Should it be in Rainbow Order? (Assistant Thread) OPEN

5 September 1920
History Section

The state of the library was honestly deplorable. Books everywhere they didn’t belong, stacked, binding facing in, no organization what-so-ever. The fact that the last person in charge of the library let it get so bad was a testament to the horrible leadership that has left the castle. So far, Professor Laurence seemed to be competent. If nothing else, at least she knew how to organize.

Everleigh had been assigned the History sections, which was one of her favorites. So much to learn about magic and where it had come from. With her cart next to her, she went through book by book looking to see if it was in the right area. Already she had pulled two books that belonged in the Herbology section. One restricted text that was tied with twine on the bottom of the cart, three books that were in a language she had never seen, and one that she found that she wanted to check out. Being a library assistant had its advantages.

Stepping up on the ladder to the next shelf she was shocked to find a mug of old coffee sitting on a book, leaving a ring on the leather. “Oh, that is disgusting.” She whispered, gagging when she saw the mold floating on the top of the liquid.

Carefully stepping down the ladder, she placed the mug on the table and shivered. If there was something that made Ever sick, it was mold. So gross. Just… YUCK.

Trying to forget what she had just found, Ever went back up the ladder to take stock of the book, seeing if it needed to be repaired. Turning it this way and that, unfortunately the leather did look damaged, so she added the book to the pile that needed to be inspected by the Head Assistants or the Librarian herself.

When she was back up the ladder and rearranging the shelf into proper order, she was so engrossed in her task that she didn’t hear the person who had entered her section. Maybe some help would be nice… that is, if they were there to help her at all.

Bear was what in library terms would be called a frequent customer. There was part of him that felt some obligation to sign up as a library assistant due to his natural tendency towards being a frequent customer. However, he simply hadn't. Maybe he would in the future.

Still he cared enough to help out if no other reason to get things back in order. As if they were in order he'd waste a lot less time trying to find what he actually wanted. Something he found more worthy than whatever rewards were currently being offered up for library assistants. In general he avoided obligations that went beyond what he was presently doing short term minus things that he was required to do.

His search for what he was looking for had already had him switch about some books to the correct sections as he wandered pulling a cart behind him. A cart that was probably better for having the books on it than where the books had originally been.

Today his search was for a book on chronomancy which was a term he overheard used in his grandparents shop over the summer. Regrettably he had no idea what happened with the customer that was asking about it as he'd been in the back helping his grand father repair something while the customer was up front. Which meant, per typical, when the conversation started to get interesting one of his grandparents casted a spell so he couldn't overhear from the back what was happening in the front of the store.

Still he was curious what the word meant.

“Oh, that is disgusting.”

He heard the voice of one of his housemates so he stopped his search which was in the disorganization not going well and went to see what Everleigh had found. It was definitely gross.

He said " Think someone's trying to hide a brew, or just a general cup of gross? "

It was his best attempt to make a joke of the situation.

Then he looked up towards Everleigh on the ladder and said " What you up to? Random assortment of books you're collecting. ". Though admittedly his cart was just as random an assortment that didn't belong in the divination section he'd been looking in.

Cassian, mercifully, was nearing the end of his shift. The boy had been about the library for the last 45 minutes or so, shuffling around where he'd been needed. For a time, he was at the front desk. Unsurprisingly, only five days into the term, there really weren't that many books in need of return, and the steady stream of library goers was still ramping up. It helped, he supposed, that so many hadn't returned, as well.

Not that that really helped with the...chaos. Cass wasn't surprised by the state of the library, per se. He'd been there the term before. The Ravenclaw had watched the school descend further and further into dystopia as Headmaster Halloway worked to realise his dream of a fully integrated magical-muggle education system. Much like the wonky stairs, Cassian had already had a year or so of being cooked in water that was slowly brought to a boil. After Miss Laurence left, there was no doubt that things would only go downhill.

What did surprise him was how much of that chaos remained.

It kept the assistants busy, trying to reorganise the books and clear away the mess. It kept him busy, too. Apparently, the library had become a bit of a free-for-all with books that had no business leaving the restricted section being left carelessly thrown about for any innocent first-year to stumble on. Just the day before, he'd caught that one Hufflepuff girl nearly getting her fingers chomped off by a book that had not only been left out but left unbound.

That was why, after having someone else come to take the front desk, Cassian began his rounds, moving between the shelves in search of books that didn't belong and those that needed to be returned to the restricted section, pronto.

" Think someone's trying to hide a brew, or just a general cup of gross? "

Those words greeted him as he turned the corner and entered the aisle. Cassian's brows went up at once, his disbelief rising before he even had answers. "Who's bold enough to be brewing in the library?" Those pesky baubles alone were enough deterrent for a lot of the schenanigans that had become commonplace after the librarian's departure.

Before his housemates could respond, the boy's eyes fell on the moldy cup. With a flick of his wand and a mild scrunch of his nose, Cass vanished the mug. "There might as well have been a party." His eyes caught sight of one of the books on the cart he suspected Everleigh had been pushing around. Another for the restricted section; another that shouldn't have been left out. Cassian gingerly lifted the book from the pile, making a mental note to return it.

"Decided to join us after all, Bear?" Cass asked in good humour. With how often the boy was in the library, it was honestly a surprise that he didn't.

He cast his dark eyes up the ladder. "Need any help?" Might as well make his last 15 minutes productive.

She didn’t hear the footsteps, but she did recognize the voice. "Think someone's trying to hide a brew, or just a general cup of gross?" Looking down, nodding at Bear who had just made an appearance.

“By the looks of the contents inside the mug, I would say it has been growing here for some time. Liquid is not the only thing residing in that cup.” Everleigh said, gagging. Finding three more books that didn’t belong she took the stack and walked the few steps down the ladder.

"Who's bold enough to be brewing in the library?" Cassian came around the corner, Everleigh blushing at the older Ravenclaw. Bowing her had, trying not to show how his simple presence affected her. “Oh, umm… Not sure. Hi, Cassian. Umm… I think it’s been here for months.”

For Merlin’s sake, she sounded like an imbecile.

" What you up to? Random assortment of books you're collecting. " Sighing, she added the books to the ever growing cart. It was insane that the last Librarian had let it get so bad. Coffee mugs, no organization, restricted section wide open.

“Well, I’m trying to put the history section back in order, but there are more books that don’t belong than do. I don’t understand how it got this bad.”

"Decided to join us after all, Bear?" Ever climbed back up, rearranging a few books, putting them in alphabetical order. Trying to keep her eyes off Cassian. Focusing on the books helped keep the blush at bay. Finding another book that didn’t belong. “Can you take this and add it to the others?” She asked, holding the book out. “Ive done most of this section, but those are still all a mess. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

He could only nod as the cup of gross was discussed. Everleigh's point about likely age eliminated his initial theory of it being a potion from his mind. Unless it was someones sick idea of a potion. Though considering everything he'd seen as Hogwarts descended into the mess it was currently in he wouldn't have been surprised if this was someones idea of a potion.

The idea of debating if gross cups contained potions was one of those ideas that only could have occurred with all the muggle mixing of things that caused the mess they were in. An opinion he left unsaid. At least the cup was vanished and one less problem.

"Decided to join us after all, Bear?"

With a shrug he said "Unless I find a good book on chronomancy, I have a couple hours free. Mights as well spend them contributing to making things better. "

Naturally, even if he was helping he was still looking for what he was still looking for what he was looking for, and had no problem if he found anything interesting adding it to the bottom of his cart for check-out. As it felt like the only organized place he could find books that interested him was under his own bed. Which meant he'd been collecting ones that could wait till the library was more organized to return to it.

He reached up and grabbed the book that Everleigh held out and added it to the others. He said " I always found the history section a mess even before everything. It is interesting how magic intertwines with historical events to which somehow makes it rather hard to decide if a book is on a core magic, or a historical usage of it. "

The fact that there were general history books which he grabbed one off his cart and added to the section was something he ignored beyond putting the book back. Mostly as those books simply didn't interest him, and he ignored them in his skims of shelves usually - though today he was helping so he acknowledged them.

Then he added " Is you goal to just put history books back or to put them back in any sort of order? " As the simple fact was he was a library user not an assistant so finding was the only goal he had - not the simple fact of organizing to support that.

"Unless I find a good book on chronomancy, I have a couple hours free. Mights as well spend them contributing to making things better."

"That's the spirit." Cassian knew the boy could sometimes have his head in the clouds, somewhere off dreaming about cogs and machines rather than the things in front of him. While the sixth year wasn't much better when it came to his own ideas, he liked to take a moment here or there to encourage Bear towards more team-related activities, such as the ones offered as extracurriculars.

It was probably a curse of Ravenclaw, if he thought about it. There was a touch of madness in all of them, a hidden--sometimes not so hidden--eccentricity that drove them toward their interests at the risk of potentially isolating themselves. Case in point, the boy may have been tucked away back in Ravenclaw tower with a book had he found the right one. It sounded like the perfect afternoon, but getting out was good, too.

"I think I saw one back up in the Ravenclaw library the other day. We can check it out after we get done here if you want."

“Oh, umm… Not sure. Hi, Cassian. Umm… I think it’s been here for months.”

Cass noted the way the girl kept her head lowered, his own gaze momentarily dipping in case there might have been something down there requiring his attention. Finding nothing, dark eyes returned to the younger girl. "Everything alright?" He hadn't noticed the blush.

“Can you take this and add it to the others? Ive done most of this section, but those are still all a mess. I’ll take all the help I can get.”

He took the book without question, listening while she explained that she was trying to sort the history section. "I gotta say I'm a fan of the magical-historical crossovers," Cass added, plopping the book atop the pile he had on his own cart. "Reading the same accounts through Muggle lenses is equally fascinating. The excuses they come up with--the explanations they give themselves when they try to make sense of things. I was just reading the other day about--"

CRASH!

Someone walked right into their carts. Rather, the girl in question had run. Not only was it against library rules--this wasn't a flying racehorse track and for good reason--but she'd created quite the mess in her wake. The girl managed to topple both carts, sending everything to the ground with a loud clatter. The girl, whom he thought might have been a third year, bowed her head apologising while she frantically grabbed at the books she'd been carrying that had also fallen.

Preoccupied with the mess itself, Cassian didn't immediately see it for what it was, a calculated attempt to get her hands on the restricted section book he'd had on his cart before everything hit the fan.

Pretending to be frantic, she grabbed the book and tucked it into her robes, looking ready to bolt.

"Everything alright?"

Everleigh stood there, on the ladder, just sort of looking at Cassian. Color rising in her cheeks, unable to actually form real words into coherent sentences. It was times like these where she thought the hat had made a mistake.

“Hmm, umm.. Good, fine… Goodfine.” This was getting worse by the second. Looking away from Cassian, staring at the books in front of her with unseeing eyes, she tried to restart her brain with a small shake of her head. “I’m fine, just… DUST! These are dusty, see,” she said, showing Cassian and Bear a book that was completely clean, no dust in site.

Hell.

" I always found the history section a mess even before everything. It is interesting how magic intertwines with historical events to which somehow makes it rather hard to decide if a book is on a core magic, or a historical usage of it. "

Grabbing on to that train of thought, not wondering how silky Cassian’s hair might be, WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HER?!

" Is you goal to just put history books back or to put them back in any sort of order? "

Yes, books, talk about books. That was a safe subject in a group of Ravenclaws. “My goal right now is to get all the books out that obviously don’t belong. Then, once those are out, I figure we can reorganize the ones that do belong.”

Hopping down from the ladder, now a good few inches shorter than the boys, Everleigh put a few more books onto the cart. How a herbology guide and a book about thesterals got in the history section was, was a question she would love the answer too. While Cass started talking about historical crossover books, Everleight tried to not stare and blush. Thankfully a large crash stopped any drooling in it’s tracks.

CRASH

The girl that caused the collision seemed very frantic after the incident, which was expected. “Are you ok? Here, let me help.”

Everleigh righted one of the carts and started stacking books, picking them up off the ground. Then, with no warning she was gone. “What was all that about?”

With a smirk he said " Sounds good. Thankfully our common room wasn't hit as bad as the library. " Though his common room had far fewer books than the library which made him often forget to check there. Plus, the minor detail that he'd looked there a lot in his earlier years simply as minus food and forced classes it had enough books he didn't need to leave the common room much. The catch was he forgot most of them, and part of him thought there might have been some rotation of the books in the common room.

Dusty?

He looked at the book that Everleigh was showing them and it seemed fine to him. Really seemed almost dust free in a place where there were plenty of examples of dusty books. With a chuckle he said " What now we got to use divination to find ghost dusting? " His words purely an attempt to add some humor to the situation as he looked between Everleigh and Cassian. Words that were probably more harmful than good in pointing out the book appeared dust free.

He probably should have said nothing and let Cassian skillfully respond in the older boy's typical fashion.

Thankfully, they were surrounded by books the great conversation equalizer. He said " I agree muggles can sometimes be funny in books. Though admittedly I haven't read much about them beyond some of the mechanical instructions they make for there clocks which are rather impressive considering they don't use magic. " With there clockmaking being the only interest he had in muggles - even if he spoke to a muggle someday he fully expected the only subject he'd ever talk to them about was clockmaking and weather related small talk.

Then he started looking at the shelves as Everleigh said and started pulling books that didn't belong. Then he commented " How about we use the top of my cart for books heading towards the windows and yours for the wall side of the library? "

Crash.

He heard the crash but as Everleigh and Cassian were dealing with it and the person he continued with what he was doing. It was just some Gryffindor being foolish from the looks of it. Typical.

“I’m fine, just… DUST! These are dusty, see."

...Dust...?

Cassian looked at the book Everleigh displayed, his brows coming together in confusion when the dust she'd insisted was giving her grief...didn't...wasn't...

Huh.

Cass shifted his gaze to Bear for a moment, a silent question pooling in his dark eyes. He couldn't have been the only one seeing nothing, yeah? This wasn't some trick of the light? The girl didn't have some sixth sense that allowed her to see spectres of dust past future, and present? His housemates' quip about divination assured him that he wasn't losing it. If neither of them could see it, there was a healthy chance it didn't exist--unless they really were talking some next-level divination skill.

The boy was, admittedly, not very good in that area.

"Maybe Ever can give us some tips on doing the readings," he retorted, nudging the boy lightly in the side with a smile. He figured, in the end, that it was better to simply let the matter die. The second year was being a little strange, but in the grander scheme, weren't most of them?

"Though admittedly I haven't read much about them beyond some of the mechanical instructions they make for there clocks which are rather impressive considering they don't use magic. "

"Can't argue with you there," Cass said, taking a closer look at the books Ever had said she wanted to sort as not being from this section. It was a lot of them by the looks of it. Add that to the ones now scattered on the floor, and they had some work on their hands. The boy, still deep in his distraction, never noticed the girl slowly inch herself away from the group until she'd successfully made off with the book from the restricted section that he wouldn't notice would be gone until later.

For a split second, he thought he'd seen something tucked into her robes, but with everything else going on, it didn't leave much room for focusing on the sneaky girl.

"I'm often pretty blown away by the things they can do and how they work their 'science' to make things happen. It's like its own kind of magic, but one they can't actually control and manipulate as they need to."

" How about we use the top of my cart for books heading towards the windows and yours for the wall side of the library? "

"Good idea." Cassian scooped a few of them off the ground, only now noticing the missing one. "Either of you see where I put that copy of Bloodlines and Bindings?"

He knew for a fact it was there a minute ago. "Either way, Everleigh, these are for you. They definitely belong here." They could further organise them by their subcategory.

Dusty? What the hell was she saying? This was a freaking disaster!

Face getting more red while the boys discussed the dust that wasn’t there, at all. No dust. Ugh. " What now we got to use divination to find ghost dusting? "

For. The. Love… This was so embarrassing. "Maybe Ever can give us some tips on doing the readings.” a squeak escaped. He called her Ever. She would not swoon, SHE WOULD NOT! “Me?!” She said in response, a high pitched word squeaking from her mouth. That was surely the worst idea she had ever heard. Ignore, back to work, don't engage. DO NOT ENGAGE.

Continuing to pick up the books littering the floor, Everleigh tried to blend into the background, not wanting to draw more attention to herself. Adding the books back to the cart, but pulling off to the side any that she thought belonged in the history section. "Good idea." Ever’s head popped up at Cassian’s voice. "Either of you see where I put that copy of Bloodlines and Bindings?"

Not recognizing the title he mentioned, Evereigh looked over the books around her, none matching the one he was looking for. “No, sorry. I don’t see that one.”

Rising from the floor, adding the history books she found back to the bookshelf. "Either way, Everleigh, these are for you. They definitely belong here." That voice, oye. “Umm, thanks. I’ll…” taking the books from Cassian, accidently touching his finger with hers, sending goosebumps down her arms and blood flooding her face.

“Just…” turning back to the bookshelf, she shoved the books into place, hiding from the object of her affection. Maybe if she just kept looking at the books, and not the boys helping, all would go back to normal.

“Me?!”

He’d missed something. Or perhaps Everleigh had seen a bug that made her squeak. Something in Everleigh’s movements of focusing back to the books and not commenting further made him say nothing.

Whatever he’d missed was unimportant - at least to him. He was just here helping sort books.

When Cassian mentioned the science muggles had he nodded slightly as he pulled a book and placed it on his cart as it was in the wrong section. He said “ I do wonder how much of there science is really potions though. Seeing as we don’t use a wand with them. “ Naturally, Bear knew rather little about both muggles and potions in the scheme of things. As to him potions were just following recipes with everything mixing together making the parts less important as he brewed them. He was much more into mechanical things.

"Either of you see where I put that copy of Bloodlines and Bindings?”

He hadn’t even noticed Cassian had that book. He hadn't admittedly looked at the books beyond what he was sorting minus a skim of titles that he only remembered the ones that interested him slightly. With a title like that sounding horribly boring unless one was decorating a clock with a family seal and had to look it up. With a shrug he said “ Weird combination in that title. I didn’t see it go on a shelf. With a title like that I suspect it would go with the stacks of pureblood Genealogy books or in the Restricted Section. “

Something was a bit odd with Everleigh but girls were odd. Naturally it wasn’t worth saying anything as he continued sorting books near him and organizing his cart a bit. Hopefully he wasn't being odd. Then he dismissed that thought as there was nothing odd he could be doing sorting books.

He offered Everleigh another book off his cart and said " Here, I think this one goes with the ones you're stocking. "

The squeak was unexpected. Cassian was starting to wonder if there really might have been something going on with the second year, after all. Had she seen something strange in one of the books? Was she actually reading the invisible dust and seeing horrible iterations of the future. He didn't know if he'd ever get an answer with the way she'd already thrown herself back into the books.

“ I do wonder how much of there science is really potions though. Seeing as we don’t use a wand with them. “

"I guess I never really thought about that," Cass admitted. "We've got a few potions that require a tap or swish at the end to activate the ingredients, but for the most part, you're right. Don't really need a fancy wand waving around to make the potions potent. Reckon they may have even stumbled on a few of our tamer recipes by accident. Weren't they always going to see herbalists back in the day?" How many of those had been muggles who'd discovered the right combinations and had started making magical things happen? It was worth looking.

So was the missing book.

Neither of them had seen it. Neither of his housemates had seen where it went, either. Cassian thought back to the girl who'd run into them and the way she'd inched away without so much as an apology or an offer to fix her mistakes. It might have been nothing, he might have just been imagining things, but it was all starting to seem less like a coincidence and more like they'd been had.

"It does belong in the restricted section," Cassian confirmed at Bear's comment. "And I don't think Miss Laurence will be too pleased to know I've lost it." Even if he was sure that wasn't the case.

“Umm, thanks. I’ll…Just…”

The Ravenclaw prefect hadn't been as aware of the skin contact as Everleigh was, barely registering it against everything else that was happening. All he saw was the girl growing flustered again, evidently short-circuiting.

He leaned in to whisper to Bear. "I'm gonna see if I can track down that book. Keep an eye on Everleigh for me. I don't think she's feeling good."

He straightened, smiling at them both.

"My shift's about over, so I'll see you guys at dinner maybe. If either of you see Rosie," her shift would be starting soon, "Tell her I'm looking for her."

He gave them both a final wave before pushing the cart he'd taken with him down the rest of the aisle. Whoever sat at the front desk next could finish sorting them and checking them off against books in need of return.