Laughing Books

Linette's brother could sometimes do some of the strangest things. She wasn't quite sure how he did it but Benoit managed to find some sort of mystery job which paid a lot of money. Not only that but he also gave her some money as a belated birthday gift. He was slipping. Either that or he was up to something.

This was a mystery she had to solve but it would have to wait for right now she had text books to buy. Not with his money. Linette wasn't sure she wanted to touch it. There had to be some sort of trick. He did not do nice things for the hell of it. No. She would stick to what her father gave her supplemented with money from her mother.

She entered the bookshop with her sixth year book list in hand. That in itself was almost as scary as Benoit. Sixth year and only one more year after that before she was out in the world earning money and hopefully writing for some magazine or newspaper. That was her dream job.

As she looked around the store for her History of Magic text, the first book on her list, she stopped short and frowned. Was that laughter she heard? Linette spun around but saw no-one yet the laughter was still going on. Maybe it was someone around the corner catching sight of Osmund sniffing books. The laughing, however, sounded too close for that. It didn't sound quite human either. She moved closer to the laughing sound and then stopped in front of some children's picture books. Tickle Me was the title emblazoned on the cover. She smiled. "I wish I had a book like that when I was a kid," she remarked.