Sitting Alone (Open)

Since she'd finished the two books she'd got out of the library the week before, Madeline took a slow walk to the library to return them, get out another one and hopefully find a quiet corner to do her homework. She had always done her homework as soon as she got it, to avoid confusion, so was doing the same at Hogwarts. The library was a nice place, but sometimes it was a little crowded, especially on rainy or cold days. Today's weather was fairly nice so she was sure she'd be okay.

After quickly returning her books and getting a new one, apparently about a mad muggle named Martin Miggs, she found herself a little corner where nobody was sitting anywhere near and started on her homework, subconsciously sighing a little as she wrote. She was feeling homesick and she missed her family a lot.

Elizabeth had decided to do some homework in library since here was much quieter than in her common room usually, but here is times when here even isn't quiet. Girl walked in and looked around for empty table but she didn't find any empty one. She saw one table where did one girl sat.

Lizzie walked towards that table. "Hey, Is it okay if I sit here," she asked from the hufflepuff girl, she could tell it by her uniform what she was wearing right now. She is not sure if she has seen her around or not. Girl waited until the other girl will answer to her then she sits down if she can.

It seemed, since a girl was coming up to her, the room had gotten much more crowded. Looking up from the homework she'd been concentrating on so much, she glanced around the room and saw she was right, before casting her eyes back on the girl, who seemed about her age. Suddenly, she felt very shy again, and made a weird little squeaky sound, not able to make any words come out. Instead, she just nodded and returned to the work. Maddie was rather worried she was seeming unsociable, but it was just because she didn't really talk.

Quills were hard to write with, so she was using a pen from home, but hopefully nobody would mind, just for her homework. Before too long, Madeline had finished it and was quite pleased with herself. As she didn't have any more to do, she took out her new Martin Miggs book from her bag and started reading that instead. It was quite interesting. The mad muggle was a lot like her dad.

Blake entered the library, it had become his hub to hang out in when he was bored or just wanted time alone. But for the first time this term he had come to complete some work. He sighed to himself as he looked around the quiet room as the many large bookshelves enticed him as he imagined all the books he could be enjoying right now. The library just didn’t have the same attraction now that he was here to do schoolwork. He kept his head down, avoiding the many titles of books that called out to him as he searched for an empty seat.

He arrived at a table where two younger students were sitting. Blake thought he recognised them from class, but wasn’t sure of their names. Well at least they were being quiet and they were also busy doing work so they could possibly offer some help. Blake took a seat at their table and placed his things on the desk, immediately wishing he could be doing anything different. He took his quill out and began working on his assignment, one that was probably should've been done at this stage. He often left things to the last minute to do them. He sighed heavily out loud on a few occasions, when he came across a particularly hard piece of literature to understand or when the boredom became too much. But he continued on, mostly in silence, and all that could be heard was the scratching of the quill against the paper.

Fairly soon after, Blake was nearing the end of his concentration and looked around for some kind of distraction. Anything to not have to write the assignment! Glancing at the occupants at the desk Blake seen the girl opposite him reading, tilting his head to the side he read the name of the book she was reading. “Martin Miggs! I love him.” Blake exclaimed. “What part are you at?” He questioned half glad to have a distraction and half actually interested in the book. He had read the series and thoroughly enjoyed them. “Sorry,” he whispered sheepishly as he had broken the silence loudly in the library. He looked around him, trying to see if he had disturbed anyone else. He also hoped that the girl didn't mind being interrupted. He hated when people nagged him when he was reading, but he was just so bored!

It seemed the library was quite busy, because another student, probably older than them from what he looked like, had taken a seat at the table. Biting her lip nervously, Maddie managed a small smile, before returning to her book. She peeked at the boy over the top of her book. He looked a bit frustrated about whatever he was doing. It was probably just difficult homework. So far, her homework hadn't been too difficult, but she imagined it would get harder as she learnt more magic and stuff.

Her book was quite good so far, and she was eager to read more of it, but she was interrupted by the boy who'd just sat down. "I-I...he's in a c-classroom, teaching them about a-animals," Madeline stuttered, her eyes wide. While he seemed really nice and everything, she still didn't like or feel confident talking to people. It could be an act, he could be really mean and horrible really. No, that was unfair. Immediately judging him wasn't nice.

Since she didn't want to seem rude or mean, Madeline was determined to say something else. "M-my name is Maddie," she said quietly, pleased with herself at talking almost like she actually felt confident in doing so. Maybe she could try and talk to more people just for the sake of it, rather than answering, and she'd be normal.

“Teaching them about animals?” Blake questioned, unaware of the fact that the girl was really eager to read her book. “I don’t think I’ve read that one.” Blake commented, scrunching up his face trying to recall if he remembered the story line. Nope, and he thought he had read them all. He obviously hadn’t. “Hey could I borrow the book after you, or do you mind?” He asked, hoping it was alright. He had enjoyed the other books in the series and was eager to read more of them now.

Blake looked over at the young girl, did she just introduce herself? She had said it so silently he wasn’t too sure if she had and he didn’t want to ask her again as he figured she was just making an effort to be quiet as they were in a library, something Blake kept forgetting. Or maybe she was really enjoying that book, he thought to himself, eyeing it up hungrily getting excited at the thought of reading a new book. His homework was definitely forgotten about now! Now, what was her name again? Matilda, Marty, Maddie? “Hi Maddie, my name’s Blake.” He said confidently smiling at the girl. If he oozed confidence he figured he couldn’t be wrong. He looked over to the other girl, wondering if she was going to introduce herself too as he didn’t know her either.

Maddie nodded at him repeating exactly what she'd just said. It was okay, sometimes she didn't get things. Or hear them. "Yeah, of c-course you can," she smiled. "It's good." The book, she meant. It was a slightly odd part of the book, though, since it was a bit random and didn't really fit with the rest of it. Martin Miggs' was still her favourite wizard book, even though she'd only read one so far. "I'm almost at the end now." There were about five pages left.

While she'd recognised the boy from classes and seen him around the school before, Madeline didn't know his name. "Nice to meet you, Blake," she said, feeling a little louder and more confident, like Blake was. Since he had been in a couple of her classes, he couldn't be much older. "Are you in s-second year?" she asked.

“Great, thanks!” Blake beamed at the girl, glad that she agreed. She really didn't have to as they just met, but he appreciated it. "I'll be sure to return it." Plus he knew where the kitchens were now so the Hufflepuff Common Room wasn't far off and he'd have no trouble giving it back to the girl. Plus if that failed he'd always run into her in class or the library. "Do you come here much?" He asked, as he thought of the library. He hadn't actually seen her here before, but then he was usually too immersed in a book to notice passerby's.  He believed her when she said it was good, he expected no less from the series and really couldn't wait to get started on it. He pondered leaving the girl alone so she could finish it, but she continued on the conversation of her own accord so he happily complied to reply.

"Yep," Blake popped the p at the end of the word as he tossed down his quill and relaxed back in his chair. Now that Maddie seemed to be up for a conversation, or at least asking questions to some degree it was the perfect excuse to give up on his homework. He couldn't ignore a nice first year! "And your a first year," He stated, already knowing the snippet of information. "Do you know Lyn by any chance?" He asked, investing into the conversation. They both appeared very similar, quiet and undemanding when it came to conversations he thought they'd get on well. If one of them ever had the nerve to talk to the other, that was.

Blake seemed really nice. He smiled lots and he was very friendly. "Sometimes," Maddie smiled. "A lot of the time I come and get out a book but then I read it in the Common Room. I do homework in here, mainly." She hadn't stuttered at all! Her mum would be so proud when she told her that she had made two new friends and she wasn't really stuttering very much when she talked to people! It might seem small and insignificant to people who could talk easily, but her family would understand these were big steps for her. Not her brother, but he was a bit of a git so she didn't mind. It was only because he was a moody teenager and he found it easy peasy to make lots of friends, so he didn't understand.

Madeline nodded again. She nodded a lot. Probably too much. "I met her the other night in the Common Room." The other girl had been really nice, as well as brave enough to come and start a conversation. It wasn't hard to imagine her having plenty of friends, like Blake. "I take it you know her too?" she smiled. That was a stupid question, now she came to think of it. This was why she didn't talk, because she'd say stupid stuff and embarrass herself. It was almost worth it, though.

"You must have a quiet common room then," he commented, slightly bitterly. He always struggled to read in silence as peace and quiet was hard to come by at times. He supposed that shouldn't come as a surprise as Hunter and Aoife (Aoife especially), were in his year and never seemed to be able to stay silent for long. That was probably the reason behind them never being in the library, they were probably sure to get thrown out at a moments notice! Although he had to say the librarian was pretty easy going and laid back when it came to talking, he had certainly come across narkier. Blake noted that Maddie seemed pleased with herself, but he couldn't place why. Maybe it was because she had found someone else that  that liked to read too, he certainly was happy with the new find! It was nice to have a friend that read too, a library friend. That's what he was going to call her, his library friend! He wasn't going to say it out loud though, he didn't want to offend her just in case she picked him up wrong and thought he was calling her a nerd.

"That's good," Blake smiled genuinely at the girl. He was glad that they were friends, Lyn seemed really shy, but he was sure she'd come out of her shell once you got to know her better. He was glad that she had someone similar to her in the form of Maddie. Blake  moved the subject on, glad that Maddie gave him something else to talk about, it probably seemed like he was way too interested in the girl and he had just met her. Still, she seemed nice and Lyn and Maddie weren't bad people to invest in. "Yes, I have met her." Blake laughed, uncomfortably wringing a hand around his neck as he remembered their first meeting. "Let's just say I most certainly have to be making a better first impression on you now." Well he hoped so at least!

Yeah, Blake was probably right. Hufflepuffs didn't seem to be too loud, but quite often a game of exploding snap could be heard, interrupting her reading. It was okay, though. Maddie could live with it, but she wouldn't do homework there. She still wasn't used to the explosions, so she'd jump six feet into the air when she heard one. Then her homework would be terrible and she'd get really told off. Realising she hadn't said anything in return to Blake's statement, she nodded. "Is yours very loud?" She hadn't met any Gryffindors properly yet, but in classes and around the school, they seemed to be quite confident, especially that enthusiastic Irish redhead, so she could imagine what their Common Room would be like.

"I like Lyn, she's nice," Madeline said. She hadn't met anyone really mean, yet though, which had been rather surprising. Blake looked a bit embarrassed about his meeting with Lyn. Even though she didn't know what had happened, she held back a giggle. "Yeah, you're cool! It's a good first impression!" she beamed. She might even go as far as saying that he was her ultimate favourite second-year.

"Yep." Blake popped the 'p' trying to act like he wasn't too bothered, when in fact sometimes it really did get on his nerves. "Have you met Aoife or Hunter yet?" Blake asked. "If you have you'd understand. And they're only the people in my year!" Blake didn't include Ariel or Hunter's other sister in the mix. Not that he didn't get on with any of them, well except Aoife, but that clearly wasn't his fault. How anyone could stand her craziness was beyond his belief. His patience with the Irish girl was really running thin, encounters between the two were becoming rare as he found it best to avoid her. Then he was less liable to go start abusing her and end up in detention. Or worse, losing house points.

"Phew," Blake said loudly, over exaggerating his relief as he pretended to wipe sweat off his forehead with his arm. "Well that's something, I don't think I could take much more embarrassing encounters." He grinned. Truth be told he never really thought too much about them, but he had made such a twat of himself in front of Lyn he was hoping Hunter didn't hear about it. He'd never hear the end of it then. "You're even going as far as saying it's a 'good' first impression? Well that's definitely a first." Blake grinned as he pretended to be chuffed with himself as he puffed his chest out proudly and importantly.

Elizabeth did sat down when other girl nodded to her. She had done there quietly her homework all that time and same time listened about what these two talked. She didn't really know what to say to between them. She looked up from her work finally and decided to talk a little bit too. She did take deep breath and looked at these two.

"Sorry, to interrupt you two but I'm Elizabeth, first year, Ravenclaw," she decided to introduce herself first to them.