Tess slid her fingers down the spine of the books, wondering which one she would add to her collection. She knew that most of her money was going into these books, but she didn't seem to care. Her parents wouldn't know the difference if it was a book for class or a book for herself. 'They wouldn't care anyways she thought mildly. She knew that she was a bibliophile, just like her sister, except she took glee in buying a specific kind of book. She loved history books, anything she could get her hands on she would read until she would fall asleep. It was some sort of comfort, to be able to absorb as much as possible as she could.

It was also her coping mechanism; she used it many times to cover her loneliness, because who would bother someone with a book. She didn't always have Rhian, and she didn't think their companionship would last forever. She was a cynic, self-proclaimed cynic, and she liked it that way. It was better to hope for the worst and be happily surprised.

Looking around, she smiled as she sat herself down on the chair, the history aisle completely lonely, only for her to take advantage and take her time choosing which one to buy.

Airen silently browsed the aisles of books. He had no idea where he would end up. One day he'd be in the fictional section, and a week later, he'd find himself reading about advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts spells. Today, he found himself in the history section. Shrugging to himself, he took his index finger, and dragged it along the rows of books, idly reading the titles as he passed them by. He continued this until something caught his eye. The Histories of the Pureblood Families

Curiously, he with drew the large book. The old stack of paper and binding seemed to be in good condition. He looked around for a chair. He did a double take when his sapphire-blue eyes spotted a classmate of his. Tess, as he remembered her name. She occupied one chair, but another two were vacant on her left.

Now, Airen had always been a quiet person. He knew that to suddenly walk up to people and try to strike a conversation with them would perhaps startle them. Especially if the person that was talking was normally the quiet one. Deciding to at least appear open to conversation, he sat down. Their were two small tables and a chair in between him and Tess, so it wasn't too uncomfortable for either of them.

Opening his book, he was immediately greeted with a table of contents. Skimming his finger down the list, he found his family's name and mentally noted the page. Flipping as quietly as he could to his family's page, he began to read about what this author thought of the Sparrowhawk family.

Tess skimmed the pages of the book as it laid on her lap, contemplating on whether or not to buy it. She wanted to, that much was clear, but actually needing it was a totally different thing altogether. She didn't need to have it, but she did find it interesting. Who knows one day she would need it. Her mulling over was distracted by someone coming into the history aisle. Her eyes strayed from her book to notice the blur of a large book being picked up. Following the trail with her eyes led her to Airen. She had seen him around the halls, always minding his own business, and rarely bothering anyone. She didn't mind him too much, even when he sat down in the small sitting area.

Her eyes went back to her book, for a while, trying to absorb the information, but it wasn't working. She was curious as to why he needed to look at the book. The title was what caught her eyes and looked at him curiously.

"Hello Airen" she murmured softly, thinking of being polite.

Airen read what the author had to say about his family. Sure his father had told him much about their history, but Airen often wondered what outsiders thought of the Sparrowhawks. His sapphire-blue eyes scanned the flowing text, drinking in the information. Apparently, the Sparrowhawk family was respected well enough, but little was really known about them as a family. They tended to stick in between the lines of history, never making grandiose shows of influence or throwing spectacular parties. This author speculated that the Sparrowhawks were the invisible contributors to many historical events, but her theories were just that: theories.

At first, he thought his ears were playing tricks on him. Airen had almost always seen Tess when she acted as the near ice-queen of Hogwarts, so hearing her greet him, a Gryffindor, made his mind halt its musings on his family's history. Slytherins and Gryffindors had never seen eye to eye. However, Airen was an optimist. He believed that no person could be completely cold, nor did he believe that a lion and a snake could not be friends.

"Hey, Tess," he replied just as softly as she had greeted him. His blue eyes flicked up from the page as he returned her greeted. He gave her a soft smile before continuing with his reading.

Tess prided herself in knowing everyone, at least by their face. She sometimes knew names, simply because she knew it was important to know it, especially for the upcoming school year. She knew the older Gryffindor because of Rhian, and her best friend knew all of Gryffindor. Information was vital, and while she wasn't able to learn information like her sister (through actual socialization) she knew how to dig for information.

As she had greeted him, she noticed his surprise and she almost chuckled at how people reacted. It always happened, either it was a reaction of her sister being so serious, or of her being friendly. She merely waited for him to reply, or at least confuse her. But as he greeted she nodded, she wondered how he knew it was her and not Aria, but she wasn't going to ask, it was already a step forward that she even talked to begin with.

Airen had been reading silently for a good amount of time before he felt it. The strange tingling on the back of his left hand. His eyes lost their focus on the book as the tingling grew. Trying to play it off as soreness, he softly closed the book he was reading and set it on his lap, all the while keeping his teeth ground against each other behind his lips in discomfort. He swiftly grabbed his black-gloved hand and began to massage it. After the tingling had faded, he subtly lifted the back of his gloved hand to inspect the physical evidence. The mark was once more glowing a soft blue hue. He cast a swift glance at Tess, hoping she did not notice his state.

Satisfied that the mark was properly concealed, he returned to his reading. With a curious glance at his fellow student, he flipped to the section labeled Holmes and looked into her family's history.

"Good summer so far?" he asked in a low voice, not wanting to startle anybody in this place of reading.