(Library) Busted!

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Aidan and Derryl walked into the Library and waved at Marsh, the librarian. They had grown to like her and so they were friendly but moved on quickly. They headed behind a shelf and quickly backed up against it. Derryl looked around the corner sneakily, and whispered, 'coast's clear.'

Aidan nodded and went to the table in front of them. He laid down a large piece of parchment that he pulled out of his robes. He pointed to a scribbled diagram on the left hand side, one of many diagrams, and Derryl nodded. They both looked forward and saw that the shelf was exactly where their source had said it would be. They had never been in here before, except to terrorise Marsh of course.

Aidan smiled at Derryl and whispered, 'ok, I'll run that one over and you get the other side going.' Derryl nodded and turned to run to the other side of the library when he suddenly ran into somebody and fell to the floor.

[Nikole Talley]

Nikole landed hard on the floor when someone ran into her. The books and parchment she had been carrying scattered around her. "Ouch," she said, as she started to get her hair out of her face and back to the way it was supposed to be. She stood up and straightened her robes and looked down to see had run into her.

On the floor was a boy, who Nikole was certain was a third year, same as her. However, she could not remember a name, but if she was correct he had a twin and if he was here his twin was somewhere nearby. "How rude!" she said raising her voice, forgetting she was in library. From what she knew about these two they were probably up to no good. Especially since she didn't really see them as the type to spend a lot of time in the library. "Since you knocked me down, I would appreciate it if you would please pick up my things for me," she said with a quieter angry voice.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Derryl's cheeks flushed red with anger. He quickly jumped up and was about to start shouting when he saw who had knocked him over. He was bewitched. His cheeks burned with embarrassment and his smirk melted into a smile. 'Oh, I'm so sorry,' he said and immediately started gathering her books and parchments.

Aidan rolled his eyes and clapped a hand to his face. He shook his head and clapped a hand to the back of Derryl's neck and pulled him up off the floor. 'What in Merlin's name do you think you are doing?'

Derryl managed to keep all the papers he had picked up in his arms when he found himself being pulled up through the air. Aidan was not happy.

'I..I...I,' Derryl stuttered. He quickly put the papers on the table and held out a hand to the girl. 'I'm so sorry,' he said again, 'can I help you up?' He smiled stupidly at the Ravenclaw.

[Nikole Talley]

Nikole sighed as she took the boys hand and pulled herself up. With that stupid smile on his face, she couldn't manage to be mad at him. "No problem," she said. "Just next time, watch where you're going." She bent down and picked up her things. She sat her things down on the table and turned back to the boys.

"So what would bring you two to the library?" she asked curiously. As much time as she had spent in this library she hadn't seen them very often, and when she did they were always up to no good. And she wanted to know what they were up to this time. "Oh and by the way, my name's Nikole," she said, just so they would know.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Aidan smacked Derryl over the head and picked up Derryl's hand to wipe away the drool. 'Wake up, Ry,' he said. His brother went weak in the knees for red heads and Ravenclaws. Aidan rolled his eyes and said to the girl, 'what we're doing is none of your business.'

Derryl glared at his brother and pulled his hand away from his grasp. 'Don't mind him,' Derryl said to Nikole, 'he hasn't had his morning pumpkin juice so he's a little grumpy.'

Aidan glared back at his brother and stuck his tongue out at him.

Derryl smiled weakly at Nikole again and said dreamily, 'Nikole, such a pretty name.' Aidan hit Derryl over the head and Derryl said, 'I'm Derryl and this charming young good looking fellow is my brother, Aidan.' He wrapped his arm around his brother's neck and smiled.

[Nikole Talley]

Nikole laughed a little. She had already decided which of the twins she liked better. Derryl was much nicer."Thank you, Derryl. It is lovely to meet you and your brother," she said smiling at Derryl and glancing over at Aidan. Turning to Aidan she said," I suppose you are right. What you are doing is none of my business, but I was just curious. There's no need to be so rude." She was even more curious now to know what they were up to but had the feeling Aidan had no intention of letting her find out.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Aidan rolled his eyes. Why was he even standing near a Ravenclaw?

Derryl punched his brother on the arm and glared at him. 'She's right,' he said, 'no need to be rude.'

Suddenly Aidan remembered their parchment lying spread out on the table. His eyes went wide and he grabbed his brothers arm. He whispered in his ear, 'stall.'

Derryl nodded and smiled at Nikole. 'So, Nikole,' he said, pulling out a chair for her to sit down, 'what year you in?'

While he was doing that Aidan quickly grabbed their parchment and rolled it up. He couldn't let a "civilian" see it. He hid it in his robe and turned back to the two, smiling politely.

[Nikole Talley]

Nikole sat down in the chair and answered Derryl's question. "I'm a third year. You?" she asked though she wasn't looking at Derryl. Her eyes were on Aidan, who seemed to be doing something suspicious. When Aidan turned back around with a polite smile on his face, Nikole knew that he had been trying to hide something.

"And what has made you so happy all of a sudden?" she asked Aidan curiously. "A moment ago, you were rolling your eyes at me. And now you have that polite smile. You know if you're trying to hide something you shouldn't behave so suspiciously," she said with smile. She hated it when people tried to hide things from her it was so frustrating, because it always just made her more curious.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Derryl was so happy Nikole sat down. He was used to getting slapped when he offered. 'We're third year as well,' he said, joining her at sitting. He went silent for a very short moment, then he got a look of enlightenment on his face. 'That's were I've see you before,' he said, and snapped his fingers, 'we have potion together.'

Aidan also sat, his arm resting on his brothers back rest. 'That's right,' Aidan agreed. 'We knew we'd seen you somewhere before.' Then he frowned. 'I'm not happy,' he said indignantly, 'I'm not smiling, I never smile- I smirk.' He informed the impertinent girl. 'Tell her Ry,' he said, nudging his brother with his arm.

Derryl shook his head and glanced over his shoulder, 'what?' and when he got a glare from Aid Derryl nodded and looked back to Nikole. 'Yeah,' he said, 'what did I say about his morning pumpkin juice? See what I mean?' Derryl rolled his eyes and laughed when his brother nudged him a little harder.

[Nikole Talley]

"Very well then," Nikole said with a shrug. "You smirked." Nikole sat for a moment wondering how long they would sit and talk, since they obviously had plans. "So you two are in here up to no good, as usual...but you won't tell me what you're up to," she said as though she were talking to herself more than to them. She turned her attention to Derryl, since he did seem to be the nicer of the two.

"Then I suppose I'm hindering your plans by being here," she said with a smile. She had no intention of leaving without finding out what they were up to. "Wouldn't it just be so much easier to tell me what you are doing, so that you can just go ahead and get it done, because I have every intention of sitting here until I find out," she said smiling sweetly at Derryl. She looked over at Aidan with a determined look and said,"I'm used to the library. I could sit in here all day." She reached over and grabbed one of her books and sat it in front of her and opened it to a random page, but she did not plan on actually reading it; she was just settling in.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Derryl always got the attention, Aidan thought and he didn't like it. He smirked at the girl and stuck his tongue out when she looked at Derryl. Typical girls, he thought. 'No good?' Aidan said sarcastically.

'No good?' Derryl mimicked, 'what would give you that impression. Can't two guys just be in the library?' he could tell Nikole was clever but he hoped she would fall for it. She grabbed a book and opened it, getting comfortable and the twins looked disappointedly at each other.

'Not a word,' Aidan hissed in Derryl's ear, once he was looking back at the red head.

'But you heard her,' Derryl whispered over his shoulder, 'she could stay here all day. Should we abort?' Aidan frowned at the suggestion and shook his head.

'First we have to be up to something,' Aidan informed the girl, 'then you can accuse us. Right now we're just sitting here. Nothing suspicious about that, is there?' Of course not, he thought.

[Nikole Talley]

Nikole looked at Aidan and smiled. "Of course, nothing suspicious about just sitting. And yes two guys can just be in the library, unless it's you two. You just don't seem the type to spend time in the library, unless of course you're up to something."

Nikole flipped a few pages in her and started reading. Looking up at Aidan she smiled sweetly then quickly looked back at her book. After reading a bit she looked back up at the two. "So, if you aren't up to something, what would bring you to the library?" she asked curiously, wondering what lie they would come up with. She looked from Aidan to Derryl and then back to Aidan, because she had the feeling it would be him who would answer the question.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Aidan nodded. 'Nothing suspicious,' he agreed but frowned and smirked at the red head when she said that they couldn't be spending time in the library. She was right, of course, a blind man could see that they were up to something, but Aidan was too proud to admit it, especially to a Ravenclaw. He rolled his eyes and glared at the back of Derryl's head.

Derryl was, on the other hand, quite amused by the way Nikole was looking at Aidan, though a slight pang irritated him that she wasn't looking at him. To get her attention back on him, because that was where it belonged, Derryl began to laugh mirthlessly. 'Can't you take a hint, Red?' he spat, just as meanly as his brother would, 'we're not going to tell you so get over yourself.'

Derryl smirked, crossed his arms and took to glaring at the table. Aidan smirked too but because he was proud of his brother. Finally he was acting like a true Slytherin. 'But you should stick around,' Aidan told her, 'I'm sure you of all people will get a laugh out of what we're nothing going to do.' Derryl slowly looked at his brother in surprise but Aidan just smirked at him, very proud at himself.

[Nikole Talley]

Nikole shocked by Derryl's comment looked at him with narrowed eyes. She did have to admit he had caught her off guard; she would have thought it more like his brother to say something like that. However, she was impressed and couldn't stop the small smile that played across her face as she returned to her calm self. "Yes, I am very aware that you two have no intention of telling me what you're up to, Derryl. And I am also sure that you realize that I intend to stay right here in the library. By all means continue with what you were doing," she said looking back down at her book.

Then she looked back up at the Derryl, "And, if you would, please refrain from calling me red," she said with a bit of anger in her voice. Her mood immediately changing Nikole laughed a little. "You know what Aidan, Derryl," she said addressing them both. "I like you two. You are very determined and quite fascinating and if I had to guess I would say you are probably very intelligent. However, you might want to work on your people skills. You can be rather rude at times" she said with a smile. Nikole had surprised herself with her statement and immediately looked back down at her book uncertain of what their reactions would be.

[Aidan and Derryl Parkhurst]

Aidan could tell that Nikole was just as shocked as he was by Derryl's outburst but he had not expected her to take it so well. He was impressed and grinned at her. Derryl was still staring at the table. He was angry at himself that he had said what he had said because he liked Nikole and had just smashed all hopes of ever getting her to like him back. And he looked at her apologetically sad. But he and Aidan kept quiet until Aidan noticed the forlorn looked on his brother’s face.

Aidan grinned at Nikole. 'Hey Nikole,' he chuckled cruelly, nudging Derryl in the back, 'you've stolen the words right out of my mouth. No, wait, out of Ry's.' Aidan laughed and hit Derryl on the back. Derryl smirked at his brother and almost growled.

‘Shut up, Aidan,’ Derryl said. Derryl was already in a bad mood from the realisation that Nikole would never like him now. But she surprised both twins by saying she liked them. They were clearly taken aback by their staring at her and Derryl's open mouth.

Aidan quickly gain his composure and began to laugh. 'People skills?' Aidan barked, and stood up. He wanted to get the show on the road and all this talking was getting them nowhere. He grabbed Derryl's sleeve and pulled him up too. 'You're very funny, but we must be on our way.' He smiled politely at her and nudged Derryl. ‘Right? People to see, places to go, things to tip over.’ Derryl nodded.