Beware the mischief [private; Dexter]

[Deleted]

The Library; this was one of her favorite places to be at, simply because it seemed to contain every book known to mankind. Who would not like a place like that; you could sit and read for the remainder of your life and still have things to read afterward. This place never bored her in the least bit, in fact, she usually came here to relax and unwind for a while after some tough schoolwork. A good book to read and something nice to drink while you read, that was her life and always would be her life. Walking down one of the aisles, Vipera pulled a book off the shelf and blew dust off it to see what the title was. It was not that she had read before, then again, for as long as she had been at Hogwarts, she had yet to see the end of the library. Sometimes, it worried her, other times, it felt like she was in her own place of Heaven, where she could not be disturbed. Smiling to herself, she took the book and headed back down the aisle to one of the empty tables that were provided for students. The area was quiet and she knew that if it was like this, she would probably be able to finish the book in one day. Setting the book on the table she had found, Vipera pulled back a chair and sat down, opening the book the moment she sat. Dust floated off of it and she was forced to blow some more off of it, causing her to frown and cough, swatting the dust away. "For a library, this place is awfully dusty and unkempt," she muttered to herself as she returned to the book. Each page she read was filled with a sense of magic and fantasy, her topmost favorite genre of literature. Now, if only the book was not so dusty and old, she would not have a problem with it; the dust was the problem. Frowning again, she closed the book, disliking the amount of dust in it and deciding to return it back to its place. Getting up from the her seat, she grabbed the book and headed back down the aisle of literature to replace the book. "What is this book, a book about dust? I mean, come on, it couldn't have sat on the shelf for that long," Vipera muttered some more as she set the book back.

@viperadaturaberus 4 1 2 Part-Veela wizard

aeron at thq

[Dexter Cox Jr.]

Already Dex had visited the library more than the average Hogwarts student, early in the fall. It was the place he missed most when he was gone for the summer months, and with good reason. The Hogwarts library was one of the most impressive places he'd ever seen; after three years, he knew its layout, its aisles, very well, but every visit he seemed to find something new. It was as if all one's questions could be answered here; books on every subject one could possibly imagine, from astronomy, to Muggle studies, to sports, to magical creatures. Books centuries old, to the very newest publications. Books in strange languages that he wasn't sure any student understood, to books that talked back to you. He couldn't see why anyone wouldn't appreciate this place, even those who weren't as bookish as him. It was certainly a place to make someone raised in magic sit back and appreciate all that it can do.

Today Dex had no investigative objectives, but merely recreational ones. He always brought a collection of books from home for his spare time, but he needn't to, because there was little he had that the Hogwarts library did not. Some people would think, with all the reading and studying he did, that when he was finished he would want nothing to do with books, but that was quite wrong. He spent a vast majority of his free time with his head buried in the pages of a book, whether educational or fantastical. With the return to school, he'd been immersed in the educational works, so today he found himself in the aisle devoted to literature, in search for nothing in particular other than something interesting to pass the time. He was sure most of the thousands of books in front of him were interesting, it was just a matter of finding one that stood out.

As he was scanning the shelves, there was another in the aisle with him, apparently returning something, but he paid little attention until she spoke. He didn't exactly catch what she said; in fact, he couldn't even be sure if she was talking to someone or to no one in particular. Well, if she was talking to someone it had to be him, because he was the only one around. But what if she wasn't? Well, he had to check right? Because if she had said something to him, it would certainly be rude to just ignore it. "S-sorry, did you say something?" he asked in an uncertain, quiet tone so as to not disturb the others in the library.

[Deleted]

She plucked up another book in the meantime, seeing the one she had now grabbed was not covered in dust and looked promising. "At least now I won't be inhaling dust, nor reading about it either," she continued to talk to herself. Vipera gave a small smile and turned back to the opening of the aisle to walk back down it, when she saw Dexter coming down the aisle. Honestly, she felt bad she had not noticed him before and to be honest again, she was probably quite loud at the time. In all honesty, now that it was the subject, she thought she had been the only one in the library around this time. It was pretty late and she had assumed that everyone had gone off to do their own things rather than hang out in the place. Apparently, the female had been wrong about that thought and now she was staring at Dexter from down the aisle. Then he spoke up, causing her to blush from embarrassment at being caught talking to herself when she thought no one was around. "Oh, um . . . o-only to myself," she responded to him, hesitating in answering him, but then continuing on, "my apologies. I tend to talk to myself when no one else is around the premises that I am, I didn't realize you were here. I'm really sorry if I was loud at any point, I tend to get like that when I'm alone and, you know, whatnot and stuff." Wow, that just sounded absolutely stupid to her, could she not have said something more simple to him? Oh no, she had to go all out and stutter and hesitate from being embarrassed about being caught talking to herself. Sometimes, she could be a real idiot at times, could not even phrase sentences right or talked like a muggleborn teenager. "I didn't realize other people came to the library at this time, either," she added shortly after responding to him. "Oh, my apologies again for not introducing myself, my name is Vipera Berus; fourth year student here." She gave a sheepish grin at him before looking down at her book and then to the table beyond the boy. "If you would like, you can sit by me at the table over there, I don't usually sit with anyone, but I can make an exception." Vipera fell silent again and looked down at her feet, quickly walking by Dexter to make a quick exit to the table. Embarrassment of being caught talking to herself was enough, letting the awkward conversation go on any longer was just torture. Now, it was just time to move on, read her book and leave Dexter alone, who knows, she probably scared him off.

@viperadaturaberus # # # Part-Veela wizard

aeron at thq

[Dexter Cox Jr.]

The moment she looked to him and her face turned red, Dex was sure his did too. He should never have said anything; if he had just kept his mouth shut, this increasingly-awkward encounter could have been avoided. There was no shame in talking to oneself especially if no one was around, or no one was seemingly around, and he should have known she wasn't talking to him. Why would she? "Don't apologize," he said quickly. He almost felt that he should apologize, but he didn't know what for. People always told him he apologized too much. "You didn't - you weren't too loud, or... anything," he said. Words were failing him right now, but that was not an unfamiliar feeling to him. In fact, it was astounding when encounters didn't go awkwardly when Dex was involved. And it seemed his nerves were contagious, because she spoke with a stutter and a bit of a ramble, which was opposite of him, who stuttered but said very little. What else could he say?

Luckily, Vipera spoke again before Dex had to come up with something else to say, apologizing again and introducing herself. So she was a fourth year - he thought he recognized her from somewhere. It was no surprise they hadn't really met before; Dex preferred to stay unnoticed in class, and was rarely the first to make introductions. However, he did have a memory for faces, and he did see familiarity in Vipera, but he never noticed just how beautiful she was, probably because they'd never spoken, never been face-to-face like now. And the way she smiled after giving her name, it was almost enchanting... suddenly he realized she was still speaking. "I'm Dexter... um, I'm a fourth year too," he said before she averted her eyes downward and walked past him. He watched her go to the table, debating on whether to follow. On one hand, he really didn't want to embarrass himself more than he already had, but on the other hand, he didn't want to be rude by declining her offer. Trying not to be rude had already gotten him in one awkward situation already - so maybe he shouldn't do it again...

He didn't want to stand there too long, and ended up just following her back to the table. He'd probably regret this decision, but if it stayed weird maybe he could just make up an excuse and leave. Dex sat across from her and placed his book on the table, debating on whether or not to even open it. He felt bad, because she had said so much, and he could barely string together a brief sentence. But what to say? A moment ago she had mentioned not expecting to see anyone this late in the library. To be honest, he had kind of lost track of the time, but he did enjoy the library when it was late. The fewer people, the better. Right now there were very few people in the library other than the two of them. "So - so what are you doing here so late, Vipera?" he asked, hesitantly. "Thanks for the invitation to sit, by the way." he added quickly, realizing he had just accepted her offer without saying a thing. He supposed he ought to thank her, considering she said she was making an exception for him.

[Deleted]

The redhead glanced up from her book and listened to Dexter as he tried to assure her that she did not need to apologize. Well, she had apologized anyway, it was becoming a bad habit of hers anyhow; always saying sorry when there was no reason to. She gave a small shrug as he finally stopped talking and returned to looking at her book for a second, while she contemplated what to say. "It's all right, I would have ended up apologizing either way," she said, her eyes still focused on the page the book was opened to. "The whole "apologizing" ordeal is starting to become a bad habit of mine and I'm not really sure where I got it from. I just didn't realize that someone else was around in the library, so my automatic thought was to apologize for disturbing them." At that point, Vipera looked back up at Dexter, tilting her head to the side subconsciously as she studied him. "Oh, so we probably have classes together, then," Vipera responded, after hearing he was in the same year as her. "I'm surprised I don't hear you more often in class, you seem like a smart kid, if you hang out in the library like I do." Though, if he liked being invisible, she would not put it past him; sometimes, going unnoticed was a good thing, right? In all honesty, it seemed like Dexter was similar to her in more ways than one, she was beginning to notice about him. Maybe a little less geeky or a little more geeky, she was not quite sure about that yet, she just knew he was kind of like her. The only difference was that she wore glasses and he did not, leaving her to look a bit more nerdy than him. Of course, that did not bother her in the least bit, appearances she could care less about; considering she was half-Veela. "I like being in the library this late, it's nice and quiet and I don't have to deal with those other students who think they're all that," Vipera answered. Seeing that he was opening up a bit, she began to relax more herself, finding Dexter to be no more a threat to her than she was to him. "This is where I can get a lot more studying down with a roommate or classmates bothering me about things." She rested her head on her hand at that point, getting involved in the conversation rather than the book at hand. "No need to thank me, Dexter, it would have been impolite not to offer you to sit with me anyway." Again with the small shrug and the simple glance down at her book; ah, who really needed a book when you had someone to talk to? Vipera ended up closing the book like the last one and returning her full attention to the schoolmate in front of her.

@viperadaturaberus # # # Part-Veela wizard

aeron at thq

[Dexter Cox Jr.]

It seemed they shared the same problem, Dex thought, as Vipera explained that she apologized often when there really was no need to. They had that in common, although it wasn't necessarily a good habit, but it had to be better than not apologizing enough, right? "I do the same thing," he replied. "At least that's what my sisters tell me. I think I've always done it, though." It wasn't some recent habit, or at least, he couldn't remember a time when they didn't get on his case for apologizing too often. He flipped open the cover of the book he just retrieved from the shelf, already forgetting what he had grabbed. He had no real intentions of reading it right now, because if he was conversing with Vipera, he would give her his full attention; or, most of his attention, because he looked downward at the pages he was flipping through absentmindedly rather than looking at who he was talking to. Eye contact always made him feel uncomfortable, and on top of that, she was so captivating physically that he felt he'd lose focus or stare or something.

"We do," Dex confirmed. It was easy to overlook him in class, because he tended to sit in the back with his head down and his mouth shut, doing his work and that's basically it. She was not the first to fail to notice his presence, or rather, not to acknowledge it. Not that he was offended or anything; no, he preferred it that way. He was sure she was a nice girl - she certainly seemed like it from their brief but awkward conversation thus far - so it was nothing personal against her that he did not want to talk to her. It was the mindset he adopted toward everyone. Lay low and don't interact unless absolutely necessary. "I don't really speak up much in class. Or hang out in the library. O-only if it's pretty empty." Like now. Sometimes when it got crowded tables got filled up, and he would not have that; nope, it was one to his own, or none at all. To avoid situations like this one, but obviously, that didn't work all of the time, because here he was, sharing a table with Vipera and managing a pretty normal conversation by his standards.

Again they seemed to share something, that they both preferred the quiet, not busy library hours, which happened to be pretty late in the day. In fact, he could relate to just about everything she said, except his classmates and roommates didn't really bother him usually. A lot of them were just as studious as him and realized that he was far from the talkative type, but sometimes the noise of the common room and such got to him. "That's why I'm here, too," he said, which he then thought was pretty stupid because he'd already said he liked being here when it was empty. So that was pretty obvious. "Well, I'm not studying tonight. Just looking for books." Then when she said there was no need to thank her, only one thing stood out to him. "You can call me Dex, if you want." His full name sounded odd, because most people addressed him otherwise, but then again, it was his own fault because he had introduced himself with his full name.