From: molly_mormon	Date: January 7th, 2011 03:14 am (UTC)		(Link)

Molly was sitting a few rows of desks over, she'd been studying her Herbology textbook when she caught the movement of feet out of the corner of her eye. Standing ever so slyly to see what was happening, she caught sight of Apple. She laughed softly and closed her book. Tucking it under her arm she walked over and leaned down to peek at him.

Her long dark hair fell over her shoulder as she tilted her head. "This is a very unconventional way to study. At least, it's unconventional for the library."

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 8th, 2011 01:04 am (UTC)		(Link)

Apple looked up, happy for a distraction and flashed his lazy smile. "I don't study well conventionally," he said, still stretched on his belly. "Have you ever just felt like you're reading a Where is Waldo book?" he asked pushing the book away from himself a little bit.

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 8th, 2011 02:16 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Yeah, especially when I read about divination." She smiled and then lowered herself onto the ground, pushing a chair back from the desk. She folded her legs and settled her book in her lap. Reaching over, Molly lifted the cover of his book and took a peek at it. Her dark brow furrowed slightly.

"What are you studying this for? It's not in our schedule this year." She let the cover drop back to the ground with a soft thwack as she leaned back and glanced over at Apple.

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 8th, 2011 03:22 am (UTC)		(Link)

"I was... man... this is going to sound stupid," he shook his head. "I was looking for something that I saw like... two months ago. I've been looking at this book the whole time and... I've got nothing," he laughed a little. "I can't possibly be that dumb," he grinned.

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 8th, 2011 04:53 am (UTC)		(Link)

She grinned right back. "You're not dumb. Hey, what if you described it to me and I drew it? Like one of those sketch artists for the muggle police? Then at least you'd have a picture to compare it to."

She reached for his book again and pulled it onto her lap. "This is a Care of Magical Creatures textbook. If what you saw isn't in here..." She trailed off and glanced back up at him. "Maybe it's in another book about magical creatures? There's gotta be a few here in the library, right?"

She liked Apple. He was a nice kid. Sure, he did a couple of things she didn't really look highly on, but that didn't make him any less kind. This was why she was willing to help him rather than leaving him to his own devices.

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 8th, 2011 05:16 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Thanks Molly," he said. "That's actually a really good idea."

"I could totally check around for different books, I mean... I've never seen anything like it before but most people don't even know magic exists... crazier things have happened, right?"

"Would you be willing to draw it now? I don't want to interrupt your studies or anything," he said offering her his notebook and pencils.

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 10th, 2011 03:12 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Exactly, and maybe whatever you saw isn't in this Care of Magical Creatures book because it's too dangerous to be taken care of?" She didn't know what he had seen, but maybe it wasn't even a magical creature to begin with. Having a picture to go off of would probably help.

"Sure. I was just brushing up on the latest chapter in Herbology. No big deal." She reached for his paper and pencils and then looked to him expectantly, waiting for him to begin describing it.

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 10th, 2011 03:54 am (UTC)		(Link)

Apple shivered at the thought. He really hoped what he had seen in the woods had not been the reason Janis had seen 'bits' in the woods later on.

"Thanks a bunch, I can always help with herbology later if you want, I'm pretty good at it," he grinned. "So... this thing... it kinda looked like... like bigfoot. Real tall, kinda apish, but... but it had wings and it's head was like a horse skull with bright green eyes and it looked rotted," he shivered again thinking about those eerie green eyes staring right through him.

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 10th, 2011 05:41 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Molly saw Apple shiver and she scrunched up her nose. "Or maybe it isn't magical at all... coulda been anything." She tried to be reassuring. She didn't want him thinking he'd seen some sort of monster or anything.

She grinned, "Thanks." As he began to describe the creature, Molly drew. The way he made it sound was certainly like nothing she'd ever seen before, or even heard of. But, she didn't come from a wizarding family, either. She drew the ape-like man with the horse head and green eyes. Glancing up, she clarified, "The horse head or the whole creature looked rotted? What did the wings look like? Feathery or more irridescent and faerieish? What sort of shape did they have?"

She was growing more and more concerned by the minute. The more she drew, the more outlandish this creature seemed. But then, how outlandish was a hippogriff, honestly?

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 10th, 2011 10:06 pm (UTC)		(Link)

He peaked over at the drawing, it was almost as if it was coming to life on the page. He shook his head to shake the feeling. "The whole thing, it was almost skeletal and rotting," he answered. "The wings were like... leathery, almost like bat wings, big, wide bat wings," he explained.

He was pretty sure he sounded crazy, this thing couldn't possibly exist... but he was sure he had seen it. "I know it sounds crazy," he said.

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 10th, 2011 10:19 pm (UTC)		(Link)

The more she added and adjusted on the drawing, the more it began to take shape. And what she saw strongly resembled an upright Thestral. "Apple? Have you ever seen anyone die?" She glanced over at him with her big blue eyes. She asked the question in a hushed tone, respecting the idea that maybe he had, and remembering they were still in the library.

"Where did you say you saw this? Was it dark?" That could explain maybe why he thought it had an ape body, rather than a horse. And if it had been rearing up, it might have appeared slightly ape-like. Depending on how long Apple had it in his sights. "I'll be honest, it's a little bit crazy... but we'll figure it out, alright?" She glanced back down at the sketch. "What else?"

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 10th, 2011 11:57 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Apple thought for a minute and then shook his head. "No, I've never," he said thoughtfully looking at the drawing. She was right though, it was beginning to look like a thestral, but didn't they walk on all fours?

"I saw it in the woods, on Halloween. I was hanging out with Bobby," he said. "It was dark, I saw something moving in the shadows but then it stepped into a patch of moonlight," he explained. "Then it looked right at me, and... it nodded it's head to me, like it knew something."

"I only saw him for a few seconds before he walked away. Bobby said he didn't see anything but he wasn't looking in the same direction. It was really eerie, like..." he peaked at the picture again. "That's exactly what it looked like."

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 11th, 2011 12:49 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Apple disclosed more and more of his story to her and it began to really scare her. Molly wasn't easily scared, usually, but the idea of some unknown creature roaming around in the woods near their school deeply unsettled her. She suppressed a shudder and glanced back down at her finished drawing.

It was an ugly creature, whatever it was. "Well, I guess we better get looking in some of those books." She gave him a half smile and climbed to her feet, putting her hand down to help him up. She really hoped that whatever they were looking for wasn't in a book in the restricted section.

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 11th, 2011 05:43 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Yeah," he nodded, doing his best to tear his eyes off the picture. Apple pushed himself up from his stomach and took the offered hand. Once he was standing he looked around. "Where do we even start?" he thought by standing there and staring at the shelves around them that a book with all the answers would magically appear.

After a few minutes he sighed and resigned to the fact that he would have to go in search of said book. "Probably in the creatures section right?" he grinned.

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 13th, 2011 07:37 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Helping Apple to his feet, she pushed the chair back under the desk and gathered their items off the floor, settling them back on the desk. She put her own book down and settled her hands on her hips.

"That'd be my first thought." She grinned back at him and led him toward the appropriate section of books. She turned her head to read the bindings and lifted a finger, skimming it across the books as she read their titles.

"The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures, Fairies and Magical Creatures, Magical Creatures Handbook, Magical Creatures: Man-Eating Meg & Loch Ness Lucy, A-Z: Mythical Creatures, The Monster Book of Monsters..." She pulled them off the shelf if they seemed like something might be found in them to match the drawing she'd just done.

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 15th, 2011 05:06 am (UTC)		(Link)

Apple dutifully followed her through the library and offered to carry the books as she pulled them off the shelf. "I have a sneaking suspicion that we should check the monster book first," he said over a pile of books in his outstretched arms.

"Or maybe mythical creatures," he pondered aloud, heading back over toward the desks. They had quite a lofty pile already and could always go back for more. "This is going to be quite the project isn't it?" he asked.

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 15th, 2011 10:12 pm (UTC)		(Link)

As she stacked books in Apple's arms, making sure she didn't stack it above his chin, she smiled. "Yeah, Monsters seems to fit better than creature." She finished pulling books off the shelf for now and headed back toward the desks. She sat down in a chair after pulling it out and putting her own stack of books down.

She breathed out a heavy breath and nodded to him. "i think this is going to be a little more extensive than we first thought." She opened his book to her drawing and got a good look at it before she began to flip the pages in the various books, looking for something similar.

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 16th, 2011 02:08 am (UTC)		(Link)

Apple took a similar approach to their project and flipped through different books, occasionally looking back at the eerie picture. He wondered if they were ever going to get anywhere on their own but he knew that he would just look crazy if he brought this drawing to a professor. With his record, he figured he would be accused of seeing things or just going against the grain by joking the teacher.

He nodded at her assessment of their project. "You know... not to make this any more complicated... there was another creature in the woods that same night," he said as they settled in with their books. "I didn't see it but my friend did. She wasn't sure what it was but the way she explained it was like... a cloak with teeth."

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 18th, 2011 03:15 am (UTC)		(Link)

"A cloak with teeth?" Sounded a lot like a dementor... just they didn't really have teeth so much as gaping holes where their mouths would be. "Who's this friend?" She wondered if she knew the girl and how credible her reputation would be.

She closed one book and started flipping through another. She really wished there was some sort of magical database they could search through. Or something that could compare the picture she'd drawn to an image on the internet or something. But muggle internet didn't have their magical creatures on it now, did it?

"Getting anywhere?"

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 20th, 2011 05:08 am (UTC)		(Link)

"Yeah," he nodded. "Well... you gotta promise not to tell anyone who it was," he said nervously. Apple was never the one to be at the center of gossip and he never wanted to tell anything a friend had told him in private but this seemed different. It might help and maybe Ella could meet up and describe it to Molly for a sketch. "Ella Parry."

He shook his head though. "Nothing, over here," he shrugged. "I'm not sure if this creature exists in any of these books," he said still flipping through the pages.

	From: molly_mormon	Date: January 22nd, 2011 02:09 am (UTC)		(Link)

"I promise." She waited while Apple explained that Ella had been the one to see the other creature. Her brows furrowed and she glanced off in the distance, thinking about this new information. She didn't know Ella well, she knew of her, but didn't know her personally. She could tell that Apple sincerely believed that he saw this creature, but she wasn't sure about Ella. She'd have to talk to her.

She blew out a breath and closed another book. "I haven't found anything, either. I bet it would be in a book in the restricted section." She groaned slightly. She wasn't one to break the rules, but sometimes she wondered why there was a restricted section at all. Why tempt fate? And why not just make them available to anyone.

"I'm going to do some more research. If I find anything I'll let you know. And let Ella know that I'll do a sketch for her, too, if she's interested." She had Apple's image cemented firmly in her mind. There was no way she'd be able to forget it. "I should probably get going. I have Herbology Club in a few minutes." She gathered her books and smiled at Apple. "Let me know what you find out, huh? See ya!" She waved and then headed out of the library.

	From: meandmyuke	Date: January 23rd, 2011 05:28 am (UTC)		(Link)

Apple was oh so tempted to find a way into the restricted section, although the thought of that creature being in a book in the restricted section was mildly terrifying. Molly might not be big on breaking the rules but Apple had a certain disregard for rules. "It probably is," he flashed a mischievous grin.

"Alright, I'll do the same," he started gathering up some of the books to bring them back under the desk where he had been hiding out. "Thanks for your help Molly! See you later!" he waved her off.