Knowledge is Power

[Kira Wolf]

Kira sat on the floor in the back of the library. She was surrounded by maybe two dozen books, a stack of at least six parchments next to her left leg and at least a dozen on the right. The smaller stack was filled with her dainty penmanship, while the larger still remained blank. In front of her was a lone strip of parchment. On one knee she held a half-filled parchment and on the other an open book. She ran a finger down its page as she read. She stopped near the bottom and turned to her parchment, jotting something down.

She picked up the last strip of parchment off the floor in front of her and placed it in the book, shutting it and setting it on one of the piles surrounding her. She turned to a different pile and, sticking her quill behind her ear, she pulled out a large volume from in the middle. She flipped through it until finding what she was looking for about two-thirds of the way through the book. She removed the quill from behind her ear and started jotting things down again.

She reached for the strips of parchment, only to look up when her fingers brushed the empty floor. She deliberated for half a moment before pulling the hair tie out of her hair, letting her chocolate ponytail fall in soft waves against her shoulders. She rarely ever wore her hair down. She placed the hair tie in the book before flipping back to the beginning of the book and scanning it for something else.

She was so caught up in what she was doing she didn't notice there was someone else there.

 

[Cassander Howard]

Cassander was not one for much studying, but he knew with exams coming up he should at least crack open a book to help him get a decent grade. He knew third year was when his grades really started counting, and besides, he already knew he was going into his family's business when he graduated. So really, these exams did not stress him out the way it did others apparently. As he walked through the library in search of a secluded place to settle into, maybe take a nap in, he came across someone with the entire contents of their backpack sprawled on the floor, blocking his pathway. "Jeez, can't you do this in your room somewhere where you're not bothering everyone?" Cass said as he nudged a book out of his way, nearly toppling the pile beside the girl.
​

 

[Kira Wolf]

Kira shot a hand out to steady her books without bothering to look. "Every Ravenclaw in my year had that idea," she stated simply, "And most of them are too busy complaining about studies or other problems to let me focus. If I have a book you need, feel free to take it. I finished studying for exams three days ago." She snapped the book in her hand shut and looked up to see a rather attractive older boy standing there. "Seeing as how I'm in the very back of the library, I can't see how I'm in your way, but I'm still new here so I can move if you need me to." She smiled up at him, not bothered by his brash tone.

"Kira Wolf, by the way." She introduced herself cheerily, before standing with the pile he'd kicked and moving over to the nearby bookshelf where she'd got them. She started to return them to the various places she'd found them.

 

[Cassander Howard]

Of course the girl drowning in books at the library would be a Ravenclaw. Of course. Probably a first year too judging by how seriously she took the exams. Except in the next moment the girl was saying she was finished studying for exams days ago. Cass raised an eyebrow skeptically and his curiosity got the better of him as he asked, "How can you be done studying for an exam?" It wasn't as if their brains could tell them they'd absorbed all the information at 100%, so how did the girl know she was 'finished'? As he scanned the mess around her he added, "And if you're not studying for exams then what are you even doing?" judgment clear in his voice.

"I was looking for a secluded place to na- to study, but you made yourself comfortable in what is supposed to be a public space. What are you, a first year?" he asked, wanting confirmation of his assumption. She introduced herself and he took in the information, contemplating whether it was worth it to return the introduction. "Cassander Howard," he replied bored, and then tried to step over her to get to the other side of her organized mess. He suddenly felt his shoe rip parchment as he stepped on it on the floor, and he shrugged as he said, "Oops."
​

 

[Kira Wolf]

Kira shrugged at his first question and answered honestly. "I reviewed everything covered in class and a bit more. They don't put much more than that on tests. It's quite simple, really." She ignored the judgey tone of his voice and answered his questions seriously.

"I'm here to answer questions. Knowledge is power. The more you know, the better off you are. It's quite simple, really." She put away the last book in her hands and fetched another stack. It's contents belonged on the opposite shelf, so that's where she went. "I am a first year, yes, but as you said, it is a public place, so I'm free to do what I will just as you are. But, you also have a point. When I was alone I was fine, but if you need the seclusion to, er, study, then I have no issue moving along." She answered him cheerily, giving him a friendly smile.

He introduced himself, and she couldn't help but grin again. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cassander." She started to say something else when she heard the ripping of parchment. She paused a moment and glanced over to see he had stepped on her notes. She didn't think he did it on purpose, but even if he had it didn't bother her.

"Ah well," she shrugged, returning to the task at hand. It wasn't as if she'd needed the notes direly. "So," she said conversationally, "what classes do you take?"

 

[Cassander Howard]

Cassander actually laughed when the girl, Kira, said knowledge was power, as if that was the way to gain power in the wizarding world. Right away he knew she must be a mudblood because she thought she actually needed to seek out power, whereas those who were pure were born with it. There were many other ways to gain power and doing so by simply 'gaining knowledge' was weak. But Cassander bit his tongue, holding on to this information until it was useful to him and instead walked over to a nearby table, slinging his bag onto it. He was surprised she didn't seem too bothered by her notes being ruined. "Yeesh what a waste of time," he commented, seeing how little she cared about the work she'd put into writing down those notes once they were ruined.

For some reason it infuriated him how nonchalant she was; he wanted to get under her skin. He watched her as she cleared the area and put the books away, rolling his eyes as she continued trying to make conversation with him. Really? Of all things she was going to ask him about classeS? "Is school the only thing you talk about?" he asked, propping his feet up on the table as he made himself comfortable.
​

 

[Kira Wolf]

Out of Character:

Sorry for the delay, just got off work

Kira smiled to herself when Cassander laughed, even though she knew he was laughing at her. She liked his laugh. She picked up the second to last stack of books as he sat down at a nearby table. She pocketed her bookmarks as she put the books away.

She shrugged at his comment. "They're more for reference later. Writing it down helps me remember, and after that it's just good organization."

He asked her then if school was all she talked about, and she chuckled a little. "No, but I don't think there's anything in my life you would find interesting, and I don't think you would tell me anything about anything but school." She answered honestly, standing on her tiptoes to put away a book on the top shelf.

As she stretched, her shirt rode up a little to reveal a faded scar on her lower back near her hip.

 

[Cassander Howard]

[Sorry for my mega delay as well ]

Cassander regretted his question as soon as the girl began to explain her study methods, uninterested in what she had to say. The Slytherin pulled out a book from his bag to at least pretend to study and opened up to the chapter he knew he had to review. But he didn't immediately start reading as he watched the girl, tutting in agreement when she said he wouldn't find anything about her life interesting. Just then he saw a small scar on her lower back as she put the last of her mess away and Cass called out, "What's that scar from?" not ready to start studying just yet. He figured since they were in a secluded section of the library their conversation wouldn't bother anyone.
​

 

[Kira Wolf]

Out of Character:

It's okay lovie.

Kira reached a hand down to touch her back, figuring it was the only thing he could be talking about. "Oh, ah..." She looked up at him with her big blue eyes. "My family owns an Inn. We get a lot of people; when I was about six these two elderly twins came through. I won't bore you with a long story. But these two old blokes were so funny I fell out of a tree and cut open my back."

Kira went over and gathered everything into her bag. She slung it over her shoulder, hesitating as she looked at Cassander. She wanted to stay and chat but she didn't want to impose either. "So, you're not in my year... Fourth, maybe?" She asked casually, hoping he might invite her to sit and talk.

 

[Cassander Howard]

Cass frowned as he listened to the girl's story. "Oh," he said deflated, expecting it to have been a lot more interesting, or at least something including magic of some sort. "Are you a mudblood then?" he said, voicing his next train of thought out loud. He chuckled a little when she assumed he might be a fourth year but shook his head, smirking proudly at the thought that he seemed older than he actually was. "No, I'm only a second year, but I'm still older than you," he said with a small, smug shrug. Maybe he should start saying he was a fourth year if this first year thought so, it made him feel more in control over them.
​

 

[Kira Wolf]

Kira rubbed the back of her neck, smiling sheepishly. "Well... I don't really know. My parent's died a few years ago, and my sister isn't magical. Either I'm a muggle-born or I had one wizarding parent who couldn't break the statute of secrecy, I suppose. Tyra has been going through our parent's belongings to see if there's anything there."

She nodded when he said he was the second year, looking rather full of himself that she had mistook him for a fourth year. She grinned a little at that. He was definitely amusing; different than all the other kids she'd met so far.