Books

Harry was walking with the two Elflings, not sure what to make of the two of them. The two seemed to be the exact opposite of each other, yet they also seemed to be very close friends of each other. Ainel was closed in and pessimistic, while Ai was cheerful and constantly smiling.

The first stop was to stop at Gringott's to get the money that Ainel needed to purchase his school supplies for school. Ainel went and gave his key to a Goblin, much to his chagrin and discomfort. The Goblin then led them to the cart that would lead them to the vault. Ai let out a sound of delight as the cart moved fast and quickly.

Afterwards, they headed over to Madam Malkin's for the robes and other parts of the school uniform. Ai found the hat very funny on Ainel and received a glare from the older boy. Harry couldn't help laughing at this, only to be glared at in turn by Ainel.

They also stopped at the place where Ainel could get most of his cauldron and other such supplies. Both Ai and Ainel wanted away from that place as soon as possible. Ai was holding his nose and Ainel complained about the smell. Harry had to admit that it didn't smell that great, but it wasn't that heavy of a smell. This caused Ainel to raise his eyebrows at him.

The next stop was to get Ainel's wand. Harry was glad to see that Ainel had as much trouble picking a wand as he had. Things exploded all around them, though the explosions weren't as grand as they had been before. Ai of course found the whole situation funny. He may not be able to speak, but he sure could laugh.

That then led them to go and get the books for class. Ai's mouth dropped when he saw all the books at Flourish and Blotts. He quickly disappeared from site of the two boys. Harry turned to Ainel. "Shouldn't we keep an eye on him?"

"Ai is mute, not stupid. He is actually very smart." Ainel suddenly wagged a list under Harry's nose. "If you don't mind, could you help me with my list. I want to get this done with."

"You don't have to be so rude about it." Harry took the list and glanced over it. "This is the same list I had… or I say, will have for my first year."

"I am really not going to ask because I do not want to know." Ainel put his hands behind his head. "So, what book do we need to get first?"

They were interrupted by someone calling out to them. "Harry!"

Both turned to see an older boy with red hair. He hurried over and shook Harry's hand jubilantly. "It is so good you could make it today, though we hadn't expected you to be here… considering your family situation."

"Oh, hello Percy. I am helping… uhh…" Harry glanced at Ainel, who raised his eyebrows. He wasn't sure what to call Ainel. Percy's eyes narrowed in concern, as if he recognized the boy, but there was no way he could have as Ainel was not at Hogwarts when Harry got their his first year.

"I am a friend of a friend of Hermione Granger," Ainel stated. "I was to come with just my Godmother Ms. Figg, but my friend ended up getting into trouble and needing to come here, so Hermione decided to help her. We brought a few others with us and since Harry lives down the street from our Godmother's house, she made sure that he was able to come."

"Ahh, so your to be a new student this year… much like two miscreants from my family. I am Percy Weasly by the way," Percy reached out and grabbed his hand, shaking it. "I would be pleased to help the two of you."

"Uhh, sure Percy… I don't see why not," Harry stated. "Why aren't you here with the rest of your family?"

"Well, the books have all been gotten, but… I love books so much… it is kind of nice and quite in here with no others from the family… expesully those two… breathing down my neck about all of this. They like to tease everyone about anything they hold dear… or not so dear." Percy motioned them to follow them. "All the textbooks are this way."

Percy fingered the textbooks and pulled out the ones that Ainel would need. "Here you go… all the books you need for class."

Ainel picked one up. "The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. I'll need that for my father's family most likely."

"Your father's family?" Percy asked, confused as to what was going on.

"You could say, my parents are divorced. I didn't want to go through all this trouble and everything. I would have rather have stayed back home in Anwe. But my grandfather, my mother's father; he very much dislikes me." Ainel said putting the book back onto the pile.

"So, that would make you a half blood then?" Percy asked, trying to be tactful with his words.

"Try half-breed." Ainel picked up a book called A History of Magic and grimaced. "Wonderful, this has always been my least favorite subject."

"Yes. Granger… she once told me that book was dryer the history of Middle Earth. I hadn't a clue what she was talking about, but coming from Granger, that had to mean something as she is extremely smart. Probably either some Muggle fiction of Muggle textbook on History." Percy saw both of their eyebrows raise up. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Uhh… no," Harry stated, looking bemused. "It is just that Hermione, you might say, has been talking about Middle Earth lately."

Percy suddenly had a look in his eyes as if he was going to try to figure out something. He pointed out the book Magical Draft and Potions to Ainel. "I think you might like this one."

Harry raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what Percy was getting at. Ainel looked at the book, then shook his head. He eyed the stack and pulled out One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. "This is the one I am interested in. May I ask, why is it that we have this textbook?"

"Oh, because we take Herbology at school." Percy stated, not sure how Ainel would react.

"Well, I guess I finally have one good thing to look forward to once I get to school. I might be able to feel like I am at home in this class." Ainel carefully put the book back. "I don't really care if I fail or succeed at this school."

"That isn't a good attitude to have." Percy spoke up. "Oh… did you know that you could pick out a cat, frog or owl to take to school? It used to be rats instead of frogs."

"I would rather not. Animals should live free in the wild, expesully those kinds. Well, not house cat types of course." Ainel stated. Suddenly Ai came running out of nowhere, a book in his hand. He crashed into Ainel and the books went flying. The four scurried to pick up the books.

When they were finished, Percy turned to Ai. "Hello there. What's you name?"

"Ai doesn't speak," Ainel said for him. "He's mute, so don't be surprised to see him gesture a lot."

It was then that Ai pointed to the book he found. He then opened it and turned it to a page where a fat friar was sitting. Ainel couldn't put his finger on it, but the picture looked odd for some reason. Ai pointed to the picture, a grin on his face.

"You like that picture Ai… that one in particular. Look, I'll get that book for you, alright?" Ai nodded his head in agreement.

Percy tipped his head and looked at the title. "Ghosts of Hogwarts. I've heard of that book. They say that many of the details are left vague because they have little information about all the ghosts."

"How about this one," Ainel asked for Ai. "What do you know about this one."

"Everybody calls him the Fat Friar. He's the Hufflepuff ghost because he was of the House of Hufflepuff. Odd thing is, I don't understand how a Friar ended up at Hogwarts. Considering certain things, they would be the first to condemn us in the past."

Ainel went to the front so that he could pay for his books. It was then that another boy hurried in. He had red hair and looked to be Harry and Ai's age. Harry smiled when he saw him. "Oh, hello Ron."

"Hello Harry. Stupid girls. I ran into Hermione and she, Ginny and those two friends of are mad at me for no reason at all. I didn't do anything wrong!" The boy said frantically.

Percy however gave him a look. "Ronald Weasly, I am quite sure you didn't have any physical actions that upset the girls. But I am quite sure, as always with you, that you said the wrong thing yet again."

Ron opened his mouth to protest, spilling what he had said to the girls. All of the other boys gave him a look that said that he had defiantly not said the right thing. Harry raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "Nice going Ron, telling Hermione it is so obvious that you can date anyone you want until you graduate."

"And saying that other stuff in front of girls… very bad idea Ronald," Percy stated. Ainel paid for his books and they left.

Author's note –

Percy walks onto screen and takes a bow. "I was very glad to help them find their books. Seems that the author, or I should say, I dropped some clues about Ainel and his character, perhaps some other things too."