The book nook is one of Quinn's favorite places around the castle. Even though everyone knows it's there, it's like a little secret hidden behind a bookcase. A cozy little secret. He goes in every once in a while for homework or reading or just plain sitting, but today he was feeling crafty. He brought in his knitting supplies, which had grown in number since he was at his Gram's this summer, and a couple of pieces of paper—he was still trying to work on his origami skills. As he was lying in the pile of cushions he examined one of the papers he brought with him, then folded it quickly into the shape he knew best: a ladybug. His blue bracelet dangled from his wrist as he examined his handiwork. A light blush rose on his cheeks—now he had the urge to see...someone.

Quinn rolled over, shoving his face in a cushion and sighing. He didn't know what to do with himself... they were just friends. That's all. And that's probably all they should be. If there was even any chance in the first place, which there was probably not... feelings suck.

The book nook was a pretty quiet place. There weren’t very many people here, and none of them would object to one very quiet fourth year very quietly going into the corner and very quietly not talking to anyone, right?

Ash made her was to the cozy corner of the room and covered herself with pillows and blankets and SADNESS. She missed her home. She missed her friends, and her family. She even missed Megan Olivia. She missed the muggle world, where everyone was nice to her... And she hated this place. Because it was the worst. And when she went to the closet to cry, there were people kissing in there!!! That was irritating. There were people EVERYWHERE. There were even people at the Weasley swamp, and in the climbing tree... you couldn’t get any privacy here. Or happiness. Was it too dramatic to say that this school sucked away her soul like a dementor?

Anyway, Ash curled up in the blankets so that they completely covered her(cuz she didn’t want anyone else to see)... and then she quietly cried into a pillow. Was there a rule that said you had to READ in here? Someone didn’t get the memo.

From the moment Dahlia had figured out about The Book Nook it had quickly become one of her favorite hideaway spots. Not that she had very many of those where she didn't want to be found. Typically her spots were somewhere out on the grounds or where she could make a ton of noise or burn off a bunch of energy. This.. was none of those things. It was quiet and cozy and tucked away behind a bookcase. It was perfect.

Today was one of those quiet days. A day where she was a little bit in her own head about somethings and she needed just a little time to curl up with a book. Or maybe work on her bracelets or something. So it was with her usual supply of paracord tucked away into her bag and Sir Frederik resting on her shoulder that she made her way for the blankets and pillows in the far corner.

"O-oh.. is umm.. uhh everything okay?" Lia asked quietly, kneeling down on one of the pillows beside a very familiar head of blonde hair pressed into a pillow that she knew to be Quinn. Was it nap time? Had someone upset him? What was going on?!

Quinn rolled over at the familiar voice, arms splayed out beside him on the floor. He looked up at Lia and sighed. "Hey, Lia. I'm alright, just... thinking." He gave the paper ladybug one last examination. It made him think about the stuff that happened last term, about being more honest. "Well...I guess I'm just a little bit...not sad, per se, just, er... melancholy. Melancholy day." He shoved the ladybug in his pocket. "Just came for some knitting. And origami."

He eyed her shoulder. "Could I hold Sir Frederik?"

Lia stared down at her friend which was something new for her as normally she was the one looking up at people. This was a nice change of pace for once. "Oh, this is a really great spot for thinking, isn't it?" For thinking and napping. But Quinn kept talking and he was having a 'melancholy' day? That sounded like grounds for some serious cheering up. "Melancholy? How come? Do you want to talk about it?.. or not talk about it.. cause we don't have to." Her eyes shifted to the origami ladybug before he showed it into his pocket. "That was cute. Did you make it?"

At the mention of her bestest companion ever, Dahlia beamed. "Uh-huh. He gives the very bestest cuddles." Carefully lifting Sir Frederik off of her shoulder she set the fluffy pink pygmy puff down on Quinn's stomach.

Quinn frowned with the side of his mouth. "Mmm. Dunno. There's not really much to talk about...at least, I don't think." He hummed a little bit in thought, taking the ladybug back out of his pocket. "Yeah. Atlas taught me how." This brought a little smile to his face before he put it back in his pocket.

Quinn positively beamed as the little pygmy puff was placed on his stomach. He immediately scooped him up and brought him up to his chest, petting and stroking him in silence for a bit. "Er... Lia... you and Tadhg... um.. how did you... y'know... know? That you, like... like liked each other? Was it, like, a mutual thing that you just understood? Or was it weird at first?" Quinn had never had anything like that. Not that went over very well, at least. He was really curious about the way things normally went.

Cue the slightest of head tilts from her as she studied him almost questioningly for a second or two. "Well okay, if you're sure.." He like everyone else knew how to find her if they wanted to chat about anything or not chat. It didn't much matter really. She was pretty easy to talk to, at least that's what she had been told a couple of times. "It's cute. I like it." Lia smiled as she caught sight of the origami ladybug again.

Watching Quinn with Sir Frederik warmed her heart. That little ball of fluff was an excellent happiness maker. Oh! Well, umm.. a slight warmth crept across Lia's cheeks at Quinn's questions about her and Tadhg. This was going to take a bit of careful wording and gentle explaining so that she wasn't misunderstood. Better get comfortable..

Dahlia shifted around, moving from sitting on her knees to plopping down on bum near Quinn on some of the blankets. Picking up one of the pillows, she kinda hugged it to her chest since her companion was currently helping her friend. "Uhh, well.. I'm not going to lie and say I knew right away.. cause' I didn't. He did.. but not me.." she bit the inside of her cheek looking down at her lap. It felt really really strange saying that out loud to someone else, especially now that she was Tadhg's girlfriend and she knew how she felt. "It actually took me awhile to know what I was really feeling and why I was that way.. and then it took me even longer to officially do anything about it." Fear had played a very large part in that, thank you very much. "I did a whole lot of thinking and I talking to a few people," Thanks Kinsay! "But most importantly I talked to Tad.. a lot.. like.. a lot a lot" Way more than she had expected. There had been arguments and tears but she wasn't going to bring that up right now. "The thing is with him and I.. we known each other forever almost.. since we're like three or four. We've been besties all these years so.. it while it might have seemed easy to go from friends to more.. it was really scary.." she whispered the last part, her blue eyes looking down at her friends face.

She may have just dumped a whole lot on him but it was all honest and true. And she had no problem at all with sitting there and helping him sort through whatever he might be feeling if he wanted her to.

Quinn listened intently to Lia's explanation. He had virtually no experience with how to make things go well, so he wanted to glean as much as possible from her.

However... it just confused him even more, because his situation didn't exactly match the one that was described. Quinn sat there and thought about it in silence for a couple beats. So... Quinn would be the one who knows in this situation, which would make him be like Tadhg, but... what if he doesn't actually know what he's feeling, so he's like Lia? And either way he doesn't really want to talk to too many people about it. It's not like he's had conversations about that with him. Quinn had never actually spoken about it directly out loud... but he was pretty sure Eden was onto him. Either way, he wasn't exactly prepared to start talking now. Especially when word would get around if he talked to a lot of people.

Either way.... Quinn hadn't actually known him for that long, in the grand scheme of things. They weren't, like, childhood friends or anything like that... so.... maybe it wasn't time for it anyway..? But the way he felt.... ugh. Screw emotions. Why were they weird. Why were they here.

"Hm." was Quinn's only response after the short silence. He petted Sir Frederik a bit more. "Well... thanks. I think that helped, a little," he looked back up at her, "I'm glad everything worked out for you and Tadhg, though. It's nice to see you guys, you know... happy." Time to turn the conversation away from himself, he thought.

Lia took Quinn's moment of silence as a good thing. Sort of. Either he was thinking of everything she had said.. or she had made things even worse and completely confused him. Which had happened to her when she had talked to others about things. Feelings were hard. Especially at thirteen when emotions were constantly overwhelming and changing all the of the time.

"You know, it's okay if I didn't help at all..not that I don't want to help.. because I do. I'm just sure that my situation is different than yours so.." she paused for a moment trying to gather her own thoughts. "I'm glad too and while we are happy now, it wasn't always that way. We had our troubles too and we worked through them. Alone and together." They were young and it wasn't easy figuring all of this stuff out.

Quinn shrugged. "Well, I mean... I don't really have a jumping off point for all this... stuff. I've not had any, y'know... personal experience. I just kind of... don't know anything. So, like... hearing about how it worked for you in itself is helpful.... even though my stuff is... very different." He thought that not acting on it for now seemed like a pretty good course of action... right? They hadn't known each other for very long so they should probably take some time to, like... sort that stuff out personally... right? Maybe he would end up coming to Quinn about it so Quinn didn't have to. Yeah... maybe. Or maybe he wouldn't because he didn't feel the same, in which case it would be better if Quinn said nothing... yes.... that sounds rational. Not acting on it would be the best course of action.

His eyes shot back to Lia at her assertion. "Really? You guys seem so happy every time I see you... I wouldn't have known. He didn't, like... upset you or anything, right?" Quinn would be very angry with Tadhg if he had done something to hurt Lia. He might need a stern talking-to.

"Oooh.. well umm, I guess if I look at it that way too.. then uhh, I'm glad that I sorta maybe was of some help?" Lia gave a tiny smile and a soft little laugh that sounded almost like she was trying to lighten the conversation. "I had no experience either until I did.. so we have to start somewhere." She understood how confusing feelings were. There was still days were feelings overwhelmed her.

Lia placed that was on her lap behind her and laid back so her head was resting on the pillow, turning her face to look over at Quinn. "We are happy." Things were going very well. "Huh? What?" The Ravenclaw blinked a few times. "No? We're fine? But misunderstandings do happen and so do arguments sometimes." She could be stubborn when she wanted to be and so could Tadhg but normally they got along great and they worked things out quickly.

When Teddy really needed to focus on getting work done, the book nook was his sanctuary. The only other visitors were fellow eagles who also really needed a quiet place to focus; it was like their own little version of the library, tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the common room where everyone's goals and intentions were generally aligned.

The social butterfly he was, Teddy needed this kind of safe haven. There was a feeling of structure, a soft ambience, a unified objective among all of them to focus and be productive, and it minimized distractions. Studying in the library itself meant anyone from the other three houses could show up, and Teddy would want to catch up and entertain - but here, it was never crowded, and it was far more likely that his housemates who retreated here were looking to get work done, too. Plus, he got to see his Ravenclaw friends all the time, so he was less likely to want to deviate from his task to converse with them.

There were always exceptions, though. From Teddy's place at one of the study tables, he peeked around the potted plant in front of him when the sound of footsteps indicated a new arrival crossing the room. Ash. He'd started to put a hand up to offer a smile and a wave, and he'd even beckon her to join his table if she'd made eye contact - but there was something off, he could tell from the way her eyebrows furrowed and the way she bee-lined for the cozy corner without even so much as scanning the room. The young girl was on a mission, and Teddy watched with interest as she burrowed herself into the corner and buried herself deep under the blankets, seemingly never to be seen again~

Without giving it much thought - his brotherly instincts had simply identified an opportunity to make Ash feel seen - Teddy put down his quill and crossed the room toward where the blanket-bundle that was Ash resided. "Boy," he sighed, "for being nicknamed the cozy corner by everyone, this doesn't look that cozy at all." Feigning cluelessness to her presence, he knelt down beside the pile. "There's all these lumps to smooth out." He smiled to himself as he gingerly prodded around the blanket bundle that was Ash, taking care not to apply enough pressure to hurt, merely intending to invoke a smile, although unaware of her compromised emotional state.

HOW DARE HE???

Ash was CRYING right now, because she was SAD. Older students being nice were NOT part of the plan. She had intended to be sad for the whole day, and now she had to find something else to do. Maybe she would be happy for the day instead... that would be nice. Do some meditation or something. Paint. Sleep. Play piano. Ahhh.

A quiet sniffle came from within the blankets, followed by a giggle, and then a muffled voice. “I’m not a lump of blankets, I’m an Ashley!!!” And still was still sad!!! She was NOT smiling at him. Fine, she was only a little bit smiling. ONLY A LITTLE BIT OK. It wasn’t her fault that older students acting like her siblings made her feel happy and silly and safe.

She poked her head out of the blankets, her face puffy but also smiling.

Ahhh, there it was. Ash's giggle made his grin broaden - though the sniffle didn't escape his notice - and he pretended to look shocked when it was, in fact, an Ashley peeking out at him, not just a pile of blankets. "Oh, how silly of me!" he chimed, a fond hand reaching subconsciously to smooth her disheveled hair the way he would for Kiz. "That's a nice surprise."

He sat beside her now, his tone reassuring as he gently nudged her with his elbow and inquired, "What's bugging you, little Fox?" She wasn't so little anymore, but he'd always think of her as that spunky, independent eleven-year-old he first met, and he rested an arm around her shoulders in a comforting gesture to let her know it was okay.

Ash tensed up and nearly swatted Teddy's hand away, cause she mostly didn't like it when people touched her hair. But instead she relaxed a little bit and wrapped herself up in a blanket like a burrito or a chrysalis or something. She leaned into his sort-of hug(sorry) and sniffled(EXTRA SORRY) and smiled some more(yay?). She never could stay upset around Teddy. He was just TOO NICE. WHY WAS EVERYONE IN HIS FAMILY LIKE THIS? "I feel homesick," she admitted quietly. "I've never felt like that before." Never. But- but now she did. "I love what friends I have... and my pretend siblings and stuff, but I really miss my bodyguards, and my brothers, and my boyfriend, and even my parents." She shivered a little and sighed. "Do you ever feel like that?" She set River on her lap. "I'm not a little fox. I'm a- a... a... I don't know. That's a little fox." Literally. River was actually a very small fox. Small enough to fit in the pocket. "I'm a... hmm. I don't know what I am." Other than an annoying awful absurd artistic Ashley, an unwanted Ashley... an amazing Ashley? An Ashley. Ashley. Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley. Ashley. She was definitely an Ashley, that was for sure.

Wordlessly, Teddy raised an extended arm near her face, an offer for her to wipe her eyes, face, nose, whatever on his sleeve. Nothing he couldn't magic away. Ash probably needed it more than he needed a clean sleeve, and he didn't mind.

He was smiling, though. She was speaking to the king of homesickness. "Ash, I'm seventeen years old, I've been doing this for seven terms now, and I still get homesick, too. All the time." That wasn't a lie to make her feel better; any of his closest friends could attest to how he struggled with being away from his family so much of the year. But at least in his case, he had both of his siblings here at school with him. Even though they slept across the castle from each other, he still had the luxury of hugging them on a daily basis. Ash was truly here on her own.

Except... "'Found family.' I've always loved that term." He felt that way about his Stark school friends, about Coby, about all the younger kids he'd tried to be a pal to, especially the Ravenclaws like Ash. "I know it's not the same to have 'found family,' pseudo-siblings and whatnot. And it's scary to think about - that the people we want to be with are so far away, and it's completely out of our control. It sucks feeling helpless, knowing that we're missing out on time with them." He wasn't going to sugar coat it.

"My mum is– she's brilliant, she's been an Auror my whole life, the highest of ranks. Saying goodbye to her to leave for school hurts extra because there's always this worry in the back of my mind that something's going to happen to her. That someone with evil in their heart will best her when her back is turned." He cleared his throat, knowing he needed to share, his emotions interfering. "Someone took a killing curse to save her, during the war. Right here on school grounds." He hadn't said that aloud before, and the taste of it was enough to turn his stomach. "She wouldn't be here if–" Caleb Newell hadn't jumped in front of her. "You know? The stakes are high. The world is full of uncertainties. But we can't stop living, for fear of what might happen. We can't stop living because we miss them, because we'd rather be with them. So – we find the good things to hold onto, here and now around us, make the most of what we do have.

"That's why I'm here, holding onto you." Teddy smiled, the arm around Ash squeezing her close. "We can be sad together and miss everyone who's not here. Then we'll go find the magic that makes our souls soar," he declared grandiosely, looking to elicit a smile from her. How about that?

Ash didn't really know what to do with Teddy's arm. And if she did, she'd be too embarrassed to wipe her nose on his shirt. Instead, she just held onto his arm, so they were like... awkwardly hugging now??? But she liked hugs, so she made no attempt to let go.

"I don't like my family. It is better here. But it's also... not better, somehow. I don't know." But she did know. She kind of hated this school, and a lot of people treated her like dirt. That wasn't supposed to be better than her family. Even popular people with lots of friends seemed to prefer their families over everyone else.

She felt a little sad listening to Teddy talk about his mom. For three distinct reasons. One, he looked sad, or... worried. Sad older siblings = sad Ashley. Two, all these people had died to save her, and... yeah. She didn't want other people to die for her, especially not people she knew. Three, Teddy seemed to really like his mother. And her death would make him very sad. Ash never thought about her mother. She had died when Ash was real little... it had never occurred to her to feel any sort of way about it, other than curious. Did that make her a bad person? Ash was very worried. It made perfect sense that she was Teddy's sort-of little sister, because his real little sister was also worried all the time. That was just a little bit amusing. Just a little bit. "Is it bad to-" No. Nope. No thank you. "...I would be sad if my mom died." She nodded. Even though she didn't have a mom. Even though she wasn't sure that she would miss her. Unfortunately for Ash, she was not an amazing liar.

"I don't need family to live." That was true. Did she need found family? Probably. Not according to her though.

She leaned into the hug. Hugs were nice. "Teddy... do phoenixes soar?" Why did she want to know? Oh, no reason. "What about phoevens?"

Look out Ravenclaws, you aren't the only studious ones around here. Vines creep along the bookshelves, wrapping themselves around the solid furniture as well as several books here and there. With gorgeous decorations like these flowers, they sure do make a lovely addition. The vines resemble those seen out at the front gates of the school. The ones everyone could swear they helped remove but they always seemed to return. Doesn't matter though, not when they look so pretty.

The book nook was one of his favorite places to sit and study, and Evan was currently headed that direction with the intention of reading through his Transfiguration text for fun. His nose was buried in the book, but at having thought he saw some color out of his peripheral he paused and looked up to see... flowers? And vines? What in the world? They looked similar to others that had been popping around and they were rather beautiful.

He had a brief thought of worry about them twining themselves around the books but... the primary thought was how much more pleasant the aesthetic made the reading area. "This was a nice touch." He commented softly, finding a spot to curl up and still be able to see them when he looked up from his book.

The book nook in the common room was easily one of Ivy's favorite places in the castle. She had a lot of favorites, of course, but still. It was one of the quieter places, but it was popular enough that there always seemed to be at least one other person here, so she wasn't alone. Even if they weren't interested in having a conversation with her, it was still nice to have someone else around while she completed a bit of homework or journaling or reading.

So she wasn't surprised to find Evan there when she entered the room today, her bag slung over her shoulder. What did surprise her were the vines. She'd seen them around elsewhere - who hadn't? - but she was fairly sure they hadn't been in here yet.

"I guess they're in here now too?" she said, walking over to the one of the bookshelves. They were really beautiful, especially with the flowers, but might be best to keep them from wrapping around the books at least?

He was flipping through pages, only half reading as he did so while he every once in awhile peeked over at the flowers as well. The nagging feeling about the books was making him nervous, though he probably really had no reason to be. How could something so pretty be dangerous?

Hearing a voice, Evan swiveled a bit to locate Ivy; offering a small smile in hello at her. "Hey. Apparently so. I wonder if someone had brought one of the plants back here too after we had all planted?" Because wasn't this one of the plants provided by the board? He'd been assuming so anyways, though truthfully he didn't know.

Ivy nodded. "Might have." That would explain why they were all over this area; the Ravenclaw tower was pretty far up from the ground after all, so it seemed like a long way for them to grow from the grounds all the way up here by themselves. "And they are really pretty, so I don't blame them if they did." The flowers on the vines provided a nice touch to the atmosphere of the book nook, though them spreading all around the room and on the shelves was a little bit much.

"I hope they don't damage the books though." She pulled a few vines off a couple of books, carefully dusting off the covers in case anything was left behind.

He made mental note to ask Ash, as he couldn't remember if it was her, Daniel or Violet who had mentioned potentially wanting to take one to the dorm room to bring some added cheer. Though really, as long as it did no harm it DID seem to help with that initiative. "Not at all. It makes it feel more homey. More welcoming."

At the next sentence, he pushed from his spot - setting his book down in the process and moved to look at the book case more closely as well - frowning a little. "Do you think it really could? Maybe we should try to pull it off the book casing entirely?" Around the seats was fine but... the books might be too close for comfort.

Homey and welcoming, yeah. Those were good descriptors for the atmosphere they added to the room. The book nook was already that way before, of course, but the flowers just enhanced it in their own way.

At least, aside from the way they wrapped around the books. "Better safe than sorry, yeah?" Especially when it came to books. "And even if they don't hurt them, we don't want them to grow so much that the books get stuck to the shelves." Who knew how much these vines could grow? Or how strong they could be? And using too much magic to get rid of the vines was a little bit nerve-wracking, in case a book got sliced by accident. Could likely be fixed by magic too, but still. Ivy didn't like that idea. So she continued pulling a few vines away from the books on the shelf in front of her.