Just a bit of light reading (Remus)

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School has been a bit stressful already for this new prefect. She decided to go to the library to escape from all of the stress that has accumulated ever since school started. The fifth year found a book that caught her eye. She read the back and flipped to the first page and wasn't able to put the book down since. Alyssa decided to find a table to finish the book or at least read as much as she can before she needed to start studying again.

Alyssa knew that she should put the book down and walk towards a desk but she just couldn't. The story caught her attention from the beginning and she just couldn't put it down. The story started with a young woman who lived with her sisters and her mother. Their father was away, fighting in the war. They would receive letters from their father and all of them would read together. Alyssa found that adorable and she just couldn't put the book down.

The Ravenclaw continued walking while reading at the same time. She has done this many times so she knew that she wouldn't bump into anything. But not today, she bumped into something or someone. Alyssa's book fell out of her hands and she looked up to find that she bumped into someone's back. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry." Alyssa said as she picked up the book she was reading. She dusted it off and smoothed out the pages.

tag: Remus Lupin

[Remus Lupin]

Remus had spent more time in the library so far this year than he had anticipated. Ordinarily he used the books to keep up his reasonably high grades, occasionally looking up something more interesting related to Defence Against the Dark Arts. He enjoyed fiction as well, but that was low on his list of priorities. After his work was managed, he enjoyed spending time with his friends more than he did reading stories, so didn't get around to reading them as often as he might have liked. Friends were nice to have anyway, so he didn't care much. This year his workload was so great he had little enough free time to spare for messing around. He had to keep ahead of his subjects, knowing that if he let the work pile up it would be so much he would struggle to diminish the mountain again. He was as up to date on his work as he needed to be to avoid trouble, but it was always best to be certain he had everything covered. There was still the odd bit of work he should probably get around to doing, not to mention research into various things. Presently he was scanning the shelves for a book on Transfiguration. Tricky subject, that.

He was not even close to having found his way around the rows of worn old books when someone walked right into him. "Oh, sorry!" he said automatically, turning around to whoever it had been. He mentally cursed himself for apologising. That was a stupid thing to do. It had not been his fault, he was standing perfectly still with his back turned and someone had walked into them. There was no way he should be apologising for that. Too late now.

The girl appeared to have been reading, which offered an explanation as to why she hadn't seen him. He recognised her. A fifth-year, a Ravenclaw Prefect. Remus made an effort to know all the Prefects. He felt it was part of his job as a Prefect, especially since now he was one of the oldest he was expected to take more responsibility. He smiled at her. "Alyssa, right? Hi, how are you doing? Busy studying for a test? I won't keep you if you are," he said pleasantly. A conversation was always nice. It was good to get to know his fellow Prefects too, so they might work together better. At the same time, he didn't want to tear Alyssa from anything important.

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The Ravenclaw heard a familiar voice saying he was sorry, when it was completely her fault. She wasn't watching where she was going. She felt a too embarrassed to look up at the person that she bumped into. Sure she wasn't looking where she was going, but she should have been careful. Maybe the boy was also a bit embarrassed about apologizing to her even when it wasn't his fault. She finally looked up and found that it was Remus, a fellow prefect. She knew that he was a seventh year and was friends with the Head Boy.

Alyssa smiled when he remembered her name. The Head boy surely didn't make as much of an effort to remember all of the prefects' names. "Yup. I'm fine, you?" The girl replied as she marked the page with her finger and closed the book. "Oh no, I was taking a break from studying, this book is really good. I couldn't put it down." The girl said blushing a little. She still felt a little embarrassed about earlier. She usually wasn't so clumsy.

"Are you studying?" The girl asked. She didn't want to keep him if he was going to study. Maybe that was why he asked her if she was studying. Alyssa was studying in her common room and decided to come down to the library for a break from it all. She needed it and reading fictional books always helped her escape from the world. "Do you like reading novels?" The raven asked the lion. She was just curious. She knew he liked to read but she wasn't sure what, really.

[Remus Lupin]

Alyssa looked nervous, so Remus adopted a relaxed pose, resting his weight on one leg and slipping his hands into his pockets. He figured she was embarrassed for having walked into him. He didn't mind at all, that sort of thing happened all the time. Well, he would have minded if she'd been a Slytherin, or someone he didn't like. Then he might have been inclined to pretend he was incredibly bothered by the whole affair, and would have decided everyone was in need of a good laugh at the expense of the offending moron. But Alyssa was a nice kid, responsible and a Prefect. Remus hadn't spoken to her much, but he liked her so far. He didn't want to pull a prank on someone like that.

He took a glance at the book, but it wasn't one he was familiar with. "Sort of," he shrugged. "I was just seeing if I could get ahead of some Transfiguration work, since that can be tough sometimes. It's too early in the year for me to have let my work pile up just yet. Chatting like this is a welcome break," he smiled. He had not been fully invested in doing work, only half-heartedly scanning the bookshelves and telling himself he would get ahead this year. Every year he did the same; promised to himself he would make organised notes on absolutely everything, revise regularly so nothing was forgotten, read ahead and read around the subject, generally be the model student. In reality, he would stay on top of his homework, maybe read a bit of something that really interested him, and only revise just before a test. Not the best system, but he got by. It was better than some students, anyway.

"Yeah, I love novels. I don't get to read them so often these days, though. I have a lot on with school work and Prefect stuff, and I like to spend time with my friends, too. I read before bed sometimes, though," he said. Around the full moon his eyes got too tired to read much, too, but he left that bit out. During the holidays he'd read a lot since his parents were quite protective of him so he'd ended up getting quite bored around the house. Novels were a good way of escaping that. It was great how the Muggle ones were just as good as wizard ones, since that made it so much easier to find books, and there were far fewer books written by wizards. "I read a lot over the holidays, actually. Finished the Catcher in the Rye not long before term started. You ever read that?" nothing had happened in that book, but he could appreciate the metaphors and literary devices used.

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The Ravenclaw head's perked up when Remus mentioned Transfiguration. That subject wasn't her strong suit. She hated it ever since her first year here at Hogwarts. It was just too hard for her. Changing something into something completely different is quite hard. "Tell me about it, I never really liked Transfiguration." The girl said sighing. It was hard and she knew she needed to work on it but it just tires her out. "Yes, breaks are always good." The girl agreed.

Alyssa smiled when Remus mentioned that he liked novels. It's hard to find guys who actually liked reading as much as she did. Most of her guy friends hated it, she never really understood why. Reading fiction is such a great escape from the real world. Sure television shows can help to, but Alyssa liked using her imagination whenever she could. "I read a lot, too. The girl furrowed her brow trying to remember the book title that Remus had mentioned. Alyssa wasn't a big fan of the books that the wizarding world provided so she always looked for muggle ones, or at least tried her best to. "No, sorry that doesn't sound familiar, is it a good book?" The girl asked. Maybe she can read it during Christmas holiday.

Alyssa knew that she was going to be busy this year but she just wanted to read as much as she can before school work caught up with her. "Maybe I need to read more." Alyssa said. The girl had no idea how many books the muggles have written. She has heard for John Stienbeck, Mark Twain, and many other classic authors. The girl wondered if she would actually like this book called, Catcher in the Rye. The title seemed interesting. Why would the author title a book like that?

[Remus Lupin]

Alyssa didn't much like Transfiguration. Remus was fairly indifferent towards the subject itself, thinking it maybe a bit pointless yet sometimes interesting, but he found it one of his most difficult subjects. He'd managed to get by with a fair bit of help from James, Sirius and Peter, who were thankfully very good at Transfiguration, as proven by their Animagi abilities. It was useful to have friends whose skills covered a wide range of things. Together they helped each other out, making up for each other's weaknesses. It was a nice system, and why he liked to work with other people around to ask for help if needed, although sometimes that distracted him from the task at hand.

Remus was somewhat surprised Alyssa hadn't heard of the Catcher in the Rye, not that he let himself show it much. "It's a classic, by JD Salinger. Some of the Muggle kids in the village where I live studied it at school, so I thought I'd give it a go," he explained. They didn't seem to have liked it too much, but a couple said it was OK and he didn't have much else to do. They had read it a couple of years ago and it had been on his 'to read' list for a while now, but he'd only got around to it recently. That happened a lot these days. He kept thinking of new books he thought he ought to read, then never got round to doing so. The list grew faster than it shrank.

He paused before giving his opinion on whether or not the book was good. He felt a pressure often to at least pretend that all classics were wonderful flawless works of genius, when some of them were actually pretty slow and boring at times. He appreciated the symbolism and metaphor, of course, but the older ones were not so relevant now. More modern books were faster paced than old ones, so it was easy to become accustomed to that and grow tired of slower paced ones. He was guilty of that, certainly, though he tried to persevere. "I'd say it was, yes," he decided. "Not a lot actually happens in it, though. It starts with the narrator, a 16-year-old boy called Holden Caulfield, at a boarding school a few days before he has to leave because he got kicked out. I found he got a bit annoying sometimes because he was always so negative about everything, and thought almost everyone was a phoney so didn't like them, but that's one of the main themes of the book. It's mostly about growing up, trying to be different and facing reality. As I said, not much actually happens, but I can be a slow reader and it didn't take me long to read so it won't take up much of your time. You can read it for the messages and symbolism if that's your thing at all." He didn't want to give too much away in case she wanted to read it in future.

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Transfiguration never came easy to the Ravenclaw. A lot of people assumed that she was great at every subject that she was taking but she wasn't. Just because she was sorted into the "smart" house doesn't mean that she's going to understand everything right off the bat. Sure she was good with other subjects but not all of them. Alyssa hated how so many people assumed that she would be the best tutor for them just because she is a Ravenclaw, and a prefect. The girl doesn't think she's smart, she has to try to earn her grades, just like everyone else who wants a good grade. The Ravenclaw just wished that her fellow students would be able to see that sooner rather than later.

"Oh I see." The girl nodded when Remus said that it was a classic and that the kids at his village were reading it for school. Alyssa never understood why teachers assigned books for students to read. What if they never liked the book? Wouldn't that make them hate reading even more? It just never made sense to Alyssa. Her parents never forced her to read she just picked up and never really put it down. Alyssa's older brother was another case, they tried to make him read but he just ended up not liking it to rebel against their parents.

Alyssa listened earnestly as Remus explained what the book was about. It sounded interesting, but based on Remus' description it sounded like it wasn't her kind of book. Symbolism, she liked that but it seemed like the book would have a lot of symbolism that she might get lost in all of it. "It sounds interesting, maybe I should read it over the break." The girl said with a smile. She is close to turning sixteen so she might relate or not. She sure wasn't a pessimist like the main character of the book that Remus talked about. It sure sounded like it mainly focused on teenage angst to her. She tried to decipher the title of the book. "You're not going to tell me why the book is titled Catcher in the Rye are you?" The girl asked, thinking that the answer would be in the book.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus did not know Alyssa nearly well enough to say whether or not she would enjoy reading the book. Sticking to informing her about what it was like and allowing her to make her own decision was the best option here. Most Ravenclaws he knew, especially the sort who frequented the library, tended to read a lot and quickly, so it was not a huge problem if she read but did not like it. There were other, better, books out there.

"The title doesn't have an awful lot to do with the book, actually. Someone hums a song that has 'catcher in the rye' in the title, and Holden says that might be a nice job to have - um, there's a bit more context to that last one but I won't give anything away. I guess it's a bit like books like To Kill A Mockingbird, where the title itself is more linked in with the symbolism than anything else," he said. He thought it was a bit pretentious a lot of the time to give books names like that, which often only make sense once the book was read so gave a poor impression to anyone who had yet to read it. Proper understanding of the name of the story was an exclusive club in which only those who had read and understood the finer points of the novel could be a part of.

"I don't think titles of books like that give a great idea of what the book's about. I prefer it when the title makes sense before you read the story," he smiled, giving voice to his thoughts. Slipping a hand out one pocket, he rested it casually against a bookshelf and drummed his fingers absent-mindedly on the wooden surface. "How are you finding being a Prefect, by the way?" he asked, remembering the new status her badge gave her. As a seventh-year Prefect, he felt some responsibility to the younger ones to make sure they were coping all right. Usually the professors made good decisions, picking students who were sensible and handled responsibility well, but you could never be too careful and sometimes a little help or guidance was needed.

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The Ravenclaw nodded as Remus explained the purpose of the title a little bit to her. He mentioned another book that she has yet to read. It's probably another classic that she has yet to get her hands on. If only she could use magic outside of school. The girl sighed feeling a little deprived of the classics that Remus had mentioned. She might as well ask her parents to use the summoning spells to summon these books to her, that would be a lot easier than going to a muggle community and looking for it, but then again it would be nice to see what a muggle community would be like.

Alyssa smiled at Remus' comment about book titles. What he said is true. She had no idea why she even mentioned about the book title. The girl thought that was why authors came up with titles, to confuse the readers, or to reel them in from the beginning. Well no one can really leave a book untitled, it would just be weird. "I guess it's just to entice the readers." She responded shrugging her shoulders. What other reason is there besides trying to draw the reader to their book? Alyssa couldn't think of any other reason.

How does she feel about being a prefect so far? Hmmm. Alyssa had to think about it before answering Remus. She wasn't really sure, it was only the beginning of the year. So far there hasn't been much trouble for her so hopefully she it won't be too stressful later on. "Well it's only the beginning of the school year, but I'll have to say it's quite alright." She said finally responding to Remus' question. She wasn't really sure what he wanted to hear but that was what she actually thought about being a prefect so far.