Views and Perspectives [Seren]

Finding that returning to Hogwarts without Darcy was much more than weird, Ariel decided to go to the library to do some work. After all, this was her OWLs year, and it was time to become serious about her grades. Ariel wasn't the best in class, not because she couldn't be, but because she couldn't be bothered to be. And now, these grades mattered to what she would work as. She was pretty sure that her father would've liked her to work well, and she might as well take him up on that.

So, she descended the many stairs from the Gryffindor tower and walked the familiar distance to the library. She didn't see many people around, which was a bit weird. She hadn't had time to hang out with Hunter yet, but that would happen soon enough. The Shrieking Shack would need a visit soon. She was still happy about the last one, and she was excited to just hang out with Hunter again. She had also stopped dreading going to Zonko's a long time ago. She reached the library and had to smile at being back. She put her backpack down by a table and looked around. Where to begin?

An hour later, Ariel was surrounded by tons of books and smirking evilly. So much for schoolwork. She looked up on a particularly nasty potion that she could probably not brew, but she could get Hunter to help her with it. It would turn the person drinking it completely green and unable to speak other than in boar language, and weird nasties would spill from his ears. Perfect. She should suggest selling some of it on Zonko's. After all, there were no repercussions. After scribbling it down into her book, she closed some of the evil, plotty books and looked to her book in Astronomy. It was going to be an interesting subject, she was sure. So maybe she should keep up with it.

Seren had been sitting at her usual table in the back corner of the library. She sighed happily as her quill scratched out the last few words of her transfiguration essay. If Seren had thought that OWL year was stressful, she soon found that sixth year was far worse. The classes that she chose and the grades that she received determined which classes she would be able to take at NEWT level, and THOSE classes would decide what Seren could do once she graduated. And she wasn't certain of what she wanted to do once she graduated, but she had many possible ideas. Which meant that she had to take loads of classes so that she could be prepared for any of them. Rolling up her essay and tucking it into her bag, Seren decided to work on her charms homework next.

She just needed to grab a book from the shelf, so Seren gathered her things and went off to look for it. The only trouble was, it didn't seem to be there! Frowning, Seren went to ask the librarian if it was already checked out, but he said that it wasn't. Well, that was STUPID and made NO SENSE. If it wasn't checked out, then why wouldn't it be there? There was hardly anyone in the library, so what were the chances that someone else was using it? With an irritated sigh at the librarian, who clearly had NO IDEA HOW TO DO HIS JOB, Seren began to make her way back to her table. But as she walked across the room, she noticed someone else sitting at a table, back turned toward Seren, literally SURROUNDED by books. Narrowing her eyes, Seren began to make her way over to the person. Did they think that they OWNED the place or something, and could just hoard all of the books for themselves?!

Rounding the table where they sat, Seren opened her mouth to tell the person that they needed to hand over her book right away, but quickly closed it again when she realized who it was. And for a moment, Seren almost felt a bit nervous to speak to her. Instead of saying anything, Seren's eyes skimmed the books on the girl's table and did eventually land on the one that she was looking for. Ariel Wilde was, first of all, the ONLY girl in the school who was prettier than Seren. But that was only because she was part Veela. It wasn't Seren's fault that she didn't have Veela blood, after all! It was her father's, or her grandfather's, for not marrying a Veela to begin with. Ariel Wilde was also very nice, even to Seren, though known for pranking most of the people in the school. So, in the grand scheme of things, it was probably unwise to be rude to her. But most importantly, Ariel was Hunter's best friend. And Seren had no idea if that meant that Ariel hated her or not.

Still, Seren needed that book. And Ariel didn't seem to be using it. So she walked forward and pulled out the chair across the table from the ANNOYINGLY PRETTY girl, taking a seat. "Um, hi," Seren said, giving Ariel a half-smile, though she felt slightly uncomfortable being so respectful to anyone, when truly everyone should be respecting HER. "I just need this book for a few minutes," Seren said, reaching out to pull it toward her but not lowering herself so much as to actually ASK for it. Seren wasn't sure what else to say. Sure, she and Ariel had talked before, but they weren't really FRIENDS. They'd only ever interacted because of Hunter, and Seren wasn't sure where that put them now. In the end, she just added, "I'll give it right back when I'm done," and opened it to the page that she needed.

Scorpius is a constellation in the southern hemisphere, located near the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. It was one of the constellations introduced by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. Scorpius represents the scorpion that stung and killed Orion, the mythical hunter who boasted that he could kill any wild animal. The Earth sent the scorpion to kill Orion- Ariel groaned and looked up, leaning back in her chair and stretching. Okay, so maybe astronomy wasn't quite her subject. She looked at the other books around her, and her eyes fell on a middleaged one within which she knew were many nasty recepies that witches had made to use upon any man who came to burn them at the stake. So many nasty ones. Ariel grit her teeth. No! Must... focus...! Ariel looked back into the big astronomy book and tried to read some more. But her eyes shifted from the lines and over to the cover of the other one. She shut her eyes and looked back to the book in her hand.

School. School. But her stomach was nagging her. Her mind was nagging her. It wanted more nasty ideas. Ariel shook her head. School. And then she growled lowly and slammed the book shut and grabbed the old one. Yes. Yes! Ariel leaned back in the chair again, and propped her knee on the table, her foot dangling. Ideas, ideas. She skimmed through the book, finding repulsive warts and zits and generally itchy skin issues that some were too nasty to go into detail. She might want to use them though, because yes. She was reading a particularly nasty passage about boils and searing pus when she heard the soft hi from someone. Ariel instantly looked up and was pretty shocked to see Seren standing there. The girl looked great with her dark hair and bright eyes, but all Ariel could really think, was that this was Hunter's ex girlfriend. Which was completely unfair. Seren had definitely earned more respect than a label.

So Ariel quickly shook the thought and gave a smile to the older girl. "Hi," she said kindly, and watched as Seren took one of the books in Ariel's stack. Not a problem at all. Actually, Ariel felt a bit bad that she'd hijacked so many of the books in the library. She should probably try putting the books she was done with back to their spots. "No, take your time, I've gone through it already," she said softly, "Sorry, it was so empty here that I didn't think anyone would need it. I hope you didn't look long for it?" She phrased the last part more of a question than a statement. For a moment, Ariel figured it was kinda weird that she was talking to someone she didn't know that well, and who had been the object of Hunter's affection for a time, but at the same time, it was actually pretty cool that she was finally in a position of getting to talk to her. In five years, Ariel hadn't done that. It was pretty bleak. But what would she say? She couldn't just randomly talk about something she knew Seren liked, because she didn't know what Seren liked.

"So, what's up? Is it really true what they say? That sixth year is even worse than fifth?" Ariel finally asked. It was a weak question, it really was, and Seren would probably see through it. But at the same time, Ariel could've just left Seren to looking through the book and kept her own mouth shut, but instead, Ariel had spoken to her, which would have to meant that Ariel did bother to speak and was actually pretty interested in what the ravenclaw had to say.

Well, from first impressions, Ariel Wilde didn't SEEM to hate Seren. At least, she smiled at her, and apologized for hoarding LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE BOOK IN THE LIBRARY. Hypothetically, of course. "Oh, no, don't worry  it's fine!" Seren replied to Ariel when she apologized. Honestly, did this girl have any flaws? She was pretty and nice, and no matter which way she looked at it, Seren just couldn't bring herself to dislike her. Not that Seren wanted to dislike Ariel"I've been here for ages working on the essay I have due in transfiguration," she explained. "I only just decided to work on charms! I just need to reference a few healing spells, and I think there are a few... in here... somewhere..." Seren said, trailing off as she flipped through a few pages of the book. "Yes, found them! she said, pulling her quill out and jotting a few notes from the book's pages.

Seren would have been quite happy to sit in silence for the remainder of her time in the library. After all, Ariel had been kind, and Seren had gotten to use the book she wanted. That was enough of a success for Seren. But apparently not for Ariel, who seemed to want to find something to say. NORMALY, Seren would have been irritated to be bothered once she'd started. But Seren HAD approached Ariel's table, so she wasn't bothered by it. Seren responded, but didn't look up from her book as she did. "It's... just a bit different, I suppose," Seren told Ariel. "Much more focused on what you want to do, rather than oriented toward exams," she explained matter of factly. "Of course, how we do this year effects the NEWTS that we can get next year, so naturally I'm taking almost every course to keep my options open!" Seren didn't want to limit her choices concerning her future when all she had to do to avoid such a situation was take extra classes.

Episkey - tend to minor abrasions and injuries. As Seren jotted down the explanation of one of the spells she was going to be working with, though she OF COURSE already knew what it was and how to do it, she glanced back at all of the other books on the table. "Are you... studying for something?" Seren asked though though her voice was doubtful.

Ariel beamed at Seren as the girl said it was all good. After all, of the few things Ariel did know about Seren, one of them was that she was a pretty studious girl, and Ariel would've hated to be an obstacle to her in that. As Seren mentioned the transfiguration essay, Ariel's grin turned to a grimace. She knew she ought to do her own essay in transfiguration, given that she had the subject in just two days time. "I've got an essay on transfigurating people's appearance, which is kind of ironic," she said, pointing to herself. She actually didn't even know if Seren knew that she was a metamorphmagus, but Ariel figured that if she didn't, she'd ask, and if she did, Ariel didn't have to explain it twice. Win/win.

Listening to what Seren was saying, Ariel quickly realized she was looking forward to her sixth year. After all, exams weren't really Ariel's thing. She wanted to start working on what she wanted to be. She didn't even know that yet, which was a bit scary, but it would be much more interesting to work with topics she could actually use, instead of just learning a bunch of things that would even matter. But Ariel's mouth opened in shock. "Are you insane?" she stuttered, "Wow, you must be such a hard worker!" To think, the year when you'd get away with having only three subjects, and here Seren was, taking almost all of them. Ariel really didn't get Ravenclaws... "Do you know what you wanna do, though?" she asked curiously. Maybe there's be some interesting ideas there.

Ariel could easily detect the doubt in Seren's voice, and she faked a hurt expression. "Is that so hard to believe?" she asked dramatically, yet in a silent voice; she did not want the librarian to chase her out of the library ... Again. She then shook her head and grinned again. "I was trying to do some astronomy work, but this book just really wanted me to read it. And I could never say no to a book in need of reading with nasty, evil potions from cover to cover," she said innocently.