Achio!

[Abigail Preston]

At Patrick’s greeting, Abby smiled. He didn’t seem annoyed that she ventured over to them. “I’m just a little flustered … ” she started. Wait, was that the right word? She could really use a dictionary at times like this. “Sorry, I mean annoyed. I forgot to write down the page number of our last Herbology reading. And I was hoping you might remember it?” she asked, lying through her teeth. She was good at remembering to write down the homework, but being dyslexic made completing the homework that much harder. As long as he believed her little story, that was all that mattered.

Hearing Patrick recount Patricia’s question, Abby looked over at the younger girl. “Which charm were you looking for?” she asked. Even though she wasn’t about to volunteer herself to look through books, she could at least show some form of interest. Perhaps she heard about it at one point? It was unlikely, since Patrick didn’t even know it. And he could at least read to help her.

“Ooh, a shapeshifter?” she asked, bouncing quickly in her spot, as she looked at Patricia. “I saw a shapeshifter once, last year in the dorms. He looked like a mouse, and I crawled on the floor looking for it. It changed into a shadow when my roommate yelled at me for making too much noise,” she recounted with a frown. She looked over at Kit and giggled at the younger girl’s favorite flower. “Iris sounds like a lovely name for a flower.” And for a person.

[Patrick Pratt]

Patrick couldn't help but smirk at Kit's favorite flower. So she had a girl-crush on his sister. Iris was quite the princess . . . how could Kit help but admire her best friend when her friendship felt like a royal gift? "You're all right, Kit. That's one of my favorites too."

He turned to Abby. "The assignment on aconite, you mean? Yeah, let me pull it out of my bag." He opened his bag and pulled out his planner. He had already finished that assignment. "Page 283 through 287."  His finished assignment, neatly completed and loosely tucked into a folder in his bag, was next to his planner, and had been pulled out of the folder as he removed his planner.  It floated to the floor.

[Patricia Proudhon]

"An iris? My favorite flowers are canterbury bells."

Patricia waited for Patrick and the new girl (Abby was it?) to share their favorite flowers. They said nothing about the matter. She made a mental note to be careful around those two as possible bodyshifters. Then she crumbled her mental note and threw it into her mental trash bin. Someone wasn't a bodyshifter simply because they had no favorite flower. Indeed, why couldn't bodyshifters like flowers?

All the same she made a note to be suspicious of them. Not because they might be bodyshifters, but simply because everyone is suspicious. Before Patricia could file away her mental note into her mental file cabinet she was brought back to the non-metaphoric library.

"Ah yes," she turned towards Abby (Abegail?), "I am looking for a charm to make writing appear on paper after a set condition is set. For example I might something appear only after someone has spilled coffee on the paper or recited the preamble to the muggle Constitution."

[Katrien Vogel]

"Canterbury bells? I don't think I've ever seen any of those," Katrien cocked her head inquisitively, making a mental note to look them up. She merely blushed and looked down at her toes when Patrick chimed in that he shared her like for irises and called her 'all right'.

"Really? You saw a real shapeshifter?" Kit looked up at Abby with awe. Was a shapeshifter something different from an animagus? Well, she supposed it had to be if it changed from a mouse to a shadow. They sounded neat, except when Patricia talked about them. Were they dark creatures?

"That's a really cool idea, Patricia," she grinned. "Like a magical secret password or handshake, but for notes. I bet Mrs. Adams would know how to do it, if anyone does. Or Miss Dewsnip, since she's probably read all of the books in this library."

[Abigail Preston]

"Thank you! I'll write it down this time," Abby added with a bright smile. Pulling her notebook out, she wrote down the page numbers on a piece of paper that had symbols, and seemingly random letters written realitively neatly on the page. She became more relaxed now, knowing she was reading the correct page. Apparently, she needed to concentrate on it better.

Noticing a piece of paper on the ground, she bent down to pick it up. Assuming it came from her notebook, she slid it into a folder. She would have to look at it later to make sure she knew where to put it. Since she was around other students, she was too self conscious about her reading. 

Suddenly remembering her manners, her cheeks flushed pink. Abby was worried before about the assignment, that she completely forgot. "Sorry, where are my manners? My name's Abby Preston," she introduced herself awkwardly to Kit and Patricia. "Canterbury Bells are pretty too," she concurred with a nod. Listening the spell Patricia wanted to know about, she knew it had to be specialized as well. Did they even teach that at Salem? "I agree with Patrick, you should ask a Professor."

"It seemed to be on in the dorms last year. I couldn't get a better a look because my roommate woke up after that. I don't even know if it's still there, since I didn't notice before pledging earlier in the year," she shrugged. Her cheeks flushed at the mention of Miss Dewsnip, but she didn't say a word. 

[Patrick Pratt]

"Well . . ." Patrick just wanted out of there. Not that he understood why. "If you ladies will pardon me, I'll just check out this book. Unless you need me for anything else." He smiled politely at them.

[Patricia Proudhon]

"I would ask one of my teachers but.."

As Patricia was about to finish her sentence Patrick made his attempted leave. For her part Patricia made no attempt to stop his exit. She would have liked him to have shared what his favorite flower was though. How would she know if he was the real Patrick without that information?

Speaking of which, "What did you say was your favorite flower Abby?"

Patricia waited anxiously for the girl's response. She would find a way to deal with these mischievous shape shifters if it were the third to last thing she did in the 6th grade!

[Katrien Vogel]

"Nice to officially meet you, Abby Preston," Katrien smiled. She had seen the other girl around campus, but had yet to meet her. "I'm Kit Vogel."

Instead of explaining to people that her name is Katrien, but they can call her 'Kit', she'd started simply introducing herself by her nickname. Saved some breath and time and confusion. Besides, Katrien was such a feminine name and, though she liked it, she liked 'Kit' better.

"I think I'm going to head out, too," she responded to Patrick. "It's been a pleasure chatting with you all. Good luck with your charm, Patricia."

[Abigail Preston]

At the lull in the conversation, Abby turned her attention to smoothing her skirt, not wanting to see the reactions of the others about Miss Dewsnip. Despite the embarrassment of her disability, she was happy whenever she went to see Miss Dewsnip. Just the thought of receiving help was satisfying. And it was easily covered up by claiming that she was searching for a library book. Perfect excuse!

She looked up as Patrick seemed ready to leave already. "Thanks again for your help," she smiled to him. Looking over at Patricia, she considered the younger girl's question. Her favorite flower. "Scarlet Pimpernel is my favorite," she remarked.

"It's nice to officially meet you as well, Kit," Abby responded with a smile to her. "I need to head back to the Alger Society ..." she trailed off, knowing she would have to continue finishing up her work. And maybe find out where that paper belonged that she picked up before.