Hiding From The World

[Lydia Warrick]

Lydia realised pretty quickly that she spent far too much time in the library than was probably normal for a girl her age, she wasn't like her brother or anyone in her family really, she took most after her mother and she liked being warm and inviting, she was a hugger and she just really loved the warmth of spending time with her family. It had always saddened her that she hadn't been able to spend time with her brother in the school, or well more time, but overall, the teen spent time with her extended family found in her cousin, with whom she had grown to be pretty close to. The teen spent more time usually with her cousin that any one else, he was easier to talk to, she liked helping him, and learning about different things with him. When their lunches happened to be at the same time, they usually read books together, and he always let her practice the spells that she needed to. More importantly, he showed her the little more lost corners of the library that she wouldn't otherwise spot if she didn't know where to look, the older, less used books lived in this section, and it was where Lydia currently found herself.

There was a small table, and the same kind of not so comfortable chairs, but she didn't mind that at all. She had her head in some book that had nothing to do with any of the classes she was taking and she was smiling to herself as the warmth of this section of the library washed over her. She didn't shiver or feel the slightest draft as could be felt in over sections of the library. Her hair sat in lose waves and she was humming a little tune to herself as she read through the pages, wrapped up in her own little world. This place, this little corner always reminded her of home, it just made her think of sitting reading with her mother during the darker days of the year, of the stories they used to tell in the car when they'd first moved to New Zealand. Lydia had a small lingering smile on her lips as she hummed the little tune, she knew eventually before he left for the evening Stefan would remind her that the library was to close which was usually the point when she also left and headed back to the dorm, but for now she was exceedingly content.
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[Bob Masters]

Bob sat in the library for today, hid away in a rather obscure corner so that nobody would be able to find him unless they went out of their way to look extremely closely. He was really trying to get out of the common room more, he was actually attending his classes this semester, and so far he was doing good. But, there was still that lingering fear about him. He was scared, basically all the time, and that was never really a good way with which to live your life. But, Bob couldn't help it. They were everywhere, the looks from people who wanted to do him harm, the snickers from people who laughed at him because he was scared. Everything that people could think of to make him feel unwanted, it was everywhere; and that was what terrified him the most. He just wanted to be accepted, and to be left alone.

Bob cringed a little when he saw somebody walk past where he was hiding, he hoped that she hadn't seen him but, in his panic, he let out an unintentional yelp and knew instantly that all hope of staying hidden had been lost in that moment. He just tried to stay calm, and hope that she hadn't seen him, or better yet, just wasn't even remotely interested in what he was doing. He knew that that wasn't very likely, and that more or less everyone just had to have their say on him and they had to do something to tease him; and he had only found one student in the whole school who had been nice to him so far and he really wished that she was here with him right now.

 

[Lydia Warrick]

When she had mostly finished with the book in front of her, the teen had decided to go in search of something else, equally as strange to read, and it had been upon closing the book over that she had decided to go where there were even stranger books, and any person could be easily hidden from the crowds, she put the book she'd been reading away on the shelves and then tidied up her things until she was sure it looked tidied but occupied. The girl had never had any problem in the library but she didn't want to run the risk of anything bad happening while she was finding a new book for her to read in the time that she had remaining in the library, so she walked past a certain area and the silence was stopped when there was a small yelp, when she walked past a certain area, this made the girl stop in her tracks as she glanced around trying to figure out what exactly the noise had come from. Hogwarts was of course haunted but the ghosts were pretty friendly.

Lydia glanced around herself, and then back into a few of the area's she been in. This was strange, had she perhaps just imagined it, but she wasn't too sure. Wasn't it a sign of madness to hear voices? Her arms hang as her side, and she tightly gripped the edges of her school skirt trying to not be too nervous. She felt like calling out to Stefan because she was a little bit scared, but she took a deep breath, "Hello?" she called out softly, trying to keep her voice calm, but she didn't know if that would help anything, she wanted to find out what had been the origin of the voice, who it had been if she should be concerned about the fact that she was hearing voices. The girl glanced around, unable to really see them, "Come out, from where you're hiding, or I'll get the librarian," it wasn't an empty threat, and if no one was there she was being silly, but Lydia wasn't going to let that happen.
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[Bob Masters]

Bob's eyes went wide as the girl spoke to him, at least she spoke into his general direction; she didn't seem to know exactly where he was but he could tell that she knew that somebody was there. She must have heard his yelp, he hated that he was so timid and had made a noise which had brought her to him, and alerted her to his presence. He didn't want to go outside, she scared him, especially the way she spoke, it was terrifying; she was threatening him and it wasn't making him want to go out from his hiding place because he was scared that she would really want to hurt him. He wasn't sure who she was, it wasn't a voice that he had heard before, and so he didn't know if she was the kind of person who would try to help him, like Layla had, or the kind of person who would hurt him, like seemingly a lot of people in the school seemed to want too.

At the same time, though, he didn't want to get in trouble off of the librarian for hiding inside the library.. where he knew probably wouldn't be the best idea for him to hide. He stepped up rather unwillingly into the open and gave a weak smile to the girl who he saw in front of him, he still didn't know whether or not she was friend or foe and the possibility terrified him. "H..H..Hello..." He said, the fear showing in his voice.

 

[Lydia Warrick]

Lydia hadn't wanted it to be someone who might not like her, or be strange, although she also hoped that it was a person, since she didn't want to appear crazy, thinking there was a sound when there hadn't been. She glanced towards the direction where she knew if she kept walking she would eventually run into a librarian, preferably her cousin, however, this didn't seem to be necessary, when her threat seemed to work and the person, a boy seemed to emerge from no where, she realised in the instance he stood before her that he was no more than a year younger than her, but he seemed nervous beyond belief, which was strange, she hadn't really meant what she'd said, not really, but she hadn't thought that this would be the kind of reaction she would receive. After all, Lydia thought of herself as incredibly non-threatening, she didn't feel like she gave off any form of negative vibe, but it meant that as she looked at this boy who managed to mutter out a terrified hello, her entire expression and stance softened and she just smiled at the boy, she was not an overly nervous person, and no where near this much.

"Hello," she replied warmly, smiling at him, she wondered why he was hiding, why he had been just there, or why her passing had scared him. She had so many questins and she wasn't sure how to go about getting the answer to any of them. Lydia didn't know the boy well enough, this was the first time she was meeting him, or at least in person, she might've passed him like she'd done just today. She knew that he was in her house, she was almost certain she'd seen him about the place, "I'm Lydia, do you want to come sit with me?" she asked, pointing to the little area she had emerged from, she didn't think he would but it was always good to offer it to him, "Studying alone is good and this area of the library is relatively undisturbed," she continued, "Two's a company?" she motioned towards it again, meeting his gaze as much as she could and smiling at him as warmly as she could manage. Lydia took a few steps back towards it, wondering if he might join her.
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[Bob Masters]

Bob wondered why the girl was being so nice to him, she had only just met him and all they had done was exchange names so far! There was so much that he couldn't imagine about people sometimes, and it never even occurred to him that people bullying him was less then normal behaviour before he had met others who had been nice to him. People like Layla who were nice to him were an oddity to him since all of the other people at the school had bullied him and it overall didn't make sense to him that one person would be nice to him when everyone else was so mean to him. Why wouldn't everyone just be nice to him? It just didn't make sense to him really, everyone was so confusing; he just wanted friends who would be nice. Was that so much to ask for?

Bob hastened to cover up his arms where the bruises had been, where some of them still were, especially as she invited him over to sit with her. He didn't know if he should or not, but he didn't want to say no and illicit a mean response back. He didn't want her to yell at him, or worse. He was terrified, and at the mercy of his fear. He took a few steps towards the table, matching her pace incase she made any sudden moves to hurt him and he needed to run away. She didn't seem threatening, and she seemed to be trustworthy, but he didn't want to risk it at all. "T..t..this table?" He asked, gesturing towards the table that he thought was the right one.

 

[Lydia Warrick]

It seemed strange to Lydia that a person might be afraid of her, she felt like she was as non-threatening as people came. The teen had been told that she was like that, but clearly this boy in front of her didn't really seem to agree, since he still seemed terrified. She was however glad when he seemed to be joining her, having a little trouble catching up, so the girl slowed her pace, anything that would make her seem friendlier and a lot less threatening, "Yeah," Lydia said with a bright smile. She let the boy sit down, before she herself, looked to the shelves directly behind her and began looking for a book, intending to do like she'd been planning to. Just study, or well, read some books, that was why she was in this room, why else would she be in the library if not to be able to study and read. She found herself a book, something random on the geography of northern Finland, it was apparently a muggle book, which she gathered from the lack of a moving picture on the cover. She flicked through the pages before deciding this was the right book.

The teen sat back down, flicking the book open, cosying herself in the chair and beginning to read. She wondered if maybe he would want something to drink which she could get from Stefan, the boy did seem still very terrified, and she wasn't too sure how to fix it. The hufflepuff wondered about which thing was the right thing to say, to suggest just anything. She looked up from her book at him, "I'm not going to hurt you," she said to him with an apologetic tone, "And the librarian is my cousin, he's nice too, he wouldn't hurt a soul," she told him as if apologising for threatening to call him over, she hadn't meant to do this to the boy, and the teen really was feeling bad about it. She didn't try to justify what she had done, it would make no difference, but she could at least apologise to him for it, especially since he seemed to still be afraid, "Are you a second year?" she asked him, since she hadn't seen him in her class but his face was familiar.
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[Bob Masters]

Bob wasn't sure how to react to this girl, she seemed to be sincere enough but it was never something that he would benefit from if he just ran in headfirst without considering any of the possibilities or the dangers that could come. He only trusted one or two people, and he wasn't interested in bringing anybody else into the circle of people that he trusted; especially since he could end up getting hurt all over again and that wasn't something that he wanted to happen. He was safe inside, but whose to say that his friend wouldn't one day ask him to go outside and join her and end up dragging him into the forbidden forest? He couldn't be sure, and he doubted that he would ever be sure, he didn't trust people easily and he had a lot of reasons not too.

Bob just gave her a smile, he was far too terrified to believe anything that she was saying yet, and he always believed that actions spoke a lot louder then words ever would. Bob knew that the bullies who had terrorised him had made their choice to be labelled as bullies, and Bob didn't want to risk any of the people that he would call friends turning out like that. When he made a friend, he looked after them, even though he was basically terrified of anything and everything. He wasn't sure what to say to her first question, because while he didn't not believe that she wasn't going to hurt him there was still a very good chance that she would hurt him. He sighed to himself, and shivered a little bit. "Y.. Y.. Yes.." He said with a weak smile.

 

[Lydia Warrick]

Lydia hadn't necessarily dealt with a lot of what was currently going on. She was finding it funny that she had ended up in this situation with this boy, who was only a little younger than her who pretty much just failed to be able to speak to her. She didn't mind it so much, since they were in a library and just because the librarian was her cousin didn't mean that he'd give her special treatment. The girl was happily curled up in the chair, her eyes lingering on his form sitting far more rigidly, still very obviously terrified, and she had no idea how to fix it really. She didn't know what to do, and regretted her first action considering what it had been, though she didn't regret it that much since she believed it justified given the circumstances of how he had first acted, however involuntary it had been.

Lydia's question was met with a stuttering shy response and all she could do was just smiled encouraging at him. Knowing there wasn't much else that she could do. There was no way to make him believe that she was in fact a perfectly good person who wasn't just out to make him scared of her. No, not at all. She just took a book from her bag, and slid it along the table to him, before settling herself in her chair and reopening her book, "We can just study in silence," she told him, meaning essentially that if he wanted to talk they could but there would be nothing forcing either of them to do anything of the sort and that in fact this was better, it wouldn't be a one sided conversation in which no matter what Lydia said she was going to just end up making all of the conversation, so perhaps just showing him that she was harmless in the pair of them just reading together was what was necessary.
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[Bob Masters]

Bob wasn't sure what to say to her, everything that she did and everything she said spoke welcoming and she was being so kind towards him. He wasn't used to people being nice to him, especially when he had to go through classes with Professor Styx, he was such a terrifying person. Bob felt like he could snap at any moment and literally kill everyone in his classroom.. but he knew that he wouldn't be the kind of person to do that kind of thing; he hoped that he wouldn't go crazy and do that at least. You never really did know anyone until you had seen their good side and their dark side, because there was always at least two sides of one person and they were still the same person throughout it all. Both of Bob's sides were scared pretty much all of the time, so he knew that he would never have want to learn someone's dark side.

Bob gave the girl, Lydia, a smile. He didn't want to be rude to her, especially when she was being so nice towards him and he had been raised to always be kind to people if you want them to be kind to you - and well, at the same time this was the reason that he had had so much trouble last year. Everyone saw that kind of person that he was and they took advantage of him. "It's.. It's okay. I'll.. talk.." He said, trying to muster the courage to talk to what seemed to be his new friend. "I.. I.. just don't.. don't want.. the.. the bullies.. to.. tofindme.." He said, bunching the last three words together as he spoke quickly.

 

[Lydia Warrick]

Lydia was always perfectly fine with just sitting and studying in silence, she didn't need for him to talk to her, she had grown up in a house where silence and studying had played a rather large goal, and honestly she wasn't sure what to expect from this kid, but she wanted him to feel comfortable and not pressured in any way by any of it. The teen looked at the boy as he began to speak, she didn't look away from him, but showed interest in what he was saying, making no motion of boredom or indicating that she needed him to hurry up whatever he was saying, she really was completely fine with it all. She nodded at him, and then when he admitted that he didn't want the bullies to find him, she frowned, bullies? That was stupid, Lydia had always hated bullies, and she didn't like that he was suffering because of them. Lydia wondered who they were, and if she could tell a professor about it.

But of course, Lydia couldn't actually do that, since it wasn't up to her, "They won't find you here, no one ever comes to this section of the library," she told him with a small shrug, "And if they do, I'll give them a piece of my mind," she then added with a little bit of masked anger at the bullies that this boy was facing, "We also don't need to talk," she then added, she was speaking quietly, and the anger was now gone. Instead she just smiled at him, trying to get him to feel far more comfortable that he probably was, even though she had no real clue how to go about doing such a thing. She didn't want to pressure him into doing anything, didn't want to force him to be comfortable if he didn't want to. If he wanted to leave, she wouldn't exactly stop him, "We can just study in silence, if you don't want to talk," she told him again, "But, I'm happy to talk if you want to, we can talk about the weather, or how great quidditch is, do you play?"
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[Bob Masters]

Bob gave Lydia a smile as she mentioned that she would give the bullies a piece of her mind. He didn't know if that would be such a good idea because he didn't want her to get hurt at his expense because then he would feel so much worse that it had been his fault that she had gotten hurt and he would feel terrible because of this. He didn't want to feel like that anymore, and there was no way that he would want his friend to get hurt because of him. It was pretty crazy when he thought about his life now. There was so many bullies that he had to deal with, but at the same time he had two friends now! That in itself was amazing because it meant that he had two people that he could rely on and who he could go to if he ever needed help. But he would never ask them to fight his battles for him, he couldn't bear to see them get hurt.

Bob just reached out and placed his hand over Lydia's and took it back straight away. Layla had done that and it had made Bob feel so much better, he wondered if it would do the same for and whether or not it would make her feel better. He noticed that she had frowned when he had mentioned the word bullies and he wondered if she was sad because of them. Bob frowned himself when she asked if he played Quidditch. The entire game was a death trap waiting to happen, there was so way he would ever find himself on a broomstick again. "No.. I don't.. I don't play Quidditch.." Bob said with an odd look on his face. "Do you..?" Bob asked her.

 

[Lydia Warrick]

The boy was very different from all the other people which Lydia had met at the school, he was nervous like she'd seen Kalvyn her cousin be, but the Archer wasn't the type of person to give up on another because of such a thing. His smile at her made her think that she was doing the right thing, that this wouldn't be pointless, though she had never really honestly thought it would be, the teen was always happy to help others, and helping others just sometimes meant sitting in silence with another person. It meant just being there, or that was what her mother had always taught her, so despite not knowing anything about this boy or if he was the sort of person who would benefit from this, she was just sitting with him, a small smile on her face as she continued to read her book, glancing at him every so often as they just sat in companionable silence, though the boy seemed determined to speak.

When his hand reached out to hers, and was placed over hers, only to be taken right back, Lydia couldn't help but blush a little and then just smile at him, maybe that sort of thing helped him feel better and she wasn't sure how it would but it clearly did, if he was so shy surely being able to do that showed that it did help him, so she moved her hand a little towards him and gave the smallest smile as if to tell him it was okay to do that. Then when she had asked him about quidditch she nodded at him speaking, clearly quidditch wasn't a go to topic for him, "I'm on the hufflepuff house team," she told him, with an encouraging smile, "What's your favourite class?" she asked him with a small nod, almost trying to encourage him to speak, which was likely something easier said than done.
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