ghost stories - h. potter

Thirty

It seemed as though the date had left Belle on a constant high for the next few weeks. She smiled at everyone and everything, quite often had a bad case of the giggles and was incredibly kind to everyone - even those who were beginning to get worried or irritated at her state.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Pansy asked Belle as she bit down on her lip to conceal the giggles that threatened to rise from her throat. She was in the middle of care of magical creatures class and was doing an anatomy lesson on Nifflers - though she was becoming increasingly distracted by how incredibly cute they were.

"I'm fine, Pansy," Belle stated for what felt like the fiftieth time that day.

"Are you sure? You've been laughing a lot at the Niffler... it's not that funny, is it?"

"No, probably not, but I do love Nifflers," Belle replied and Pansy raised an eyebrow.

"Why? One of them stole my watch from me in fourth year," she said, backing away from the brown-and-white one that was now advancing towards her.

"Look at their little faces!" She exclaimed, gently picking up the one who was lying happily in her lap. It outstretched it's arms, reaching for the golden earring in her ear.

"Do you want it?" She asked and it sniffled excitedly. Gently pulling the earring from her ear and making sure that the butterfly was on the end of it so it wouldn't stab the small creature, she laid it flat on her palm and handed it to him. Within a second, it snatched up the gold piece of jewellery and shoved it into it's pouch, which was already overflowing with shiny objects Belle had conjured for it.

"Why are you so nice to them?" Pansy complained as she tried shoving the niffler away from her. Belle frowned and gently picked it up, before pulling her other earring from her ear.

"Because they're actually the first creatures I grew up around. Mum came home with a family of them when I was three. We still have them, actually, but they're getting old. It'll be sad to see them go when they do," Belle said quietly, before returning to the two nifflers who were now fighting for her attention in her lap.

"How did you manage to domesticate them?" Pansy asked, seeming more relaxed now she wasn't being chased by her niffler. She watched as Belle smiled, gently poking the niffler in the belly, causing it to wiggle in delight.

"You can't," she replied simply.

"They're wild creatures and it's built into them to find and take whatever shiny objects they can get their little paws on, but they can warm up to you and understand that if they're good, they'll be rewarded with items better than ones they can steal."

"I can see now why you want to work with all these creatures once you've finished school. You really do have a way with them, don't you?"

"Well, it's the perks of growing up around one of the world's most famous magizoologists. The moment my Dad and my godfather, Jacob, noticed that I'd taken an interest in magical creatures, they sent me off to live with Newt for a month," Belle said, a smile lighting up her face. Pansy crossed her legs, listening to Belle's story. She was completely immersed now - Belle had a way of doing that to people when she told stories. Pansy, however, knew that she tried her hardest not to speak of herself when she was around others. She enjoyed hearing about her childhood, because it was much happier than the one she had and it was something that Belle so rarely spoke of.

"What did he do?" Pansy asked curiously. Belle, who was gently stroking the Niffler's heads as they fell asleep on her lap, looked up at her friend.

"He sent me off to work everyday. He told me that although the pros much outweighed the cons when it came to working with creatures, there were still parts of working with them that I would need to learn to endure in order to do what I loved. He sent me off to work every day, feeding the creatures, ensuring they had enough water, cleaning the environments he had them situated in if they needed it and, most of all, shovelling dung." Belle stifled a laugh behind her hand, trying not to wake the Niffler's up with her noise as she snickered at Pansy's disgusted expression.