Elly sat at one of the tables in the massive library reading her History of Magic textbook. Even though she had been here an entire year now, the wizarding world was still strange and fascinating. She was still learning the basic rules and regulations but all in all it wasn't terribly unlike being at regular school. She had made a few friends here which was something that had been strange at first seeing as she didn't have that many in the 'muggle' world. Being in Ravenclaw had been a nice treat as well as she had finally met many others who shared her interests.

Now she sat quietly by herself in the library looking at pictures of different events throughout the wizarding world's massive history. She yawned and closed the book finally, taking a brief moment to admire the dust settling in the light of the mid afternoon. It was beginning to feel like exploration time she thought and rose from the table after putting the book back in her satchel. This library was huge and she couldn't think of a better way to spend the afternoon than to explore.

As per usual, Erik was in the library for any other reason than to read--who did that anyway? He was mucking around with a Monster Book of Monsters.

Thus far he learned the creature's favorite meal was his homework, and other random things he didn't care to figure out it had eaten. He also discovered, after hours of wrestling with the thing, that it calmed down when you rubbed its spine and you could open it and READ it. Genius. Who knew the book actually taught you something?

But even after applying that little trick, the book seemed to start acting up again, which is just what it did as Erik heard someone turn the corner to his little corner of the library.

Instantly, he through his bookbag over the book and through his butt on top of it, making an effort to sit very casually and cross-legged, as he grabbed a random piece of literature of the shelf near him and through it open in his lap as the approach-er rounded the corner.

Ah, one of the Ravenclaw girls, one of the more tolerable ones too, he thought, "Studying Elly?" Erik asked with a fleck of bored curiosity. Suddenly, Erik seemed to be mystically dragged twenty centimeters to his right, and a low grumbling could be heard, but Erik calmly spoke over it, "You know with finals coming up and everything?" Then he was dragged half a meter towards Elly, but he continued to smile weakly, as if it were another day in History of Magic.

"Arlaug, get off there!"

"Pissoff" croaked the frog.

"D'Arvit." Frogs had a terrible record when in the library but stupid little Arlaug didn't know any better. Philo had been reading a book about wizards changing the weather and flipping to the wrong page had unleashed a whirlwind out of the book. Philo's bag had been decimated and Arlaug, the napping stowaway, got blown above a bookshelf before Philo got the book closed.

Now his frog was taunting him, easily done for an amphibian with the ability to replicate bad language. He wouldn't jump off and he was too high up. Philo could barely risk pulling out his wand, in case the Librarian Mr. Morgan was about. Anytime he thought he had a clear shot to magic-down Arlaug the frog hopped away, sometimes over the aisle between shelves.

"You know what happens to frogs in here!" Philo hissed. Turning a shelf Philo nearly smacked into Ellison Hayter. "Oop-uh, hi Elly." And then there was (oh drat) Erik Collins, the legendary Gryffindor that had the library whipped for other reasons. "Hello, Erik."

Mary Beth heard the voices of her classmates and peeked her head out from her hiding spot. For the past few weeks, since she had discovered the sadly bare shelf high atop one of the tallest bookcases, she had been climbing up there to relax, eat a lot of candy, and write letters to her family. She snuck away to do this because she wrote to her parents on regular looseleaf from a cute little spiralbound notebook and used a regular ballpoint pen, and didn't want to even get into the discussion. Also, she had a neat stash of snacks and amusing oddities she had been amassing.

Nonetheless, she crawled out so that she could peek down at the two other firsties who were hanging around what seemed like a billion miles below her. Not that she was afraid of heights. Just that it seemed that way.

The tops of their heads looked familiar, at least. When the boy spoke she recognized him as Erik, and the girl's head looked for all the world like Elly's. Maybe she would find something to do today after all. And as she was registering the first two, the noise of a bizarre frog signaled the approach of Philo.

The little posse looked appealing to her, and she stuck her little feet out to begin the perilous climb down the rows of (to her, anyway) dreadfully dull books.

Elly jumped a bit when Erik spoke to her as she had been in somewhat of a daze walking around. The boy she recognized as Erik seemed to be moving oddly even as he spoke to her. She tried to stifle a giggle as he was jerked one way and then the next, "Yeah studying a good bit. I'm still pretty nervous about exams though. Tests and me don't get along, I'm afraid." She paused a moment before realizing she couldn't help herself and finally added, "You wouldn't be having any troubles with books or something of that nature would you?"

She was just about to give Erik a playful poke when another first year she knew, Philo, nearly ran into her. He was normally clean looking to her, but now he looked like he'd been through some kind of massive storm. Library was bustling today with first years, she thought but all the same she was glad for the added company. "Having trouble with Arlaug again?" she asked. Her thoughts flashed briefly to Sooty, her barn owl. Usually she made a trip to the owlery just to spend time with her and talk to her about the day, but things had gotten so busy with studying she'd almost forgotten. "You're not going to try and blast him off that shelf are you? I mean, what if you miss and there's toady chunks everywhere?"

Elly grinned and then glanced up only to find Mary making the descent off the bookshelves. Maybe this afternoon wouldn't be so dull after all. "Mary!" she beamed, "Would you like some help?" That was one thing she liked about Mary was their shared interest in climbing to high places. Maybe an excursion to find a tree or somewhere high would be in order today too.

Erik stifled a snort as his eyes darted to a bookcase and then back to Elly; he nearly forgot she was a Ravenclaw and would actually answer his question of studying to it's fullest. But then a familiar swearing frog made its presence known, just as Philo appeared, and as Erik's bag nearly bucked him off and then began sniffing around the floor.

• "You wouldn't be having any troubles with books or something of that nature would you?"

"Nope! I'm fairing fairly well, I think. Library and studying can be really dull though," Erik was jerked around in a circle as he yanked on one of his backpack straps and jerked back to face Elly, "no offense."

The Gryffindor hardly paid much attention to the appearance of Mary, at the top of the book case as he reached for his bag straps to try and keep the monstrous book from going on a rampage--he didn't actually know if it ate swearing frogs, but he'd rather not find out.

"Uh, actually Mary, I think you should try grabbing Philo's frog, before you come down," he was dragged towards the bookcase after the little stinker started spouting random curses, he was really getting tired of that. Erik quickly pulled his bag, spun himself back to face the Hufflepuff smiling with his ridiculous grin, and with pathetic innocence asked, "Please?"

"None taken," she said. She often forgot that not everyone shared her sense of enthusiasm for learning. She couldn't help herself when she saw him wrestling the bag though. Something about this screamed story for her parents when she got home. After seeing all this, she grinned again and decided just one more poke wouldn't hurt, "Your bag perhaps? Are you having trouble with your bag? My satchel often runs up a tree when it gets scared or sees something."

The little Hufflepuff grinned, waving excitedly. "Hi, guys!" she hissed, trying to be as quiet as possible. When she heard Erik's request, she raised her eyebrows. "I'll do me best," she replied, making what she considered to be a fist of triumph and solidarity, but really it came out looking like she was trying to catch a fly. The ground was a stiff drop below her, and she kicked her shoes off down there to make her scuffling around less noisy. Gripping a shelf, she stood up and looked around with her eyes squinted purposefully.

A flicker of movement from a nearby bookcase drew her attention, and she set off to investigate, shuffling down the length of the shelf in her stocking feet. Spotting the frog in question, she knew she was going to have to leap to the next bookcase to pursue it. While climbing had become comfortable to her, she had seen one too many movies to fully believe that jumping onto the top of a bookcase wouldn't cause it to knock all the others down like a monstrous chain of dominoes.

Even so, she knew it wasn't too far across, and she was pretty sure she could gap it easily and gently. And if she didn't, the frog was probably going to get intercepted by some librarian or another adult. She grit her teeth and moved to the edge of the shelf. Just like a frog, she told herself. With a little leap, she cleared the gap and came down, much harder than she had expected, on the opposite side.

The bookcase gave a small lurch and she had to swallow a squeal of panic. She didn't think it would tip over...

Elly gulped a bit watching Mary move to catch the frog. Her mind flashed with different images of the bookshelves falling one by one onto each other and her standing in a cloud of dust trying to explain what had just happened. "Be careful!" she called in a whisper.  Instead of thinking, she climbed up to where Mary had been and balanced herself.

"Mary wait, I'm coming too!" she called again.

She had no doubt her Hufflepuff friend could manage on her own, but someone needed to be there in case the worst happened. She crouched quietly and kept a sharp eye on Mary's movements. If she fell they'd ALL be in for it. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted something else. An adult maybe or worse....a prefect. Oh if the Ravenclaw prefect caught her here she'd be in for it for sure. "Mary HURRY!"

She tried a small trick she had used on her cousins one time when they had been chasing her around the garden at their grandmother's home. Pulling her legs up to her chin and bracing herself with both arms, she closed her eyes and pretended to be one of the gargoyles one could see from the top of the old churches and business buildings like the one mum worked at sometimes. This camo only lasted for a few moments as she soon realized how ridiculous she was going to seem trying to hide in plain sight. She looked down at the others and then climbed back down and followed Mary's movements from the floor. Safer here anyway.

"I'll need all the help I can get with Arlaug," Philo said, thankful for the help. Although what the help ended up ecompsing renendered him speechless. Climbing on bookshelves?? And Mary Beth looked to have already set up roost.

"Um, she should just try to hit him with a spell from her vantage point," Philo suggested but the effect was lost as Mary Beth opted for direct pursuit of the frog. "When you're level with him, try a Win--"

She hopped across! As if playing leapfrog 12 feet in the air was normal. The bookcase began to tilt and Philo ran to grab a shelf, as if a first year's strength would anchor it. Elly was also climbing another shelf but she stopped at the top. "What are you going?!" he asked, though she came down right afterwards.

This whole thing was getting risky! "Just push Arlaug off if you can reach him, he'll handle the fall." Philo wanted this over and done with before they had a domino run of falling bookcases on their hands.

She felt the slight creeping dread of not wanting to be caught, but knew that not many people visited this section of the library anyway and she liked skittering around like a squirrel. The frog was loafing around on the very top of the next bookshelf over. On her hands and knees high atop the shelves, she considered her options. After feeling the bookcase's swaying, she wasn't very keen on another jump.

Mary Beth used her vantage point to survey the remaining population of the library. She saw a few professors coagulated around a desk at the far end; they didn't seem like too big a security threat. Her bigger concern was an older-looking student that seemed to be weaving around bookshelves nearby trying to find a specific volume.

She heard what Philo said about pushing the frog off. Was he sure? She didn't really have enough evidence to dispute him, but frogs seemed so soft and doughy. Wouldn't he totally splatter on the library floor?

Regardless, the best choice of action was evident. She scooted to the very precipice of her bookcase, and reached, straining, as far as she could. Her little fingers barely brushed the little amphibian. She thought if maybe she could just lean a little more... things would work out.

"Frogs go splat if they hit the ground don't they?" she asked. If this one could survive it would be the toughest frog she had ever seen. She watched Mary with a kind of admiration. Someone else who shared her sense of adventure. She thought seriously she was the only one. She turned to Erik and grabbed his arm, pulling him with her and calling to Philo, "Come on!"

It was then she saw Mary almost touch the frog and saw her leaning. Something sounded like it was creaking and she saw the bookcase teetering. This wasn't good at all. If the shelves fell they'd all be in for it and yes, Mary was close enough to touch the frog, but it wasn't worth her getting hurt, Elly thought. Without a moments pause, she grabbed her wand and pointed it towards the frogs location. "Wingardium leviosa!" she whispered with a swish and flick, just as her professor had taught.

Curious and slack-jawed, Erik watched Mary jump like a frog herself, completely forgetting he had done something similar in the Forbidden Library more than a few times, mostly because no one was ever there to actually do anything about it.

Then Elly pulled him up off the ground before he could pull back and say, "wait!" And then on cue, the Monster Book of Monsters slid out from under his bag and began to mumble and growl while circling beneath Mary and Arlaug, and as Elly cast Wingardium Leviosa the book seemed to pause, look at them, and consider its options, giving Erik only two to choose from.

On one hand, he could zap the book and get it to finally stop moving, but on the other hand, Mary was atop a shaky bookcase; Decisions, decisions.

Before a beat past, Erik groaned in defeat as he pulled out his own wand and pointed it on the bookcase, and whispered, "Immobilus!" A faint flash of blue beat against the side of the bookcase and the creaking seemed to cease, but he somehow doubted that things would be that easy for much longer.

She nearly tumbled over herself in surprise as she saw the frog lift into the air. A moment of genuine confusion stymied her until she remembered where she was and that in that specific place it really wasn't so weird to see a frog suddenly take off. Scampering backwards, trying to regain her balance, she heard the ravenous noises of a hungry book and Erik's voice as he steadied the bookcase.

"Jaysis," she hissed to herself, peeking down at the growling and spitting book on the floor. Maybe the bookcase was the way to go at the moment. But, sadly, she knew that if she stayed up there she was a hundred percent sure to get caught. Having a mauled foot was definitely preferable to having to write another essay about the importance of obeying the rules. Ugh.

The frog seemed to be under control for the moment, so she began climbing down the bookcase as quickly as she could. It was harder to get down in her stocking feet, but she had done it enough times in shoes that she figured doing it without them could only be so different.

That thought turned out to be fairly wrong, as she slipped only two shelves from the floor and banged her chin hard on the shelf, then fell to the ground. To avoid a fuss, she stood up quickly and tried to appear nonchalant. After all, the book and the frog were more important.

Elly yelped at the book on the floor and almost lost her concentration on the frog. She moved nervously as the thing growled at them and tried to move the frog to a more manageable height. About the time she got it to eye level with them, she heard a thud and the frog fell the rest of the way. Without another thought, she jumped back away from the book and gaped at it wide eyed.  It was the most hideous thing she'd ever laid eyes on since she'd been here but at the same time it was one of those things that was so fascinating she just had to stare.

"What exactly is that?" she managed finally.