A Place For Quiet...

Ethan wasn't one to be quiet. In fact, silence creeped him out, if he was being honest. He didn't like places that were soaked in hushed whispers, the Library being one such place, but he found himself in the school Library on a particularly fine day, wondering why he was doing this to himself.

He tip-toed walked though the aisles, peering at the textbook spines, seeing some that bored him to tears, and others that fascinated him. He took one of the books from the shelves and placed it on the table nearby. He probably wouldn't read it, but it looked like he was studying, or trying to. He figured that the Librarian would be less inclined to hurl him out on his sorry arse if it looked like he actually needed to be here and not loitering, something that he was was pretty much doing.

Ethan sat down at the table, and opened the book. Snooze, he thought, as he started to daydream instead.

Riley loved the library. She always had, with all of the books both new and old along with the smell of ink and parchment. She had waited until she was familiar with the school's basic layout before finally being able to enter the legendary Hogwarts library. The one in her home was tiny compared to it, for one could almost get lost in this labyrinth of shelves. Lost was something that she was good at, always wandering aimlessly around trying to find where she was supposed to be.

Entering the large room she grinned and made her way to the nearest shelve, not planning her book selection, but allowing her eyes to sweep for something that would draw her attention. They landed on a dark green bound book and she pulled it from the shelf. She smiled and looked around to see a boy sitting at a table with a book. She walked over to him quietly and said, "Hello. Hello? What are you reading?"

"Hello. Hello?"

Ethan was snapped out of his reverie by a voice nearby. He blinked a couple of times, clearing his mind of the daydream that captured his attention mere moments ago.

"Huh, what?! Where's the fire?!" he interrogated rather quickly, glancing around but only seeing the girl's face; a face that seemed to have no panicked expression. Ethan was suddenly not as discombobulated.

"Gotta be more careful with the choice of greeting, there, I'm thinking," he said calmly. It was his fault though, he surmised. He did wander off in a daydream after all. This girl could have saved his life had there been an actual fire or disaster of some description.

"What was the question? I was distracted by the thought of being turned into charcoal."

Riley took a step back to try not to startle the boy, but she seemed to have succeeded in doing so anyway. She fought the laugh that threatened to come out at his confusion and instead bit her lip. She raised her eyebrows at him, "And what do you propose that I say? Is 'hello' not the normal thing to to greet somebody with?"

"I say hello to you and you think that there is a fire? Paranoia or a bad day dream?" She laughed, placing her book on the table and took a seat, "I asked what you were reading, but it appears that you actually weren't." She opened her book and began to read, "What house and year are you in? Oh, I'm Riley by the way."

Ethan looked up at her. "Quite normal enough, I would assume. Unless you're in another, non-English speaking country. In that case, no, I wouldn't say that was normal at all. I think that one hello is fine. A second hello with a questioning tone makes me think of an emergency. I watch too much TV, that's the reason. Made me think you were trying to rouse me from my daydreams so that I wouldn't be burnt to a crisp."

Ethan looked down at the book he was using as a cover. He couldn't even pronounce the title, so he would be hard pressed to try and explain why he was reading such an indeciperable book in the first place.

At her questions, Ethan raised an eyebrow to match her own. It sounded like he was being questioned by police. Name and whereabouts on June 15th at 7pm.

"Ethan Carter, First year, Hufflepuff and I was at home alone feeding my cat at 7pm, thank you very much." The last part was thrown in for good measure and more than likely would have her thinking he desperately needed a mental institution. He wasn't crazy though, his mother had him tested.

"This is true, but are we not in Britain? Oh, well next time I will ensure I greet you with only one hello. I am sure that you 'watching TV' would mean so much more to me if I had any idea what TV was," She laughed, swinging her legs on her chair. She had heard of TVs; aren't they are muggle invention? "Trust me, I would not be saying hello to awaken you to escape a fire."

She smiled at his answer, "I am a first year Ravenclaw, and at 7pm, Ethan Carter, I was doing a Charms assignment." She let her gaze leave the book and trail over the the title of his, "Rather boring that one, no? I am more of a novel person." She raised the book she was reading as proof before continuing to read from where she left, "So is there a particular reason that you are here, seeing as you obviously are not studying."

Ethan shook his head. How could someone not know what TV was, being, in Ethan's opinion, the greatest invention ever?

"Tv is brilliant. Short for television, it's a.. erm... box that shows moving images. Kind of like the magical photographs, but a hundred times better." Ethan didn't think his explaining was doing the object justice, so he just stopped right there.

He glanced down at the still not going to pronounce book and nodded. "Downright boring. So much so that I think I'll read it just before bed to ensure I'll fall asleep fast." He shrugged.

"Not really. I just thought to myself, where would I go if I didn't actually want to go somewhere, and the Library came to mind, well, second to nowhere, of course. I seem to ask myself these questions sometimes. Nothing to worry about."

Looking back to him as he spoke, Riley decided that she would look up TVs at some other time, figuring that a book would confuse her less than her fellow first year. She grinned, and nodded, "It had a very similar affect on me, but I tried to keep reading. I will admit that I did fail at that, giving up again after a few more pages." She took a slip of paper from her pocket and placed it in between pages 28 and 29, which was where she was already up to. She then rested the book gently on the table.

"It is of course impossible to be nowhere, for you are always somewhere. What I don't understand is why the library would possibly take that place," She frowned a little before smiling, "I love the library. I like books. I mean, look at all of these book, and each of them holds an entire new world inside. I guess that reading isn't for everyone. What do you do around here?"

Ethan scrunched up his face at her.

'Way to use logic!" he said, in a mock scold. She was a Ravenclaw, he supposed; probably couldn't help it. Logic was his old nemesis. He'd beat it, one day.

"The Library would take that place because, One: I can't stand that old book smell. Reminds me of my grandma's old house. Trust me, one step in that place, and you're never the same again. And Two:...." Ethan thought about it. "Erm... well.. let's skip two for now. Library's equal gross smell and boring books. There we go! Boring books. That can be a substitute for two, until I can think of something better."

Ethan shrugged. "Can't say I have a good reason as to why I'm here. The smell is starting to get to me. But here I am, nevertheless."