Hanging Out (open)

Humphrey walked into the Hogwarts Library. It was his second favorite place in the entire school. Second only to the abandoned tower. They had such a fantastic collection of books. Both ones focused on knowledge and academia, and also fiction, fantasy, biographies, and classics. Plus, many of the books had amazing cover art. He searchd the shelves, and picked out a book. An Account of Merlin's Adventures, that looked interesting.

He walked over and found a seat in the middle of the library. Then he cracked open the book and began reading. What he was wondering was how similar this would be to the Muggle tales about Merlin that he knew. They had been very interesting, and he had read multiple different books on Merlin and King Arthur. It was one of his very favorite things to read about.

Though he loved his books, Humphrey was a little bit lonely. Hopefully, that feeling would pass as he got into the swing of things at Hogwarts. Renew old friendships and all that.

Haley needed to go to the library. She didn't know why, but she knew that she missed the place. During her third year, she had only been in to get some schoolbooks and then out again, and it was an empty feeling. She missed sitting down there, but she didn't see the point of studying in the library anymore. Things had changed. Her life had changed.

The library had changed. It was colder and more vacant than she remembered. She sighed and walked around a bit, looking at differet books, and as she often did in book stores, she ended up in the fiction section. She found a book on dragons, her favorite animals, and took it out. She looked around, spotting a vacant table and walked towards it when she noticed a movement in the crook of her eye. She turned.

Humphrey was sitting there, reading a book. Haley looked at the empty table, but she was still herself despite the horrid changes in her life. She walked towards him with the same big smile she always smiled when she saw someone she knew.

"Hey Humphrey," she said happily, "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Not at all Haley. It is great to see somebody else actually using the library. I thought that it was too empty, it almost feels like a ghost library. Since nobody is ever here voluntarily, well, at least it seems like that sometimes." he said, smiling back at her. He pulled out the chair next to him for her by pushing it with his foot.

"Alright Haley, tell me how you've been. What did I miss last year? I can fill you in on what I did, if you dish out what happened that is." Humphrey told her. Since he had gotten back, he had wondered what last year had been like.

Haley smiled and sat down in the chair he pushed out to her. "Yeah, it's turned out like that it seems," she agreed.

It was rather empty. Almost in an eerie way. She sighed and looked at him when he asked what had happened.

"There's been so many things going on," she said slowly. She took a deep breath. "I might as well tell you as you'll probably find out sooner or later, and I want it to be from me. My parents were killed the summer after first year. They were in Germany and were killed by a woman called Sally Swandeth."

She gave a grim smile. "Then Corinne was killed by the Shrieking Shack," she added, "And all of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley was attacked by Germans. But other than that, school has been all right, the classes haven't really changed, apart from the everchanging teachers, that is."

"What have you been up to?" she then asked.

Humphrey listened to Haley tell him about the deaths. He had met Corinne, and been friends with her. And, knowing the pain of losing parents himself, he really felt for what Haley was going through. Not to mention he had just lost his uncle as well. "Haley, I know what it is like to lose parents. It is the hardest thing that I ever had to go through. If you want to talk about it, at any time, let me know. I can tell you what I did when my parents died if you want me to as well." he said.

"Whoa, I never really thought about Diagon Alley being vulnerable to attack. But it is a wide open area, with lots of people to terrorize. I guess it is a logical place to attack. It is just odd picturing Diagon Alley as anything but bright and cheerful. Yea, I noticed that almost all the Professors were different."

"Well, my uncle Billy who I lived with was diagnosed with cancer. That is why left, him and my aunt Julia wanted me to be there while he was dying of cancer. I kept the chores and the yard work done, and actually did a lot of painting. There are a couple hiking trails around my house, and I painted the surrounding landscape from the house and some of the hills in my area. If you are interested I can show you them. They are in the abandoned tower by the window overlooking the lake." Humphrey informed her of his goings on.

"Then, just after a year of fighting the cancer, my uncle died. I had to help arrange the funeral, and we were the only family there. A couple people from my uncle's work showed up, but he was a quiet guy. Not very many people were close enough to my uncle to come to his funeral. After that, I just helped my aunt Julia through the grieving process. One day, she told me I could come back here to Hogwarts. And here I am..." he said.

"Oh yea, and there was one scary thing that happened to me while I was gone. One of the nights I was coming home from a hiking trail. I had stopped to paint the sunset, and it was dark out except for the full moon. Well, a werewolf came out of the woods and attacked me while I was hiking home. He bit me on the left hip, and now I'm a werewolf too. Been one for five months now, the change feels so weird when it happens. It is really scary being a werewolf, so I am going to talk to the Headmistress and ask her to see if she can get the potions professor to make a wolfsbane potion for me before the full moon. It would be really nice if she did." Humphrey explained. He was afraid his friends would alienate him when they found out he was a werewolf. But, they all had a right to know he was one.