Waiting {{Amelia & Open}}

Subastian paced in front of the great hall doors looking out the entrance doors, which were open, to see where the sun was. He stopped pacing and leaned up against one of the walls hoping that Amelia would get there soon so he would know what he needed to know before he went out into the forest again. Subastian's face was long and tired, the bags under his eyes made it seem like he couldn't sleep or he had got into a fight and ended up with two black eyes. His robes were still new looking but they hung loose on him at the moment, he had to go back to London that weekend to get new ones since he kept losing weight.

Amelia nearly tripped over her own feet as she descended the stairs from the fourth floor, her backpack slung over her shoulder and an additional stack of books in her hand. The crowds of students from the classes which had just let out should have blocked her progress, but when the groups of younger students saw the danger Amelia's lack of grace presented, they quickly moved out of her way.

"Excuse me, pardon me," Amelia said hastily, glancing at her watch and seeing that she was already late for her meeting with Subastian, "I'm really sorry," she said, pushing past a student who was gripping something that looked a lot like a frog.

What in the...? Amelia thought, looking over her shoulder momentarily before remembering to watch where she was going and continuing her descent to the great hall. Minutes later, she screeched to a halt in front of Subastian, nearly dropping the book of the top of the stack she carried, but managing to catch it at the last second.

"I'm... here..." she panted, trying to smile to make up for the fact that she surely looked a bit disheveled after her race down the steps. Her parents would faint to see her behaving in such a manner, but they weren't here to see it. And besides, if there was anything Amelia hated, it was lateness.

"I can see that. Here let me take some of those so you can get a handle on your balance. Do you need to get a handle on your breath before we discuss the book?" Subastian said laughing softly taking the books she was holding. "Jeez what's all of this for?"

Amelia rolled her eyes in a joking manner when Subastian pointed out that she had stated the obvious. Clearly, when she was standing flesh and blood before him, he could see she had arrived. This time, when the smile crossed her face it was not meant to disguise something else; she was laughing at herself.

"Thanks," she said, feeling the muscles in her arms relax a bit as they were relieved of the weight of the books Subastian took from her. She could see the red lines on her pale skin where the sharp edges of the binding had dug in, but she paid it no mind. Unlike other things, these would fade with time.

"I'm fine," Amelia responded to his concern, pushing her hair behind her shoulders from where it had strayed on her way down the steps, "Really. We should really get in there if we are going to have dinner and talk before you have to leave. It's not that I'm in a hurry, it's just that we have a rather strict deadline," she added as an afterthought, raising her eyebrows as if to say, And you know what deadline that is.

Amelia turned to walk into the great hall, the smell of food already wafting from the near-empty tables. The house elves usually didn't go all out for those who wishes to eat early, but there was usually something on the tables by 4:30. Tonight's dinner for the early eaters were grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, a meal Amelia had thoroughly enjoyed since coming to Hogwarts. Her mother did not believe in food that could be eaten without utensils, so she had never had grilled cheese before coming to school here, but they had become quite good friends from the start.

Amelia turned her head as she heard Subastian's question, noticing he was several steps behind her. She slowed her walk so he could catch up before she answered.

"I went to the library," she said simply, as if this explained everything. A few silent seconds later, she realized this might not be a sufficient answer for someone who didn't know her habits, "I read through the first book, and although it contained some good foundational knowledge, I thought there might be more to be found. So I went back to the library and searched the shelves more thoroughly. The stack you're holding is every book Hogwarts owns that even mentions wolves."

Subastian nodded then looked at the stack of books, "You got all of these?" He said looking at her in disbelief. He looked at the table and saw the food his stomach growled slightly, He sat down at the table away from students and put the books on the bench next to him. "Well if this is all of the books that mentions wolves i just hope i can find something."

"Yes," Amelia said matter-of-factly when he questioned the number of books she had brought. She wished there had been more, but it was difficult to track down books on a non-magical species at a school of magic. What she had been able to find still consisted of 11 books, not counting the one the two of them had found together, so it was at the very least a start.

Amelia took a seat across the table from Subastian, shrugging off her class robes and setting them next to her. She wore the typical female student uniform beneath her robes: white button down, gray pleated skirt, and blue and silver striped tie to designate her as a Ravenclaw. She reached into her bookbag and pulled out a hair ribbon, quickly pulling her hair to the nape of her neck and tying it there to keep it out of her way.

"So for starters," Amelia began, ignoring the food for now as she searched through the many pockets of her backpack for the book she needed. Finding it, she laid it open on the table and flipped a few pages until she found the page she had marked, "This book gave a lot of information on the body language of wolves and how it is used for communication."

She pointed to a paragraph near the end of the page which continued on the next few pages. She turned the book toward Subastian so he could have a better view of it, but she read aloud the passage for him as well.

"Wolves can communicate visually through a wide variety of expressions and moods ranging from subtle signals, such as a slight shift in weight, to more obvious ones, such as rolling on their backs to indicate complete submission."

"It goes on to detail several different types of body language of wolves and what each conveys," she said, finally reaching for a sandwich.

Subastian looked at the book as he munched on a sandwich. "Hmm i don't know if that's exactly what I'm looking for because I'll be a werewolf myself. Half the time I'm by myself in the woods."

"Hmmm..." Amelia murmured, thinking about what her housemate had just said. If he thought he was going to be alone in the woods a majority of the time, to what purpose was their search for a way to communicate? It seemed an impossible task for her to show him ways he could communicate as a werewolf if there were no one else for him to be communication with.

"Well there are other methods of communication that don't strictly require the immediate presence of another werewolf," she said after a few minutes of thinking. She pulled the first book away from him and snapped it closed, placing it to the side as she ran her finger down the spines of the other books in the stack. Finding the one she wanted near the bottom, she split the pile in two and took out a book entitled The Voice of a Wolf. A little page flipping later, Subastian had another book open in front of him.

"This book has information about howling and other vocalisations wolves use to communicate with one another," Amelia pointed to another paragraph she had come across, reading aloud from memory.

"Howling helps pack members keep in touch, allowing them to communicate effectively in thickly forested areas or over great distances. A wolf's howl may be heard from up to ten miles (16 km) away, depending on weather conditions. Howling also helps to call pack members to a specific location. Howling can also serve as a declaration of territory. Wolves will also howl for communal reasons. Some scientists speculate that such group sessions strengthen the wolves' social bonds and camaraderie—similar to community singing among humans."

Finishing, Amelia took a bite of her grilled cheese, still warm and melty from the kitchens downstairs. She ate a bit more of the sandwich, waiting for Subastian's reply to this new information and giving him some time to read further if he wanted to.

"Perfect. I like that idea. I might be able to get some civil werewolves to where i am and try and communicate with them long enough to get the information i need from them." Subastian said his eyes lighting up as though he just received a present on Christmas eve.

Amelia could see the boy's face perceptibly change after he digested what she had just said. Although his eyes had looked tired and sore through their meeting thus far, they regained at least a little of their light when Amelia gave him a way to communicate with the other werewolves. He seemed pleased with the information she had gathered, which made the hours she had spent in the library worthwhile.

I guess 12 books may have been a bit of an overkill... Amelia thought, chewing a particularly crusty bit of sandwich, enjoying the texture. She wasn't ashamed to have brought too many, though; if the answer he wasn't looking for hadn't been in this one, she would have been ill-prepared if she hadn't brought the rest. And it had looked yesterday as if the sooner Subastian got this information, the better.

"What information do you need?" Amelia asked after swallowing the last bite of her sandwich. Amelia wasn't sure she was particularly fond of the idea of there being more than one werewolf in the same place at the same time. The thought of just one werewolf was frightening enough, but a group posed a larger, more menacing threat. She tried to remind herself that these werewolves were just other students she saw in the halls every day, but it was difficult to shake the idea of multiple muscular carnivores gathered in the woods she ran past nearly every morning.