the day has been long and diana wants to go to sleep after the sorting feast. actually, she wanted to go to sleep — but after hearing what headmaster dippet said, her mind is racing. a new professor ? grindelwald caught ? there is nearly too much to process. it is exciting, all of it, but really it means change will be coming. the change in staff is minor compared to how the world outside the castle walls will be affected.
grindelwald’s gone — or, at least, he’s imprisoned, and will no longer be able to continue his reign of terror.
diana can’t help but feel unaffected. she knows he’s done horrible, monstrous things, she knows he would have continued to do so if he weren’t subdued by dumbledore, but none of it has touched her. her world has remained unchanged in essence. it’s selfish to think, but a part of her feels nothing, no joy or glee or excitement. it really doesn’t matter.
she is following behind the rest of the ravenclaws when she stops and ducks away down a corridor. she knows if she heads to the common room now, she will lie awake for hours, caught up in thought and in wonder. maybe, just maybe, the library will have something to assuage her curiosities.
the library is empty, but this comes as no surprise. everyone ought to be going to bed — she ought to be going to bed — but she reasons with herself that she only plans to be there for a few minutes anyway. no harm will come from her being there. she’s about to head towards a spot underneath a far window, a shelf lined with muggle books, one she has become intimately familiar with over the years, when she notices two books on the return cart.
it seems awfully early for anyone to have anything to return.
she walks over, her steps quiet, and her fingers ghost over the spines of the books. the embossed text is raised under her fingertips as she reads the name of the first book. VAN SWINDLEHOPPER: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. her breath catches and she pulls it off of the cart, flipping it open to the first chapter. her eyes skim over the words, reading bits and pieces, and she wants to know more. this book is like finding a pot of gold. like surely everyone else, she is curious about the new professor. he’s a novelty, something exciting — a hit wizard is surely something few at hogwarts have come across before.
she almost tucks the book in her bag and turns away.
almost.
she sets the autobiography down and picks up the other book and, merlin almighty, her heart nearly stops. the book is old, the cover feeling dusty in her hands, but she recognizes the golden title of it. FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM. she’s nearly trembling as she flips open the cover. don’t say first edition, don’t say first edition. it’s nearly sacrilegious of her to not want such a thing but her bag is full.
she looks around and doesn’t see the librarian. there’s no one here to loan it to her. if she’s stealing the book ( which — to note — she does intend to return whichever she takes later ), she can only take one.
her eyes skim across the book’s information. she thinks it is a first edition. she opens the book, her fingers gingerly flipping the pages one by one, and she thinks that she’s fallen in love ( dramatic, unlike her ). someone has scribbled notes in the margins. where she would normally be angry, the notes look to be accurate. oh, she thinks, she needs to read this.
she looks back to the autobiography. it was written by van swindlehopper himself, that’s the whole point of an autobiography, she thinks, and surely the wizard will be expecting a few questions during his first class. any burning curiosities that fix themselves to her tongue can be asked then, couldn’t they ? of course, maybe he’ll just direct students to his book, telling them to read it and then come with follow-ups only.
she sighs, her shoulders falling.
the other book, though, could be checked out by anyone from first year to seventh ( as could the autobiography, but diana has already put the scamander book on a pedestal and it’s something nearly sacred to her ). the majority of them wouldn’t appreciate what they’d be holding. they would read it, probably carelessly tearing pages and spilling ink of their own on it. oh, the idea of that just breaks her heart.
a noise behind her startles her and she startles.
she needs to hurry before she’s caught out of bed and gets in trouble.
she stares at the books, both equally important, both satisfying in their own ways.
she slips the copy of FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM into her bag and leaves without a look back.
okay, maybe she looks back once. twice, actually.
she doesn’t regret her choice, but wonder burns in her chest.
she falls asleep in ravenclaw tower that night with her arm wrapped around the book.
