How It All Began *open*

[josie]

Josie sighed as she wandered down to the school library. She wished the stair cases would stop moving, admittedly it could be entertaining to watch them shift direction but not when she was stood on them. Her whole life had flashed before her eyes, she'd had to grip the banister for fear of toppling off and in to the abyss. She could feel her shoulder bruising already from the jolt. At least it was something to write home about she supposed.

Dear Trey and Felix, today I was attacked by a wayward staircase, seriously they come to life and throw unsuspecting students to the floor, sometimes 10 flights up!!

She'd have to work on that.

She ran her hand along the wall as she walked, she had no idea why it was just something to do. Her fingers brushed over century old stone, a fact that amazed Josie, this castle was literally centuries old. Thousands upon thousands of students had learned and graduated here, great witches and wizards had once resided in her very school. The founders had walked this very corridor.

It gave Josie a headache just thinking about it.

So many amazing and exciting things had happened here, her dad had been a bit skeptical about sending her here, he had wanted to send her to an all girls school although she felt that had nothing to do with the historic events that had taken place within these immense walls. Its safer he had told her.

Well life wasn't safe, and hadn't it always been said that Hogwarts was the safest place around? She smiled as she continued on her way she was basically studying in a Historic Landmark.

She pushed open the great oak doors that marked the entrance in to what had to be the most magnificent library Josie had ever seen. Shelves upon shelves stretched back as far as the eye could see, towering to the ceiling crammed full with thousands upon thousands of books, all in different shapes and sizes, and varying degrees of condition.

How on earth was she meant to find anything in here? She should have thought to tell someone where she was going, she could quite easily see herself disappearing behind a book shelf and never emerging.

Actually hadn't she heard of that happing within the school at one point?

She'd have to look it up.

Browsing the shelves she let her fingers trail over the aged spines of of the texts residing there. Amazing titles caught her eyes, everything from, Hogwarts a History to How to clear up Dragon Pox in three easy steps There was literally a book for a witch or wizards every need.

Hogwarts - The Very Beginning - Helena Riclaza

Josie smiled, just what she was looking for, something that could tell her all about the school she was learning to call home. From the beginning so it would seem. Her mind was already whirling with all the exciting things that must have happened when the school first opened.

Taking the book from the shelf she settled herself at one of the nearby desks and began to lose herself within its tired old pages.

[edwardsurion]

Today was one of the days when I made my rounds of my library; just to see what the students were up to. I had been here since six in the morning; since I could not bring myself to sleep any later. I was dressed in a set of my jet black robes buttoned up with a pair of jet black jeans and black shoes; I did not feel like wearing something formal today. Most of my time had been spent familiarizing myself with the books and ordering system; just so I could get a feel of the atmosphere. A few times I had spotted a book out of place and had spent a few minutes placing it back on the right shelf. A few times I could have sworn I caught glances of students looking at me; as if I were a professor just wandering around. It was at that time did I realize I was never going to be able to go on my rounds without students staring at me; and then it hit me. Slowly I walked behind a shelf, trying to avoid any students. In just a few seconds I was once again in my cat form; after all these years I was still not used to how I felt covered in fur. With my feline grace I was able to cut my rounds in half the time; I was already by the desks at the windows.

My yellow cat eyes brought their attention to a girl sitting at a desk; her crest placing her in Hufflepuff. She was only a first year at the least; why else would she be reading the history of Hogwarts. By the way her eyes moved it was clear that she had not spotted the cat that had just walked under the furtherest desk from the window. With a single graceful hop I was on top of the desk; never making a sound. With a few more well placed jumps I was sitting in front of her; my yellow eyes gazing at her trying to look my cutest. I let out a soft "meow" that sounded close to my best purring noise; it was something that made people feel happy. It was my luck that my cat form had black fur, it would fit into this school very well. I sat down and sat still; like a statue only moving my tail around in swishing moves. I let out another "meow"; only blinking a few times as I got a better look at the book she was reading. That explained why there was a book missing from the H section; I made a mental note of that for later.

[josie]

Josie's eyes darted back wards and for wards across the pages in front of her. She was engrossed beyond belief, who knew so many exciting things had happened within these stone walls?

They certainly weren't happening now, although some would perceive this as a good thing. Josie was just bored.

She absent mindedly tucked a strand of her chocolate coloured hair behind her ear, she couldn't be bothered to secure it within her pony tale so she just left it there.

She turned the page, smiling as it crinkled showing its age.

She loved how old it felt, her brothers were right she was a very strange girl.

The Library was so silent, not another student or person alike in sight that Josie almost fell out her seat when the cat appeared. She looked around wondering who the creature belonged to and spotted no one.

How very odd.

It seemed everything was allowed to roam free here at Hogwarts.

Her startling green eyes settled on the feline and she smiled as it purred for attention.

"Aren't you a handsome creature," She whispered, noting his colouring and shining yellow eyes. "Someone must be missing you." She stated as she let her book rest on the desk freeing her hands.

She stretched one out as the cat purred again, letting it get her scent before she attempted touching it, she had, had a bad experience with a cat in the past and did not care to repeat it.

[edwardsurion]

I allowed the girl to pet me for a few minutes; part of me enjoyed the attention I was getting. I focused myself enough so I could slip away from the reach of her hand; turning around to were my soft tail was hitting her hand. With one graceful cat jump I was on the floor; running full speed so I could get behind the nearest bookshelf. Sure that I was out of site I turned back into my human form; my jet black robes flowing behind me as I walked briskly to where the girl was. I pushed my hair out of my eyes; an annoying habit that I seemed to be doing alot these days. Seeing her through my own eyes I noticed that the girl was shorter than I thought. But of course I had seen her through the eyes of a cat; and they were perhaps some of the smallest creatures. It was still hard looking at the world through two different sets of eyes in such short time spans; some days it made the world confusing. I could not help wonder how long it would take her to realize that I was the cat she had just seen. I had to quickly avert my eyes from the glare of the rising sun; I could barely see the girl through my squinting.

"Hello there, I could not help notice you reading and I thought I would come and introduce myself"; I said in a calm and peaceful voice. I kept my space and stood what I believed was a respectful distance. "My name is Edward Surion and I am the new Hogwarts Librarian"; I said with a charming smile on my face. I was tempted to ask her if she had seen a black cat walking around here; but I could not bring myself to play games on first year students. "If you do not mind me asking are you new to Hogwarts"; I asked politely eying the book I had seen her reading only a few minutes before. I now noticed that the book was wrapped in an old black cover. The one flaw with animals is that they had no color in their vision; something I tried to over get.

[josie]

Josie smiled as the cat basked in her attentions. She stroked its head and scratched behind its ears, something she'd heard cats liked. She'd never had a cat or any animal for that matter, until her owl that was. She was always to busy doing other things to be interested, now away at school she could see the appeal in a constant companion.

The last time she had been this close to one of these creatures it had almost savaged her hand. The memory made her wince and want to pull her hand away but this cat seemed friendly enough. Just as she was getting used to his presence his jumped off the desk and ran off. She smiled shaking her head. Cats were such temper mental creatures.

She tried to follow him with her eyes but he was moving to fast for her to see where he went.

Oh well, She thought to herself making to pick her book back up, he knew where she was if he wanted her.

Just as she was about to begin reading again she noticed she wasn't alone, only this time it wasn't a cat but a man!

Where on earth had he come from? She smiled to him as he approached and told her he was the librarian.

He said he'd noticed her but she hadn't even known anyone else was in here let alone spotted anyone, goes to show how engrossed she could become when she started reading, the whole world faded away.

"Hi." She said, "Yeah I'm new." She replied with a sheepish grin, "Is it that Obvious?" She asked with a soft laugh. "I'm Josie." She added, "Nice to meet you."