The Comfort of Books

Finally Zachary had found his mother and before she could drag him on boring errands, he demanded (okay not the best word, squeaked is probably better) that they go to the bookstore. Isobel Rowand agreed, but said that it would be their last stop. So, he impatiently went through all the other shopping and took off ahead of his mother for the bookshop.

Books had always been comforting. Zach loved to read and was pretty smart for an eleven year old. Books were comforting because books didn’t make fun of you for talking to dolphins or stuttering.

He pulled out the list of books that he needed for the school and was mindful of his surroundings this time so that he didn’t run into anybody. He had gotten every last book on the list except for one. Sadly, he found himself having to approach someone once more with a question. “H-hello, I h-hate to b-bother you. But, do you m-mind helping me?”

After a few more distractions and separations Lucie and her grandmother finally made it to the bookshop. "I'm sure you don't need my assistance in this Lucie," Nanna told her. "Go choose the books you need and meet me back here." Before Lucie could protest Nanna sat down in a conveniently placed chair and shooed her granddaughter off.

Seeing there was no way of protesting Lucie turned to face the shelves of books armed with nothing but her list. Nanna had already taken hold of her brand new wand just in case Lucie were to lose it or something. She hadn't taken two steps toward the first shelf when she was approached by a stuttering boy. She looked at the armful of books he had and her own list with not one book yet collected. "Well I guess I can try," she offered, "but I'm not sure how much help I'll be when I've never been here before or do you have a question about something that's got nothing to do with books? Speaking of books do you think you can help me find the ones I need? I don't know where to begin."

“O-oh, well it has to do with books.” Zach balanced the books in his arms. “You still need to find your books for the list?” This is where he could finally be helpful. “L-let me h-help you.” He smiled sheepishly and rested his chin on one the books. “L-let’s see, we’re c-currently in the potions s-section. S-so we’ll s-start there.” He motioned for her to follow him and pulled out his list from his pocket. Zach walked in silence as he walked among the shelves to locate the potions book. “I’m Z-Zachary Rowand.” He wasn’t one to introduce himself, but figured it would be a nice gesture.

Lucie held up the list and nodded.  "There seems to be an awful lot of books doesn't there?" she observed.  "Do you have all of yours there?"  How was she going to get them all back to nanna without dropping them? "Potions," she repeated softly.  That sounded so strange to her muggleborn ears.  He was a little hard to understand with his stutter and Lucie was glad he didn't do much talking.  His name she repeated.  "Zachary.  I'm Lucie Banken."  She perused her list again and her brow wrinkled.  "Melodic Studies?  We learn music at Beauxbatons?"  How many times had she looked at the list and not noticed that one?  It looked so odd in amongst all the other subjects listing books.  That and Astronomy which she hadn't quite figured out either. She hadn't figured what any of them were really about other than History of Magic. That spoke for itself.