Ink and parchment are my favorite perfume (Matthew)

Dragging her daughter across Diagon Alley in the midst of a crowd, it was clear that Mrs. Von Lamberg insisted on urgency. "Hurry up dear! We have so much more do to!", her mother spoke as her feet shuffled quickly through the crowd. Glancing at the list of supplies she would need throughout the school year, which she held in her hand tightly, Katherine observed quite the opposite. In fact, there was no reason to rush as there was only one item left: books, all of which she could buy at Flourish and Blotts. "But we only have books left and...", Katherine tried explaining but she was interrupted by her mother before she could finish. "Oh nonsense. We need to buy you new robes! You barely have any", she stated. The three full bags from Madam Malkin's would suggest otherwise, but Katherine didn't object. She knew her mother meant well.

After browsing through two more stores and buying at least five other items she absolutely did not need, Katherine decided it was time to take matters into her own hands before her mother spends her monthly wage on yet another pair of shoes. "You know this would go quicker if we split up. I can go buy the books I need and you can finish looking through the store next door. We could meet up right after and I do believe that dad said he would wait for us in the Leaky Cauldron", she suggested. After a little convincing, her mother finally agreed. With a slight hint of worry in her eyes, she kissed her daughter goodbye and instructed her to meet at the Leaky Cauldron in exactly thirty minutes.

With just a few steps and maneuvers through the crowd, Katherine found herself in Flourish and Blotts. The smell of freshly printed books and ink forced a smile on her face. She went through her list and carefully picked out each book, taking a bit of time to admire the tittle and read a bit of the pages. How exciting it all seemed! To have so many classes and books and to live in a castle. Nothing could sound more perfect for her. Noticing a beginner's guide to healing spells, she pulled out the book and considered buying it. Surely her father would not mind. Opening the first page, she soon dived into admiring the full list of spells mentioned in the book. For a second she forgot that there was a line of people wanting to get through and buy their books as quickly as possible, unlike her.

Matthew's parents were sooooo mean. He was a whole year older this year, and they still wouldn't let him go off by himself in Diagon Alley! They kept saying something about not wanting him to destroy anything or set any shops on fire. Like Matthew would do that! He wasn't able to use magic now, so he couldn't exactly set a whole shop on fire too easily - though that much fire would be pretty cool to see up close.

At least once they were through this one last shop, his parents had said he could go off with Ollie to get ice cream, while they went to Gringotts to make a deposit - whatever a deposit was. It sounded cool, but not as cool as ice cream. Matthew was already thinking of what flavor he would get. Last time, he'd tried green bean and steak flavored ice cream, because that was a pretty awesome dinner. And it was really weird as ice cream, but still really good. It was like really cold, pre-chewed green bean and steak dinner.

So all Matthew had to do was get through Flourish and Blotts. Naturally, that meant that he was going to fly through the place, grab his school books, and get out of there as quickly as he could. The only book that he needed now was his Second Year charms book. He knew exactly where it was, so he rushed over there to grab it - but there was a girl standing in his way! Matthew skidded to a halt just before slamming into her, and stared at her in annoyance. "Can you get out of the way? I need to grab that book right there so that I can go and get ice cream!" he said in a rude but urgent manner.

As Katherine was skimming the first chapter of her book, she heard a voice coming from behind her. She turned around to see a boy around her age, who was as impatient as he was rude. Rolling her eyes at him she refused to step aside. Perhaps if he had asked her nicely! Katherine considered herself polite to almost everyone but she felt that ill mannered people did not deserve her consideration. Why was he in such a rush anyway? "You could have just asked me to hand you the book you are looking for", she pointed out with annoyance. There was really no need for this get out of my way business.

Analyzing what the boy last said, his urgent manner was now clear to her. Ice cream. "Will all the world's ice cream melt by the time you exit this store?", she asked with a chuckle. Well clearly not, but she was trying to make a point. Realizing that she was being a bit rude to a perfect stranger for no substantial reason, Katherine tossed the boy a short and apologetic smile. Far from an actually apology for her snark comment, but it would have to do. "Here, let me help you. What were you looking for again?", she asked wondering if he was here to buy school books as well.
 
"I am Katherine, by the way", she introduced herself as she felt it was the proper thing to do. The young girl wasn't very good at introductions or meeting new people either. She would often come across a little standoffish and a know it all - which she was. But not as much as it would seem. Making friends was never really a worry of hers, but now that she was going to Hogwarts this year it suddenly became important. She wouldn't have her old friends from back home anymore and she would have to fit into a new crowd. Just the thought made her stomach do a back flip. But she really didn't have any choice in the matter and now was a good time to start practicing as any.

*OOC: Katherine is a bit of a smart ass  *

"Noooo, I couldn't have," Matthew told the girl, rolling his eyes in a very overdramatic manner. "Because I don't know what it's called. I just know that it's here," he added, gesturing with both arms at the section of books that she was still blocking. Matthew stood up on his tiptoes to see over her, his eyes scanning the spines to see if he could find the right one. It wasn't going to be easy because he didn't even know what it looked like. If he didn't hurry, Ollie might go and get ice cream without him! Though the idea of anyone leaving someone as awesome as Matthew behind was preposterous, his brother had been acting kind of weird lately. Matthew actually had to remind him every now and then that he had the best little brother in the world who was cooler than all of Ollie's friends combined.

Matthew just stared at the girl when she said something about all the ice cream melting. "Of course not! They use magic to keep it cold, obviously! It can't melt - but they can run out of all the good flavors! And I don't have any money, so I have to go with my brother or I won't be able to get any." Obviously. Didn't this girl know anything? "I told you, I don't know what I'm looking for," he repeated. "My second year charms book, but I don't know what it is. Standard something something two or something like that." That wasn't very helpful, was it? Oh well. He'd find it eventually. Now that she seemed to not be mad anymore, Matthew stepped forward - completely crowding her personal space - to look more closely.

Was she talking again? Why did girls always insist on talking? Didn't they realize how high-pitched and annoying their voices were? Katherine was her name. "That's so long," Matthew complained, scrunching up his face. "You don't actually use the whole thing, do you?" Katie or Kate was far better than Katherine because both took less effort to say. "I'm Matthew." Matthew vaguely heard his mother talking to Ollie on the other side of the bookshelf, telling him that he couldn't leave Matthew alone when they went to Floreans. "Don't you have someone watching you?" Matthew asked jealously, suddenly realizing that this girl seemed to be alone. "That isn't fair, especially if you're younger than me! My mum won't let me out of her sight!"

"Oh", stated Katherine a bit in shock. How was it possible that he did not know the names of the required textbooks? Not even for his year! Thankfully, she had been through her required and suggested reading list quite a few times. And she had glanced at a the list from the second and third year as well, out of pure curiosity. As her mother had taught her, it was always best to be prepared. "You mean the Standard Book of Spells?", she suggested, guessing that was what the boy was looking for.

"That was a joke", the girl said rolling her eyes at Matthew. Was he suggesting that she didn't know that the ice cream never melted? How rude! It was as if he was calling her ignorant, and Katherine was anything but. "I doubt that ten minutes would really make a difference". Boys were always interested in only silly things - like ice cream and Quidditch. She didn't exactly understand why, but this was a fact that couldn't escape her observation. 

"Long?", she asked with a chuckle when he suggested that her full name took too much effort to pronounce. "Of course I use the whole thing, that is my name. Katherine". She was never a fan of people calling her Katie, or even worse Kate. That just sounded like a name you would give to your pet rabbit, not a human being. And her name wasn't that difficult, was it? Certainly not long enough to demand such a silly abbreviation. "You do realize that my name has only two more letters compared to yours?", she pointed out. If Katherine was too long of a naN|