Closed Snacks in the Library

[Malachi Ryu]

There was something Malachi had been meaning to do for a while. He kept telling himself that the reason he hadn't done it yet was because the right opportunity hadn't presented itself, but that was an excuse. He was scared. His mother had told him to make friends, yes, but he didn't suppose she'd had the likes of Mary Lou in mind when she'd said it. Not that there was anything wrong with Mary Lou! No - she was lovely. Malachi thought so, anyway. But she was on the wrong side of a school bully, and that, at least in his mother's eyes, made her somebody to avoid.

He was hunting for a book on Astronomy when out of the corner of his eye he spotted Mary Lou sitting at one of the library tables. Well, here it was - the opportunity he'd been waiting for. He held the book to his chest, wrestling with his conscience. What would he want, if he were in her shoes? He moved one leg, and then the other, and before he knew it he was standing a foot away from her chair. "Hi," he said, so quietly that the sound of a page turning could have drowned him out. "What are you reading?"

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

Mary Lou was ready. She had her cinnamon block snacks, her Potions book, the book with the stuff from Defence Against the Dark Arts and her wand. She didn't really need her wand at the moment, because she was hesitant to practice any spells on her own, which was why she'd gone to see Professor Robert and Professor Aeon, but she liked to have it with her, because it smells like apples and it made her happy. She was a bit familiar with apple wood, as some of the furniture in her home was apple scented, though she didn't quite know if it was the same, or if this was a magical versus non magical thing, but it was similar. She carried everything to the library very carefully, as she had only two hands and so she'd put her snacks in little containers to drop them in her overly large pockets. She wasn't used to pockets, as her dresses almost never had them, so having the cloak was honestly such a huge help for her. As she sat at one of the tables in the middle of the library (she'd been in here often enough with snacks that she was sure it was allowed) she flipped through the book she'd found that talked about Harry Potter and began taking notes as she should have in the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson last week. She'd just had so much on her mind with that boy, she'd lost it, been completely overwhelmed by everything and ended up crying under her desk. It had not been a great week for her, not really. She was so engrossed in her book, that she almost didn't notice someone was speaking to her. In fact, she didn't notice at all, it was only that she felt as weird presence overcome her that she looked up and nearly jumped as she noticed someone standing there. "Oh, goodness!" She called, hand on her heart as she attempted to slow the beating of it. "Malachai Ryu, are you trying to turn me to stone!" She asked him, breathing deeply to contain her shock. Goodness, the boy knew how to sneak, that was for sure!​

 

[Malachi Ryu]

Malachi wasn't entirely sure what Mary Lou meant, but he could gather he'd startled her. "Sorry," he said, taking a small step back. "I have quiet shoes." Or at least, he walked quietly in them. His mother hated it so much that he had to make a conscious effort to stomp around her as not to make her jump. He fingered the spine of his book, wondering what to say. What did girls like to talk about? She hadn't answered his question. "I'm reading this," he said, showing her the cover. "Have you read it before?"

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

Mary Lou smiled openly at Malachai, he seemed a little bit shy. Mary Lou wasn't really shy, so much, as anxious about things, so talking to new people she didn't associate with was not such a big thing for her. She loved making friends, perhaps he wanted the same thing too? She hoped so, he seemed nice from what she knew of him. "They are very quiet, yes, I do believe you might've snuck right past me if you'd wanted to!" She told him, turning to make sure he had her full attention. She looked to his book as he drew attention to it and frowned a little. It looked like it was about Astronomy, but she hadn't specifically read it, she didn't think. "I don't think I have, why don't you come and sit with me and we can study together? I'm not really doing Astronomy right now, I have to catch up from last Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, and then Potions, but we can do it together, I have snacks?" She said, pointing her little plate of sweets out to him. "Anything you like?"​

 

[Malachi Ryu]

Malachi smiled back at Mary Lou, relieved he hadn't upset her. He knew she'd been having a rough time recently, and the last thing he wanted to do was become another one of her problems. He sat down immediately at her invitation and put his book on the table. "OK. I need to study Potions, too. Actually, I need to study everything. I find it all hard," he admitted, with a shameful flush. The appearance of a plate of snacks made him recoil suddenly. "I don't think we should be eating in here, Mary Lou. It's a library."

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

Mary Lou moved over little as Malachai sat beside her. She was glad to potentially be making another friend and what better way than with food? Everyone liked food. "Yes, good, I don't know much at all about any of it and, well, I've been a tad bit lost in the recent lessons," she wisely chose not to mention the Slytherin boy in all of this, "so I thought it was a good place to start since our exams are soon." She told him, turning back to her parchment. "It's not worry, Malachai! We can help each other!" Yes, that was what they could do. She reached out for one of the cookies when Malachai seemed to reel away quickly, scandalised by something He wore a similar face her Mama did when she learned Mrs next-door neighbour was getting a divorce. "Oh, a library? Is it?" She looked around, perplexed. "Why did you not say so, Malachai! We'll get roasted for sure!" She told him, calmly breaking her cookie in half and offering it up to him. "It's choc mint."​

 

[Malachi Ryu]

Malachi nodded, completely understanding. It was nice to know he wasn't the only person struggling. Sometimes he felt as if language was his largest barrier, but if Mary Lou found classes hard, too, perhaps it wasn't his fault after all. "Yes, that is a good idea," he said, excited by the prospect of studying with her. He just had to be careful not to ask so many questions that she got tired of his company. He stared at her as she pretended to notice her surroundings for the first time, a shy smile creeping over his face. "You're funny." Still, he didn't think it was a good idea to eat in the library. What if they dropped crumbs everywhere, or got the books greasy, or - worst of all - the librarian caught them? But Mary Lou had offered him half a cookie, and between upsetting Mary Lou by refusing it or upsetting the librarian, the choice was easy. "Thank you," he said, nibbling on the edge. "It's good! Where did you get it?"

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

Mary Lou had an idea that perhaps Malachai hadn't really been to many libraries before. All of the ones she had ever been to allowed eating, so, naturally, she assumed this one did too. She always ate when she was studying because otherwise she would forget and this just seemed a lot easier. She grinned brightly at him when he mentioned that she was funny. It wasn't a compliment she normally received, but she was ever so excited to hear it. "Am I, really? Thank you, that's so kind of you to say!" It was! She was usually complimented on how much she looked like her mother, or how well her mother must have done to raise her into the young girl she was. That thought made her a bit sad though, so she didn't want to swell on it, if she did, she would bring the whole mood down and it would be entirely her fault. As he asked her where she'd gotten the cookies from, however, she blinked at him. These were home-made! Certainly not store bought. She took a small bite from her half of the cookie and pointed it at him. "I made it," she told him flatly. She didn't want to be rude, but these were home-made, how could he have not seen that. "You can tell, because they are actually nice to eat and they don't taste stale," she informed him. It wasn't that she didn't like the store bought bakery goods (she didn't) just that they were really bad (they sucked) and she didn't think people should have to eat them (they were the worst). She much preferred to make it herself with fresh ingredients she got from wherever she could.​

 

[Malachi Ryu]

Malachi wondered whether Mary Lou was being sarcastic again. She was very strange - but in a pleasant, warm kind of way. He nibbled on his cookie, keeping one ear open for the sound of the librarian's approaching footfall. "Oh," he said. He'd never noticed shop-bought cookies tasting particularly stale, but then cookies at home were a rare treat, so perhaps he hadn't eaten enough to tell the difference. "I like it. You should make some more. If you want to," he added quickly. "Shall we do some studying now?"

 

[Mary Lou Layton]

Mary Lou smiled at Malachi lightly, wondering if he would take up her advice about only ever eating properly baked cookies from now on since store-bought really did suck. "I definitely will make more, don't worry about that and... if we study together again, you can tell me what you like and I can make something for you." She told him, excited at the prospect of more baking. It was one of the only thins she was good at so she wanted to do it as much as she could. She nodded again when he asked if they should study. "Yes, let's do that. What shall we study first?" She asked, looking over her books to see what might be best to start with.​