Tickling the Giant Squid and other Grand Adventures

22. Farid

"Let's go to the library," Karou suggested.

"Fine by me," Avila said, shrugging, and I nodded in agreement.

We walked to the library. As we neared the door, a blonde girl came out, carrying a book under her arm. She noticed Avila first.

"Oh, hey there!" She said, smiling, "Joanna, right?"

"It's Avila actually," Avila replied, sounding irritable.

"Oh," the girl's fake-looking smile didn't falter, "well, anyway-" she trailed off as she noticed Karou and I standing a little behind her. Her nose wrinkled. "Ugh, why are you with a Slytherin?" She sneered. "The Hufflepuff I get, but what's with the snake?"

Avila glared at the girl and let out a breath of indignation. She opened her mouth to speak, but Karou beat her to it.

"Excuse me?" Karou stepped forward, mimicking the girl's creepy smile from earlier. "Perhaps I heard you wrong. Our friend is not a snake, and there's nothing wrong with Slytherins."

"Look, sweetie," the girl gave Karou a pitying look as if she were a small child who didn't understand something, "I know you probably think everyone is as sweet and innocent as you and your cute 'puff buddies, but Slytherins are power-hungry and evil."

"Puff buddies?" Karou repeated. "Puff buddies?! What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" The girl paused, watching Karou. "How dare you insult anyone! Just because Slytherin House has a reputation doesn't mean it applies to all Slytherins! My sister is a Slytherin, and you've just insulted her, you-"

Karou made to throw herself at the blonde girl in front of us, but Avila stepped in her way. She grabbed Karou and said, "Stop, we already have detention, we just got out of the Hospital Wing, don't make it worse!" The two girls struggled for a moment, and the blonde girl scuttled off while they were distracted.

When she was out of sight, Karou went limp in Avila's arms. After a second, she sighed. "I won't go after her, you can let go now." Avila released the shorter girl, who straightened her robes indignantly. "Who does that girl think she is anyway?" She sniped.

"Alice," Avila explained in a deadpan tone, "she introduced herself at the welcoming feast. Who knew she'd have a stick up her-"

"Let's just go into the library," I interrupted, "she's gone now, so what's the point of talking about her now?"

The girls nodded in agreement and we entered the library. All three of us stopped just inside, pleasantly surprised by the vanilla-like book smell that filled the large room. The library was crammed with shelves of all kinds, each overflowing with thick books both new and old. A clearing in the center was filled with tables and chairs, and candles cast a honeyed glow over everything through glass cases, preventing the little flames from igniting the room. We took deep breaths of the sweet air, letting out comfortable sighs and grinning at each other. It was clear the girls loved books as much as I did.

"Right," Karou said, turning to Avila, "let's get you educated on Harry Potter. Farid, wanna help me find some books?" I nodded, happily.

"While you two do that, I'll wander around and see if anything sounds interesting," Avila announced.

"Sounds good. Let's meet at that table," Karou indicated a table near the middle of the study area.

Avila nodded in agreement and wandered off through the shelves. Karou pulled me in the other direction, and we headed for the P section to look for books on or mentioning the Boy Who Lived.