"Well, at least it wasn't permanent." Candice says the next day when Shelbie walked up to her with a bit of a sour look on her face.
"It took forever to wash off though." Shelbie replies, rubbing her arms consciously as she remembered washing off the sticky goo for an hour.
Severus humphed. "Well, I wouldn't be surprised if James Potter and Sirius Black were up to it." Shelbie furrows her brows.
"Those two?"
"Yup." Lily says.
"Well, least now I know who it was." Shelbie says, looking down and adjusting the band on her satchel on her shoulder. Olivia gave her a incredulous look.
"You're not going to go after him?"
"Olive it was just goo when it all comes down to it."
"Yeah but cost you your study time for charms."
"I'll be fine we studied for an hour there."
"Shelbie!"
"Olivia it's fine, I'm not gonna be bitter to someone over an accident."
Olivia raises a brow. "What if it wasn't?"
Shelbie cocks her head to the side. "Olive, if it was on purpose he would've laughed at my misery, but by him shouting 'wait!' it clearly implies that it was an accident."
"They do play constant pranks on people and are constantly getting themselves in trouble." Severus said. Olivia didn't seem so convinced about what Shelbie had said but shrugged it off anyways.
"Anyways, on a different note, what time is it?" Shelbie asks.
"Almost time for class." Shelbie nods.
"Alrighty then." And they headed off.
While Shelbie exited from her class, she was waking down the corridor when she overheard a someone call out,
"Oooh Natalie!" The voice was loud, taunting, and almost very familiar. She furrowed her brows in curiosity. What's going on?
Making her way down the long hallway a little quicker, her shoes talking against the floor, as she heard more voices and another one that she didn't quite recognize.
"I never knew you could read!"
"Probably just acts like it."
"Stop it!" A girl yelled, "What did I ever do to you, I don't understand!"
Once she got to the scene, she saw a Hufflepuff boy, and a Gryffindor girl speaking harshly towards a Ravenclaw girl who had the most vibrant green eyes Shelbie had ever seen with chocolate brown hair. She recognized the boy instantly as Carter, who was the bad seed in her house that never seemed to cease to cause trouble, and his faithful friend Cara, who was just as bad as him apparently. Even though she didn't know Cara as well, with Carter around, she knew this wasn't good.
"You don't understand something? Shocker!" From the push Cara gave, the girl fell on her butt, which made Shelbie fume. "Is little Natalie hurt?"
You will be soon if you don't stop. Shelbie found herself thinking. She never had a tolerance for bullies. She remembered when Carter would mock her because she knitted, but she didn't stop herself from saying her mind to him which caused a bit of a sour relationship between Carter and her, but Shelbie didn't care.
"Does she need to run to her mummy?"
That's it! Shelbie thought as she started to make her way over, a kindle of fire in her eyes. "What is wrong with you two?!" Cara and Carter turned unanimously as well as the girl and stopped laughing as she walked over. The bullies both rolled their eyes at her, and Carter after gave her a sneer.
"Oh it's you."
Shelbie scowled at him.
"Carter, who's this?"
"Who cares! Let's leave Cara, we have better things to do."
Really now? Shelbie thought, but she didn't say anything as she looked down towards the girl. "I wonder how Carter is even in Hufflepuff sometimes! Awful boy." The green eyed girl got up as she regarded her closely.
"Are you alright?" She asks giving her a concerned look, however the girl left 5 seconds after nodding before she could get any more words in. Shelbie watched as she scurried off and shrugs. "Hm, weird." And she turned away from the windowsill to continue where she was going.
While she walked her thoughts were instantly on the Ravenclaw that she had just met and pondered on who she was. She was sure she had seen her a few times in her classes... But who was she?
Shelbie began to think for a while, until she found a stroke of recognition. Oh yes! She's the one that's day dreaming all the time--what was her name again? Shelbie wracked her brain to try and pin point who she was, but she had nothing.
She started to feel bad that she didn't know what the girls name was, but she knew who to ask.
"A girl that day dreams in class?" Candice asks. Shelbie nods.
"Uh-huh."
"Come to think of it..." Candice sits back in her seat and hums. "I think I've heard of her. I don't know her name though." Shelbie makes a high pitched sound in her throat.
"Candyyy!" Candice puts her hands up.
"Sorry! I'm usually too busy doing other stuff to know everyone's name in my house." Shelbie sighs and rests her head on the back of her hands that were resting in the table.
"No it's okay, don't worry... I'll probably see her again. What did you hear about her?" Candice shrugs.
"Not really any positive things... I heard that she wasn't very smart because she daydreams." Shelbie furrows her brows.
"What's wrong with that? She can't help it right?" Candice nods.
"Yeah."
"That is so unfair, she seems like such a sweet girl." Shelbie runs her fingers through her hair. "Why are people so cruel?"
Candice shrugs. "Some people are just like that way and don't realize they are until it's too late." Shelbie looks off to the side for a moment thinking about what her friend says and then she looked back up to Candice.
"You sure you don't know her name?"
"No, sorry... I wouldn't be sure if I got it right or not."
"It's okay." Candice smiles.
"Awh don't worry, you'll see her again like you said, but I understand how you feel about not knowing someone's name that you've been in the same year with for three years."
"Well four if we count this year since it is our fourth."
"The year hasn't passed yet Shelbs, it's not New Years yet." Candice says chuckling. Shelbie ponders for a moment and struggles to say a few words in reply to what her friend had said. She furrows her brows and stares at the table.
"I...-D...-Uhm..." After a while she sighs in defeat and mumbles, "You're confusing meeeeee!" Candice giggled.
"I'm just teasing you you're right!"
The next day Shelbie was early to her Charms class so she decided to doodle on her parchment while she waited for the class to file in. After a while, the Ravenclaw girl popped into her mind and she then made a note to herself to try and look around for her in class, but she heard a familiar voice interrupt her thoughts.
"Excuse me?" Shelbie looked up and when she saw that it was the girl from yesterday, she flashed a smile.
"Hi."
"May I sit here?" Shelbie nodded.
"Of course!"
"Thank you." The chocolate brunette sat down beside her. Shelbie threw away that self note while she did since she was right there as she continued to her drawing, biting her lip in the process, concentrating.
After a long beat, the girl spoke.
"I never got to thank you for yesterday." Shelbie felt herself feel puzzled for a moment,
"Thanked me?" and it seemed to show since the girl continued explaining herself.
"For scaring away that girl and boy. Carter and Cara I believe their name was. I would've done it myself but I guess I couldn't find the words" Shelbie then realized where she was getting at and felt grateful.
"Don't worry about it. Those two are externally rude! I wonder how they aren't in Slytherin." She remarked.
"Actually, the Slytherin house is a great house. Just a few handful give it a bad image. Just like how not every Hufflepuff is nice. The house doesn't represent how they'll treat others." Whoa... Smart girl... Shelbie smiled.
"I like the way you think. I'm Shelbie, Shelbie Embrose." And she held out her hand to shake it, and the girl took it.
"Natalie, Natalie Hoff."
A/N: Heeeeerreees Natalie!! 😉