finally. It was her favorite place so far. Her brother, Sam had left her here while he went off to go do some errends. she wandered through the stacks, looking at all the books. There were so many...

She turned to go to the next isle, looking up briefly, and saw a small group of people. They all looked around her age, She wanted to go say hello.. but she didn't want to intrude on anything or make a fool of herself. Of course then she tripped and fell over.

Essi saw another girl out of the corner of her eye. She was about to turn and say hello when the girl tripped and fell.

"Oh! Are you all right?" she exclaimed, rushing over.

Dree stood up "Yeah. thanks" she smiled slightly and picked up the book she had been carrying.

The girl looked around her age, it would be nice to know someone when she went to Hogwarts, if this girl was even going.. "I'm Adreis" she said in a quiet voice, still feeling a bit shy and stupid for falling over.

"I'm Essi," said Essi. "Are you going to Hogwarts?"

She felt herself beginning to motormouth with yet another person, but decided she didn't car. So far her methods had only made her friends, so she wasn't going to stop now.

Dree smiled and nodded. "I want to be in Ravenclaw, lik my mum was... what house to you want to be in?" she asked the girl, feeling strangly socail...

Kyra walked the expanses of the bookshop, looking for books that she liked.

Please have Shakespeare, please, please, PLEASE have plays by William Shakespeare, she thought to herself.

She searched and searched, but to no avail. She couldn't find anything.

"Oh well," she murmured to herself. As she walked back to her mother, she saw a couple of kids her age having a conversation. She assumed it was about Hogwarts.

"Hi," she said, somewhat quietly. She walked up the aisle to the group, because they hadn't heard her and said, "Hi."

Dree smiled at the girl "Hello" she said quietly. "You going to Hogwarts too?" she asked. the girl looked close to her age, and she had red hair. good to know she wouldn't be the only one...

"Yeah." She offered the redheaded girl a smile. She stuck out her right hand for the girl to shake, the one with her woven bracelet. "I'm Kyra. Kiki for short. Kinda."

Dree grinned "Adreis. Dree for short."

Sam will be so proud that I made friends she thought sarcastically.

"What year are you guys going into?" she asked

"I'm just starting. What year are you going into?"
She looked around the bookcases and finally found something. "Yes!" she yelled in delight.

"Same here" Dree nodded.

She jumped slightly when the girl yelled, almost losing her grip on her own book. "What is it?" she asked

"I. Found. Shakespeare! Look, look," she said, pushing the book into Adreis' arms. "Romeo and.... Juliet..."

She could almost feel the tears run down her face. It would be any second now.

Dree smiled. "I've read it. I got the Compleate Works of William Shakespeare for my birthday last year."

She held up her own book. It was an astronomy book, but not the one for Hogwarts. "Astronomy is cool" she grinned

Kiki tried to clear away the tears. She sniffed a little before smiling. "Lucky. I wanted it, but I got only King Lear."
She looked at the book in Adreis' hands. "Yeah, astronomy is pretty cool," she raised her eyebrows. "But I like potions better."

"Potions" she repeted "Eh, I'm decent. I haven't done any potions since.." She stopped and looked at her feet "Since my mum died..." she said quietly, trying not to cry. It was still really hard to talk about her mum. They had been very close.

She wiped her eyes quickly and plastered a smile on her face "you can borrow my Shakespeare book if you want..." She knew her smile looked fake, and her eyes probably red, so she looked at her feet again.

"Hey, are you okay? I... I know what it feels like to lose someone you love. It happened to me not even a year ago." She looked at Adreis. "I lost my sister." Her eyes reddened almost immediately. Grief glistened in them.

"I'm sorry..." she said, but then smiled slightly "So how about it? You wanna borrow my book?" she swiched to a happier topic, not trying to be disrespectful, but because she didn't like talking about death, it made her sad.

Kyra looked up from the floor. She wiped away her tears and smiled a bit.
"Yeah, I'd like that. You know what?"

Dree smiled. "Yeah? I can bring it to school.. or if you live in London, you could come get it... or could make Sam get it..." she mused "What?" she asked