Closed Am I the Only One Looking For Substance?

[Celia Vuong]

Celia still could not believe that Professor Josephs had basically abdicated her teaching duties for the year. This woman was supposed to be the head of Ravenclaw, a house dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, and she had simply decided she wouldn't be teaching them anything new because it wouldn't be necessary for the exam? Celia had had lazy professors before — Hogwarts seemed to have no shortage of them — but this was beyond ridiculous. A whole semester dedicated to review. What a colossal waste of her time.

It hadn't taken long for Celia to decide that if Professor Josephs wasn't going to do her job, she would just teach herself. Technically, she'd been doing that ever since she started at Hogwarts. The curriculum here was an absolute joke, and there had been plenty of times when Celia found books far more helpful than her teachers. It was no surprise, then, that she'd headed straight for the library. Its collection wasn't the most extensive, but she was able to collect several texts on advanced rune spreads, which she set down on a table with a heavy thump. After pulling out her own set of runes, Celia cracked open the first book and began to page through it.

 

[Avery Lancaster]

sh it hasn't been a month

Avery had always been the loner type, and truth be told, a good portion of his time at Hogwarts had been spent indoors to be away from the other students. The library had always been something of a sanctuary - far more so than the student lounge - and while he didn't always spend all of his time there reading, he did enjoy the atmosphere and quiet it provided. It gave him the space to think, or study and practice the things he was most interested in, away from prying eyes and narrow minds.

Rarely did Avery come across anyone he knew well at the library, in part due to him knowing very few people particularly well, so Celia's appearance stood out to him while he was making his way through the aisles. He had a lot of respect for Celia, though admittedly he did not know her well, either, despite being on her team for so many years. Outside of Quidditch, he couldn't say he had taken the time to get to know much about his teammates, so it came as a surprise to find her with a bag of runes. He hesitated for a moment, torn between continuing on his way or interrupting her, but his curiosity pulled him toward the table. "Do you do readings?" He asked bluntly. Not that he was asking for one, though it may well have come across that way. Rather, he hadn't been sure how to articulate questioning just how invested in runes Celia was to inquire any further.​

 

[Celia Vuong]

True peace was impossible to find at Hogwarts, but Celia had been counting on at least getting a couple hours of quiet in the library. Most people knew to avoid approaching someone who was studying alone in there, especially if that someone was her. So when a shadow crossed her page, Celia glanced up, ready to tell the intruder off. The sight of Avery made her pause, however, and her glare softened into a look of confusion. Despite being teammates for years, they hadn't had any substantial conversations off the pitch, and they had certainly never talked about runes.

"Sometimes," she answered, deciding to go along with whatever this was. "But mostly for class. I prefer tarot for personal readings," Celia explained. She liked the symbolism in her deck, the way the art told stories in every spread. They lent her readings so much more complexity and depth. Runes, by contrast, had always felt cold and opaque to her. "Did you want one?" Celia asked, reaching for bag. She assumed that was why Avery had asked. While she generally didn't appreciate interruptions, she never minded doing readings for others, if only because she was always curious to peek into other people's lives.