Searching for Monsters PV Ophelia Closed

Man, where was the damn book? She was positive it was resting on the shelf, but it turned out it his somewhere in the drawers. Browsing for longer than expected, she located the sneaky item, grabbing it and bolted out of the room.
She was at the library one time before, so finding it wasn't a huge issue. Pushing the double wooden door, making a little creaking voice during the process, she entered the huge room with shelves. Gigantic mass of books still surprised her, but blue gaze couldn't stare at the sight in front of her because it had a different target to locate. Searching for red curls, orbs found the boy near the enterance, sitting behind one of the wooden desks. He appeared to be reading a book, so Ophelia stepped closer, stretching over his head to observe the book.
"Cool."
Commenting out of plain silence, Tremaine jolted, surprised, making her feet take a step back. Eyes kept contact for a few seconds, then eyes switched away, focusing on her robe. Pulling out the book, she waved it towards him, placing it next to his pile. Then, she pulled out the chair next to him and smoothly sat behind the desk.
"Did I take long?"

Tremaine had been struggling through the muddling depths of chapter 8, "The Arthropod Phylum and their Ecological Roles". This book seemed more science than magic, but it had been written by a witch, and so Tremaine slohed through in hopes that he might extract some tantalizing tidbit of information. It seemed, however, that this book was geared towards muggles. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it was utterly useless for tracking down a giant squid.
Tremaine was buried neck-deep in complicated jargon when he was suddenly jolted out of his scientific stupor by somebody speaking behind him. He jumped, swiveling his head around to look for the source. Standing above him was Ophelia, and their eyes met for just a moment before she looked away.
Tremaine settled back down, waving away the cloud of dust that the book had produced from his sudden movement. As she sat, Ophelia asked if she had taken long. Tremaine chuckled.
"Not long at all. I just started reading this book. I can't make head nor tail of it, though, it's all old english mixed with scientific jargon." He felt a little stupid, not being able to read the book. Surely he could read more than the average student would have been able to, but that didn't help him much. He sighed and closed the big book with a thud, heaving it back onto the table.
"Which book did you bring?" Tremaine asked, leaning over to get a good look at the title.

Cough cough, cloud forced itching in her throat as they waved aside the flying dust emerging from his vintage-looking book.
Termaine admitted having problems with fathoming its content, making pale face form an expression of curiosity. Maybe she could have a look? It might not change anything, but two heads are still better than one. As her face moved towards his book, the opposite head did same after asking about the title of the item she brought, causing girl's right cheek to gently crash into boy's left one, inducing confusion and surprise.
Jolting away, discolored face contrasted with pools of red and pink, eyes nervously shifting from point to point. Ophelia wasn't used to such close contacts with other people, it took her by surprise, causing silence to fill the room for what felt like eternity. Then, out of nowhere, trying to make the moment forgotten, lips spoke, answering one's question:
"Um, well, it's about giant quids and stuff."
Hands grabbing the book, covering the slowly recovering cheeks with it while showing its title:

[font= Monotype Corsiva]The Search for the Giant Squid: The Biology and Mythology of the World's Most Elusive Sea Creature[/font]

Her father would read such books to her at occasions the child couldn't fall asleep, evolving imagination to its fullest and opening doors to new horizons. This book and many others made their way into Ophelia's luggage for memories, making mind remember of such moments when the girl would miss her parent.

As Tremaine went to look at Ophelia's book, she did the same with his, and their heads crashed into each other, cheek to cheek. Tremaine quickly pulled back, his face as red as a tomato. He berated himself for being so clumsy all of the time. He took a moment to fiddle with his wand, avoidning her gaze, and then realized he was being a bit of a coward and looked back up.
Ophelia's face was, if possible, even redder. Tremaine gave a sort-of laugh that died out before it even escaped his lips. He figeted in his seat, trying to think of something cool to say, but it was Ophelia who broke the silence, explaining to him what the book was about.
Relieved to have something to talk about, Tremaine nodded and started to lean over to look at the book, then changed his mind and leaned back in his seat instead. Ophelia picked up the book and held it out in front of her like she was shielding herself, which made Tremaine feel even more sheepish.
His face lit right back up, though, when he saw the title. He reached out to stroke the cover, beaming. "This is a great find, Ophelia!" said Tremaine, very pleased that he had remembered not to call her miss. Then, just to be safe, he added, "Dude." It felt foreign on his tongue, but he supposed he would be calling a lot more people dude before this year was over. It seemed a popular way of adressing one another among the students.
"Where did you get it?" he couldn't help asking.

Letting Tremaine touch the book's covers, Ophelia then placed it on the table. She was relieved the conversation continued smoothly, hoping the little accident will pass away with ease. The boy's face showed signs of interest and excitement, lips expressing it with words even. The little "dude" remark made her head shake in amusement, word felt little unnatural, hearing it paired with his tone.
He then asked her the origin of the book with curiosity. Her fingertips traveled on the book's surface, caressing the illustration of a giant squid, blue-tinted vision observing the title with comfort as she answered:
"I-I got it from my dad."
A tiny smile crept its way on her lips.
"He read stuff like these to me a lot."
She hoped he was doing okay. Ever since Ophelia's mother passed away it had just been her and her father and now that she attended Hogwarts she wondered what he was up to without her being around. She missed him. A lot. Dealing with the pain of death surely made it easier when he was there, encouraging her to let feelings flow out even when the stubborn girl insisted on hiding and bottling them, pretending to be okay, trying to appear tough. It felt easier for her in a way, but in the end, was it really?

The look of veiled relief of Ophelia's face was almost comical, especially paired with such a dark look and intimidating demeanor. Tremaine smiled quietly to himself, thinking of what he assumed to be such a tough, mysterious girl embarrassed over a little accident. Not that it wasn't a little embarrassing for Tremaine...
Ophelia stroked the cover of the book, and then she replied that she had received it from her father. Tremaine nodded, noticing that she seemed slightly morose when she spoke of her father. Was he dead? Tremaine could relate, since he had never met his father, but he supposed it must be different, having someone you love snatched from you rather than never knowing whether they would be someone you love in the first place.
"Sounds like he was a great father," Tremaine said solemnly. "I wish my mother would do stuff like that with me. She's a wonderful mother, of course, but she doesn't have time for that."
A moment of silence, and then Tremaine quietly, slowly leaned forward to open the book. Realizing a moment too late that this might be insensitive, he quickly shut it again and said, "May I?" It was almost too late now, but Tremaine wouldn't be seen as someone without manners.

“Yeah, he still is.”
Answering with a tiny smile, a pinch of pride outlined this heartfelt words. He was and still is an amazing father, no doubt about it.
It made Ophelia feel relieved, hearing some information about Tremaine’s family as well. Opening up felt unusual, yet soothing, his sympathetic voice filled her with certain ease.
Termaine’s hand then sneaked its way towards the book, slightly opening it with curiosity then suddenly closing it back as gaze fixed towards blue orbs, lips asking for permission. Giving a gentle nod, she gestured him to open the cover again. Observing the first page, it was decorated with an ink illustration of a gigantic squid, above it the title again, same one as in the front. Eyes watched for a few seconds then moved towards the next page with an outlined word at the begginning: Prologue.
Both looked with curiosity, there were author’s words written, how he adored and respected the elusive creatures, comments about his journeys and expeditions, his searches of the enormous beasts and his gatherings of informaton and tales. Fascinating start, Ophelia remembered when her father first read this book to her. Such passion decorating his voice, trying to make it as dramatic as he could for the little sleepless daughter in front of him. She couldn’t way to visit him, perhaps asking him if he could read it again.

Tremaine quickly replaced his morose look with a faint smile as Ophelia spoke. So her father wasn't dead. He was almost relieved to hear because, besides the fact that he would have felt bad for Ophelia if her father had died, it meant that he didn't have to delve too deeply into the subject. Of course, he knew he would hear many other stories like that in his time here, especially since almost all of the students' parents had been alive during the reign of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
Looking down at the book as Ophelia opened it, he could see an intricate illustration of a giant squid done in ink. Tremaine's smile grew larger and more real as he observed a simple illustration of what he would soon see for himself. A few moments, and then Ophelia turned to the next page.
Prologue.
It took no longer than half a second for Tremaine to become completely and utterly absorbed in the book. He skimmed the entire first page in his excitement, and then quickly went back and read it more slowly. His mind quickly concocted images in his mind of underwater reefs and dangerous sea creatures and, of course, the giant squid. The ones described in the book seemed like they must be twice as large as the one on the grounds, for the lake was far too small to contain such an absolutely gigantic creature.
"This is amazing," Tremaine breathed, as if he had just been swimming in knowledge and had come up for air. Without even thinking about it, he pushed the other books aside, rejecting whatever they might have to offer in favor of this incredibly in-depth book.

Oh, how interesting it was to observe the boy's face lit up, perhaps even amusing. His hands pushed the sitting pile away as if he didn't need anything else but breathing and the very book in front of him as dark gaze shifted over its content like a tornado, absorbing as many information his brains could take. Ophelia wasn't sure what lured him into the gigantic creatures, perhaps his interest in animals or was the boy a lover of ventures and exploring. Whatever it was, it made him stuck to the Victorian-style chair like glue, as if he could stay in the library for eternities.
"You know, you probably won't manage to read the entire thing so fast without sleeping in here, that sounds rather troubling."
Lips commented, taking a break for a few seconds as if she was thinking how to continue.
"I can lend it to you..if you promise it will return in one piece."
Orbs looked away, face tried appearing as careless as possible. She rarely lent her mattered possessions, but observing Tremaine's dedication to such content, she knew he wouldn't let a single particle touch that book if he would take it to his dorm.