Eli's Uniform

Eli's shoulder knocked into a Ravenclaw's upon his speedy entrance into the library.  The girl turned around angrily and shouted something at Eli, but the Gryffindor wasn't paying enough attention to catch her words.  He had other pressing matters that refused to let him be in peace.  And it was driving him nuts.  What better place to have a quiet sit to go over his troubles than the library?  It had seemed like a good idea at the time.  Yet, Eli didn't think the library would have this many people here today.  The place wasn't crowded but it was busier than Eli had expected.  Not that he had a lot of times to compare it to, he wasn't what you would call a 'regular' at the library.

Despite the place being more populated than expected, Eli wasn't about to change his plans and run off somewhere else.  Where else was there?  So, Eli quickly made his way to the back where he knew it would be less crowded and he was right.  Flinging his Hello!Kitty bag down on one of the few unoccupied tables, then proceeded to the nearest shelf and grabbed a stack of books.  Sitting down at his table, Eli proceeded to open the books and set them standing upright and arranged them in a semicircle around him.  With a sigh, the usual confident and happy Gryffindor crossed his arms on table and laid his head upon them.

Was this what you would call 'sulking' or 'moping'?  Maybe it was.  Eli was too blah to figure it out.  All he knew was that something was seriously not right.  He was completely losing his game!  He hadn't snogged anyone new in what seemed like ages for him.  No, Razzy didn't count.... Razzy didn't count because they always snogged and he wasn't new.  Not that Eli was anywhere near ready to stop meeting up with his favorite Hufflepuff.  He just needed someone new to play with.  Someone new.  Yet for some reason, Eli hadn't been able to get anyone.  Somewhere along the line, Eli's confidence level had decided to go through a recession.  He didn't quite feel like himself at all.  And he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Razzy was getting more action than he was!  This was something Eli just could not accept.  This was a situation that needed to reverse itself and fast.

Eli had to get back in the game.  He had a reputation to keep intact.  But who and where was he going to find this person?  Lifting his head up off of his arms, Eli glanced over his 'fortress'.  Maybe someone in here...?

Elizabeth's attention was wrapped.  Between the stacks, where she was sure to be undisturbed, she read the letter her brother had sent her.  She couldn't help but smile at his uneven, 6-year-old scrawl.  He probably got so excited he could barely write.  His letters started to get bigger and bigger the further he got into his story of the new friend he had made at the park.  She was so glad he was making new friends.  She held back a giggle and then had to swallow it as she heard a great thump behind her, making her jump.  She held the letter to her chest as if to protect it and sifted through the books to the tables beyond.

A boy, she thought.  Or was it...yes...a boy.  He looked rather frustrated as he began taking out his books from his bag.  Never one to spy, Elizabeth went around the shelf of books very quietly to meet this person.  Perhaps she could help.  Perhaps you can't, said a taunting voice inside of her.  She always got the feeling she was meddling when she offered someone she had never met before some help to a problem she didn't know.  Then again, she could do nothing but try.  All he could do was say no.

He was setting up a barricade of books around him as he took them out and she heard a sigh from behind them.  As the top of his head popped up from the wall of books and she stared into his dark eyes for the first time, she gave another jump of surprise.  Well, she hadn't meant to sneak up on him, certainly, so she wasn't sure what she had expected.  Not those eyes, for sure.

She gave a slightly self-conscious smile for being startled and to silently tell him that she didn't mean to be rude if she was per chance intruding.  "Can you read all those books at once?" she joked.

Eli frowned as another disturbing thought surfaced.  What if people weren’t as interested in him because he was..... old?  Most of the guys he’d snogged that school year had for the most part been fifth years.  It wasn’t as if Eli had purposely planned it that way.  He couldn’t help that there were a lot of attractive guys in that year.  What if they were all starting to think he was getting old.... Losing his touch?  But how could that be?!  He was only seventeen... the age people were considered to be at (or at least near) their sexual peak.  There was no way that that could be possible.  Right?

Reaching into his bag,  Eli pulled out his handheld mirror.  He held it up and looked into it.  Nope, he didn’t look old.  And he didn’t have any grey hairs.  He looked like the same Eli that had started the year off brilliantly.... only except now he looked just a bit more pouty.  Rolling his eyes, Eli put his mirror back into the bag.  Okay, false alarm.  Maybe his problem was that he just never approached the right people? 

When he popped his head up over his barricade to see if there were any possible prospects to woo, instead of his eyes being met by some dashing Hufflepuff boy they were being stared out by a young Hufflepuff girl. 

"Can you read all those books at once?"

Eli looked the girl over once.  Well, she definitely wasn’t what he was expecting.  For that, he was a bit disappointed.  On the other hand, she looked nice enough and it was very true he could probably use a little friendly conversation at that moment.  It definitely beat sitting behind his wall hiding like a weird person.

Eli shrugged.  “I’m creating a new style of reading where you read one line from each book at a time.  It makes things more interesting, you know?  Normal reading just sends me straight to dreamland.”