All The Wrong Pages | Harry Potter

Chapter 3

Senna

Senna wasn't expecting anything to be up there when she crept out. The library was open late, but it was often discouraged for the students to be out later at night unless they had an urgent reason. She entered the silent room, glancing around before she opened up the fake bookshelf and took the stairs up to the secret library.

The lights although dim were still on, and vague silhouettes of students studying could be seen upon closer examination. Ignoring them, Senna tried to make her footsteps quiet as she examined the area. Most students were studying close to the entrance to the secret library, so she moved to the back. Barely anyone sat there, so she hoped the people sitting there would understand. She roamed the bookshelves, looking for one that had potential or looked interesting.

As she searched the books, she noticed strange things about this place; how some books were slightly pulled out while others weren't, how students seemed to gravitate towards the 'nonfiction' side of the library, and how although smaller, it seemed to hold a lot more people. Senna had searched most of the 'nonfiction' side too, thankful that she could be quiet. She moved on to the other side and started searching when a sudden sick feeling brought her to her knees. It was like a... pulsing feeling, suffocating, and terrible.

Nearly choking, Senna all but ran out of the library and sat by the cold evening air, thankful that it was quelling her unease. Why did she feel so sick so suddenly? The moon was bright through what she could see, and there was no one out save for some poor student council members and people on midnight strolls. She turned towards the rooms again but decided against it. She wasn't ready to go back in.

Sitting in silence really brought peace to the girl, making her almost woozy from the calm. She sat in the area again, observing what others were doing. Some of her fellow council members had finished hosting detentions and students were pouring out of school areas, giving the girl not much to think about. What had made her feel so sick?

Feeling better, Senna re-entered the library and moved straight towards the section she had been going to, but then decided against it when she realized the sickening feeling was crawling up on her as she grew closer. Deciding against it, she instead searched some other Fiction shelves. Something had made her sick, something strange, and she didn't want to feel like that yet. She wasn't ready.

Finishing searching the rest of the shelves, Senna avoided the sick shelf and chose to grab a book to read, unintentionally crashing against a shelf. She winced as the books fell, thankful that it wasn't so many as she reached up to tidy them.

She sat down, reading her book by the shelves in peace when an annoyed voice sounded through the nearly-empty library.

"Be quiet!"