Magical Hogwarts

Beauxbatons library, November 2005

Célestin didn’t mind student service per se. He felt that the house elves would probably get the job done more efficiently than the students but he understood that this was not exactly about getting a job done but teaching the students something about work ethic and taking care of things. Over the years the boy had tried out various student services. This year he had been hoping to be taken on for Chatoeil Service, specifically at the local art gallery but the gallery owner had already taken on other students when he applied. His first alternative was Library Service and he wasn’t too upset by this. The Beauxbatons library was great, after all. There were so many fascinating books to discover - even though that was hardly the point of the student service.

He was running a little late. Célestin had got caught up in a chat with some girls and had totally forgotten the time. However, he thought it wasn’t too bad. He might not be punctual, but he wasn’t that late either. Five minutes, maybe ten. Nothing anyone should be upset about.

As he entered the library the librarian greeted him with a stern expression that was definitely a result of his delay. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, “I can stay longer to make up for the delay.” He didn’t actually want that, but it seemed like the right thing to say. He added a charming smile and then asked what he was supposed to do.

He followed Monsieur Visser to where the records of the books that students had borrowed were kept and grinned at the prospect of being allowed to send out howlers to those who had failed to return their books on time. He’d make sure to come up with some memorable texts for the howlers. The man certainly had no idea what he was doing, giving him this task.

“Once you’re done with the howlers, you should put the books that have been returned today back on their shelves,” Monsieur Visser said. “I’ll see where your partner is.”

Partner? Célestin nodded and grinned, hopefully he’d be teamed up with a pretty girl who would be impressed by his idea to create fun howler texts…

Then the librarian returned and with him walked Jacques Wyss - not exactly the kind of person Cél had been hoping for. He grimaced. Then again, Jac was a known rule breaker. If they’d do something silly, it was likely that the bad boy would be blamed instead of the sunny boy.

“Jac,” he said, “I had been hoping for a girl to work with… now it seems that I have to put up with you." He sighed dramatically and then grinned. "I guess you’d have preferred a certain girl to me as well, right?”

@Jacques Wyss

Jacques had arrived early for his student service at the library and began sorting through the variety of books that had to be put back onto the shelves by students who used them in the library and failed to be decent human beings. Library student service was a mundane task that allowed him to see basically every book that school had to offer. To him, this wasn’t boring like some other students would believe. The Ombrelune wheeled the book cart down an aisle, picking up the book per the assigned information on the spine and lightly tossed it up, magic taking it the rest of the way to its home on the top half of the bookshelf.

Sure, he could of just pointed it at the assigned location, but it was more fun to let it take gravity before the magic collected it. Why books didn’t do this themselves was beyond him, but maybe it was just lack of spells. Maybe it was on purpose so that the students had something to do. He continued down the aisle humming to himself in his head the latest tracks of wrock from the wizarding wireless, either tossing or placing books back where they belonged.

He flipped open a potion reference guide, paging through it, and making a note to himself to check it out later. Jac did the same with a few other books that piqued his interest. It wasn’t long before the librarian Monsieur Visser cleared his throat from behind, startling the fifth year as he was in the middle of an intense rift in his head. He snapped closed the book and placed it on the shelf. He was to work with a partner? Usually, Jac was allowed to just do his thing by himself, he had a system down after four and a half years. “I wasn’t anticipating…” the man was already walking off muttering about helping his partner with howlers. The boy rolled his eyes and let out a sigh, quickly turning the corner to keep up.

His eyes narrowed the moment he found his partner to be Celestin. If he was partnered up, it was usually with a shy bookworm girl who had endless giggles or kept to herself. It appeared Cel was also believing the same thing. Monsieur Visser seemed to have paired the two this time, for whatever reason. Sure, the boys didn’t get along too well, but that didn’t mean tossing them in a room to sort it out. “You seem disappointed,” he remarked back at the papillonisse. Certain girl? “Anyone else would have been an improvement,” he thoughtfully ruminated, going through a directory of girls who usually did library service in his mind.

“I’m told you need help writing howlers,” Jac sneered, nodding his head towards Monsieur Visser who was making his way back to his desk. “I’m surprised, all things considered.”

“Of course,” Célestin said with a smirk. “How could I not be disappointed?” He had never made a secret out of it that he wasn’t particularly fond of Jacques. In fact, the two boys had a history of not getting along and he wondered if Monsieur Visser was one of the very few staff members who were unaware of this.

“Indeed,” he agreed - anyone would have been an improvement - that was so true. The boy ran his hand through his hair and sighed dramatically. He wouldn’t let Jacques ruin his day, though. Sending out howlers was a task too good not to enjoy. He wanted to make the best of it and have some fun.

“Oh, believe me, I don’t mind doing the howlers on my own. You certainly have different things to do.” He paused for the dramatic impact and smiled softly. “I think some girls from our year are going to study here this afternoon… Maybe she’s there, too. You could offer her to carry her books.”

He leaned back on his chair folding his hands behind his head as he grinned at the other boy, wondering if Jacques felt caught or if he didn’t have a special girl on his mind. Either way, Cél was determined to unnerve his year mate with his remarks. The quicker Jacques found a different occupation, the sooner he'd get to have fun with the howlers.