In My Own Little World (open)

[Natasha Connors]

Natasha was walking through the courtyard towards the Great Hall. She'd been out by the lake reading earilier when she'd looked at her watch and realized that she'd been out there quite and while it was about time for dinner. She had her black shoulder bag on her shoulder inside was her sketch pad, pencils, and colored pencils among other things. As she was walking she was looking down and reading a muggle book.

Reading and walking a multi task she'd mastered years ago, although she wasn't paying as much attention to her surrounding as she should have been and bumped into someone than tripped and fell to the ground her stuff falling around her. "Crap." she muttered. "Sorry I wasn't paying attention. I was off in my own little world." she said to the person she bumped into and started to try and gather her things that where now scattered on the ground.

[Sabine Montgomery]

Sabine was both glad and apprehensive about returning to Hogwarts for her fifth year. On the one hand, she was glad to have put some distance between herself and the bombs dropping on the city of London. And on the other hand, her fifth year promised OWL examinations and more nervous tension. Irina was lucky that she had two years before she had to take her Ordinary Wizarding Levels. She only had one year, and now that it was looming large in front of her it didn't seem like enough time at all. She had stopped by the library earlier to pick up a selection of books that she felt she would need when the homework began to pile up as lessons commenced. It felt like too long since she had been at school last. That old saying about forgetting everything you learned over the summer had made her feel worried all over again, until she was just a wound up string of nerves by the time she reached the courtyard.

The stack of books she was carrying (trying to fit them all into her bag would have been ridiculous, she couldn't afford to get a new one every couple of weeks) blocked her vision, so she didn't realize that she was about to collide with someone until it happened, and her books were scattered onto the cobblestones. "Oh! That's quite all right," she said, bending down to retrieve the books. Her carefully polished shoes squeaked slightly as they came into contact, and she winced.

She picked up the fallen textbooks, carefully dusting off any that appeared to have sustained damage in the fall. The librarian didn't strike her as someone she wanted to cross, whenever she borrowed books she was meticulous in their care and making her deadlines. At muggle libraries, turning a book in late would result in a fine. In a wizarding library, they might string up those who failed to return their books on time up by their thumbs. After a moment, she looked up, dark ponytail sliding down from her shoulder to hang next to her head. The other girl seemed to have been carrying a wide variety of objects with her, pencils in different colors and blank parchment, and all of it had been scattered in the tumble. Sabine had merely stumbled and dropped her books, but the girl she had run into had fallen.

"I should have been looking where I was going. Are you all right?" It was partially social graces that compelled her to follow up after colliding with the girl - she looked vaguely familiar, were they in the same house? - and partially a compulsion to asses the situation. She hadn't sounded angry, which was a positive note. Hopefully they were in the same house, she'd hate to think that she'd just collided with an angry Slytherin that would be after her blood.

[Natasha Connors]

Natasha was glad the other person wasn't mad, although by the amount of books that where now scattered around them she was guessing the other girl couldn't have seen Natasha coming. Natasaha began to gather her spilt belongings and shoving them in her bag. "Me oh yea i'm fine. I really should have been watching where I was going. Reading and walking don't mix together. How about you are you alright?" she said with a smile to the girl, the manners her mother had instilled into her coming out, plus she had hoped she hadn't injured the other girl.

"Here let me help you." she said and grabbed a few of the other girls books and handed them to her. As Natasha handed the other girl the books she looked at her and realized she was a fellow Gryffindor from the red tie and lion crest on her robes, a year younger but she'd seen her in the commmon room and the great hall. "Your Sabine right? I'm in Gryffindor to." she said as she continued to gather her belongings.

[Sabine Montgomery]

She chuckled slightly. "No, I suppose they don't, given the result." The library's copy of Quintessence: A Quest (not really required reading, but something about it had drawn her to it) had a leaf on the cover, but she simply brushed it off before she returned it to the stack she was re-creating. "I'm quite all right. And presumably I'll continue to be all right, unless I've damaged these books." She smiled across at the other girl to show that she was trying to make a lighthearted comment, not seriously fearing for her life. "I always got the impression the school librarian had a very unpleasant fate in store for anyone who damaged a book." On top of the slightly weathered copy of Quintessence, she dropped a copy of Enchanted Encounters. She wasn't entirely sure what that one was about, but the title had seemed important. If Linette was in a decent mood she could ask the older Ravenclaw about useful books for OWL preparation.

Sabine smiled when she stepped over to help her retrieve the fallen library books. "Thank you!" she said, moving the books to line up in a straight stack. She didn't need them to tumble down again the moment she stood up. "Yes, that's me. Wait, you're...Nat-Natasha, yes?" She certainly hoped that was the girl's first name, if not she would have created an awkward moment. She had thought she had recognize her, so them being in the same house made a lot of sense. That would explain how she was vaguely familiar to her but not someone she knew too well. Gryffindors couldn't exactly avoid seeing each other in the common room.

[Natasha Connors]

Natasha chuckled lughtly at was Sabine said about reading and walking. "Yea either i'll have to stop it or work on it." she mumbled jokingly. She was glad that the other girl was fine and not injured. 'Thank you.' Sabine said as Natasha handed her some books. "Oh it's no problem." she said.

She then nodded in agreement about the librarian and damaging the books. "Oh yea whenever i check out a book from there i make sure i don't damage it at all. I once walked in as a student returned a book that they split ink on, she looked about ready to hex him. Although a simple cleaning spell would have probably helped but still i wouldn't want to be on that woman's bad side." Natasha ranted as she was almost done gathering her belongings.

She was putting all her spilt pencils back in there case. "Sorry I tend to rant and ramble sometimes. Oh and yes that's me Natasha. Nice to meet you formaly Sabine." she said and then mentally thought. 'Gah i sounded like Jasmine! bah! a high society person, but nicer was nicer.' she thought rmentally eferring to her evil step-mother.

[Sabine Montgomery]

She smiled, flashing her small, slightly crooked teeth at the other girl. At least they were both being calm and friendly about the situation. If it had been a Slytherin quidditch player she had run into...well, she might have needed to use the textbooks for self-defense. Tallulah might be nice enough on her good days, but most of them were very keen on house rivalries. Gryffindor and Slytherin were always on opposite sides of the table, even when they didn't come in trying to be. Their ideological differences could never be resolved as far as she was concerned. And it didn't help that half of them were kiss ups or thugs. It was hard to be friends with anyone who was desperate to gain favor with the professors or beat up innocent first years.

"The librarian wouldn't hex someone who returned a book late, would they?" she asked nervously. She frowned as she considered the possibility. For all she knew, they might. It was a widespread rumor that people in detention could be locked in the dungeons. She wasn't sure if people who returned library books late or damaged them could be hexed or not, and chance made her feel nervous. Sabine dropped the next to last textbook on her pile, brushing off the cover meticulously with the fear of being cursed for returning the volume with even a speck of dirt on the cover hanging over her head. Her nails had been clipped short as a precaution over the summer. Living in London, she needed to be ready for anything, and while long nails looked nice they might get in the way if there was a disaster.

Finally, the last book joined the small pile that had been scattered out when she collided with the other Gryffindor. "It's not a problem," she said, straightening up with the stack balanced precariously in her arms once again. "Nice to meet you as well. You play Quidditch, don't you?" She went to every school game, rain or shine. She had little hand-eye coordination, and didn't own a broomstick, so she had never been able to try out for the team, but she really loved watching the sport. During the flying lessons in their first year, she had managed to save someone who had fallen while the professor was yelling at a Slytherin that had hit another student over the head with their school broom, but when she tried to catch a quaffle someone threw at her, it had smacked her straight in the face. Once everyone stopped laughing at her, she had realized it must have looked silly, but it wasn't too much fun at the time.

[Natasha Connors]

Natasha shook her head back and forth and gave the girl a reassuring smile. "No she wouldn't hex you for turning it in late, just probably lecture you about it. I thin the only time she'd ever consider hexing you is if you damaged the books badly." She said then quickly added. "But it's highly unlikely so I wouldn't worry if i were you." she said with a reassuring smile. Natasha then picked up the muggle book she'd been reading and stuffed it into her book bag then closed it and slung it over her shoulder again standing up.

'You play Quidditch, don't you?' Sabine asked and Natasha got a grin on her face and nodded. "Yup i am one of the chasers. she said happily she loved qudditch and was very happy she was on the team and proud out it. "You a fan of qudditch?"

[Sabine Montgomery]

"Too late," she muttered, her mind already speeding ahead to everything that might go wrong with the library books she was currently holding. She didn't know why, and it certainly wasn't intentional, but her mind always jumped to the worst-case scenarios. It was an unfortunate situation. More pessimism there in debating why she was such an incurable pessimist. Oh dear. With the muggle side of the country - which she was half a part of - involved with a war that everyone had hoped to avoid, it was difficult to be optimistic. Hogwarts might be far removed from it, but if the Germans attempted an amphibious invasion of England, they could overrun the country as easily as they had steamrolled through Europe, and eventually they would come across Hogwarts. Could the anti-muggle protection keep an army away? She envied the purebloods in that they didn't have that worry hanging over their heads, the worry that muggle relatives were in danger while she was at school.

Sabine nodded and gave a tentative smile, caught between dizzying thoughts of the danger her family was in and happy thoughts of watching people flying. Quidditch players looked like they didn't have a care in the world when they were just flying. Once the game started they were concentrated on it, and only the game mattered. She didn't just envy their coordination, she envied their freedom. They could let the world go and focus on the game. "Yes, I am. I follow the Appleby Arrows during the summer." Talking sports was a surefire way to either make a new friend or make a new enemy. Or just leave someone confused, some people didn't understand the competition of the game. Things had been pleasant so far, hopefully Natasha wasn't a Harpies or Wasps fan that would seek an argument over whose team was superior. While she was ready to debate her position, she didn't want to.