Open Finally Alone

[Professor Minnie Calida]

As per her new schedule, Minnie had a few hours a week to go into the magical world and start getting some supplies for the upcoming year. The girl was pretty pleased that her parents were giving her this time and giving her this independence to explore the areas. Before she’d always done so with her mother, but considering that she was going to be going to school and be without them for most of the year. This was first real taste of independence and she had a little to do during this time. It was her own personal time, to spend as she wished. She had a few things to do after it, so she didn’t want to strain herself too much. In the end she ended up in the park, there were a few other kids in the park, but she sat on a bench and from within her bag pulled out a book. She had borrowed it from her school’s library and buried it deep within the rest of her belongings. She placed the book on her knees and began reading. She’d begun feeling a little bolder and had brought a book, a trashy teen romance novel out of the school. She had not taken out of her bag, knowing she’d be able to read it now, in this time alone. Minnie tucked the hair behind her ears and got to reading. It was a nice break from reading everything else. She liked reading, she liked reading all sorts of books, she liked learning, but she really enjoyed occasionally reading some trashy teen novel.​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric loved his mother, but he was getting pretty frustrated with her blatant attempts to make him get used to New Zealand and the fact that he would be going to school there soon. It was clear that she thought making him go to Brightstone Village a bunch of times would make him like the place, which would help him adjust to Hogwarts life. She had told him many times that she wanted him to be himself at Hogwarts, and not try to start fights and get in trouble. Eric had told her he couldn't do both those things, which had earned him a Look. He now was here at the park again, while his mother ran some errands in the village. The first thing he had done was freshen up the message he had left for that Sydney girl. He hoped she would spot it again. He was also sort of hoping to run into Nova here again, but the blond girl was nowhere to be seen. Bored, he walked around with his marker, looking for something else to do. He could write some more things on the playground equipment, but with no one there to have his back he didn't know if it would be worth the trouble. In his bored wanderings, he walked past a girl on a bench, reading a book. Eric noticed she was around his age, and decided this was at least a good distraction for a while. "What are you reading?" He asked, and then grabbed the book without asking for permission. He looked at the cover and snorted. "Ew." It was clearly a romance book meant for teens, and Eric gave the girl a look as he held her book out of her reach. "Do you want this back? It looks pretty bad. I almost think I'd do you a favor by throwing it out for you."

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie was happily reading, enjoying this brief amount of time she would have alone to read this book. She’d have to give it back to the library in the next few days, so she absolutely had to make the most of this time. Minnie glanced up at the boy who spoke, she’d been about to politely reply so that he would leave her alone when the book was grabbed from her hands before she could stop it. She rolled her eyes at his reaction to the book, what a typical boy move. Ugh. It seemed that magical boys were the same as muggle boys. She stood up, and went to try to grab it back from him as he held it out of her reach, ”Of course I want it back. Give it back!” she said managing as harsh a tone as she could. ”It’s mine, not yours to throw away,,” it wasn’t actually hers but for the purpose of this argument she would of course just have to say it was hers. She hoped the boy wouldn’t notice that it was a library book from her muggle school. ”Do you always take things without asking?” the girl pressed, still trying to spot some way of getting it back from him, ”Didn’t your parents teach you any better?” She had encountered bullies before, they were all dumb, it was better to be friendless like she was than to be a bully like he was. Being a bully was so dull and unkind, it was so overdone. ”You’re just a dumb boy,” she said harshly as a way of finishing, hoping that he might just give up and give it back. ​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric grinned as the girl reacted exactly the way he had expected. He tilted his head to the side. "Give it back? But what if I want to read it myself?" He asked mockingly, glancing at the back of the book. "I'm just dying to know if this dumb girl gets together with the boy with the smoldering eyes." He laughed, shaking the book a bit. He looked at it, then turned it over. "Besides, it's clearly not yours. It's from a library, so I can borrow it if I want." He held it as high as he could, so even when she stood up she wouldn't be able to reach it easily. "Only sometimes. When the person seems really annoying." He said conversationally when she asked him if he took things without asking all the time. He ignored her question about his parents. He only had a mum, and she certainly had taught him not to do this sort of thing. But it was just harmless fun, and this girl seemed way too serious. "Well, you're just a dorky girl." He said in response. "And you calling me dumb definitely won't make me want to give this back to you." He said, frowning. He wasn't sure what he would do yet, but was definitely enjoying annoying this girl for now. "Maybe you should ask like a normal person."

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie rolled her eyes at him as he said that maybe he wanted to read it, the girl listened as he read the back of the book and mocked it a little, ”Wow, and here I figured you probably couldn’t even read,” the girl retorted, but she couldn’t help the blush that filled her cheeks as he pointed out that it was a library book. She needed it back for exactly that reason, it wasn’t hers to keep and if she never gave it back the libriarn would be annoyed at her and maybe they’d tell her parents and then her parents would find out that Minnie had been going off the reading list, which wouldn’t be good. She shivered a little at the thought, but it just renewed her efforts to get it back especially as he held it up high, ”Yeah, so get your own copy from your own school library,” the girl kept just trying to take it from him. She rolled her eyes again when he called her dorky in response to her calling him dumb, but perhaps it wouldn’t help her case in getting it back with the name calling, but he was just holding it above her head and keeping it just out of reach of her, he was being a dumb bully who expected her to be nice so that she could get her book back. ”Me? You act like a normal person,” the girl said back, in a tone of astonishment that he was even asking her that, but she decided she might as well give it a bit of a try, ”Fine!” she stopped in her efforts to get it back, smoothed out her clothes, took a moment to fix her hair before saying ”Can I have my book back please?” she kept her tone as neutral as possible, didn’t reach out for the book, but was clearly annoyed at having to say please to him.​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric glared at the girl as she mocked him. Usually people were more intimidated by him than that. "I can read!" He yelled at her, annoyed that she was getting to him. "But I'd never read this trash. Do you read this and hope some boy will try to kiss you or something?" He pulled a face. "Ew!" He looked at the book again, a scowl on his face. He rolled his eyes when she told him to get his own copy at the school library. Who cared about these books? He didn't even know if his school had anything like this. He shrugged when she told him to act normal in return, but then his eyes widened a bit in surprise as she said fine. He watched her with raised eyebrows, still holding the book up high. She actually asked him politely, and Eric stared at her for a moment before snorting. "What, you really thought that would work?" He asked with a smirk, then he tossed the book behind him blindly, trying to throw it as far away as he could. "Go get it, if you like it so much." He taunted her, curious to see how she would react.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie was a little surprised that what she was saying seemed to hit home to the boy, she thought it maybe wasn’t the nicest thing to say but this books was important for different reasons. Minnie frowned at him, ”I like the story, is that so wrong?” the girl shot back, she didn’t think there was anything wrong with enjoying a book like that. Not everything she read had to be high brow, philosophical or advanced. She could enjoy those books too, though privately of course, Minnie didn’t think her parents would at all approve of her reading those kind of books. She knew they’d probably tell the librarian to stop lending her those books, especially if because of this boy it got damaged. Minnie rolled her eyes at him, ”It might’ve worked,” she hadn’t thought it would work but she had also thought it might be worth a try. Anything to get it back and maybe all this boy had wanted was for her to politely ask for it back. Of course it didn’t work and she watched with horror as the boy tossed the book haphazardly behind him. She gasped, raising her hands to her mouth in shock as she watched the book fly through the air. Minnie felt frozen on the spot as the book finally landed, she felt involuntary tears fill her eyes, if this book was damaged she’d be in so much trouble. Minnie wasn’t listening to the boy as finally she was able to rush over to it. Finding where it landed and dropping to her knees to grab the book, it wouldn’t be so bad if she was dirty, she just needed the book to be okay. A huge wave of relief washed over her as she looked over the book, it was maybe a little worse for wear, but it wasn’t noticeable. She hugged the book to her chest as she took deep breaths. Ignoring the boy entire as she just sat in relief that she wasn’t going to get into trouble and lose the ability to read those kind of books until hopefully Hogwarts. That boy was just so mean. "Are you satisfied?" she spoke loudly hoping he'd hear her say it.​

 

[Eric Holland]

Eric's anger about the girl's comment abated a bit, but he still felt like she shouldn't have implied he was dumb. He hated that more than most things. "It's not wrong, it's just dumb." He told her with a shrug. "Is it so wrong for me to inform you of that? I'm really doing you a favor." He simply snorted when she said it might have worked. Maybe, if Eric had been in a better mood. But he was being dragged to this dumb country all the time and it definitely wasn't doing anything good for his general mood. Eric was startled by the reaction the girl had to the book being thrown. She gasped rather dramatically and looked like she was about to cry. Eric felt a small stab of guilt, but then dismissed it. It was her fault she overreacted, not his. "It's just a book." He muttered, but he wasn't sure if she heard as she ran over to it to make sure it was okay. Eric turned to watch her, his eyebrows raising. At her question, he shrugged. "Not really. I don't care about the book one way or another. It's just a dumb book." He repeated, wondering what on earth was so important about it. "Nothing to cry about like a baby." He added, a bit defensive now.

 

[Professor Minnie Calida]

Minnie kept the book close to her body, she heard the words the boy was saying. He didn’t understand why it was important for this book to not get destroyed, or damaged in any way. The girl didn’t feel like she needed to explain to him why, but she turned to him when he basically called her a baby. She glared hard at him, Minnie got to her feet, she was done with this boy and this conversation. He was just gross, ”I’m not crying,” the girl snapped as she stormed past him to her belongings. She placed the book back in carefully, making sure it was deep within everything else, even in her annoyance and anger she made sure that it was hidden enough within everything else. Making sure that her parents wouldn’t find it incase they were really looking for it. ”Maybe actions don’t have consequences for you in your little world, but your actions could have consequences on others. Maybe you should think about that before you just throw books around,” the girl swung her bag on to her back, moving her long hair out of the way of the bag. Approaching him a little with a firm and angry expression on her features, there was clearly still some hurt on her features from what had happened, but the fact the book was undamaged brought some relief. ”Thanks for almost getting me in trouble. I really appreciate it.” she spat at him, before pushing past him again and heading away. She hoped that if they were at Hogwarts together they wouldn’t be in the same house. Definitely not. He was some dumb boy.​