Post by hipsdontlie on Sept 2, 2006 2:27:53 GMT
[OOC: This takes place BEFORE she gets a job, and this is my LONGEST post ever!]
The twenty-nine year old sighed as she looked around the area that she was in. Being new to Hogwarts was surely not easy, considering the fact that the place was huge, and she had neglected to pay attention when it was time for a tour of the castle. She usually paid close attention to what was going on around her, but it seemed that she was more interesting at looking around the walls at the portraits as well as at the various other things rather than listening to her guide, which had been some sort of house elf that worked in the kitchens. Though Isabel found this entirely wrong to have house elves serve as servants in such a large school with a vast amount of people, she said nothing and allowed her mouth to remain shut. She was not going to get herself in trouble at the start of her time there at Hogwarts. She was not going to risk her dismissal from the castle and possible hatred from the other people there. She was already an alien in the country as well as a small alien to the world that she was not entering for good, and she did not want to be looked down upon by others. Shaking her head to herself, she looked at the walls around her as well as the portraits. She had no idea where she was at the moment, but she was sure that she would find her way around somehow. Or, at least she hoped she would find her way around. Sighing, she tried to remember what she had seen after she had passed by this particular corridor during the tour.
She wracked her brain to remember, but nothing was coming to mind. It was starting to annoy her now, considering the fact that she usually had very good memory as well as good ways to recall things that were inside of her head somewhere. However, this time was different. Everything was new, as well as in the English language, and she was having a hard time conforming to the many ins and outs of the Hogwarts castle as well as its people and items that it held. Upon passing by a portrait, slowly, she noticed that it waved at her. She jumped somewhat as it had done this since she was not completely used to the fact that things in the magical world were bewitched, including the pictures. It scared her how things could be so magical as well as amazing, but then again, it did not really surprise her that much. She remembered her small school in Spain from many years ago, and she recalled portraits much like the ones she was seeing. After graduating though, she had decided to live more like a Muggle, though she worked at a pub on the border of Portugal and Spain, serving the magical folks of the two countries. It had been fun, of course, but she did not really like the job as much as she should have. Sure, she met a lot of people, and she enjoyed it, but she had a lot to deal with if something went wrong. This led to fewer tips, which was most of her income, and she often times got complaints for having not prepared a coffee or something correctly. As upsetting as it had been, she had remained there until she noticed that Hogwarts was in need of people to work there. She took this as her summons and came in search of a new job, not really giving a lot of prior notice before her leave from the small pub.
Smiling as she passed another waving portrait, she waved back and then looked forward in front of her as the corridor split various ways. It went left, right, and straight, which led up another flight of stairs and onto another floor. She was not really sure what floor she was on at that very moment, so she was somewhat scared to travel up another flight of stairs. However, she took her chances and stepped slowly upwards. However, unexpectedly, the staircase moved while she was on it, and she let out a small shriek of surprise, losing her balance somewhat, but caught it before she fell backwards and down the steps. She grasped the rail tightly, looking down as she did so, seeing many more flights of stairs moving beneath her. She closed her eyes tightly and then breathed somewhat heavily. She felt the staircase cease moving, and she hurried up the few steps that she had left and onto a flat floor where it was not capable of moving. She stood there blankly, looking around, wondering where she should go now. She knew that she was not going to travel on any other staircases for a while, at least not until she had to get back to where she had come from. She looked down the various ways that she could go, which were seemingly dark corridors. Was she really up for this? Did she really want to be a person at Hogwarts? Yes, of course she did.
Turning left and walking down that corridor, she allowed herself to be led by the walls and the lanterns on them. It was somewhat dim, though she did not care. She was just looking for one simple room that she could not find. She was tempted to start shouting for someone to help her and tell her where to go, but she did not want to sound immature or babyish, so she continued doing things the hard way. After all, it had been a mistake not to listen to the dear house elf that had toured around the castle with her, and this was something that he liked to call learning from her mistakes. So, letting out a heavy sigh, she paused halfway down the corridor and looked around. There was nothing, absolutely nothing. She blinked a few times, looking at the fire bustling in one of the nearby lanterns, becoming somewhat taken in by it. Her dark eyes looked at the jumping fire until she felt a chill go down her back. She shivered somewhat and then looked around, feeling herself breathe in heavily, the noise of the air entering her mouth audible in the silence. She exhaled deeply and then continued to walk, her footsteps echoing down the corridor. She looked over her shoulder, feeling a presence nearby, though she knew that it was nothing. Perhaps it was a ghost?
She turned around, walking still. She looked over her shoulder once again and then turned the corner, a bit too soon, mind you, and ran into the wall. She collided rather hard with it and closed her eyes as she stumbled backwards and blinked a few times, muttering a few things in her native Spanish language. “Ouch…†she said lightly and then flicked her long, brown hair over her should, the mass of waves falling gracefully over her shoulders. She shook the thoughts of someone following her off of her mind as well as her previous encounter with the stone wall. She continued walking and finally saw a light in the corridor that she had just turned down. She approached it, quickly, and peered inside of the room that it had been coming from. She noticed that it was the library—the very room that she had been looking for! She smiled to herself and then shook her head somewhat, shaking the previous thoughts away once again. She brushed off her shirt and stepped inside, looking around. She nodded politely at the librarian, giving a smile and then made her way across the room and to a vacant table. She figured that she would do some reading, of nothing in particular. She just wanted to read. Besides, she needed to clear her mind before she had to interview with one of the people that would be employing her.
She had applied a few days before, and the headmistress had invited her to the castle to stay before the interview. Happy, she had accepted, but now she was really anxious about the meeting that would be taking place in the very near future. She was not sure what would go on, what questions would be asked, how well she would do, or anything of the sort. She put that thought to the back of her head at that moment and glanced at the many shelves full of books. She smiled somewhat, for she had not seen that many books since she had graduated from the school in Madrid. And even then, she had still not seen that many books. Hogwarts was simply amazing, and it never ceased to amaze her, at least not yet anyway. Inhaling deeply and then exhaling, she walked across the library and to a random shelf, one that was nearest her. She looked at the spines of the books and read over them briefly, finding the subject of potions, which was not her best, boring and not really necessary. She moved on to another shelf, which had things about Divination. She had not been good at it, though she had really wanted to know a lot about it. However, this was not what she wanted to read at the moment either, so she moved onto another shelf. Care of Magical Creatures. Now this is something that I can relate to… She thought to herself happily and read over many of the spines of the books.
Hogwarts had about a hundred books that concerned Care of Magical Creatures! She smiled as she took this in and grabbed a random book from the shelf. She had no idea why she wanted to read about magical creatures since she already knew a lot, but she supposed that it would be interesting. Maybe the books of Hogwarts had something that other books she had read did not. She was hoping that they did anyway. She pulled one of the books from the shelf and had a large amount of dust hit her face. She blinked a few times, sneezed, and then coughed lightly as she balanced the book in her arm and rubbed her eyes. “Los estudiantes no leen mucho aquÃ…†She said to herself lightly and shook her head at the thought of the students not reading a lot, even though they were in a school. She laughed at the thought as well. She had not always read that much while she was in school either, so she could not necessarily be scolding the students for something that she did not do often either. Do not teach what you do not practice, Isabel… She told herself humorously on the inside of her head, letting out a small snort of laughter, which had been louder than she wanted it to be. After a few moments, she turned her attention to the book in her arms and read the title. It was odd and barely readable since the book was so old, and the cover had faded. Sighing, she carried the book back to the table that she had found a few moments prior. She dropped the book on top of it, a loud BANG! filling the room, though she had not meant for that to happen. She looked around and put on an apologetic face, mouthing the word ‘sorry’ to the people that had looked at her.
She seated herself neatly in one of the seats, sitting more masculine than feminine since she was wearing a pair of rather loosely-fitting jeans. She opened the book and looked at the pages, which were full of words in small print. They were hard for her to read, but her very good vision allowed her to see them and read them just fine. However, after a while, she had to put her face close to the pages of the book so that she could see them, eventually squinting her eyes uncomfortably to see the words. It had not been long, and she had only read about two pages, but she was determined to read this particular book. She had no idea why, but that was just the way that things turned out to be for her. She started something, and she usually refused to stop it until it was one-hundred percent complete. That was Isabel for you. Always trying, and she was always learning or teaching something to someone.
At first glance, Isabel would not seem like the teaching type or even the type that would like children, but she was. Half of the time, she did not even seem like she was old enough to be a professor, even though she was. Sure, she was young, but she was one that you could not underestimate. She was capable of anything, as long as she had assistance or the confidence to do it as well as the patience, which she usually had but also lacked at times. Sighing heavily, almost out loud, Isabel looked at the book and felt like throwing it across the room. Her eyes had started to hurt as she read it, and she was pushing herself too hard to read it. It was really starting to annoy her in two ways—she was too determined and knew that she would not finish it, and she really wanted to read the book. Why? Well, she could honestly not answer that question for you, but that was just the way the cookie crumbled. She shook her head, giving up too soon. That was not like her, but oh well. That book was old and faded and hard to read.
Standing to her feet, Isabel closed the book rather loudly. Once again, people looked at her, and she gave them the same apologetic look as she had before. She got a few stares here and there, and she frowned somewhat. Did she really belong there? Was she really ready and willing to have people around her that would get upset over the smallest things? That was not really what she wanted, but she knew that it was worth a try. She needed to get used to ‘her world’ anyway, considering she rarely ever lived in it. She shook her head, thinking to herself, and then picked the book up and carried it back to the shelf that she had pulled it from. She lifted it and placed it neatly back in its place, looking around at the other books, even at the ones that were on the highest shelves, which were not even that high, really. They were high to her since she was short, and there was no possible way that she would be able to reach them. However, one book, which looked brand new, caught her eye. She squinted her eyes to read the title on the spine and thought that it sounded interesting. Besides, it looked like a good book with really useful information. She really wanted to reach it now.
She stood on the tips of her toes and stretched her arm as well as the rest of her body out as much as she could, trying desperately to reach the book. Her hand was about a foot from reaching it, which annoyed her. She hated being a very short five feet with the extra two inches added, but that was all she had grown to be. She pouted to herself and returned to her natural height, crossing her arms heavily over her chest. She then thought of something, though she doubted that it would work. She uncrossed her arms and reached one out and started to hop up and down. She still could not get it. Her feet patted the floor each time they came in contact, and they made a noise when they did. She thought about how funny she must have looked jumping up and down like a child, which caused her to burst out with laughter. Now she knew that she must have looked really stupid. She did not care. She had already embarrassed herself and made people look at her. Why not do it on purpose now? That was not her point, though the thought passed through her mind quite a few times. She shrugged it mentally off her shoulders and then started to hop up and down again as she laughed, trying not to laugh loudly and disturb the others in the library. However, she being the person that she is, could not refrain from doing so. She ended up laughing rather loudly, snorting as she had done so. She got the same stares in her direction. The people probably thought that she was either really stupid or really ignorant.(2,785 words)[/color]
The twenty-nine year old sighed as she looked around the area that she was in. Being new to Hogwarts was surely not easy, considering the fact that the place was huge, and she had neglected to pay attention when it was time for a tour of the castle. She usually paid close attention to what was going on around her, but it seemed that she was more interesting at looking around the walls at the portraits as well as at the various other things rather than listening to her guide, which had been some sort of house elf that worked in the kitchens. Though Isabel found this entirely wrong to have house elves serve as servants in such a large school with a vast amount of people, she said nothing and allowed her mouth to remain shut. She was not going to get herself in trouble at the start of her time there at Hogwarts. She was not going to risk her dismissal from the castle and possible hatred from the other people there. She was already an alien in the country as well as a small alien to the world that she was not entering for good, and she did not want to be looked down upon by others. Shaking her head to herself, she looked at the walls around her as well as the portraits. She had no idea where she was at the moment, but she was sure that she would find her way around somehow. Or, at least she hoped she would find her way around. Sighing, she tried to remember what she had seen after she had passed by this particular corridor during the tour.
She wracked her brain to remember, but nothing was coming to mind. It was starting to annoy her now, considering the fact that she usually had very good memory as well as good ways to recall things that were inside of her head somewhere. However, this time was different. Everything was new, as well as in the English language, and she was having a hard time conforming to the many ins and outs of the Hogwarts castle as well as its people and items that it held. Upon passing by a portrait, slowly, she noticed that it waved at her. She jumped somewhat as it had done this since she was not completely used to the fact that things in the magical world were bewitched, including the pictures. It scared her how things could be so magical as well as amazing, but then again, it did not really surprise her that much. She remembered her small school in Spain from many years ago, and she recalled portraits much like the ones she was seeing. After graduating though, she had decided to live more like a Muggle, though she worked at a pub on the border of Portugal and Spain, serving the magical folks of the two countries. It had been fun, of course, but she did not really like the job as much as she should have. Sure, she met a lot of people, and she enjoyed it, but she had a lot to deal with if something went wrong. This led to fewer tips, which was most of her income, and she often times got complaints for having not prepared a coffee or something correctly. As upsetting as it had been, she had remained there until she noticed that Hogwarts was in need of people to work there. She took this as her summons and came in search of a new job, not really giving a lot of prior notice before her leave from the small pub.
Smiling as she passed another waving portrait, she waved back and then looked forward in front of her as the corridor split various ways. It went left, right, and straight, which led up another flight of stairs and onto another floor. She was not really sure what floor she was on at that very moment, so she was somewhat scared to travel up another flight of stairs. However, she took her chances and stepped slowly upwards. However, unexpectedly, the staircase moved while she was on it, and she let out a small shriek of surprise, losing her balance somewhat, but caught it before she fell backwards and down the steps. She grasped the rail tightly, looking down as she did so, seeing many more flights of stairs moving beneath her. She closed her eyes tightly and then breathed somewhat heavily. She felt the staircase cease moving, and she hurried up the few steps that she had left and onto a flat floor where it was not capable of moving. She stood there blankly, looking around, wondering where she should go now. She knew that she was not going to travel on any other staircases for a while, at least not until she had to get back to where she had come from. She looked down the various ways that she could go, which were seemingly dark corridors. Was she really up for this? Did she really want to be a person at Hogwarts? Yes, of course she did.
Turning left and walking down that corridor, she allowed herself to be led by the walls and the lanterns on them. It was somewhat dim, though she did not care. She was just looking for one simple room that she could not find. She was tempted to start shouting for someone to help her and tell her where to go, but she did not want to sound immature or babyish, so she continued doing things the hard way. After all, it had been a mistake not to listen to the dear house elf that had toured around the castle with her, and this was something that he liked to call learning from her mistakes. So, letting out a heavy sigh, she paused halfway down the corridor and looked around. There was nothing, absolutely nothing. She blinked a few times, looking at the fire bustling in one of the nearby lanterns, becoming somewhat taken in by it. Her dark eyes looked at the jumping fire until she felt a chill go down her back. She shivered somewhat and then looked around, feeling herself breathe in heavily, the noise of the air entering her mouth audible in the silence. She exhaled deeply and then continued to walk, her footsteps echoing down the corridor. She looked over her shoulder, feeling a presence nearby, though she knew that it was nothing. Perhaps it was a ghost?
She turned around, walking still. She looked over her shoulder once again and then turned the corner, a bit too soon, mind you, and ran into the wall. She collided rather hard with it and closed her eyes as she stumbled backwards and blinked a few times, muttering a few things in her native Spanish language. “Ouch…†she said lightly and then flicked her long, brown hair over her should, the mass of waves falling gracefully over her shoulders. She shook the thoughts of someone following her off of her mind as well as her previous encounter with the stone wall. She continued walking and finally saw a light in the corridor that she had just turned down. She approached it, quickly, and peered inside of the room that it had been coming from. She noticed that it was the library—the very room that she had been looking for! She smiled to herself and then shook her head somewhat, shaking the previous thoughts away once again. She brushed off her shirt and stepped inside, looking around. She nodded politely at the librarian, giving a smile and then made her way across the room and to a vacant table. She figured that she would do some reading, of nothing in particular. She just wanted to read. Besides, she needed to clear her mind before she had to interview with one of the people that would be employing her.
She had applied a few days before, and the headmistress had invited her to the castle to stay before the interview. Happy, she had accepted, but now she was really anxious about the meeting that would be taking place in the very near future. She was not sure what would go on, what questions would be asked, how well she would do, or anything of the sort. She put that thought to the back of her head at that moment and glanced at the many shelves full of books. She smiled somewhat, for she had not seen that many books since she had graduated from the school in Madrid. And even then, she had still not seen that many books. Hogwarts was simply amazing, and it never ceased to amaze her, at least not yet anyway. Inhaling deeply and then exhaling, she walked across the library and to a random shelf, one that was nearest her. She looked at the spines of the books and read over them briefly, finding the subject of potions, which was not her best, boring and not really necessary. She moved on to another shelf, which had things about Divination. She had not been good at it, though she had really wanted to know a lot about it. However, this was not what she wanted to read at the moment either, so she moved onto another shelf. Care of Magical Creatures. Now this is something that I can relate to… She thought to herself happily and read over many of the spines of the books.
Hogwarts had about a hundred books that concerned Care of Magical Creatures! She smiled as she took this in and grabbed a random book from the shelf. She had no idea why she wanted to read about magical creatures since she already knew a lot, but she supposed that it would be interesting. Maybe the books of Hogwarts had something that other books she had read did not. She was hoping that they did anyway. She pulled one of the books from the shelf and had a large amount of dust hit her face. She blinked a few times, sneezed, and then coughed lightly as she balanced the book in her arm and rubbed her eyes. “Los estudiantes no leen mucho aquÃ…†She said to herself lightly and shook her head at the thought of the students not reading a lot, even though they were in a school. She laughed at the thought as well. She had not always read that much while she was in school either, so she could not necessarily be scolding the students for something that she did not do often either. Do not teach what you do not practice, Isabel… She told herself humorously on the inside of her head, letting out a small snort of laughter, which had been louder than she wanted it to be. After a few moments, she turned her attention to the book in her arms and read the title. It was odd and barely readable since the book was so old, and the cover had faded. Sighing, she carried the book back to the table that she had found a few moments prior. She dropped the book on top of it, a loud BANG! filling the room, though she had not meant for that to happen. She looked around and put on an apologetic face, mouthing the word ‘sorry’ to the people that had looked at her.
She seated herself neatly in one of the seats, sitting more masculine than feminine since she was wearing a pair of rather loosely-fitting jeans. She opened the book and looked at the pages, which were full of words in small print. They were hard for her to read, but her very good vision allowed her to see them and read them just fine. However, after a while, she had to put her face close to the pages of the book so that she could see them, eventually squinting her eyes uncomfortably to see the words. It had not been long, and she had only read about two pages, but she was determined to read this particular book. She had no idea why, but that was just the way that things turned out to be for her. She started something, and she usually refused to stop it until it was one-hundred percent complete. That was Isabel for you. Always trying, and she was always learning or teaching something to someone.
At first glance, Isabel would not seem like the teaching type or even the type that would like children, but she was. Half of the time, she did not even seem like she was old enough to be a professor, even though she was. Sure, she was young, but she was one that you could not underestimate. She was capable of anything, as long as she had assistance or the confidence to do it as well as the patience, which she usually had but also lacked at times. Sighing heavily, almost out loud, Isabel looked at the book and felt like throwing it across the room. Her eyes had started to hurt as she read it, and she was pushing herself too hard to read it. It was really starting to annoy her in two ways—she was too determined and knew that she would not finish it, and she really wanted to read the book. Why? Well, she could honestly not answer that question for you, but that was just the way the cookie crumbled. She shook her head, giving up too soon. That was not like her, but oh well. That book was old and faded and hard to read.
Standing to her feet, Isabel closed the book rather loudly. Once again, people looked at her, and she gave them the same apologetic look as she had before. She got a few stares here and there, and she frowned somewhat. Did she really belong there? Was she really ready and willing to have people around her that would get upset over the smallest things? That was not really what she wanted, but she knew that it was worth a try. She needed to get used to ‘her world’ anyway, considering she rarely ever lived in it. She shook her head, thinking to herself, and then picked the book up and carried it back to the shelf that she had pulled it from. She lifted it and placed it neatly back in its place, looking around at the other books, even at the ones that were on the highest shelves, which were not even that high, really. They were high to her since she was short, and there was no possible way that she would be able to reach them. However, one book, which looked brand new, caught her eye. She squinted her eyes to read the title on the spine and thought that it sounded interesting. Besides, it looked like a good book with really useful information. She really wanted to reach it now.
She stood on the tips of her toes and stretched her arm as well as the rest of her body out as much as she could, trying desperately to reach the book. Her hand was about a foot from reaching it, which annoyed her. She hated being a very short five feet with the extra two inches added, but that was all she had grown to be. She pouted to herself and returned to her natural height, crossing her arms heavily over her chest. She then thought of something, though she doubted that it would work. She uncrossed her arms and reached one out and started to hop up and down. She still could not get it. Her feet patted the floor each time they came in contact, and they made a noise when they did. She thought about how funny she must have looked jumping up and down like a child, which caused her to burst out with laughter. Now she knew that she must have looked really stupid. She did not care. She had already embarrassed herself and made people look at her. Why not do it on purpose now? That was not her point, though the thought passed through her mind quite a few times. She shrugged it mentally off her shoulders and then started to hop up and down again as she laughed, trying not to laugh loudly and disturb the others in the library. However, she being the person that she is, could not refrain from doing so. She ended up laughing rather loudly, snorting as she had done so. She got the same stares in her direction. The people probably thought that she was either really stupid or really ignorant.(2,785 words)[/color]
