Book Hunt

Christine knew Stephanie had already been in the bookshop.  She'd had the evidence with her when they met at De Beaux Animaux.  Thus she had no need of her older sister.  Stephie could go and buy whatever else a fourth year student needed and Christine could show she was as responsible as her older sisters in buying everything she needed.  She would even make sure she did not buy anything which was not on the list which had arrived with her letter.

Once she found the bookshop though she half wished she'd asked Stephie to come with her.  It was so bewildering and Christine did not know where to begin.  She pulled out of her handbag the carefully folded list.  Spells.  History. Potions... Christine stopped and frowned.  "History?  I thought I was done with that sort of thing."  Just because she loved to read historical fiction Christine had not found French history at school very inspiring at all.  It'd been dead boring and she didn't expect History of Magic would be any better.  Well she would have to put up with it she guessed.  The next item on her list was for a subject called Transfiguration. Now that sounded just that little bit more interesting.  

The list was read and now Christine had the task of finding everything she needed.  Only she still had no clue where to begin. "Excuse me," she said to the nearest person, "but would you be so kind as to help me find my first year books?  I have my list right here but I really have no clue where the books referred to may be found on the shelves."  She finished her long winded explanation with what she believed to be her most winning smile.

The book store seemed to be as popular as the pub, for it had a crowd mirroring the size of the pub, Malachi found. He tried his best to cling to Mama's hand, but people were pushing and pulled the pair apart. The unnaturally red-haired boy was filled with worry for a moment as he tried to find his Mama in the crowd, but then gave in. He supposed he could find the books without her. After all, at leas they were still in the same shop together.

He found his potions book easily enough, finding it to be in a display with many other copies of it, but wasn't having such luck with the others on his list. He was making his way to a bookshelf when suddenly someone sought his attention. "Mir?" He questioned and pointed to himself. The girl seemed about his age, so he wasn't worried that she had poor intentions, but he was curious why she would ask someone as young as him for that sort of help. "Ach! I am having the same troubles. But we can look for them together, if you'd like." Malachi offered, honestly feeling guilty that he couldn't be of any better help.

Google translation: Me? ... Alas!

The boy talked funny but Christine kept her mouth shut on that score. She did not want to offend her hopeful saviour. "That would be very acceptable," she replied with an incline of her own head. He may not be any more familiar with the place than she but he would be very valuable asset in her quest to fill her arms with the books upon the booklist. If he'd been older perhaps she might have considered asking him to hold her burden. It was unfortunate she hadn't thought of that when insisting upon doing her own shopping.

She glanced around the shop from where they were standing. "Now where would the best place be to start?" she queried. "I propose over there where those people are." Christine pointed to where she believed a possible first year and his parents stood. "I am sure one of the texts required will be on those shelves." The quest for the first year text books of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic had begun.

Malachi smiled politely, wanting to mention that he had already found one book and could show her where he had gotten it but couldn't get a word in before she headed off to a different section.

"Ah! Excuse me! Fräulein!" He called after her, doing his best to meander his way through the crowd. He caught up with her once she had stopped and took a brief moment to catch his breath before starting again. "I had found this one on a display shelf over-!" He broke off as his eyes landed on the shelves before him where an army of textbooks were lined up. "History of Magic! You found it!" He exclaimed, and pulled two off of the shelf, one for himself, one for her. "But like I was saying, the potion's book is over there in a display. We can go there next?" He offered. So far this team was working out and he imagined they'd be finished with their book shopping soon enough.

Google translate: Miss

Harley was trying to balance four books on her right thigh while standing on one leg and trying to grab the Potions book. As soon as she heard the familiar German accent, she nearly fell over. "Malachi!" she gasped, "Hey!" She reached for her book once more and wrapped her slender fingers around the leather spine. Her freakishly tall height of 5' 9" helped, so she grabbed another copy for Malachi, who was slightly shorter than her. It was another reason people tended not to like her, they felt threatened. She handed it over to the red-haired boy. "Did you get a pet?" she asked. "Ich habe eine Katze," she told him. Her cat was with Elijah outside, they shop owner told her they couldn't bring animals inside after a tragic accident with an owl last year.

I got a cat.

Christine believed she had deduced correctly where the books were and was thus a little surprised not to only be informed that the boy had found the potions text back where they started but she had somehow found the History of Magic text on her way to her goal. "Oh. Perhaps they have them all by subject rather than year. That will make it a little difficult." Subject search sounded awfully like hard work.

She looked behind the boy and saw the girl she'd met back in Le Petit Dragon. "Your name is Malachi?" she asked the boy as she realised somewhere between requesting his assistance and beginning their search she had forgotten all about introductions. "My name is Christine and I am so sorry for not properly introducing myself earlier." She then returned her attention to Harley. "What was that you said before?" With only French and English as the two languages she knew she really had no clue what Harley had said other than the possibility it had something to do with animals.