"Need some help with that?"

The voice that rung out through the silence around Lylia came from both behind her and above her head and sounded distinctly masculine. Quickly turning around, she was met with the figure of a male student in her house, Ravenclaw, who appeared to be the same age as her as well. He was a good seven or eight inches taller than her, taller even than her twin brother, Thomas. He had a light smirk on his face that was, frankly, infuriating to Lylia, because she knew it was there due to his witnessing of her struggle. Despite this, the boy was handsome; his eyes, as green as grass, were filled with mirth and mystery, his hair was the colour of tree bark and chestnuts. Lylia almost couldn't help herself from staring at him and admiring the unknown boy's attractive features, but after a moment, she managed to tear her gaze away and huffed softly in annoyance.

"No. I can handle it perfectly well on my own." She replied, tossing her pale blonde hair over her shoulder as she turned back around and resumed stretching up to try and grab a book she wanted on a shelf just slightly out of her reach. The unknown boy, the nerve of him, barely managed to stifle a laugh at her predicament, to the point where a few chuckles still managed to escape, and deftly reached out to take the book off of the shelf. However, rather than give it to her, he continued to hold it out of her reach. Once more, Lylia spun around to look at him, this time shooting him an irritated glare.

"Thank you for retrieving the book for me, not that I needed your help, but kindly give me the book now."

"Nope." If it wasn't distinctly unladylike, Lylia would've already kicked this boy somewhere his grandchildren would even feel it.

"Why not?" She asked, the tone of her voice thick with annoyance.

"Because I'm not in the interest of doing things for others for free." The unknown boy replied, with that infuriating smirk back on his face. Lylia let out a huff of breath. What this boy seriously expecting her to pay him to give her the book?

"What do you want?" She snapped, once again trying to reach the book, even attempting to jump to get it, only for the boy to hold it even further out of her reach.

"Your name." He answered simply. That made Lylia pause for a moment. Most pureblood families knew who she was--or, at least, they knew who her family was. And this boy certainly carried himself like a pureblood did; he had that same condescending air Lylia had often seen in her cousins. Was he not a pureblood? The thought of that made Lylia uneasy, and she even found herself giving their surroundings a quick glance--checking that there wasn't anyone around that would see them. Thankfully, the library had been pretty empty that day.

"Why do you want to know my name? What use is it to you?"

"Why wouldn't I want to know the name of a pretty girl?" Lylia felt her face grow warm and she quickly turned her head away, hiding her face behind the curtain of her hair in hopes of hiding the blush from the boy. From the light laugh she heard, she doubted that it had succeeded.

"... My name is Lylia Nightshade." She replied quietly. This boy was surely trouble for her, if he indeed wasn't pureblood--especially if he wasn't even half-blood. Despite that, she gave her name anyway, he did help her after all. Following her answer, she peeked back at him in time to catch the soft and charming smile the boy was now giving her.

"A beautiful name. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Nightshade," he said, finally lowering his arm and passing her the book, "Was your family named after the flower by any chance?"

Lylia gave a small nod, clutching the book to her chest lightly, "Yes. The deadly nightshade. It is the family emblem, and grows in my family's garden." She murmured, hesitating a little before lifting her nightshade-purple gaze to meet his, "What is your name?"

"North. North Brieris." He answered simply. Lylia felt her heart sink and ice run through her veins. She didn't recognise his name at all--he was not a descendant of any of England, Scotland, Wales, or Ireland's pureblood families. Still... She couldn't bring herself to excuse herself from the conversation and leave. She had the book she had wanted now. Why was she still there?

"North? Your parents named you after a cardinal direction?" she questioned, raising a delicate eyebrow lightly. Her heart fluttered a moment later as her words cause the boy, North, to let out a soft laugh. He shook his head lightly.

"No, North is actually my middle name. My parents actually named me Caius--as in, a variant of the Roman name, Gaius." Lylia frowned at that, leaning back against the bookcase behind her.

"Then... Why go by North?"

"Because I don't like my actual first name. It's too... ancient. North, at least, is a little interesting. My sister is the same, she despises the name she was actually given, and usually goes by her middle name as well." North explained. Lylia paused briefly before she found herself smiling a little.

"You have a sister?"

"Mm, a younger one. Her name is Faenia, but she usually goes by Elisa."

"That's a really pretty name--both her actual given name, and her middle name." North chuckled softly, giving Lylia another charming smile that threatened to make another blush rise on her face.

"I'll be sure to tell her that you said that when I see her at Christmas." There it was. A chance for Lylia to get a definite answer. She could chalk up the fact that she hadn't left this conversation yet to the fact that she didn't know for sure what his blood status was. He could've been a child of a half-blood family that she wasn't aware of because they hadn't been listed among the pureblood families for a long time. Yet, she struggled to force the question to leave her mouth. Why was her body so reluctant to do this?

"Oh? Is she not at Hogwarts too? Is she too young or...?" North paused for a moment, clearing his throat lightly and seemingly nervously shifting his weight between his feet. Clearly he knew of Lylia's blood status somehow.

"No, she's only a year or so younger than I. But she wasn't born with magic like I was. We're, uh... We're muggles--at least, my parents and Elisa are." Lylia fell silent for a long moment before she lightly cleared her throat.

"I... I see..." she hesitated for a few seconds before she stepped away from the bookshelf she had been leaning against and stepping past North, "... I should be going. I only came to get the book, and my brother is probably wondering where I am." She couldn't see North's face, but she saw his body tense somewhat out of the corner of her eye and she had to force down an apology.

"Thank you again for your assisting, Mr. Brieris." She added softly before she quickly walked away, keeping her head lowered and her grip on the book tight as she left the library as fast as she could.