Fic: Dust In The Stacks
Author: froggydarren
Title: Dust In The Stacks
Rating: PG
Pairing/s: background Scott McCall/Allison Argent
Character/s: Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall, Lydia Martin, Laura Hale
Summary: Stiles wondered about wolves for a while, but only until he realized they didn't live around Salem anymore. But then the librarian suggested a book with a drawing of a full moon on the cover.
Warnings: n/a
Content Notes: Takes place in the Harry Potter universe, though in the US. Stiles is half-blood: Claudia Stilinski was a witch, Sheriff Stilinski is a Muggle. The Salem Witches' Institute is a co-ed magical school for all of North America.
Submission Type: Fic
Word Count: 1728
Prompt: #118: divinity
Author's Notes: Part of my HP!AU verse, see here and here for the first two parts. It's possibly readable without them, but it'll definitely make more sense as a whole.
With the amount of time that Stiles spent on reading his newly acquired book on wolves, it was no surprise that Scott started asking questions. It took a while, because everyone was used to not only Stiles' constant reading and carrying various books around but also his habit of fixating on a topic until he had it all figured out. Weeks passed though, and Stiles was still wondering why the librarian gave him a book on animals which had been extirpated from the state a long time ago.
He still hadn't told anyone about the black animal -- he refused to think of it as The Grim, even though he'd still not found any other animal that would look similar -- that he'd seen in the forest. The book on canines that existed in the Muggle and magical part of the world didn't help much either. While the drawing on the cover was the closest to the one he remembered from the book on death omens, it was something closer to fairy tale books and fantasies.
"You planning on looking into Animagi?"
Scott was eyeing the book again like he had been since Stiles came back from the library clutching it to his chest. They were supposed to be studying in the study hall that was adjacent to their bedroom, but Stiles had his nose in the book that held his interest better.
"No, I…" Stiles said, and then he hesitated as the thought registered in his mind. "Well, I wasn't really until now."
He was surprised that the thought hadn't crossed his mind before, though the book had an entire section on lycans, their history and various types.
"Crap," Scott mumbled quietly, then he shook his head with a smile. "What do you think you'd turn into if you were an Animagus?"
"I don't know," Stiles said and shrugged his shoulders.
"A fox."
Stiles whipped his head around towards the voice that stated the words with determination, leaving no room for debate. Lydia was standing behind him, her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk playing on her lips.
"What?" Stiles blurted, and he was glad that he hadn't been drinking or eating just before she spoke.
"You're cheeky, smart, and sly." She was listing the qualities like she'd thought about them before, and Stiles tried to figure out whether to blush or preen at what sounded like praise to his ears. "You are strong, though not physically, and you're as hard to trick as you like to play pranks and outwit people. Definitely a fox soul," Lydia finished, her voice carrying a tone of 'do not argue with me' which Stiles was used to.
"Thank you?"
He didn't mean to say the words as a question, but he wasn't sure how she meant them. From his previous interactions with Lydia -- though they've become more frequent in the past few months -- it could've been a compliment as much as an insult.
Lydia walked away then, since neither Scott nor Stiles said anything for a while, both of them surprised she talked to them at all. Stiles was still reeling from her words when Scott pushed his textbooks into his bag and got up.
"I have to go commune with gods," he said, eyeing the table across the study hall where Allison was getting up from her chair too.
"How many times do I have to tell you," Stiles said, and his gaze followed Scott's to Allison's table. "That none of the stuff in Divination is actually in any way related to divinity."
"But…" Scott started saying, but Stiles held up a hand because he knew where the protesting words were headed.
"It may have the name derived from the study of gods, but there's nothing theological about reading tea leaves and making up predictions through astrology," Stiles rattled out the words he'd said multiple times before.
"Tell that to Miss Morrell," Scott said, and then he groaned. "I bet you she'll have us do palm readings followed by an essay on why fun fair readers cannot possibly be genuine."
"It serves you right for keeping up with the class." Stiles laughed at the expression in Scott's face. "You could've dropped it when I did, and continued with something more useful."
"Like I would stand a chance in Runes or Arithmancy," Scott said. "I'll leave those up to those of you who can pass without collapsing before and after exams."
"Also, Allison," Stiles challenged with a raised eyebrow, and he felt satisfied when his words were met with a blush on Scott's face.
"Well, maybe I'll have something more for you about the Grim," Scott said after a beat, obviously trying to change the topic. "You never know, we might find out that the Grim really is only a werewolf mistaken for something more sinister. Though how something would be creepier than that is beyond me."
Scott walked away then without waiting for a response from Stiles, because Allison was standing nearby and shooting impatient glances between Scott and the door to the hallway. Stiles was glad about it, because from the moment that Scott's words connected the grim with werewolves, Stiles' mind began turning as he tried to match that possibility with the information he knew from his research.
He glanced at the book in front of him and closed it to look at the cover, the drawing still the same wolf howling at the moon as it had been when he got it.
The librarian, he thought.
That was a link to not only the mystery of the blue eyed -- something, Stiles didn't think he could use the word 'monster' or 'animal' -- maybe-Grim in the forest, but also to the connection between the bad omen superstition and werewolves.
A little while later he was in the library, browsing through the section on magical creatures, shape-shifters and Animagi . The fact that the librarian who gave him the first book that led him down this path wasn't on duty didn't strike him as odd. She'd been there every time he succumbed to the urge to research his extracurricular topic, but Stiles was too busy following the train of thought that Scott's off-hand remark sparked.
Werewolves hadn't crossed his mind before, not to the point of considering a connection to what he saw in the woods, and Stiles berated himself a little for not thinking of that option. It made sense to at least look into it; he knew that now that he was seeing wolf shapes on covers of the books that were quickly piling up on the trolley that he summoned after the fourth book almost dropped out of his arms. He peeked at books on Animagi, but decided to leave those for another day, too fascinated with the different titles of books dealing with lycanthropy.
"You can't check all of those out," the librarian on duty told him when he and the trolley made it back to the front section with the tables. "And you can't sleep here either," she added when Stiles opened his mouth.
"I wasn't going to!" Stiles protested immediately, even though he knew the librarian probably remembered him trying to do just that at least once. "I wanted to ask if I could set up a study corner with these," he said and pointed to the pile of books. "I don't want to forget which ones I wanted to look into."
He was considering further pleas and bribery when a familiar figure stepped into the space behind the desk.
"You've progressed from the book I suggested then?" The librarian who'd given him the first book that apparently should have led him exactly to the section he almost emptied was smiling at him with what Stiles could also describe as glee.
"Miss Hale," Stiles said, a hint of relief coloring his voice. "Do you think…"
He didn't get to finish the question though, he was still speaking when she waved her wand at the trolley and sent it into a corner that Stiles knew could be reserved for prolonged study sessions.
"How many times do I need to remind you that you should call me Laura?" she said when he looked back from where his books moved to.
"I just," Stiles stopped when he saw the other librarian's -- he could never remember her name, because he kept calling her Miss Crank in his head since she was always the one who sent him back to his bedroom or to class -- face looking like thunder. "I'm sorry," he said instead of a snarky remark that died on his tongue.
Stiles then rushed over to the table that had his books spread out in what seemed to be a reading order. When he glanced back to the main desk, Laura was nowhere to be seen and the other librarian was focusing on glaring at dog-eared corners on a returned book.
"She's obviously trying to tell me something," Stiles muttered under his breath as he looked over the books and their covers. "I guess I might as well," he added and reached for the first book in the row.
Hours later, he was pulled out of his research spiral by Scott, who came to alert Stiles that it was nearly curfew time and way past dinner. Stiles reluctantly got up from the table, and he only relaxed when he felt a barrier go up around his study corner after he moved a few steps.
"You're lucky it's Friday," Scott said as they walked towards the bedrooms. "Professor Finstock didn't even notice you missed dinner, he was too busy rambling about permission forms for the village again. Like we didn't give them to him last month. Again."
Stiles ignored Scott's rambling since it quickly turned into a rant about how the date he had planned for the next visit to the nearby wizard village had been cancelled because Allison was going to meet her parents there instead. When they got to the bedroom -- not without a small detour into the kitchen to forage for dinner leftovers -- Stiles and Scott dove towards their beds and they both fell asleep before they got to talk about Stiles' research project.
The blue eyes he'd seen in the forest were the only thing he could remember from his dreams that night.
Title: Dust In The Stacks
Rating: PG
Pairing/s: background Scott McCall/Allison Argent
Character/s: Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall, Lydia Martin, Laura Hale
Summary: Stiles wondered about wolves for a while, but only until he realized they didn't live around Salem anymore. But then the librarian suggested a book with a drawing of a full moon on the cover.
Warnings: n/a
Content Notes: Takes place in the Harry Potter universe, though in the US. Stiles is half-blood: Claudia Stilinski was a witch, Sheriff Stilinski is a Muggle. The Salem Witches' Institute is a co-ed magical school for all of North America.
Submission Type: Fic
Word Count: 1728
Prompt: #118: divinity
Author's Notes: Part of my HP!AU verse, see here and here for the first two parts. It's possibly readable without them, but it'll definitely make more sense as a whole.
With the amount of time that Stiles spent on reading his newly acquired book on wolves, it was no surprise that Scott started asking questions. It took a while, because everyone was used to not only Stiles' constant reading and carrying various books around but also his habit of fixating on a topic until he had it all figured out. Weeks passed though, and Stiles was still wondering why the librarian gave him a book on animals which had been extirpated from the state a long time ago.
He still hadn't told anyone about the black animal -- he refused to think of it as The Grim, even though he'd still not found any other animal that would look similar -- that he'd seen in the forest. The book on canines that existed in the Muggle and magical part of the world didn't help much either. While the drawing on the cover was the closest to the one he remembered from the book on death omens, it was something closer to fairy tale books and fantasies.
"You planning on looking into Animagi?"
Scott was eyeing the book again like he had been since Stiles came back from the library clutching it to his chest. They were supposed to be studying in the study hall that was adjacent to their bedroom, but Stiles had his nose in the book that held his interest better.
"No, I…" Stiles said, and then he hesitated as the thought registered in his mind. "Well, I wasn't really until now."
He was surprised that the thought hadn't crossed his mind before, though the book had an entire section on lycans, their history and various types.
"Crap," Scott mumbled quietly, then he shook his head with a smile. "What do you think you'd turn into if you were an Animagus?"
"I don't know," Stiles said and shrugged his shoulders.
"A fox."
Stiles whipped his head around towards the voice that stated the words with determination, leaving no room for debate. Lydia was standing behind him, her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk playing on her lips.
"What?" Stiles blurted, and he was glad that he hadn't been drinking or eating just before she spoke.
"You're cheeky, smart, and sly." She was listing the qualities like she'd thought about them before, and Stiles tried to figure out whether to blush or preen at what sounded like praise to his ears. "You are strong, though not physically, and you're as hard to trick as you like to play pranks and outwit people. Definitely a fox soul," Lydia finished, her voice carrying a tone of 'do not argue with me' which Stiles was used to.
"Thank you?"
He didn't mean to say the words as a question, but he wasn't sure how she meant them. From his previous interactions with Lydia -- though they've become more frequent in the past few months -- it could've been a compliment as much as an insult.
Lydia walked away then, since neither Scott nor Stiles said anything for a while, both of them surprised she talked to them at all. Stiles was still reeling from her words when Scott pushed his textbooks into his bag and got up.
"I have to go commune with gods," he said, eyeing the table across the study hall where Allison was getting up from her chair too.
"How many times do I have to tell you," Stiles said, and his gaze followed Scott's to Allison's table. "That none of the stuff in Divination is actually in any way related to divinity."
"But…" Scott started saying, but Stiles held up a hand because he knew where the protesting words were headed.
"It may have the name derived from the study of gods, but there's nothing theological about reading tea leaves and making up predictions through astrology," Stiles rattled out the words he'd said multiple times before.
"Tell that to Miss Morrell," Scott said, and then he groaned. "I bet you she'll have us do palm readings followed by an essay on why fun fair readers cannot possibly be genuine."
"It serves you right for keeping up with the class." Stiles laughed at the expression in Scott's face. "You could've dropped it when I did, and continued with something more useful."
"Like I would stand a chance in Runes or Arithmancy," Scott said. "I'll leave those up to those of you who can pass without collapsing before and after exams."
"Also, Allison," Stiles challenged with a raised eyebrow, and he felt satisfied when his words were met with a blush on Scott's face.
"Well, maybe I'll have something more for you about the Grim," Scott said after a beat, obviously trying to change the topic. "You never know, we might find out that the Grim really is only a werewolf mistaken for something more sinister. Though how something would be creepier than that is beyond me."
Scott walked away then without waiting for a response from Stiles, because Allison was standing nearby and shooting impatient glances between Scott and the door to the hallway. Stiles was glad about it, because from the moment that Scott's words connected the grim with werewolves, Stiles' mind began turning as he tried to match that possibility with the information he knew from his research.
He glanced at the book in front of him and closed it to look at the cover, the drawing still the same wolf howling at the moon as it had been when he got it.
The librarian, he thought.
That was a link to not only the mystery of the blue eyed -- something, Stiles didn't think he could use the word 'monster' or 'animal' -- maybe-Grim in the forest, but also to the connection between the bad omen superstition and werewolves.
A little while later he was in the library, browsing through the section on magical creatures, shape-shifters and Animagi . The fact that the librarian who gave him the first book that led him down this path wasn't on duty didn't strike him as odd. She'd been there every time he succumbed to the urge to research his extracurricular topic, but Stiles was too busy following the train of thought that Scott's off-hand remark sparked.
Werewolves hadn't crossed his mind before, not to the point of considering a connection to what he saw in the woods, and Stiles berated himself a little for not thinking of that option. It made sense to at least look into it; he knew that now that he was seeing wolf shapes on covers of the books that were quickly piling up on the trolley that he summoned after the fourth book almost dropped out of his arms. He peeked at books on Animagi, but decided to leave those for another day, too fascinated with the different titles of books dealing with lycanthropy.
"You can't check all of those out," the librarian on duty told him when he and the trolley made it back to the front section with the tables. "And you can't sleep here either," she added when Stiles opened his mouth.
"I wasn't going to!" Stiles protested immediately, even though he knew the librarian probably remembered him trying to do just that at least once. "I wanted to ask if I could set up a study corner with these," he said and pointed to the pile of books. "I don't want to forget which ones I wanted to look into."
He was considering further pleas and bribery when a familiar figure stepped into the space behind the desk.
"You've progressed from the book I suggested then?" The librarian who'd given him the first book that apparently should have led him exactly to the section he almost emptied was smiling at him with what Stiles could also describe as glee.
"Miss Hale," Stiles said, a hint of relief coloring his voice. "Do you think…"
He didn't get to finish the question though, he was still speaking when she waved her wand at the trolley and sent it into a corner that Stiles knew could be reserved for prolonged study sessions.
"How many times do I need to remind you that you should call me Laura?" she said when he looked back from where his books moved to.
"I just," Stiles stopped when he saw the other librarian's -- he could never remember her name, because he kept calling her Miss Crank in his head since she was always the one who sent him back to his bedroom or to class -- face looking like thunder. "I'm sorry," he said instead of a snarky remark that died on his tongue.
Stiles then rushed over to the table that had his books spread out in what seemed to be a reading order. When he glanced back to the main desk, Laura was nowhere to be seen and the other librarian was focusing on glaring at dog-eared corners on a returned book.
"She's obviously trying to tell me something," Stiles muttered under his breath as he looked over the books and their covers. "I guess I might as well," he added and reached for the first book in the row.
Hours later, he was pulled out of his research spiral by Scott, who came to alert Stiles that it was nearly curfew time and way past dinner. Stiles reluctantly got up from the table, and he only relaxed when he felt a barrier go up around his study corner after he moved a few steps.
"You're lucky it's Friday," Scott said as they walked towards the bedrooms. "Professor Finstock didn't even notice you missed dinner, he was too busy rambling about permission forms for the village again. Like we didn't give them to him last month. Again."
Stiles ignored Scott's rambling since it quickly turned into a rant about how the date he had planned for the next visit to the nearby wizard village had been cancelled because Allison was going to meet her parents there instead. When they got to the bedroom -- not without a small detour into the kitchen to forage for dinner leftovers -- Stiles and Scott dove towards their beds and they both fell asleep before they got to talk about Stiles' research project.
The blue eyes he'd seen in the forest were the only thing he could remember from his dreams that night.