» restricted area

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：emilia seong。⁰¹ he returned her smile with a wolfish grin of his own. “well, we have to become best of friends then,” bradley teased. though he had a suspicion that she’d want the opposite of friendship if she found out the real reason they were trespassing the restricted section. still, her sincerity was baffling. how emilia managed to survive this cutthroat world for this long, he had no bloody idea. a part of him wondered if she was putting up some kind of act as he watched her regain her balance. “why wouldn’t you?” he questioned back, raising an eyebrow at her. “i mean this school’s entire culture is built on groups of students one-upping each other for house points in hopes of getting a shiny metal cup at the end of the year. /plus/ acts of kindness are one of the easier ways to achieve points, but i digress.” merlin, he could go on for hours ranting about how pointless house points were but now was not the time. “as i said before, both professor weasley and i do appreciate your help immensely. and really? professor hagrid is one of the better teachers here. you should consider that nipping incident a rare hands-on experience. the other professors are overly cautious if you ask me.” care of magical creatures was one of the few courses he actively paid attention to since he appreciated hagrid’s unorthodox teaching methods.

he shuddered dramatically. “ugh, goderich? no, my parents don’t resent me /nearly/ enough to curse me with a middle name like that. but if you have to know why,” he drawled as if the answer was obvious. “it’s a pun acknowledging just how bloody brilliant i am! godly, god/ley/, get it?” he wasn’t sure if she did but he wasn’t about to spend the afternoon chatting about inane like nicknames. also, he regretted asking her that last question. he wasn’t expecting that floodgate of an answer, full of rambling and emotional vulnerability. gross. “wow. that was a lot… but hey looks like you're conquering your fear. good for you? anyways, some books belong here,” he answered as he used his free hand to shove some from her stack into the shelf next to him. “and here~ the rest will go over there.” he pointed down to the dimly lit shelf at the very end of the aisle, the eerie atmosphere palpable even from afar. “come on. the sooner we get this done, the sooner you can get back to cramming copious amounts of knowledge.”

bradley walked ahead in long, confident strides. his plan was going perfectly, even with some unforeseen factors like the overly chatty gryffindor. soon enough, /that/ book was going to be within his grasp; however, he needed to free up his hands first. he multi-tasked shoving the remaining books in random nooks and crannies while searching the endless sea of book spines for the right title. no luck, though a certain book bound in black and silver caught his eye. ‘this could prove useful,’ he thought as he pulled it out of the shelf. so engrossed with his task, he didn’t bother to look up when he heard emilia approaching. “took you long enough, mellz. go ahead and start putting those away. i’d help but i, uh, need to find something for the professor. i’m sure you can figure it out with that scholastic brain of yours,” he instructed her, his tone almost mocking.

[ lmaoo i’m so glad you did tbh bc it cracked me up!! and okay, will do! ]

@－ ❛ s ❜：bradley chang。⁰¹ Not acknowledging that the other may be being sarcastic about her helping him, Emilia merely gave a happy little nod. She really loved helping others, even if it was something simple like letting them know something was a bit silly. The joy-filled smile stayed on her face, even as she noted the twitch in Bradley's eye. If Emilia was being honest, she didn't like how the other beater played, purposefully aiming at other teams. It was how the position was to be played, but she had yet to see any other beaters see it, thus she just saw him as mean. A good player, but a mean person. "Should I cheer you on? I don't know many players from other teams very well. But I think if we become close enough friends, then I can cheer seriously for Slytherin!" She said that as if she did not already cheer on every team that she was even slightly friends with someone. If someone smiled at her kindly, the girl was likely to cheer them on, unless, of course, they were playing against Gryffindor. It made attending games quite confusing sometimes.

Wand in a knot? Now that was a new one for her. The girl's head tilted ever-so-slightly in response, more so trying to figure out where she had heard a similar saying before than what he said about the professor. Her eyes had glazed over, that is until she found herself bumping her elbow against a shelve that they walked by. "Whoopsies." She merely took a moment to get her balance back, hearing Bradley mention house points. "Hm? Why would I help you for House points?" Emilia may seem like a goody-two-shoes. But she did things without reward, not thinking about one until it had been given to her. Of course, she loved prizes and winning. But it was never her motive to do something nice. "I suppose if Professor Weasley says it's okay and necessary you have help...but still! Some professors, like Professor Hagrid, have us go and do dangerous things! I almost got nipped by one of those little creatures. Oh, what was it again..." Once more her mind almost traveled elsewhere.

"Yes, you may call me Mellz! That's a cute nickname too, I never would have thought of it...but may I ask, why would someone call you Godley? That has nothing to do with your name! Unless is your middle name something like Goderich?" Emilia was on the slow end of understanding that Bradley had a large ego, one which caused him to joke that he himself was godly. "Oh, no. I usually try to sit further up. The back of the library freaks me out. However, the rest of the library is packed and I know that if I shared a table I would just get distracted and talk to whoever is there. I really can't have that! It is already bad enough that it's preventing me from studying, let alone making others upset that I am bothering me. But I can't help it. I like talking to others, but not everyone likes talking. It really puts me in a tight spot because I am distracted by how scared of the restricted section I am and by those that I want to talk to. So I guess I had to settle with my fear." At the end of her last sentence, Emilia took a deep breath, not having taken one the entire time she spoke. "Where will these books be going?"

(I thought about not but then i thought of how funny it woudl be iwedbsjkwdsax and don't worry, just keep me updated0

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：emilia seong。⁰¹ “well, thank merlin you’re here to help me see through my /silly/ ways,” he said lightly as he watched her struggle with the pile of books in her hands. he didn’t know which was more annoying: her acknowledging his mix-up between bludger and beater or her saying that the other slytherin beater was better. not that he ever took quidditch seriously—he refused to put into any real emotional investment into something that revolved around chasing a flying ball on broomsticks—but there was no way that tosser of a prefect was better than him. no amount of willpower could stop his eye twitching momentarily from annoyance. “all the games, huh? that’s quite the feat. i can’t relate since i only attend the games that i’m playing in. but feel free to cheer me on whenever i’m not playing against your fellow gryffindors.”

“hey now, no need to get your wand in a knot! professor weasley said it was okay to get help if i needed it, which clearly i do,” bradley reassured. “honestly, do you /really/ think that one of hogwart’s most beloved heroes would lead either of us astray?” he put on a guileless expression, tilting his head slightly. along with being gullible, she gave off major goody-two-shoes vibes, something he could definitely capitalize on. “you know, you might earn a good lot of house points by helping me out.” a blatant lie considering the exact opposite would happen if they got caught but she didn’t need to know that... “ooh, any nickname you say? how about millz then?” he proposed as the two first-years made their way through the aisles of the restricted section. “feel free to call me brad, lee, or godley. just kidding on the last one… sort of.” people always knocked him for having an inflated ego because it was true, he did. but with that silver tongue of his, could you really blame him? “so millz,” he drawled as he scanned the bookshelves, eyes scanning for a /particular/ book. to keep up his act, he shoved a book or two into random empty spaces. “are you often studying in the back of the library? not judging, of course, but this isn’t a typical spot where students like to hit the books.”

[] i can’t @ emilia acknowledging the bludger typo lmao. also i’m super sorry this is so late ;; irl issues and lack of motivation killed my muse and motivation for a bit. i’m slowly getting back into the groove of writing again so delays like this won't happen again

@－ ❛ s ❜：bradley chang。⁰¹ The girl truly was simple minded, often not understanding the more advanced terminology that others her age seemed to use. "Well, overzealous or not, you should still be more mindful of what you can and can't do!" She didn't quite get that he was almost making fun of her, at least another person that is watching then may assume that he was. However, Emilia always did have a hard time understanding when others were being sarcastic or even lying to her. "I grabbed only half, didn't I? You call how much I grabbed as unnecessary but look at yourself! Such a silly person you are," she continued to say with a slight tsk, not quite acknowledging the fact that the weight of the books made her sway in an uneven and almost dangerous manner. "Huh? Bludger?" She stared at the male for a brief moment trying to figure out why he called himself a ball instead of his proper position. "I think the other beater on your team is much better," she said in a matter-of-fact voice, shifting the weight of the books in her hands. "I like too see everyone who plays! I go to all of the games because my friends always wanna watch when they aren't playing themselves, so it is hard not to notice the other houses' quidditch players!"

Emilia almost did not believe the lie that he offered, however, his note with Professor's signature made her doubts wash away. "Well I suppose it should be okay since you have a note. But just because you have permission doesn't mean I have permission! Unless he said that it is okay for someone to help you?" The more that the Slytherin spoke, the more she believed him. She often forgot that Slytherins were known to be cunning and able to deceive others in order to get just what they wanted, something that the other seemed to be quite good at. Thus, instead of questioning anything that he said, she moved ahead into the restricted section of the library, hobbling along under the weight of the books. "Oh, yes, I forgot. I'm Emilia! You can call me Millie if you like. Or Emi, or Lily or any nickname, really! Nicknames are quite nice, especially when it is between friends."

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：emilia seong。⁰¹ it took every fiber in his being to resist rolling his eyes at gryffindor girl. silly… really? he’s met toddlers who have babbled more advanced vocabulary words than her. still, he needed to keep up the niceties to pull the impromptu scheme of his. “i suppose it was quite silly of me but it can’t be helped,” he shrugged, giving her a well-practiced smile. “when important tasks are given to me, i tend to get a tad overzealous. looks like i underestimated this one.” truthfully he had gambled on whether or not she would be willing to help a stranger. lucky for him, she seemed like the typical gryffindor with a bleeding heart. “thanks for helping me out. we’ll be able to put all these books back in no time! i’m bradley by the way. you are?” his eyebrows raised in surprise as she grabbed more books. it was almost endearing to see a petite girl like her balance a large stack of books in her arms. “not sure if that was necessary but thanks. and yes, i do play! considering i’m the best bludger in my house, reducing the strain in my arms is probably the right call. i’m surprised you could tell. are you paying more attention to players in rival houses than your own?” he teased.

for a moment, bradley almost felt bad that he was roping her into his plans. well, that was until she started questioning him. perhaps she wasn’t as naive as he had thought. he cocked his head to the side, feigning a look of confusion. “hm, while i agree that these books seem rather out of place, professor weasley made it clear that i had to place them back over there. he even quoted that one muggle saying ‘never trust a book by its cover’ before he left the classroom in a hurry. anyways, i wouldn’t worry about getting into trouble since i’ve got a signed note of permission.” balancing his pile of books in one hand, he used his free hand to pull out a piece of paper and show it to her. indeed, ron weasley’s signature could be seen clearly; however, in actuality, it was an autograph doctored up to look like a signed note. a few days prior, he had gone up to the new dada professor and asked for his autograph, spinning some story that his younger cousin was a huge fan of the golden trio (particularly of the redhead himself). it was supposed to be used as a back-up in case the librarian confronted him but it looked like he was going to have to use it to convince the gryffindor girl instead. “see? i doubt professor weasley would ever want to put his students in danger. as long as we’re careful, no books are going to chomp at us or scream in our ears. now, let’s get going. these things won’t put away themselves.” he said in almost a singsongy voice, putting away the note and walking towards the restricted section. he stepped over the rope that separated it from the rest of the library and then looked back so that she could follow suit.

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@－ ❛ s ❜：bradley chang。⁰¹ Another day, another study session that was going to get Ms. Seong absolutely nowhere. Luckily for her though, the library had been generally quiet, allowing her to find an empty table to study. With no other students around, it would help her concentrate a bit more than usual, allowing her to somewhat focus on the words that were before her. Although, it was quite hard to focus on studying the chapter about giants for Defense Against the Dark Arts. How likely was she to come across one? Plus, they were quite scary, at least the drawings in them were. And so, when the Slytherin first year caused a racket by her, Emilia could not help but be highly interested in whatever he was doing. "Oh, of course! Why would you try to carry so many at once anyways? That was quite silly of you no wasn't it?" She replied with a chipper tone, crouching down to pick the books up one by one.

A broad smile formed upon her visage with his asking for her help, not yet processing just where he was directing her to. "Okay! But you really shouldn't have carried all these books on your own. Oh, what if your arms pop out of their sockets. That won't be very fun. Especially since you'll need them! Don't you play quidditch?" She took some more books from his staggering pile, about four more, just enough for her to suffer a little with the weight. It was at this point that she noticed that he was gesturing toward the restricted section. "Wait, but we're not allowed in there! And these books look hardly like they'd be in that section! Don't they usually have books that may eat you? Students aren't allowed in there for a reason. Right?" The Gryffindor wouldn't know, of course, she had never thought of going past the barrier that warned students to stay away. But now that the issue was presented to her, she wondered why they would keep this in a school library if students /weren't/ to touch them. It was a bit strange. "We will get in trouble."

@－ ❛ ɢ ❜：emilia seong。⁰¹ bradley sauntered into the library as if he didn’t have a single care in the world. ignoring the withering glare from the librarian, he started weaving through the aisles of bookshelves and randomly pulling out books. with a sizeable pile in his arms, the first-year slytherin made his way to the back towards his destination: the restricted section. just when he thought the coast was clear, he spotted a gryffindor girl sitting at a table nearby. there was no way he’d be able to sneak past the rope without her noticing. good thing bradley chang excelled at improvising. he ‘accidentally’ stumbled as he passed by her table, causing a couple of books to fall to the ground. he sighed loudly to capture her attention. “sorry to disturb you from your productive study session but may you please pick those up for me?” his tone was light, almost sweet. the complete opposite of his usual cadence. “actually, i feel like this pile could topple over any second now... have some spare time to help me carry these books over there?” he asked, gesturing to the shelves in the restricted section.