Books and Fires Do Not Go Along PV

Adonis shuffled through the various books on the shelves of the library, looking for a book that would provide him with knowledge of other defensive or offensive spells that he had yet to learn. His hazel colored eyes meticulously scanned the names of each one that were perfectly organized among its shelf. The fingers of the 12 year old boy rapped against the leather of each book while searching through them. Eventually, they plucked one book in particular after a deep search. A book titled Curses and Counter-Curses by Vindictus Viridian that taught how to cast certain dark charm, jinxes, hexes, etc. and even how to counter them.

As he indulged in his studies within the book over time, Adonis eventually came across the Tongue-Tying Spell. Being that he always looked ahead in his books for Defense Against the Dark Arts, he assumed that particular spell could prove useful in adding to his arsenal. Shortly after that, the ambitious boy got right into reading about it and studying.

It would take him a good amount of time in getting used to it but he would eventually get it as the days went on he figured, nonetheless. Adonis then began to notice how dark it was around him and saw an unlit candle sitting atop a desk nearby. Naturally, he went over to grab it and bring it back to his spot beside the bookshelves with him.

Upon seating himself on the ground once again and setting his book on the ground beside him, Adonis took out his wand in one hand while the other held the candle. "Incendio." He spoke, creating a leaf-like movement with his wand that was aimed for the candle. Adonis had only meant to light the candle on fire to make light. Unfortunately for him, a jet of flames shot out of his wand, engulfing the candle stick and shooting past it to the other bookshelf across from him.

Adonis' eyes went wide and the boy immediately sprang to his feet, taking a step towards it and trying to stomp out the fire that was slowly licking its way up the shelf. "Aw crap. No, no, no. This isn't good. I'm such a tosser." He said with a disappointing sigh at himself, clearly aware of the idiotic move he made by trying to light the candle with that spell. "Lazy Thorn." He scolded himself while still trying to rid of the flames.

That was until a girl he had never seen before showed up around the corner. He was quite dumbfounded at first and caught off-guard by her pretty face but quickly shook it off and turned his attention back to the fire. "I uh... may have started a fire on accident? A little help would be nice, please." Adonis had totally blanked out on the Extinguishing Spell, not even thinking about using it once to put out the fire which would've saved him plenty.

Katrina turned the corner of a bookshelf to see flames licking up the first two shelves. A flaming candle explained the situation before anything else. She gritted her teeth and dug in the sleeve of her clock.

A voice spoke up and her hazel eyes landed on a boy. At first sight, she didn’t recognize him, but he appeared to be about a year younger than her. Slytherin, she deducted from seeing him in passing between classes and such. The boy had a mop of frizzy brown hair and concerned eyes.
“I uh... may have started a fire on accident? A little help would be nice, please.“ Katrina’s lips turned up into a smirk before turning to the bookshelf.

Katrina raised her wand and cleared her through before casting, “ Extinguo!” A touch of urgency bled into her voice as the flames had begun to catch on the books now rather than the shelf. Thankfully, the spell was successful and with a puff of smoke, the flames disappeared. However the shelf around it looked quite charred. Thankfully there was some sort of protective charm on the books or a stoke of luck, because none of the books seemed to have exploded into flames, but rather sat there doing the opposite.

Katrina turned back to the boy inquisitively, “You know, you could have just cast lumos,” a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, “Instead of almost causing a catastrophe,”

For some unknown reason, her guard was down. Usually Katrina would be prickly or quiet, but it must have been something about the atmosphere of the library. Boomerang, her kitten quietly approached the second-year, and it wasn’t until she was slightly startled by his small feline frame suddenly wrapped around her ankles that she noticed him. Katrina slightly nudged her kitten to tell him that now was not the best time, but instead he walked up the the boy, purring.

“Sorry about Boomerang, don’t mind him.” Katrina watched with a touch of curiosity as to why her kitten liked this new student rather than her. Katrina put her wand away and found herself rubbing the inside of her school robe left sleeve. In there, unbeknownst to anyone else, was a small teal embroidered dragon. Perhaps it had been her good-luck charm that had caused her to talk.

Nevertheless, Katrina was glad she was there to put out the fire before the whole library burst into flames.

Adonis offered the girl a sheepish grin, bringing his shoulders up to his head before allowing them to rest. It was quite embarrassing to say the least and it most definitely took a good stab at his pride with it, especially because he had to ask for help without thinking of how he could have handled it himself. Such a dumb move on his part that he should've thought it more through for both the fire he created and asking for help. Alas, the boy was impulsive at times and this was one of those times.

He tried to recognize the face but couldn't seem to. His memory tended to be against him sometimes and he wasn't always paying attention to his surroundings. Most of the time at least. Well, it only meant new people to meet from there! So, he was fine with it either way despite trying his hardest to remember if he had ever seen her before.

A sigh of relief and the intangible weight of a burden had put upon himself suddenly lifted off of his shoulders in that instant as she rid of the flames with the Extinguishing Spell. It was then that the thought of it popped up in his head, making him face facepalm himself for forgetting such a thing. He was glad that that fire was gone now though before he was able to get into any serious trouble with the librarian or some figure of authority. "Thank you for that. Appreciate it." Adonis thanked her with the nod of his head.

A slight smirk then played at his lips upon being told what he could have instead of what he had ended up doing and the problem it caused for him."Well, in my defense I wasn't trying to hold the book with one hand and hover my wand over it with the other. I like both hands free so I can be productive you know?"

His attention then switched over to her kitten that had now walked over to him, smiling softly at the sight."Eh. It's fine! Don't worry." He gave her a wave his hand and knelt down to softly pet the kitten with a smile. "So, what's your name? I'm Adonis. Adonis Thorn." The Slytherin told the girl, standing up again to extend a hand out towards her to shake.

Katrina held an aura of wariness hidden by a mask of amusement. It wasn’t often that she ran into a student whom she had never really seen before. However, she didn’t want to be scary or intimidating, so she put on a face of gentle sarcasm.

After the fire had been put out, she saw him smack his face in the corner of her eye. He had clearly not thought about the extinguishing spell. That thought reassured the playful smirk, her eyes almost twinkling in amusement.

He thanked her and nodded his head in appreciation. “I couldn’t let the whole place burn down, now could I?” Katrina joked, storing her wand back in her robe pocket.

He defended himself and Katrina rewarded the effort with a tip of her head. She supposed it did make since after all. The thought of him trying to be productive whilst setting things on fire was a welcome track running through her head. Katrina was careful not to appear belittling while enjoying herself.

Boomerang continued to purr at his side and Katrina felt a small pang of jealousy. It wasn’t often that her companion chose other company beside her. She had to admit, the boy had a way with animals, or at least her animal.

The boy stood, introducing himself as Adonis Thorn. He stuck out a hand for her to shake and she did. “Katrina Walker”

There was a good chance that he would recognize her name. After all, she was the only one who’s entire family had died in a fire. Also the fact that she had a teal streak in her auburn hair caused many people to recognize her immediately. It had taken a while to get used to, but it was pretty normal now.

In an attempt to bring the situations n from her, Katrina sparked a conversation,”So, what were you doing before you decided to light the library on fire?, ” She saw some books spread out, all with the title faced away from her. She picked up one and read the title, “Curses and Counter Curses, interesting choice— preparing for dueling? Or just reading up on some stuff?”

Katrina knee it was a bit prying to just look through someone’s stuff, but she had no ill intentions. In fact, the amused smile was now more interested.

Adonis was always up for meeting new people and acquainting himself with them that could hopefully lead to a friendship one day. He was a very sociable type that liked to get around and talk to new faces whenever he got the chance to. His relationships with people was a significant part of him that he took seriously in maintaining. There was an upbeat aura to him that was filled with excitement and the ever-present charming smile on his face. It was like his signature move.

He chuckled at her joke, scratching his head in slight embarrassment before looking back up at her. "Yeah, I guess not. That would be quite embarrassing on my part and I'm sure I wouldn't be at this school too anymore either. So, thank you again." Adonis said with a quite laugh as to make sure he wasn't too loud.

A smirk began to present itself on his face though as her pet cat continued to rub up against his leg. He had never really been one to get along well with animals or a cat for that matter. Though he was good at getting along with babies. They seemed to love him! And he loved them just as much back, especially with those chubby cheeks of theirs. It made him miss his baby brother back at home. His other brother who was a year younger than him? He had enough of him and would see him next year anyways.

"Katrina, eh? Nice name. It's a pleasure to meet you, Katrina!" He said with a smile, giving her hand one last shake before letting with a nod.

He did in fact know he heard or saw the name at least once for sure as he remembered reading it in the paper once back during when it happened. A shame it was. Adonis would've offered his condolences and whatnot but he didn't want to put her in any type of mood and aimed to keep both of their spirits up.

"Well, I wa-" Before he could finish answering her first question, she had by then already picked up the book he was reading from and asked her second one. "I- yes. I've been reading and studying ahead in DADA to equip myself with an arsenal of spells in preparation for duelling. It's a hobby of mine I guess you could say." Adonis said with a shrug and a rather confident look on his face. He prized himself on being able to comprehend and study ahead of his year in Defense Against the Dark Arts. "What about you?"

Katrina wasn’t normally this outgoing. It only dawned on her as she watched Boomerang continued to wind around the boy’s- Adonis’- legs. Boomerang, like her, never really reached out to people immediately. It often took both of them several meetings in order to really talk to someone. In the last few weeks, however, everything had been changing. Katrina had come to grips more with everything and had been able to reach out to people.

Katrina smirked again as he laughed. It was incredibly rare to see Katrina really smile. Another thing that had changed in the last few weeks was her smirk. Everyone in her family had a distinctive lopsided smile, it had almost been if Katrina had smiled, it would be betraying her family. Nonetheless, her almost teasing smile held firm.

There was a look on his face after greeting Katrina that was hard for the second-year to decipher. It was an almost uncanny skill that the lioness had developed— reading expressions that is. It was a skill that she had developed alongside her awareness and caring for others. The expression was contemplative? Sincere? Worried?

“Dueling?” Katrina bit her lip, she had been thinking about signing up as well. Even though it went against her personality, the lioness really wanted a chance to learn and practice magic more.

Adonis had a confident smile on his face as he mentioned his DADA work. She noticed that the book was one she had been learning, it was second year level. He must be working at least a year ahead. Katrina nodded in quiet admiration, it wasn’t common to see a first year already pushing ahead of the group, there was a touch of respect in her expression.

“Well, I came in for some school stuff. DADA essay on ghosts, still need at least two inches of parchment but I have run dry,” Katrina shrugged, “I’ll come up with some more ideas soon,“

Katrina turned to the tall stack of books. “You certainly know quite a bit of DADA work, what about it is so interesting for you?“ As much as Katrina enjoyed amicable conversation, she never really liked having all the attention on her.

Adonis liked that she was able to start up a conversation and find it in themselves to be outgoing alongside him. He hated when a conversation was one-sided, it made him feel awkward and boring. As if he wasn't interesting enough for the other person to much thought or effort into their conversation or even a conversation to begin with. This wasn't the case here though. It was rare for him to have one-sided conversations but it had happened enough for him to know what he thought about it. He was glad to have been able to have the opportunity to have all the interactions that he had so far as of lately. Not much of that happened for him in terms of socialization earlier in the school year, though that was most likely his fault due to constant studying. But now? Business was booming! And nothing was going to shut him up anytime soon.

"I'm starting to think your cat likes me more than they like you." Adonis said teasingly with a smirk plastered across his face, looking down at the cat and then back up to her. "Kidding! Please don't slap me or anything." The boy said hurriedly, quickly putting his hands up in surrender with a slight grin.

His attention was then brought back to their main conversation at hand and Adonis nodded to himself, focusing back in on what they were talking about after being sidetracked.

"Yup! Duelling indeed. You should sign up for it whenever sign-up sheets are posted or whatever it is to get in. Practice and learn how to defend yourself against different types of people with their own style. There's a lot of criminals and Dark wi-" Adonis stopped short before he could fully finish saying what he meant, clearing his throat a bit. He was quite touchy with the words 'Dark wizard and witch' as his family had quite the past with that. Being that his father's side, the Thorn's, was notorious for being filled with them and had plenty who had been on what most would consider the evil opposing sides for multiple wars throughout history. Practically all of them had been Death Eater's during their reign and some were part of the Alliance under Gellert Grindelwald's command even before that too. He was proud of his father for not following in their footsteps and it was why Adonis looked up to him so much. The fact that he was able to stand up to his own family and go against them by becoming an Auror and joining the very ranks of what they constantly fought against had amazed him. It took a lot of guts to do that. "Criminals. Out in this world that aren't so nice and it doesn't hurt to be prepared and able to defend yourself." Adonis said with a shrug, looking back over to her as she checked out his books.

"I could always help you on it if you want. Personally, I don't mind. It's all study alongside Potions anyways." Adonis also turned to face the stacks of books that he had now. "Suppose you could say that.It's just everything about it that I find interesting. All of the various creatures and the etymology behind them along with the curses, hexes, and duelling spells. The rich knowledge and history that comes with it." He lightly chuckled at the thought of what he was about say next. "My grandmother used to home-school me and she would slip me bits of knowledge of things that were Defense Against the Dark Arts related, suppose I just always absorbed it all up ever since I was little." The thought made him miss his family back at home. He didn't have the typical Pure-blood family and he was grateful for it.

"What about you? What's your favorite subject or what do you like doing the most?" He asked her, trying to change the focus on her after feeling as if he talked too much.

“ I'm starting to think your cat likes me more than they like you,” Adonis teased, a smirk still on his face, Katrina crossed her arms in mock offensiveness, “ Kidding! Please don't slap me or anything,” At this the second-year couldn’t suppress her smile at his play acting. It felt nice to just goof off and be the kid she still was, even when it seemed like Hogwarts was rushing her to grow up faster.

“Yup! Duelling indeed. You should sign up for it whenever sign-up sheets are posted or whatever it is to get in. Practice and learn how to defend yourself against different types of people with their own style. There's a lot of criminals and Dark wi- Criminals. Out in this world that aren't so nice and it doesn't hurt to be prepared and able to defend yourself. “ Katrina nodded, somewhat thoughtfully. It seemed like dueling would be good practice. However, she also caught his hesitation, perhaps he had a history with something? For the sake of keeping a happy conversation going, Katrina didn’t bring it up.

At his offer for help with the DADA essay, Katrina shrugged. For now it was nice just to talk some, she wasn’t quite ready to get back to work. But, she did put it in her memory that if she was ever stuck that he would be the person to ask for help. It wasn’t too often that the red-head struggled with homework as she put so much time into her magical studies, but she still filed away the information.

Katrina nodded along as he talked about his love of his magical talent. She had never really had too much interest with the subject. Katrina had more of a love for charms. In fact, Katrina was debating doing a lot more extra work on that next year. It would be amazing if she could learn some of the older grade charms.

As he passed the conversation back to Katrina, she took a moment to think. After chewing on her lip for a second, she spoke up, “I really enjoy charms. I’m not too good at it, but it really fascinates me. Growing up without magic makes all the more interesting.” She hesitated, realizing that she had just said openly that she was a muggleborn. Katrina pushed the comment aside and continued, hoping that there would be no repercussions.

“As for everything else, I am a sketcher. I also enjoy helping people, you know— healing and stuff” Katrina sort of trailed off some, “But yeah, I enjoy charms”

Katrina looked back to Boomerang who was now preparing to jump up on the desk that held all of the books Adonis had been reading. With a large bound, he jumped up, avoiding knocking anything over with his small frame. Her feline settled splayed out on all of his work, purring incessantly. Katrina suppressed a laugh.

“So, I haven’t seen you around much. What have you been up to?”

Adonis had to admit that he too enjoyed just being able to talk freely for once without worrying about everything else that was going on and schoolwork. He technically was there for his own studies but none of that mattered to him now as their conversation had distracted him from that. Donnie didn't mind it all one bit to be honest. Perhaps they could get into why had paused earlier mid-sentence another time.

"Now that I can agree with on Charms. They've got the quite the interesting load-up of spells. I've seen the syllabus's and it makes me quite excited for next year. I'll probably study a year ahead for that class too." He then suddenly came to a pause in his sentence upon hearing her last one. "Growing up without magic makes all the more interesting." She had said with hesitation. Adonis' face suddenly wore a serious look to it at first until turning back into his big grin, making sense of what she had just practically said.

"You're a muggle?! That's amazing! I haven't met or befriended many muggles, you're like the first one if anything to be honest. I know I'm pure-blood and all but eh." He scrunched up his face with a shrug. "My family and I aren't like most of those pure-blood fanatics. The muggle world actually fascinates me to be honest. Do you know how to- they call it... skateboard? I think that's what they call it in the muggle world, but I heard about once and I've always wanted to try doing it since! Being able to skate on a board? How fascinating." As welcoming and considerate his family was to the muggle world and not being pure-blood fanatics, Adonis didn't know much about their different cultures and just anything in general for that matter. Although, he hoped to one day change that for himself and get to learn more about it.

Adonis slowly nodded as she continued on with listing her hobbies and what she liked to do. He took note of her saying how she liked to help people and commended her for it. "Healing people, huh? Do you plan on becoming a healer of the sorts?" He asked the girl, tilting his head with a raised brow in question.

His attention diverted over to Katrina's cat who was now sprawled out across his work and books, tilting his head back and letting out a groan that eventually turned into a slight laugh. "I suppose not, huh? I try and get out as much as possible when I have free time but I'm usually out at the Great Lake studying, which I've happened to fall into accidentally plenty of times or I'm either inside my dorm doing homework. What about you?"